A Week in Writing #609 - It's Never Easy

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

I seem to be having troubles with alarms lately. First, it was one of our smoke detectors that was going off with an "error" every 24 hours or so, until I finally had to disconnect it. Now it's our home alarm. I received an email that I hadn't tested it in awhile, so I decided to do that one night. But testing revealed a bunch of issues I wasn't aware of before, and now the alarm is sort of on the fritz, and goes off once a day as well. I tried to work with their AI assistant but sometimes you want to talk to a real person, like all the time, and I finally was able to after about an hour of trying to make it work. The fix will apparently take time, not the alarm company's fault, but it's just another hinderance into getting things done.

Our podcast this week was a conversation with Joshua Pruett, a TV and book writer, who got his start as a storyboard artist. Really engaging conversation, he was funny, witty and appreciative. Great time talking with him, but then the issues started. We've been having some issues with volume, which you might have noticed if you've listen regularly, like you should. Well, in order to fix that Paul had to render the video separately and make the audio version later. But somewhere along the way, 10 minutes got cut off, which no one noticed until I was putting the video up on YouTube. I knew the run time but every version I put up on YouTube was 10 minutes short. I thought I had done something wrong. Paul had to re-render the video and make a new audio file, but then the video was too big to pass using a thumbdrive. Anyway, we were able to replace the audio file, which I didn't know was possible, and load the complete video. For this effort, you can listen to it, in its completeness here, watch in on our twitch channel for the next few days, or watch in on our YouTube channel starting on Wednesday at 2:30 PDT.

Work continues on the next issue of Powers Squared, as our aritst has been working on one page at a time, two a week. The results are pretty good, so I'm feeling good about the upcoming story arc, though it will probably be 2027 before they come out, as we try to release 3 to 4 a year.

Despite all the alarm fun, I'm onto the last chapter of Blackmail. I had to make some changes and I'm hopeful I'll get done early next week. I'll probably do another read through, digitally, and check for commas, and spelling issues before putting it to bed.

As far as reviews, I'm currently working on one for Le Ballet Mécanique, a surrealist short from 1924. I think I watched it in film school at some point but I wanted to share it with the family and it was short. This is like the third or fourth silent movie I've reviewed in a row, so maybe next time it'll be a talkie. But the reviews keep coming on Trophy Unlocked. The Game Day Wednesday review as Trevor's for God of War: Sons of Sparta, and he followed that up with the Saturday Morning Review of Exit 8 (8番出口), a Japenese film he and his brother saw this week.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week. And if you ever have any questions or comments, let me know.

A Week in Writing #608 - Always Looking Forward

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

I'd like to think that I'm always looking forward and trying to make this better. Some of that comes with my own writing, and the future of Powers Squared. The latter was the point of our most recent podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. In our latest episode, Paul and I discussed possible future storylines for the comic book, including the current issue we're working on. If you're curious, you can watch it now on twitch.tv, or listen to it here, or wait and watch it on our YouTube channel on Wednesday, April 15 after 2:30 pm PDT.

Speaking of the current issue we're working on, our artist had some trouble getting started, equipment malfunctioning, but has pretty much completed the first two pages and it's good to see pages coming forward.

I'm still working on the edits of Black Mail. I don't know if you've ever had this happen to you. I'm working on the book and the days of the week don't work out as well as I had hoped. I'm going to have to make some adjustments. I thought about moving the start of the book back a day, but I decided that wouldn't work out any better, so I'm going to have to make changes at the end to match. So more rewrites than I expected. Based on edits, the word count has actually dropped slightly to 87,543.

I finished a new review for Tol'able David (1921) for Trophy Unlocked. While I usually don't know when a review will go up, I'm lobbying for November 21, which would be 105 years since it's original release. This week, the Saturday Morning Review was Paul's for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Next week, I'm going to continue working on edits for Black Mail and hopefully reviewing more pages for Powers Squared.

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

A Week in Writing #607 - Newsletter and Blackmail

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

As I wrote last week, this was newsletter week, so I spent a good part of the time working on that. In addition to the usual, the feature on twins was about the Starn Twins, and some unauthorised usage of our images on X. Here comes the pitch, if you'd like to receive that, it's FREE and you get a digital copy of the first issue of Powers Squared, that comic book I keep mentioning over and over. To be added to the email list, you "enroll" at the fictious college where much of the action takes place, San Romero Commnunity College. There is no further obligation and we send one, maybe two emails a month, and that's only when we release issues. End of pitch.

