Tag: Books

Brenda and Eddie had had it already by the summer of ’75.

Sara Mazariegos

Thanksgiving mini recap. Wow. We basically had three Thanksgivings the past several days. We had regular Thanksgiving on Thursday (with the parade and dog show and everything) with Luis’s family, then we had Thanksgiving II on Friday at my parents’ house with even more turkey legs for Luis! Then we went to a friendsgiving dinner on Sunday. We got leftovers from all three dinners, so we’re going to be good on food for a while.

I got some ideas for future novels during all of this, so that’s fun. I’m taking a break from writing for the holidays now, so of course I’m plotting new things.

Zootopia 2 and the barrage of sequels and remakes. As we were going into the theater to see Zootopia 2, I commented that the row of “Coming Soon” posters on the wall were all sequels and remakes. It’s obviously not the first time I’ve noticed that so many movies are not original anymore, but it was interesting to see them in a row like that. I like certain sequels and remakes can be okay, but I do miss seeing the latest Disney movie and having it be the latest Disney movie and not a continuation of something. The second Zootopia was good, but do you know what was even better? The first Zootopia, when it was new and different and special.

I can’t believe there’s going to be a fifth Toy Story. Of course I’ll see it, though. Conan O’Brien is in it.

But I also plan to support the crap out of Hoppers. Hopefully our theater will show it for longer than a week. It didn’t give Elio a chance. We still haven’t seen Elio. 😦

Violence near my Metro stop. Harsh transition ahead. Last week, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, there was a shooting of National Guardspeople* near the Metro stop where I get off to go to work. It was during the afternoon, so thankfully I was already safely inside my office. But the commute home was scary because the station entrance was blocked off and there were police and TV cameras everywhere. While I was walking, I thought it was a bunch of police guarding the area, which would make sense I suppose, but then I realized it was a lot of media covering what had happened. They were blocking the corner where I usually cross, so I had to be on the other side of the street.

We live in scary times.

Writing/Editing update. My main update is that I finished editing the latest draft of my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired novel! Now I have to wait and see what some new beta readers think.

In the meantime, I’m working on some new story ideas and making an outline. I’m planning to start writing this new story project in March (after my birthday) so I want to take the time to really think things through and have a good idea of what I’m doing before starting to type out a fresh new story draft. I’m excited to see where it takes me. I did something I don’t usually do with this one: I created Sims 4 versions of the romantic leads. It might sound silly, but it helps me think of fun ideas and imagine them as real people a little more.

I’ve also started a fun “book club” type thing with Luis. For a sort-of Christmas gift, I asked him to read The Good Part by Sophie Cousens and I’m rereading it as well, so we can discuss it. I love that book. I think he will, too. And then he’ll understand the kind of novels I’m going for when I write.

I still can’t believe it’s already December.

* It was one man and one woman, so “Guardsmen” feels wrong.

“It’s not your job to be as confused as Nigel.”

Sara Mazariegos

Frankenstein and Predator: Badlands. Last weekend, we saw two movies I really enjoyed. I’d been looking forward to seeing Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein ever since first hearing about it. It’s very faithful to the book! I wish it came out in more theaters; it deserves to be seen on a big screen. It’s beautiful and sad. And then we saw Predator: Badlands in theaters on Sunday and it was better than I expected. I like all of the characters in it, and the message of found family and working as a team instead of trying to do everything alone.

How is it almost Thanksgiving already? Next week is Thanksgiving. I’m still in a Halloween mood, but now I’ve got to think about spending time with people and eating too much. My job doesn’t give us the day off after Thanksgiving; I took it off so we’ll still be able to spend Thanksgiving with Luis’s family and then Thanksgiving II with my family. I’m looking forward to the days off, though they don’t really feel like vacation days, because we do so much socializing and cooking and stuff. I can’t just sit and read for hours. I don’t even really sleep in. Wah-wah. It’s nice, though. I just wish it was still October.

