My Works

Opinion time! What should I put on the Imminent Danger bumper sticker?

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

That’s right, my friends. It’s time. Time to make an Imminent Danger bumper sticker. Please, contain your excitement. Falling off your chair and collapsing on the floor in a quivering wreck is undignified. And what are we without our dignity, I ask you? WELL?

Moving on. I want to make an Imminent Danger bumper sticker, mostly because I want one to stick on my car. That’s right, I have a car now! Technically it’s my mother’s, but she bought a new one and gifted me her old one — virtual high five for awesome mothers! The car’s a bit rusty, but it’s now mine, and I want to decorate it. So let’s talk bumper stickers!

I’m thinking text is probably the best option, since bumper stickers are small and I’m not sure intricate artwork would really come across well. I was originally thinking of just putting the book title on the sticker, but that doesn’t really do much to promote my book — and ideally, the sticker would both say “Yay! Imminent Danger!” and “Buy this book!”.

Any thoughts? I’m considering including my website on the sticker, but I’m worried that’s going to put too much text to read clearly from a distance. Hmmm.

My brother suggested just having one big word — “SHWOOP”. That is, of course, the sound my spaceships make when they leap across great distances. Very appropriate for a vehicle. But no one would get the reference, not to mention it wouldn’t advertise my book at all. Then again, having a SHWOOP sticker would be pretty cool. If a couple of people got them, we could be like a secret SHWOOP club.

What do you guys think?

Unrelated media of the day:

I may have shared this already, but whatever, it’s funny.

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

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing | Tags: author, books, Bumper sticker, car, ebooks, sci-fi, self-publish, soviet russia, Sticker | 35 Comments

New Imminent Danger fan art from Celeste DeWolfe!

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I’m psyched to announce that the lovely and talented Celeste DeWolfe has created a new piece of fan art for Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It. Huzzah! This piece is called “Complicated Relationship”, and it nicely captures the … well, the complicated relationship between the novel’s two main characters.

Note: The blue glowy things around Eris’s hands in the second panel are alien handcuffs. This will make more sense if you’ve read the book!

Categories: My Works | Tags: art, books, Cartoon, celeste dewolfe, Fan art, imminent danger, jerk, romance, self-publish | 6 Comments

Reached 200 downloads on my silly short story!

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

200 downloads on The Coin Collector! Booya! I believe this means that people have officially downloaded my short story more than my debut novel. Ah well. The short story is short, not to mention free, so I suppose it makes sense. Still, happy day! Round numbers are awesome.

Speaking of short stories, a lovely lady in my writing critique group just published a short story called Chameleon – check it out here. I’ve only read the preview thus far, but it looked pretty darn good, so check it out if you’re looking for a quick read of the sci-fi/action/spy thriller variety!

In other news … yeah, I have no other news. Well, actually, I have officially started re-writes for Chasing Nonconformity. Two paragraphs down, several hundred to go! I stuck my notebook back in my bathroom and took out all the books so that I have no choice but to write during my morning … let’s call it a “sojourn”.

I also have a question for all you WordPress-literate types. My page views and “likes” have been down in recent months, mostly due to me being very lugubrious in my posting frequency, but I still get a few new people following my blog every day. So, no raise in views/likes … but new followers every day. Very suspicious. Any thoughts on this bizarre phenomenon? A mass conspiracy by the internet to mess with me? An unintended and inexplicable result of the recent American government shutdown? Could the United Platypus Alliance be involved?

Unrelated media of the day:

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/s4iVkXA

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: art, ebooks, fiction, sci-fi, self-publish, short story, wordpress, writing | 42 Comments

And Thus the Re-Writing Commences!

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

As you may recall from my previous post, I recently got my manuscript for Chasing Nonconformity (sequel to Imminent Danger) back from my beta readers. Huzzah!

Now come the re-writes.

I’m not going to lie — I’m having a lot of trouble with Chasing Nonconformity. Sequels are really hard, and I’ve been struggling with making sure this book has as much “oomph” as the first book. It’s a delicate balancing act — bringing enough elements from the first book to keep the feel of the world and characters the same, while at the same time introducing enough new elements to keep the story and characters changing and evolving.

My first draft, waaaaaay back in 2010, was a lot of fun to write, but there was a distinct lack of plot. The characters mostly just wandered around and did amusing things — as I said, enjoyable to write (and probably to read), but not exactly a “story”. My second draft, which I finished back in the spring of 2013, was much better — the characters actually had motivation for doing stuff! But the stakes still weren’t high enough, which once again made it feel like the characters were just milling about.

