Michelle Proulx's Blog, page 10
May 29, 2015
Cover Reveal! A Haunted House Tale (Anthony Renfro)
Fellow self-pubbed author Anthony Renfro has a shiny new cover for his short story A Haunted House Tale. Check out the cover below — and also check out the story itself, because it’s free to download Friday and Saturday (May 29/30).
This short story is about five students on Halloween night who discover the secrets and terrors of the town’s most infamous haunted house. Will they live to see the morning?
Excerpt:
The wall behind him turned into a giant mouth with sharp crooked wooden gnashing teeth covered in dried stained blood. Two plaster arms blew out of the wall with hands on the ends of these arms. These wooden hands with rusty nails for fingernails grabbed him as he tried to run away. The rusty nails implanted themselves into his body squirting blood out of him like someone squeezing a tomato too tight. He was stuck, couldn’t move, as he struggled to get free. The plaster arms picked him up and tossed him into the mouth. He was chewed up, and quickly consumed, lost somewhere inside the fabric of the wall.
May 23, 2015
Imminent Danger Free to Download this Weekend!
Hey peeps! Just popping in to let you know that Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It is free to download again this weekend. So if you haven’t picked it up yet, now’s your chance!
It’s actually available on all the Amazon sites — so if you’re not American/British/Canadian, hop over to your favorite Amazon site and search the book name. Happy reading!
Unrelated media of the day:
Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/TJb3H0Y
May 16, 2015
Writing Advice That No One Wants To Hear
Great writing advice, with just the right amount of sass :)
Originally posted on Lorna George:
Personally I’m of the opinion that in writing, as in life, you are more likely to catch flies with honey than vinegar. I would always rather encourage someone than criticise them, highlight the good bits than the bad, point out strengths rather than weaknesses. I’ve also been of the opinion that I’m not all that qualified to offer up advice, simply because I’m learning as I go.
That said, even I can get annoyed sometimes when people insinuate that my job is easy, or that I somehow haven’t earned the place I’m at in my life. I know a lot of would-be writers, and I know a lot of would-be writers who act like it’s a fluke that I’ve come this far. As though I haven’t clawed my way to this point over the past few years, like I don’t know what I’m talking about because I’m mostly self taught, or…
View original 453 more words
May 12, 2015
Cover Reveal for “The Sky-Child and Other Stories” (Danielle E Shipley)
Today is the cover reveal for The Sky Child and Other Stories by Danielle E. Shipley. This cover reveal is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours.
The Sky-Child and Other Stories (The Wilderhark Tales #6.5)
By Danielle E. Shipley
Genre: Fairytale Fantasy
Age category: Young Adult
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Blurb:
Born into a world his heart knows as beneath him, an extraordinary boy becomes a man of music, hopeful that someday he’ll find a way higher.
As the first day dawns, a world comes awake, order and disorder striking a dangerous balance.
Under the stars, a princess and tailor trade age-old lore, little dreaming of the future that could trap them in the past.
All of it in, around, and far above the timeless trees of Wilderhark, the forest whose secrets reveal themselves slowly, if ever at all.
Tales of beginnings. Tales of quests for belonging. Most of all, tales of true love.
Once upon a time, you knew something of Wilderhark’s tales. Now for the stories that fall in between.
The Sky-Child and Other Stories
A Wilderhark Tales Collection
You can find The Sky-Child and Other Stories on Goodreads
About the Author:
Danielle E. Shipley’s first novelettes told the everyday misadventures of wacky kids like herself. …Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to them all, half of her characters were actually closeted elves, dwarves, fairies, or some combination thereof. When it all came to light, Danielle did the sensible thing: Packed up and moved to Fantasy Land, where daily rent is the low, low price of her heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, firstborn child, sanity, and words; lots of them. She’s also been known to spend short bursts of time in the real-life Chicago area with the parents who home schooled her and the two little sisters who keep her humble. When she’s not living the highs and lows of writing, publishing, and all that authorial jazz, she’s probably blogging about it.
Writing credits include: “Inspired” (a novel); short stories in paranormal, fantasy, and Steampunk anthologies via Xchyler Publishing; and, of course, her series of fairytale retelling mash-ups, “The Wilderhark Tales”.
You can find and contact Danielle here:
– Website
– Blog
– Facebook
– Twitter
– Goodreads
– Pinterest
– Amazon
May 8, 2015
BIG Imminent Danger Sequel News!
As you may know, my mother and I have spent the last few months doing an intensive edit of Chasing Nonconformity (sequel to Imminent Danger). And I am almost ludicrously pleased to announce that finally — FINALLY — we’re done!
What does this mean? Well, first, I’m going to spend the weekend re-reading the entire thing to make sure we didn’t do anything too crazy during our editing sessions. Then, early next week, I’m going to send the book out to my top-notch beta reading squad. They’ll read it, send me comments, I’ll spend about a month going through them all and making revisions as necessary, then I do a bit of formatting, and then BOOM! Sequel is published! Summer 2015, baby!
