A Week in Writing #569 - New Artist and the Newsletter

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

We're coming down to the end of the year and there's been a bit of good news. We've officially hired a new artist for Powers Squared and one who is turning in pages, yeah. Her name is Wendie Renard, and she's an artist I found on Instagram. I had looked at her work earlier, when we were beginning to really consider letting the old one go, due to lack of performance and communication. I had a lawyer friend redo our artist agreement and that became a time-consuming process, but he has since sent it to her and she's signed it. Hopefully, we'll be able to get back on a real schedule again with production of the book.

This was also newsletter week for Powers Squared, The Hound Dogs' Howl. If you didn't get yours, then you're not a subscriber. I make this pitch once a month with little hope that someone who reads this blog would also be interested in one of the main projects I'm involved with. That said, you're more than welcomed to sign up. Since the comic book takes place at San Romero Community College, you "enroll" at the school, which unlike some substacks is FREE; and you get a free digital copy of Issue #1 to get you started. You can enroll here if you're interested. End of plug.

Now that Christmas time is here, Trophy Unlocked will have more holiday-themed reviews, starting with my review of Larceny, Inc. (1942). But that's not the only review on the blog this week. On Wednesday, Game Day, was Paul's review of Sonic Heroes. And we're also staying current with what's in the theaters with Trevor's review of Zootopia 2 which came out today. And soon, there will be Paul's review of Five Nights at Freddy's 2, a film we watched on Saturday. No new review from me this week, though; it happens.

In keeping with the holiday theme, our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared, was about the four animated specials of Prep and Landing. 'tis the season as they say. As always, you can still watch it on our Twitch channel here for the next few days, listen to it here, or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm PST and watch it on our YouTube channel.

Not much work on Blackmail this week, I'm afraid. I did work a little on it, but not enough to brag about. I'm up to 68,764, which is pretty close to what I was at last week, so enough said about that.

Well, that about does it for me. I believe this coming week will be mostly about Powers Squared and Blackmail, or at least, that's the plan.

Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week.

A Week in Writing #568 - Happy Holidays

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

I'm hoping everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Mine was good, up on Thanksgiving to San Mateo and back the next day. It's a lot of driving let me tell you, which is not my favorite way to spend the day.

Not much Black Friday shopping, save for our annual trip to Barnes & Noble; we go other times, too, but always on Black Friday. Black Friday isn't what it used to be, which is both good and bad. I miss the hubbub but at the same time, I don't. But now it's like Black Friday Month, so the actual day means nothing.

I'm happy to report that despite a shorter week, I managed to write more on Blackmail than I have in a long while. I'm now up to 68,432, so we're getting closer; 80,000 is my goal.

We recorded what might be our shortest podcast ever on Wednesday and were back in time to post it on Friday. In OAPS #327 - Powers Squared State of Play 2025, we discuss the current status of Powers Squared, which is missing an artist. Again it's short, but you can watch it here for a few more days, listen to it here or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm PST and watch it here.

Speaking of the artist, our lawyer sent her the contract he drafted on Thanksgiving Day, but haven't heard anything back. Hopefully, soon we'll be able to announce the hire and we can get back to producing the book.

Wednesday was a busy one for us, as the 9th issue of The Blade of Miracles, Trevor's comic book series, came out on that day. This is "Mordred, Part 2" and in this issue, "The final battle begins!" The issue, like all of the series, is available in print and digital through The Campus Store on our website.

The holiday didn't stop Trophy Unlocked. On Wednesday, Game Day, Paul's review of Dispatch, a recent PC game, went up. My review of Armored Car Robbery was the Saturday Morning Review, as well as the last of our Noirvember reviews. Not really working on a new one. Finally finished the Batman serial review, but I haven't yet started Heroes For Sale. We did see Zootopia 2 earlier today, but I'll let someone else review that one.

This week, it's truly newsletter time, so I'll be working on this. I hope to be working on Blackmail, and I might be looking back at some other books, since I've hit on the description of one of the main characters and would like to make sure it's the same one when she's described.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week.

A Week in Writing #567 - Blame it on the Contract

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

This week was mostly spent in reviewing an artist contract for our "new" artist. There was some back and forth with the lawyer and I wanted to make sure everyone on our side was happy with it. You might not think it would be that big of a deal, but it does take time. It started when I wanted to be sure the new contract took into account AI and the lawyer went on from there. At this point, it's close and I want this to be over, so we can get the artist working.

