Laura Roberts's Blog, page 42

Good luck charms: 365K Club, week 12

It’s that time of the week again: time for another 365K Club word count check-in! Numbers, please…

March 19, Day 79: 931 words

March 20, Day 80: 1,209 words

March 21, Day 81: 238 words

March 22, Day 82: 587 words

March 23, Day 83: 258 words

March 24, Day 84: 0 words (there’s really no excuse for this zero, which makes me feel even worse!)

March 25, Day 85: 683 words

That’s a grand total of 3,906 words for the week, and 15,307 for the month!

Did I beat last week’s total?

Last week I wrote 4,559 words, so this week I definitely fell short. I’ve been gearing up for the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge, which means a lot more thinking and informal brainstorming than actual writing. So that sucks for my word counts, but it’s also necessary.

Badges!

This week I scored a “Good Luck Charms” badge, for revealing that my Salvador Dalí figurine is one of my lucky charms – always reminding me to keep it weird, and to boldly go wherever the hell I want to go with my writing.

Here’s a picture of me and the little scamp.

Goals for next week?

Still hard at work on my “move to Canada” book, just like last week, plus I’ll be writing at least my A post for the A to Z Challenge – hopefully before Thursday night! In the meantime, check out my Theme Reveal post to learn more about my plans for this year’s challenge.

Want to track YOUR words?

In an effort to spread the helpful message of 365K Club’s daily word tracking, I’ve created my own Buttontapper Word Tracker. Want a free copy? Just sign up for my newsletter and you’ll receive a link to download it ASAP.

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Is it #AprilFools already? People practice their standup comedy routines on me

Today has been a weird day. I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing but doing my laundry – which was necessary, but not necessarily fulfilling.

People have also, apparently, been practicing their standup comedy routines on me.

Two examples…

Comedy Routine #1

UPS delivered a package. I signed for it. They went on their merry way. Then I got an email from Amazon saying the book I’d ordered could not be delivered by UPS, because my address was wrong.

Huh? I order stuff from Amazon (like the aforementioned package I just signed for – which was a pack of protein shakes, in case you were wondering) all the time. There’s never been a problem with my address. I’ve been living in the same place for at least two years now.

I look up the order at Amazon. Here’s what I see:

That’s right… UPS tried to deliver my package to Chula Vista. A city that is NOT San Diego. A city that is also NOT Alpine, which is where I wanted this book delivered.

Here’s a map, for those of you who don’t live in San Diego:

I have no idea why UPS decided that “Alpine” and “Chula Vista” were interchangeable cities when they clearly are nowhere near each other on a map or in the dictionary.

So I hopped online with Amazon Customer Service, and they told UPS to try delivering the package to the right city.

While I was out grabbing my laundry from the dryer, I got a phone call. Listening to the voicemail, it was UPS, telling me that the driver had gone home for the day, but I could come pick up the package in Chula Vista.

Wait. Am I missing something? UPS delivered the package to the wrong city, and now they want me to come pick it up??

Like I said, someone must be getting their April Fools prank-on a little early, because this makes no sense. I supplied you with the correct address. You failed to deliver my package to the correct address. And now you want me to pick it up in a city I have no reason to visit, even though YOU are the delivery service?

I think not.

Supposedly this book will be delivered to me on Monday. We’ll see.

On the plus side, UPS customer service agents are VERY responsive when you tweet about their company! They immediately apologized for my inconvenience, and said to email them the tracking number so they could get things sorted. Thanks, UPS. Just double-check the city when delivering packages, please. (This particular package also came from Ontario, CA – a city that is surely rife with misdelivered packages, given possible confusion between Ontario, Canada and Ontario, California.)

Comedy Routine #2

The second incident of standup comedy comes from a nearby casino. I had recently emailed them to ask if they had any meeting rooms to accommodate my Nonfiction Authors Association monthly meetings. We’re usually about 10 people, and I’m looking for a place I can host events on Saturday afternoons, as my current venue is typically booked then.

Someone from Viejas Casino just replied to my email as follows:

Good afternoon Ms. Roberts,

Thank you for your interest in Viejas Casino & Resort for your monthly meetings! We do have two board rooms that can accommodate up to 18 people each and they rent for $1,000.00++ per day for a day meeting.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like me to reserve a date for you.

I have no idea what the “++” might refer to (snacks? beverages? free chips for Blackjack?), but the fact that they think a tiny group like mine is going to shell out a thousand bucks A MONTH to book their boardroom is totally bonkers.