Besides that work, I did make progress on the edits and rewrites on Blackmail. It's never as much as you want, but I'm up to page 222 of 406, and the word count is now at 88,143. Slow work but it's coming along.

I'm finishing a review of His New Job (1915), Charlie Chaplin's first short at Essasnay. I had recently purchased a remastered set of his work at the studio and time was short last night. Information on it is scarce and I had to rewatch/skip through the short to make sure I captured everything. Most synopses I found are basically extended log lines. As always, not sure when that will come out.

There were two reviews on Trophy Unlocked this week. The first was a Wednesday/Game Day review by Paul of Super Mario Galaxy for the Switch. The Saturday Morning review was Paul's of George of the Jungle, the live-action remake of the animated cartoon.

Our podcast this week, was our 23rd Comic Book Club. Due to mis-scheduling, Julia wasn't able to attend but our former artist, Rachel Wells, joined in on Volume One of Void Rivals, written by Robert Kirkman, and illustrated by Lorenzo De Felici, & Matheus Lopes. You can watch it on our Twitch channel for the next few days, listen to it here now or wait to watch it on our You Tube channel on Wednesday after 2:30 pm PDT. You might want to play it loud, as our microphone isn't doing well and we need to replace it.

Powers Squared is going through a bit of a lull as our artist had to replace the pen she uses, so not much to report there on the new issue, Aroma Therapy.

We've applied for Artist Alley at the next WonderCon in 2027. Our past experience with Small Press left a bad taste in our mouths that still hasn't gone away. We think we'd do better where there are people around. We'll see how it goes, though I'm not crossing my fingers.

Next week, I'm hoping to work more on Blackmail and a script idea I have for Powers Squred. We'll see how it goes.

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

A Week in Writing #606 - One Day WonderCon

 

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

Since we weren't tabling at WonderCon, not that we didn't try, we attended the Con on Sunday. And even though we weren't selected, there were plenty of empty tables abound. Sort of makes you think they don't want you.

From an attendee point of view, there seemed to be fewer people. I'm used to the chaingang two-step of Comic-Con, so being able to take full strides at the Con was nice, but it told me that attendance appeared to be down. However, fot those we talked to in Small Press, the Con seemed to be good for them. I think I mentioned this before, but we'd like to attend in Artist Alley, rather than Small Press, since that seems to be more our speed. Not that we'd make any more money, but maybe not lose it as fast.

Did attend one panel about pitching board games.The takeaways: Structure the Pitch from the top down. Pitch - What it's about, then the unique selling points and then key information: audience, age range, components, player count, how long to play a game and MSRP. Basically, provide as much info in as short a time as possible. Fun fact, if your manufacturing costs are say $10, the MSRP will be $90 to $100. Generally, you're looking for a MSRP of $20 to $25 for a mass retail game.

What you should bring with you is a prototype of your game, a sales sheet and a 3-6 page pitch deck, though the latter wasn't required by everyone. There was even the suggestion of a 30 second sizzle reel, but again not universally required. Also, don't worry about the art because it will be changed. Games are also broken down by time spent playing, from 15 minutes (lightwieght) to 1 hour (middlewieght) to several hours (heavyweight).

On the subject of cons and comic books we did release the 27th issue of Powers Squared this past week. "Billy and Raven: Life on the Road." In this issue, we spun off two characters from pervious story arcs, Billy O'Shea and Raven, the Yatagarasu who granted him powers. They're trying to stay off the grid, and away from villain Dr. Atlas, as long haul truckers. In this issue, they find that life on the road isn't without troubles. Hope you take a shot on it. You can find out where to buy it (print and digital) here, or take a preview of the issue here.

I spent most of the week working on Blackmail. I'm trying to review the pages before going through the notes at the keyboard. It's interesting to me that sometimes I'll still make more changes. I did have a moment yesterday that I think improved the book, but only took a few keystrokes to do it. This is a detective story and one of the people he interviews was interesting but the reason for interviewing them was sort of week. But I realized I could move a couple of sentences around, add a few and then they were more of a possible witness. I don't know about you, but I love moments like that.

