A Week in Writing #544 - The Excitement of an Excel Spreadsheet

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

Now that I've finished the rewrites on Skylar, and I'm putting together a list of agents to query for Past Present, I still find myself tweaking. Has this ever happened to you: You're alone and you start to think about something you've written and suddenly an answer comes to you or a better way of saying something. Well that happened to me with Past Present. It was a bit of dialogue that I thought should be proached between characters. So, went back into the book and added it. It doesn't change anything as far as the story goes, but I think it fills a hole, so to speak. Something, as a reader, I'd want a character to ask another.

I'm also working on my new story idea, which so far doesn't have a name. I've been trying to be good and work on the query list, but there is only so much excitement you can have with an Excel spreadsheet, so I'm drawn to working on the story. I had one of those moments with this book that I wanted to capture and once I'm in it, I keep wanting to work on it. I know the premise and how I want the book to end, so it's just filling in all the rest.

This week's podcast was our January 2025 Team Meeting, minus one. Our current artist, Jen Moreno, couldn't make it for reasons I was never told, so we carried on as a quartet with Julia Canon, Trevor, Paul and myself. However, some months there isn't much going on, so this is a rather short podcast. You can listen to it here or wait and watch it on Wednesday after 2:30 here. The apt subtitle is "A Quick Update."

I'm trying to get serious about WonderCon, as it is screaming up in a little more than two months. The banner and table runner we ordered came in ahead of schedule and they look pretty good. Now, I need to worry about the number of books and order some of Trevor's book, The Blade of Miracles, so we have some for the Con. More on that as I know them.

My review of The Red Badge of Courage went up on Trophy Unlocked as the Saturday Morning Review. I also wrote a new review of Blackmail (1929), at least the sound version. This was on TCM recently, along with a special about the importance of the movie in shaping director Alfred Hitchcock's legacy. That special was sandwiched between the silent and sound versions of the film. I recorded both, but only had time for one, and chose the sound. I'd like to watch the silent version and update the review accordingly. But that's for another time.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but that is about all for me. Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week.

A Week in Writing #543 - LA's Burning

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing. I'm safe, if you're concerned.

This has been an apocalyptic week in SoCal, where I live. It started with 100 mph winds and then fires pretty much everywhere. In the beginning, we were only effected by the occasional drop in electricity. By that, I mean the lights would turn off for a few seconds, then come back on and then shut off again. Nothing bad happened, just every clock in the house had to be reset.

On Friday, we got a little concerned when the Palisades fire started to edge up the Santa Monica mountains and came close to coming over the ridge. We could see the glow of the flames from our street, but they were several miles away and thanks to the work of the first responders and numerous water drops, it never made it over.

We'll see what the next week brings, but I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be all-right. If you're in the L.A. area, I hope you come out of this unscathed and if the worst happens, remember that things can be replaced. I feel like I can have some empathy for the victims. When I was about three or so, the house I was living in burned to the ground and we lost pretty much everything. At the same time, I realize my experience as a child would be much different than adults would have. They're the ones who have to worry about all the important things.

In between the power outages, I did finally mange to complete my rewrite on Skylar. I can finally put that one to bed, at least for awhile. Before I pick up on the next story, I decided to get serious about querying. Since I had tried and failed to get a bite with Broken People, I decided to try another one. I sat down and started going through Past Present, which has been around for awhile, and one that I had tried to get representation for previously. But it's a good place to start in the overall story arc of the character, since subsequent books' event happen after this story.

So, since finishing Skylar, I've read and made some minor updates to Past Present. I'm now going through it looking for grammar mistakes, which will probably take awhile. After that, I want to write up a synopsis for it and then a query letter. After that, it's back to making lists and starting the process all over again.

For our podcast this week, we gave a brief update on the SoCal fires and then discussed upcoming films for 2025. Not every film, but ones we might have an interest in. You can listen to our #278 podcast here or wait and watch it on Wednesday afternoon here.

On the subject of Powers Squared, we can officially announce that we're going to WonderCon 2025. You can follow things on our Events page. I realized a couple of days ago that we're about two months out, so I got serious about ordering some new things for our booth, including a table runner and a new banner, one with the new logo on it. Next, it'll be ordering some books for the Con. Hope if you're coming to WonderCon, you'll look us up. Details to follow.

Given the week we've had, we chose An American Tragedy for the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. On Sunday, we posted Trevor's review of Flow. We watched it on Friday while being concerned we'd be caught up in the fire, so watching it under duress might not be the optimal viewing experience.

I'm currently working on a review of Penguin Pool Murder (1932). As always, no idea when it will publish.

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

A Week in Writing #542 - *(@-$%?!!!

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing. And hey, Happy New Year!

I've read elsewhere that somewhere between Christmas and New Years, you start to forget which day you're in. While that really didn't happen for me, I do think I enjoy post-Christmas as much as pre-Christmas. There are a lot of pressures that are off and you do things like go to movies, play board games, minature golf and even a puzzle.

