Post-Honeymoon Haze, Creative Deadlines, and Literary Readings — A Writer’s Diary

Alana Saab is a literary writer and screenwriter. She holds a master of fine arts in fiction from The New School, a master’s degree in psychology from Columbia University, and her bachelor’s from New York University in the phenomenology of storytelling. She lives in New York with her partner. Please Stop Trying to Leave Me is her first novel.

This diary represents a week in Alana’s post-honeymoon life: wrangling cats, working on a new manuscript, teaching creative writing at Stony Brook University, and reading at the No Required Reading Series.

SATURDAY, October 10

7:00 AM – Jetlagged after returning from my honeymoon in South Africa, my body thinks it’s 1 PM. I channel the energy into something productive: writing wedding thank-you cards. My wife and I decided on handwritten notes—a sweet idea, but my hand starts cramping immediately. We had 180 guests.

8:00 AM – I feel the urgency to get my new novel moving, especially after the chaos of last week’s election. I "jam" on world-building in a harmless note document, leaving the manuscript alone for now.

9:00 AM – Unpack from the trip.

1:00 PM – My wife and I visit friends in Long Island City.

4:00 PM – Back home, I sit at the counter while my wife makes dinner. I entertain her with random thoughts that pop into my head.

5:30 PM – We eat tofu stir fry.

6:00 PM – We start bingeing The Bear. At some point, I fall asleep on the couch.

8:00 PM – My wife wakes me up, and we head to bed.

MONDAY, October 11

5:30 AM – Another early wake-up. I roll around in bed, trying to fall back asleep. No luck.

6:30 AM – Dive into emails for the first time in two weeks. I handle state timesheets, check in with the substitute professor covering my classes, organize student papers, and send emails to students who missed deadlines. I give out a lot of second chances as a professor, and while I want my students to succeed, I also struggle to strike a balance between flexibility and holding them accountable.

8:30 AM–12:00 PM – I sit at my laptop, letting my mind wander—a crucial part of my creative process. To outsiders, it might look like procrastination, but this time softens my mind for creative work. I write a glowing review for our wedding planner (shoutout to Chelsea Song Events), browse Christmas decorations on Target’s website, and read passages from my novel aloud to decide on an excerpt for tomorrow’s reading.

12:00 PM – Lunch: leftover tofu stir fry.

12:20 PM – Workshop student short stories but get interrupted by my very needy youngest cat.

2:30 PM – Therapy session.

3:10 PM – In therapy, I wonder if I’ll ever feel like less of a "crazy person." Learn that "predator" was originally used to describe humans, not animals. Interesting.

4:18 PM – Stuck on the B train.

4:30 PM – Back home to finish thank-you cards.

6:10 PM – Cook vegan taco bowls for dinner.

9:00 PM – In bed, cuddling with my wife.

TUESDAY, October 12

7:00 AM – I feed the cats so my wife can get ready for work.

7:30 AM – Workshop students’ short stories over coffee. Spot an AI-written story. It’s obvious. AI writing is soulless, full of cringe-worthy fake sentimentality.

8:30 AM – Existential crisis over teaching in a world with AI.

10:00 AM – Practice reading my excerpt for tonight’s event.

2:00 PM – Zoom class with students. I announce that the class needs a "makeover" and prepare them for Thursday’s workshop.

4:00 PM – A call with the New York Times about depersonalization/derealization disorder. I discuss my novel and personal experiences with dissociation.

5:00 PM – My wife orders sushi from Sendo, a restaurant we love. It arrives after we leave for the event.

6:15 PM – We leave for Pete’s Candy Store. The cold, windy weather makes me miss South Africa.

6:45 PM – I realize Alex Vara, who runs No Required Reading, was in my MFA class at The New School. We bond over a mutual friend.

7:00 PM – The reading begins. I sip spiked apple cider in a packed house. I read the opening of Please Stop Trying to Leave Me for the last time. It feels stale, and the crowd doesn’t vibe with my dark humor. Time for a new excerpt.

8:00 PM – Catch up with an old friend from The New School by the bar.

8:45 PM – Arrive home to a sick cat. My wife and I eat the sushi that sat out for hours. Probably a bad idea, but we’re starving.

10:00 PM – Restless from coffee, my legs keep me awake. Mercury Retrograde vibes. I eventually fall asleep.

WEDNESDAY, October 13

7:00 AM – Wake up to weird dreams. Again.

7:30 AM – Coffee with my wife.

9:00 AM – Workers arrive to replace a part in the fridge, but the replacement is broken. Back to my manuscript.

12:00 PM – Lunch: popcorn (I’m in a writing flow).

1:00 PM – Zoom meeting with colleagues to commiserate about the end-of-semester grading.

1:30 PM – Actual lunch from P.S. Kitchen.

2:00 PM – More writing.

5:00 PM – My wife and I grab dinner at our favorite local spot: Travelers, Poets & Friends.

8:30 PM – In bed, cuddling with my sick cat.

THURSDAY, October 14

7:00 AM – More weird dreams. Maybe it’s the malaria pills?

7:30 AM – Workshop student papers.

9:30 AM – Breakfast: leftover soup.

10:30 AM – Head to Penn Station for the LIRR.

1:30 PM – Arrive at Stony Brook to teach.

2:00 PM – Workshop four student papers in class.

3:30 PM – On the train home, I work on my manuscript.

6:00 PM – Home for dinner.

7:00 PM – My wife and I finish bingeing The Bear. I’m depressed it’s over.

9:00 PM – In bed.

FRIDAY, October 15

3:00 AM – My sick cat wakes me up, trying to find a comfy spot on me. I work on my manuscript in the living room and fall asleep with my laptop in hand.

7:45 AM – My wife wakes me up.

9:00 AM – Write nonstop. It feels great to be back in a groove after the wedding and honeymoon.

3:00 PM – My wife reads the new ending of my novel. When her jaw literally drops, I know I’ve improved it.

5:00–7:30 PM – We make sambosa for tomorrow’s Friendsgiving.

7:30 PM – Watch Babes and eat sambosa.

9:30 PM – In bed.

SATURDAY, October 16

7:00 AM – Drag myself out of bed. Exhaustion is back now that the time change has set in.

9:00 AM – Personal training at the gym. I’ll regret it when I’m sore for four days.

10:45 AM – Vet appointment for our sick cat. We wait two hours, laughing at the snorting French bulldogs in the waiting room.

2:00 PM – Back home for a nap.

4:00 PM – Get ready for Friendsgiving.

5:30 PM – Drive to Long Island.

7:00 PM – Arrive at big gay Friendsgiving. It’s perfect.

12:00 AM – Arrive home, exhausted but happy.