Tag: Plotting

And if I had an aeroplane, I still couldn’t make it on time.

Sara Mazariegos

Getting used to new commutes & a little TMI. It has been rough taking a different route to the office. I get up at 6:40 in the morning instead of 7, which you’d think wouldn’t be that big of a change, but my body disagrees. I’m still getting used to the longer bus ride and the, frankly, terrifying escalator at the different Metro station. And it’s also hard because, between the anxiety and the caffeine, I end up feeling like I need to hit the nearest bathroom. Last week when I went home, I decided to go to the mall near the Metro station to use the restroom and, long story short, I nearly got lost in JC Penney trying to get out and find the restroom in the food court. It was Backroomsesque, especially when I went downstairs into the totally empty children’s department. Horror. Movie.

Anyway. Luis recommended that I stop drinking caffeine in the evenings, which already seems to have helped. *knock on wood* I drink a little caffeine in my cold brews at work (made by Luis, because he is the greatest) and then when I’m home I have some caffeine-free fruity soda now. There’s less of an issue during my commutes if my body isn’t telling me I need to pee at every point along the journey.

I just hope I get used to the journey and stop feeling so exhausted, though.

Seeing John Green again! John announced his tour for his new book (Hollywood, Ending, available September 22nd!) and I thought for sure there was no way we’d be able to go, because Luis’s job doesn’t finish until 6pm and the show’s at 7pm and he’s at home in Rockville (remote) and I’m in D.C., but then Luis told me we could make it work! So I bought us tickets. He’s going to meet me there, possibly a little late, but awwww! We’ve seen John Green every chance we’ve had, pretty much, so it’s great to not have to break the tradition of me thinking it’s impossible and Luis telling me we can do it. I cannot wait to read John’s new book. It sounds amazing. I may be biased, but still! This one is for adults, too, so it’ll be a little different. We literally saw him twice last year. Ahhh! We’re still spoiled.

Sorry, carry on. 🙂

Nail-biting World Cup games. After the game between Cabo Verde and Argentina, I thought the games would chill out a little. But then Egypt said, “hold my Karkade.” The game between Argentina and Egypt was also crazy close, and Egypt hates Argentina and FIFA now. FUN. So fun, these games. When Messi scored the equalizing goal, Luis collapsed and our cat Boo flew across the room in surprise. A lot of haters think Argentina was helped in that game, but come on. No one helped them score three goals in a little over ten minutes. That was all Messi and his team. They’re amazing.

People also complained about England beating Norway (I’m sad for Norway) but they won fair and square. I feel like the cable thing is so minor, and Haaland shouldn’t have pushed the guy. Sigh. And then Argentina beat Switzerland in another insane game with red cards and controversy. It’s been fun to watch these games, but they’ve also all been ridiculous. It’s hard to believe it all ends this weekend! My order of favorites in the top four is Argentina, Spain, England, France. I’d like anyone but France to win, honestly, because France winning is just boring. They’re too good, haha. I feel like people might think the same about Spain, though. Or Argentina. So it’s subjective.

By the time I’ve posted this, one of the teams (Spain or France) will have moved forward and another of the teams (Argentina or England) will move forward a few hours after I post this! This weekend will have a winner. So you have a summation of all that to look forward to next week.

When 14ths aren’t on the weekend. As I’ve said previously, Luis and I try to have mini celebrations on the 14th of every month—not like big, expensive trips or even big expensive meals every time, just little acknowledgments and date nights—but it’s sometimes difficult when the date doesn’t fall on a weekend. They actually usually don’t fall on weekends. When they don’t, we usually Doordash something fancy for dinner together or sometimes watch a movie if there’s time (this likely won’t happen while the Metro is messing up my schedule.) And I like to do something extra special on the weekend before or directly after, depending on the day of the week the 14th falls on.

I put a lot of thought into this, okay?!

This past weekend, we went to a nice Tex Mex restaurant near our house since we couldn’t go to a place on Tuesday the 14th. We also got some delicious Indian food before the games on Saturday. I also got a lot of reading done, which is something I don’t usually have left over time for. It was a relaxing weekend, which was what I needed since I’d been so drained. Then, on the 14th, we ordered Thai and watched The Four Seasons (the show, not the movie.)

August 14th is on a Friday, at least, so we might be able to watch a movie! Even when we have time to do things, we don’t do anything too crazy. 😅 Maybe when the Metro’s back to normal, we’ll go to D.C. to do something fun again. But September 14th is a Monday. Argh. We have time to plan a nice, fancier 14th then, for the future.

