Laura Roberts's Blog, page 96

I want to hire a ghostwriter! Or do I?

I get a lot of people emailing me in search of a ghostwriter. And then, I get a lot of people who are pissed off when I tell them that ghostwriters charge a minimum of $10,000 to write entire books … Continue reading →

11.11.11 in 11 words

Chuck Wendig is encouraging writers to hop to creating a few 11-word stories, in honor of 11/11/11. He has also threatened lava enemas for those who fail to produce... Continue reading →

Let's write novels together: NaNoWriMo 2011

Happy National Novel Writing Month!

Every year I debate whether or not to join the fray on this 30-day writing marathon, which I have participated in—and won!—in the past. This year I've come up with a title for a (new) potential novel, but I haven't done any actual writing or brainstorming thus far.

It's only day 4, which means I can still get up to speed if I apply myself on the 1,667 words a day program, but I think this year I will sit out the new novel-writing experience (having already written a novel in 3 days) in favor of continuing to work on Naked Montreal instead. If I write or edit 1,667 words each day, I'm sure to have it finished in a month, right? Consider it National Novel Editing Month, four months early (it's "officially" in March).

Write your novel with me at WriteByNight

If you're in Austin during the month of November, join me and the WriteByNight crew for official NaNoWriMo write-ins on Saturdays throughout the month. I'll be heading up some of the Saturday sessions from 10 AM to 1 PM, so stop by if you have any questions about noveling in 30 days, want to check out my copy of No Plot? No Problem!, or just want to say hi.

You can also write your novel "unofficially" during regular WriteHere hours, which are Tuesdays from 11 AM to 3 PM, Wednesdays from 4 to 8 PM, and Saturdays from 10 AM to 4 PM. You can find WBN at 1305 E. 6th Street, Suite 4.

Looking forward to meeting some of you in the real world, and good luck to all the NaNoWriMo novelists out there!

P.S. If you haven't grabbed your free sample from my book yet, what's stopping you? CLICK HERE to download a copy now!

Naked Montreal FREE sample chapter

If you haven't downloaded a free sample of the first chapter of Naked Montreal yet… what are you waiting for?

Just click here to sign up for the mailing list, and I'll send you a free PDF for your reading pleasure.

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Enjoy!

Progress report, September 15

I know it's been a long time since I gave an update about Naked Montreal, so here is a short one: it's still a work-in-progress.

The longer version is:

Since I wrote an entire novel in just 3 days, I felt a sense of accomplishment that I haven't been getting lately from Naked Montreal. This is, in part, because I haven't been sitting down every day and actually working on my first (now second?!) novel. And that is, in part, because I've been trying to find new, more interesting part-time work to help pay the bills, which is pretty much the enemy of getting anything artistic accomplished.

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"progress report" (photo by Flickr user Spicy-Shots)

I know I can write a rough draft quickly, as evidenced by my 3-day novel. I also know I have a lot more work to do on Naked Montreal, and I need to start carving out blocks of time—even if only 15 minutes—on a daily basis if I ever want to see this process completed. So, let me use this as my accountability platform: I will work on my novel for at least 15 minutes every day. Including Sundays after I've been to the gym and I'm really tired because my arms feel like spaghetti. Even when I don't really feel like it, or don't know where to begin. Even when I really need to search through Craigslist or do some paid work or respond to emails.

That being said, if you'll all nag me about this when you haven't heard any updates in a week or so, I would really appreciate it. Seriously, it helps to know that people are still counting on you to finish something.

I'm going to do my 15 minutes now, before I get distracted by any of the other millions of things I have to do today. And add it to my agenda every day, and refuse to go to bed until it is crossed off my "to do" list!

What are YOU working on today?

I wrote a novel in 3 days

This year I officially entered the 3-Day Novel Contest, brainchild of some completely insane Canadians out in Vancouver. I wrote a novel in 3 days, and called it Rebels of the 512, because it's about pirates, ninjas and evil politicians here in Austin, Texas. You can read my "as it happen(ed)" blog at Pirates Vs. Ninjas, if you're interested.

You may have also heard that Texas Governor Rick Perry is running for President? I think it's an incredibly bad idea, based on the track record of Texas' previous presidential offerings as well as Perry's own completely whack-job ideas (have you read Fed Up!? I have, and it's scarier than a Stephen King novel), so I made Perry into the Big Bad for my pirates and ninjas novel. His name is now Nick Harry (because Dick Harry just seemed too obscene, even for me), and he… well, I don't want to give it all away!

If you're interested in reading an extremely rough draft and giving feedback on it, I'd love to hear from you. The outcome of the contest is going to be announced in January 2012, but in the meantime I'd like to do some editing. Even if I don't win the contest, I would like to publish this book in one form or another, so reader feedback is critical.

Any takers? Get in touch using this form and I'll hit you up with a PDF.

What makes Montreal so unique?

When I moved to Austin, I was hoping to find a southern version of Montreal. To me, Montreal has always been a romantic and beautiful city, despite its flaws. But perhaps more importantly, Montreal is a creative city with plenty of opportunity for those with the desire to hustle. Musicians, writers, artists and wannabes can all coexist peacefully in the city. But why is Montreal so unique?

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CHEAP RENT

When I first moved to Montreal, the rent was dirt cheap. Used to New York City's unbelievable prices for one-bedroom and studio apartments, where I frequently lived in lightless, illegal basement dwellings under bizarre subletting arrangements, Montreal's inexpensive rents were a breath of fresh air. Heat and hot water were included in many of my apartments' rent, and even the crappiest places had plenty of character. Indeed, one of the classic jokes in the city is that while the line "hardwood floors" will usually bring in eager newcomers, a seasoned Montrealer knows this is pretty standard and, thus, not worth getting excited about.

