A Week in Writing #436 - So This is Christmas

Hope everyone is safe, and, of course, writing. And, while we're at it, Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, if you prefer).

I don't know if it shows dedication or stupidity, but here I am writing out this post on Christmas evening. All the presents have been unwrapped, a couple of returns, and we're waiting on dinner but for the most part, the "fun" part of the holiday is over. If you're curious, the big gift for me this year was the Remastered Revolver set, which I held back on until Christmas. Items like that with a healthy price tag seem better suited to Christmas. But enough about me, well, the personal me, well, the really personal me; I mean this blog is pretty much about me, isn't it?

Writing, as it always does, tends to be harder, somehow, during the holidays. I think it has to do with the routine being thrown out the window. Big chunks of time and so many other things to do. As an example, I spent three hours getting a tire replaced this past week. While I really enjoyed walking around to shops and a bookstore, I had planned on doing something else during that time.

So, what have I done so far this week? Well, I did complete a 3000+ word review for Trophy Unlocked for the film O. Henry Full House. I've seen bits and pieces of the film for years and one night it was on, so I watched it. And when I watch, I review. As always, not sure when it will appear, but it's another one under the belt, so to speak.

There was a review from each one of us this week on the blog. Trevor started things off with his Wednesday (Game Day) review of Little Inferno: Ho Ho Holiday (DLC). My review of the short Star in the Night (1945) went up as the Saturday Morning Review on Christmas Eve. Today, Paul posted a review of  the TV Special Adult Swim Yule Log. I'm pretty sure you caught on to a general theme surrounding the reviews.

By the end of the year, or later this week, I have to write my Year End Wrap Up. All three of us write about the highlights of the year. I'm sort of limited to films, but Paul and Trevor can write about games as well. That's a little out of my wheelhouse. Didn't really see all that many new films this year and I'm pretty sure we've avoided most of what will be nominated for Academy Awards, though not on purpose. Ironically, one of the best films we did see in a theater was It's A Wonderful Life, but that film is 76 years old, so I don't think it will count.

Did a little bit of writing on fka Skylar. Again, nothing to write home about and it's getting about as much mention as it deserves here.

More work on Powers Squared, though not all of it writing. As I believe I've mentioned once or twice, our artist, Rachel Wells, is leaving us at the end of the year and we're "auditioning" Julia Canon, our current colorist, for the gig. We had a productive conversation with her about some character designs. I have high hopes that it will work out. Should get revisions this week.

Wrote my premise for the pilot we've been toying around with rewriting and Paul did his own. I don't think we mesh exactly, but we'll have to work it through.

I also started working on an idea for a spin-off story, Billy and Raven, characters from an upcoming story arc. I'm just in the beginning stages of it now. Don't want to give too much away since the books they're from haven't come out yet.

We were used recently in a promotional video for Artithmeric. I tried to post it here but it didn't seem to work. We're just one of the books highlighted. It's nice to be recognized. You can watch it here, if you're interested in seeing it.

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

A Week in Writing #435 - A Less Than Week

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

As far as I'm concerned, not my best week in that department.

Oh, I could blame the time of the year, but the output is somewhat due to work that isn't ready to discuss. I've been working on some ideas for the pilot script we've been working on for a couple of years now. Paul has been showing me how some other series have started and that's gotten me to think about how we should start ours out. So, nothing yet to show but thinking about writing does take time.

On the positive side, I did finish my two reviews this week; very differnt films. One review was for Sniowglobe, a 2007 TV movie, and the other was for Two Against the World, a 1936 melodrama. Because the latter was a remake, I put up the review I had written sometime back. One of the problems with doing that is that it's harder to remember where to put photos from the film. 'Is this a group shot early in the film or late?', that sort of thing. Hopefully, I got it right or close enough. We'll see when the review gets published.

The Saturday mornng review was keeping with our holiday theme, Trevor's for Home Alone. Sunday's, yes Sunday's, review was an anniversary, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, from Paul. The blog started 12 years ago today following watching Tron: Legacy on its opening weekend. Since then, there have been 1534 posts and 756062 views. I think that's pretty impressive and I'm happy to have been a part of it.

Because of all of the above, I hate to say it but I haven't worked on fka Skylar. I know, I've got to do better with it.

And, no queries this week either. I'm taking a breather and holding my breath at the same time to see if I hear back from the agent that asked for pages. Somehow, I'm not expecting to hear back until next year.

With Powers Squared, we're down to working on the cover for issue 23 with our artist, Rachel Wells, who is leaving us at the end of the year to pursue children's illustrations. We had our last team meeting with her on Friday. You can watch it on twitch.tv/powerssquared or wait for it on our YouTube channel; it'll be up on Wednesday. I'll wax more poetically about Rachel next week.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see back here next week. And hey, have a happy and safe holiday!

A Week in Writing #434 - And Now for Something Completely Different

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

Perhaps it's a miracle of the Season but the unexpected happened this week. If you've been following along with this blog for any length of time, you know that I have had very little luck with querying. While I have received a few outright rejections, most of my queries have ended up in the DNR pile. That was until this past week.

Wonders of wonders, I received a request from an agent to send the first three chapters and a synopsis. Talk about being caught flat-footed, the synopsis has long been this nagging chore that I have procrastinated on writing. Well, I managed to get that done and Paul reviewed it for me and off it went. Now comes more waiting. But now that I have one written, a tight two-pages, there are more queries I can make, if, of course, this one doesn't pan out.

As I wrote last time, I'm off the query train until next year, anyway.

The 15th issue of Powers Squared dropped this past Wednesday. I gave up on having a special feeling when something gets out. There are no fanfares or public notice that something you've put time and money into has been released other than whatever I've put out. Usually, it's more of a rush, trying to make sure all the pieces fall into place. And despite how much you try, they never do. There is always one platform that appears to lag behind or a review you were counting on doesn't come out. Both happened this time around.