Just having fun with writing. Between reading Every Version of You and taking a different commute to and from work, I’ve had some interesting inspiration for my writing. I got an idea the other day while riding the scary escalator in Wheaton station. I obviously didn’t take out my phone to write it down, because I’ve gotta hang on for dear life while I’m riding the escalator to Hell. But I wrote the idea down as soon as I got off the escalator and onto the bus. {The scary escalator was the idea.}

So far, it’s been nice to have fun with writing this story and see where my thoughts take me. I’m following my outline, but it is loose enough that I can play around with things. Pizza has already come up as a plot point. I can’t avoid writing about pizza. Sorry not sorry. At least this time it has more of a reason for being in the story. Sort of like Every Version of You and its lobster. If you read it, you’ll see what I mean.

I’m counting out time, got the whole thing down by numbers.

Sara Mazariegos

Holidays can make people go crazy. Last week, Memorial Day was on Monday and a bunch of our clients either don’t celebrate the holiday because they’re not in America (fair) or they just assumed we would be working on a holiday. So we had a stressful Tuesday of explaining our closure to a lot of people, and dealing with a big influx of tasks and things. Things were still pretty nuts on Wednesday. Then I felt sick, so I took a sick day. I came back to work on Friday and everyone seemed to still have lost their minds.

Sometimes our little team takes a holiday. We deserve breaks.

They’re going to go crazy again on Juneteenth, because that’s a recently-added federal holiday. I can already imagine the impatient emails and messages come the following Monday. 🫩

Luis said, “Pick a long movie.” So I chose Kenneth Branagh’s William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. His response was not, but it was practically, “Not like that.” Given the fact that I’ve been thinking about hosting a Lord of the Rings weekend in which we watch all three of the movies—in their extended versions, because the other versions cut out way too much!—he shouldn’t have been surprised that my choice for ‘long movie’ was Kenneth Branagh’s extra-long treatment of Hamlet. It’s been on my watchlist for years, mainly because of Robin Williams. I remember my parents seeing it when it was in theaters. I was around nine years old, and I really wanted to see it, because of Robin Williams, but my parents said no because it’s too long, violent, Shakepearey, etc for a nine-year-old.

I probably would’ve fallen asleep.

But you never know! I may have loved it! Anyway. I’m glad we finally watched it. It’s not even particularly violent. It’s rated PG-13. It’s available on YouTube, so it’s easy to find. I was surprised to learn it was a flop when it came out. I guess because it was so long. I checked out the book version from the library so I can read it for the first time. It’s easier to read since I just watched it; the actor’s inflections are still fresh in my mind. It may be a long movie, but I think it does a fairly good job of making Shakespeare more accessible to audiences who might not understand it otherwise.

Next weekend we’re watching Das Boot for Luis’s long-movie pick. Notably not as long as Hamlet, but twice as many Nazis.

Finally some good news! Without going into detail, again because it’s personal stuff I don’t want to share on a public blog, the situation that was stressing Luis and me for months has finally been resolved. He’s done a lot of hard work for several months, and it’s paid off. So we can finally relax now, which feels amazing. It doesn’t even feel real yet, but it will soon. I’ll be able to write more about it in a few months, once everything has settled down.

I love a book I can’t talk about. Luis was able to use his producer magic to get me an advance reader copy of a book, and I have been loving it so far. I read it a bunch this past weekend and I wish I could just sit for hours reading it. But I also don’t want to read it so much that I finish it, because then I won’t be able to live in its world anymore, and reading it a second time won’t be as magical as the first time when I don’t know what will happen next. I have a feeling I will read it a second time, though.

It will be a perfect comparative title for the next novel I’m writing. That’s why I wanted to get a copy; but I love it beyond being similar to a story idea I have. I can’t talk about it for now, because it’s not out for another month and I haven’t finished reading it yet, but I’ll be publicly singing its praises as soon as I can!

Writing update! I finished writing my novel draft last Thursday! I feel free to move on from that story now and write other things. I may circle back to it and reshape it into something new, but for now I’m thinking about my next novel, which is exciting. I have a document of my outline plus notes, and I’ve been adding to it as I think of new ideas. It’s going to be similar in some ways to the novel I just finished, but it’s also going to be so different. I’m looking forward to writing the first draft.

At the same time, I’m enjoying taking a break from writing. I’ve had more time to read, which is lovely. I’ve also had more time to let my imagination run wild a little bit instead of constantly trying to stay on one track with one story idea.

Probably by the end of June, I’ll be chomping at the bit and anxious about getting started with my next novel, but for now it’s nice to not feel pressured to write or stick to a schedule.