I did have a less than fun experience this past week, when I became the victim of fraud. A check that I had sent to pay off my credit card bill was pulled out of the mailbox, scrubbed, the payee changed and the amount changed and cashed. Another check I sent to pay for a home improvement project was also apparently waylaided and apparently hasn't arrived and hasn't been cashed. So, now I'm deliquent on two payments. I tried to pay online, but they have to do test deposits, etc., so that's not a quick answer to my problem. Had to change bank accounts, but the money hasn't yet been returned to my account. More fun to come and I'm sure a hit to my credit rating. Enough about my personal life.

Looking ahead to 2025, Paul and I did a podcast about that for Powers Squared. OAPS #277 - Powers Squared 2025 Preview. We talk about the books that are coming out, including The Blade of Miracles (TBOM), and four issues of Powers Squared, as well as our attendance at WonderCon in March. You can listen to that now here, or watch it on Wednesday on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared) at 2:30 pm on Wednesday, here.

Our newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl went out today. I'd invite you, as I do once a month, to subscribe here. It's free and you get a free issue of Powers Squared as a reward. And the content is not the same as this post.

Progress made this week on the books, with the main line work done on the pencils for Issue 28, pages 9-16, and final cover art for Issue #27. 

Played the Copyright dance this weekend for the two complete issues of Powers Squared, #24 and 25, as well as 12 issues of TBOM.

Reviews don't take a holiday on Trophy Unlocked. The year ended on Tuesday with separate lists from Paul (EHeroFlareNeos), Trevor (Tetris_King) and myself (lionsroar). You'll notice a lot of the same films, since we see most of them together. I did a review of A Complete Unknown for News Year's Day. and my review of review of Mystery House went up as the Saturday Morning Review.

I also completed a couple of reviews, one for A Night at the Opera, which we watched on New Year's Eve, and The Lodger (1927), which we watched on Saturday night. Not sure when either will go up.

My goal was to finish the rewrite to Skylar by the end of the year. I'm about 40 pages short. Wasn't able to work on it as much as I wanted, but I also came to a point where I needed to write an additional chapter. I'm now just above 80,000 words, so that's good.

I want to finish the rewrites before going back to doing queries. I need to pick the book, have a synopsis ready and a letter, so there's even more work to be done to get there.

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

A Week in Writing #541 - The Christmas Week That Was

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing. Hope everyone has a Happy and safe New Year's Eve.

Things have sorted of slowed down this past week. There were a couple of big events this week, something called Christmas seemed to really dominated the week. A lot of fun, and, if you're curious, I got some music and books amongst other things. The day following Christmas is unofficially called Movie Day in my house, when we watch/rewatch movies. We still believe in physical media, so we end up watching discs we got, which are usually films we had seen previously in the year.

All that and I did get some writing done. To begin with, I worked on Skylar some, of course not as much as I might have liked. I have about 76 pages to go with this rewrite, so progress is being made.

Trophy Unlocked was busy with four reviews up this week. My review of Sin Takes a Holiday (1930), was the Saturday Morning Review. Before that on Christmas Day was Trevor's review of The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland (2024). On Christmas Eve, was my review of Red One. Coincidentally, both of these films were released on the same day. The week started off with Paul's review of Awaria.

I did write a new review this week for Larceny, Inc., but I wouldn't expect it to see the light of day until next Christmas at the earliest.

On Powers Squared, Trevor finished lettering issue #26, so we're only one issue behind schedule. Nothing to report on the other issues being worked on.

 

We did make a special announcement on this week's On the Air with Powers Squared podcast. Trevor's own book The Blade of Miracles is going to come out next year under the SRCC Press banner. There are still some logistics to be worked out but it was big news for the last podcast of the year. You can listen to it here, on our website, where you can also find other platforms, and, or watch it on New Year's Day when it premieres on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared) at 2:30 pm here.

I also worked some on the newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, which will be coming out next week. Never to late to sign up for it, just enroll at SRCC here. It's free and you get a digital copy of the first issue to boot.

A bit of sad news to report. Powers Squared had our first signing at our local comic bookstore, Galaxy of Comics. We just learned today that the proprietor of that store, Warren Jaycox, was killed in an accident yesterday. My condolences to his family and friends over their loss.

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

A Week in Writing #540 - 'Tis the Season

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

With the holidays fast approaching, it seems like time gets squeezed, and by that, I mean writing time, so don't expect too much from me this week, and/or next.

That doesn't mean nothing has been happening. There has, in fact, been a lot of activity on Trophy Unlocked. There has been a new review every day this week. The week started off with Paul's review of Perfect Blue, as part of our salute to Japanese director Satoshi Kon. That continued on Tuesday with Trevor's review of Millennium Actress. The Wednesday Game Day, with Paul's review of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Thursday saw Trevor's review of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, which we had seen the night before at the IPIC in Westwood. Friday was the penultimate film in our salute to Kon with      Trevor's review of Paprika. The Saturday Morning Review, was both the final film in the Kon salute and the last film in our 3 Godfathers Christmas with Tokyo Godfathers. And if that wasn't enough, today saw Paul's review of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which we saw on Friday afternoon.