And, frankly, if that’s how much you charge to rent a boardroom, you should list that on your website instead of making me email people who are clearly living on another planet.

Like I said, it’s been a weird day.

How’s your day been going?

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How to Write Better Nonfiction: A Nonfiction Authors Association teleseminar

Did you know that the Nonfiction Authors Association offers two free monthly teleseminars to help members learn more about writing, publishing and marketing their books?

Well guess what? They do!

Today’s teleseminar featured Stacy Ennis on How to Write Better Nonfiction.

What I learned today

Stacy stressed that the key to writing better nonfiction is…

OUTLINING!

I know, everybody recoils in horror when they hear the word “outline,” but as she noted, outlining doesn’t have to be a formal thing. It can be a mind map, a brainstorm, a sketch on a napkin. It can be as loose or as detailed as you like!

She and I absolutely agree on that point. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a “reformed pantser,” and learning how to use my own version of an outline really changed the way I write. (Check out my post “Outlining doesn’t have to blow dead bears” for a cheeky guide to my own outlining process.)

Indeed, she said that outlining helps you finish your books, because it helps you set up milestones along the way, and can be used as a motivational tool.

So, her final advice: “Outline outline outline!”

Get the picture?

Want to learn more?

Sign up for an Authority Membership at the Nonfiction Authors Association for access to the recording of this teleseminar! It’s just $19 a month, and if you live in San Diego – or anywhere else with a local chapter – you’ll also gain free access to our monthly meetings.

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Top 10 reasons to join the #AtoZChallenge

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for yet another Top 10 list!

Since the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is fast approaching, I thought I’d throw out a list of my top 10 reasons YOU should join me in taking this writing challenge. And away we go!

Build your blog. Just starting out with your blog? The A to Z Challenge is a great way to build up a series of blog posts, by writing one a day during the month of April. If you pick a specific theme, it makes it even easier to stick with it for 30 days.
Take your blogging seriously. Similar to #1, sometimes people start blogs but quickly abandon them once they run out of ideas. With the A to Z Challenge, you have a built-in series to follow – not to mention a daily schedule – which makes it easier to stick with the plan and take your blogging seriously.
Conquer a goal. Blogging every day can be difficult, I’m not going to lie. But there’s also a big sense of accomplishment in conquering this goal. We all start projects that we never finish, but this one only takes one month to complete, and can be whittled away just one day at a time. So what’s stopping you?
Make new friends. One of the best parts of participating in the challenge is interacting with fellow bloggers. You’re sure to find new blogs you never even knew existed, and with many blogs labeled by topic, you can even make new friends with fellow writers in your genre. How cool is that?
Follow and be followed. In addition to making friends, you’re also likely score some new followers along the way. Bump up your numbers on social media by following the people who visit your blog, or by adding the people who you can find on Twitter, Facebook, etc. It’s platform building!
Share your interests and expertise. Everyone’s an expert on something – even if it’s just explaining what goes on inside their own head. The blogging challenge is a great way to share some of your interests and expertise with the rest of the world, and to see how others react.
Blog your next book. Ever tried blogging a book? It’s a fun way to encourage pre-sales, or to engage your target audience by giving them a taste of the final product. I’ve turned almost all of my A to Z Challenge posts into books (you can check them out here !), and I highly encourage others to do the same.
A preset path. Another great aspect of the challenge is knowing exactly what you’re going to write about each day. Sure, you may have to think for a bit to narrow it down, but with the one letter per day approach, you’ll always know whether you’re writing about Apples or Zebras.
A lighthearted challenge. The A to Z Challenge is always a fun challenge, because it brings you back to the basics. What could be more simple than the ABCs?
It’s all about the journey. When traveling the path from A to Z, you’ll discover lots of new things about yourself, your blog, and your audience. Ultimately, it’s the journey – not the destination – and the ride is always eye-opening. Embrace the challenge, and have fun along the way!

What’d I miss?

Those are my top 10, but what are some of YOUR reasons for joining the A to Z Challenge?

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A to Z Challenge: Theme Reveal!

Last week I teased you, but this week’s the Big Reveal. Today you’ll learn what my Blogging From A to Z April Challenge theme will be!

So, did you figure it out?

