Michelle Proulx's Blog, page 15

Giveaway time! My short story hit 500 downloads!

I’m psyched to announce my silly little short story, The Coin Collector, has officially hit 500 downloads on Smashwords! Woo!

To commemorate this glorious occasion, I’m going to hold a little giveaway. It’s super easy, and the prizes are super cute. Remember how a few months ago I mentioned I’d printed out my short story in booklets to give away at street festivals?

Pretty booklets all in a row

The prizes for this giveaway are the left-over short story booklets! That’s right, folks — for the low, low price of leaving a comment on this post (in which you can say literally anything you want), you will be entered into the running to win a super exclusive print copy of The Coin Collector, signed by yours truly! I’m going to give away at least three booklets, and possibly more if I get a lot of comments (come on, guys, you can do it!), so get commenting!

So, to summarize:

How do I enter this super-awesome giveaway? Leave a comment on this post — anything at all will do! (extra points if it’s a haiku)

What can I win? An exclusive print copy of The Coin Collector, a hilarious short story signed by the author herself!

That’s all for today, folks. Good luck!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/AF2IwMC

 

The 10 Commandments: Book Lovers’ Edition [Infographic]

Michelle Proulx:

Cute infographic from Quoth the Wordsmith about the 10 Commandments of Book Lovers. Read and enjoy!

Originally posted on Quoth The Wordsmith:

Due to popular demand, I have, at the request of various readers, created this infographic of the original post. Enjoy, and do let me know your thoughts!

View original

Chasing Nonconformity Back Cover Blurb – Help!

Happy Saturday, everyone! As edits are progressing well with Chasing Nonconformity (Imminent Danger #2), I thought it high time to share the back cover blurb with you!

The story is set but the blurb isn’t, so if you have any suggestions for how to improve it, please by all means comment! Actually, that’s exactly why I’m sharing this today, so please let me know what you think. Heck, if you want to re-write it entirely, that’s “totes” cool with me.

Without further ado …

Chasing Nonconformity

(Imminent Danger #2)

Back cover blurb

Still recovering from the shock of accidentally marrying an exiled alien prince named

Varrin, and from almost getting her head blown off by a six-armed lizard man with anger

management issues, seventeen-year-old Eris Miller is ready for a vacation. But Varrin is

desperate to rescue his beloved spaceship, the Nonconformity, from the clutches of the

galactic government, so her vacation will just have to wait.

While Eris and Varrin chase after the stolen ship, they are unaware that trouble is

brewing on the other side of the galaxy. The villainous Emperor of Rakor has assembled

an unlikely team to hunt down and capture Varrin: Prince Trystan (Varrin’s younger

brother), Sebara (Trystan’s electro-scimitar-wielding bodyguard), and Fino’jin

(commander of the deadly Skin Slicers).

With enemies closing in, time running out, and the Nonconformity slipping further and

further from their grasp, Eris is forced to ask herself … what is she willing to sacrifice to

ensure her happily ever after?

 

There we have it! Comment, comment, comment, and my thanks in advance for any and all help provided.

 

Unrelated media of the day:

John Oliver tears into the Miss America pageant and it’s hilarious.

How to Edit a Novel in 10 Easy Steps

For today’s post, we’re going to delve into the distressing topic of editing. Why distressing? Because I hate editing. But you don’t have to follow in my somewhere-between-size-9.5-and-10 footsteps! Not with this handy guide …

 