I did manage to finish a review of Red One, which I can say will come out next week. It will be another busy week on the blog.

We received pages from both artists on Powers Squared. Julia submitted the cover for Issue 27, which was good, though we had some changes we wanted made. That issue will be a bit of a departure for us, and I won't get into it here, but we're still not sure how we're going to handle it, so we wanted the artwork to go to the edges.

We had a different issue with Issue #28. I'm not sure what happened, but somewhere two pages got confused and we ended up with a weird page break in the script. So, some minor clean up needed there. But the basics are solid.

Our podcast was our December 2024 Team Meeting. We went through the business part of the meeting pretty quickly. I hadn't planned anything, so I asked about favorite Christmas movies and music. You can hear everyone's choices here or wait an see them on Christmas day on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared) here.

And the week wouldn't be complete without working on Skylar. I did manage to go through a couple of chapters, but nothing too much. I'm going to try to keep working on it this week as well, but things will get busy; 'tis the season.

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

A Week in Writing #539 - Growing Pains

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

So, growing pains is the wrong expression, but moving into a new computer has its own issues. Mostly, it's how things work and where things are stored or aren't. We found out on Friday, for example, that some files on my old computer hadn't made it to the new one. That's why, for example, this week's audio podcast is missing the music we usually use. I remedied that today, I hope.

I've also lost some applications that I had been using, like Adobe Elements. I had managed to have a standalone version of the software, which I used for sizing pages, making peeks-of-the-weeks and thumbnails for the audio podcast. I at least knew what I was doing. Now I'm trying to find one that works similarly, but so far it's hit and miss. It took three of us to get the podcast thumbnail done for Friday.

I'm not sure if it's the new computer, but the camera kept glitching throughout the podcast. Not sure why, but it was sort of annoying. Our guest this week was Tony Fleecs, the creator behind Stray Dogs and Feral. It's available now on our Twitch channel https://www.twitch.tv/powerssquared/videos, but only for the next few days. It's also available in audio form. You can listen to it on our website or find the other platforms it's on at https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/oaps. Or, you can wait and watch it on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared) when it goes up on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PST. The direct link is https://youtu.be/yc3rBrNrxCU.

There was a lot of activity this week on Trophy Unlocked, including two of my reviews. Today saw Beatles '64 go up, my thoughts on the recent documentary on Disney+. The Saturday Morning Review was also mine, this time for 3 Godfathers (1948); this is a Three Godfather's Christmas on the blog. The Wednesday Game Day review was Paul's for Sonic Adventure played on the Dreamcast.

The holidays have already had a bit of an effect on my writing. This Christmas we have three Advent calendars, the usual chocolate a day, but we've added in one that's a Harry Potter puzzle every day and the other is EXIT: The Game - Advent Calendar - The Missing Hollywood Star, the latter we play as a family. It's fun, but depending on how late we eat and how hard the Exit clues are, it can get kind of late to really start much.

That said, I did manage to get through two reviews this week and keep up with my Skylar rewrites. But I find myself asleep sometimes at the keyboard.

No new review from me this week, as we made our annual Saturday night shopping trek to the mall. We actually are pretty far along with Christmas shopping and actually didn't buy anything, but we like to go once a year at this time to see what's what.

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

A Week in Writing #538 - A Bit of a Scare

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

Had a bit of a scare this weekend. We bought new laptops recently and I'm just starting to move into it, transferring files from the old to the new using something called The Tornado. It's a bit of a slow process, but that's not the scary part. I was transferring a folder called "My Writing" which contains all of the Powers Squared, Trophy Unlocked as well as the J.D. Barrister books I've been writing for years, and several other folders. Well, when the transfer was over, all that was transferred and all that was left under the My Writing folder, on both computers, was Powers Squared and Trophy Unlocked. Everything else seemed to have disappeared.

A bit of panic set in, as I had backed up most of my work onto a thumbdrive, but I would have lost the rewrites I had recently done and am currently doing with Skylar. I waited until the transfer was complete (hours) and was able to find all of My Writing in a backup file, which I put back in the folder. I then backed up a couple of files on a thumbdrive this morning before trying the transfer again.

Speaking of Skylar, I've been making pretty good progress on it, even adding what I'll call touches to chapters I've already rewritten, hopefully making it better. I'm trying to do at least a chapter a day. The computer set up is sort of interfering with that, but I should be back to it soon.

No new review this week, though I have at least one to write for They Call It Sin and, if we watch it, the new Beatles documentary. That said, Trophy Unlocked's Three Godfathers Christmas continued with my review of Three Godfathers (1936) as the Saturday Morning Review. The Wednesday Game Day review this week was Trevor's review of Doronko Wanko.

Our podcast this week was a look back at 2024. In addition to tabling at a "major" Con, we also put out two issues, a trade and had tributes to Transformers, TMNT and Usagi Yojimbo. We also had five book clubs and several well-received taste tests, courtesy of Paul, on our YouTube Channel. You can listen to the podcast here and/or wait and watch it on Wednesday at 2:30 PT here. If you do watch, we hope you'll subscribe to the channel as well.

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