Tag: Process

I put myself back in the narrative.

Sara Mazariegos

Wow, this is an entirely different post than I thought I was going to post this week.

After a week of being anxious and sick with worry, applying anywhere and everywhere that was hiring little ol’ admins like me, barely being able to enjoy my birthday or movies or writing because of the stress, I have a new job! I start tomorrow. It feels imaginary. It feels too good to be true. I hope I hope I hope it goes well and I like it and it’s as good a fit as it feels.

I’m still going to be free on weekends. I’m still going to have PTO. I’m not going to have benefits, but those can be bought at a price that works for us. It’s going to be an adjustment, but I’m excited to see what happens. This might be a great way to network and expand my skills.

Anyway, enough about work. How are you? 😅 Are the birds singing where you are? I’ve been spoiling our neighborhood birds and squirrels. My sister-in-law laughed at me yesterday because I have a giant bag of birdseed. And this isn’t even related to anything; this is just the way I’ve always been.

Writing-wise, everything’s still going well. I think the 500-words-a-day pacing has been much better for my brain, and it’s also been way more doable during all of these hectic changes. Just hope I don’t read it back when it’s finished and realize it’s not good. (I doubt that’ll happen, but we writers are tough self-critics.)

We watched Hamilton on my birthday-eve last Friday and I was struck by how much it ends up being Eliza’s story. It’s a little bit like Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy.

”My beloved raccoon, the story has been yours all along, you just didn’t know it.”

Dang, I think I may have stumbled upon the best tattoo idea for me.

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.

I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time.

Sara Mazariegos

Have you ever had such an intense dream/nightmare that you’ve woken up with a headache? That happened to me last week, and it was quite frightening. I’ve been thinking about it ever since; the funny thing is, I can’t remember much of the dream itself, just the intense emotion and headache.

In writing news, my systematic approach to editing is going well, if I do say so myself. I’m only reading three (or so) chapters a day; making changes and neatening things up as I go. Once again, I’m finding the editing and revising stage to be eye-opening and a fun challenge for myself. Am I a rare breed of writer who actually likes editing??

I also think I’ve matured as a writer as I’ve gained experience and listened to weekly* The Shit No One Tells You About Writing episodes. I have no idea how people with full-time jobs can attend conferences and writers retreats. I’m an eager listener/reader of their advice when they return with it, though! Surely that counts for something.

Once the story is in Luis’s hands — digitally, actually — I plan to start plotting out my new story idea and maybe even start writing it. I hope to be a little more chill when drafting this time. The NaNoWriMo style of writing (ie. making sure to write roughly 2k words a day) is handy for getting the novel done in a shorter amount of time, but there’s no reason to rush the writing process, especially because all of it takes time!

Luis will be happier if I’m not writing for hours and hours every day, too. I can’t write at 5 AM like certain authors, or late at night. I’m solidly an afternoon creative, and having a job makes that… a challenge. So my goal with my next novel is to be finished writing the first draft by December? That seems loose enough.


*Nearly weekly, anyway. I do have a life that sometimes gets in the way. 😉

Every night’s another reason why I left it all.

Sara Mazariegos

I started having my computer read my It’s A Wonderful Life-inspired novel out loud, so I can hear how it sounds and find typos/repetition/things like that. It’s exciting to hear my story come to life, even if the voice sounds like a computer lady, because it is.

I’m trying not to make changes at the moment, though I did go in and fix the typos/repetition that I found, because those are easy fixes that don’t need to pass into the next draft. I want the next draft to be ready for the bigger changes. Hopefully I won’t have too many, since this isn’t the first time I’ve written this story. 😅

Meanwhile, ideas for my next story keep falling into my brain. I got one idea for a plot and it just sort of snowballed from there. I have an outline file to store everything for now, since I’m focusing on polishing the other story first.

Just when I’d started to wonder if I’d ever have another idea for a story…

This one is about shyness and past selves. It’s inspired by going through all of my old emails, and some of the nearly-but-not-wholly-forgotten heartaches that lurked within. I won’t say more than that for now, since I’m only at the beginning of thinking about it. Just reading the old emails has been A Lot.

On a lighter note: Luis made fun of me for laughing at something I’d written in my novel. I didn’t remember it, and the computer lady voice made it extra amusing. Imagine Jimmy Stewart’s words coming out of a female robot.

Why are you shaking like a leaf?

Sara Mazariegos

The timing of this post turned out to be more prescient than I thought it would be. Good lord. I planned to write about how I feel less pressured/guilty when writing without NaNoWriMo or any other progress tracker looming over me. I’ve been keeping track of my word count each day simply by putting it into my calendar, and I gave myself a loose end goal of 2 weeks before NaNoWriMo+ starts…

Now I suppose I should feel even less concerned about using the official NaNoWriMo site. They’re apparently allowing their users’ writing to train AI and other such nonsense. 😲 I’ll stick to Pacemaker, thanks. I still plan to write/revise a novel in November through mid-December, but I won’t use NaNoWriMo’s website to help motivate me. It’s unfortunate for all the young writers who look forward to it each year. I hope a lot of users leave it and stop donating.

