Sarah M. Awa - Home

Liminal Space

4/23/2025

Recently, in his sermon series on Exodus, my pastor was talking about liminal space. The place in between places, a place you’re just passing through. A quick Google search says it’s the sort of place “that evokes feelings of ambiguity and unease, often occurring during times of change or in places that are empty, abandoned, or feel ‘off’.”

Yeah, that really resonates with me.

My 2024 Wrap-up

12/17/2024

Well, here I am, posting again after 9 months. It’s been . . . a rough year. Won’t go into details, but at least it hasn’t been as bad as what I’ve put my main character through. ;P

My New Fur Baby

3/28/2024

A couple of weeks ago, Oscar and I adopted a new dog! Introducing Toshi the Collie mix! :) <3

We got Toshi from a place called Rescue Village, so yeah, he's a rescue like Thatcher was. (I still really miss my sweet, precious Thatcher and always will....)

In Loving Memory of Thatcher Awa

2/22/2024

This month has been really hard. Actually, this whole winter has been really hard. Not just because it’s cold and gray and the sunshine is (usually) lacking and my health isn’t so great right now—aside from the frigid air making it harder for me to breathe, I also have a lung infection, MAC, that is going to require a year of nasty treatment, and I still have about 8 months of it left. So I’ve been pretty miserable, physically . . . but that’s not the worst of it.

No, the worst part of this winter is that last week my beloved pup, Thatcher, passed away. (If you’re sensitive to reading about pet loss or death and grief in general, you probably shouldn’t read on.)

How (and Why) to Write Disabled Characters Well

1/18/2024

[I first published this article on Medium.com late last year.]

It’s time for me to address this topic because, unfortunately, I’ve just had my heart broken* by a book that started out with excellent disability representation only to crash and burn in the final third. What happened? In broad strokes, the author did not understand the ultimate consequences of disability. That failure, as you will see below, can have a disastrous effect on readers, both disabled and otherwise. As someone who has battled a serious, incurable autoimmune disease for more than 17 years, I care deeply about this topic, and so I’m going to show you how to write disabled and/or chronically ill people** well. But first, let me explain why writing them well is important.

2023 Year-End Reading Check, Part 2

12/28/2023

As promised last month, here are the rest of the fiction books that I’ve read this year:

2023 Year-End Reading Check, Part 1

11/22/2023

I’m carrying on the tradition! This month and next month, I’ll be sharing all the fiction books I read in the second half of this year (see June and July for the first half).

Well, let’s get to it!

Just Keep Swimming

8/24/2023

As I write this, I’m trying to ignore the tinnitus in my left ear. It started this morning when I woke up (45 minutes before my alarm, thanks to a call from the doctor’s office, grr) and hasn’t gone away yet. It’s probably due to the change in air pressure; a front moved in last night and there was a big storm and it’s still overcast late this morning as I type. Oh well, at least I don’t have a pressure-change migraine. And I’ve got my UV lamp on to ward off the glooms.

Mid-Year Reading Check 2023, Part 2

7/27/2023

This post is a continuation from last month’s. Here are the rest of the (fiction) books I read in the first half of this year:

Mid-Year Reading Check 2023, Part 1

6/22/2023

I swear, every year seems to fly by faster and faster... How is it time for this again already??

Last year I saw a trend on TikTok, the “mid-year reading check,” and thought it would make for a good blog post. (It ended up being two posts, which was great for getting me more content, heh.) This year I’m continuing the pattern!