Tag: Books

Both of us searching for some perfect world we know we’ll never find.

Sara Mazariegos

We went to the National Book Festival on Saturday and saw Geena Davis and John Green talking about their books. Geena Davis made me tearful because her children’s book is really sweet, about being yourself even if you’re big and loud. You don’t need to shrink yourself to fit on the page. She wrote and illustrated it, which is so impressive because it was her first time illustrating. She also talked about picking up various sports, including archery which she apparently qualified for in the Olympic trials! She’s a real life Mary Sue, but not in an annoying way.

John Green spoke about tuberculosis, of course. He sat with Scott Simon from Weekend Edition on NPR and talked about his book rather than reading from it this time. He also didn’t answer any audience questions, which I found a little funny because I’d been wracking my brain to come up with one while I stood in the line for at least two hours waiting to see him.

The lines were intense and badly organized. Not the authors’ fault! I hope the Library of Congress staff fix that for next year.

USPS Informed Delivery gave me a preview of our mail on Monday, so I spent the whole day knowing I’d been summoned for jury duty. 😩 I let my boss know, and he’s not thrilled because I’m the only person in the D.C. office, so if I’m on jury duty it means our office is closed for at least one random day. And it’s right before Luis and I go on our anniversary trip, so it’s right before the office will be closed already. I feel bad, but it’s not like I want this extra stress. I am interested in the judicial process and stuff, but it’s inconvenient this time. (I did it once in 2011 and it ended when an earthquake happened!)

I’m planning to request a postponement so I at least can do it after our trip. I only have three available days otherwise, and the case could be longer than that, so it’s better to wait until I’m less time-constrained. When I go to jury duty, it will give me an excuse to read a lot, if nothing else. Last time, I finished one Sarah Vowell book and read half of another.

Speaking of books, I’ve fallen into judging books by their cute designs. I try not to let the design alone be the reason I get a book, but I found an autumnal book at Barnes & Noble for five dollars with purchase in the cafe. I was buying a pumpkin spice latte anyway, so… But now that I’m reading it, I’ve realized it’s a young adult romance. It’s not bad, it’s just not what I expected. I guess I assumed it was about college-aged people. I feel like there aren’t enough romances about college kids. At least not enough that my algorithm suggests them to me. Also, the main character dislikes pumpkin spiced lattes. I hope she changes her mind by the end. (I bet she will.)

Last Sunday, we saw Caught Stealing, which is a Darren Aronofsky movie. I don’t usually like his movies, but I gave this one a chance because it looked fun and has a cat as a main part of the plot. I really enjoyed it! I think it’s my favorite of his movies, which I know is a low bar, but still. I’d happily watch it again*. It’s the first non-superhero movie we’ve seen in a while that I liked, actually. Eddington, Weapons, and Honey, Don’t disappointed me.

We’ve got a movie theater subscription, which is a big reason why we see so many movies. I like going to the movies. I missed it during the Covid lockdowns. There usually aren’t very many other people in the theater with us, which I like but it’s also worrisome.

My writing is still going well. I’m at around 73K words now, with Friday night’s total word count goal of 75K words looking more than likely. It’s funny, I’ve been thinking of it as writing 500 words a day, but I’m actually writing a little over 1,000 words a day, split into afternoon and evening sessions. If I was only writing 500 words a day, it would take me forever to finish a novel. I don’t have patience for that.

I’m at an amusing place in the writing process, because I’m almost within the last 10K words of the story but so much is still happening. I’m not yet at the place where the resolution is occurring. I guess you could say I’m in the Break Into 3 beat, moving into The Finale of the Save the Cat beats. I’ve been writing according to my outline and still those beats are aligning with things, which is a sign I’m doing things well! The edit/revision process is going to be a monster, I can already tell. But at least I have the right structure to work with this time, as opposed to other drafts that had more sketches of an outline than an actual outline.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s still plenty more writing before I have to think about editing!

* It gave me some casual nightmares about kidney problems, though. If you see it, you’ll understand.

I’m not the kinda girl who gives up just like that, oh no.

Sara Mazariegos

We’ve created a TV schedule for our weeks, sticking to the same few shows until we finish them/the season and then watching different things. It used to be that we’d start watching a show, get distracted by something else, and then forget about the show. Granted, the shows in question were classics like Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart Show, and Golden Girls so we’re already more than behind on them, but you know what I mean. It’s been nice to think, “Oh, it’s Tuesday: Shogun night.” I like watching things that others are watching, so I don’t feel like we’re missing out. Shogun, The Bear, and Hacks are so good! Cable used to be like that, but you couldn’t skip ads or pause to go to the bathroom, so streaming is still more convenient.