For some reason, Kindle has become more of a bother than a benefit. It seems like a month ago, we put 15 on the site. Using their program to assemble the upload is a bit of pain as it doesn't matter if you're doing everything correctly, it can still crash on you. With this past upload, we opened the previous issue, #14, to check on what answers we gave. Well, ever since then, neither issue is available. Not sure why 14 is affected but apparently there is some sort of review process which is taking way too long. We've missed the release date and 14 is no longer available. Since I can't recall making any money so far from Kindle or from its predecessor ComiXology, I'm wondering why I want to go through the trouble. They seem to more of a hinderance than a boon. Maybe it's time to move on from them.

On the Powers Squared front, our artist handed in thumbnails for the last four pages of Issue 23. We're having a little back and forth on possible covers but nothing really out of the ordinary on that front. Our colorist is down with COVID at the moment and we wish her a speedy recovery. Trevor has finished more pages and I think we're coming to the end of work on Issue #21.

If you wish you had attended our panel at last week's LA Comic-Con, you can watch it now. I posted it on our YouTube channel.

In a couple of days, you can watch our podcast from Friday here. We turned the script and did a Christmas special about reviews on Trophy Unlocked.

On the subject of reviews, my review of the Laurel and Hardy short Big Business went up on Trophy Unlocked as the Saturday Morning Review. I'm working on two reviews this week, one for One Fatal Hour and another one for Snowglobe. The latter will appear during some future Christmas holiday. Over the past two weekends we've watched Snowglobe and a sort of remake, A Snow Globe Christmas, which Paul is reviewing.

I'm sorry to say that work on fka Skylar suffered this week and I never had a chance to get back to it. I will have to do better this coming week.

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

A Week in Writing #433 - Dog Drives Car - Doesn't Crash

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

Well, we can all take a deep breath now, the Under the Radar panel happened and, for the most part, was as successful as could be expected. The turnout was low, maybe 6 to 8 but judging what I saw at other panels not bad. None of the panels I saw were packed, though the one next door, New Rockstars: The Breakroom, was pretty loud.

The topic strayed a little bit towards the end but it was still pretty good. Before the panel, I went back and forth about whether or not we had too many questions or it wouldn't be enough to fill the 50 minutes. Well, I needn't worry about that. We didn't get to all of our questions but we managed to start on time and end on time.

My biggest disappointment was that no one stayed around afterwards and I was giving away copies of Issue #1 and #15. I'm not sure why that happened. Maybe they just didn't seem interested but, hey free books are free books. Oh well.

The high for me was that the volunteer managing our room had asked for the room because she was interested in our panel. That was a nice feeling going in. I was able to give her copies of the issues and she started reading them. We even signed one for her. We'll see if she continues to read them. I asked her to write us and let us know. So if we get one new reader that would be a success.

I think the participants liked the panel. Both Don Nguyen and Tina Cesa Ward thought I should try to  present it again at other cons. We'll see. I think I need to take a deep breath first.

Thinks I learned from my first panel: 1) Get out on time. The panel before us took their sweet time getting off the stage. We're supposed to have 10 minutes but I think we got less than five. I know we're no big shakes but they could have done a better job with the transition. 2) Be prepared for the unexpected. As I wrote, the panel didn't go as planned but I think everyone had a good time 3) Be nice to the volunteer, they might turn into a fan.

My wife recorded the panel, so we'll be posting that soon but not as an OAPS. I'll let you know when it goes up.

Oh, new issue dropping on December 7th. This will be Powers Squared's 15th issue; "How They Met" was an idea long time coming. The day that Mocha met Marty and Eli Powers would change all three of their lives, so says the synopsis. You should be able to find links where to buy at The Campus Store.

No new queries this week. I think I might be done for the year with those, not done for good. I think the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is not a good time to get attention. Besides, I should spend the time working on a two to three page synopsis. I've started one but never finished. I'll also try to research more agents. I should probably also start prepping another book for the query game.

And, no new review from me yet. I'll be working on one for The Automat, a documentary we watched on Saturday night after our first day at LA Comic Con. We had only new review this week on Trophy Unlocked, kicking off the holiday season with Trevor's review of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.

As a bit of a bonus, I did make some progress on fka Skylar, 56356 words so far and counting.

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

A Week in Writing #432 - More Like a Week in Driving

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

Oh, the holidays are upon us, which means things get pushed to the side to make way, including writing, I'm sorry to say.

Thanksgiving is one of the hardest holidays for me, when it comes to writing. The week is short, so less time and there is a lot of driving involved, about 16+ hours over three days, and there is the pressure to socialize rather than write. And, I'm usually so tired that I can't concentrate enough to write anyway.

So, let's bottom line it: No queries this week. That's a Thursday thing for me and I think I was probably driving or eating when I would normally have queried someone.

No live On the Air with Powers Squared on Friday. We still did the podcast but it was a prerecorded meeting with the panelists for Under the Radar, the panel I'm moderating at L.A. Comic-Con. We recorded it a couple of weeks ago, and Paul was able to edit for playback on Friday. The big event is coming next Sunday, so I'm sure I'll be writing about it in this space afterwards. If you're going, hope to see you there.

Had a pleasant surprise on Thanksgiving related to Powers Squared. We were spending the holiday with my neice and nephew through marriage. If you've ever bothered to look at the Creative Team tab on our website and under Other Contributors you'll find his name since he designed the original logo for us. Well, on his own, he decided to update it. I am not one for change for the sake of change but I also like to make things better. We're going through some changes, so next year might be time to refresh the logo along with everything else. I won't unveil it until we've made the decision to make the update but I think it's coming soon.

If we do change the logo, I'm not planning on going back and updating older issues, but have the change reflected going forward on newer issues and on the various banners we have around the internet.

Had a less than pleasant surprise on Friday, when I discovered or at last realized that the date on our graphic for the panel was wrong. It said Saturday when it should have been Sunday. The artist, also a panelist, made the change that night and sent it to me but I had already included it with the press releases and it had already been used on the internet. I really hate myself for not being more on the ball with things like that. This isn't the first time I've messed up a press release with bad data.

No new review from me this week, as we watched the The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special when we got home from our trip and Trevor will be reviewing that for Trophy Unlocked. It will be the first of our usual holiday reviews, so next Saturday. I did, however, have two appear on the blog this week. Saturday Morning's review was mine for See How They Run, and on Thursday we posted my review of Plymouth Adventure (1952) for Thanksgiving. The Wednesday morning GameDay review was Trevor's for Endling - Extinction is Forever.

