A Week in Writing #158

Well, Happy Anniversary to the Blog. When I started writing this three years ago, on September 1, 2014, I wasn't really sure what to expect. This started out as, and still is, a way for me to make myself responsible for my own writing goals. While I still endeavor to write 1000 words a day, I'm not complaining as long as I'm writing. I hope that my struggles and triumphs (of which there have been a few) might help you in your own writing. You are not alone.

In some cases, not a whole lot has changed since I started. Powers Squared was around, though more in concept than anything else. Now it has been published, which I guess is something. I was working on the rewrites for Familiar Stranger, something I'm still doing, more on that later. And I was working on Trophy Unlocked when I started and I'm still doing that as well. Back then we had just published over 500th review and now we're a handful away from 800. That said, the goals remain the same: to get better and to get published.

So enough with the nostalgia and onto the week that's just concluded. What have I done? Well, I did publish a new review on Saturday morning: The Mad Miss Manton (1938), a Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda starrer, which mixes the screwball comedy with a murder mystery. And I've completed another review for next Saturday, 3000 words on Blonde Crazy (1931), which starred James Cagney and Joan Blondell. I'm hoping to squeeze in another since tomorrow is the Labor Day holiday.

The current rewrite on Familiar Stranger is chugging along. I'm up to a little over 59,000 words, about 15,000 further than last week. I've been trying to stay the course, but I've been playing around with what is being looked for in the book, a murder weapon or money. I think I've come back to money and I'm back to searching underwater rather than under the land. Its getting to be a little more critical, since I'm coming up on that portion in the book. I think I'm pretty much set now, but that's one of the fun things about being a pantser when it comes to writing, you never know where it's going to go until you get there.

Powers Squared has sort of slowed. Our colorist is caught up and our artist has penciled, but not inked pages 5 through 8, so Issue 5 is at a bit of standstill at the moment. Our letterer has done some more work on Issue #4, but I believe there's more to go there. And Issue #3 is still missing a cover.

We have been working on the next story arc, Kirby Good and Evil. We're on Version 7 of the script and with the possibility of some minor tweaks should be pretty good to go on the next two issues.

I also did update the Powers Squared website with a couple of characters from Issue #3, check them out here.

So another week in writing comes to a close. For anyone who has been reading this since the beginning, thank you for taking this ride with me. I hope we've all learned something along the way. And for those who only read it now and again, which is probably most, I hope you find something to take away from these weekly musings.