Any novel can be a comp novel if you try hard enough. A lot of people have a difficult time finding comparative titles for their novels when they’re in the query stage. I feel like I have a different problem; I find that every book I read could be a comp title. I notice little things the stories have in common with mine. They’re not usually big things, they’re usually subtle. But I think it’s because my novel is still being molded, so I’m imagining ways each book I read could shape my own story, and I shouldn’t do that because my story already has a satisfying shape. For example, I really enjoyed reading The Love of My Afterlife and finding little ways it fits with my story, but I think most people would think it’s a stretch for me to have it as a comp. There’s nothing supernatural in my novel. There’s no death or deadlines (heh.) But, then again, I’ve heard that comps don’t have to have all the same story elements as long as they have similar themes or worlds. So who knows? My story is also about self-discovery, found families, community, taking care of others, enemies to lovers… So that book could totally end up a comp of my story!

This blog is about my writing process, so here’s a glimpse at that thrilling part of it. 😅

Self-imposed deadlines. Speaking of my writing process, one thing I tend to do is assign myself these signposts to reach in order to keep myself on track. I aim to be finished editing my novel draft before Christmas so I can enjoy the holidays, and then I’m thinking of asking for another reader or two for their feedback. My big deadline for this story is the end of March so I can start sending out query letters.

But let’s see if it actually goes like that. I’m a writer, so I imagine and plan and have ideal situations in my head, but life rarely does what I want it to do.

Do you wanna know, know that it doesn’t hurt me?

Sara Mazariegos

I had an idea for a new blogging format. Let me know what you think.

New knee pillow (am I old?) I’ve noticed my lower back and knees are often sore when I wake up in the morning, particularly when I sleep in on the weekends, so I ordered myself a pillow to put between my knees or at least legs. So far, it’s helping me sleep in a better position. I read that sleeping on your side can cause spine twisting so it’s better to separate your legs to realign your spine. But it’s awkward if I want to move, because I have to move this rectangular pillow along with me every time, and every time I get out of bed I have to move it away. It may end up on the floor one of these days. I guess I’m too old to be naturally comfortable when I sleep now.

Days getting so dark by the time I’m on my way home. I love autumn, but I hate the daylight going away so early every day. I commute home after 5:30 so it’s always completely dark while I’m traveling. It lowers my motivation, which is especially bad because then I get home and I should be able to enjoy being home, but all I want to do is sleep. I’m looking forward to the longer days again in spring. At least there are more months of daylight in the year than months with early sunsets.

Holidays on random days during the week. Veterans Day was on Tuesday this year. It’s nice to have a break soon after a work day, but it makes it difficult to plan anything too exciting. Luis and I went to Subway and saw Bugonia before having some cake with his parents for his stepdad’s birthday. So I guess it wasn’t nothing, but being off on Monday as well would’ve been extra special. At least I only have to work three more days! A short week is always nice.

Book reading/Novel reading progress. I got some good reading time into this weekend. I would’ve gotten more if I hadn’t played The Sims 4 for two hours on Sunday, but I felt inspired to play after a long time, so it’s fine. I really like The Love of My Afterlife. It’s going along the way I figured it would, but it’s cute and funny. I’ve noticed that English romance novels are quirkier than American ones. I think English writers have a fondness for bizarre side characters that are not as common in American novels. Think about Bridget Jones’s friends. It builds out the world of the main character a little more. I like that and want to do that more in my own writing. Obviously without making my novel too silly, but the citizens of Bedford Falls are quirky characters, so I should have some funny people in my version, too.

I successfully completed my first read-through of my novel last weekend. Now I’m back into it, reading it and making notes of things to change. I started out thinking I’d only make change notes for this draft and then make a new draft copy for the actual rewrites, but I’ve started just rewriting and making the changes directly in this draft. Why wait, right? I have a lot of notes from beta readers in this draft already, so I’m using them as a guide and making my own changes as well. Hopefully, by editing and rewriting now instead of waiting until after another full reread, I’ll be finished editing this story before February.

The story is good, I just need to make it as close to great as I possibly can.

Games without frontiers, war without tears.

Sara Mazariegos

My Grandma passed away last week. She was ninety-three years old. I’m mostly grateful I was able to visit her last year, when we were unfortunately in town for my grandfather’s funeral (her husband.) We spent time watching hockey on TV and eating at nice restaurants, and we went to Point Defiance Zoo. She loved going to the zoo with family. I’m glad I was able to see her and she was doing well and having a nice time. I’m also grateful she didn’t become sick and spend months suffering. She didn’t have to be ailing for long. She was a sweet person and I’ll miss her.