Then, a couple of weeks ago — and all credit goes to my brilliant brother Jesse — the solution to my “lack of stakes” problem arrived. I can’t tell you what it is, obviously, but it is both awesome and incredibly amusing (well, amusing to me, at least!), and it has the added bonus of wrapping up a few loose ends from the first book. Woo!

That’s pretty much how my brain works. First I write the story … then I go back and figure out how to make it make sense. Not the most streamlined of processes, but … well, for whatever reason it seems to work for me!

So, for everyone keeping track of my writing progress, Chasing Nonconformity is slowly but surely getting done. Assuming all goes well, this should be the last major re-write. I figure that’ll take me a month or two. So going into December the story should be ready to go out to another round of beta readers … give them two months to read it, since my beta readers are notoriously slow … putting us at the start of February …

Therefore I’m going to tentatively put the release for Chasing Nonconformity somewhere around the Spring 2014 area. I was initially aiming for January, but that’s just not going to happen now. Onwards and upwards, my friends! To victory!

Unrelated link of the day:

Are you a 90s kid? Prepare to be blown away by nostalgia:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/things-that-look-just-like-childhood

Semi-related image of the day:

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: 90s, author, Beta reader, books, ebooks, grammar, manuscript, nostalgia, sci-fi, self-publish, writing | 22 Comments

First Imminent Danger Fanfiction!!!

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

A few wonderful, sunny months ago, Celeste DeWolfe fulfilled one of my big life dreams by creating the first ever Imminent Danger fan art. Now, an anonymous source whose identity must be protected for … well, for his/her own protection … has written the first ever Imminent Danger fanfiction! And it’s awesome!

The link is coming up right below. Fair warning, though — if you haven’t read the book, the fanfic probably won’t make much sense to you. To remedy this problem, I shamelessly suggest clicking the giant book cover to the right of this post and buying/reading the book ASAP!

Everyone ready? Steady? Freddy? And … link!

The first ever super awesome IMMINENT DANGER FANFICTION!!!

Awesome, right?!

For everyone who didn’t just click that link, I will now share with you some of my favourite quotes to entice you into clicking. Ready? Favourite quote #1:

Eris’s Brain: Finally, I’m free! I couldn’t stand it in there! Eris’s Heart kept going on about how cute that stupid raider was.

Eris’s Heart: HIS HAIR WAS SHAGGY AND I LOVE HIM!

Eris’s Hair has deactivated its Facebook account!

Favourite quote #2:

Varrin Gara’dar has taken the quiz “What To Say When Your Girlfriend Is Taken Hostage”!

Varrin Gara’dar has scored 0% on the quiz “What To Say When Your Girlfriend Is Taken Hostage!”

Hehehe. Okay, so now that I’ve somewhat ineffectively convinced you how awesome it is, go read it now! Or not. I’ll still like you either way.

Unrelated media of the day:

Cool opening video/song for the Civ IV game. As a history major, this gives me chills of the “Mankind freakin’ ROCKS!!!” variety.

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: baba yetu, books, ebooks, Facebook, fanfiction, funny, music, sci-fi, self-publish, writing | 12 Comments

Got my book back from the beta readers!

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

That’s right! As of yesterday afternoon, I’ve officially reacquired Chasing Nonconformity, the sequel to my debut novel Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It, from my beta readers. Huzzah!

Granted, I only actually got it back from two beta readers — specifically, my mother and brother. Three big cheers for them! The rest of my so-called “beta readers” haven’t done a whole lot of reading. But that’s okay! Because I’m going to be doing a lot of re-writing (again), so by the time they remember they’re supposed to be reading the book, I’ll have a new draft for them anyway. Then they can busily not read the new draft while I start on the next one. This plan, my friends, is fool proof. FOOL PROOF!

Ahem. So, onwards and upwards with the re-writing! I’ve got a lovely 200 page manuscript full of red ink sitting beside me just waiting for me to begin my perusal, so that’s exciting. More awesome, however, are the small cartoons I noticed that my mother and brother and slipped into the manuscript every now and again. They’re quite artistic, my family members. Thus without further delay, I present to you:

Drawings from Chasing Nonconformity (Summer 2013 draft)

Artists: Jesse Proulx and Linda Schneidereit

Note: Please don’t ask me to explain these, because … well, because I can’t. Enjoy!

And that about wraps that up. Now that you’ve seen the drawings, can you imagine the kind of ridiculous comments and suggestions I have to put up with from these people???