No new movie review from me this week, as we were sort of getting ready for WonderCon and I wouldn't have time to watch a feature. I did finish mine for The Lady Refuses. But there were two reviews this week on Trophy Unlocked. Wednesday was game day with Trevor's Second Look - Starlink: Battle for Atlas (+ DLC), The Saturday Morning Review was also Trevor's TMNT (2007).

The podcast this week was a look at the films that have been nominated for Best Animated Feature through the years. Paul and I don't always agree with the Oscars choice. You can listen to it here, watch it here for the next few days (though it's in three parts) and watch the complete version on our YouTube channel starting on Wednesday at 2:30 pm. The reason it's in three parts on Twitch, is that a malfunctioning Smoke detector went off twice during the podcast. I had to get on a stepladder and disconnect it.

Next week, more work on Blackmail, and it's newsletter week as well, so I've got my work cut out.

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

A Week in Writing #605 - New Powers Squared Release

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

This week, the next issue of Powers Squared comes out. It's been six months since we've put out an issue. It's not that the issue wasn't ready, it was that the follow up story arc wasn't. The original plan was to put the issue out last year, but when work on Issue #28 ground to a halt, we decided to move the issue to this spring. We have since replaced that artist and are moving forward to Issue #30, as production seems to be back on track.

Last seen in Powers Squared issue #18, "Mocha and Raven, Part 3," Billy O'Shea and Raven get their own issue with "Billy and Raven, A Powers Squared Story: Life on the Road." Billy uses his powers of strength and punctuality to good use as a truck driver. Raven, the Yatagarasu who granted him those powers, is by his side, as the two try to lay low and out of reach of Dr. Atlas. But life on the road can be dangerous. The issue drops on Wednesday the 25th and can be found in both print and digital through The Campua Store.

Because of the pending release, our podcast on Friday was OAPS #343 - Powers Squared Issue #27 Preview. Artist Julia Canon joined Trevor, Paul and myself to discuss the issue. You can still catch it on Twitch for the next few days, listen to it here, or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT to watch it on our YouTube channel. If you do check it out, please subscribe and ring the bell to be notified when new podcasts go up.

Well, I finally finished my first pencil edits on Blackmail. Still work to be done but it was good to go through it once. I'll have to start implementing my edits and rewrites starting next week.

Working on a new review, this one for The Lady Refuses (1931), a pre-code melodrama starring Betty Compson. As always, not sure when it will appear on Trophy Unlocked. In the meantime, there were three reviews up this week, two game reviews by Trevor, Star Fox Command on Tuesday, and Star Fox Zero + Star Fox Guard on Thursday. The Saturday Morning Review was Paul's for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.

This next week, we're attending WonderCon as professionals. Never heard back from them. I assume we're still on the wait list and that there will also be empty tables when we get there on Sunday. I'll include a report about that next week as well.

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

A Week in Writing #604 - Blackmail and Reviews

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

Like everyone, I've been adjusting to Daylight Savings Time, but I think the transition is almost over.

I've been spending my evenings, which is when I write, or try to, editing Blackmail. This is my favorite part of the writing experience, printing the book fifty pages or so at a time and sitting down with a pencil, reading the book aloud and making changes and notes. I still have several pages to go and after that more work to do.

But that's not all I've been doing this week.

On Friday, our podcast was about TFCon, the Transformers convention my sons were planning on attending. The podcast is still available to watch here for the next few days, available to listen to here and will be up on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared) on Wednesday at 2:30 pm. The boys also approached a couple of voice actors connected with Robots in Disguise who might be upcoming guests, so stay tuned. 

I finished reviews for both Blithe Spirit and Hypocrites (1915), a silent film by pioneering filmmaker Lois Weber. As always, not sure when it will go up. But there were plenty of reviews this past week on Trophy Unlocked. On Monday, was Paul's review of Hoppers. On Tuesday was Trevor's review of Star Fox 64 3D, followed on Thursday by his review of Star Fox: Assault. Saturday saw his review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.

There was a lot going on with Powers Squared this week. We're wrapping up Issue #29, getting ready to release issue #27 and about to start work on issue #30. We'll be talking about Issue 27, "Life on the Road, A Powers Squared Story."

My plan for next week is to work more on Blackmail and see where that leads me.