Here were my hints…

Ghost of Christmas Future via photopin

It’s not Harry Potter…

photo credit: Gargoyle on Cobb Gate, University of Chicago via photopin

But there are a lot of gargoyles…

photo credit: Skyscraper via photopin

And a lot of abstract art…

Have you figured it out yet?

That’s right: I’m covering Chicago from A to Z this year!

Chicago is my hometown (or, anyway, close enough), so I’ve got a lot of fond memories of the city. And since April is the month where all the ice and snow typically melts into Spring there, meaning that Chicagoans can actually come out of their lairs and explore again, I figured it’d be a nice way to spotlight some of my favorite places throughout the city – as well as some places I’d like to explore if/when my family ever moves back to the area.

Since I actually grew up in a suburb of Chicago (Elmhurst, to be exact, for those who are familiar with the western suburbs), most of the things I already know about the city itself are on the touristy side, so I’m also excited to research more of the things that interest me as an adult – like the city’s literary scene, including authors past and present, as well as the art, music and foods that are practically synonymous with Chicago.

There will, undoubtedly, be a mention of deep-dish pizza. And Chicago-style hot dogs. And Italian beef. And, okay, I’ll stop before I give all of my blog topics away!

But I also hope to uncover some gems you didn’t even know existed in Chicago, and to go beyond the old “Windy City” moniker to get at the heart of the question: What makes Chicago so goddamn special?

Yes, that was a twist on a line from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – which will also feature prominently in my A to Z. After all, I must’ve watched this hometown tribute about 30,000 times as a kid. One of my class field trips to the Art Institute even got lost looking for the “Ferris Bueller painting.” (Even then, I knew it was actually called “Un dimanche après-midi à l’Île de la Grande Jatte,” and had been painted by Georges Seurat. That’s what happens when you study French in high school – at least in fancy suburbs of Chicago.)

Oh, and if you guys have any suggestions for the letter Y, please leave them in the comments – so far I’m stuck!

I hope you’ll enjoy joining me on this year’s A to Z journey. Until April 1, please amuse yourself by browsing through my previous A to Z adventures – or even buying a book – here!

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Badges and Blog-Ins: 365K Club, week 11

It’s that time of the week again: time for another 365K Club word count check-in! Numbers, please…

March 12, Day 72: 752 words

March 13, Day 73: 1,182 words

March 14, Day 74: 627 words

March 15, Day 75: 320 words

March 16, Day 76: 690 words

March 17, Day 77: 988 words

March 18, Day 78: 0 words (I ended up spending most of the day prepping for my Nonfiction Authors Association meeting, and then when I got home from that I fell asleep watching a movie)

That’s a grand total of 4,559 words for the week, and 11,401 for the month!

Did I beat last week’s total?

Due to my Friday laziness, I missed beating last week’s total by only 22 words. That’s, what, two sentences? UGH!

But this reminds me of an all-important lesson when it comes to writing daily: GET YOUR WORDS DONE EARLY.

April excitement

Speaking of the Nonfiction Authors Association, I’ve been busy setting up Friday afternoon Blog-Ins here in San Diego, to help get more writers interested in participating in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. This will be my fifth year participating in the challenge, and I wanted to do something different. Since most challengers are simply writing, alone, in their own homes, and then visiting fellow challengers’ blogs, I wanted to get some of them to come out for a “Sit Down, Shut Up & Write” style Meetup where we could discuss our blogs, talk writing, and just have some fun meeting each other face to face.

So, if you’re in the San Diego area during the month of April, come on out to one of my scheduled Blog-Ins, or join us for the kickoff party on April 1!

Here are links to each of the Meetups, for more info:

April 1 Challenge Kickoff Party
April 8
April 22
April 29

And, if you’d like to schedule additional Blog-Ins in your neck of the woods, let me know! I’ll retweet any links to A to Z events you leave in my comments section, or that you tweet me @originaloflaura.

Badges!

This week I also won two badges for the same 365K Club Challenge:

Since I was the only person to give the “genre switch” challenge a try, I received the badge for the challenge as well as a “Lucky You” sole winner badge for my bravery.

Here’s the genre-switching dialogue that won me these prestigious awards. First, the original mystery lines, from my WIP, The Case of the Cunning Linguist:

“I’m Sister Magdalena. Lorraine said you needed to speak with me?”

“Sister Magdalena, you’re one of the Notre Dame lay sisters?”

“That’s correct, Ms. Delmar. I heard about Father O’Malley and I came here straight away. What can I do to help you find his killer?”