Add to the mix the fact that the Régie du logement governs all housing disputes (meaning that landlords and tenants are given equal weight, and that if your landlord tries to break the rules, you can take him to a special court to resolve the dispute fairly), preventing unfair rent increases on a yearly basis, and you've got the basis for some sweet apartment deals.

Cheap rent is one of the key factors that brings the "creative classes" to a city, as Richard Florida has often noted, and this is indeed one of my measures of what makes a city great.

CULTURE

Culture is a bit more difficult to define, but for me, Montreal had plenty. For instance:

Wherever you turned, there were musicians busking in the streets and in the metro — some highly talented students from McGill's conservatory, and some with unique hooks like the saxophonist on stilts or the "nose-flute" guy (he played two recorders with his nostrils).
We had an awesome art-house movie theater (Cinema du Parc), as well as the Dollar Cinema where you could catch old favorites and cheesy newer flicks for only a buck.
Summertime was wall-to-wall festivals, taking advantage of the warm weather for as long as possible, and in the winter there were the "White Nights" that encouraged shut-ins to get out, see some art, dance or slide down an ice sculpture in an all-night marathon.

There were always free events around town, or inexpensive cover charges to see local bands, attend readings by local authors, or just sample some local brews with friends. Some describe this kind of culture as "European," but to me, this just seemed normal. Why WOULDN'T you want to experience art, music, film, literature, food, drink and more in your city?

PUBLIC TRANSIT

After New York, I found Montreal's public transit a bit lacking (after all, their metro only runs until midnight!), but for the most part, it was easy to get around town without a car. I rarely found myself wishing for a vehicle, especially since I had a bicycle that made fast work of my commute in the summer months, and a monthly bus pass covered the downtown core quite completely. Once downtown, I often preferred to walk to my destinations, getting plenty of exercise and enjoying the scenery, but whenever I needed to get somewhere it only took a bus or metro between 20 and 30 minutes to arrive at most of my destinations.

Since I've left the city, they've added even more options for commuters, like the Bixi bike rentals (which are free for the first half-hour) and Communauto, a car-sharing service much like Austin's car2go.

BIG CITY, SMALL TOWN PRIDE

I think at the heart of it all, Montreal is a big city with small-town pride. While there's no particularly organized effort to get people to "buy local," as there is in Austin, Montrealers instinctively prefer to support their hometown shops and culture. Maybe it's a case of "Je me souviens," as it says on Quebec license plates, supporting French culture. Maybe it's just that Montrealers feel they know what's best for other Montrealers. Whatever the case, I found myself hanging out at tons of excellent local cafés and bookstores, preferring to shop at local boutiques when I could, and using the big chains more as research centers than places I would actually spend my money. Whenever a friend or colleague announced an artistic project, we would rally around that person and show our support — even if we were not particularly interested in their string quartets or poetry or abstract paintings.

Because that's just what Montrealers do.

Maybe my experience was different, because I came to Montreal as an outsider, a student. I had my eyes turned toward the bohemian and the cheap thrills from the get-go, and I found plenty. Maybe it was the contrast between my life in NYC, where cheap thrills seemed very hard to come by and the people were cynical about art and one's decision to create it. Or maybe Montreal's famed joie de vivre really does exist, and the people there really are passionate about living life to the fullest. As they say, you work to live, not live to work. In Montreal, one can work very little in order to live quite well. So why hold back?

What do you think makes Montreal so unique?

Today's goal: 40,000 words

80% of my novel's first draft is within my sights. I'm aiming for 40,000 words today. I'm currently at 38,498. That means I have to write 1,502 words today, slightly less than my NaNoWriMo daily requirement of 1,666 words. Totally do-able.

Time to psych myself up with a few key images, including (but not limited to):

Sexy twins
Wannabe pornographers
Foot fetishists
Enuresis (look it up)

Also, in case you haven't had a look, I recently obtained a copy of Wired's February 2011 issue, The Underworld Exposed. It features an informative look at how tech tools have changed how New York City's sex workers operate. The article itself is called "The Flesh Trade," and includes a variety of facts and figures compiled by Sudhir Venkatesh, a professor of sociology at Columbia University.

Perhaps the most revealing statement in the article? The idea that a sex worker with a BlackBerry "suggests the worker is drug- and disease-free."

Illustration by Kate Francis from Wired article "How Tech Tools Transformed New York's Sex Trade" (click to read full article)

Austin writers wanted!

My magazine, Black Heart, is currently accepting submissions from Austin writers and anyone with great stories about Austin, Texas for our upcoming AUSTIN WRITERS ANTHOLOGY.

Here's what we need:

1,000 words or less on the theme "sense of place in Austin, Texas" - fiction, nonfiction, poetry welcome

We also need:

* Original artwork
* Audio/video recordings

DEADLINE: August 31, 2011

For complete details, and where to submit, go to http://blackheartmagazine.submishmash...

SModcast at Just for Laughs

[image error]Since I am, in fact, a sucker for Kevin Smith's bawdy brand of humor, and he recently appeared in Montreal at the Just For Laughs Festival, today I'm recommending you listen to his SModcast #179. Recorded live at the fest, this podcast covers everything from Scott Mosier's solo trip to Au Pied du Cochon, where he encounters a woman who uses the word "cougar" as a verb, to a crazy news story about a man paid to have sex with his next-door neighbor's former beauty queen wife.

Highly recommended, definitely dirty, completely NOT work-safe.

P.S. If you're in Montreal, you should also mark your calendars for Smith's Red State at my alma mater, Concordia University. His latest, self-distributed flick hits the Hall Building Theatre on August 14.