Tag: Authors

Romance Shelf.

Sara Mazariegos

I have so many romance novels now — thank you, comps! — that I need a new bookshelf to hold them all. I told my husband that he could get me a romance shelf for our anniversary this year, so we don’t have a bookvalanche in our dining room.

As much as I love libraries, I’m a slow reader. I read several books quickly recently because the due dates made me, but I prefer being able to sit down and slowly digest what I’m reading. We went to Target with our friend recently, and I discovered to my delight that the shelves there are basically Goodreads in person.


Seriously, this looks like my feed. It’s apparently “BookTok.” I need to get past the anxiety that app gives me and check out some of their TikToks…

Buying books in the genre I’m writing has given me such joy. Research can be fun.

Just have to make sure not to overfill my new shelf!

Beta Fish.

Sara Mazariegos

Like a lot of people, I have a love-hate relationship with feedback. A good critique can be so helpful, but it’s also stressful when I’m anticipating constructive criticism. What if they don’t like my writing? I’ve noticed that I’m brimming with confidence and excitement when I first finish drafting a novel, then I read through it and go from “Wow, this is great!” to “Maybe writing isn’t for me…” Which, I’ve learned, is totally normal!

Writers are interesting folks.

This is why feedback is such an important part of the process. I’ve read that many authors dislike the revision stage, but I find it rejuvenating. Starting from a blank document is way more intimidating to me than molding the words that are already there into something better. When my beta readers sent their feedback to me recently, I was thrilled.

I suppose it helps that several of their notes were about things that stuck out to me, too.

A fresh perspective has given me a creative burst, and I can see a positive change already. It feels like magic.

Back to the writing board!

Britlit.

Sara Mazariegos

I recently started reading Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. Immediately, I was captivated, but one thing sticks out to me as I read: the lack of quotation marks for the dialogue.

There are many U.K. idiosyncrasies in writing. Favourite, colour, kerb (?!) Whenever I discover one, I’m usually delighted. After all, I wrote “dialogue” in the paragraph above. I’ve been spelling it “theatre” my entire life. There are some British spellings that just make sense to me.

But I just can’t get behind not using quotation marks. Thoughts and spoken words are written out the same way, and the narration is also in first person, so I have to read sections a second time just to keep track of what was said.

Example:


Now, admittedly, I’m a dumb American. But since when are quotation marks not hip enough to be used in a novel? I’m genuinely curious. This reads more clearly to me:

“This is how privilege gets perpetuated,” Philip told me in the office one day. “Rich assholes like us taking unpaid internships and getting jobs off the back of them.”
“Speak for yourself,” I said. “I’m never going to get a job.”

‘kerb’ is just a silly British quirk to me, but the quotation thing is perplexing.

Killing My Darlings.

Sara Mazariegos

I’ve drafted my novel. I’ve taken a break from it, edited it, revised it, rewritten things, taken things out, dissected it, kept myself up late with worry about it, and let some of my friends have a look at it.

I set a goal for myself. I’m reading a chapter a day, as a final ‘edit now or forever hold your words’ read-through. My birthday is on Wednesday. After Wednesday, I’ll start submitting my manuscript to book agents.

Deep breaths.

I wrote my novel with a particular readership in mind. It’s for the Millennials who graduated college thinking everything would go as well as it did for their parents, only for everything to be ten times more difficult. It’s also a love story, because it’s dangerous to go alone.

I can’t wait for you to read it.

Josh G.A.D.*

Sara Mazariegos

I spoke to a therapist last year. It didn’t really go that well, mostly because she was into chakras and repeated mantras and stuff, and I mostly wanted to talk about things that bothered me. Still, it was a useful experience because it showed me what doesn’t help and what does. One takeaway I had was — I think — accidental on her part. She put into the notes of some insurance coverage form that I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Unsurprisingly, this wasn’t a surprise to me.

It was helpful for me to see it, even if it was unofficial since she never told me I had it.

I’ve been doing better with telling myself to calm down, it’s just my anxiety talking, my feelings are valid but also based on synapses misfiring so maybe take stock in that, etc. Knowing what’s going on in my brain helps me control it, at least more than I could before.

I recently started reading Mr. Perfect on Paper by Jean Meltzer. I went into it without realizing that the female protagonist has G.A.D. like me. So far (I’m not far into it yet) that’s my favorite part. It’s soothing to read about characters that are like me, what can I say?

The main character in my novel also has G.A.D., but it’s casual, undiagnosed G.A.D.

That reminds me: I added handy social media links to my website, so you can visit my Goodreads to see what I’ve been (slowly) reading. Also, you can find my other social links. I can be found just about everywhere on the social internet, just don’t judge me too harshly. I’ve been on it since I was ten, remember.

*No offense to Josh Gad, I just always think of him when I think about this stuff. It’s strangely comforting.

Authors Supporting Authors.

Sara Mazariegos

As I’m hoping to publish a novel, I’ve been reading all kinds of novels in the same genre/niche area. “Romance” is such a broad category, and I think it’s often judged based on the old-fashioned, Fabio covers of the past. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with, as my mom calls them, bodice-rippers, but romance novels come in many assorted styles and themes. That’s why it’s still such a popular genre.

My particular niche in the genre is commonly labeled as New Adult Contemporary, meaning the characters are recent college graduates and it takes place in current-ish times. Aside from writing my novel, reading these comparable books has been my favorite part of the getting-published process so far. It’s been a joy to read other works from contemporary romance authors such as Sophie Cousens, Abbi Waxman, and Allison Ashley. What a fantastic way to find inspiration, reassurance, and a sort of camaraderie, even if only through the written pages of others.

This is something I’ve been contemplating a lot recently: although my novel is a romantic story about two young adults finding love, it’s also a love letter to the Internet communities that grow and support each other both online and off. If it weren’t for the Internet, many of my generation and younger wouldn’t have met the people who matter the most in our lives.

There’s an upcoming book that I’m looking forward to reading called Planes, Trains, and All the Feels by Livy Hart. The title makes me so happy. To share my excitement at preordering a copy, I tweeted at her. I’ve never been great at containing my enthusiasm for things I enjoy.

She replied that my tweet made her day. And, in tweeting that to me, she made mine.