Cable is going to go away. It’s not really a question. The only question is, how soon? It kind of relates to Hacks, in a way. Why have a late night talk show anymore?

The books I’m reading are enjoyable and quite different from each other. Aside from still weathering the storm that is House of Leaves (which is amazing! It’s just a dense textbook written by a crazy man,) I’m also reading A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston and Island by Aldous Huxley. Ashley Poston’s so fun, and her novels appeal to my interests because they’re humorous romances involving ghosts or imaginary characters (within the story; obviously all novel characters are imaginary.) I previously read and had to own The Dead Romantics because I liked it so much, and this novel is no different. It also has a gorgeous cover. The Aldous Huxley book is in a similar vein to Brave New World, but it doesn’t feel as bleak. I’m not far into it yet, though. It’s fun to read him discussing more modern things, since he wrote it in the 60s. It also feels prescient about what’s going on in D.C., which I kind of hate. 🙃 History just repeats and repeats itself… It needs to stop.

I’m looking forward to seeing John Green at the National Book Festival, though I’m still nervous about being in D.C. I’m always nervous about being in D.C., and I have to go there a lot for work. It will be nice to see him again! I wish I could talk to him in person, but he’s not doing a book signing or anything, so the chances are slim. I waited like a loser after his book reading in March, so we’ll see if I wait to try and spot him again. I understand he doesn’t like social situations much. I don’t either. I just really like him. He means so much to Luis and me.

Reading the Ashley Poston book has given me some useful plot guidepost ideas. I’m around the same page number in her book as well as in my writing, so I can’t help comparing where the characters are in their respective arcs. I may have mentioned before that A Novel Love Story is a good comp for my current work-in-progress, even though my story doesn’t involve any magical realism. It’d be fun to add some of that, but I don’t know how and my story already has a lot going on. I could keep it in mind, but maybe for another story. I’m currently within the “Dark Night of the Soul” part of the story, which means everything sucks for my main characters. Things are piecing together and building up to what’ll hopefully be a satisfying finale. I just realized I’ve been subconsciously following the Save The Cat beats without even marking them all out like that in my outline.

That’s pretty freaking cool.

Drunk on wine, I’m amazing.

Sara Mazariegos

One of the bad things about holiday vacations is coming back to work on the Monday afterward. Luis and I had a nice time last weekend, spending time together and with family. We saw This is Spinal Tap in theaters for the first time, for the 41st anniversary. It’s totally because they’re coming out with a sequel soon. At the end of the showing, they included a brief preview of the sequel and the audience laughed just at the sight of the way they look now, which is kind of mean but also fair. They reminded me of The Beatles during the “When I’m Sixty-Four” scene in Yellow Submarine.

Then, on Sunday, we went to the mall and bought the Nintendo Switch 2 for Luis’s early birthday present! It doesn’t seem that different from the original Switch to me, but it has a few improvements. And who knows? I might become amazing at Mario Kart by the time we get another game. I just hope it stops hurting my hand. I think I steer too intensely.

Now that the 4th of July is over, I’m not going to have a weekday off from work until Labor Day at the beginning of September. We have a few fun things planned before then, but there’s something to be said for having time off when I’d normally have to wake up early and commute. We’re seeing Weird Al on a Tuesday night, and I’m hoping I won’t be very tired during it and very tired the next day.

There was a Valley Girl on my train this morning. She was talking on her phone and she kept saying “For sure” and “Totally” and I was doing my best not to crack up the entire time she stood in front of me. At one point, she described her whole outfit and said something about needing to go shopping with her mom. “With the train, it takes me, like, fifteen minutes to walk. If I had to walk to work, it would take me, like, four hours. My coworker walks, like, half an hour to work each day. You know that’s not me.”

I did not expect to hear that accent in the D.C. area.

While working on a scene in my novel involving the DC Book Festival, I learned John Green is coming to the DC Book Festival this year, in September! So art is imitating life again. I’ll have to make mental notes of details I can include in the edits. The last time Luis and I saw him at the Book Fest, it was summer of 2012. It’s going to be inside the convention center this time, so it’ll be much cooler than doing it on the Mall like they used to. I hope I can meet him again! I can never meet John Green too many times. ✨

It’s confusing these days.

Sara Mazariegos

Last weekend was really fun. The party for Luis’s mom was great, and he made an awesome video with a bunch of his family members wishing his mom a happy birthday. Then he made a speech and it was so cute. I may be biased, but my husband is amazing. 🥰  Then the next day, we went to the Air & Space Museum and spent a few hours looking at the updated exhibits. I had a margarita in a can! I did not expect anything like that to be available in their cafe. Next month, more new exhibits are opening, including one that features Amelia Earhart. Just more reasons to go back again. We still need to visit the one in Virginia, too. That’s where they’re keeping Enola Gay these days.