How to edit a novel in 10 easy steps

Write a novel. You’d think this step is obvious. You’d be right.
Read the novel through and take notes. We’re talking big picture notes here, not spelling mistakes. What do you like? What do you not like? Which characters are interesting and well developed? Which aren’t? Which parts of the story are exciting? Which parts bore the pants off you? Tip: If you’re not wearing pants, put some on, and then see which parts bore them off you.
Re-write your novel. Not the whole thing, necessarily, but as much as you need to in order to fix the problems you identified in step 2. If you didn’t identify any problems in step 2, you’re an adorable little ray of sunshine and you need to get with the program because first drafts are always terrible and if you can’t find at least one thing to fix, we need to have a serious chat.
Give your novel to a trusted friend to read. Ideally, you want to find someone who is both able to provide useful, constructive feedback, as well as able to do so in a manner that doesn’t make you want to curl up into a ball and cry for three months straight. Good luck.
Discuss your novel with the trusted friend. Discuss it at length. Preferably for multiple hours over multiple sessions. You want to hammer out exactly what they liked and what they didn’t, what they think worked and what didn’t, and so on and so forth.
Re-write your novel. You’re still focused on the big picture right now. Make sure you’re consistently spelling your protagonist’s name right later.
Give your novel to a group of beta readers. Again, you want people who are readers in your genre, who know what a book in your genre is supposed to look like, and who are (hopefully) able to explain to you how your book stacks up in comparison. And if it doesn’t stack up, they should be able to tell you why.
Re-write your novel. You know the drill.
Focus on the details. Woo! Best part of the process! Or possibly the worst! You’re almost done now — you just need to make sure everything flows smoothly. Look for inconsistencies, logical flaws, make sure characters don’t randomly change their eye color halfway through, etc. Check your grammar, check your spelling, check your point of view, check your tense (past, present, etc.). If you know anyone who’s good at proofreading, get them in on this step, because doing it by yourself takes forever and you’ll definitely miss something.
Run a spell check. Oh, don’t look at me like that. You’d be shocked how many books have random typos that could have easily been picked up by a simple spell check. Run it. You won’t regret it.

Now, obviously you may need to repeat some of the steps several times. I, for example, like to re-write my books five or six times before I even get to the beta reader stage. But this is the basic process I follow — and now, so can you!

What’s your editing process? Tell me!!!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/oSiajTF

Hip Hurrah for Editing!

That was a misleading title. I hate editing. It takes forever and it’s tedious and when you have to cut chunks of text it’s soul-crushing. That being said, it’s necessary, and it’s currently the next step I have to take if I ever want to publish Chasing Nonconformity. Thus, I edit!

I’ve been putting it off for several months now, and sometime last week I just got tired of seeing the manuscript sitting on my bedside table. I think my sudden burst of excitement for editing has come about partially because I’ve been playing around with formatting the interior for Imminent Danger. As you may or may not know, I intend to re-publish Imminent Danger in the near future via Amazon KDP (and Createspace), so I’m starting to look into exactly how I’ll go about doing that.

The key to editing for me, I think, is that I just need to get into the writing mood. It doesn’t matter how I get there, but once I’m in, I can force myself to direct my energy toward whichever project needs attention — in this case, Chasing Nonconformity.

As of today, I have finished addressing my editor’s notes on the latest draft. I am now preparing myself to go through the manuscript again, with the intent of ironing out inconsistencies and attempting to cut the manuscript down to size. It’s currently sitting at around 115k words, which is much too long. As you may remember, however, Imminent Danger was once at 120k words, and I got it down to 94k, so I’m cautiously hopefully I can repeat that feat here.

If anyone has any words of wisdom or encouragement for me as I delve back into editing my magnum opus (ha!), please share them with me in the comments below.

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/sKolg05

Cover reveal: ‘A Vengeance of Angels’

Michelle Proulx:

I recently had the honor of proof-reading the first book in Andrew Toynbee’s series — A Construct of Angels — and now the sequel is getting its cover reveal! Huzzah!

Originally posted on Andrew Toynbee's very own Blog:

This sequel has been a long time coming, but the release date is steadily drawing closer and optimism is growing for a mid-November release.  So different from the release of my first novel, this timetable is holding and everything appears to be on schedule.

‘A Construct of Angels’ – my debut novel – crawled forward in random fits and starts, suffering from a mixture of inexperience and poor planning.

But thanks to my editor, Tara (she of Shaner Media Creations), the timetable she created is keeping me moving steadily forward.

So, in keeping with her timetable, I am now proud to present the cover my second novel, the sequel to ‘A Construct of Angels:’

.

Seasoned readers will spot many similarities to the first cover. This is deliberate :D

I asked Ravven to retain some of the original elements in order to provide series continuity. The main character, you…

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Awesome fans are awesome

As you may recall, a few weeks ago I sent out swag packs of bookmarks and stickers to anyone who wanted one. A few people took me up on the offer … including Nicholas C. Rossis, who is both an excellent author and an all-around magnificent human being. Check out this picture he sent me:

That would be my magnet on his fridge with an adorable message from him and his wife — all the way from Greece! I don’t have many fans, but the fans I do have are awesome.