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

A Week in Writing #603 - Botching My Way Through

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

I'm embarassed to admit it but I botched the release of the previous OAPS video. We had, I would think, a good intereview with Jamal Anansi, a comic book writer we tabled next to at Pasadena Comic Con. The problem, for me, was getting it up on our YouTube channel. We normally post the previous Friday night podcast on the following Wednesday on YouTube, and I thought I had scheduled it. However, when I took a look after work, I noticed it wasn't there. Panicking, I tried to release it but it wouldn't let me, for some reason. Paul suggested I refresh the page, which I did and then I could schedule it. Today, when I was scheduling the next video and adding it to our web page, I noticed that for that video, it was pointing to the one before it and probably had for a week. I feel bad. I wrote an email to our guest but I never heard back. And, like many, I don't think he mentioned his appearance on any social media, either. I'm not sure if that's an issue with other podcasters out there, but a mention would help with views.

This past podcast, which I can assure you has been scheduled, was an update about Powers Squared. We haven't released a book in six months. That was a conscious decision, as we had a bit of an issue with our artist at the time and fell way behind schedule. I held back the last issue planned for last year until now, especially since we were releasing an issue a month of Trevor's The Blade of Miracles. The upcoming issue will be our 27th. It's a departure for us, as this is a potential spin off of two characters from previous issues. This time, for sure, you can watch it here for the next few days, listen to it here, or wait and watch it on our YouTube channel at 2:30pm on Wednesday.

My main goal this week was to work on editing Blackmail, which I had decided was done. So, on Monday night, I printed out the first 50 or so pages, or so I thought. My wonderful, and I'm saying that sarcastically, HP printer needed black ink, which I had. Oh, but then it needed yellow ink (or whatever color they call it), which I had. But no we're not done. It also needed red ink. I was out of red ink and since the local office places were closing in fifteen minutes, I was done, with only pages 38-52 or some such. I had to order ink for overnight delivery, which I did. But why does a printer need red ink to print black?

I'm only about 138 pages into the editing. Some because of the delay but also because I'm getting tired and brain dead early some nights. By about 10, I'm practically useless. Not all nights, but just enough to be a problem.

I did finish my review of That'll Be the Day and am currently working one for Blithe Spirits. As always don't know when either is going up. But Trophy Unlocked waits for no one and there have been several reviews this past week, staring with Trevor's review of Star Fox on Wednesday, his review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) on Friday, and then Paul's review of Mission: Impossible III as the Saturday Morning Review. Paul's review of Hoppers will go up tomorrow.

I believe my rewrites for the next Powers Squared story arc are complete and we'll be getting to work on that very, very soon.

My goals for this week, and I'm taking into account the time change which sort of f-s me up for a few days, is to work more on Blackmail and finish my review of Blithe Spirits. I hope the time change doesn't impact you negatively this week.

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

A Week in Writing #602 - But Who's Counting?

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

If you're a regular reader or only occassionally look at my posts, you might be wondering why the number is so much higher than say two weeks ago. Well, that's because, much to my chagrin, I noticed last Sunday, as I was posting, that I had made a mistake in numbering, having gone from 570-something to 550-something many weeks back. Looking back I see that I had skipped numbers twice before as well as misnumbered the last half year or so of posts. I decided not to go back to the 100s where the first skip happened and just renumbered the last 21 to bring in closer to the right number. My apologies, but no one else had caught it either (that's what comments are for).

Something that we haven't misnumbered is our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. For our 340th podcast, our guest this week was Jamal Anansi, a comic book writer who tabled next to us at Pasadena. He's the writer on a couple of books, both out soon through Studio Skye-Tiger Comics, Ebony and the Hall of Dragons, and Sincere American Nightmare. You can still watch this for a few more days on our twitch channel, listen to it here or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm to watch it on our YouTube channel. And while you're there, please subscribe and follow. To accomodate Jamal's schedule, we recorded on Tuesday night.

This week also saw the release of the final issue of  Trevor's The Blade of Miracles, issue #12 "Farewell Britton". This release did not go smoothly. We had a bit of an issue with the primary printer, which wasn't their fault, but it's still not available on their website just yet. Also, The Bark, which goes out to subscribers, got botched and went out way later than I would have wanted. Mailchimp apparently added another step in the sending process, which I must have overlooked.

Work continues on the next issue of Powers Squared with our artist turning in pages multiple times during the week. That in and of itself is great, but each page has to be reviewed and comments written up and sent, which is time-consuming but necessary.

