A Week in Writing #557 - Never too Late

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

Just to show that it's never too late to hear back from an agent, I received an email on Monday, September 8, for a query I sent on May 8, and which I wrote off as DNR on July 8. But that doesn't mean the agent was done with me. It should come as no surprise that it wasn't a request for more pages or even a personalized rejection. Just a form response:

"Thank you so much for giving me a chance to consider your work. Unfortunately, I don’t believe I’m the right person to represent it effectively. Publishing is such a subjective industry; so, please don’t be discouraged. I wish you the absolute best of luck finding an agent who can represent your work with the enthusiasm it deserves."

Not necessarily worth waiting for, but it does show some agents do respond, it's just not in a timely manner.

No queries this week, again. I'm hoping to learn some things soon and will get back into the query game after that.

I did work some on Blackmail this week, though I'm rewriting the newest chapter I'd written, and I've added a few things in what I had already written. One of the things I like about writing is seeing something current and make it relate to what I'm writing. I came across such a story this week, and while I won't name names, it involved two atheletes, from different sports, who had a relationship. It was some of the things the woman said about the man fit in with my book, so I made a point of using the spirit of how she described it, though I made sure not to quote her. So, the word count is now over 56,000, but I am making progress.

Had a little issue with the next issue of Powers Squared. We got back a proof and there was dialogue credited to the wrong character, an easy fix, and why you get proofs, but I wasn't sure if I should delay the issue by a month. I changed my mind this week and it may not be available everywhere on the first day, but that's life.

So, there'll be two issues coming out on the 24th: Issue #7 of The Blade of Miracles and #26 of Powers Squared. I had intended to release four issues of Powers Squared this year, but production issues with #29 have me rethinking that.

Trophy Unlocked hit 1700 reviews this week, with Trevor's review of Look Back having the honors. On Wednesday, Paul put up a review of ENA: Dream BBQ Chapter 1 - Lonely Door. Saturday night was upheaved this week because Paul was judging at a Yu-Gi-Oh! Regional, but we went to see a 60th anniversary showing of The Sound of Music today, and I'll probably be the one reviewing it.

Speaking of Paul's judging, our Friday podcast was about his previous experience with doing that at a previous Regional. I know I learned a few things during the show. You can listen to it here, watch it  on our twitch channel for a few more days, or watch it on our You Tube channel (@powerssquared) here Wednesday after 2:30 pm PDT.

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

A Week in Writing #556 - And now Football

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

I am not the type of guy that watches college and pro football from Saturday morning until Monday night, but I do find the three hours a week I spend watching games can seem like a real waste of time, especially if the team loses and I've done nothing else while watching. By the way, I follow only one team, the Dallas Cowboys, which is where I'm from, and that's about it. I'll watch the Super Bowl, but  I'm not watching every other game and on weekends when they're not playing, I think of as a gold mine of time.

So, that's a way of saying I didn't send a query out on Thursday because the team was playing, and losing. I can do things while I'm watching the game, like work on the newsletter, but I don't think it would be a good result to work on a query letter part-time. I know I said I'd start sending them again after Labor Day, but I didn't this week.

Speaking of the newsletter, that went out this morning. Again, I would encourage you to sign up for it. If you're thinking it's the same as this blog, it isn't. We cover some of the same ground, but it is more focused on the SRCC Press universe than this is. You can sign up, its FREE, here. If you've ever been curious about this Powers Squared I keep writing about, you'll get a free digital issue for your trouble. End of plug.

I did work on Blackmail this week. That chapter I'd been wanting to write got written and I was able to sprinkle a few updates I had been thinking out. I find the drive to and from work provides a certain amount of time to think about the story, the only problem is I have to wait until the end of the day and after dinner before I can implement any of it. Somehow, in the hours in between, what seemed focused in the morning gets a little less so twelve or so hours later. The word count is now 54,419. I think I'm about 25,000 words short so far.

My review of Thunderbolts* was the Saturday morning review on Trophy Unlocked. I know you're thinking that came out in May and it did. And we just watched it recently on Disney+. In retrospect, it would probably have been worth watching in the theater but at the time, it wasn't considered so. I've also just finished a new review of Tight Spot, a 1955 film noir I've had on the DVR for years and finally watched. As always, no idea when it will appear on the blog.

The podcast this week was the three of us, Paul, Trevor and I, talking about the Fourth Doctor (Dr. Who for the uninformed). Yes, I know it's over 50 years old, but we had been watching the Tom Baker years for a while and thought to talk about it while it was still fresh on our minds. We're still waiting for the BBC to release season two, but that's not until next year and we had a podcast on Friday. We're still reaching out a second time to creators we met at Comic-Con to appear and we have issues to discuss, so OAPS isn't going to turn into us discusccing old British Sci-Fi. You can watch it here now, and for a few more days, or here on Wednesday after 2:30 pm PDT, or listen anytime here. (And if you don't like our website, there are links to the other platforms where the podcast appears.)

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

A Week in Writing #555 - A Much Better Week

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

I feel like I'm finally getting back in the groove, so to speak. While I could have done better, I think I'm feeling good for the first time in about a month.

I'll start with Blackmail, which I usally end with. Previously, I had been waffling about getting started on the next chapter, which I can now report I've finished. Word count is now 52684, which is going in the right direction.