Well, that about does it for me. Hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving and I'll see you here next week.

A Week in Writing #431 - Not a Good Week for Queries

Hope everyone is well, and, of course, writing.

I try every week to query at least one agent about Broken People, which again this week, I did. Usually, I never hear back. Well, this week, that changed. Actually heard back from two agents this week. Unfortunately, both were rejections:

The first came in early in the week, and was a bit of a form:

Hello:

Thank you for the opportunity to read your submission, which we have carefully considered but decided to decline. Unfortunately, due to the volume of queries we receive, we are unable to reply with individual feedback.

We hope you will not be discouraged by this reply, as this is a subjective business, and other agents will likely feel differently. We wish you the best in finding the right match for your work. If, however, you end up querying a new project in the future, we would of course be happy to consider it.

With warm regards,

The second was from the agent I queried on Thursday night, I received that on Friday afternoon:

Thanks for writing me. This sounds like a viable idea, but a bit too ‘genre. For my small list which means a bit more to the literary rather than the commercial.since you’re thinking down the road for series potential, I think you’d be better served working with an agent who’s a better March - best of luck in your continuing search.

I'm presenting as the agents sent it, without edits. I think the agent meant "March" to be "match" but it does seem to indicate that this wasn't a form, which I do appreciate, despite the rejection.

To top things off, I also DNRed another one after the time period to hear back, if I was going to, had expired. If you're counting, I have four out there for Broken People.

What do they say, that you have to keep pitching but sometimes it seems futile.

No new review this week for me. I had intended to write one for Out Yonder, a silent film starring Olive Thomas. I had read Laini Giles' The Forgotten Flapper: A Novel of Olive Thomas which I enjoyed and I was looking to actually seeing the actress at work. When I saw that TCM was showing it, I set it to record. The time frame given was 45 minutes and that was what was recorded. I had read that the film was over an hour but I figured that maybe it was a shortened "all we could find" version. Too bad for me, the film is 20 minutes longer. Imagine my surprise in the middle of a dramatic scene it cut off. I'll admit that I hadn't tried to HBOMax but this wasn't one of the films I could watch on TCM as Catchup and the only viewable version was the Dutch one from which TCM's version had been restored with new interstitials in English. Since I didn't see how it ended, I put it down to a lost cause, at least for now.

I did have two reviews this week on Trophy Unlocked. The Saturday Morning review was Elvis, as the blog plays catch up for the year. I also had a review up on Monday, as last week was Pinocchio week. We started off with my review of the original Disney film, followed on Wednesday by Trevor's review of the 2022 Disney live-action remake, and Paul reviewed the new Guillermo del Toro version, also 2022, which we saw in the theater prior to its Netflix premiere, for Friday. Busy week on the blog.

On Powers Squared news, we're getting ready for our panel at L.A. Comic-Con on December 4th. The below graphic, done by Don Nguyen gives you the details of the time and place. If you're going to be at LA Comic-Con, I hope you'll come by and see us.

More pages from our artist on her last issue, #23, for us.

On this week's On the Air with Powers Squared, we had our third Comic Book Club meeting on Friday, discussing Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe. You can listen here, if you're interested. Next January, we're going to discuss Locke and Key.

Some more work on fka Skylar but not really enough to mention. Sorry about that but some weeks are harder than others.

Speaking of hard weeks, with Thanksgiving next week, I don't know how much I'll get done. But I will be trying. More on that next Sunday.

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

A Week in Writing #430 - Is Routine a Good Thing?

Hope everyone is well, and, of course, writing.

If you're like me, you like a little routine in your writing. I try to hit all the basic food groups so to speak every week: Powers Squared, Trophy Unlocked, fka Skylar, and, a query. It's good to get to everything but is it a good thing? Is it getting me anywhere?

Even writing this blog is part of the routine. It takes about a half hour to 45 minutes to write down what I did during the week. I know that I need this as much as a reminder as anything else.

Routine is good and all but every so often it's good to shake things up. That's coming for me in early December when I moderate the Under the Radar panel but that's several weeks away. And, of course, we have the start of the holidays, and then routine is totally out the window.

But until then, let's go through the routine:

With Powers Squared, our artist delivered pencils for four pages this week. All were good with a couple of changes but overall it's looking good. Nothing else new to report, except that our next issue drops on December 7th.

As part of the release of a new issue, I do a little feature each Sunday, called peek-of-the-week. It goes up every Sunday morning on our website and on Pinterest before sending out messages on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook about it on Tuesday. Again, the looking's free.

This month on Trophy Unlocked, we're playing a little catch-up for the rest of the year, that is movies we've seen, perhaps late, but want to get reviews out before the end of the year. We started that this past Saturday morning with my review of Everything Everywhere All at Once. There will be more to come. Wednesday's Game Day review was Trevor's review of Stray.

I'm currently working on a review for probably next year of Batman & Mr. Freeeze: SubZero. We watched a couple of animated Batman movies on Friday night out of respect for Kevin Conroy, who died. He had been the voice of Batman for many years.

I finished my review of Plymouth Adventure. Maybe this Thanksgiving?

On Saturday night, we went to Santa Monica to see Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. Paul will be writing the review, as we will be doing a Pinocchio week this month as well. The Classic and two of the 2022 entries. Something to look forward to.

As far as writing, I worked on fka Skylar during the early part of the week. I'm up to 54,423 words. A lot of writing for not much progress. There are always so many other factors that get involved.

One new query this week for Broken People. I DNRed several old ones. No response is the new "no" in looking for an agent.

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

A Week in Writing # 429 - Darkness is Coming

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

Sorry about the apocalyptic-sounding headline, and I don't mean anything political by the way, but I wanted to talk about everyone's favorite topic at this time of year, Daylight Savings Time, or the end of it as the case may be.

Usually, this plays havoc with me. I have sleep issues as it is but the change in time can affect me for a week or so. A heads up, if in the coming week or so it doesn't sound like I'm doing much of anything, blame the time change.