I've also been working this week on rewrites on the next story arc, "Aroma Therapy". I actually went through a few rewrites this week, tweaking and editing. I'm sure there will be more editing before it's ready.

This was also newsletter week. I'm happy to report the latest Hound Dogs' Howl went out this morning. Again, it's not a hard project, just time consuming. You're invited to join the mailing list, which is "enrolling" at San Romero Community College. It's FREE and there are no further obligations. It's different content than these posts. The school is "celebrating" it's 70th anniversary this year, having been founded in 1956. (It's a make believe school, but it's where some of the action takes place in the Powers Squared books.)

The Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked was Paul's review of Mission: Impossible 2. I'm working on a review of That'll Be the Day (1973). Rather than cleansing the DVR, this was from a blu-ray. As always, not sure when this review will appear on the site.

All this mentioning of time-consuming projects is my way of telling you I didn't work on Blackmail at all this week. Not for a lack of desire, but rather the lack of hours in the day. I'm close to finishing and then, of course, there are rewrites and editing to follow. Finishing it will be my project for the week.

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

A Week in Writing #601 - Happy the Week is Over

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

You ever have what seems like a busy week but when it's over, you're not sure if you accomplished much?

Case in point for me. I believe I mentioned in a past post that I was having communication problems with our printer. I could go on their message board and leave a message but then never see it. Well, they cleared that up but never told me, so it was by chance that I looked this weekend. I found out the details why the last iteration of The Blade of Miracles #12 had been off, and I made the corrections. However, when I went to order the reprint, I somehow got Issue #3 with changes and then Issue #12 without changes. I don't need a new #3 and it was #12 I needed to change. I wrote them and sent a link to the revised one in a dropbox. Fingers crossed it will work out.

That said, Issue #12 is coming out on Wednesday through The Campus Store. We prerecorded a preview of the issue, as well as a tier list for Daft Punk, a band Trevor like very much, who retired five years ago this month. Paul did some pretty good editing and it's available here for the next few days, can be listened to here and will be on our YouTube channel on Wedneday at 2:30 pm PST.

We're getting close to completing the artwork for Issue #29 of Powers Squared, though it's going a little slower than I would have expected. We're about three pages and a cover away.

Sort of unexpectantly, my review of the first Mission:Impossible movie went up as the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. It's not like I didn't know it was going up, but we've decided to publish reviews for the first three films in that series and now was as good a time as any. I'm currently working on a review for Brief Encounter (1945).

I did get some work done on Blackmail. We're now up to 86,409 words and I think I'm in the landing zone for finishing the first draft. It's going to need work, but I'd be happy to get to the editing stage.

That may take a backseat to some rewrites I need to do to a Powers Squared script and this is going to be newsletter week and we're pre-recording a podcast on Tuesday night for Friday. Hopefully, I'll get through that week, too.

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

A Week in Writing #600 - Not My Best Week

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

Not a banner week for me to say the least. And there are a number of factors involved, but I was never able this week to really sit down and write, like I wanted to. I won't go into specifics, but everything aligned this week to keep me from doing too much. My main goal was to work on Blackmail, but the word count changed miniscully to 82,690, which is less than a 100 words up from last week. I've done a lot of thinking about it but that doesn't get words on the page or in the computer.

We had better success with our guest on our podcast On the Air with Powers Squared. Heidi Neunhoffer, a Lorcana artist that the boys liked, was at Pasadena Comic Con, at the table across from us. She agreed to do the show and I think it went very well. Turns out we both went to the same college, though I imagine it was close to 40 years apart. Besides that, she was very open about her craft. I think it could have gone on much longer, but I think we got in a lot at over 81 minutes. You can still watch it for the next few days here (our twitch channel) or listen to it ,or find other platforms to listen to it, here. There is always the option to watch in our YouTube channel at 2:30 pm PST on Wednesday.

Two new pages of Powers Squared were worked on and I really like the artwork. Not sure how the coloring or the lettering is going, but we should have a new issue done in a couple of months. Not quite the assembly line, but pretty good.

No word yet on either WonderCon or ComicCon where we are currently on the waitlist.

Had some printing issues this week, trying to communicate. The printer used a sort of message board where you ask about a particular order or issues in general. However, for whatever reason, if I post a message, I can't see it and when they post a message, I can't see it either. That's not good to say the least.

