Tag: Literary Agents

Is that the autumn leaf falling?

Sara Mazariegos

Thanksgiving again. It’s hard to believe it’s holiday time again. I was telling Luis that once August comes, everything starts to happen so quickly. I wonder if every year has felt like Halloween came and went before I knew it, or if it’s more like that this year because I’ve been working such long days and haven’t had as much time to catch my breath. My brain is still in New York on our anniversary in some ways. And remember when I had jury duty? That was a month ago. Unbelievable.

No Rest for the Wicked. Last weekend, we saw the second part of Wicked. My immediate response was it should have just been one movie with an intermission, like the musical. It’s also not really my thing… It’s such a cynical fan fiction. Much of it doesn’t make sense when you actually think about it. The best parts are the songs and the costumes. I still have the book, and I still haven’t read it. We’ll see if I ever do. I’m glad I haven’t seen it on stage.

We saw the new version of The Running Man last weekend as well. The two movies have similar themes, but I preferred The Running Man. It was much less annoying.

Even clips from It’s A Wonderful Life make me teary-eyed. The other day, Luis thought a TV show character sounded like George Bailey from It’s A Wonderful Life, so I went to YouTube to track down a clip of George yelling a lot and see if Luis was correct. The clip I sought was from the end of the movie, which is the most Christmasy part, so I felt silly watching it before Thanksgiving. I asked him if he meant “My mouth’s bleeding, Bert!” but he said it was something George says to the kids, so I had to check in case I’d forgotten a bit of dialogue*. Hard for me to imagine, given that I’ve seen it at least once a year my whole life.

Watching the clip—even though it’s not Christmas yet, I have the movie memorized, and it was only the last ten minutes—made me teary-eyed. It’s such a heart-warming movie. I love all the characters. As I read through my novel inspired by it, I find myself feeling similarly, which is a good sign.

Comparing my writing to others’. A big part of writing is reading, especially in the genre you write in. It’s a great way to learn what works and get inspired. A drawback I’m finding, though it’s a minor one, is that I compare my writing to the books I’m reading. I also compare my writing to the writing of authors I really like. But it’s not kind to myself, because authors like Sophie Cousens and Ashley Poston were agented and published a long time ago. I want to learn how to write better like them, but it’s unrealistic to think I’m going to magically be at their level without putting in the time and work.

That being said, I’m reading through my latest draft of my It’s A Wonderful Life novel, and I’m enjoying it even as I edit things. I’ve got a good story here, I just need to make it shine as much as I can before attempting to have agents read it.

I’m considering following the lead of Philip Van Doren Stern and gifting the finished draft to a few of my friends this Christmas. Not to critique, just to read and enjoy.

We’ll see if I get brave enough to do that.

* I’m pretty sure it was “There they are!” as said to Bert, that sounded a little bit like the character Luis was talking about (Bobby on King of the Hill.)

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.

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”

Sara Mazariegos

I used to think this was a Willy Wonka quote. I had no idea he was quoting a poem by Arthur O’Shaughnessy.

We are the music makers,
    And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
    And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
    On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
    Of the world for ever, it seems.

Isn’t it wild to think that people didn’t know things like that before the Internet? Granted, I could’ve looked it up sooner than the other day, but still. We were just out there, learning things as they came to us and assuming things because we didn’t have pocket encyclopedias*.

This has been on my mind lately because John Green has been posting about the negative aspects of the social Internet for (let’s face it) years now. He’s taking a month off from Vlogbrothers in part because of the toxicity of the modern Internet, and I can’t blame him but also 😭

I am a Millennial. I grew up playing outside with friends, watching VHS tapes, and using a complicated Dewey Decimal System (with cards in organized drawers!) I clearly remember being 14 and liking a band and having to buy their CDs if I wanted to hear them. Okay, the bands were from the 60s so it’s not like I was listening to Millennial music, but still. If I wanted to listen to The Who’s discography, I had to buy that sh—

A moment ago, I just listened to a full Monkees album I’d never heard before because I didn’t own it. Am I nostalgic for a time when information wasn’t at my fingertips? NO! I just think it’s unfortunate and not necessary that we as a connected, better-informed society have gone from “I learned a thing! :D” to “everyone who disagrees with me is stupid and doesn’t deserve to go about their day without me telling them how badly I think of them.”

And now to awkwardly pivot a little. On Sunday, a literary agent tweeted this:


This is bad. This is really bad. I would hope that the majority of literary agents would not ever even think of doing something like this. Not only is it embarrassing for the writer she rejected, but it’s basically saying, ‘you gave me this idea, now I can take it and have someone else write it instead of working with you.’

It’s quite disheartening to see this behavior from a literary agent. They are supposed to be the ones writers can trust and turn to for support and advice. I don’t want to write off all agents because I know for a fact that most of them are wonderful, but it certainly doesn’t help their case in the growing traditional vs. indie publishing debates.

What do you think?


*Or maybe some of us did. Nerds.