I have a card from the Library of Congress that I was planning to send her. I’ll save it and give it to somebody else deserving. She’d like to know I’m still sending cards and letters. We used to write back and forth to each other. I always drew her a squirrel. 🥹

Luis should be very proud of himself for how well our (really his) escape room turned out last weekend. He came up with so many challenging puzzles and made all these cool videos to guide everyone along and congratulate them when they progressed. I hid the clues all over the house and got to be the helpful Haunted Mansion maid, turning lights on to guide them for clues and making things a little easier to find when needed. One thing that’s funny and a bit of an extra challenge is that we own a lot of stuff that could’ve corresponded to the puzzles, so we kept having to say things like, “No, sorry, it’s specific cards, not these random Pokemon cards. Oh, sorry, that’s just a Haunted Mansion painting on the wall because it’s decor. It’s not going to interact with your app.”

We had stuff that became animated by scanning it with an app. Oh yeah. 😎 It was fun! We’re already thinking up ideas for next year’s. It’s a great Halloween tradition.

I’m still reading three books at the moment: The Love of My Afterlife, House of Leaves, and The Cat Who Talked To Ghosts. Sometimes I wish I had extra time just so I could read, like how jury duty was supposed to be. I’m about halfway through all three of these books, but it’s not through lack of interest, I just don’t have enough time. I read the cat one on the train; it’s a murder mystery that’s not my usual genre, but it’s enjoyable. I love cats and ghosts. I read House of Leaves in the evening when I have a spare moment between activities… and I read The Love of My Afterlife before bed, unless I’m too tired or I need to squeeze in a Duolingo lesson before midnight.

Why do I practice Spanish before bed? No se.

I’m still 2 books behind schedule, because my goal is to read 20 books this year and I’ve read 14. I’ve gotta start reading when no one’s looking at work* or something.

Pacemaker was being all judgmental the other day because, to them, I haven’t worked on a novel project in over a year. But I haven’t been using Pacemaker to track my progress lately; holding myself accountable has been working fine. I set up a new project so Pacemaker wouldn’t delete my account, but it’s funny because it’s tracking my read-through of my novel at the moment, and I don’t read by word count. I’m reading through my story first before reading it again to make edit notes. I’m not sure how much I’ll be rewriting, but there are a bunch of things I think should be tweaked already. I’m tracking reading, then I’ll track the word count as it shifts with rewrites. I’m also feeling the common feelings of “is my writing any good?” since I know this story too well at this point.

A beta reader mentioned that my story is more like regular fiction with some romance, but I’ve noticed a lot of romance novels these days are like that. The Love of My Afterlife, for example, has a lot of personal growth stuff within. It’s not all kissy-kissy stuff. The two main characters don’t even know they like each other yet and I’m halfway through reading their story. I think novels where the relationship helps both characters find their happily-ever-after fit nicely in the romance genre. No bodice-ripping required.

That said, I’m going to amplify some of the romance in my revision… and take out some of the anxiety that both main characters inherited from me. Heh. Oops.

* This is a joke, because I’m the only person in my office. I could read while I’m here, except I’d feel guilty for doing so.

Somebody force me to care.

Sara Mazariegos

I kind of don’t miss “normal,” but the past few weeks have also been a lot.

Last weekend, we saw The Black Phone 2. It was fun and I’m glad they got the whole cast back instead of changing out the actors. I hope there’s not another sequel because it has a good ending and there’s not much more to do with the characters and premise. It’ll start to get stupid if they keep churning out sequels. It reminded me of Nightmare on Elm Street. That’s a perfect example of too many bad sequels, too.

As mentioned, we went to a Game Changer-themed party on Sunday. I was so nervous because it involved so much improv and it’s one thing to watch a show like that, but to actually participate in the games on the spot is kind of terrifying. Luis and I did a scene about a couple breaking up over a tandem bike. That was my proudest moment. We also got the group challenge to whisper everything, and I was really good at that. I wore the “Whispering” sticker the rest of the day. I was feeling very anxious on Sunday, so it was good to have a fun social event to distract my brain for a while.

