A Week in Writing #539 - Growing Pains

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

So, growing pains is the wrong expression, but moving into a new computer has its own issues. Mostly, it's how things work and where things are stored or aren't. We found out on Friday, for example, that some files on my old computer hadn't made it to the new one. That's why, for example, this week's audio podcast is missing the music we usually use. I remedied that today, I hope.

I've also lost some applications that I had been using, like Adobe Elements. I had managed to have a standalone version of the software, which I used for sizing pages, making peeks-of-the-weeks and thumbnails for the audio podcast. I at least knew what I was doing. Now I'm trying to find one that works similarly, but so far it's hit and miss. It took three of us to get the podcast thumbnail done for Friday.

I'm not sure if it's the new computer, but the camera kept glitching throughout the podcast. Not sure why, but it was sort of annoying. Our guest this week was Tony Fleecs, the creator behind Stray Dogs and Feral. It's available now on our Twitch channel https://www.twitch.tv/powerssquared/videos, but only for the next few days. It's also available in audio form. You can listen to it on our website or find the other platforms it's on at https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/oaps. Or, you can wait and watch it on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared) when it goes up on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PST. The direct link is https://youtu.be/yc3rBrNrxCU.

There was a lot of activity this week on Trophy Unlocked, including two of my reviews. Today saw Beatles '64 go up, my thoughts on the recent documentary on Disney+. The Saturday Morning Review was also mine, this time for 3 Godfathers (1948); this is a Three Godfather's Christmas on the blog. The Wednesday Game Day review was Paul's for Sonic Adventure played on the Dreamcast.

The holidays have already had a bit of an effect on my writing. This Christmas we have three Advent calendars, the usual chocolate a day, but we've added in one that's a Harry Potter puzzle every day and the other is EXIT: The Game - Advent Calendar - The Missing Hollywood Star, the latter we play as a family. It's fun, but depending on how late we eat and how hard the Exit clues are, it can get kind of late to really start much.

That said, I did manage to get through two reviews this week and keep up with my Skylar rewrites. But I find myself asleep sometimes at the keyboard.

No new review from me this week, as we made our annual Saturday night shopping trek to the mall. We actually are pretty far along with Christmas shopping and actually didn't buy anything, but we like to go once a year at this time to see what's what.

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

A Week in Writing #538 - A Bit of a Scare

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

Had a bit of a scare this weekend. We bought new laptops recently and I'm just starting to move into it, transferring files from the old to the new using something called The Tornado. It's a bit of a slow process, but that's not the scary part. I was transferring a folder called "My Writing" which contains all of the Powers Squared, Trophy Unlocked as well as the J.D. Barrister books I've been writing for years, and several other folders. Well, when the transfer was over, all that was transferred and all that was left under the My Writing folder, on both computers, was Powers Squared and Trophy Unlocked. Everything else seemed to have disappeared.

A bit of panic set in, as I had backed up most of my work onto a thumbdrive, but I would have lost the rewrites I had recently done and am currently doing with Skylar. I waited until the transfer was complete (hours) and was able to find all of My Writing in a backup file, which I put back in the folder. I then backed up a couple of files on a thumbdrive this morning before trying the transfer again.

Speaking of Skylar, I've been making pretty good progress on it, even adding what I'll call touches to chapters I've already rewritten, hopefully making it better. I'm trying to do at least a chapter a day. The computer set up is sort of interfering with that, but I should be back to it soon.

No new review this week, though I have at least one to write for They Call It Sin and, if we watch it, the new Beatles documentary. That said, Trophy Unlocked's Three Godfathers Christmas continued with my review of Three Godfathers (1936) as the Saturday Morning Review. The Wednesday Game Day review this week was Trevor's review of Doronko Wanko.