Luis bought me a copy of the library book I was reading, so for a brief period I had two nearly identical copies of The Ex Talk. I’m reading my own copy now. My used copy is a retired library book, so I went from reading one library book to another. This one’s cover is laminated! I love owning old library books. They tell stories of their own.

He also got me a copy of Ashley Poston’s new novel, Sounds Like Love. I love her covers. Whoever designs them deserves extra points. I’m planning to read her other gorgeous novel, A Novel Love Story next.

We’re getting together with my family on the 4th of July. We always go see them and have food and watch the DC fireworks celebration, and then we set off a few small fireworks in the street outside the house. It’s always been about spending time with family for me, more than patriotism, really. It’s especially like that now.

I’m just grateful for a day off.

My writing is progressing well. I’m writing a little over a chapter a week, so I can really feel it coming along. I’ve also started thinking ahead and putting fun ideas in my outline, so I remember to actually use them. I’ve definitely thought of things to do and then forgotten about them, in the past. The first time I wrote this story, back in 2020, I didn’t even have an outline. It’s come a long way.

I was reading The Ex Talk last night and bits of it were aligning well with my story’s themes. I thought, “Yes! This really is a perfect comp.” It’s relatable to my life, too. I found this book just by searching for romance novels with workplace conflicts. I’m so glad I found it.

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now.

Sara Mazariegos

There’s a horrible heatwave in a lot of the US right now. It’s fine if you can be inside, in the air conditioning, but whenever I walk to/from the Metro and bus, it’s so sticky. I wore a dress to work today in order to stay cool. I’m not a fan of wearing dresses, especially because the AC can make me cold and my legs aren’t covered. But it’s been warm enough inside so it’s okay.

I doubt I’ll wear a dress again tomorrow, though. I need to get some fashionable, work appropriate shorts or maybe some loose linen pants. I told myself I’d go shopping for new work clothes and then I learned I could wear jeans and t-shirts so I haven’t bothered.

On Sunday, Luis and I are finally going to the Air & Space Museum. I got timed passes and everything, like a real tourist. (You have to get timed passes to enter.) Not too much later than the 14th. It’s an important place to us, and it’s mentioned in my novel, so it’s part research but mostly just a nice place for us to return to every once in a while. We’re going to check out the food court. When we first met, it was upstairs and completely McDonald’s. A lot has changed in thirteen years.

I have a unique addiction that thankfully doesn’t happen all the time. I think I may have mentioned it before. I’ve gotten in the strange habit of getting a library book, deciding I want to keep it, and either buying it or asking my husband to buy it for me. It’s happened at least four times that I can remember: Georgie, All Along, Very Sincerely Yours, The Good Part, and now The Ex Talk. All of them have been used as comp titles. I love all of them. So there.

So far, I’ve purchased way fewer books this year than the past few years. I’ve only bought like three, and it’s June. I’m doing well. I need to keep reading the ones I already own, though. The little free libraries in my neighborhood are dangerous for my bookshelf.

Using my calendar for scheduling writing has been going well. I write about 1,000 words a day, broken up into 500 at the office and 500 in the evening when I’m home. It helps to break it up like that so I don’t ever feel stuck. It gives me time to think about things and plan it out, instead of feeling like I need to get it right then and there. I breeze through 500 words easily, and I calculated things out — if I keep writing at my current pace, I should be finished with this draft at the end of September. Just have to avoid skipping writing time because I feel tired and would rather watch TV.

TV can always wait.

We talk about this whole stupid world and still come out laughing (Ha!)

Sara Mazariegos

The 14th is this Saturday. Luis and I always do something a little special since we first started dating—and got married—on a 14th. I wanted to come to D.C. this time and explore the redesigned Air & Space Museum. But the Mall is going to be full of people and all kinds of militaristic stuff I don’t want to be around. 😞 So we’ll save that for another time (possibly another 14th) and go get pizza and books instead.

We went with his family to another fun escape room in D.C. last weekend. My main mode when I do those things is finding all of the useful parts and giving them to others to actually solve, haha. When a room is open, I look all around for puzzle pieces, flashlights, etc that will aid in getting out of the room. I’m pretty good at doing it quickly. The other day, I opened a combination on a door flap. That felt special.