In other Powers Squared  news, we were notified on Friday that we're waitlisted for San Diego Comic-Con 2026. Hopefully, we'll get in and get more than three weeks of a heads-up.

We also shot our podcast a day early, so that took Thursday night away as well. The podcast was to provide Trevor with the chance to preview the new issue of his book, The Blade of Miracles, "Mordred, Part 2." The 9th issue drops on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and will be available in both print and digital at The Campus Store on our website.

Because we pre-recorded the podcast, the easiest thing would be to stream the recording on time, but I managed to mess that up, so it went out about 15 minutes late. Still, you can watch it on our twitch channel for the next few days, listen to it here or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm and watch it here.

My review of The Big Steal went up on Trophy Unlocked as part of our celebration of Noirvember. Paul's review of Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution  for the Game Boy Advance went up as the Wednesday Game Day review. Trevor's review of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan: At a Confessional went up this morning. This was a film that we watched on Friday night. We did watch a movie on Saturday night, The Lost World (1925), but since most of us fell asleep during it, I don't think I'll be reviewing it. I'm still working on The Batman serial and Heroes for Sale, so I've got my hands full at the moment.

The way the week went meant I didn't get much of a chance to work on Blackmail this week, so we're standing still at 66,618 words.

As I'm sure everyone is aware, this next week includes the Thanksgiving Day holiday, which means there will probably be no writing on either Thursday or Friday. I aslo realize that sooner than later, I'll have to work on the next newsletter but luckily the first Sunday of December isn't until the 7th. So, I'm going to apologize now if my output isn't up to expectations for the next few weeks, though I want to get going again with Blackmail.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week.

A Week in Writing #566 - Getting Nowhere Fast

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

I wish I could say we've finalized the deal with the artist, but we're all but there. I had asked the lawyer who drafted the original agreement we use to review it to see if there needs to be any updates (No AI, etc.). Since it's a favor, I can't get too mad, but the artist is chomping at the bit to get started and I'm anxiously waiting, too.

We had a second conversation with James Silvani, a comic book artist and the creator of Pirates: A Graphic History (But not THAT kind of graphic), which had a successful Kickstarter last year. My sons had run into him at Comic-Con and he said he was interested in appearing again, which is always nice to hear. You can watch it on our twitch.tv/powerssquared for the next few days, listen to it here or wait and watch it on our YouTube channel on Wednesday at 2:30 pm.

On Trophy Unlocked, we continued Noirvember with my Saturday Morning review of I Wake Up Screaming. On Wednesday, Game Day, was Trevor's review of Once Upon a Katamari. I'm working on my review of The Batman serial, which is going to be long; and Heroes For Sale (1933).

I'm finding, and I'm not sure it's all blameable on Daylight Savings Time, but I'm getting to things later in the evening and thus have less time to go from being productive to being a half-awake zombie at a laptop. Part of it has been dealing with our prospective artist and sending things to them, but work seems to go on longer and that makes everything get pushed back. Also, we shot our podcast on Thursday night, rather than Friday, and had some retakes we had to do because of audio issues, but that sort of took up two nights, the first being getting ready for it after the guest confirmed two nights before at 11:30 pm.

As a result, my output on Blackmail wasn't what I wanted it to be. I started a new chapter but I'm not happy with the results but let's count the words for 66,618, which I don't think really moves the needle much.

I'll try to do better this week, but it's a pledge, not a promise.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you here next week.

A Week in Writing #565 - Getting Close

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

We're very close to announcing a new artist for Powers Squared. I believe we're just down to the contract and I've asked a lawyer friend of mine to review it to see if we need to make any updates to the terms. The artist seems anxious to get going, too. That would be big news for us.

We signed up for Pasadena Comic Con next January, so I hope if you're attending you'll stop by and say hello. More details to come as we know them. I did some ordering over the weekend to get prepared. I'm not one of those creators who has a thousand copies of each book in the garage.

Our guest on Friday was Chris Ayers, a character designer/art director and the creator of The Daily Zoo, which he's been doing now for 20 years. Really nice guy and I think it was a good interview. You can check it on twitch.tv/powerssquared for the next week, listen to it here, or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm to watch it on our YouTube channel.

Sometimes nailing down guests is a little like herding kittens. We're still working on someone for next week, I won't say who, but it's finding a day and time to do it that's the issue, I think.

In honor of Noirvember, my review for Odds Against Tomorrow was the Saturday morning review on Trophy Unlocked. We're still going through The Batman serial, two episodes left, but I am working on a review for Blind Spot, a film noir I caught afterwards. Seeing as this is Noirvember, I suspect more of my backlog will appear.

