Michel R. Vaillancourt's Blog

First, what’s the Yanderemoore Project? Short version, I’m bored and my creativity needs an outlet. So, I’m going to make 3-day wide (120km) adventure areas. They’ll be made using a simple set of square geomorph patterns to make something that … Continue reading →

In software development, DRY is an acronym or aide-memoir which stands for “Don’t Repeat Yourself”. My “DRY Writer Advice” is stuff I’m seeing commonly discussed on social media, and I’m getting tired of repeating myself. So, I’m going to be … Continue reading →

Meta’s “Threads” social media “Twitter” replacement isn’t a bad tool for the job. It does have it’s quirks though. So, as I figure things out, I’ll be adding them to a series of blog posts called “Needle Points“. So, let’s … Continue reading →

So, Book 3 is on the way for fans of my “Unseen World” paranormal-romance / urban-fantasy / action-adventure setting. The second series, titled “the Spring Castle Legacy“, takes place in and around Denver, CO in the mid 1990s. Book 3 … Continue reading →

In software development, DRY is an acronym or aide-memoir which stands for “Don’t Repeat Yourself”. My “DRY Writer Advice” is stuff I’m seeing commonly discussed on social media, and I’m getting tired of repeating myself. So, I’m going to be … Continue reading →

In software development, DRY is an acronym or aide-memoire which stands for “Don’t Repeat Yourself“. My “DRY Writer Advice” is stuff I’m seeing commonly discussed on social media, and I’m getting tired of repeating myself. So, I’m going to be … Continue reading →

First, before we talk about typos, let’s talk about “Five Nines“. The so-called Five-Nines standard originated in telecom from AT&T, to describe the amount of required up-time in a phone system. That is, the ‘acceptable quality of service‘ is 99.999% … Continue reading →

I was recently asked over on Threads if I could provide a how-to for a new author to launch themselves. While, I’m not a sage about this, and Your Mileage May Vary, it’s the distillation of a lot of things I’ve seen said since my first novel was released. It goes something like this: + Decide on your target audience. You will not be able to write to style or market effectively if you cannot articulate who this is. + Write your story. + Read your story. + Decide how to explain the core focus of your story in 3 sentences. + Ask your friends who are part of your target audience “Do you like books (where|that) are like (your three sentences)” + The ones that say yes,…

… so, Book 2 of Series 2 “Ruby Tears, Diamond Moon“, draft is done at 90k words. I’m startled, pleased and thoughtful. Six novels in a genre I didn’t think I’d ever want to touch. Fascinating how things work out. The cover art will need to be reworked a bit but it’s been good to have for inspiration in the process. I’ll be letting the book sit idle for a week to ten days, and then starting my continuity edit as well as “de-very-ing” the text. Grammar and spelling clean-up, are always needed with my work. So, if all goes well, this will be available for pre-order by the end of April, with release for the first weekend in May. Six novels done and published in two-ish years.…

https://startplaying.games/gm/902pe-g... I’ve just listed four new one-shot sessions up for next weekend, if you’ve got some folx itching to kick in doors, trash cultists and discuss philosophy. If you’ve got a game system you and your friends would prefer to see listed, PM me and I can set something up for you. Early-bird discount bookings are 50% off.