Musings on inscribing a book to someone

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Today’s post was prompted by my recent Goodreads Giveway, which netted me … (drum roll) … 945 participants! Woo!

Moving on. So two people won, and now I need to send them their copies of Imminent Danger, complete with the dreaded BOOK INSCRIPTION!!!

Why dreaded, you ask? Is your book rastafarian? Does every copy come with an adorable origami set of miniature dreadlocks?

No, of course not. Don’t be silly. I’ve been dreading the BOOK INSCRIPTION!!! for some time now, because I have absolutely no idea what to write as an inscription. First of all, there’s the debate between “To” versus “For”. Examples:

To Juarhala, prettiest gal this side o’ tha Pecos

versus

For Juarhala, my dearest and most loyal sycophant

“For” strikes me as more personal, whereas “To” is more when you’re writing a letter to someone. Hmmmm. Thoughts?

 

And then, of course, there’s the dodgy matter of what to actually write in the inscription itself. Just “For/To + Name” is kind of boring. You need to personalize that shizzle to really make it … erm … fizzle. So, what to write?

For my close friends, nothing short of an epic, full-page letter will suffice. I’ve known them for a long time, they helped with the book, and they expect The Iliad in return. Fair enough. God knows what I’ll actually write in said epic letter — I think it will have to be an on-the-spot inspiration type of deal — but that doesn’t stop me from worrying that, when I’m on the spot, I’ll have absolutely no idea what to write, or write something so stupid they’ll quietly hide my book in a corner and never mention it again.

But now that I’ve got a book signing at Chapters on May 25th (huzzah!), I need to figure out what to write for people I’ve met only casually, or for the first time. Do I try to personalize the message to each person? Do I ask them what they want me to write? Or do I come up with a witty, generic phrase? Here are some possible generic phrases of questionable wittiness:

For XXX. Reach for the stars! Michelle

To XXX. Follow your dreams! Michelle

For XXX. Pew pew pew! Michelle

To XXX. SHWOOP! Michelle

To XXX. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Michelle

For XXX. Enjoy the book, and thank you so much for your support! Michelle

To XXX. Best wishes, Michelle

For XXX. Dangerously yours, Michelle.

Bah. As you can see, I clearly have no idea what I’m doing. Any and all suggestions, as always, are welcome!!!

 

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/W59DGGH

Categories: Self Publishing, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 49 Comments

So your want to write a novel: Infographic

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Amusing infographic about novel writing. Sounds about right.

Eric Ralph's avatarEric M. Ralph

By Eric Ralph

When people hear that I wrote a novel and published it, they often say that they would like to write a novel someday too. This infographic is for those aspiring novelists out there.So You Want to Write a Novel infographic

View original post

Categories: Random | 32 Comments

Promo Stickerz for the LA Times Book Festival

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Happy Friday, my friends! Anyone else psyched that this cold, rainy week is finally over? Maybe the cold raininess is just an Ontario thing. Still … looking forward to being able to leave the apartment without needing both my full winter gear and an umbrella. It just seems wrong. Pick cold or rain, Mother Nature, not both. Get your act together. Geez.

Right! Moving on. So, as you may know, the LA Times Book Festival is coming up soon (April 20-21), and I’ve managed to wrangle the publicity company Blackbird LSD to represent me at their festival booth. Not to sound like too much of a fan girl, but they’re awesome!!! Check out the latest web banner they whipped up for Imminent Danger:

blackbird lsd _ imminent danger

Fun, right? And very dangerous, which is always good. I love that the cover is all “romance, love, mushiness”, and the ad is all “danger, death, omglazorspewpewpew”. Fun juxtaposition there.

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to share some of my sticker “designs”, so-called. The stickers are being shipped to California as we speak, so fingers crossed they turn out the way they look on-screen – preferably better! Feel free to either praise or viciously insult my design skills at your leisure, although do recall that my heart is made of cotton candy and is prone to dissolving if exposed to too many tears.

STICKER_eris_paint

STICKER_shwoop_paint

The stickers themselves will only be 2×2 inches (tiny!), so I had to keep the designs simple. And yes, the top sticker image was drawn by the lovely and talented Celeste DeWolfe. And if anyone’s wondering, the grey text in the background of the second image says “SHWOOP”. That’s the sound spaceships make when they shwoop through space and time.

 

Other updates … Goodreads Giveaway finally finished!

Total entrants = 945. Not too shabby.

Let’s be honest, I was expecting maybe 300, tops, so I’m beyond thrilled. Of course, whether any of this results in reviews / sales remains to be seen, but I’m cautiously hopeful. And if not, well … still a fun experience! 

 

Unrelated link of the day:

Since I already bombarded you with a bunch of images already, today’s unrelated media will be a link. It is Game of Thrones related, specific to the latest episode that aired this past Sunday, so if you haven’t seen it … well, you won’t get the joke at all.

http://www.happyplace.com/23035/game-of-thrones-facebook-recap-season-3-episode-2

 

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Last chance to enter my Goodreads Giveaway!!!