Time will heal all the hate, all in good time.

Sara Mazariegos

Birds don’t discriminate. As I was walking to my office, I watched the birds eating the seeds that some nice city worker throws out for them. I noticed that it’s not only pigeons and sparrows, but there are crows and even ducks joining in on the feast sometimes. And none of them try to pick a fight or keep the other kinds of birds from eating with them. There’s a metaphor in this somewhere.

There was also a robin on my way to the bus the other day, standing in the grass next to the sidewalk. Rather than running or flying away like they usually do, this little one just looked up at me with big eyes. It was incredibly cute. Sometimes, our local wildlife makes me feel like a Disney princess. Specifically Giselle I suppose, because the animals I get excited to see are pigeons and squirrels. Cute animal friends are cute regardless of what kind of animals they are!

The Devil Wears Prada 2. We saw the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada last weekend. I was wary at first, but I know it is a book series and I liked the first movie. I think it’s a good sequel; it feels like the first one but with new plot points and drama instead of being a rehash. I also think Miranda isn’t as mean in it. Maybe I’m just used to her meanness. I mostly felt sorry for her in this one.

I can’t remember if I posted about it (I probably did) but I tried reading the first novel and I couldn’t get through it, in either audiobook or book-book form. Andy is an annoying, whiny narrator in the book, but I like her in the movie. My favorite character is still Nigel (Stanley Tucci.) I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, so I won’t say anything else.

Immortality final thoughts. Luis and I finished playing Immortality last weekend as well. It was addictive so we played it for hours. I really like it! It’s so cool that they have actors performing all of these scenes within scenes, and then there’s scenes hidden within the scenes. I wish more games were this creative and adventurous with ideas. I do think we’re seeing more and more cool, innovative games like this lately, thanks to places like Steam making it easier for indie developers to get their games out there.

My favorite of the movies within the game is Minsky. This won’t make any sense unless you play the game, though. I definitely recommend it. It’s a showcase of the main actress Manon Gage’s talent as well, because she was fresh out of college when she acted in this game, and she gets to show off her range. I look forward to playing other games by the creator, Sam Barlow. We’ve already played Her Story.

New ideas are rejuvenating. I’m within the final 20K of my current novel draft, projected to be finished by the beginning of June. Ever since I decided this story won’t work as a published novel, I’ve been more laid back about writing it. It’s still going to be completed, even if I won’t pursue it with agents. It’s always a good goal to finish what you’ve started, if possible. I even have a few ideas of ways I can repurpose this story into a new idea I have swirling around in my brain. I don’t want to fully abandon it because I still see its value.

That being said, I’m looking forward to not thinking about it for a while.

I’m very excited to start writing my next novel. I have months to plan it, so hopefully it will just easily come out as the fully formed story from my head!

No? That’s now how writing works? I always forget.

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.

I needed to possess you – I hated you – I loved you, too.

Sara Mazariegos

A lot of my blog post titles are Kate Bush lyrics. I always end up listening to her when I’m writing these entries.

Wuthering Heights as a novel didn’t do much for me, mainly because it’s a story told from a random perspective. And then there’s the character I can’t understand at all. But somehow, the story still stays with me. The spooky ghost stuff always gets me in the end.

It feels like a lot has happened, but it’s mostly just a lot of hopeful ideas and planning that’s been going on. I thought of another novel idea, so I’ve been working on it as a sort of “summer fling” before NaNoWriMo in November. I thought of the idea when I was half awake on Saturday. If Paul McCartney has taught me anything, great ideas can strike when one is semi-conscious*!

It’s a romance novel inspired by my cat.

Bookwise, I’ve finished reading the book about Sophie Scholl (with much sadness for her and her brother and compatriots.) I’ll work on plotting out the novel based loosely on her at some point in the future. I’ve hit my limit with story ideas now. I can only think about so much. 😅

I’ve started reading The Good Part by Sophie Cousens and it’s been a warm reminder that I adore Sophie Cousens novels. It’s also nearly made me burst into tears a few times. It’s delightful. A lot of toddler grossness, but in a cute way? It might be my favorite of her books (so far.)

Tomorrow is Luis’s birthday. I’m taking the day off and taking him out to a fancy seafood dinner. He’s been working so hard with a big transition at his job, so I hope to help him have a great weekend.

I hope you have a great weekend too.


*He claims to have written both “Yesterday” and “Yellow Submarine” while in this dreamlike state.

I can have a dark side if you want me to.

