SZ ESTAVILLO

Thriller Author | Debut 2025 The Serpent Series | Lit & TV Agency Exp | MA: TV, Radio & Film | Book❤️

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Between the day job & #MomLife, nights are when I finally breathe. 🌙 That’s when I grab my keyboard & let the words flow—tired but free. ✍️ #WriterMom

Balancing Family & Creativity: Night Writing Benefits

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Why I Buy the Book and the Audiobook: How I Read with ADHD

Reading has never been easy for me. As someone with ADHD, my attention can drift fast, and focusing on pages of text—no matter how gripping—can feel like trying to hold water in my hands. I also read slowly. That’s not a flaw—it’s just how my brain processes words. But I still love stories. I still want to learn, to escape, to grow. So I found a way that works for me, even if it seems a little…

Why I Buy the Book and the Audiobook: How I Read with ADHD

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The Quiet Hustle: What It Really Feels Like to Market Your Own Book

The hardest part about being an author? Walking the tightrope between “please buy my book” and “I swear I’m not begging.” It’s a delicate dance—trying to share something you’re proud of without sounding desperate, hoping it lands with the right people without shouting into the void. You spend years writing, rewriting, second-guessing, editing, and dreaming—and when it’s finally out in the world,…

The Quiet Hustle: What It Really Feels Like to Market Your Own Book

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Recovering, Reading, and Revising

A few weeks ago, I was hospitalized for appendicitis and sepsis. The infection was so severe that they put me on a long course of antibiotics, and I’m hopefully having surgery soon to remove my appendix. But even now, I still don’t feel great. My side hurts, and some nights, it’s impossible to get comfortable. Slowing Down, but Not Stopping When you’re weak, tired, and not feeling like…

Recovering, Reading, and Revising

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Publishing Gatekeepers Are Not Fortune Tellers—They Get It Wrong All the Time

The Illusion of Predicting a Bestseller I don’t care what anyone says—no publisher, big or small, can guarantee who will be a bestseller. They get it wrong all the time. Sometimes it’s instinct, sometimes it’s a lucky guess, and sometimes they just think they know—but the truth? Readers decide. The publishing industry likes to act as if it has a crystal ball, as if acquisitions editors and…

Publishing Gatekeepers Are Not Fortune Tellers—They Get It Wrong All the Time

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Cover Reveal & the Reality of Indie Publishing: Why Your Support Matters

It’s been a long, uphill battle these past few weeks. What should have been a routine appendicitis issue turned into something much worse—a punctured appendix, a severe infection, and sepsis that spread to my colon. The doctors were worried about complications like blood clots, and for a while, even keeping liquids down was a challenge. The pain was excruciating, and recovery has been slow. But…

Cover Reveal & the Reality of Indie Publishing: Why Your Support Matters

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Writing, Motherhood, and Resilience: Honoring Women’s Strength on International Women’s Day

A few days ago, I had a crazy, unexpected trip to the emergency room—one that completely changed my perspective on health, motherhood, and the many roles we carry as women. It started with severe abdominal pain on my right side, which turned out to be acute appendicitis with localized peritonitis. My appendix had perforated, I had sepsis, and my body was fighting a serious infection. The doctors…

Writing, Motherhood, and Resilience: Honoring Women’s Strength on International Women’s Day

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Celebrate Six Months of The Serpent Series: Enter to Win!

Six months ago, I officially became a published author—a milestone I had dreamed of for years. Since August, my journey with The Serpent Series has been an incredible whirlwind, from the excitement of launching The Serpent’s Bridge to the thrill of releasing The Serpent Woman. Seeing readers dive into the world of Detective Anaya Nazario, FBI Special Agent Blake Huxley, and the enigmatic…

Celebrate Six Months of The Serpent Series: Enter to Win!

