Tag: Romance

Games without frontiers, war without tears.

Sara Mazariegos

My Grandma passed away last week. She was ninety-three years old. I’m mostly grateful I was able to visit her last year, when we were unfortunately in town for my grandfather’s funeral (her husband.) We spent time watching hockey on TV and eating at nice restaurants, and we went to Point Defiance Zoo. She loved going to the zoo with family. I’m glad I was able to see her and she was doing well and having a nice time. I’m also grateful she didn’t become sick and spend months suffering. She didn’t have to be ailing for long. She was a sweet person and I’ll miss her.

I have a card from the Library of Congress that I was planning to send her. I’ll save it and give it to somebody else deserving. She’d like to know I’m still sending cards and letters. We used to write back and forth to each other. I always drew her a squirrel. 🥹

Luis should be very proud of himself for how well our (really his) escape room turned out last weekend. He came up with so many challenging puzzles and made all these cool videos to guide everyone along and congratulate them when they progressed. I hid the clues all over the house and got to be the helpful Haunted Mansion maid, turning lights on to guide them for clues and making things a little easier to find when needed. One thing that’s funny and a bit of an extra challenge is that we own a lot of stuff that could’ve corresponded to the puzzles, so we kept having to say things like, “No, sorry, it’s specific cards, not these random Pokemon cards. Oh, sorry, that’s just a Haunted Mansion painting on the wall because it’s decor. It’s not going to interact with your app.”

We had stuff that became animated by scanning it with an app. Oh yeah. 😎 It was fun! We’re already thinking up ideas for next year’s. It’s a great Halloween tradition.

I’m still reading three books at the moment: The Love of My Afterlife, House of Leaves, and The Cat Who Talked To Ghosts. Sometimes I wish I had extra time just so I could read, like how jury duty was supposed to be. I’m about halfway through all three of these books, but it’s not through lack of interest, I just don’t have enough time. I read the cat one on the train; it’s a murder mystery that’s not my usual genre, but it’s enjoyable. I love cats and ghosts. I read House of Leaves in the evening when I have a spare moment between activities… and I read The Love of My Afterlife before bed, unless I’m too tired or I need to squeeze in a Duolingo lesson before midnight.

Why do I practice Spanish before bed? No se.

I’m still 2 books behind schedule, because my goal is to read 20 books this year and I’ve read 14. I’ve gotta start reading when no one’s looking at work* or something.

Pacemaker was being all judgmental the other day because, to them, I haven’t worked on a novel project in over a year. But I haven’t been using Pacemaker to track my progress lately; holding myself accountable has been working fine. I set up a new project so Pacemaker wouldn’t delete my account, but it’s funny because it’s tracking my read-through of my novel at the moment, and I don’t read by word count. I’m reading through my story first before reading it again to make edit notes. I’m not sure how much I’ll be rewriting, but there are a bunch of things I think should be tweaked already. I’m tracking reading, then I’ll track the word count as it shifts with rewrites. I’m also feeling the common feelings of “is my writing any good?” since I know this story too well at this point.

A beta reader mentioned that my story is more like regular fiction with some romance, but I’ve noticed a lot of romance novels these days are like that. The Love of My Afterlife, for example, has a lot of personal growth stuff within. It’s not all kissy-kissy stuff. The two main characters don’t even know they like each other yet and I’m halfway through reading their story. I think novels where the relationship helps both characters find their happily-ever-after fit nicely in the romance genre. No bodice-ripping required.

That said, I’m going to amplify some of the romance in my revision… and take out some of the anxiety that both main characters inherited from me. Heh. Oops.

* This is a joke, because I’m the only person in my office. I could read while I’m here, except I’d feel guilty for doing so.

Somebody force me to care.

Sara Mazariegos

I kind of don’t miss “normal,” but the past few weeks have also been a lot.

Last weekend, we saw The Black Phone 2. It was fun and I’m glad they got the whole cast back instead of changing out the actors. I hope there’s not another sequel because it has a good ending and there’s not much more to do with the characters and premise. It’ll start to get stupid if they keep churning out sequels. It reminded me of Nightmare on Elm Street. That’s a perfect example of too many bad sequels, too.

As mentioned, we went to a Game Changer-themed party on Sunday. I was so nervous because it involved so much improv and it’s one thing to watch a show like that, but to actually participate in the games on the spot is kind of terrifying. Luis and I did a scene about a couple breaking up over a tandem bike. That was my proudest moment. We also got the group challenge to whisper everything, and I was really good at that. I wore the “Whispering” sticker the rest of the day. I was feeling very anxious on Sunday, so it was good to have a fun social event to distract my brain for a while.