“And what’ve you heard?” I asked.

“He was found face down in his chambers with a knife in his back. Oh, how dreadful!” She buried her face in her hands and sobbed at the thought.

“Yes, quite. Have you also heard that you were the last person that saw him alive?”

Here she made quite the theatrical gasp. I would’ve almost bought it, except for the eyes. Her violet gaze was deader than a set of coins splayed across the deceased’s lids. Payment for the ferryboat man of death. How very apropos.

And now the romance novel transmogrification:

“I’m Magdalena. Your secretary, Lorraine, said you wanted to speak with me?”

It was as if a ray of sunshine had cracked through a hidden skylight and bathed my office in its golden glow. Maybe the paper bags and Scotch tape had finally given way. Either way, the woman was divine. Radiant.

“Magdalena, you’re breathtaking!” I cried, unable to look away.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Delmar?” She looked taken aback by my declaration.

“I need a stenographer,” I said, fumbling with a pile of papers on my desk. “Someone to… fill in while Lorraine is away, and I wondered… would you be up to the task?”

“For how long, Ms. Delmar?” she asked, fingering a string of pearls around her delicate, swan-like neck.

“Just a week, to start… after that, we’ll see how it goes,” I purred.

Her violet eyes met mine, and I could’ve sworn she gave me a playful wink.

The woman was bold as well as beautiful. But would I be able to control her in the office, or would she be the one controlling me?

As you can see, this was quite the challenge, since my mystery dialogue and characters didn’t really make sense as-is when plopped into a romance novel. I had to scramble them around a bit, and throw in a bit of corny dialogue. My sincere apologies to all romance writers, as I’m sure most of you don’t write dialogue nearly this ridiculous! (The violet eyes, however, are straight out of Raymond Chandler.)

Goals for next week?

Still hard at work on my “move to Canada” book, with the wheres and whyfores, plus I’ve decided I want to revisit my ninja novel and rewrite it – this time as a kids’ book – so I’ve got some brainstorming to do for that. And check back on Monday for my A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal post to find out what I’ll be writing in April!

Want to track YOUR words?

In an effort to spread the helpful message of 365K Club’s daily word tracking, I’ve created my own Buttontapper Word Tracker. Want a free copy? Just sign up for my newsletter and you’ll receive a link to download it ASAP.

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#ShelfLove reading challenge: Read your own library!

I’m all for a good reading challenge (despite last month’s utter failure with, well, all of my reading challenges…), so when I discovered the #ShelfLove Challenge, I knew I had to jump on board.

You see, I must admit: I’m a bit of a book hoarder.

While some people prefer only new books, I tend to gravitate towards used books. Books with character. Books that have be previously read and loved. Even books with notes written in the margins!

I’m also fairly frugal, so books are my big indulgence after paying for rent and groceries. So, the more books I can buy for my dollars, the better… which definitely biases me towards used bookstores and reading books from the library.

But I also just love books, generally, so whenever I set foot inside a bookstore, I feel compelled to leave with at least one book – if not a whole stack.

Throw in a membership at PaperbackSwap, where you can set up wishlists that will automatically grab all the books you want, and you have a book hoarder’s dream come true.

At least, until you run out of room to physically shelve all your books… or don’t even own any bookshelves, due to some poor planning during various moves!

So, it’s time to clean out my To Be Read pile and get serious with my reading. I’ve made piles of all the books I haven’t read yet on my coffee table (and yes, they are tottering!), and I’m going to be working my through them, throughout the year, according to the different monthly challenge themes proposed by Second Run Reviews, ChapterBreak and Bookworm Brandee.

The theme for March is book tropes that get on your nerves, and boy, do I have plenty of those!

As covered in a previous post, some of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to reading are misspelled words. Whenever I see them onscreen in my Kindle app, I will highlight them in orange – that’s how annoying they are. The more orange you see on a page, the worse the book is, and the more likely I will be to simply delete it from my reader.

But when it comes to annoying tropes, I have a few of those as well.

For one thing, I really hate the tendency of romance novels (and erotic romance, as well) to paint female leads as clumsy around their Mr. Right, even when they are perfectly in control at every other time. It just pisses me off that women who are otherwise in control of their emotions – and their bodies – somehow start tripping over their own feet when that special someone is around. Not only is it boring and predictably, it’s also insulting. Yes, I get mushy when I see my husband. Yes, his smile still lights up my day. But do I start falling all over myself? HELL NO!

