Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, I’m Laura Roberts, and I’ve written an entire novel in just three days, write steamy romance under the pen name Laure L’Amour, and publish books that press buttons at Buttontapper Press (http://buttontapper.com). I currently live in Sacramento, California with my artist husband and our literary kitties (Ned and Percy), and can be found on Twitter @buttontapper. When I’m not writing, I can be found editing manuscripts for indie authors, transcribing reality TV, watching rom-coms, testing chocolate recipes, or searching for more typewriters to add to my collection.
Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, I’ve penned 19 books for adults, including the alphabetical travel guides Montreal from A to Z and San Diego from A to Z, the offbeat writing guides NaNoWriMo: A Cheater’s Guide and Confessions of a 3-Day Novelist, the satirical adventure tale Ninjas of the 512, and various steamy romances under the pen name Laure L’Amour, as well as three nonfiction career guides for young adults (Careers in Gaming, Careers If You Like Music, and Careers in Digital Media) published by ReferencePoint Press. I have also contributed shorter works to the following anthologies: The San Diego Writers & Editors Guild’s 5th edition of The Guilded Pen, Diane Lee’s nonfiction collection The Secret Lives of Writers, the David Bowie/Alan Rickman tribute anthology Stardust, Always; Shawna Kenney’s Book Lovers: Sexy Stories from Under the Covers, Ironology 2014: The Iron Writer Championship Series, and Drabble Harvest #14: Extraterrestrial Reincarnation.
My latest book is called Sacramento Love: Meet Cutes in the Capital City.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Sacramento Love: Meet Cutes in the Capital City. It was inspired by a few different things. I was finishing up a nonfiction travel guide called Sacramento From A to Z around the same time the stay-at-home orders were issued in California, and realized I was probably not going to be able to release any travel guides until 2021. That got me feeling frustrated, but then I started thinking about turning that frown upside down. What if I wrote some fictional stories that featured some of my favorite Sacramento landmarks and locations, instead? I wrote a series of short pieces, focusing on the “meet-cute”: those moments in a romance where the hero and heroine meet for the first time and feel that spark. I set them in different locations around the city, from A to Z (just like my travel guidebook), and voila! Sacramento Love burst forth from the ashes of another book put on pause. (And yes, I still have plans to release Sacramento From A to Z, whenever life returns to normal here in the US and travel can responsibly resume.)
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Probably my most unusual writing habit is joining all manner of writing contests and challenges. I like having deadlines and word count goals and a system of rewards and folks cheering me on. So I love to participate in NaNoWriMo and the 3-Day Novel Contest and things like that, even if I don’t necessarily “win” them, because they help give my writing life some structure and an outside goal, and they come around seasonally, so I try to plan my writing year around them.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Some of my new favorite authors in the romance genre are Helen Hoang (The Kiss Quotient, The Bride Test), Alisha Rai (The Right Swipe, Girl Gone Viral), and Talia Hibbert (Get A Life, Chloe Brown; Take A Hint, Dani Brown). I love that their heroines don’t NEED a man, but definitely WANT a man in their lives, and they won’t relax their high standards in order to find the relationships they really want. They’re all very independent, successful modern women with careers and goals of their own, and the men they fall for are sensitive guys who aren’t afraid to be vulnerable.
What are you working on now?
I’ve currently got two books that I’m working on. The first is a rom-com I started in 2019 during the 3-Day Novel Contest, which I’m calling “Wife for a Weekend.” It’s about a couple of co-stars who get accidentally married on the set of the movie they’re shooting, and the chaos that ensues during the long weekend following their nuptials. The other is called “The Billionaire’s Wife,” and it’s a gender-flipped billionaire story where the billionaire in question is a woman who inherited her billions in a divorce and is trying to divest herself of her fortune in a responsible manner. I’m basing the billionaire very loosely on MacKenzie Scott (formerly Bezos), because she signed the Giving Pledge committing to give at least half of her wealth to charity after she divorced Jeff Bezos, and I think there’s something really interesting about that kernel: a woman who wants to be very charitable and giving while her spouse very clearly does not.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Being online, talking about books and writing all the time? ;D
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write the book. Then keep on writing.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Park your butt in the chair and get ‘er done.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne for one of my book clubs, Xeni: A Marriage of Inconvenience by Rebekah Weatherspoon (fake marriage for the win!), and The Magical Writing Grimoire by Lisa Marie Basile because I needed a witchy, magical read as we head into fall.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m trying to get a manuscript together for Pitch Wars (which I always seem to miss every year!), and I’ve got at least two more books to finish by the end of this year. More romance, more love, more rom-coms!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
2. Art Objects by Jeanette Winterson
3. Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
4. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Author Websites and Profiles
Laura Roberts Website
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