Our podcast this week was a look back at 2024. In addition to tabling at a "major" Con, we also put out two issues, a trade and had tributes to Transformers, TMNT and Usagi Yojimbo. We also had five book clubs and several well-received taste tests, courtesy of Paul, on our YouTube Channel. You can listen to the podcast here and/or wait and watch it on Wednesday at 2:30 PT here. If you do watch, we hope you'll subscribe to the channel as well.

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

A Week in Writing #537 - Turkeyless Thanksgiving and Other Tales

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

Not the best Thanksgiving holiday. While it's not the meal that's really important, but family, let me tell you the meal is also important. Case in point, this year, no turkey for the Hankins on Thanksgiving Day. You don't realize how much you miss it until you can't have any. Long story short, there were questions on how much the turkey had been cooked, thanks to an electric issue, and when the carving started, there was blood, which isn't a good sign. There was more cooking, but was it enough? We decided, the four of us, not to risk it. Others ate it and no one got sick, but why take the risk? So, no turkey, stuffing and no next day sandwich, which is the real prize.

The trip back was long, 9 hours +, counting stops, helped to being longer by an accident in the Grapevine. Two cars went over the edge and a helicopter had to be called in to take one of the victims to the hospital. Meanwhile, we're sitting in traffic with no clue about what's going on. Not a fun way to end any trip.

Not a total loss, managed to find a couple of Black Friday Record Store Day releases, getting one at less that face value, so I can't complain too much about that.

Because of the holiday, not too much writing got done. I feel like I'm squeezing this in, as a matter of fact.

No new reviews, but my review of Hell's Heroes went up on Saturday morning. This year, Trophy Unlocked is celebrating the Christmas season with a look at various versions of the Three Godfathers story on film. Hell's Heroes from 1929 was the first chronologically that we watched and there is more to come, as this is a popular story to retell. Trevor's review of Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion went up on Wednesday.

Even though we were away, there was a new podcast, one that we had prerecorded a couple of weeks ago. Artist Rachel Wells, colorist Julia Canon and letterer Trevor Hankins, joined Paul and myself to discuss the new issue #23 "Family Affair, Part 2", which drops next Wednesday. You can listen here or watch on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 on our YouTube channel. The issue will be available in both print and digital through The Campus Store on our website.

Also, got out the newsletter today. Most of the work had already been done, but there's always something that has to be corrected. If you'd like your own copy of The Hound Dags' Howl, you can sign up by enrolling at SRCC here. It's free!

Some editing this week on Skylar as I'm reading it through one more time looking for inconsistencies and missing words, etc. Hopefully, I'll be done by year's end, if not sooner.

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

A Week in Writing #536 - Under the Weather

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

This was a slower than expected week for me. Wednesday night into Thursday I came down with a cold or something similar. I'm guessing I caught it from one of the half-dozen workmen we had in the house. While I won't go into details, part of our house is 75 years-old and with it comes 75 year-old-wiring, which turns out to be woefully dangerous. It really wasn't until today before I felt whole again, as they say.

I did manage to work on both The Hound Dogs' Howl newsletter, as well as finish the reviews as I was working on: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1974), which came out as this past Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked, and Three Godfathers (1936), which will be coming out in December as part of our salute to Christmas. If you've been reading Trophy Unlocked, and you should be, you might remember a few years ago, we did a salute to A Christmas Carol, reviewing several different versions from a silent retelling A Christmas Carol (1910), starring Marc McDermott, to a more modern one, A Christmas Carol (1984), starring George C. Scott with several stops inbetween.

This Christmas we're doing the same with movies made based on the novel The Three Godfathers by Peter B. Kyne (New York, 1913) but you'll have to stay tuned to see which films I mean and in which order they will appear.

And mine wasn't the only review on Trophy Unlocked this week. Trevor's review of the video game Please, Touch The Artwork 2 on what I like to call Game Day on the blog.

I had hoped to do some more on Skylar this week, but I really didn't have the energy.

