Houston Writers Guild thinks I’m special

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Laura Roberts

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While I didn’t win the Houston Writers Guild Genre Contest, I did score a 141 out of 150 points on my 15-page novel excerpt. That’s a 94%, which is still totally an A, right?

The comments I received on my novel excerpt from Naked Montréal were “strong entertaining voice” and “well-written.” They also gave me 15 out of 15 in the section of the grading rubric that said “Quit reading the MS the moment you lose interest in the story. Give the manuscript one point for each page that you read… if you made it all the way to the end, give it 15 points.” Go me! I am not boring! W00T!

I did enter in the “mainstream” genre, which I suspect had the most competition (y’know, since it’s basically the catch-all for anything that’s not mystery, romance, sci-fi, historical or YA), so I’m not too upset about this non-win (I prefer to consider it a minor setback on my ultimate road to victory, not a flat-out defeat). And two ladies actually won this genre (congrats to Pamela Hutchins of Houston and Annie Daylon of Chilliwack, B.C.!), so that’s encouraging in a world where men still seem to take most of the top writing prizes.

So basically, even though I didn’t win anything, I feel like I got something out of entering this contest. Other people have read my work and enjoyed it, plus I got some useful feedback on what needs to be improved to make the book even better.

Thanks, Houston Writers Guild!

P.S. If you’re interested in reading the sample I sent, click the “Naked Montréal” cover photo or this link.

New Year’s Resolutions 2012

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Laura Roberts

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Instead of making dozens of resolutions for 2012, I am just going to make one. Because it’s the most important thing I have to do this year:

This year I will finish my novel, edit it, and get it out into the world.

After I’m done with that, I’ve got plenty of other projects simmering and brewing in the back of my mind. But first things first. I will finally finish this giant freaking project I’ve been working on for years and finally get it off my hard drive and into the hands of readers.

I am still debating traditional vs. self-publishing, but at least I will have a manuscript when I am debating it, this time next year. Or, who knows? Maybe it will already be a book by then.

What’s your resolution for 2012?

So, you want to be a novelist

Posted on December 26, 2011 by Laura Roberts

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So, you want to be a novelist, do you? Then I have some advice for you:

WRITE. EVERY. DAY.

And I don’t mean blogs, or Twitter updates, or emails to your friends and family, or To Do lists. I mean write your novel every day.

It’s the hardest simple thing you’ll ever do.

I’m not suggesting writing a novel is simple; it’s not. And I’m not suggesting that to create a novel, you just put one word after another on the page; it’s more than that. But if you don’t start now, and you don’t keep putting those words on those pages, you will definitely never write a novel.

So write every day. Even when you hate your characters. Even when your plot stinks. Even when it’s a beautiful day and all your friends are going to the beach. Even when it’s a miserable day and everything’s going wrong. Even when you feel like a failure.

Especially when you feel like a failure.

Here’s an easy way to stay on target: Don’t Break the Chain. You can even download a free “Don’t Break the Chain” calendar to hang on the wall near your desk, to shame you into doing it every day, no matter what day of the year you start on.

George Orwell did it. So can you. (image via Flavorwire)

I’ve decided I want to finish my novel by the end of this year. December 31, 2011: midnight. I’ve got 36,888 words and need approximately 13,112 more and my first draft will be done. That means 2,186 words per day for 6 days, or roughly 9 pages per day.

It’s not rocket science. It’s butt-in-chair math. It’s doing the work. Shitty first drafts. And then, lots of editing.

But first: the writing. This week is all about it. And the timer starts now.

You say you want to be a novelist. So where’s your novel?