Tag: Drafting

Cinderelly, Cinderelly.

Sara Mazariegos


There’s a lot to look forward to in Saraland™ in the next few months – one of which is actually happening tomorrow! I’m going to Richmond with Luis (husband) to see Poe’s cats and learn some history. I love cats and history.

The other morning, we got up so, so early to get reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table in Disney World when we’re there in April. We succeeded! It’ll be lunch instead of dinner, but I’m so excited anyway! By the look of things, lunch might be calmer than dinner, which is perhaps better for our purposes.

I say “like” so much when I’m excited. I didn’t realize until I watched my video back while editing.

In writing progress news, I’ve reached the wonderful 40K (halfway) point! 🎉 I’ve incorporated some of my older draft’s scenes because they’re relevant and not in need of big changes. That’s one nice thing about revising: you can go in and take the things you still want.

Since I’ve made a lot of drastic plot changes to my novel — I even changed the title! (That’ll happen more times, I bet.) — I went back into my query draft and updated it as well, to correspond with my updated plot.

My novel is definitely more focused on the romance plot now. I still think “women’s fiction” applies, too. Many contemporary romances involve women’s fiction angles, don’t they? The female lead’s point in life is very tied to everything she does. I’m drawn to novels where the female lead has some growing to do. I doubt I’m the only one.

I also feel, in my heart, that there’s a space on bookshelves for a romance inspired by Nerdfighters. I hope to provide a novel for that space.

This is the land of confusion.

Sara Mazariegos


I’m now at 16,000 words out of my projected total of 80,000 words. So far, I’ve been sticking more to the romance format/tropes I’ve seen in other contemporary romances I’ve read. It’s going well, and I can already see improvement overall.

What does it say about me that I openly do all of this trial-and-error stuff? If I can help other writers find their way, I call that a win.

As I mentioned in the video above, I got a new little Asus laptop for my writing. I wanted a dedicated computer that primarily functions as access to my Google Drive files. It forces me to focus on writing instead of glancing at social media for hours instead. It’s been going well so far! I love that I can just grab it, write, and then set it aside without all the fuss I used to have with bringing my big gaming laptop/work laptop into the living room to write.

I write better when I’m on the comfy living room couch. It’s important to recognize your best writing space. I imagine I’ll handle things like querying from the office, where the business stuff happens. 😅

One thing this draft has that the others lacked: some in-person friends for my MFC! In the past, I emphasized the Internet as a source of friendships, but I neglected the friends she ultimately had in her ‘real life’ as well. Is this a metaphor for my own life? Who knows. I think it’s making the story less bleak, which only makes sense if you’ve read it.

My husband Luis knows what I mean. My betas will probably be relieved as well.

Onward and upward!

Still playing for time.

Sara Mazariegos

I’ve finally crossed into under 10K words left of my novel draft! 🎉

This has been an eye-opening experience. I can’t say I hated rewriting my novel, though. I know the nucleus of this story so well that reshaping it wasn’t as difficult as it could’ve been. That said, I’m looking forward to taking a break from working on it. Once I’ve finished the new draft, I’m going to put it aside until at least December.

Of course, I have a new novel to start on November 1st. I’m fully prepared for NaNoWriMo to punch me in the face like it often does, especially because I have a week I must take off in order to attend an international wedding. So we’ll see if I finish that draft in November. Hence the whole “at least December” thing. If I’m working on a new novel, I’m not gonna fuss with editing the older one much during Christmastime.

When I first approached this stuff, I was looking at it as some kind of a rush. I was excited! I had so many ideas! And that was good fuel for getting the writing done, but I have since chilled out.

There’s no rush. I should take my time to put good novels in front of book agents. I should find good, reliable betas who know what they’re talking about. I should EDIT.

Last time, I was too easy on myself. I edited right after finishing and getting some feedback from friends. I didn’t see the big picture. I queried 20 or so agents before the story was ready.

Then I got some betas who gave me important feedback and I’ve regrouped. The story is in a better place because of it.

I can’t wait for people to get the chance to read my story, but waiting is just part of it. Rejection is part of it, though hopefully, the second try will go better.

And working on this next story can be amusement on the days when editing feels more like work. Editing is fun, for me (I’m weird), but it’s also more work than daydreaming up a novel is.

I’m proud of myself, regardless.