My review of Little Amélie or the Character of Rain went up on Saturday. It's one of the films nominated for Best Animated Feature. While I fear what the Academy will do, this one should win, but I'm set for disappointment. I'm currently working on a review for Till The End of Time (1946), which will go up sometime in the future.

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

A Week in Writing #599 - Blame it on the Bunny!

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

I know it looks like I'm looking for excuses, but hear me out. I'm going to blame my lack of production on Bugs Bunny. I know it sounds far-fetched, but he was the Star of the Month on TCM and my wife wanted to watch them in real time. This delayed dinner, but my window to work didn't get later. And, hey, I enjoyed them, too.

I'm most disappointed by my work on Blackmail, which was practically nil. I did finish the chapter, but it's going to need a lot of rewrites when the time comes. I'm up to 82,586, which is a little over 1,100 words from last week, which is about average. I'm really surprised to see that total.

It wasn't that I didn't do anything. I did review work from our artist and colorist for Powers Squared, and, of course, pay them for their work from last month.

As "publisher" of The Blade of Miracles, I had a week-long running issue with our printer. While it dates back to a mistake I made in the order, it took a week to work out the upload, but they got it done and the proof is on its way.

I also did some work on future issues of Powers Squared.

Related, the school where it takes place, San Romero Community College, is celebrating it's 70th anniversary and we were working with a former artist on the book to come up with a variant seal to celebrate. You can find here, if you're interested.

There was also the podcast. This week it was one Paul wanted to do, a Megadeth Tier List, celebrating the 17 albums the band has issued. You can watch it here for the next few days, listen to it now here or wait and watch it on Wednesday at 2:30 pm when it premieres on our YouTube channel.

My review of They Call it Sin was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. I also wrote a future review of Little Amélie or the Character of Rain which I assume will go up soon.

So, not the worst week I've had writing but not the best one either.

As always, I hope to work more on Blackmail but I don't always control what is going on.

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

A Week in Writing #598 - Didn't Get it All Done

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

My goals for this week were simple enough: do the newsletter, The Hound Dog's Howl, and work more on Blackmail. Well, I got about half of that done, it was the newsletter. Even though much of it is formulaic, it still takes time. And by formulaic, I don't mean that I'm in possession of some magic formula about how to put together a newsletter, but more that there is a layout to ours that I follow month in and month out. There is some writing involved, things do happen during the month. This past month, as an example, we had a new issue of The Blade of Miracles released, we tabled at a convention and our latest trade went up on ComicsPlus through LibraryPass. If you would like to read it, please subscribe here. It's FREE.

The work on Blackmail never really got off the ground. I'm up to 80,472 words, which isn't much of an improvement from last week. Things happen that get in the way. Some of it is the book itself. I knoew what I want to have happen in the next chapter but sometimes it's a little difficult to get into it.

Our podcast this week, was our 22nd Comic Book Club. It seems like it had been months since I had read Vagabond, a manga by Takehiko Inoue, which wasn't the plan. When you're trying to schedule five people in two cities, and people have their own lives, it can be hard, especially when you're working around the holidays. Our former artist Rachel Wells, and our current colorist, Julia Canon, joined Trevor, Paul and myself. You can listen to it here, watch it for the next few days on our twitch channel, or wait until Wedmesday at 2:30 pm PST and watch it on our YouTube channel. While you're there, please feel free to subscribe and sign up for notifications.

Quite an active week on Trophy Unlocked. On Wednesday, Paul's review of Iron Lung went up. He and Trevor had attended what was supposed to be the first screening of the film on Tuesday night. The Saturday Morning Review was my review of Samaritan, a digital release based on the comic book by a friend of a friend. We had watched it after Lewis Felton had appeared on our podcast and talked about how his business partner had written a spec script that didn't sell, but when he made it into a comic book, that sold. If you want to hear more, you can check out the interview with Lewis Fenton here.

I've also written a review of The Beast of the City, a 1932 MGM film starring Walter Huston and Jean Harlow. As always, no idea when it will appear.

This past Wednesday saw the release of issue 11 of Trevor's The Blade of Miracles. You can find it in both physical and digital at The Campus Store on our website. I'm still working on getting #12 ready for release later this month.

On the Powers Squared front, I feel like I'm in a waiting pattern. Our new artist should be delivering a new page soon, our colorist should be sending new colored pages soon and I'm working with our old artist about a new seal to celebrate SRCC's 70th anniversary. San Romero Community College is the ficticious school where a lot of the comic book takes place in and around. Amd according to the story, it was founded in 1956. I'll be sharing the new seal when done.