Luis and I are working on designing a Haunted Mansion escape room in our house. I’m so excited, because—as you know by now, I’m sure—The Haunted Mansion is my favorite Disney anything. He’s been asking for my input and we’ve been using a lot of our stuff to create a fun story. Last year’s Batman escape room was a real hit, so hopefully this one will be, too. Luis even creates videos for them! One of our friends asked who made the Batman one and was amazed that he did. We could start a small business, performing home escape rooms, but it would be complicated because we’d have to go to people’s houses, like birthday clowns or magicians or something. I wonder if that’s already a thing.

Since I’m working on retooling my Nerdfighter novel, I’ve been paying more attention to similar books again. One tough thing in the whole query-writing saga is finding good comp titles. They’re supposed to not be too old or too famous, and they don’t have to be extremely similar to your plot or your characters. They’re mainly meant to have some similar themes or even just evoke similar feelings when you read them, so they give literary agents some good examples of how your book would do in the market.

I read the other day that a comp title can be older than five years as long as the author is still releasing books. I think I’m going to hold the internet to that, because I found a great comp that’s from 2021 and the author has released several books since then. The story in this one just happens to fit my novel the best.

Luis and I will be looking at books on Saturday, though, so who knows? I may come home with a brand new perfect comp title instead.

Just grab him in the biscuits.

Sara Mazariegos

Luis and I watched Pee-Wee As Himself last weekend. It turned Memorial Day weekend into a Pee-Wee fest, which was fun. It’s a cute and funny documentary, but it’s also sad. He didn’t deserve all the bad crap he was given.

One thing I noted early on is that Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee) and Shock G (Humpty Hump from Digital Underground) had a few things in common, most important of all that they were known primarily as their joke personas. I like them both a lot. I’m still sad about both of them.

It’s always nice to have a three-day weekend, but then the rest of the week ends up feeling a little weird. Yesterday was the Mondayiest Tuesday ever. A lot of it is because people come back to work and lose their minds a little bit, because they weren’t handling things on Monday so they feel behind. But thankfully it wasn’t too bad for me, and people have chilled out more now.

I’m still working my way through Judy Blume’s Fudge series of books. The first one, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, is such a bizarre book. It’s essentially a bunch of short, semi-connected stories, and the ending completely threw me. Now I’m reading Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, which is the only one I’d actually heard of before. I didn’t know it was connected to Fudge and his family. I like Sheila, though she’s kinda bitchy. Maybe that’s why I like her. 🤔

We started playing this tarot mystery game called The Light in the Mist. It’s one of the nerdiest games I’ve ever played. It’s creative and cool, though. I do love a good mystery. It reminds me of this super geeky game I got when I was about ten years old. It had all of these plastic gems and you were supposed to find them around your house, and it was a lot of roleplaying, imagination stuff. I remember my friends and I looking at each other and being like, “…This is boring.”

The tarot game isn’t boring, though! It just reminded me of that game because it’s also very fanciful and relies on a significant amount of thinking outside of the box. It has a plot and things to follow, though. It’s not just a bunch of plastic and you’re on your own.

Speaking of plot and imagination, my writing is going well. I’m doing a good job of thinking about the next story I want to work on without disrupting the one I’m currently working on. I like both of them, and they both tell a story I’m interested in telling. I also finished editing my It’s A Wonderful Life story according to Luis’s notes, so after I read it through to make sure things make sense, I’m going to share it with some beta readers, who hopefully won’t rip it to shreds.

Until next time,

Lay a whisper on my pillow.

Sara Mazariegos

It’s been a rainier May than usual. What happened to “April showers bring May flowers?” Now it’s more like, “April showers bring more showers.”

The weather forecasts have become less reliable, too, which makes it worse. I’m about to start bringing an umbrella to work every day just in case. This is no doubt caused by the government’s slew of unnecessary changes and upheavals. Don’t even get me started on the USPS.

Anyway, this blog isn’t about that stuff.

I’m reading Superfudge on the Metro ride home from work each day. It’s cute, and not what I expected. I didn’t realize Fudge is the main character’s (annoying) little brother. I’m also beta reading someone’s Halloween novel, because it intrigued me. It’s nice to beta read for other people even when I’m not doing a critique exchange, especially if the novel appeals to me.

We’ve started watching The Rehearsal and Taskmaster again because they’re back! This season of The Rehearsal has a really interesting, and kind of heartbreaking, theme about pilots being lonely and unable to speak to each other at pivotal moments… or at all. Nathan Fielder is a weirdo, but he makes some actually good points. It’s not all just silly. Though the episode about Sully was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.

I already love everyone in this new series of Taskmaster, but I think I most want to see Mathew Baynton win. He’s so cute on Ghosts.* He’s doing a good job of balancing being funny with being good at the tasks. And his backwards song was tcefrep.

