Tag: Books

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.

Our world could use this beauty, just think what we might do.

Sara Mazariegos

As usual, I’m getting into a TV show that’s several years old. Luis and I recently started watching Hacks, and it’s so clever. I admit, I initially wanted to watch it because Hannah Einbinder is Laraine Newman’s daughter. Before checking it out, I watched some of her standup, and she’s funny. I love her voices. It’s fun to see her and Jean Smart together.

Aside from Hacks, we’ve been watching another Hollywood-focused show called Death by Fame. It’s mostly about famous people or “famous” people losing their minds and killing people. Sometimes they get killed themselves, but I’ve noticed it’s mostly the “famous” people who snap. Some of the episodes are a stretch. Others are really good, because they introduce me to actors or whatever I may never have noticed before. I had no idea Drew Carey once had a fiancée who was murdered. ☹️

I’m looking forward to our trip to L.A. this month. I’m a little nervous, too, because of the airplane stuff that’s been happening, and the fires. Thankfully, it looks like the fires have been contained. This year already feels so strange, and it’s only the beginning of February.

For all of February, I’m taking a break from writing, to give my brain a break. I’ve been reading The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers. It’s really cute so far. There’s a deceased character in it, and it’s really creative how she writes about her. She’s not quite a ghost, but she’s ghost-esque. You know I love ghosts.

This weekend, we’re going to play board games with one of Luis’s old friends. She was in our wedding, and we haven’t seen her in far too long. And then on Sunday, we’re going to the movies and other things to avoid the big football game. We do not partake. 😝

And as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention.

Sara Mazariegos

Went to bed last night with the news of the airplane/military helicopter crash at one of our local airports. It’s shocking and bizarre, and I both hope it was just an accident and also have to ask HOW did such a horrible accident happen?

I already kind of hate this year. ☹️

I started out this blog post draft with a writing prompt answer. The mood was a bit different then…

Daily writing prompt
Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.
View all responses

I still haven’t visited Frederick, MD even though I’ve heard good things about it and I know some people who live there. It looks pretty, from photos I’ve seen. We’re going there for a friend’s wedding this spring! I’m looking forward to finally experiencing it. The wedding just so happens to be on a weekend with a 14th, so Luis and I can celebrate that a little, too. ☺️

I’m currently reading a book I think will be a good comp for my next novel, but I asked my favorite literary agent from TSNOTYAW if it’s okay for an American author to use U.K. authors as comps. The lived experiences of the characters are somewhat different, but the feelings and themes are still there.


It’s nice to have reassurance sometimes.

On the revising front, I’m getting near the end of my second read-through round of edits. Then I’m going to take February off to give myself a break from thinking about it (as much as I can.) In March, Luis will be my alpha reader. Because he’s helpful.

I hope you’re doing okay in these scary times. I’ve found reading to be much more solace than social media these days. It always has been, but now it’s even more obvious that social media is not good for you.

I ran to your heart to be near.

Sara Mazariegos

Happy New Year!

I must admit, I’m still in a bit of a holiday stupor, not helped by the fact that I’m back at work on a Thursday. Is everyone feeling a bit confused about what day it is and what we’re supposed to be doing?

My calendars are up and my work planner has been updated with the holidays and vacation days I’ve solidified thus far. I just have to get to February 14th without pulling my hair out and I’ll be fine.

We had a nice holiday break together. It was nice just to be together and relax. We went to the National Zoo on New Year’s Eve (Zoo Year’s) and then had an impromptu dinner at a Turkish place because the Thai place we’d booked wasn’t open for when we made our reservation. Thanks, automated reservation services (in this case, Google.) The Turkish place was more memorable than the Thai place probably would’ve been anyway, though.

For Christmas, I received a few books. One of my light resolutions this year is that I will only read books I currently own as of 1/1/2025. I have a library book, so I can read that, obviously. Books on my Amazon Fire also count. I’m excited to go through my bookshelves and actually read the books there instead of finding books elsewhere all the time.

As far as writing, I’ve still been taking a break from my It’s A Wonderful Life novel. I give myself at least the recommended two weeks between writing and reading the complete draft. I’m going to read it next week, and I hopefully won’t cringe too much. I’m excited to keep working on it and sprucing it up until it’s ready to query.

In the meantime, of course I’ve thought up another novel idea. I’m always thinking of something.