Even though I was not feeling great, I still managed to do the Powers Squared podcast on Friday night. It was our November 2024 team meeting and while we talked about the comic book, we also talked about moving to Bluesky, which prompted a discussion about AI. It was a good conversation and you can listen to it now here, or watch it when it comes out on YouTube on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PST, here.

As far as Bluesky goes, you can follow me @lionsroar91406.bsky.social or you can follow Powers Sqaured @powerssquaredcomic.bsky.social. lt would help as we're starting over, so to speak.

Next week starts the holiday season, so you'll have to forgive me if my input drops after Wednesday. Lots of driving, food and shopping to be done. Hope everyone has a Happy (and safe) Thanksgiving.

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

A Week in Writing #535 - Deleting Twitter and Not Looking Back

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

This week, not only had I moved our accounts to BlueSky, but we also deleted our Twitter account. Again, concerns over AI is the main reason. It's slow going rebuilding a following on a new platform, but it's a decision we made and I'll stand by going forward. If you're interested in following me, on BlueSky, I'm @lionsroar91406.bsky.social and Powers Squared is now @powerssquaredcomic.bsky.social.

On the subject of Powers Squared, I'm happy to report that our new artist, Jen Moreno, turned in 8 really good looking pages for Issue #28. I hope we're in good hands going forward.

Our two former artists, Julia Canon and Rachel Wells, joined Trevor, Paul and myself for our 16th Comic Book Club, wherein we discussed Happy Kanako's Killer Life, Volume 1 by Toshiya Wakabayashi. After that we recorded, for the future, a preview of Issue #23, "Family Affair, Part 2". That podcast will come out on Black Friday, and the new issue will be released on Wednesday, Dec. 4. You'll have to wait to see that one, but you can listen to the Book Club here or watch it on our YouTube channel on Wednesday after 2:30 pm PST here.

While I enjoy doing podcasts with the creative team, I'm at least twice as old as any of them and sometimes feel like Roy from the old The Mickey Mouse Club, which was before my time. All the young mouseketters would introduce themselves, then this older man would come out; Roy. You know he had less than nothing in common with Annette Funicello. Again, this was all before my time, but I've seen videos from that era. I don't have the same points of references the others have and they, for the most part, don't have mine either. And, to be honest, no one tries to make me feel that way, it's just how I feel sometimes.

I finished going through my rewrites on Skylar, so now it's down to the denouement, which I started to work on too late to make any real progress on it. I know how the book will end, but it's the getting there that I'm working on.

On to the subject of Trophy Unlocked. My review of Bombshell (1933) was the Saturday Morning Review. I picked that one to go up because last week was the anniversary of the release of Jean Harlow's first big starring role, Hell's Angels (1930) and she was on my mind. I'm still amazed about the impression she made in such a short time. Earlier in the week, Trevor's review of Sheepy: A Short Adventure went up on Wednesday, what I like to hashtag as GameDay.

I'm currently working on a review of Blade, which we watched on Friday night. I won't give anything away, but I drew the short straw.

I've already started working on the next newsletter, as it's due the Sunday we get back from the Thanksgiving holiday, but more on that next week. So, I'll be working on that some more next week and finishing up Blade and hopefully the second draft of Skylar. There's also some finishing touches to be put on the next release, like loading it on a couple of platforms.

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

A Week in Writing #534 - WonderCon and BlueSky

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

Big things are afoot for Powers Squared. The biggest news is that we will be tabling at WonderCon in 2025 (March 28-30). This is a big step for us, but I think we're up for it, especially after tabling at LA Comic Con. I've already added it to Events on our webpage. Much more to come in later posts.

Secondly, Powers Squared and I are both leaving Twitter (X). It's not so much what happened Tuesday, though that does contribute, but it's their AI policy. I don't want to post images that will train AI. If you're following me, it's @lionsroar91406.bsky.social and if you've been following Powers Squared  @MartyandEli, it's going to be Powers Squared at @powerssquaredcomic.bsky.social. I hope you'll follow both of this on this new platform.