I was anxious on Sunday because I had Jury Duty on Monday. I woke up at the same time as when I go to work and took the bus, getting to the courthouse nice and early so I could get through security and just relax with my books. I was led to believe I’d be sitting around reading for hours (that’s how it was in Virginia when I last had jury duty)… But Maryland does things differently. For one thing, there were about 800 people in the juror assembly room! They called out names for each jury pool early. I was in a pool that was around 200 people. It was a big case, and right away I knew I shouldn’t be selected. I had lunch and a brief break after the general questions, and then we came back in for more personal questioning with the judge and lawyers, with a white noise machine blocking out our discussion so the other potential jurors didn’t hear private information.

The case is apparently going to last eight business days. The judge listened to my reasoning and could see I was anxious about missing so much work at my 1-person office job, so she dismissed me. It helped— not on purpose!—that I completely blanked on the name of my company. All my brain wanted to say was my last job’s name, and I was panicking because I just couldn’t remember and I couldn’t force my brain to remember with everyone watching me and I felt so crazy. I thought she might say, “Eh, everyone wants to be at work” but she took pity on me and told me to go home. I tried not to act so relieved, but I bet she and the lawyers knew I was.

Who knew anxiety could get you out of jury duty? I wonder if it always would, though. I think it might depend on a few factors. I’m not planning to try to use it as an excuse in the future, because it was not fun to experience that.

Shifting over to something more pleasant, Luis and I are excitedly getting into Halloween preparations. We’re hosting another homemade escape room this year. The theme is Disney’s The Haunted Mansion (the attraction, not a movie.) I’ve mainly assisted with my ride knowledge and my decor collection; Luis has been coming up with all kinds of creative puzzles and he’s made a bunch of videos. He’s talented. We were originally planning a couple’s costume that was unrelated, but then I realized since we’re hosting a Haunted Mansion themed party and it’s my #1 favorite (hence the decor and my tattoo, etc) we should dress more thematically for that. He turned on a dime and bought a new costume. The party’s the weekend after this one. I’m grateful he had enough time to make the switch and I love that he was willing to do that for me. 💖

Of course I already had something to wear. I only needed an accessory, which I bought. I’ll be quite at home in our escape room at home.

As I said above, I didn’t have as much time to read during jury duty as I hoped. I actually surprised myself last night because I’m not even halfway through The Love of My Afterlife yet even though I read it a bunch. It’s hard for me to focus on a book when I’m distracted, and the courthouse people kept interrupting to make announcements and make us watch a video and tell us their judge stories. I really like the book, though. It’s a romance but I think it’s more general fiction with some romantic elements because it’s an adventure of self-discovery in a way. A lot of the “romance” books I gravitate to are like that. I also think I’ve discovered the true twist in the story. I hope I’m not wrong, because I love a good “aha, gotcha!” when the author sets one thing up and then veers in the opposite direction.

Finally, time for a writing update: I’m still taking a break from writing. After the initial “I have so many ideas though!!” few days, I’ve appreciated having time to relax and not think up plots or agonize about conflicts. It’s good to recharge my mental batteries. I do that for so many other things, why not do it for writing? I looked at the calendar the other day and realized it won’t be long until I’m reading through and editing my It’s A Wonderful Life story. And I thought, “Oh, so I better enjoy this time away while it lasts.”

I can’t wait to dive back in, but waiting is better so it’s not too cold.

Ain’t there a pen that will write before they die?

Sara Mazariegos

I stayed up late to watch Conan O’Brien on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday night. I lost about an hour of sleep. I think it was worth it. It’s not the sort of thing I’d do every night, though. That’s one of the main issues with those late night talk shows for me. How are you supposed to watch them on the night-of if you have to get up early the next day?

“You can always sleep through work tomorrow.” – Craig Ferguson

I had to stay up to see Conan though. He’s my favorite of the late night guys, and has been since I was little. I’m so glad he’s still around doing things*, and he’s doing such interesting, unique stuff. He’s in a movie, in a more serious role! And he’s going to be in the new Toy Story movie. (It’s an unnecessary sequel, but still it’s nice he gets to be in one.)

Speaking of movies, though thankfully it’s not a sequel, we saw One Battle After Another last weekend. I think it’s only the second Paul Thomas Anderson movie I’ve seen. One thing that’s funny is that it reminded me vaguely of a Wes Anderson movie, though of course it’s not quite as bonkers or bright or ~arty~. But it does have Benicio Del Toro. Hmm.

I really liked it. The acting was good, the story was good, it didn’t feel like it was over two and a half hours long.