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

A Week in Writing #597 - Report From the Front: A One Day Con

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

We're a little late this week, thanks to tabling at the Pasadena Comic Con. While the con was over by 5, I was too brain dead to write this post, by the time we got home.

Having tabled at SDCC, Pasadena Comic Con is a few steps down the ladder from that. You can tell it's run on a shoe string. The room we ended up in reminded me a little of WonderCon, as it seemed to be off the beaten path, but also it was very low light. And our table, though near the entrance, was also a bit off the path of most visitors. But you can't blame everything on placement. However, we did hear that it was slow for many, sales wise, and very slow for us, only two copies of Trevor's The Blade of Miracles. 

The con was a learning expreience though. Here's what I learned:

    The day started before 6 am with loading the truck in the dark. Learned it would be better to do that the day before. Still managed to get most everything in the bed, but no need to wait. I'm also considering a shell for the back that would increase the storage vertically as well.

    Too many issues on display. So far, with Powers Squared and The Blade of Miracles, we have 38 issues and 2 trades, which frankly is overwhelming and requires two display racks. In future, we're going to have just trades and the first issues out, with the others ready to go. We're also thinking about having something to show the story arcs out without it being the issues themselves.

    Offer free things. We have Starbursts, but our table neighbor had stickers, and they weren't even related to his book. However, it got people to stop and take them, start a conversation and he made sales. I'm liking the idea of stickers, but also bookmarks.

    Have a QR code on the table. Again, it worked for our neighbor. People didn't even seem to ask what it was, but accessed it instinctively.

Besides making new friends, it was nice to reconnect with familiar faces, who were at the Con. Former guests on the podcast include Tony Fleecs, Livio Ramondelli, Stephen E. Gordon and Bin Lee. We also reconnected with the first artist we had tried to work with on Powers Squared, who was also tabling a couple of rows over. While we never got off the ground with them, it was nice to reconnect.

While the Con sort of dominated the weekend, other things also moved forward. There were three reviews on Trophy Unlocked, Paul reviewed the Megadeth: Behind the Mask listening party on Friday, Trevor's review of Anvil! The Story of Anvil on Saturday, and Paul's review of Return to Silent Hill. Meanwhile, I completed a review of The House on Telegraph Hill for later consumption.

I also managed to work some more on Blackmail, mostly some edits further back in the story, currently a flashback that gets told. So now, the word count is 80,025, and I still have a few chapters to go.

In the meantime, work continues on new pages for Powers Squared. 

And let's not forget, the podcast. This week's was a very brief preview of issue #11 of Trevor's The Blade of Miracles, which comes out on Wednesday and will be available in digital and print through The Campus Store on our website. You can still watch it for a few days here, listen to it here or wait and watch it on our YouTube channel here Wedensday after 2:30 PST.

This coming week, I need to work again on our newsletter,The Hound Dogs' Howl, and hopefully make more progress on Blackmail.

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

A Week in Writing #596 - Getting Ready for Pasadena

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

The getting ready for Pasadena refers to the Pasadena Comic Con, which we signed up for last year basically on the auggestion of someone we ran into at LightBox. Coincidentally, it is happening in the same place, the Pasadena Convention Center. Now, this is a small one day con, but you still want to be ready for it.

It is small, compared to SDCC or WonderCon. As an example, we don't know where we'll be tabling and won't know until the day of. It's sort of a "come find us" in a sea of Artist Alley tables, which is a disadvantage. And the social media images they've provided are for last year's con, which I guess happened in May.

I tried to come up with some sort of image for our social media. My initial image was something like this:

which I thought was pretty good for a writer, but could be better. I asked Trevor to take a go at it and he came up with:

which is a big improvement. So, if you're going, find us and say hi.

As part of the prep, we spent Saturday afternoon sort of setting up the table. It's good practice to know where everything goes, especially considering we'll be doing the actual setup early Sunday morning and most likely sleep deprived.

I also spent part of today applying for and receiving a resale license; got to pay the tax man.

There has also been progress on the next issue of Powers Squared. Our artist is turning in a page almost once every other day or so. And as good as that is, it takes time to review and give comments, but she's doing really great work.