On the subject of Powers Squared, Paul and I discussed issue #23, only as it relates to unboxing proofs of issues #23. A couple of weeks ago, I found a mistake that probably should have been caught earlier. A glass that was supposed to be refilled, was full. I know it's minor, but you want it to be right. As it turns out, both proofs, one for Ka-Blam and the other Artithmeric, each arrived a day or so apart, and we didn't have a guest lined up, so it seemed like something new we could do. This issue comes out on December 4 and will be available in post physical and digital and links will be available in The Campus Store on our website. If you're curious to hear our latest podcast, OAPS #269, here or watch it on Wednesday after 2:30 pm PST here.

The peek-of-the-week, and yes, we do it weekly on the website, is a pencil of the cover. You can look at it here.

Yesterday was the first Neurodiversity Comic Con. I heard it went well. I've added some photos on our website on the Events page; to see them scroll down below WonderCon. Powers Squared was one of the sponsors.

Finished two reviews this week: one for The Thirteenth Chair (1929) and the other for A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; the latter should be up on or before the upcoming holiday. No new review this week, as we rewatched Chicken Run this weekend. As I write that, I realize we've never reviewed that title before, hmm.

My review of The Cat's Meow (2002) was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked this past week. But that wasn't the only review on the blog; Trevor's review of Epic Mickey: Rebrushed was the Wednesday Game Day review.

Did some work on Skylar and actually wrote some on it, but it is far from finished.

While I haven't launched query season, I did sign up to get a link to a video seminar about query letters. If and when I look at it, I'll let you know what I learn.

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

A Week in Writing #533 - Busy Week but Fall Back Looms

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

I'm sort of happy to have last week behind me. Congrats to the Dodgers, but those games pushed everything back in my house. And then there was Halloween, which, while fun, was also a bit of disruption as well. And, of course, looming ahead this week is the great fall back, which means it'll get dark earlier and that could affect me, since it has in the past. But that'll be next week's post.

On to this week and let's start with Powers Squared. At the moment, we have two artists, Julia Canon and Jen Moreno, working on separate issues. While I thought that would be a good idea to get more work done, it also means they'll both want to be paid, and deservedly so, for their work. Julia is finishing her work on issue #27, which is a standalone Billy and Raven story, and Jen is working on issue #28, which is the first of a two-parter that we're aiming for 2026. After a slow start, Jen has shown some real talent for sequential storytelling and we're very hopeful going forward.

So during the week, there was a lot of reviewing of pages from both with comments and some revisions, so good for the future of Powers Squared.

This week was capped by our newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, which we send out once a month. I'll put in my plea here for readers to subscribe. It's easy, free, and can be done here. (You get a free digital copy of Issue #1, an added inducement.) We covered the usual topics, including our tabling at LA Comic Con, our bookshelf debut and our support of the Neurodiversity Comic Con, which is happening next week. We also do a salute to twins, this month being  animators Tom and Tony Bancroft, whom we met at Lightbox and much more. Info on subscribing (enrolling at San Romero Community College) can be found here.

Our Friday podcast was a salute to 40 years of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You can watch it here on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PST or listen to it now on our website or one of the other platforms you'll find there as well.

Still working on my review for Elektra, which I need to finish. And I might be reviewing The Thirteenth Chair (1929). That said, my review of The Man with Two Faces (1934) was the Saturday morning review on Trophy Unlocked. However, it was far from the only review that week on the blog. Paul continued his tribute to Resident Evil games with a second look at Resident Evil Village for the PS5, and on Halloween his review of Silent Hill 2 (2024) went up.

And let's not forget Skylar, I managed to work on that novel for a couple of nights. Some rewrites, but mostly updating per my own edits. I am finding that my chapter numbering in the first draft was pretty inconsistent; I think I had three chapters with Chapter Twenty-Nine as the header. More to come on that.

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