Speaking of which, I still have a bazillion bookmarks and stickers left, so if you want a swag pack, email me (michellishelli@gmail.com) with your address and I’ll send you some Imminent Danger goodies!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/5Zy6L

 

Fight! Critique group vs. critique group

This past Friday, my Nova Scotia cousin kindly invited me to her long-standing critique group, since she knew I was new to the province and desperately need to get myself up-to-speed with the local writing scene. As we gathered around the living room with glasses of wine and freshly baked bread, it occurred to me that the experience was vastly different from my critique group in London. I can see pros and cons to both sides, which has led me to …

Fight! Critique group vs. critique group MORTAL KOMBAT TO THE DEATH!

Round 1 Challenger: London, Ontario Critique Group

Pros

Monday meet-ups from 7-10 — This allowed me the whole weekend to finish up our pieces, as well as gave me something to look forward to on a dreary Monday
2-3 pieces read aloud, then critiqued — This A) meant I didn’t have to spend time reading the pieces before the group, and B) gave us lots of time to explore the piece in depth, providing a more thorough critique

Cons

If any one piece was dull, it meant a full hour of dullness
If the reader read their piece aloud too quickly, it was hard to follow and I got confused
I couldn’t help but make minor grammatical and spelling corrections along the way, making it harder to focus on the big picture elements

Round 2 Challenger: Halifax, Nova Scotia Critique Group

Pros

Friday meet-ups from 8-11 — This means I don’t have to worry about having energy the next day, as it’s a Friday! On the other hand, I get tired easily, so 11 is pushing it a little late
Send pieces by email beforehand, then discuss at group — This means A) upwards of 5 people can get their work critiqued over the course of the evening, and B) we don’t have to print off 40+ pages if we want a piece critiqued

Cons

Without the piece in front of me, I sometimes forgot why I had written down a specific piece of criticism — meaning my critique was less in-depth as a result
Some of the submitted pieces were novels, meaning we just read what we can each week — This means, however, that different people are at different points in the story, meaning I can’t follow half the critiques because I don’t know what the heck they’re talking about
Sometimes I really need that extra few hours before the meet-up to put the finishing touches on my piece — but then I would submit it so late, no one would have a chance to read!

Time! Winner … undecided?

 

Thoughts on my pros/cons list, and which style of group is better? What’s the best critique group you’ve been in, and how did it run? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/8B22Ij4

Day 3 (final day!) of my Halifax Road Trip

Sunday

The gentle patter of rain in the shower awakens me at an ungodly hour. Mother emerges from the washroom at 9:45. Our scheduled departure is 10:00. Defeat is already inevitable.

I shower and dress and gather my things and before I know it, the time is 10:40. Damn it all. I rush down the stairs and out to the parking lot, where everyone is waiting for me. They have the decency not to call me on my lateness, but we all know the truth. Once on the highway, mother breaks our sacred vow of silence and tells me I was late, and that the others weren’t. I brood for a few minutes, and then drown my sorrows in local radio babble.

Lunch falls at a far more opportune time today for my poor growling stomach, and we break for gas and tasty A&W root beer and burgers. I apologize to my companions for my lateness. The lead car driver agrees that I was late, and points out that I am notorious for being late. I agree with this assessment, apologize again, and all is forgiven.

We’re nearing Nova Scotia now, and our lead car driver professes her desire to sit in the truck with her husband as we cross the border and enter our new homeland. I am agreeable to this, so mother takes over driving the lead car (soon to be the last car, as the truck will now go first in our caravan). The truck driver’s companion abandons her post and joins me in my ancient Mazda. I can only pray that the poor little thing makes it all the way to Halifax with all parts intact.

We speed along the highway, and as the road curves and twists, a new form of entertainment emerges. As the last car in our caravan now, it is mother’s duty to defend us from filthy tailgaters and their evil ways. A challenger approaches: a white car who disapproves of the slow pace we’ve set on this one-lane road. He gets up close to mother. Mother, accepting this unspoken challenge, slows down slightly to warn him off. Irate at her challenge to his vehicular supremacy, the white car draws closer. She of infinite patience slows further. This continues for some time. I am amused.

A two-lane segment of road approaches! My travelling companion and I are thrilled, for this will surely break the stalemate. But such reprieve is not to be, for the white car and mother are now locked in a duel that only death itself can end. The white car refuses to pass in the new lane, hugging mother’s bumper like my roommate’s cats when they cuddle. Mother refuses to move into the new lane to get out of his way, and slows even more. We can barely see her in the mirrors now. Soon she will vanish from the world entirely. We cheer her on.

At some point the white car turns off, and mother emerges victorious. We have little time to celebrate, though — the border to Nova Scotia approaches. It’s magnificent, with huge windmills and gardens and a welcome center and a cheery sign. We are impressed, partially by the beautiful welcoming to our new home, and partially because we actually noticed that we’d entered the province (unlike the New Brunswick/Quebec border, which is just pathetic).