On that note, anyone want to be a beta reader? A few of you have already expressed interest (Misha Burnett, Celeste DeWolfe), and it’s possible others have and I’ve just forgotten about it because my memory is laughably terrible. SO, if you’d like to beta read, please let me know! You’d have about a month to read and send me your comments — and your reward, of course, would be a shout-out in the Acknowledgements section and my eternal gratitude.
That’s all she wrote! Wooooooo!
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Totally related media of the day:
So as I was SHWOOP-ing over the past 5 months (gasp!), I randomly tweeted fun SHWOOP moments. I shall now share my favorites here. No worries if they don’t make sense out of context — very little that I say or do makes sense.
Mom (reading): They walk to the hatch, they reach the hatch … there’s lots of hatches happening. I feel like a chicken. #SHWOOP
— Michelle Proulx (@michellishelli) January 14, 2015
Mom: Editing a book with you is like walking on quicksand. Me: What does THAT mean? Mom: You know what it means. #SHWOOP
— Michelle Proulx (@michellishelli) January 15, 2015
Mom: I had too much lunch. I don’t feel like a Ssrisk when I have too much lunch. #SHWOOP
— Michelle Proulx (@michellishelli) March 13, 2015
Mom: Look at that! What a beautiful paragraph! Me: It had better be, considering we spent the last HOUR on it. #SHWOOP #fml
— Michelle Proulx (@michellishelli) March 27, 2015
Yellow is start. Blue is end. Shwoop is life. Shwoop is love. #SHWOOP #amwriting
— Michelle Proulx (@michellishelli) April 16, 2015
May 4, 2015
Imminent Danger: And How To Fly Straight Into It by Michelle Proulx
A really sweet review from Rosie Amber :) Don’t worry, the sequel’s almost here!
Originally posted on Rosie Amber:
Imminent Danger: And How to Fly Straight into It by Michelle Proulx
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Imminent Danger: And How To Fly Straight Into It is a YA sci-fi tale. I enjoy watching several Sci-fi series on TV where its very visual, portraying this same image to a reader using the written word is a great skill. I’ll be honest I had forgotten the reason I downloaded this book and I opened to the first page with no idea of the storyline. From the title I assumed a mystery or a thriller, so was shocked when seventeen year old Eris was quickly abducted by blue aliens.
At first I did that eye roll of disbelief, but then I thought hang on it’s ok. Get past the awkward introduction and language barriers and now we have a feisty heroine a cute small furry creature called a Claktill and the…
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April 27, 2015
Characterization Lessons from Pop Culture
Saw this re-blogged on Misha Burnett’s site, gave it a read, and loved it — it has some great insights into modern superhero films, not to mention advice we can carry over into our own writing/editing. Check it out!
Originally posted on Drew Chial:
Audiences love watching characters in dire situations work their way out. We want to believe that with enough determination anyone can lift themselves up by their own bootstraps. More than that, we want to believe that people have the power to look inward and turn themselves into someone better.
A character’s growth should account for shifts in his attitude, but if his personality does a complete 180 it will affect his believability.New situations should nurture the hero’s evolution, while his nature should remain the same. Inconsistencies in the hero’s essence will feel like a betrayal to the audience. The more the hero changes, the more parts of them need to remain the same.
Allow me to illustrate my point with a sampling of references pulled from pop culture: from Bill Murray’s filmography, to panned superhero movies, and the Star Wars rereleases.
What Bill Murray Teaches Writer’s About Constructing Characters
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April 14, 2015
Bumper Sticker Giveaway — Haikus + Winner!
Huzzah for spring!
This past weekend, I ran a haiku contest, where the best haiku-ist would win an awesome Imminent Danger bumper sticker featuring Varrin looking super sassy. The haikus are all in, and it’s time to announce the winner!
But first, the runners up …
Spring has come at last
Flowers and leaves are waking
Sneezes are coming
— Charles Yallowitz
By some lucky stroke of fate, I don’t actually have seasonal allergies–but I know plenty of people who do, so I know how much it sucks. Still, what’s a little sneezing when it means lovely sunshine and tweeting birds and all sorts of other Spring goodness?
My friend Michelle Proulx
Soon we’ll meet Camos again
As our half elf pair
— Denise Gow-Morse
This is, of course, in reference to the Pathfinder campaign I’m playing with Denise and her husband. Camos is the hilariously standoffish half-orc who has a serious chip on his shoulder and likes to say “That is acceptable” to basically any question posed. Also, I’m pretty sure he’s going to murder us in our sleep at some point. But I still love him.
Here is my exit
But it’s under construction
Welcome to Memphis
— Misha Burnett
This haiku reminds me of “Last Exit to Eden” by Amanda Marshall. I feel like getting into an old muscle car and driving off into the sunset.
Blowing a gale here
A spaceship would be useful
Off to build an Ark
— Paula Acton
Oh dear! I suspect the lovely Paula Acton was suffering through some icky weather when she wrote this haiku. I hope you got that Ark built in time!