Sara Mazariegos


Luis* and I are going to see Tim Minchin in August! I’ve been a fan of him** since 2011 when I saw him on Conan. I’m so excited. I wonder if we’ll get to meet him afterward…

We’re going to see Inside Out 2 this weekend. I told Luis that Fear and Anxiety should be in a relationship because they go hand-in-hand. They’re the two emotions I feel the most. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’re probably SHOCKED to read that. 😉

In Writing Update news, things have been going well. It’s starting to be summertime, so my thoughts are more distracted by sunshine and fun places we could go, but I’ve been good about writing my daily word total each day. I’m following Pacemaker’s recommendations so I’m not writing my brain ragged. I write about 1,766 words per day, which is nearly the NaNoWriMo amount.

I’m 72% of the way through this draft. And there’s still a lot of good bits I’ll be writing in it. It’s not winding down yet. I think I’ve tried to wind down too early in the past, making the end kind of… fizzley. I can’t stress the Save The Cat outline strategy enough.

Aside from writing, I’m beta/arc reading for two other authors. And reading probably too many books at the same time.

How’s your early-almost-summer going?

*My husband
**Tim, not my husband. I’ve been a fan of my husband since January 28, 2012.

Looking for a spark.

Sara Mazariegos


Whoo boy, have I made some changes.

Remember when I said I was working on my holiday-themed story? I was hit by a creativity spark while reading my beta reader’s feedback on my other novel, so I’m planning to finish the holiday novel’s rewrites in November now (for NaNoWriMo+) and I’m working on rewriting the first story again.

I got a burst of inspiration last Friday as I looked through my notes for a romantasy story I was slowly starting to piece together. It clicked! I could combine elements of that story with my first story. My first story is so personal and matters so much to me. Like they discussed in today’s episode of The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, taking the time to really focus and hone the story I want to publish is important.

I don’t want to give up on it and leave it in a closet to die.

Since Friday, I’ve completely retooled the plot outline, making it follow the Save The Cat beat sheet. It has a real flow now, and the themes jump out much more than they used to. The conflict is much clearer. I’m so excited to work on this draft! I only wish I’d discovered STC sooner, so I wouldn’t have been such a strugglesaurus these past few years. But I know, thanks to WriterThreads, that I’m not alone.

I changed the title of the novel for the fourth time, too. Ha. It fits the story better, though it could’ve worked with the older drafts as well. That’s part of how I know it’s a good one. Titles change a bunch of times, though. I’m not getting attached to any of the ones I come up with.

Thanks to Carly Watters, I have another genre I can add to my pitch paperwork, too: autofiction.

Don’t be afraid to work on something else if you’re feeling stuck on something. Even if that something else is the thing you’ve already “finished” twice. 😉

Wish I knew what you were looking for.

Sara Mazariegos


My goal this week has been to take it easy. I’ve created a novel outline; I’ve thought of things to include in this new draft. I’m not letting myself start writing it until Monday.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Clayborn. It’s so good. I need to read everything she’s ever written. Her writing style matches mine and my preferences in novels I like to read. I’m still obsessed with Georgie, All Along.

This go-around, I’m not going to worry so much about the publishing side of things. I want to focus on my writing and enjoy it. I figure the more “business” side can come later, once I’m sure I’ve got a manuscript worthy of the effort.

Short post this time. I said everything I wanted to say in the video above. Plus, I said it through burned lips.

That’s not a figure of speech.

Too much time on my hands.

Sara Mazariegos


The title is meant to be ironic because this week has been pretty busy for me. It’s also a good song by Styx.

I said in my video that I was at ~62k words, but my goal for today is actually ~64k. I’m proud of myself for consistently hitting the mark, or at least near the mark so I’m not struggling with way too much to write per day. I’ve learned!

My little living room laptop has been such a help. There’s something about sitting with limited Internet function that really helps my mind focus on writing instead of what x friend said on social media. I’ve started playing music on my phone, though, because Little Laptop can’t handle a tab of streaming music. 😂

One thing I’ve been working through is some unseen characters in my novel. They matter to the plot, but only vaguely. Without giving too much away*, they’re people in the FMC’s friend’s lives. At first, I thought, “Should I introduce them and have a scene with them?” but I’m realizing it doesn’t matter as long as they’re mentioned. It would slow things down to introduce so-and-so’s partner who doesn’t affect the MCs’ lives much.

I might still throw them in, for some added fun, but only because I want to, not because it’s necessary.

I don’t want to be like Dickens, throwing in a million new character names in the last pages of the story. Dickens was silly. I love him, but he was.

*I’ve read so many warnings about not sharing one’s writing online if you want it to get published, because publishers want exclusivity, etc. I get it, but it’s also hard because I love sharing things.