I was anxious on Sunday because I had Jury Duty on Monday. I woke up at the same time as when I go to work and took the bus, getting to the courthouse nice and early so I could get through security and just relax with my books. I was led to believe I’d be sitting around reading for hours (that’s how it was in Virginia when I last had jury duty)… But Maryland does things differently. For one thing, there were about 800 people in the juror assembly room! They called out names for each jury pool early. I was in a pool that was around 200 people. It was a big case, and right away I knew I shouldn’t be selected. I had lunch and a brief break after the general questions, and then we came back in for more personal questioning with the judge and lawyers, with a white noise machine blocking out our discussion so the other potential jurors didn’t hear private information.

The case is apparently going to last eight business days. The judge listened to my reasoning and could see I was anxious about missing so much work at my 1-person office job, so she dismissed me. It helped— not on purpose!—that I completely blanked on the name of my company. All my brain wanted to say was my last job’s name, and I was panicking because I just couldn’t remember and I couldn’t force my brain to remember with everyone watching me and I felt so crazy. I thought she might say, “Eh, everyone wants to be at work” but she took pity on me and told me to go home. I tried not to act so relieved, but I bet she and the lawyers knew I was.

Who knew anxiety could get you out of jury duty? I wonder if it always would, though. I think it might depend on a few factors. I’m not planning to try to use it as an excuse in the future, because it was not fun to experience that.

Shifting over to something more pleasant, Luis and I are excitedly getting into Halloween preparations. We’re hosting another homemade escape room this year. The theme is Disney’s The Haunted Mansion (the attraction, not a movie.) I’ve mainly assisted with my ride knowledge and my decor collection; Luis has been coming up with all kinds of creative puzzles and he’s made a bunch of videos. He’s talented. We were originally planning a couple’s costume that was unrelated, but then I realized since we’re hosting a Haunted Mansion themed party and it’s my #1 favorite (hence the decor and my tattoo, etc) we should dress more thematically for that. He turned on a dime and bought a new costume. The party’s the weekend after this one. I’m grateful he had enough time to make the switch and I love that he was willing to do that for me. 💖

Of course I already had something to wear. I only needed an accessory, which I bought. I’ll be quite at home in our escape room at home.

As I said above, I didn’t have as much time to read during jury duty as I hoped. I actually surprised myself last night because I’m not even halfway through The Love of My Afterlife yet even though I read it a bunch. It’s hard for me to focus on a book when I’m distracted, and the courthouse people kept interrupting to make announcements and make us watch a video and tell us their judge stories. I really like the book, though. It’s a romance but I think it’s more general fiction with some romantic elements because it’s an adventure of self-discovery in a way. A lot of the “romance” books I gravitate to are like that. I also think I’ve discovered the true twist in the story. I hope I’m not wrong, because I love a good “aha, gotcha!” when the author sets one thing up and then veers in the opposite direction.

Finally, time for a writing update: I’m still taking a break from writing. After the initial “I have so many ideas though!!” few days, I’ve appreciated having time to relax and not think up plots or agonize about conflicts. It’s good to recharge my mental batteries. I do that for so many other things, why not do it for writing? I looked at the calendar the other day and realized it won’t be long until I’m reading through and editing my It’s A Wonderful Life story. And I thought, “Oh, so I better enjoy this time away while it lasts.”

I can’t wait to dive back in, but waiting is better so it’s not too cold.

We all belong to everything.

Sara Mazariegos

The US is in the midst of a government shutdown. It feels like this happens way more frequently than it used to. It doesn’t only affect Washington DC either; Luis and I are going to New York this weekend/the beginning of next week and we wanted to visit Hamilton’s house, but it will be closed because it’s run by the National Park Service, which is funded by the federal government. We’re going to visit the grounds and see the outside of the house at least. It’ll still be nice to be there, but it’s annoying to be shut out for that reason.

I’m excited to go back to NYC for our anniversary. It’s the city I’ve been to the most, outside of cities I’ve lived in. We’re planning to go to Astoria, Queens and Harlem, and we’re staying in Hell’s Kitchen. We get to experience parts of the city I’ve never visited before. I’ve usually stuck to Manhattan. Technically Harlem is part of Manhattan, but I feel like… no it’s not. We’re going to see the Muppets in Astoria, at the Museum of the Moving Image. Apparently there are around 500 Muppets and sets, etc there. I may implode.