And now, the winning haiku …
All is dark and still.
The humans are now sleeping.
Soon, I must make noise.
— Thomas Weaver
This haiku ended up being the winner because I currently live with two dogs and three cats, and it just really spoke to me on an emotional level. Of my roommates’ five animals …
Dog #1 likes to lick every inch of the kitchen floor and freak out at literally everything
Dog #2 (puppy) likes to walk onto the pee pad, then scoot backwards juuuust enough to completely miss the pee pad while doing her thing
Cat #1 likes to sit outside my roommates’ door at 7am and meow meow meow meow meow until they feed him
Cat #2 likes to get locked in rooms, panic, and pee on the bed/couch/whatever soft and difficult-to-clean surface he can find
Cat #3 likes to wait until I open my bedroom door, dart past me, run under my bed, and refuse to leave no matter what I do — oh, and he also likes to up-end garbage cans, shred toilet paper, taunt the dogs …
For the record, they are all very cute and generally quite pleasant and amusing to live with.
Anyhoo, Thomas Weaver is the big winner! His bumper sticker will be in the mail and on its way just as soon as I get his address and figure out how to package a bumper sticker that’s precisely one inch too long for an envelope.
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Unrelated media of the day:
He just looks like a super chill dude …
Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/GxKbBGF
April 11, 2015
It’s Spring! Time for a Bumper Sticker Giveaway!
After the longest winter of my life, I am ridiculously happy to announce that spring has OFFICIALLY HIT HALIFAX, CANADA!
Phew. Honestly, you cannot imagine my relief. Things were getting pretty grim for a while there. I’m looking at pictures from Celeste DeWolfe over in South Korea, who seems to spend all her time going to Cherry Blossom festivals and eating giant cotton candy balls, and then I look out my window, see seven-foot-high snowbanks, and think “Aw man.”
But today it was above zero and the snow’s finally melting and everything is glorious! Therefore, I have been inspired to run a …
Imminent Danger bumper sticker giveaway!
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The prize:
1 bumper sticker, as follows …
I have one on my car, and it’s super fly. You will be literally the coolest person in the galaxy if you have this bumper sticker on your car.
***
How to enter:
Since I’m feeling whimsical today, in order to enter I want you to write me a haiku. Post it in the comments on this blog post, or post it on my Facebook page, or, heck, even tweet it to me (@michellishelli).
The haiku can be about anything you want — my book, sheep, the dichotomy of good and evil, whatever floats your boat. I’ll pick my favorite, and the winner gets an awesome bumper sticker!
In case you don’t know, a haiku is three lines, with the syllable scheme 5/7/5. Here’s an example:
Holy cow, it’s a
super awesome giveaway
I sure hope I win
Terrible? Yes. Technically correct? Also yes! Haiku me, people!
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The deadline:
Let’s make it … 9 am EST on April 13. So that gives you the weekend to think up an awesome haiku and send it my way.
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Happy haiku-ing, everyone!
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Unrelated media of the day:
http://imgur.com/gallery/TUMXA
April 10, 2015
Chasing Nonconformity Update
As of yesterday, I have officially hit the halfway point in my exhaustive edit of Chasing Nonconformity. Huzzah!
Mother and I started off our editing “SHWOOP” sessions, as we call them, back in February. We meet on Google Hangout every few days and spend an hour or two working our way through the book. This was very slow going, as it usually consisted of mother reading a sentence, staring at it, deciding she didn’t like it, and then telling me to re-write it with very vague directions on what she thought should change. This might repeat four or five times for a single sentence before we moved on to the next and started the whole process again.
You may think I’m joking, but I’m not. It was taking forever.
Then, a few days ago, inspiration hit. More like common sense. If both of us go through the chapter separately before we meet, we’ll have already ironed out all the wrinkles and the SHWOOP session itself will be smooth sailing!
Has your brain exploded yet? Because mine did.
Anyway, our SHWOOP sessions over the past week have been going phenomenally well. We get at least a chapter done a day–two yesterday!–and we’re practically flying through the book now. It probably also helps that we’ve hit the halfway point and the action’s really picking up, so we may or may not be getting through it faster as a result.
I thought I’d share some random facts about the book with you now, since you’ve all waited so patiently and deserve a teaser. Please note that everything listed below might change–I still need to do my uber-beta-reading round, and comments from that could easily shift things around. Anyway, as promised …
*SPOILER ALERT*
An insider look at the current draft (not final, but getting close) of Chasing Nonconformity
# of chapters = 42
Current word count = 98,997
POV characters = Eris, Varrin, Miguri, & Sebara (new character!)
Planets/systems visited = 6
# of times Varrin smirks = 14
# of times Grashk hisses = 17
# of times any character sighs = 66 (oh dear)
First sentence in the book = “Sebara paced outside the bronze double doors that led into the private chambers of Trystan Gara’dar, second son of the emperor of Rakor.”
The end.
Unrelated media of the day:
Okay, this is a fun one: Harry Potter quotes taken out of context … (Source)