I see we're getting back to normal readership levels, so I personally want to thank those of you that read me every week. For a few weeks there, instead of my usual 7-9, we were getting up into double digits. Not sure what caused that spike or what brought it back down to Earth but I will continue to produce this every week no matter the numbers. I do this as much for myself as anyone.

On to writing. More progress this week on fka Skylar (I'll have to come up with a better title at some point). We're up to 53,429 words, which is up from last week but not a sky-high number, I know. The point is progress is getting made and I believe I've worked out the endings of the two stories. More writing to come.

Another query this week for Broken People. One a week is all I can do, honestly, though I keep thinking maybe I should query another title as well. No responses so far, save for an automatic "we've received your query."

On the Powers Squared front, pages (9-16) from our artist, or actually thumbnails for pages. I hate to keep saying this but these are Rachel's last set of pages 9-16 that we'll be getting from her as she leaves us at the end of the year.

As far as the panel goes, no news this week. I know the time is 11 am on Sunday, Dec 4 but not the room. If you're going to LA Comic-Con, I hope you'll come by.

We inducted a guest into the Five-Timers Club at On the Air with Powers Squared. Lucas Scheffel, the Australian creator behind Angry Fred made his fifth appearance and earned himself a special t-shirt for his trouble. We always have a great time with him and you can catch the audio here and the video on YouTube on Wednesday here.

Today was newsletter day for Powers Squared, The Hound Dogs' Howl. It takes a while to put it all together, so in case you're interested, please enroll today at San Romero Community College.

I'm working on a review this week for Plymouth Adventure (1952). We were looking for something Thanksgiving-ish to review and I recorded it from TCM. I'm still working on that one.

Paul's review of Wendell & Wild was Trophy Unlocked's Saturday morning review. The Wednesday GameDay review was Paul's review of the video game The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. Monday's review was Trevor's review of The Nightmare Before Christmas. That review, for those of you keeping score at home, was the blog's 1400th review.

Does anyone have any thoughts about Twitter they want to share? I'm not sure it's worth $8 a month to tweet without being ghosted. How do you feel about that proposal? Any alternatives you'd recommend? I'm not looking for anything remotely political as that's not my purview, but we're looking for some backup plan in case Twitter gets too much trouble to deal with. I've been tweeting several times a day, but only about something going on with this blog, Powers Squared, or Trophy Unlocked.

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

A Week in Writing #428 - It's Official

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

Well, it's finally official, I know the day and time of the panel, just not the room. It's kind of exciting and scary at the same time. I've never been on a panel at a convention before, let alone moderated one. I think I'll do okay. Paul and I have been doing a podcast for several years, so I know what it's like talking and not knowing who, if anyone, is listening. I've ordered some copies of the first and the 15th issue to have with me. I also ordered new business cards for Powers Squared. I just want to be prepared in case there is a chance of a new reader coming out of this.

I also reserved my tickets for San Diego Comic-Con for next year. One of the advantages of doing a comic book is the Professional status that comes with it. I should check into a table or something when it's time for that convention.

Work continues on the books with our artist, colorist, and letterer all working on different issues. As I wrote earlier, we're losing our current artist at the end of the year and we're hoping our colorist will be able to step forward and take that over. We've all agreed to her doing a test with one page and the four main characters. I'm hoping she makes it. We discussed all this on Friday as part of our October 2022 Team Meeting OAPS podcast.

Jerry Lee Lewis died this past week, so in tribute, we watched High School Confidential (1958), the only Hollywood film I knew he was in. This was my review to write and based on the movie's theme of anti-drugs, this will probably be our next 4/20 review.

My review of Bride of Frankenstein (1935) was Trophy Unlocked's Saturday morning review. Part of the blog's celebration of horror films during the month of October. We were also celebrating Silent Hill Month, which Paul wrapped up with Silent Hill: Downpour on Monday; a review of the comic book Silent Hill Downpour: Anne's Story on Wednesday; and a second look at P.T. on Friday.

In other writing, more progress this week on fka Skylar. For anyone keeping track, I'm up to 51,694 words. Worked on it for a couple of days earlier in the week. I want to spend more time with it and hope to get it done sometime near the end of the year. I can hope, can't I?

One new query and two DNRs this week for Broken People, so I'm keeping pace though I still need to finish a full synopsis before I can send to certain agents.

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

A Week in Writing #427 - Dog Catches Car

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

After a couple of weeks of little time, I felt I had more writing time this week. I spent three nights working on fka Skylar getting more than 2000 words further into the book. Now I'm up to 49,996 words and to be honest I'm enjoying getting on with it.

Got some news while I was writing this. I had proposed a panel for Los Angeles Comic Con and they accepted it. It's about comic books that are under the radar, like Powers Squared. Now I sort of feel like the dog who caught the car; now what? It's sort of exciting and scary at the same time. I have until Tuesday to confirm and I think I have two other creators lined up. More here as I find it out. Wish me luck.

Switching things up, Powers Squared's latest issue got a good review, which I've been sharing pretty much everywhere I can, so I'm going to do it here as well. I will admit I'm not sure how to get more reviews but we've been lucky to get them from First Comics News'  Richard Vasseur, who has reviewed all 14 issues. For the most part, they've been positive but it is always nice to get some feedback. As a plug, the issue is available through our store.

Speaking of Powers Squared, our artist is working on the first 8 pages of her final book for us. We got pencils this week, the last set coming in last night. We still need to review and send any comments. We also have to decide on the test for our colorist to see if she can be the next artist. I am rooting for her.

Worked on but have not finished my review for Everything Everywhere All At Once, but I did write one for Bride of Frankenstein to complete our October tribute to Horror films.

It's still Silent Hill month on Tropy Unlocked and so there were three reviews this week related to that, all written by Paul: Silent Hill: Origins (Monday); Silent Hill: Homecoming (Wednesday); and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Friday). Saturday Morning's review was also Paul's for the 1984 short Frankenweenie.

For our Friday OAPS podcast, we (Paul) discussed the Silent Hill franchise, including games, movies and graphic novels. It goes up on YouTube on Wednesday. I think the visuals will be more compelling but if you want to listen to it, it's available now here.

I also sent out one new query for Broken People. It's one of those only if we're interested kind of agencies. This one wanted approx. the first 25 pages. I sent slightly more to complete the chapter.

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

A Week in Writing #426 - Short Week but Press Coverage

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

Well, this was a short week for me. More birthdays, my wife's this time, so Thursday and Friday were spent in celebration. Disneyland on Thursday and dinner out on Friday. So, some things didn't get done.

To begin with, no queries this week. About the time I would usually be sending one, I think I was somewhere on the I-5 heading north. That said, I did DNR one. The agency's time to respond was "only if we're interested". After two months, I'm going to guess they're not.

I don't want to bury the lead too much, but there was a nice feature about Powers Squared on Scoop this week: Heroic Twins Star in Powers Squared Comic. This was the result of an effort that started back at San Diego Comic-Con in July. While I did not meet the person at Scoop during the panel they were on, I did follow up with them by email. I heard back and sent an introductory press release they asked for but then never heard back. Apparently, they never got the information I sent them, which I didn't find out until I followed up about the upcoming release of Issue #14. I ended up resending the first press release and they ended up writing the story. While perseverance paid off this time, that's not always the case.

This is as good a place as any to announce that the next issue of Powers Squared will be released on October 19th. Issue #14, The Imposter Part 2, completes two story arcs, one that began in Issue #10 and, of course, the one that started with Issue #13. Getting an issue published, even self-published, has proven harder recently. One of the platforms we work with has been slower than usual about getting issues up. Apparently, there are a lot of books and even though I moved it to publish two weeks ago, I don't have any idea when it will appear on that site. But it will be available on the 19th in both digital and print formats and you can find out where at The Campus Store.

With Paul and I preoccupied on Friday, our artist Rachel Wells and our colorist Julia Canon did OAPS without us, drawing characters from the upcoming issue, as well as one for Halloween. You can watch this now on twitch.tv/powerssquared or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm on our YouTube channel but it is worth watching, they always seem to have a good time when they get together.

And work continues on Issue #23, which will be our last with Rachel.

Did some more writing on fka Skylar but I'm only up to 47,770 words, which is only +61 words from last week, so not all effort moves the stick. I did work on it for two nights but probably only a couple of hours in total.

On the review front, I did manage to get one of the two I needed to get done, When Worlds Collide. As always not sure when it will appear. My review of The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. In addition to Halloween, it's also Silent Hill month with three reviews, all by Paul: Silent Hill: Revelation on Monday, Silent Hill HD Collection on Wednesday and Silent Hill 4: The Room on Friday.

Next week will be a full week and I hope to get more done.

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

A Week in Writing #425 - Halloween is Coming

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

If you read Trophy Unlocked, and you should, you'll notice that we're in the middle of two different month-long themes; Halloween, of course, with Paul's review of Hocus Pocus 2 as the Saturday Morning Review and Silent Hill. Paul has been very into the Silent Hill franchise and has been saving up his reviews for this month's blowout. So far this week, Monday was Silent Hill (Game), Wednesday was Silent Hill (Film) and Friday was Silent Hill 3. And there is more to come, believe me, on both themes.

This week, I've got two reviews to work on, Everything Everywhere All at Once and When Worlds Collide. I've only done research but I haven't written anything on either. And reviews aren't going to be my priority this week.

I made an effort this week to work on fka Skylar. Most of my writing early this week was working on that book. To keep me honest, let's start keeping track of the word count, 47709. I know, I've been working on this for a while now but I think I've turned the corner with the story and it should be more straightforward going from here. I can't guarantee I'll be making progress in leaps and bounds but I'll stay with it. I wish I could spend more time on it but there always seems to be other things to work on.

A lot of activity this week with Powers Squared. Our artist, Rachel Wells, sent us thumbnails for the first eight pages of Issue #23, her last with us. Later in the week, Julia Canon, our colorist, sent us the first eight pages of Issue #22. Everything is reviewed and approved and it's all part of the process.

Speaking of Powers Squared, our next issue, Issue 14, The Imposter Part 2, comes out on the 19th, so I'll be sending around a press release. If you're curious about the book, you can go to The Campus Store and find out where you can purchase past issues. I'll be putting up links for the new issue in the next few days.

Our OAPS this week was pre-recorded. The guest, Jon Dexter, has a new Kickstarter going, so we wanted to support him. The audio is available at  https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/oaps and the video goes up on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PT on our YouTube channel.

Next week, Rachel and Julia will be doing the show without us again. The last one was a lot of fun, so I would encourage everyone to catch it at 6 pm PT Friday at twitch.tv/powerssquared.

I got back into querying again this week. Sent one and wrote off a couple that were past their expiration dates.

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

A Week in Writing #424 - Things Happen Even on Vacation

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

Well, I'll have to admit, I didn't do much writing this past week. We did something we really haven't done in quite a while, took a vacation. This was my twin sons' 30th birthday this past week, so we went to San Diego to go to the Zoo and the Safari Park down there. While this isn't a travel blog, we did have a good time.

But even though I was on vacation a big event happened the morning we were planning to leave. The artist on Powers Squared, Rachel Wells, announced that the next issue will be her last. After five years, she wants to try her hand at children's illustrations. I can't tell you what a blow that news was to receive. The weekend before we had bragged about our longevity with her when we recorded an OAPS with another creator. Continuity is something that you can take for granted and you shouldn't.

For those of you that may not know, Rachel came to us fresh from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Five years ago, we came to the realization that we needed a change. Even our colorist at the time, Paige Redbird, thought we needed someone new. Also a SCAD grad, Paige helped us find several candidates and from them we chose Rachel.

We were hoping for some continuity in the look of the characters but she added a bit more of the style we were looking for, a western anime, and she was the best candidate with that style. Even though we weren't through with our first artist, we had Rachel do a couple of covers for us, issues #3 and #5, before she took over as the artist with issue #6. Five years later, we'll be working on issue #23 with her through the end of the year.

