The week after Comic-Con is always a bit hard. The conference really takes it out of you physically. There are usually a couple of days during the week back that weariness creeps in during the afternoon. But that passes after a few days.
Something that you don't want to pass is the feeling of belonging. While there are people there who are more successful than the others, many, if not most, are in similar straits. Creatives who have to support themselves through other means, like a day job. For many, the creative outlet is not enough to make a living. In many ways, they make a community and I'm only starting to understand how to work with it and within it. It is that feeling that I think makes me sort of melancholy on the ride home on Sunday night.
But work continues. While we were gone, Rachel sent us pencils for four more pages in Issue #12 of Powers Squared. Paul and I didn't really have a chance to look at them until Tuesday night. But knowing she was working on the last section of the script made me anxious to make sure the next story arc, The Imposter, is ready when she is.
On the night we returned from San Diego, I did some work on the script and I worked on in it some more on Monday and Tuesday night as well before giving it to Paul to take a look at. I don't consider anything I've written to be cut in stone and the goal is always to make the book better.
During the week, Nina sent in four more pages of Issue #11 and Trevor lettered four more pages from that issue as well.
Our Kickstarter plans seem to have taken a backseat for a while; not forgotten, but just delayed a little. I think we're getting close, but there are still a couple of things we need to pull together before we go live. I'd like to get the graphic novel lined up, as well as make sure I understand the pricing of using a print on demand service to fulfill the orders. We're also thinking about a new t-shirt we could offer, but that's just in the preliminary stages.
On Tuesday night, I also listened to another of the List Launch podcasts, this one about building your list through family, friends, and colleagues, you know, low hanging fruit. We're still about 24 subscribers short of the magical threshold of 100, so if you're reading this and you're someone I know, be prepared to get some sort of communication from me about signing up. And if you're reading this, and we don't already know each other, I will invite you to join here. It will only cost you an email address and you'll get a free copy of Issue #1. And you can then read all the Powers Squared nonsense on our newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, rather than reading it here, though this does have a different slant.
Paul took over an hours' worth of video that we both shot at Comic-Con and edited down to a half an hour, which we put up as this week's YouTube video. It's our longest video to date and is more about our life behind the scenes as attendees. One of the problems with me watching it is that I had to look at myself repeatedly over the 30 minutes. It's sort of one thing to shoot a vlog live and then move on, but to have to watch yourself in action is a different experience. You may not learn the secrets of the galaxy, but you will get to see Paul and I (and Trevor) standing in lines, coming out of restaurants and even sitting in the occasional panel. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.
One of the things I think I've learned from watching the List Launch videos is the concept of an avatar or your ideal subscriber. Your avatar is supposed to be the hypothetical person you're aiming at with your newsletter/marketing, etc. I'd also like to think of the avatar as the person you're trying to impress. I'm trying to apply some of that to not only this blog but also to my other writing as well. If I want to be a writer, then I need to do things writers do besides blogging about them.
I know that I talk, or, as is the case, write, a lot about querying, but I don't do it. I was telling someone recently that I find the whole process mildly time-consuming but also soul-sucking as well. But to prove it to myself, I did it last night, sending a query regarding Broken People through an agency's online submission form. I had to provide not only basic information about the book, but a query letter, a short synopsis, and the first three chapters. Luckily, I had been working on the short synopsis. Rather than worry about rejection letters, they provided me a link I can look at to see when they reject me. So far, none of the queries I've sent out have gotten as much as a response, which is the soul-sucking part, but I want to do well by my avatar, so I'm going to continue. Of course, I'll recount here how many I do and if I ever hear back anything.
Worked most evenings on The Runaway and I'm not at the place where I left off, which is about 237 pages in. Now it gets down to more original writing, which is harder but not impossible. I will, of course, write about that here as well.
A little bit of news on Familiar Stranger. Called the editor on Friday afternoon and, of course, once again got his voicemail. This time, though, I decided not to leave a message, I mean what's the point. However, after I hung up, I received a text from him, which I couldn't answer in the car while driving, but did later when I got home. Now, the polite thing would have been for him to reply back to my text, which of course he didn't, but it's sort of a positive baby step, I guess.
Sadly, no new reviews from me this week for Trophy Unlocked. Trevor, however, did come through with a review of a 22-year-old video game, Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal", so there was still a Saturday Morning Review on the blog.
Well, that's it from here for now. Until next week, keep writing.
On Tuesday night, I also listened to another of the List Launch podcasts, this one about building your list through family, friends, and colleagues, you know, low hanging fruit. We're still about 24 subscribers short of the magical threshold of 100, so if you're reading this and you're someone I know, be prepared to get some sort of communication from me about signing up. And if you're reading this, and we don't already know each other, I will invite you to join here. It will only cost you an email address and you'll get a free copy of Issue #1. And you can then read all the Powers Squared nonsense on our newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, rather than reading it here, though this does have a different slant.
Paul took over an hours' worth of video that we both shot at Comic-Con and edited down to a half an hour, which we put up as this week's YouTube video. It's our longest video to date and is more about our life behind the scenes as attendees. One of the problems with me watching it is that I had to look at myself repeatedly over the 30 minutes. It's sort of one thing to shoot a vlog live and then move on, but to have to watch yourself in action is a different experience. You may not learn the secrets of the galaxy, but you will get to see Paul and I (and Trevor) standing in lines, coming out of restaurants and even sitting in the occasional panel. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.
One of the things I think I've learned from watching the List Launch videos is the concept of an avatar or your ideal subscriber. Your avatar is supposed to be the hypothetical person you're aiming at with your newsletter/marketing, etc. I'd also like to think of the avatar as the person you're trying to impress. I'm trying to apply some of that to not only this blog but also to my other writing as well. If I want to be a writer, then I need to do things writers do besides blogging about them.
I know that I talk, or, as is the case, write, a lot about querying, but I don't do it. I was telling someone recently that I find the whole process mildly time-consuming but also soul-sucking as well. But to prove it to myself, I did it last night, sending a query regarding Broken People through an agency's online submission form. I had to provide not only basic information about the book, but a query letter, a short synopsis, and the first three chapters. Luckily, I had been working on the short synopsis. Rather than worry about rejection letters, they provided me a link I can look at to see when they reject me. So far, none of the queries I've sent out have gotten as much as a response, which is the soul-sucking part, but I want to do well by my avatar, so I'm going to continue. Of course, I'll recount here how many I do and if I ever hear back anything.
Worked most evenings on The Runaway and I'm not at the place where I left off, which is about 237 pages in. Now it gets down to more original writing, which is harder but not impossible. I will, of course, write about that here as well.
A little bit of news on Familiar Stranger. Called the editor on Friday afternoon and, of course, once again got his voicemail. This time, though, I decided not to leave a message, I mean what's the point. However, after I hung up, I received a text from him, which I couldn't answer in the car while driving, but did later when I got home. Now, the polite thing would have been for him to reply back to my text, which of course he didn't, but it's sort of a positive baby step, I guess.
Sadly, no new reviews from me this week for Trophy Unlocked. Trevor, however, did come through with a review of a 22-year-old video game, Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal", so there was still a Saturday Morning Review on the blog.
Well, that's it from here for now. Until next week, keep writing.
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