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

… “last chance” being because the Giveaway is ending today, not because a giant asteroid is going to come crashing down on our heads, obliterate Mongolia, and engulf us all in a dust cloud that will blanket the world for three years, stop all crop growth, and starve us into extinction. Stop panicking! Good grief. You people are kind of paranoid, you know that?

Anyhoo, my Goodreads Giveaway ends tonight (around 2 a.m., for some bizarre reason), so if you haven’t entered for a chance to win my awesome-tastic book, Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It, click the link below and get hopping!

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/47252-imminent-danger-and-how-to-fly-straight-into-it

Excellent form, my hoppers. You’re regular spring bunnies. And no, you don’t look at all ridiculous bouncing around your living room in your PJs — and don’t let anyone tell you differently!

Unrelated link of the day:

Cracked wrote an amusing article about punching writer’s block in the face — check it out:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-tips-punching-writers-block-in-face/

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/HFEu2Ou

Categories: My Works | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Amateur Life Tip: Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam!

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I usually ramble on for a few paragraphs before getting to the point, but today’s tip is fairly important, so I’m just going to come out and say it:

Stop what you’re doing right now and go check your Spam folder.

Back? Excellent. Did you find anything useful in there? Even if you didn’t, I highly suggest making a habit of checking your Spam folder at least once a week. Otherwise you’ll end up like me, and spend weeks wondering what happened to your very expensive contest entry when the answer was hidden in ye olde Spamme folder all along.

Story time!

Story #1: The missing acceptance letter

As you may remember, I recently entered the Independent Book Publisher (IPPY) Awards. I sent them $99 and a softcover book (+shipping), so it was a fairly significant monetary investment on my part. The website said they’d send a confirmation email as soon as they got their hands on the book. But I never received that email.

After raging a bit (you know how it goes), I sent them a friendly email asking if they’d gotten my book. No response! Grrrrr. I was just about ready to sharpen up my oversized wooden spoon and go on a rampage when I decided to check my Spam folder on a whim. Voila! Three emails from the IPPY folks, all buried in the Spam graveyard.

So this story has a happy ending — my book did get to the IPPY Awards, and it’s officially entered. Huzzah!

Story #2: The giveaway gaffe

A few weeks ago, I entered a contest on the lovely Lorraine Pearl’s blog for a chance to win an autographed model card from a romance cover model she got to do a guest post. I completely forgot about entering … until I checked my Spam folder in the wake of the aforementioned missing acceptance letter incident, and discovered that I had won the model card! Huzzah!

Except that was from three weeks ago, and I had never replied — gasp! I quickly fired off an email explaining the situation, and Lorraine’s getting it all sorted out.

 

… okay, I admit, I only had two stories. But you get the picture! Check your Spam folder! What if an agent’s desperately trying to sign you, and their emails are getting rerouted to the Spam folder without your knowledge? Doom! Ruin! Despair! Exclamation mark!

Unrelated media of the day:

I’m sure everyone and their mother has already heard this song, but I just recently discovered it, so, heck with it. I’m sharing it here. Let’s all rock out on the count of three. Ready? One … two … three!

Categories: Random, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 37 Comments

G is for Guest Post — Plotting vs. Pantsing with Michelle Proulx

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

G is for Guest Post — specifically, my guest post on Pete Denton’s blog!

Michelle Proulx's avatarPete Denton

For today’s A-Z Challenge entry, Pete asked me to share with you all my thoughts on Plotting vs. Pantsing. And thus, I shall.

In the eternal battle between Plotting and Pantsing, I come down firmly … somewhere in the middle. I keep trying to ally with one side or the other, but they inevitably reject me due to my mutinous tendencies. I shall now elaborate on this concept. Prepare yourself.

Planning has never really been my thing. In fact, probably my least favourite sentence to hear from another person is, “So, what’s your plan for today?” Argh! I always have a vague idea of what I want to do, of course, but if I formalize my plans verbally or on paper, I feel trapped, like I’ve suddenly lost the freedom to be spontaneous. And the instant I feel that way, I immediately begin to come up with ways to avoid…

View original post 827 more words

Categories: Random | 6 Comments

Camp NaNo + assorted updates

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

In a somewhat suspicious turn of events, my Camp NaNoWriMo attempts are going extremely well this year. As of thirty seconds ago, I am officially at 8,666 words — 43% of my goal for the month. And it’s only the 6th! Huzzah! I suppose it helps that I actually have a plan for what I’m writing — not an outline, of course, but more of a general “This happens, then this, then this.” I’m really excited, guys. Chasing Nonconformity is going to be epic. Well, as soon as I finish writing the darn thing, that is.

And I have new pictures for you! But first, let’s do a brief iUniverse update …

 

iUniverse update

Remember the pricing issue I was talking about? According to iUniverse, it is impossible to solve it. iUniverse sent out their recommended sales price, and now apparently the online retailers (Amazon, Kobo, etc.) have complete freedom over how much they want to sell the books for. Grrrr. So I said, “Dear iUniverse, if you can’t control the eBook price, can you at least make the physical books less expensive?” To which iUniverse responded that they used a base print-on-demand algorithm to determine the price, blah blah blah, and that the softcover price is fixed at $21.95, and there’s nothing they can do about it. Like heck they can’t.