My writing is going well. I’ve taken to writing my time travel novel at the office, during my nice, longer lunch breaks. I used to only have half an hour for lunch, but now I get an hour. It doesn’t take me an hour to eat a sandwich. It’s easier for me to let loose and just write around lunchtime. I feel less pressure for the words to come out perfectly the first time. Writing during work hours is helping me chisel away at it each day, and it also frees up time for me to edit my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired novel during the evenings. My goal is to finish editing and then share it with a few beta readers before sending the query to be critiqued by The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. Which they will then probably ignore, but y’know. There’s no harm in trying.

* The original, better Ghosts from England.

The Rolling truck Stones thing.

Sara Mazariegos

I see a lot of interesting things on my commute, as one of my followers predicted. A lot of people get off at my Metro stop, so I end up trudging to my office in a Walking Deadesque crowd of sleepy people. There are loose tiles on the sidewalks, so every so often someone will trip a little and cause this sound like a ceramic plate being flipped on a table. That helps keep everyone on their toes. The restaurant downstairs has a cleaner who’s always out hosing down the sidewalk, but he’s careful to point the water away from passersby. I still always worry about getting accidentally sprayed, though.

I think of Belle seeing the same folks every morning. “The same old bread and rolls to sell…” It’s become kind of nice, especially because it’s the calm before the craziness at work. Work’s not even generally that crazy. I’ve been answering many phone calls and chats, though. That’s been a new experience for me, but it’s not super challenging, as long as I answer and I’m polite.

And the commute home is a nice little break for reading. I’m always eager to get home and be with Luis and our cats, but since I have the time, why not enjoy a good book*?

Boo successfully had her surgery yesterday, so I was extra anxious to get home and spend time with her. We received so many generous donations and a grant from a local organization that helps families with pets who have cancer. We were more than covered, and I’m so grateful. 🥲


She’s been so hyper after the anesthesia. Hopefully this evening she’ll be better able to relax, thanks to her pain meds and chill meds. She gets the entire guest room to herself, and Luis has been keeping her in his office with him while he works, set up with a bed and her own chair if she wants it. She’s very spoiled.

In writing news, things are still plugging along at 500 words a day. A big moment is about to happen in my draft, so that’s exciting. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but I wrote the beginning first, since my brain is sequential and writing out of order might just confuse me. Luis is nearly done alpha reading my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired novel, so soon I will be making edits on that before sending it off to beta readers. I’m liking this whole Stop Pressuring Myself mode of tackling my writing projects. I only hope I won’t get to December and think I could’ve written more.

* Or a bad book, if that’s where I find myself at times.

I read your books and talked for hours.

Sara Mazariegos

Today we’re going to see John Green talk about tuberculosis. Last time we saw John Green, he talked about obsessive compulsive disorder and gave us a lime green mixer from our wedding registry. The time before that, we saw him at the National Book Festival and he signed my beloved former New York Public Library copy of Paper Towns. And the time before that, I saw him by myself at his tour stop in Bethesda for The Fault in Our Stars – and that’s when I first discovered my local Nerdfighter group, which eventually led me to Luis.

John Green matters very much to me.


I got a copy yesterday, but I haven’t started reading yet because I wanted to be in the right headspace. We’re each getting a copy at the reading today, too, because the book comes with each ticket. So I’m going to be swimming in copies of this book. 😅

Aside from going to the show, it’s also nice to have a day off from work. Something about this year has made being at the office five days a week downright exhausting. But, at the same time, things feel like they’re running more smoothly this year, possibly because I’ve gotten better at my job, but also there’s a new person helping me in my role, which is fantastic. I hope things keep going well. And that’s enough thinking about work on my day off.

This weekend, we’re going to spend Saturday with my family and Sunday with Luis’s parents, celebrating my birthday early. On my birthday, we’re going to Medieval Times with friends so I can reenact The Cable Guy. 😅

In writing news, the 500 words a day plan is going swimmingly. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it helps me feel like I’m in the scene more than it does when I write 2,000 words a day. This is probably unsurprising, but I’ve been programmed to have maximum output, so to slow down and take my time is both a big shift and also… a relief. Things are given more time to develop, which I think will make stronger scenes. Also things will be easier for me to edit without feeling like I’m losing a ton of words in the process, because I imagine the scenes will require additions instead of subtractions.

I’m plantsing my way through this one. Can you tell?

When I walked to my bus yesterday, I thought about my Nerdfighter novel and things to change to make it better. Even when I’m not working on stories, I’m still thinking about them.