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: art, author, Beta reader, books, drawing, Reading | 34 Comments

Free Short Story — “The Coin Collector”

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

I’m psyched to announce that after many hours of messing around with formatting and design and whatnot, my short story The Coin Collector is now available for FREE download from Smashwords! Click here to download it now!

Here’s the cover image again for your viewing delight:

And here’s an excerpt to get you irreparably hooked:

Pounding his fist against the dented metal door, Mr. Quimbly shouted, “Anyone in?”

“Just a moment, if you please,” a voice rumbled from inside.

After a few seconds, the door squeaked open of its own accord. A huge, gleaming claw attached to a scaly green appendage nearly the size of Mr. Quimbly’s entire body reached out toward him. Mr. Quimbly yelped, stumbling back and nearly dropping his file.

“Forgive my rudeness,” said the same deep voice, and the claw retracted back through the doorway. “I didn’t mean to startle you, little manling. Do come inside. I’ll put the kettle on.”

“I—I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you,” said Mr. Quimbly, preparing to run.

“It isn’t, actually.”

The claw shot back out, hooked around Mr. Quimbly’s waist, and yanked him inside.

Mr. Quimbly landed on the floor of the dimly-lit warehouse with a thud and a groan. As he shakily retrieved his fallen spectacles and pushed himself to his knees, he noticed a glint of gold near his left hand. Picking it up, he realized it was a Spanish doubloon. How curious, he thought.

Then he looked up, and found himself staring at the scaly snout of a massive green dragon. The resplendent beast towered over Mr. Quimbly’s head, its horns brushing the ceiling. Its jagged viridian scales contrasted magnificently with the small mountain of gleaming gold coins on which it was nestled.

“Good heavens,” said Mr. Quimbly, dropping the doubloon. “You’re a dragon.”

Thanks to everyone who gave me valuable advice and insights on self-publishing and formatting and content and whatnot! If you feel like sharing my exciting self-publishing news with your respective friends/family/bloggers, I would obviously be incredibly appreciative. I would even bribe you with a free copy of the ebook, but … well, it’s already free. Cheers!

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing, Writing | Tags: coin collecting, dragon, ebooks, fantasy, free, free ebook, funny, self-publish, short story, smashwords, taxes, writing | 23 Comments

I need your advice RE: self-publishing a short story

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Greetings fellow blogotrons! In today’s post, I desperately need your advice. Intrigued yet? Read on!

As I mentioned in a recent post, my short story The Coin Collector (formerly The Numismatist) has failed to win a place in the Sword & Laser Anthology competition. Tragedy strikes again! Anyhoo, at the suggestion of the lovely Keri Peardon, I have decided to self-publish my short story on Smashwords. Huzzah!

First of all, I’m going to offer the short story for free — as a kind of sampler of my work, in the hopes that people will download the story on a whim, enjoy my writing style, and then seek out other works by me. This process will of course be aided by whatever I stick into the ebook at the end of the story — so, something along the lines of:

Enjoyed the story? Want to read more by Michelle? Check out her debut sci-fi/romance novel, Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It!

Visit https://michelleproulx.com/ for details.

Or something to that effect. That’s what I was going to go with, anyway. Then the lovely Keri Peardon struck again, suggesting that I include an excerpt of Imminent Danger at the end of the short story. Her theory is that as long as I indicate the length of the short story in the ebook description, no one will be upset by a free preview at the end. I’m a bit worried, though, that people won’t read the description, and will just see “4000 words length” and get upset when the story ends about 2000 words before they thought it was going to. Then again, it’ll be a free download, so they really can’t complain, right?

Hmmm … what do you guys think about this? Let me know in the comments, or clicky clicky the poll:

I’ve also got a possible cover design I’ve been messing around with, which I will now share:

What do you guys think? I’m pretty pleased with it. The treasure chest image is from here: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/178312. It’s royalty free (woo!), but I will of course be crediting the photographer (“chancey”) in the front matter of the ebook.

SO! Please let me know your thoughts on:

A) Whether or not I should include an excerpt from Imminent Danger at the end of the short story

B) What you think of the cover design

Thanks oodles! Have a fab Tuesday!

Unrelated media of the day:

Categories: My Works, Self Publishing, Writing | Tags: author, coin collecting, cover design, ebooks, Numismatist, self-publish, Short Stories, smashwords, writing | 49 Comments

Sword and Laser Short Story Anthology — REJECTED!

