Laura Roberts's Blog, page 99

Ontario kills prostitution law!

In a majorly awesome announcement today, Ontario's Superior Court struck down the messy and dangerous prostitution laws that have been on Canada's books since time immemorial.

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Dominatrix Terri-Jean Bedford helped fight the unjust prostitution laws, and is glad to see them finally toppled

As the Globe and Mail put it:

"The ruling means that the law can no longer be enforced in Ontario. If the decision were to be upheld on appeal, it would topple the use of the prostitution provisions across the country."

Hot diggity damn! Does this mean Quebec (the home province to Sin City of the North, Montreal) could be next to enforce good judgment upon its currently underground city of pimps and prostitutes? We can only hope. Of course, that would make the seedy underbelly that provides the background for my book a thing of the past…

… which would only increase its value as a historical document. Pre-order your copy today to get in on this action!

An open letter to Bill Brownstein

In response to today's article in The Gazette, I just have this to say:

Hey Bill,

Just because La Gazette didn't cover it last year doesn't mean there wasn't much attention paid to the first incarnation of Montreal's burlesque fest. In fact, I wrote a whole article on the subject as Montreal's Vixen about town (aka Hour's younger, sexier Josey Vogels–with far more bite).

[image error]Enjoy the tits, tits, tits and ass.

XO,

Laura Roberts

P.S. You can pre-order a copy of my book (which features scenes from the B...

11 days

I'm feeling wild and crazy, pent-up, full of excitement and energy, and maybe I've just been reading too much about Simenon, but I've got to do something.

Something big.

Something… NaNoWriMo or 3-Day Novel Writing Contest big.

I need to finish this novel in 11 days.

One of my Oddities & Inspirations today was an article on the "World's Most Prolific Novelist," Georges Simenon. A tweet from @robertbruce caught my eye this morning, reminding me of a Paris Review interview I'd read with the French n...

Chapter 7: Daniel Allen Cox

One of my literary heroes, Daniel Allen Cox, is featured in this week's "Three Dollar Bill" column in the Hour. Daniel's latest book is called Krakow Melt, and I'm eagerly awaiting my review copy from his publisher, having absolutely adored his previous book, Shuck (which I reviewed on Black Heart's website).

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Daniel Allen Cox (photo by Dallas Curow)

Daniel is someone whose career I've been fortunate enough to follow from its early beginnings: hawking his novella, Tattoo This Madness In, at...

Chapter 6: Cam Whoring for Fun & Profit

This is the title of chapter six of my novel. It may not necessarily end up as chapter six in the final draft, but that's where it is for now. I'm trying to stick to chronological order, at least in terms of the outline I've set up, rather than bouncing around too much. But then again, I do like to go where my interests lie…

And cam whoring is a pretty intriguing subject.

For those not in the know, I'm talking about the gals on the Innernet who chat with horny young losers men for money, and...

The wisdom of the Dalai Lama

This morning I woke up early to take a crack at the book. It was somewhere around 5 AM, and after I wrote down what had come to me, I hit up Twitter to see who else was up and posting. The Dalai Lama (@DalaiLama) had this to say:

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(For those who don't do graphical interfaces, he tweeted "You need self-confidence and determination: feeling depressed and losing hope will never really help to correct any situation.")

This guy is like a Tibetan fortune cookie, slapping me upside the head. I don't...

I can make a million for you overnight

I can make a million for you overnight.

That's a line from the Beatles' excellent song, Paperback Writer, but it got me thinking when a friend posted it as her Facebook status the other day. The concept of the song is that an aspiring writer has sent a letter to a publisher, along with his manuscript, and is promising that it will be their next Big Thing, therefore they should buy it and make him a real, live Paperback Writer.

This encapsulates the ultimate writer's dilemma: if you're writing a...

Reading as Rx

The latest issue of ReadyMade features a piece called "Required Reading," which highlights a London institution called The School of Life, where "bibliotherapists" prescribe books to their "patients." Give your bibliotherapist a list of your reading preferences and some life goals, and you'll get your own personalized reading list. Hot, right?

Unfortunately for the broke-asses of the world, bibliotherapy—like most legitimate forms of therapy—doesn't come cheap. For a remote session, it's £40 (...

24-Hour Short Story Contest update

It's 6 pm on Sunday, 6 hours after the close of the WritersWeekly 24-Hour Short Story Contest (as mentioned in my previous post). This round's prompt was eerily reminiscent of one of the previous contest's prompts, which had me pulling my hair out in frustration, perhaps because I was taking the whole thing a little too literally.

This time around, I gave myself plenty of time to brainstorm, as well as churn out several rejected drafts before hitting upon the one I thought was the best. The...

WritersWeekly 24-Hour Writing Contest

I'm not the biggest fan of writing contests, as I'm a firm believer in not paying someone to publish my work, instead preferring to collect a paycheck whenever anyone uses my words. Still, sometimes you make exceptions, like when the opportunity could lead to a huge cash prize or other non-monetary benefits like meeting with an agent or publisher in lieu of cash money.

While the WritersWeekly 24-Hour Writing Contest taking place on July 24 does have some fabulous cash prizes (including $300...