Luis and I are making plans for future vacation times. The world being what it is right now, it’s hard to realistically imagine going out of the country, even though the list of countries we want to visit is long. I have a lot of wanderlust, but we’re planning to stick to closer places at least in the foreseeable future. Of course we’re thinking about going to Disney World again. I told Luis we could go in February for our 14th dating anniversary, but then he suggested we could make a week of it and go to Disney and Universal in October for our 9th wedding anniversary. I’m not going to turn down extra theme park days.

Possibly while wearing a hazmat suit, but still.

We got vaccinated last weekend. I even got a hepatitis booster shot. It took almost an hour for them to give us our vaccines, but once we finally saw the tech, it went by quickly and we feel good. We even made her laugh. A lot of people get so impatient and mean to poor pharmacy teams. I know it’s frustrating to have to wait and sometimes dumb things happen, but there’s no reason to be mean to people who are there to help you. Be mad at health insurance companies; they’re the real ones screwing people over.

For this week’s writing update, there’s not much to say. Roll credits.

Just kidding. But I am taking a break from writing, and it might be driving me a little crazy. I created an outline for a new story idea I have, and I’m going to let Luis read it and give me some feedback before I commit to writing it. I’m restless to write something new, something more out there than the contemporary romance novels I’ve been so focused on. A subgenre I really like is magical realism, especially related to ghosts. I’m playing around with some magical realism ideas and we’ll see if it becomes the next novel I’m working on.

Aside from future novels, I also have to edit the story drafts I’ve already written. I’m excited to dive back into my It’s A Wonderful Life novel, though taking a writing break beforehand—and also having a vacation and Halloween to focus on—will be extra helpful for my brain, I think.

It’s a little bit funny how November is still a writing/editing time for me. It’s just easier to write about the holidays when it’s actually the holidays time.

Until next time,

* Don’t even get me started on all the Colbert and Kimmel stuff. Flames. It- It- Flames. Flames! On the side of my face.

Both of us searching for some perfect world we know we’ll never find.

Sara Mazariegos

We went to the National Book Festival on Saturday and saw Geena Davis and John Green talking about their books. Geena Davis made me tearful because her children’s book is really sweet, about being yourself even if you’re big and loud. You don’t need to shrink yourself to fit on the page. She wrote and illustrated it, which is so impressive because it was her first time illustrating. She also talked about picking up various sports, including archery which she apparently qualified for in the Olympic trials! She’s a real life Mary Sue, but not in an annoying way.

John Green spoke about tuberculosis, of course. He sat with Scott Simon from Weekend Edition on NPR and talked about his book rather than reading from it this time. He also didn’t answer any audience questions, which I found a little funny because I’d been wracking my brain to come up with one while I stood in the line for at least two hours waiting to see him.

The lines were intense and badly organized. Not the authors’ fault! I hope the Library of Congress staff fix that for next year.

USPS Informed Delivery gave me a preview of our mail on Monday, so I spent the whole day knowing I’d been summoned for jury duty. 😩 I let my boss know, and he’s not thrilled because I’m the only person in the D.C. office, so if I’m on jury duty it means our office is closed for at least one random day. And it’s right before Luis and I go on our anniversary trip, so it’s right before the office will be closed already. I feel bad, but it’s not like I want this extra stress. I am interested in the judicial process and stuff, but it’s inconvenient this time. (I did it once in 2011 and it ended when an earthquake happened!)

I’m planning to request a postponement so I at least can do it after our trip. I only have three available days otherwise, and the case could be longer than that, so it’s better to wait until I’m less time-constrained. When I go to jury duty, it will give me an excuse to read a lot, if nothing else. Last time, I finished one Sarah Vowell book and read half of another.

Speaking of books, I’ve fallen into judging books by their cute designs. I try not to let the design alone be the reason I get a book, but I found an autumnal book at Barnes & Noble for five dollars with purchase in the cafe. I was buying a pumpkin spice latte anyway, so… But now that I’m reading it, I’ve realized it’s a young adult romance. It’s not bad, it’s just not what I expected. I guess I assumed it was about college-aged people. I feel like there aren’t enough romances about college kids. At least not enough that my algorithm suggests them to me. Also, the main character dislikes pumpkin spiced lattes. I hope she changes her mind by the end. (I bet she will.)

Last Sunday, we saw Caught Stealing, which is a Darren Aronofsky movie. I don’t usually like his movies, but I gave this one a chance because it looked fun and has a cat as a main part of the plot. I really enjoyed it! I think it’s my favorite of his movies, which I know is a low bar, but still. I’d happily watch it again*. It’s the first non-superhero movie we’ve seen in a while that I liked, actually. Eddington, Weapons, and Honey, Don’t disappointed me.