My current novel is easy to write, somehow. It helps that I carefully outlined it and I’m playing with some quirky fantasy ideas. It feels like there are fewer rules with magical romance. As long as there’s a happily ever after. (Of course there is!) Some people think it’s unnecessary for a romance to end happily, but they’re wrong.


Speaking of the rules of romance novels, I’ve noticed for at least the second time that the book I’m currently reading — this time it’s The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston — has such negative reviews on Goodreads that I keep thinking “Did we read the same book?”

I know different people have different tastes, but people can be so heated and mean on there. I happen to LOVE this book, if it’s not obvious. It’s a spooky love story with ghosts, gallows humor, and even a few Haunted Mansion references! What’s not for Sara to like?? I got a copy from my local library but I have since put it onto my gift wishlist because I feel I must own a copy.

Nine out of ten times, I want to own the book I’m reading.

Speaking of spooky stuff, we’re seeing Beetlejuice Beetlejuice this weekend! It got better reviews than I expected. I’m relieved. I still doubt it’s better than the first one. It’s hard to be better than Tim Burton’s best movie.

Crunchwrap supreme.

Sara Mazariegos


I finished my novel*!! 🎉🎉🎉

On Tuesday night, I finished writing the main story. Then I pasted in my pre-written epilogue and called it a night. Yesterday (Wednesday), I read through the epilogue, adding and tightening things and making sure it made sense with my revisions. Then I officially typed “THE END” and sat back.

Last week, I kept going back and forth between thinking I could devote myself to crunchtime and finish by today or possibly have to officially finish by March 1st. Well, after miraculously writing 3,000 words on Monday, I didn’t have to worry about not being able to complete my novel draft this month.

Inspiration struck me more in this final stretch thanks to the big changes I implemented in my draft. I had a sort of epiphany as I was piecing things together and I think I’ve found a more satisfying conclusion to my story. I feel more confident about things this go-around, and I don’t think I’ll have to do another drastic rewrite. Hopefully, I won’t have to make any further big changes. 🤞

Now I find myself in this weird, “Uhhhh. What now??” stage. I’ve asked my husband Luis to be my alpha reader and let me know his thoughts. I’m giving myself two or so weeks to not read it, and then I’ll dive in and clean it up for eventual beta readers. Remember when I said writing is a process?

I may be unable to avoid revising my other novel while I wait. The good thing is each book has its own bubble, so I can by all means work on a different novel while I’m supposed to be taking a break from this one.

It will be a bit weird to work on a novel set during Fall/Winter right as Spring is springing forth, but… Such is life.

*For now. I will have to go through several rounds of edits before it’s officially ready to be queried. I definitely feel better about it now!

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!

That ice is slowly melting.

Sara Mazariegos


As I read through my novel draft, I keep finding things I want to improve and/or cut. It’s eye-opening, even if it is also a bit frustrating. I’m planning to begin work on rewriting it next week. My goal is to basically “wrimo” my way to March 1st* and then take a break to read my other novel, and then trade places, etc.

It’s nice to have multiple projects to work on. Even if I want to scream “Why can’t you be perfect?!” at both of them.

One thing I’ve noticed I do as a writer (I’m sure I’m not the only one) is overexplaining myself. I’ll have my character (the narrator) say something, and then have an aside or sometimes just an additional thought that’s basically the same information, but in a joking way. I’ve crossed off these superfluous sentences more than twice so far. I wonder if I picked up that sort of writing from Marvel movies?

Either way, I’m annoying myself. Ha!

In other non-writing news, Luis and I are going to Disney World in April for my belated birthday, then back to Guatemala for another family wedding! We’re going to stay at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort for a special resort day to kick things off. To say I’m excited would be a vast understatement. 🥳

Get you a spouse who shares in your enthusiasm for things. It really is the best.

*giving myself about a month and a half to rewrite it since February is a short month, even with Leap Day.

But just saying it could even make it happen.

Sara Mazariegos

I took a week’s vacation, and it ended up being a vacation from writing my novel, too. Unplanned, but possibly good for my brain, in the long run?

Rewriting my novel has been a challenge, mainly because I’m trying to focus on what readers look for. In the process, I’ve discovered a new comp title — swapping out the one from 2019 that I’d been clinging to — and new avenues to explore and tighten in my narrative.

My goal is to finish the rewritten manuscript by September 30th and then begin the editing process. Then more betas and editing! I’m currently at around 38,000 words with the goal word count of 80,000. Hopefully, by the end of the year/beginning of next year, I’ll be ready to start sending fresh query letters to agents.

Of course, I also have a new idea I plan to start writing once I can focus on something new.

I’m ambitious sometimes.