Furthermore, if a dude is going to turn my legs to jelly, he’s going to need to put forth a lot more effort than simply sending a smirk my way.

Which brings us to annoying trope #2: Smirking Dudes.

For the love of smiling – and even smizing (that’s smiling with your eyes, as per America’s Next Top Model) – please stop with the smirking!

This applies to female characters, too, but I am totally over the smirking bad boy. A smirk is not the same thing as a smile. And a smirk is not something I would want to see on the face of a dude I wanted to fuck, because it implies that he is mocking you. When I want to wipe a smirk off someone’s face, it’s usually by teaching them a lesson – and not in the bedroom.

Finally, this is a trope that I hate across all genres: Dreams.

I don’t care whether it’s the ending of a book (“It was all just a dream!”) or just an irritating aside: I hate reading about characters’ dreams!

For one thing, the dream sequences typically go on way too long. For another, they rarely make any sense – or worse, you can instantly recognize them as dreams, with overly heavy-handed meaning slopped carelessly about. But the worst thing about dreams is that after the author shows us what happened, instead of simply leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions, they then want to have the character discuss the same damn dream with another character, pondering what it might mean!

Just jab a couple of forks in my eyes, because dreams are almost never done well, and nearly always make me want to bleed out of my corneas. If you must include a dream in your book, here’s my expert advice: skip writing the dream sequence entirely, and instead have your character summarize their dream in one sentence or less. Get in and get out, or don’t do it at all.

So, what are some of your biggest book trope pet peeves?

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Learn how to write nonfiction for young people this Friday (3/18)

This Friday, March 18, the Nonfiction Authors Association’s San Diego Chapter will host “Writing Nonfiction for Young People” from 6:30-8:30 PM in the San Diego Writers, Ink space (2730 Historic Decatur Rd., #202 – part of Liberty Station).

Our speaker, Lori Shein, is Managing Editor of ReferencePoint Press, a local publisher that focuses on nonfiction books for middle school and high school level readers. Lori will share information for writers looking to break into the nonfiction market, with a focus on younger readers, as well as tips specifically related to writing for ReferencePoint.

Bring your questions, and reserve your spot in advance on our Meetup page. See you there!

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1 week ’til the A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal!

There’s just ONE WEEK left until the big A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal!

So, in order to pique your curiosity even further, here’s a hint…

It’s not Harry Potter…

But there are a lot of gargoyles…

And a lot of abstract art…

Have you figured it out yet?

Check back in next week – same bat time, same bat channel – for the Big Reveal!

 

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Awesome Lady Authors & BIW progress: 365K Club, week 10

It’s that time of the week again: time for another 365K Club word count check-in! Numbers, please…

March 5, Day 65: 523 words

March 6, Day 66: 951 words

March 7, Day 67: 1,260 words

March 8, Day 68: 946 words (+ ~10 pages edited/added to the Awesome Lady Authors manuscript)

March 9, Day 69: 0 words (too much work to get through means I took a zero)

March 10, Day 70: 0 words (and the, unfortunately, I woke up the next day with a raging headache that lasted for the rest of the day – UGH!)

March 11, Day 71: 900 words

That’s a grand total of 4,580 words for the week, and 39,053 for the month!

Did I beat last week’s total?

Amazingly, even though my big goal for the week hasn’t yet been met (30 pages = 7,500 words for the week), I still managed to beat last week’s total of 4,175 words. And that’s was with two days off, to boot!

Indeed, there are still two days left to hit my 7,500-word goal (as of this writing), so I may yet hit the mark for the Book-in-a-Week forums.

Goals for next week?

However it all shakes out, I still need to keep chugging away on my “Move to Canada” book (tentatively titled: “How to Marry A Canadian For Love, Money & Citizenship“) so I can get that thing up and ready to sell by the time California’s primary finally rolls around in June!

In addition to the new book, I also did a soft release of a new book for International Women’s Day. It’s a collection of my 2012 “A to Z” posts, with additional material and updates, and it’s called Awesome Lady Authors From A to Z. Check it out on Amazon and tell me what you think!

Want to track YOUR words?

In an effort to spread the helpful message of 365K Club’s daily word tracking, I’ve created my own Buttontapper Word Tracker. Want a free copy? Just sign up for my newsletter and you’ll receive a link to download it ASAP.

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