We’ve got a movie theater subscription, which is a big reason why we see so many movies. I like going to the movies. I missed it during the Covid lockdowns. There usually aren’t very many other people in the theater with us, which I like but it’s also worrisome.

My writing is still going well. I’m at around 73K words now, with Friday night’s total word count goal of 75K words looking more than likely. It’s funny, I’ve been thinking of it as writing 500 words a day, but I’m actually writing a little over 1,000 words a day, split into afternoon and evening sessions. If I was only writing 500 words a day, it would take me forever to finish a novel. I don’t have patience for that.

I’m at an amusing place in the writing process, because I’m almost within the last 10K words of the story but so much is still happening. I’m not yet at the place where the resolution is occurring. I guess you could say I’m in the Break Into 3 beat, moving into The Finale of the Save the Cat beats. I’ve been writing according to my outline and still those beats are aligning with things, which is a sign I’m doing things well! The edit/revision process is going to be a monster, I can already tell. But at least I have the right structure to work with this time, as opposed to other drafts that had more sketches of an outline than an actual outline.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s still plenty more writing before I have to think about editing!

* It gave me some casual nightmares about kidney problems, though. If you see it, you’ll understand.

I’m not the kinda girl who gives up just like that, oh no.

Sara Mazariegos

We’ve created a TV schedule for our weeks, sticking to the same few shows until we finish them/the season and then watching different things. It used to be that we’d start watching a show, get distracted by something else, and then forget about the show. Granted, the shows in question were classics like Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart Show, and Golden Girls so we’re already more than behind on them, but you know what I mean. It’s been nice to think, “Oh, it’s Tuesday: Shogun night.” I like watching things that others are watching, so I don’t feel like we’re missing out. Shogun, The Bear, and Hacks are so good! Cable used to be like that, but you couldn’t skip ads or pause to go to the bathroom, so streaming is still more convenient.

Cable is going to go away. It’s not really a question. The only question is, how soon? It kind of relates to Hacks, in a way. Why have a late night talk show anymore?

The books I’m reading are enjoyable and quite different from each other. Aside from still weathering the storm that is House of Leaves (which is amazing! It’s just a dense textbook written by a crazy man,) I’m also reading A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston and Island by Aldous Huxley. Ashley Poston’s so fun, and her novels appeal to my interests because they’re humorous romances involving ghosts or imaginary characters (within the story; obviously all novel characters are imaginary.) I previously read and had to own The Dead Romantics because I liked it so much, and this novel is no different. It also has a gorgeous cover. The Aldous Huxley book is in a similar vein to Brave New World, but it doesn’t feel as bleak. I’m not far into it yet, though. It’s fun to read him discussing more modern things, since he wrote it in the 60s. It also feels prescient about what’s going on in D.C., which I kind of hate. 🙃 History just repeats and repeats itself… It needs to stop.

I’m looking forward to seeing John Green at the National Book Festival, though I’m still nervous about being in D.C. I’m always nervous about being in D.C., and I have to go there a lot for work. It will be nice to see him again! I wish I could talk to him in person, but he’s not doing a book signing or anything, so the chances are slim. I waited like a loser after his book reading in March, so we’ll see if I wait to try and spot him again. I understand he doesn’t like social situations much. I don’t either. I just really like him. He means so much to Luis and me.

Reading the Ashley Poston book has given me some useful plot guidepost ideas. I’m around the same page number in her book as well as in my writing, so I can’t help comparing where the characters are in their respective arcs. I may have mentioned before that A Novel Love Story is a good comp for my current work-in-progress, even though my story doesn’t involve any magical realism. It’d be fun to add some of that, but I don’t know how and my story already has a lot going on. I could keep it in mind, but maybe for another story. I’m currently within the “Dark Night of the Soul” part of the story, which means everything sucks for my main characters. Things are piecing together and building up to what’ll hopefully be a satisfying finale. I just realized I’ve been subconsciously following the Save The Cat beats without even marking them all out like that in my outline.

That’s pretty freaking cool.

It’s symbolic, of course.

Sara Mazariegos

There are currently three major news stories in the U.S.: the Epstein client list, the Coldplay cheater cam, and Colbert losing his show because CBS is spineless. I’m so angry on Stephen Colbert’s behalf, as many other people are. Legions of people have come out in support of him, which is nice to see. I hope he finds a better avenue for his show, but it sucks too because a lot of his staff are going to lose their jobs. It’ll be easier for him than for them.