I’m enjoying the three main books I’m reading at the moment: Practical Magic, Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice, and House of Leaves. My calendar reminded me that I’ve been reading House of Leaves for a year now. I’m halfway through it. Don’t judge me until you’ve read it. All three books are Halloween-appropriate. I still love Practical Magic. I’m reading it every weekday while I take the Metro home, so it’s slow-going, but it’s great. The Pumpkin Spice one is for young adults and it’s obvious. It seems like it’s for the younger end of young adults. I think she says “pumpkin spice latte” eighty-six bagillion times in it. So it can be somewhat grating, but it’s cute. I’m looking forward to finishing it so I can read another romance about a ghost.

While I’m at the court house for jury duty, I’m planning to read multiple books. We’ll see how much time I actually end up having to read. I remember reading for hours last time. I get kind of jumpy in situations like that, though, so it might be too ambitious to think I’ll be able to finish reading two books. What if—horror of horrors!—I do finish two books and I don’t have anything else to read. Bringing three books might be crazy.

I’m glad I’m not planning to write there. I’d be too distracted to think!

Speaking of writing, here’s my weekly writing update: I wrote out a plot outline and gave it to Luis to read. It was too confusing and messy, so he helped me come up with a rough skeleton to guide me in writing out my ideas. I wrote a new story summary with his skeleton guide and it makes way more sense now. I still have a lot to think about and develop, but I’m getting somewhere now.

I’m still on a break from writing. This is how I take a break from writing.

I keep forgetting we’re going to NYC in a few days and then I remember and get all excited again. ✨

Until next time,

All my favorite places, my city had been pulled down.

Sara Mazariegos

Have you ever noticed how pretty pigeons are when they fly together? They shimmer. I’ve been thinking about pigeons a lot more than I usually do, because I see them in the city nearly every day now. People often write them off as pests, but I think they’re cute. They were originally brought up as pets before they were abandoned to life on the street. There are several places along my walk to/from the Metro where they are fed seed or bread and you can find a massive flock of them having a great time. It always makes me smile.

It is finally autumn in the U.S. and have I ever been looking forward to it! I got a pumpkin spice coffee as soon as I could, and I’ve been enjoying the slightly cooler weather lately. Autumn seems to only last about two weeks these days before it becomes too cold. I think I’m somewhat oxymoronic because autumn is my favorite season—and October is my favorite month—but I dislike it when it’s cold and dark. Once the daylight gets scarcer, I get less motivated. I’m starting to embrace the cold versus the heat, though. This past summer was way too annoyingly hot.

We’ve begun our annual watch of Halloween movies. So far, we’ve checked out some old John Carpenter movies. Luis has seen the majority of his movies already. I’m going to select several Stephen King movies I haven’t seen yet, perhaps Cujo and Pet Sematary. Last weekend, we saw the newest one, The Long Walk. It was quite good, but not really a horror story. I might prefer his less horror-y stories anyway. It’s a really sad movie, and Mark Hamill is the villain. It’s fun to see him with one of his more sinister voices.

“I just realized, they didn’t stretch first.” – Luis

I recommend The Long Walk, though it has some really gross moments so come prepared and maybe don’t eat past the first twenty minutes. While we were watching, I got a charley horse in my legs from reclining in the comfortable theater chair and I felt guilty because the characters were forced to walk and walk. It’s not based on a new Stephen King novel, either. It’s from the 70s.

With all the craziness going on, I’ve really been looking forward to our upcoming anniversary trip. I haven’t had a vacation day, not counting a holiday, since March. It’s going to be nice to relax and have fun with Luis for several days in a row. I love spending several days in a row with him. It’s like we should be married or something. 😉

My writing is going well. I’m working on editing the epilogue I already wrote and wanted to keep in the story even as everything else was tweaked. The next few days will be more relaxed as I wind this story down, but of course new story ideas are appearing to me since I’m not actively creating anything. I keep thinking, “What if?” with a few ideas I’ve had recently. Originally, I thought I’d take October off from writing and then work on editing my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired story, but a new plot idea has entered the chat…

We’ll see if it leads anywhere.

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. ✨