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

In a tragic turn of events, the short story I submitted to the Sword and Laser Short Story Anthology competition didn’t make the cut. Obviously I wish my story had made it, but I’m not too torn up about it — can’t expect to win the very first short story competition you enter, after all! That would just be silly. And awesome. But mostly silly.

For all wondering, the short story was a whimsical fantasy rambling of mine entitled The Numismatist. I was thinking of posting the entire thing here, but I think I might try entering it into a few more competitions, so you’ll have to make do with a teaser excerpt instead:

Pounding his fist against the dented metal door, Mr. Quimbly shouted, “Anyone in?”

“Just a moment, if you please,” a voice rumbled from inside.

The door squealed open of its own accord, and a huge, gleaming claw attached to a scaly green appendage nearly the size of Mr. Quimbly’s entire body reached out. Mr. Quimbly yelped, stumbling back and nearly dropping his file.

“Forgive my rudeness,” said the same deep voice, and the claw retracted into the darkness. “I didn’t mean to startle you, little manling. Do come inside. I’ve already put the kettle on.”

“I—I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you,” said Mr. Quimbly, preparing to run.

“It isn’t, actually.”

The claw shot back out, hooked around Mr. Quimbly’s waist, and yanked him inside. Lying in the middle of the dimly-lit warehouse was a massive green dragon. Its iridescent viridian scales contrasted magnificently with the small mountain of gleaming gold coins on which it was nestled.

“Good heavens,” said Mr. Quimbly. “You’re a dragon.”

“Well spotted,” said the dragon.

The Numismatist — Michelle Proulx 2013

There you have it! As you can imagine, the situation rapidly deteriorates into silliness now that Mr. Quimbly is stuck in a warehouse with a dragon. I’ll probably give it another read through, maybe make some minor edits, and then send it off to another competition. I figure I have to win something one of these days if I keep entering things, right?

Never give up! Never surrender!

Unrelated link of the day:

This is so cool. Seriously. Go to this site and mess around for a bit. It’s really awesome.

http://weavesilk.com/

Categories: My Works, Writing | Tags: Anthology, coins, contest, dragon, failure, Numismatist, rejection, Short Stories, sword and laser, writing | 36 Comments

August Writing Update

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Michelle Proulx

Greetings blogosphere! As it’s been a ludicrously long time since I last talked about what I’m currently working on, writing-wise, it’s about time I fessed up. The truth is …

I’m not working on a whole lot at the moment.

I know, I know — the most important part of being a writer is writing! Now, in my defense, I may not be doing a lot of writing, but I have been doing a lot of planning. I go on a 90 minute walk every day, usually with my brother, and we spend that time thinking and conjecturing and planning my assorted writing projects. So although I’m not technically putting pen to paper, I like to think I’m getting stuff done nonetheless.

Since you’re probably not reading this post unless you care somewhat about my current writing projects, I shall now give you a brief update on the various things I’m working on. Prepare to be bored/amazed!

“Chasing Nonconformity” (sequel to Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It)

So I sent the second draft of this sci-fi action/romance story out to my beta readers back in … May, I think? A while ago, anyway. I’ve barely heard anything from them since then, so I sent them a message a few days ago asking that they send me whatever notes/thoughts they have by September 1st, so that I can get going on the next draft. I don’t expect most of them to actually finish reading it by then, but hey, whatcha gonna do?

I actually have some really exciting things planned for this story — and my brother came up with a super cool idea just the other day that I’m going to add into the existing manuscript. So I wouldn’t say this project is anywhere near completion, but it’s certainly working its way towards getting there.

“The Elemental Guard” (YA fantasy)

This story has been annoying me for a while, because I wrote the first draft, and there’s just something … wrong with it. I’m not quite sure what. So I’ve completely revamped the concept, and am going to rewrite the entire thing. Siiiiiigh. I think it’s going to be worth it, though. Fingers crossed!

D.Y.S.C. (Disciplinary Youth Survival Competition — YA dystopian)

I’m actually really excited about this one. I’ve been a fan of Battle Royale for years, and loved Hunger Games when it came out, and I’ve been toying with the idea of writing a dystopian story for a while now. And now I’m going to do it! I started writing this story a few years ago for NaNoWriMo, but it was kind of bad, so I’m salvaging the good parts, changing a lot of stuff up, and basically starting over. I’m not going to say much about it right now, but I can reveal that it will involve an asteroid colony, teenagers fighting in a gladiatorial death match (pretty much a staple of dystopian YA fiction, lol), and lots of awesome. Stay tuned!

Unrelated media of the day: