A Week in Writing #528 - Happy Birthday and then Happy Birthday!

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

The birthday stuff is real. I had mine on Wednesday the 25th and then my sons had theirs on Saturday the 28th. I only mention it since it did impact writing this past week, as we actually went out to dinner twice in three days. We had a good time though, which is what really counts, and I got some cool gifts along the way.

The real story is LA Comic-Con, which seems to be rushing at us like a freight train. I think we're about as prepared as we can be, but there is bound to be something we missed. But it's a necessary step in the process of trying to grow our audience, which is what I hope happens as a result.

If you're going, were in Small Press SP304. And if that wasn't enough, we're participating in the Floor Tour, organized by Don Nguyen, who has been a guest on our podcast. The flyer is pretty self-explanatary:

And, if that weren't enough, we're also part of a panel: Under the Radar. If you remember, we did this same panel at LA Comic-Con back in 2022. This time, we've upgraded the moderator, from me, to John Barber and the guests are pretty impressive as well, Erik Arreaga (Chingona) and Steven Prince (Monster Matador).

And there are also these three stragglers, me and the boys behind Powers Squared.

We had a pre-panel discussion on Friday's podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. Erik wasn't able to attend, but we had a good discussion with John and Steven. You can listen to it now here or watch it on Wednesday at 2:30 pm on our YouTube Channel. Our better yet, you could attend the panel in person to lend support.

The rest of the time, I spent editing Skylar. I'm finally at the part where I need to do some more writing to tie the story up. That may have to wait until after the Con.

No new review from me this week, as we went out for dinner on Saturday. But there were still reviews on Trophy Unlocked, with a Wednesday Game Day review of The WereCleaner by Trevor and then the Saturday Morning Review was also his for The Wild Robot, which we squeezed in on Friday afternoon.

The next week will probably be Powers Squared-centric, as the Con is coming and I also have to work on the newsletter, which, like this missive, will be delayed one day because of the Con.

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

A Week in Wrting # 527 - Editing is My Favorite Part of Writing

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

I've spent most of my writing time this past week editing Skylar. This is my favorite part of the writing process, since I feel that I always want to make it better. While I've been working on this book, for what seems like forever, it is interesting to read passages that I haven't in months. I haven't quite gotten to parts that need major revisions or new content, though I do think that's coming at some point.

I was spending the rest of my time working on t-shirt displays for LA Comic-Con, which was basically sizing images and QR codes. Speaking of LACC, I believe we've purchased almost everything we're going to need for the show, but there is still some signage that needs to be dealt with, including pricing.

I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous about the Con. There are so many unknowns involved. I'm hoping that all the planning will pay off and we'll have a pretty much smooth operation, but there are other factors I can't yet imagine, since we've never done anything like this before.

Some of that was covered in our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared, this past Friday. It was our September Team Meeting with artist/colorist Julia Canon, artist Jen Moreno and Trevor, who letters the books. You can listen to it here or wait until Wednesday and watch it on our YouTube channel at 2:30 pm LA time. These are usually some of my favorite podcasts, though some of the best conversations happen after sign off.

Next week, the podcast will play host to John Barber, Erik Arreaga, Steven Prince and the creators of Powers Squared for a pre-panel virtual meet and greet. The six of us will be moderator and panelists at Under the Radar, at LA Comic-Con. I believe I'm the only one who has spoken to everyone involved and want to be sure we all know each other a little better before the panel. That will be next Friday at 6 pm PDT on twitch.tv/powerssquared. Be There and Be Squared, as we say.

Okay, no new review from me this week. The plan was to watch something I'd recorded, but since it was Batman Day, we decided at the last minute to watch Batman: Hush and I won't be the one writing that review.

My review of  We're in the Money (1935) was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked, but it was far from the only one this week, as on Thursday, Trevor's review of Transformers One was published and Wednesday was Game Day with Paul's review of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which was also the 1600th review on the blog.

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

A Week in Writing #526 - COVID/Flu Vaccinations

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

As I've mentioned before, Powers Squared will be at L.A. Comic-Con in October. That was part of the reason we decided this past Friday to get our Covid and Flu Vaccinations. And while we were aware that there would be side effects, none of expected that it would pretty much lay us up for Saturday. The vaccines are a good idea for everyone, but just beware it's going to kick Covid and the flu, but your own ass a little bit, too.

So, if you're going to be attending L.A. ComicCon, please look us up using this handy little map.

And, if you're coming on Sunday, please check out our panel, Under the Radar. It's at noon on Sunday in room 406A. (And, yes, I'm aware Steve Prince's name is mispelled and the app will be updated.) We're going to have a podcast with all of the participants on the 27th, so that might be fun to watch.

On the subject of Powers Squared, we had a good session on Sunday afternoon, going over sketches by our new artist, Jen Moreno. She started work on Issue #28 "Agnes Wreckage" (working title) and Paul and I had a call with her going over the pages. Good stuff.

Because of the side-effects, mentioned above, no new review this week from me. We instead watched Shorts 2, a collection from Mystery Science Theater 3000. My review of The First Auto was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. And, if  you missed it, like I did, there was a Wednesday is Game Day review of 20 Small Mazes, written by Trevor.

On our Friday podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared, we interviewed James Salvani, a comic book artist and writer, best known for his work on the Darkwing Duck comic books. He talked about his career as well as his new Kickstarter for Pirates: A Graphic History. (That's a link to the Kickstarter).  If you'd like to hear the podcast, you can listen here, or you can wait and watch it on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT here.

To round out the week, I started editing on Skylar. This is my favorite part of the writing process, editing my own work, and trying to make it better. I've gone through about 154 pages so far and that will be my primary project next week.

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

A Week in Writing #525 - 10 Years of Weeks

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

Well, I'm going to consider this my 10th anniversary for writing this blog. I think the first post came out on September 1, 2014, but my first A Week in Writing was the 7th. If you're looking for some retrospective or a detail of what I've learned in that time, I'm going to disappoint you. What I've learned in the past ten years is not to give up. You've got to keep trying, keep moving forward and not stop. If your dream is to write, then you've got to write.

Before getting on with it though, I do want to thank my son Paul, who has been the editor on this blog for its entire run. It would be gibberish without him.

Since this blog is supposed to be about the past week, we're going to discuss that.

While this blog is celebrating it's 10th anniversary, we just did our 260th On the Air with Powers Squared. Since we've had him on the show seven times before, we decided to celebrate the milestone with Lucas Scheffel, a comic book creator from Australia. We talked about his projects, his recent con appearances and even his son's own book Pepperoni Man. But in a change of pace, we also discussed "Family Affair" Parts 1 and 2. You can listen to our conversation here or watch it on Wednesday at 2:30 pm on our YouTube channel.

During the week, we reviewed Julia's sketches for her final six pages of Issue #27. I believe I mentioned this previously, but Julia and Jen will be trading jobs on the book. Hopefully, we can get the issue completed by the end of the year.

Let's move on to Trophy Unlocked. This week, I had two reviews on the blog. The Saturday Morning Review was mine for Chaplin (1992). On Saturday, we went to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, so I wrote the review for that film and it went up this morning. I also started a review of Professional Sweetheart, but I'm not done with that one yet.

Since we were going to review Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, I thought I would take a look at my older review of Beetlejuice. At the end of the review was an outdated link to Warner Bros's Archive site, so I removed it. Apparently, removing that led to the blogger.com people pulling the review, referring it saying it "was flagged to us for review. We have determined that it violates our guidelines..." Huh? Editing is a violation of their guidelines? Apparently, we were spamming??? Anyway, it apparently righted itself and the post is back up.

And, if that wasn't enough, I believe I've finished the first draft of Skylar. I'm hoping net week to start editing. I believe there are still holes, but it's time to get on with it.

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

A Week in Writing #524 - Finally Getting Up to Speed

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

For whatever reason, the last two weeks have been a slog for me trying to get anything done. Late starts and falling asleep haven't helped. But this past week, I feel like I got back into it and made some real progress on things.

But let's start with the newest issue of Powers Squared, "Family Affair, Part 1", which drops on September 4. In this issue, Marty and Eli must get ready for something they've been trying to avoid, seeing their parents, Peter and Peggy Powers. And it turns out that their parents have secrets of their own. The issue will be available in both print and digital through The Campus Store on our website.

We also recorded a preview of the issue with colorist Julia Canon joining Paul, Trevor and myself. It is scheduled to be released the same day that the issue comes out. Hear it now here or watch it later on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared).

Speaking of podcasts, next week will be #260 for On the Air with Powers Squared, or five years, so be sure to check it out next Friday, September 6 at 6 pm PDT on twitch.tv/powerssquared.

That leads me to the newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, which came out today. It's not hard to write, but it does take some time and I have to come up with a couple of news items besides just pointing to past podcasts. This time, I wrote about Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon, twins comic book writers and creators from Brazil. While you should join the mailing list, you can also read it here if you'd like.

Still getting ready for our turn at L.A. Comic-Con. I don't yet know where on the floor we'll be, but the panel I proposed, Under the Radar, will be Sunday at noon in room 406 B. We're planning on a pre-Con podcast with the participants and moderator on Friday, September 27.

There always seems like there's something else to do to get ready and I'm afraid we're still putting together the pieces. I would imagine things would be going together quicker and cheaper if this wasn't our first major Con. Hopefully, the next one won't take so much set up. Hopefully, there will be a next one.

We have all the books. This week, we bought sample t-shirts to hang up. Again, we're not selling them at the Con, but I've reduced the price on each to $20 and there will be a 15% discount, so I hope that is enticing enough to hopefully make some sales during the Con. Still need to buy the dolly for all the stuff.

Finished my review of Lady Be Good this week and began the process around The First Auto. My review of High School Confidential! (1958) was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. When we were picking one, I thought it might be appropriate since school was starting all over the country.

And I also worked on Skylar this week. Though I never wrote a 1000 words a day, that's a goal, I did complete the first draft of a chapter I wanted to write, so I made progress there as well.

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