In the vein of "in the tree, part of the tree", we're looking to our current colorist, Julia Canon, an artist in her own right, to possibly take over as the artist for the book. She was our first choice and we're rooting for her. It will be a group decision, including her. We should know by the end of the year.

Well, that wasn't all that happened, but it was the biggest event we've had in quite a while.

As to other writing, there wasn't a lot during the week, I'm afraid. No queries this week and no responses either. I haven't checked so I don't know if any would be DNR.

Finished two reviews this week for Trophy Unlocked. See How They Run was a film we watched on my birthday last Sunday, and The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein (2018), a documentary about Mary Shelley's book. I think the latter will appear this month, not sure when the former will, since October is Halloween and Silent Hill month on the blog. No Wednesday Game Day review either, again we were on vacation.

The Saturday Morning Review was mine for Hocus Pocus (1993). Paul's review of Hocus Pocus 2 will appear next week.

To round things off, no new work on fka Skylar this week.

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

A Week in Writing #423 - But It's My Birthday!

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

Yes, it is my birthday today just so we get that out of the way.

I know that I've complained here a lot about sending off queries and never hearing back. Well, I had the exact opposite of that this week with my rejection coming back within 8 hours. I sent my query for Broken People  at 10:38 pm on Thursday night and at 6:49 am, received the following:

Thank you, but this doesn't sound right for me.

I wish you the best,

I'm both impressed and disappointed but in record time. Not that I'm counting, but 8 hours and 11 minutes has to be some sort of record for rejection. Fortunately, it was only based on my standard query letter and not on the writing itself. My guess is there's a certain amount of churn going on. So, I'll say I am grateful to find out so soon.

If you were listening on Friday night, you no doubt know that we announced release dates for the next two issues of Powers Squared: October 19th for Issue #14, The Imposter Part 2; and December 7th for Issue #15 How They Met. Oh, what, you didn't listen? Well, now you know. Your patronage would be greatly appreciated. If you care to watch, we do an unboxing as well, it will be up on Wednesday at 2:30 pm on our YouTube channel.

Minor progress this week on pretty much everything. For some reason, schedules being what they are, I'm only getting about an hour to an hour and a half of writing time in. And I'm finding that I'm pretty useless by the end of them. I know sleep is important but it really interferes with getting things done. And the fun part is that no matter how tired I am while sitting at my computer, getting to sleep in a bed can take up to an hour.

I don't normally talk about what I'm reading but it's an interesting and entertaining history of Chateau Marmont, The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont by Shawn Levy. I've been aware of, but have never gone inside, the Chateau and, given the nightly rate of over $1300, I don't think I will be anytime soon. My fascination with the place started when I used it as a location in a book I've written, and which is still unpublished, Public and Private. At the time, I was just looking for a floorplan of one of the rooms to use. 

The Chateau came up again on The Offer, which we watched on Paramount+. Supposedly, Al Ruddy's wife was the owner. Even though the book was written in 2019, it dispelled that. Her former husband did own it but it appears he sold it before he married her. She's only a footnote in the book. When I saw the book at Barnes and Noble, finding that out was one of my reasons for wanting to read it.

Finished a review of Men Are Such Fools, a romantic comedy from 1938. The reason I wanted to watch it was for Humphrey Bogart, who is third-billed but really not a factor. I would suggest reading the review when it's published rather than watching the movie.

Batman Month concluded on Trophy Unlocked on Saturday with Trevor's review of The Batman vs. Dracula. The Wednesday Game Day review was Paul's for Hitman GO: Definitive Edition.

Final pages for Powers Squared Issue #22 are being worked on as you read this but that's about all there is to report on that.

And again, minimal progress on fka Skylar see above for my explanation.

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

A Week in Writing #422 - Working During the Game

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

Another Sunday, and time to recount the past week.

Let's start with querying. I had to DNR another one this week. I sent another one for Broken People, another one that doesn't require a synopsis. I haven't had a chance to get back to the synopsis I'm working on. I've noticed that the agents' requirements are all over the place. Some only want a paragraph in the query letter, some want a page-long synopsis, and others want one that is two to three pages in length. I'm still working on the 2-3 page version.

On to the actual writing on fka Skylar. I've been working on the next chapter this week, on the two days I've had a chance to work on it. I hate the slow work on it. But I think I have the next chapter ready to go, I just need to get to it. That's sort of the process I go through when writing, especially these books. I always know where I want to go it's the getting there that's part of the "fun".

Not a whole lot new to report on Powers Squared. There is always something to do, even if there aren't new pages to review. We did approve some character designs, Marty and Eli's parents, as they appear in the issue we're working on with our artist. Hopefully, the rest of the pages for the issue will follow. However, I'm not counting on that, as our artist is apparently moving at the end of the month.

I did do some work today, while watching the game, on the newsletter as the turnaround will be tight at the end of the month for me. More on that later but I thought it best to do some preliminary work on it now rather than try to squeeze it all in. I try to do a profile on twins, real or fictitious. This month, I decided to write about Tim and Jim Possible from the TV series Kim Possible. We're sort of doing a survey of the series during meals, which means we're not watching every episode. Just became aware there were twin characters in the show, so took the opportunity to feature them. If you're curious about the newsletter, enroll today here.

We had our second Comic Book Club meeting on our OAPS podcast on Friday. This time it was Blacksad, the noir comic series created by Spanish authors Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist). You can listen to it now on our website or several other platforms the podcast appears on. If you wait until Wednesday, you can watch it on our YouTube Channel. Next time it will be Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe, so read ahead and join us in November when we do it. Comments are always welcomed.

Wrote a new review for Trophy Unlocked this weekend, Pinocchio (1940). I sort of jumped on this one, since we watched both the animated feature and the new live-action one on Disney+. Trevor wrote that review. I'm not sure when these will appear. We might batch it up with a review of Guillermo del Toro's version, which is due out later this year.

My review of The Batman was the Saturday Morning Review on the blog; again part of Batman month on the blog. The Wednesday Game Day review was Trevor's review of Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed, a recent videogame release.

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

A Week in Writing #421 - Is Football Season a Good Thing?

