Former ‘PittGirl’ blogger Virginia Montanez publishes first novel

“Nothing. Everything,” the first published novel by writer Virginia Montanez of North Huntingdon, takes place during the pandemic years.

But don’t expect to find masks, covid tests or quarantining among its pages.

“I was nervous about not writing the pandemic into this, because it clearly takes place during that time,” she said. “I had to just remove that reality and pretend it never happened, and I’m really glad I did.”

Montanez didn’t think readers needed — or wanted — to be reminded of those bad old days.

Instead, she hopes they’ll identify with the story of a newly divorced Pittsburgh woman struggling to keep it together while nothing on the surface of life has changed, but in reality, everything has.

A novelist herself, Ellis Sloan is struggling with writer’s block and trying to stay positive for her two teen children while her ex distances himself from them.

As the story progresses, longtime family secrets are revealed, along with the reason why her senior prom date ditched her — as he reappears and their love/hate relationship is renewed.

Sloan has always relied on humor to get her through trying situations. This time around, she might need a new approach.

‘PittGirl’ blog

Montanez, 49, has long had a Pittsburgh presence both online and in print. She first caught the public eye in 2005 as PittGirl, author of The Burgh Blog, which was notoriously critical of the city’s politicians — in particular, then-Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

She ended the blog in 2008 when her identity was revealed, but subsequently created another one called “That’s Church.”

Montanez has worked in communications for local nonprofits and written for outlets including “Pittsburgh Magazine,” where she currently is a history columnist. In January, she launched “Pittsburgh Remains to be Seen,” an online project showing where remnants of long-gone Pittsburgh structures can be found.

She also is working on a master’s thesis through the University of Massachusetts-Boston on the effects of the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 on Pittsburgh. She is interested in doing doctoral research on the history of child labor in the steel mills and coal mines of Western Pennsylvania.

“Nothing. Everything” was inspired by Montanez’s own divorce after 20 years of marriage. Like her protagonist, she also has two children. As in the novel, her teen daughter is autistic.

Written in about three months in early 2020, the story emerged from a period of self-reflection.

“Finding yourself, not being yourself anymore, feeling damaged, preferring who you used to be – that’s what I was trying to figure out,” she said. “It was me coping, going through divorce, and then the pandemic rolls around.

“I remember in 2019 being like, ‘Oh, 2020 is gonna be my year,’ and then it wasn’t anybody’s year,” she said.

The first draft was more autobiographical than the finished product.

“Yes, I’m in there, but I took so much of myself out,” Montanez said. “I’m very private. When I was done, I knew I didn’t want to share my story.”

Now or never

A real-life element that remains is Sloan’s first published work, “Luca Rex.” Montanez has a novel in progress of the same name and about the same character and feels like “it’s now or never” for her to finish it.

“I love that book, I love the premise of it – an angel comes along and screws your life up,” she said.

The underlying premise is that things often have to get bad before they get better — a notion that repeats in “Nothing. Everything.”

“With ‘Luca Rex,’ bad things can lead to good things – clearly that was a message I was searching for since I’ve written it into two books accidentally,” Montanez said. “In ‘Nothing. Everything,’ a woman at the bottom has to figure a way to get out of it. Even at our lowest, there’s still hope.”

In both the published and unpublished novels, Montanez has given her female protagonists names that are generally more male-identified. It was a conscious choice.

“It makes them more approachable, so everyone can see themselves in that person,” Montanez said.

In the same way, she limits the physical descriptions of the book’s characters, including those that could be seen as racial or ethnic identifiers.

“There’s a reason everyone has dark hair, but there’s no description of the shape of their nose, or their body, other than that Ellis is a medium — but that could be anything,” Montanez said.

She wants readers to create their own images of the characters.

“I want people to understand that this book is what you make it,” she said. “Men are reading it one way, women are reading it another way. Depending on your race or ethnicity, you’re not going to be confronted by a character that’s different from you.

“It’s not a book about white people. It’s not a book about Black people. It’s not a book about Asian people,” she continued. “I never want people to get to a point where they’re reading and say, ‘That can’t be me.’”

“Nothing. Everything” is published by Winding Road Stories and is available in print and for e-readers at Amazon and other online outlets.