A fourth major news story happened yesterday while I was getting ready to leave work. Ozzy Osbourne died, only a few weeks after his big farewell concert with Black Sabbath. 😢 I wasn’t a huge fan or anything, but I still shed a few tears. Especially when Puddles Pity Party did a tribute when he opened at the concert yesterday. He sang a slow ballad version of “Crazy Train” with a photo of young Ozzy on the screen behind him, and my face was wet.

Puddles Pity Party was otherwise funny, and unique. He opened for Weird Al. We saw Weird Al for the second time! The last time we saw him was 9 years ago. We were so close this time! Center Row F, so maybe 10 rows from the stage. I didn’t need to watch him on the screen this time, which is always awesome. The show was different, but it had many of the same songs and video clips from last time. It’d be difficult not to; as Luis pointed out, it’s not like he’s been in a hundred new TV shows and movies since 2016. He did a big medley of all the classic songs. His costume changes and use of media are impressive. When he did “White & Nerdy” I briefly worried he might Segway off the stage, but he didn’t. He’s a professional.

I went to bed an hour late last night because of Weird Al. I’m groggy, but it was worth it.

On Saturday, Luis and I got food poisoning. Typical me, I then spent the next two days being paranoid about it, but I got over it within 24 hours. We’re going to avoid the place that made us sick, though, just to be safe. The worst thing about it, at least in my case, was that it came out of nowhere. I was fine one minute and then–. Bodies can be the worst sometimes. Then again, bodies are like that in order to keep us alive…

Speaking of being sick*, we saw Eddington, the new movie starring Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix, and Emma Stone (she’s not in it that much.) It’s… certainly a movie. It’s a very long, confusing movie. I’m not sure what Ari Aster’s message was supposed to be. It felt oddly timed. I prefer Midsommar and Hereditary. The acting and cinematography were good, but the writing was ehh. Disappointing. I thought the promotional campaign with the Tiktok-esque stuff was more interesting.

I’ve read quite a few articles and social media posts about Gen Z not liking sex scenes in novels and movies. It’s a turn-off for them, pun intended. In my opinion, sex scenes are necessary and expected in romance novels, at least the ones that are widely popular. That’s not to say they have to be heavily graphic or anything, but sex is one way of becoming intimately close with a partner, so it’s a way for the romantic leads to bond. It shouldn’t be the only way they bond, but it’s realistic and natural. If done well, sex scenes can even be cute.

I err on the side of cute. I do my best to always make them cute. There are no “throbbing members” to be found in my novels, I promise. And the scenes move the plot forward and matter to the characters, they’re not just in there because romance = sex. That’s such a shallow way of viewing both romance and sex.

Sorry. Rant over. Until next week.

* It makes sense if you see it, but I’ll also just tell you: there’s a lot of Covid stuff in it.

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.

“He’s making violent love to me, Mother!”

Sara Mazariegos

It feels as though a million things are happening right around our travels. Isn’t that always the way? I have a bunch of stressful things to do at work, meanwhile we have to get our bathroom renovated (again.) The guys who fixed our shower two years ago didn’t really fix the problem; they caused new ones instead. So we’ve got a nice, new plumber who’s going to work on fixing our shower stall and flooring so things don’t leak.

What a concept.

For Valentine’s Day, since it’s our dating anniversary, we’re going to stay at the hotel where we got married. 😊 We got a lakeview room, and reservations at a fancy nearby restaurant. We’re also going to explore the shops around and see Captain America: Brave New World. It’s going to be a nice weekend.

And then, the following weekend, we fly off to California. We spent time with friends last weekend, one of whom is a pilot, so he told us what went wrong with the helicopter and the plane near the Potomac River. He also assured us that flying is safe, especially from Dulles Airport rather than National. That was comforting. Of course, I already knew that there are way more car accidents than airplane crashes. It’s still a rare thing, even if the news has a lot of them lately…

I’ve already read one of my comp books (comparable to my story, for those wondering what “comp” means) but I still bought an e-reader version so I could reread it and reference it for influence. That’s one thing that’s difficult about not owning comps; if I need to check something, I have to get them back from the library. My story that I’m currently outlining is very different from the other novels I’ve written thus far, so I want to make sure I’m plotting things in a way that makes sense. There are rules for time travel.

Luis read through my outline and gave me some good advice that’s made me even more excited by this new idea. Taking a break from writing and letting myself think about things has been very good for me so far. At the beginning of March, when I start writing, I’ll hopefully have an easier time getting going. My last story benefited tremendously from having a solid outline, so I feel optimistic.

Escaping into novels has been the perfect thing for my otherwise anxious brain.