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

I'm writing this prior to watching a game of football. My team, the Dallas Cowboys, plays tonight and I'm thinking about the topic question prior to a win, lose or draw with the Bucs. I've been a fan of the Cowboys almost all of my life, having grown up in Dallas. Unlike many men my age, I only follow one team in one sport, so I lay everything on the line for one game.

Now, I have tried to write or whatnot while watching a football game and it is next to impossible to do both and pay either the attention they're due. This is especially true if the game is close and gets exciting. I don't begrudge the game for that but still, it makes doing anything, save eating and drinking, mostly moot.

And if the team loses, the time spent seems like a real waste for some reason. I mean three-plus hours and I'm left with a losing effort and I'm sort of miserable over the other things I could have used that time doing. If the team wins, I'm spending time looking for highlights and interviews, which in and of itself is also a time suck. I'm sure this would be true of whatever team I followed. Having grown up in Dallas, the Cowboys have been my team.

So, either way, watching football is a bit of a time suck. If you're one of those men who watch multiple teams in multiple sports, I don't know how you do it, especially if you're trying to do something creative on the side like I am, and I don't want to find out. There's more to life than sports.

This week, I've been sort of divided between projects and not really getting anywhere with any of them. I really think it's the past week and not the projects. Have you ever had one of those weeks when nothing seems to work as well as it should?

I'm supposed to be working on a review of Elvis but I haven't started it yet. We finally watched the film on HBO Max on Saturday night. By the time it was over, it was pretty late and I was pretty tired. I actually fell asleep on the couch, which is something I haven't really done in years. I'm not sure if the flu shots we got on Saturday morning had anything to do with that or not.

On the subject of reviews, my review of Batman: Under the Red Hood was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. All part of the site's Batman Month celebration. On Wednesday, GameDay, it was Paul's review of Hitman 3: Ambrose Island (DLC).

Friday's On the Air with Powers Squared was about Disappearing Content on streaming services like HBO Max, and how that might impact us somewhere down the line. You can listen now here or watch it later here when it goes up on Wednesday.

I started working this weekend on a synopsis for Broken People, the book I've been querying agents about. Trying to keep it to two to three pages, which will be somewhat hard. But I've only just started that project. One of those things I might have worked on more had there not been a football game. I did send a new query this week. I haven't heard back from any in quite a while. I'm thinking that I might do a synopsis for another book and try to query another book; I have several I should be trying to get representation for.

Speaking of books, I'm moving forward, slowly, on fka Skylar. I'm finally past where I had been editing and am in the process of transferring from one storyline to another.

And let's not forget Powers Squared. Our artist is getting close to finishing the artwork on Issue 22. Paul and Trevor have each written stories for the next story arc. And I'm still working on the Pitch Deck redux. Again, slower progress than I'd like.

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

A Week in Writing #420 - Happy Labor Day!

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

If you're in America, Happy Labor Day!

Let's start this week with On the Air with Powers Squared. This past Friday, Paul and I celebrated the third anniversary of the podcast by reviewing the guests we've had on the show, which is a fairly impressive list considering the number of viewers we have. For the most part, I can't think of a guest we haven't enjoyed having on the show. If you're interested, you can listen here or watch it next Wednesday on YouTube.

More progress this week on Issue #22, as our artist sent new thumbnails as well as possible covers for Paul and me to review.

This Sunday was also the newsletter, which takes a few days of work to put together. But we got it out, which is the important thing. If you are ever interested, you can always enroll at SRCC. It's free and there's no obligation, plus you'll be helping me out, which I'm sure deep in your heart of hearts you know you want to do.

On the query front, not only did I send a new one on Thursday, but I also set 4 older ones to DNR as they reached their expiration dates. I never know if I'll hear from one of them but I have to assume after three months or 10 weeks or whatever timeframe they set that it won't be "please send us more." If I hear from them, there will probably be something along the lines of "not right for my list" or "not what I'm looking for."

I don't know if you took advantage of Saturday's $3 cinema admissions but we did. It was a great opportunity to take a chance on a movie for pretty cheap, though the chain I bought it through charged me an additional $7.20 for the pleasure. (I miss the Arclight.) We took a chance on Bullet Train and I'll admit, we were happy we did. I wrote a review that will be up on tomorrow's Trophy Unlocked.

We also watched another movie that same night, The Wild Party, which I also reviewed. Not sure when that one will go up. Between the two, I wrote over 3000 words.

On the subject of Trophy Unlocked, my review of Batman vs. Two-Face was the Saturday Morning Review. I think I wrote it a little over a year ago so you never know. We're kicking off Batman month on the blog and I believe I'll have three of the posts.

Trevor wrote Wednesday, Game Day's, review for Destroy All Humans! 2 which was timed to go up on the same date as the new game came out.

More work on fka Skylar though most of my work was at the beginning of the week. Making progress but it always seems slow.

Well, I guess that will about do it for me. Keep writing and I'll see back here next week.

A Week in Writing #419 - Burn it to the Ground

 

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

If you've been reading this blog, I mention from time to time about working on a pitch for turning Powers Squared into an animated series. And yes, we're still working on it. Had a sort of gut check on Friday with someone who is helping us. The verdict wasn't good.

We actually found out earlier in the week some of their opinions and as a result, some rather sleepless nights. They had seen something we had not in the story and gone down a rabbit hole that I believe shocked both Paul and me. We finally talked in a couple of Zoom sessions on Friday afternoon. To say the least, it was actually a good session. We're going to have to burn it down and start over. Some changes are going to have to be made and the stories, while similar, will be somewhat different between the comic book and the proposed TV series.

But that's a good thing. We didn't know what we were doing when we started Powers Squared and the person helping us knows what they're doing. Don't look for it anytime soon. With what's going on with Hollywood and streaming services, places to shop it may be thinning, but I'm of the opinion we need to have a good pitch and then worry about where we can sell it.

So, it's back to the drawing board on that.

On the subject of Powers Squared, and I know that topic comes up a lot, we had our monthly team meeting with our artist, colorist, and letterer. I usually enjoy getting everyone together and hearing what's going on with them. You can listen to it now if you want or wait until Wednesday to watch it.