Onwards and upwards into Nova Scotia we fly, and the road signs count down the kilometres to Halifax. Closer and closer, faster and faster … and then … VICTORY! We turn off, we drive, we turn again, and a cozy red brick townhouse looms up on the left: our new home. Our landlord greets us and takes us inside. Plush carpeting, a cute kitchen, an expansive deck, and an unnecessary amount of stairs are ours to explore and claim.

We haul the truck door open and carry in our mattresses. The true unloading will take place tomorrow, but for now a place to sleep is our only thought. We wrestle a king-sized mattress up the twisting staircase, cursing and sweating and bonding over our shared physical exertion and exhaustion.

Once all mattresses are in place, we head down to the waterfront for dinner, drinks, and good company. My uncle joins us, and regales us with stories as we consume assorted seafood. After dinner, we walk along the boardwalk eating icecream and taking in the sights. We stop at the end of a dock and admire the dark, sparkling waters of our new home. And then we return to the townhouse to sleep and recharge and refresh, ready and excited to face the days ahead.

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/uXC3hz8

 

Day 2 of my Halifax Road Trip!

Saturday

I awaken to the smell of dog and the sound of my best friend talking to her newly-wed husband in the hall outside my door. A quick check of the clock reveals the time — 9:00 AM. With an estimated departure time of 11:00 AM, I have all the time in the world.

Two hours later, I no longer have all the time in the world. Everyone is ready to go, and I am still in the shower. Curses and damnation! I wring the last dredges of conditioner out of my hair and jump out of the shower. I know I have a reputation for being late, but dammit, I’m not going to be that late.

I get to the car, ready to go, but there’s a hitch — my mother is joining us as an extra driver on our trip to Halifax, and she needs tea. How could I forget such a fundamental fact of existence? Where my mother goes, tea follows. No move can be taken unless accompanied by hot, sugary leaf juice. We mill about beside our cars while we wait for her to return from her trip to Tim Hortons.

Once tea is acquired, onwards and upwards! Slowly, though. Oh so slowly. Montreal traffic is inexplicably horrible, and we navigate through a series of incomprehensible street signs and narrow on-ramps in our desperate attempt to escape the city. A GPS malfunction takes us off the highway and onto narrow country roads. Mother panics, but the lead car assures us we’re headed the right way. A beautiful mountain appears on our left, and the highway appears on our right. We return to our rightful path, and peace is restored.

As we drive, we discover that New Brunswick is really frickin’ far from Montreal. Like, stupid far. We drive and drive and drive. Then we stop and get tea. Then we drive and drive and drive. Mother is amused by how close our truck drives to our lead car. Our truck driver is not so amused — other drivers seem hell-bent on slipping in between the vehicles in our caravan. Suddenly my suggestion to stick signs on our back windows saying “I’m in a caravan, don’t get in between us” doesn’t seem so ridiculous after all.

We finally break for lunch around 4:00 PM. Praise the highway gods! Mother and I adjourn to a grocery store, where an elated cashier practices his English on us. I munch on fries and chicken as we proceed back onto the highway and continue on into New Brunswick. The only indication of the changing provinces is the signs switching from French-only to French and English. I declare my final impression of Quebec as we cross into New Brunswick — I am not impressed.

Night falls, and out come the moose. Well, that’s what the myriad of giant flashing signs indicate. Moose everywhere! Beware of moose! They will destroy you if you don’t keep constant vigilance! AHHHHH!

There were no moose.

That being said, caution is the key to survival, and our lead driver took that to heart. We proceeded slowly and cautiously along the twisting highways, going up hills that had our truck struggling to push past 60 km/hour, and then zooming down hills that had our truck braking frantically so as not to smash into the bumper of our lead car. Mother and I started a game in which we guessed how many times the truck would break in a 10 minute period. I am pleased to announce I won both rounds.

We pull into Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick and our destination for the night, at around 11:00 PM. Our chosen resting place — the imaginatively-named City Motel — is simple but nice. Competence is not, however, their forte — mother and I are given a room with a single bed, whereas our single companion is given a room with two beds. Were it not for my fear of my companion’s cat suffocating me in my sleep, I would have gladly taken the second bed.

After a quick takeout dinner from Boston Pizza, we prepared for bed. Next stop, Halifax!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

21 Analogies used by High School Students