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Reaching For The Stars: Redefining Success

Writing has always been a part of me. As a child, I carried a pen and notebook everywhere, scribbling stories and poems. Becoming a published author was my lifelong dream. Like many dreams, I envisioned it with vivid clarity: a bestselling book, accolades, and the validation of success. But dreams, like life, have a way of shifting shape as we grow and evolve, adapting to our experiences,…

Reaching For The Stars: Redefining Success

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Breaking Through: My Journey to Getting Published

Our dreams are often pieces of us that have been a part of our lives for a long time. Some lucky people reach their goals so quickly that they make it look easy. Others spend years chasing their vision. I’ve been writing since second grade. I carried a notebook and pen everywhere I went. I had spent my whole life creating stories, and perhaps part of that was due to trying to escape a turbulent…

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My Snarky Take On Embracing The Birthday Blues

We don’t have to fight the birthday blues. We can accept how we feel and conquer our goals despite our emotions.

October 10th was my birthday, and I’ll admit that each year, I’ve experienced the birthday blues. Everyone thinks they want to stay young forever, and when you are a Gen Z fresh out of college, there is an invincibility factor that you go through. You know what I mean. We’ve all felt it at one point in our lives. When we’re at our peak youthful age, a power comes over us. We think we’re…

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Why Sometimes Being In Editing Mode Can Lead To Writer’s Block

It’s wise to try and complete editorial tasks firsts and get them out of the way so that it frees up your calendar to write a new manuscript. This can significantly reduce writer's block because you have the mental space to create something new.

Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com Sometimes being in the left-brain editing trenches can zap your energy enough to where you’re unable to switch back to the right-brain creative tasks of writing something new. At least the switch isn’t as easy as you might’ve thought it would. I didn’t actually know that editing-induced writer’s block was an actual thing until I experienced it first-hand. As you…

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What Learned Editing 1st Ten Pages Of #WIP Via Nationwide Writing Conferences

Had a great experience as an editor via @writingdaywksp last season. Thnx to @BrianKlems for the opportunity. The conference rotates editors, so I’ll be sitting the upcoming ones out. #WritingCommunity: How to avoid common issues in opening pages.👇🏽

It’s been a real learning lesson being a former faculty member of the Writing Day Workshops. It’s a hub that manages virtual and in-person writing conferences from all over the United States. Because they like to switch things up to provide writers a variety of perspectives, they select editors and agents to be featured in their workshops seasonally. I was privileged to have worked with them…

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Writing Despite Setbacks: Redirecting Personal Challenges Into Our Stories

In an ideal world, only positive things happen to us. In reality, it's the challenges we face that can be channeled & breathe authenticity into our stories. Personal setbacks keep us humble & make us better writers. #WritingCommunity #WritersLift

In an ideal world, only positive things happen to us. We have all the time to write and are in the best psychological mindset. We’re free of stress, always in a zen-like state, can jump into our WIP, and immediately get into a flow. We never let anything get us down, have never experienced writer’s block, and are always in a perpetually creative mood. The truth is most of us have bad days. We…

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How Almost Losing My Son In 2022 Helped Me To Define 2023 Goals

Personal life experience, good or bad, is never wasted. In aiming for our 2023 #writingcommunity goals, it's often the challenges we've faced that can be rechanneled into our goals, fuel our vision & improve our storytelling. #WritersLift

September 18, 2022, was like any other late summer Southern California day. The weather was nice, and my family and I were excited to use our Disneyland annual passes. As we prepared to leave, we noticed our then 15-month-old son was extra clingy and kept wanting to be held, which wasn’t unusual. But soon, clingy behavior turned into favoring one leg, and then he wasn’t willing to walk. At…

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S.Z. Estavillo | Writer on Instagram: "➡️ During a #firstdraft, it can be very stressful when approaching the end & you go over your intende

S.Z. Estavillo | Writer shared a post on Instagram: "➡️ During a #firstdraft, it can be very stressful when approaching the end & you go ove

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S.Z. Estavillo | Writer on Instagram: "Conquering #writersblock can be a challenge for many #writers & #aspiringauthors. Sometimes you need

S.Z. Estavillo | Writer shared a post on Instagram: "Conquering #writersblock can be a challenge for many #writers & #aspiringauthors. Somet