Speaking of On the Air with Powers Squared, which we were, we're coming up on our third anniversary. We did our first show on August 30, 2019, back in the pre-times. I don't know what we're doing for next week but that's how it is more often than not.

Changing the subject, work continues on fka Skylar. Sometimes I don't get to it until late in my writing session but I do try to get to it every time. I believe I promised you a word count, which now is at 43,268 with more to come. I do feel like I'm finally on a flight path with the story.

For Broken People, one new query and no rejections, at least not in a form I would recognize as communication. I did DNR a couple that had reached their expiry. So, now I have 11 queries out there. I think I need to write a short synopsis, 1 to 2 pages, which I think would open up more possibilities for me.

I'm working on a new review for Trophy Unlocked, the recently DVR-ed The Easiest Way (1931). I've got it started but I was too tired last night to work on it very much. Just got to the downloading of photos and some research.

On the subject of Trophy Unlocked, the Saturday Morning Review was Paul's for 101 Dalmatians (1996). Wednesday's Game Day review was Trevor's for Destroy All Humans! (2020).

Another project I'm working on this week is The Hound Dogs' Howl newsletter which comes out next Sunday morning. Even though it's monthly, it's still more than I can do in one morning. I have a feature to write and updates to make after we've done our show on Friday. If you want to receive it, please enroll at SRCC today. It's free and there's no obligation to keep subscribing other than to make me feel better about myself.

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

A Week in Writing #418 - Is it a rejection if they don't say "no"?

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

Well, let's start with the bad news, another rejection, or was it? I finally heard back from a query I sent on June 23, so it's been a little shy of 2 months.

"Thanks for writing to me about this book, but the _______ Agency is not accepting submissions from new authors for the foreseeable future."

So, is that really a rejection? Trust me I check the websites before I send out queries and I don't recall such a declaration on _________ Agency's website. But why did it take nearly 2 months? You'd think such an across-the-board decision would have generated an automatic response when I sent it, sort of like an out-of-office email.

I did send in another query this week; no telling when I'll hear back, or if I will. I have a couple out that are getting close to expiration. I'm reluctant to DNR them since, as we've seen, there is no strict deadline for rejection.

No new reviews this week for me. We didn't do our normal Saturday night and watch a movie. Rather, we did something we don't do very often of late and went out for dinner. Instead of a movie, we watched episodes of Primal when we got home. I don't really watch a lot of new TV shows. Yes, I know it's the new Golden Age, but I really don't have time to invest in too much television.

I do read, however, which is a segue to the latest episode of On the Air with Powers Squared, in which Paul and I discuss our summer reads. I've read sort of a mixture of books, in the last few months, including some graphic novels, one a version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and Blacksad, which I'm reading for the Powers Squared Book Club, which we'll shoot in September. I'm also reading the new Woody Allen collection of essays, Zero Gravity, and David Sedaris's Happy-Go-Lucky. These last two are ones you can read on from time to time as they don't really tell a linear story.

In protest of HBO Max's taking down of so many animated shows, we put up Paul's review of The Emperor's New Groove, which, is, of course, animated. Wednesday's GameDay review was Trevor's review of Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (PS5). I'm sure one of mine will be back up there someday soon, though I think we're getting close to our Batman salute in September, which will include three of mine.

Work continues on fka Skylar. I'm getting better at mixing the two storylines together, so I'm happy with that. I'll give you a word count next week.

Well, that's about all from me. Keep writing and I'll see you next week.

A Week in Writing #417 - With Further Ado

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

Let's start off with Powers Squared, only because we received some press this week. I met Ed Catto at Comic-Con a few weeks ago and talked to him after the How to Get Press Coverage panel. The result was this story in his column, With Further Ado #210: More Actual Comics at SDCC – Powers Squared. If you read it you'll find more about us and see what we look like, so that should be tempting enough.

Other than that, sort of a light week with the comic book. Some updates from our colorist to some pages but no new art this week.

I do see why you do proofs. As I believe I've mentioned, I sent off a pdf to have a paperback version of the "graphic novel". After a long time, the book came back and we were shooting an unboxing video. Turns out one of the pages was very blurry. I was going to write the printer to complain when I looked at the pages I had sent them and, indeed, the tiff for that page was blurry. I still don't know how that happened. It's not like I hit the computer while I was putting together the pdf. So now, I'm retrying it again.

Haven't had much luck lately with attempts at unboxing videos. What we've opened has either had problems or wasn't what we were expecting.

We did have a guest, Brandon Starocci, on our Friday podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. Brandon is one of the co-creators of a new series called Avalon. Follow the link if you're interested in learning more about him and his work. The audio is available on our website and the video goes up on our YouTube channel on Wednesday.

On to the subject that usually gets short shrift, fka Skylar. I think I've mentioned here before that the character name has changed to Lillie but I don't have a title for the book, so it's still fka Skylar for the time being. I've been working on it more frequently of late, even some last night and today. I'm going back in and adding the second storyline into what I've written so far and making other changes as I go.

My main character, J.D. Barrister, is just reopening his office after the pandemic. He finds that he has a new neighbor who needs his help. Her name is Lillie, at least for now. I don't want to get into too much detail about her case but on top of that, his live-in girlfriend Leanne's father is coming for a visit post-pandemic and also wants to hire J.D. to help with a tontine dating back to World War II. Again, I don't want to get into the details but the two stories will cross and I'm hoping I can wrap them both up at about the same time. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

In other writing, I had my review of Sabotage appear on Trophy Unlocked as the Saturday Morning Review. We published a review of a Hitchcock film to coincide with the director's birthday that day. No Wednesday morning review this week. As promised, I did finish the two other reviews I was working on, The Devil and Miss Jones and Tomorrow is Another Day.

No new review this week, as instead of draining the DVR, this Saturday night, again in honor of Hitchcock, we watched the first episode of his TV Series, an episode called Revenge which he also directed. And then we watched a couple of episodes of Primal but that's not here nor there for this blog. I can say, though, that it is a learning experience for writing without dialogue.

One new query this week and no rejections to note. I'm coming up on a couple of dates wherein I should have heard back from the agent but until that date comes, I'm considering them still in review.

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