 

Chapters update

On the other hand, my book is now in Chapters! Check it out:

2013-04-05 19.03.02

HOW COOL IS THAT???

The Chapters people have been absolutely awesome, as you can see from the above image! The only thing they were obligated to do as part of my publishing package was put the book on the shelf, so the fact that they stuck it at the front of the store, on the top shelf, is beyond fantastic. Huge shout-out to the staff up at Chapters North, London!

I’ve also contacted their general manager about doing a book signing — no word back yet, but I have high hopes!

 

Other update

The lovely and talented Ms. Tania L Ramos is currently rocking Las Vegas on a writer’s getaway. She brought along Imminent Danger, and took this adorable, alien-themed photo:

WP_000643

 

Okay, enough bragging for one day. Off to work! But before I go, I shall leave you with your favourite part of my posts, the …

 

Unrelated media of the day

Categories: iUniverse, Random, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 44 Comments

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Thank you to Gwen Bristol for conducting this wonderful author interview! I award her three virtual penguins.

Gwen Bristol's avatarGwen Bristol

A month or so ago I read Imminent Danger, by Michelle Proulx (see her blog here and her web site here). I’ve always been a little nutty about sci-fi, but this one was funny and romantic as well as having a great space-setting. I loved it.

Yesterday I was able to have a quick interview with Michelle Proulx…and here it is!

Where did you get your inspiration for ‘Imminent Danger?’
Would you believe me if I said school? I was taking an Intro to Astronomy class in my first year of university, and my professor had an unfortunate tendency of regurgitating the contents of our textbook as his lectures. I gave up listening to him after a few weeks, and one day, while playing Donkey Kong Country on my laptop, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be hilarious if an astronomy teacher who spends all day lecturing…

View original post 826 more words

Categories: Random | 9 Comments

Book Review: Can’t Live Without by Joanne Phillips

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

In my slow but sure attempts to work my way through the small virtual mountain of books piled up in my ereader, I present to you my official book review for Can’t Live Without.

 

The Bookcan't live without cover

Can’t Live Without

The Genre

Women’s Fiction

The Author

Joanne Phillips

The Plot

Stella Hill is proud of the home she’s created for herself and her daughter. She’s worked hard to buy the very best of everything … but when she wakes one morning to find her kitchen on fire, Stella knows her life will never be the same again. At least she has Paul to lean on; Paul Smart, owner of Smart Homes, confirmed bachelor and unknowing recipient of a schoolgirl crush Stella never quite got over …

When the charismatic John Dean turns up after sixteen years, Stella is determined not to fall for him again. Because now her heart belongs elsewhere. Or does it? With a boss she’s half in love with, a teenage daughter about to go seriously off the rails, a spendaholic mother, and a house to rebuild, Stella’s problems are only just beginning.

Can Stella put her life – and her home – back together again? And will she ever realise just what it is she really can’t live without?

The Review

This was an exceptionally fun read. The main character, Stella, is totally incapable of managing her own life or keeping her daughter in line, and watching her fumble her way from one situation to the next was extremely entertaining. But while I would usually find myself irritated with such a character (who on Earth doesn’t buy home insurance and then accidentally burns their house down?), Stella is so quirky and full of life that I found myself cheering for her from start to finish.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance — I guess I had trouble connecting with either of the gentlemen involved in Stella’s love triangle — but I really enjoyed her interactions with her daughter. Stella is a terrible mother who tries really hard to understand her daughter, despite the fact that she doesn’t have a clue what’s going on in her life. It was quite endearing.

One thing I found very odd about this book was the point of view. It’s mainly in first person from Stella’s POV, but at random times it switches to a third person POV from other characters’ perspectives. I did get used to it after a while, but I still found the POV jumps a little jarring.

In conclusion, I found this to be a great self-published novel with excellent editing, a moving storyline, an amusing protagonist, and lots of fun family drama. Highly recommend!

The Rating

5 out of 5 stars

 

Click here to visit Joanne’s blog.

Click here to check out her book.

 

Unrelated link of the day:

Follow this link to view a collection of gifs of people in infomercials failing at accomplishing simple household tasks.

 

Categories: Book Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Free giveaway from the lovely and talented Ms. Tania L Ramos. Check it out!

Tania L Ramos, RN's avatarNew Author Publishing

Be Still is coming up on its one year anniversary in May.  When I started this adventure into publishing last year, I had no clue where it would take me.  I thought I was taking the road less traveled; turns out the Self-Publishing Road is  a crazy, busy highway.  Thank goodness most drivers are friendly and well mannered.

I’ll write a one year memoir in May, telling all the ups, downs, positives, negatives, joys, and regrets of this rocky uphill climb.  Well, guess it couldn’t be all bad since I plan on publishing again this year . . . or maybe I enjoy swimming against the current more than I think.

In honor of coming up on my one year anniversary, I am doing a biweekly giveaway (that’s every two weeks, I looked it up).  The entry date starts today and will end May 31st.  There will be four drawings:…

View original post 206 more words

Categories: Random | Leave a comment

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.