One of the fun things about doing a podcast is when a guest interview doesn't pan out, you still have to come up with something to discuss. Paul and I decided to do one about GameStop. OAPS #334 - The Fall of GameStop (A Gamer's Perspective) was the result. You can watch it on twitch for the next few days, listen to it here (or the other platforms listed there as well), or wait and watch it on our YouTube channel on Wednesday after 2:30 pm PST.

My review of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, as promised, was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. Having watched that last week prompted Trevor to want to watch the documentary about Anvil, which he has also reviewed. I'm currently working on a review for Alias Boston Blackie, a leftover Christmas drive-by movie, as part of the drain the DVR.

I managed to get some work in on Blackmail. We're nearing the 80,000 word threshold and are up to 78.525 words.

No queries yet. I haven't had the time to rework a query letter.

Since we're tabling next Sunday, this little missive might be late, either Sunday or Monday. So thanks, in advance, for understanding.

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

A Week in Writing #595 - AI Was the Topic

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

With the prominence of AI in pratically everything, Paul and I spent our podcast discussing for the second time, "AI in Media (Part 2)". We're not experts, but it is something as creators we feel very strongly about. We've talked about it before on our 199th episode "Discussing A.I. in Media", which you're free to watch as well. The new podcast can be listened to here, watched for the next week here or watched on our YouTube channel after 2:30 pm on Wednesday. If you have opinions about AI, we would love to hear them.

We were planning on discussing it with our new artist on the next podcast, which we were planning to record on Saturday to fit her schedule. But things didn't work out as planned and after an hour of waiting, and still in contact, we called it. We'll have to reschedule, but it probably won't be any time this month. Maybe next. It's hard to coordinate a time that is good for everyone.

There are new pages coming in for the new issue of Powers Squared, and our colorist, for the first time in months, has something to work on, so all is good and moving forward.

Speaking of moving forward, my review of One Battle After Another went up on Trophy Unlocked as our Saturday Morning Review. This honestly wasn't a movie I really wanted to see, but seeing as it's awards season and this is being nominated, we decided to watch and review. I also wrote a review for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which should go up next Saturday. I tried to watch The Second Woman to review it, but it was a no-go for me.

I did rework the beginning of Blackmail, and made more updates. I think it works better. I'm up to 77,725 words for those who are counting along with me, about 1700 more than last week. My goal is at least 80,000 words, so I'm feeling more confident on reaching that, I feel like I've got 4 or 5 more chapters to go and then my favorite part, editing. After that, I've got another one to work on, a currently untitled story that I was bout 20,000 words into before switching to Blackmail.

I'm still planning on starting up querying again, but I have to work on a better letter, since the last one went nowhere. I've also come up with a better comps for the book, so I'm hopeful, but you've got to be.

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

A Week in Writing #594 - Happy New Year 2026

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

Well, the new year is upon us now. I'm sort of beyond the age to make new year's resolutions. We all want to be healthier and to keep working on what we love. So, while not resolutions, the goals remain the same.

Paul and I talked about goals on our recent podcast, OAPS #332- Powers Squared 2026 Preview. Even though it says Powers Squared, we also talked about The Blade of Miracles and, of course, the podcast. You can still catch it on our twitch channel for the next week, listen to it here or wait and watch it on our our YouTube channel on Wednesday at 2:30 pm. Still trying to work out a time to have our new artist on the podcast, but the time difference makes that tricky.

On the subject of Powers Squared, this was newsletter week, which went out this morning. Of course, I'd like you to sign up for The Hound Dogs' Howl, which is free, of course. You can sign up here.

My review of Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. Prior to that, each of the reviewers on Trophy Unlocked wrote their highlights/disappointments from 2025. You can read Paul's here, Trevor's here and mine here. I also wrote a review for One Battle After Another, which I presume will show up sooner than later.

I made some progress on my own Blackmail, but not as much as I had hoped for. I'm up to just over 76,000 words as of now, which is about 2800 more than last week, but I would have hoped for more, but there were other things to work on. I did have an idea about rewriting the opening of the book, which is more of a moving the first two chapters around and getting to the action sooner.

I watched a seminar on agents and query letters to prepare myself for getting back into the hunt on those. It's depressing to be ghosted, but that's the way it is, I guess but you've got to play the game.

Well, it's back to work this week, but I still want to keep working on Blackmail and hopefully review more new pages for Powers Squared.

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