I did some more work this week on Blackmail. I finished the next chapter and started a new one. I'm trying to show the character's attempts to balance his professional career, as a private detective, with his personal life, which includes a pregnant wife and a young child by another woman. I know I don't usually write much about my stories here but I thought you might find that interesting. Oh, and the case he's working on involves his wife and her ex-husband. The word count is now 65,570, so we're like a 1000 words a week, rather than a day.

Next week, I'm hoping to wrap up the contract with the new artist; work on prepping for the next few releases of The Blade of Miracles; finish my reivew of Blind Spot; and to work more on Blackmail. Let's see what gets in the way.

That about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week.

A Week in Writing #564 - Newsletter and Dodgers

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

Not the biggest Dodgers fan, not into baseball in general, but I like watching the World Series. Last Monday's game nearly did me in as it went 18 innings and sort of threw me off my routine and sleep, at least for that day. We ended watching most of the games, so everything was a little delyaed on those nights.

Still, got the newsletter done and out and that was the project for the week. For the most part, it writes itself, as it's a collection of things we've already done and most of the sections are standard, though there is new writing as well, including a Heard on Campus (it is supposed to be the school paper), a recommendation, and a highlight on twins. If you're curious you can always subscribe. And this is not a substack asking for money; our newsletter is monthly and free.

On the Powers Squared front, I think we're getting close to signing a new artist.

Four reviews on Trophy Unlocked this week and none of them mine, which is okay. Wednesday was Game Day with Trevor's look at Little Nightmares III. That was followed on Thursday with Paul's review of Fobia, Vol, 1, a horror anthology by Derrick Acosta of Mega64. Friday saw Paul's review of Silent Hill f  and Saturday Trevor's review of Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.

No review this week from me and we didn't even watch any of The Batman serial that we've been watching. Blame the Dodgers for that, too, going into extra innings and all. We had just come from watching Back to the Future. My sons have loved the movie, but had never seen it in a theater. Hopefully, we'll get back our routine next week.

Our podcast this week was Halloween-themed. Since it was to air, originally, on Halloween, we decided to reminisce about past Halloweens, which was really fun. You can watch it for the next few days on our twitch channel, or listen to the audio here, or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm to watch it on our YouTube channel.

Once again, no new queries from me and, surprise, surprise, no responses from agents either.

I did some work this week on Blackmail. I thought of a plot point that would allow me to make the story more interesting and still add to my word count, which is at 64,583, still 15,000+ short. As always, I want to work on it more.

Next week, it will be back to Standard Time and I hope the switch goes well.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week.

A Week in Writing #563 - New Issue of The Blade of Miracles

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

Well, it's not Powers Squared, but there will be a new issue of The Blade of Miracles, which will be released later this week. The eighth issue of a twelve-issue run is called "Mordred, Part 1" and, as they all have been, was written, drawn and lettered by Trevor and edited by Paul. The issue will be available in print and digital through The Campus Store on our website.

It should be no surprise that the release of "Mordred, Part 1" was the subject of our podcast on Friday, OAPS #322 - TBOM #8 Preview. If you missed it, you can stil catch it on twitch.tv/powerssquared for the next few days, listen to it here or wait and watch it on our YouTube channel on Wednesday at 2:30 pm.

To support the release, I've written a press release and a new The Bark, both of which are pending review.

Trevor has been busy, as he also had four reviews on Trophy Unlcoked this week, starting with Me & My Katamari on Monday followed by Second Look - Beautiful Katamari (+ DLC) on Tuesday, Katamari Forever; and Second Look - Touch My Katamari on Friday. My review of Frankenstein was the Saturday Morning Review. No new review this week from me.

We did watch the original Scream on Friday and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc on Sunday morning, so I would be expecting reviews for them to be out in the near future.

We attended LightBox Expo on Saturday in Pasadena. Though the Con has panels, which are hard to get into, it is basically a giant artist alley. We walked the floor, talked to some artists, made a few invitations to appear on our podcast and spent a lot of money. Just me and the boys this time. Fun and tiring, but no report from the front for this one.

Some work this week on Blackmail. I'm now over 63,000 words, so there is progress. I've gone back through the book and made edits for the time being and I'm working on a new chapter. I'm still about 17,000 words short of my goal, but the important thing is to keep working on it.

This coming week is, once again, newsletter time, so I'll be working on that.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you next week.