Our podcast was also about books, or rather our 20th Comic Book Club. Of the other members, outside of the Hankins family, only one attended, Rachel Wells. We discussed Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto. Rather than live, we had pre-recorded it a couple of weeks ago. You can listen to it here or watch it on Wednesday after 2:30 on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared). The next book, in case you want to read along, is Grommets, written by Rick Remender and Brian Posehn.

We also recorded a new taste test video on Saturday night and put it up this afternoon. Paul taste tests three unique Mountain Dew Flavors: Baja Blast (Taco Bell), Mango Rush (Little Caesars) and Purple Thunder (Circle K). You can find it here.

Wrote a new review this weekend for Thunderbolts*. It came out in May, but we waited until it was on Disney+ to watch it. I would imagine the review will be up sooner rather than later. My review of 3 Bad Men was the Saturday morning review on Trophy Unlocked.

I did some preliminary work on the newsletter this week, writing the twin profile piece, and some other odds and ends. That comes out next Sunday, so there is still time to sign up for it, which you can do here.

Our artist has contracted COVID, so I'm not sure what the status is for the next five pages. Our colorist has completed the first four pages of the issue, as well as the covers for the third trade.

We do have a new issue of Powers Squared coming out at the end of September, our 26th, "The Great Escape", as well as the 7th issue of The Blade of Miracles, "Vivienne". So another big month for SRCC Press.

So, hopefully more on Blackmail, finishing the newsletter and working on other projects (maybe even a new query) are on the horizon for next week.

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

A Week in Writing #554 - A Few Setbacks But Getting There

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

A few setbacks this week and it's really no one's fault but mine. Let's start with the query letter. Yeah, that's right no queries again this week. Partly it's because I was still messing around with the synopsis in the query letter. I'm trying to condense, what I think is a complicated plot, to as few paragraphs as I can, while still getting the main parts of the story across. It's still six paragraphs long, so I need to keep working on it. I've also decided that with summer coming to an end, I'm going to put off more queries until after Labor Day. It'll give some more time to work on the query.

The other setback has come with the pages of Powers Squared that I spent several hours reshaping. I decided on my own that I had set the margins too wide, so I'm going back and trying to amend them each slightly, about a quarter inch on all four sides. I know I'm putting off the query to the distributor but I want to put the best foot forward since I may only get one bite at the apple.

On the subject of Powers Squared, some progress but no new pages since the last batch last month.

Our podcast this week is a preview of Trevor's 6th issue of The Blade of Miracles, which is dropping on Wednesday, August 27. Due to delays, I'm not sure if the print option will be available when we want it to be, but I don't think it could be helped. We didn't even have a copy of the book when we did the podcast, which I think is the first time ever for On the Air With Powers Squared. You can listen to it here or watch it on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT here. The book will be availbable through The Campus Store on our website, where all the previous issues are available as well. (Yes, that's a hint)

Coming up soon is the next newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, but I believe I've got another weekend to go before that's due. We publish that the first Sunday in every month, so I have until the 6th of September, but I should probably start on that soon. But there will be a Bark heralding the new release.

My review of The Fantastic Four: First Steps was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. It's about a month old by now, but we've got to slot them in when we can, including going to the movies. Even though we had watched the other films, this version came out the weekend we were tabling at SDCC, so we had to put it off.

I also finished a review for Smart Blonde, the first in the Torchy Blane series from Warner Brothers from 1937. It was on TCM recently, so I recorded it. When I told a co-worker about our DVR he sort of looked at me like I was a dinosaur, but it's a usually reliable way to record movies, etc., that you're not going to see live. Draining it is another story, though.

And finally, Blackmail the current book I'm working on. I'm having a little trouble picking it back up again. It's not writer's block, but rather rethinking how I want to pick up on the story. I've started it a couple of times but end up back at zero before I get too far. I think though I know how to get it going again, so hopefully more to report next week.

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

A Week in Writing #553 - A Meh Week

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

I want to say I spent a good portion of the week working on issues #1-5. I was trying to prepare .pdfs for a submission, and all of the remastered issues looked bad, the margins were way too large. So, I went through the first five issues, re-sized each page and then moved around the various elements to try and make each issue more consistent with each other and to have less margins. I worked on this most nights and just finished with the .pdfs this afternoon. I know it sounds simple and for some issues went quickly for others not so much. But that's now behind and I can start working on the submission this week.

I'm also trying to work on our third trade, which I would like to have ready by Fall.

I know I said I would do a new query this week but I decided at the last minute to rewrite the query letter, taking yet another shot at it. I'm not saying this to be bragging, but there is almost too much going on in the book to easily condense. But I've got to try and hopefully catch an agent's eye. (I know, bad rhyme.) But I'll finish this week and retry.

This weekend, we did two podcasts. On Friday, we had David Petersen, the creator of Mouse Guard on, for the second time. He talked about his work on Magic: The Gathering cards and what's going on with Mouse Guard. As always, you can listen to "Magic and Mice", here or wait and watch it on our YouTube channel here on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT.

We also recorded a future podcast, our 20th Comic Book Club, Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto. I set to record on Saturday to make it more available to everyone, but only our former artist, Rachel Wells, made it on the podcast. I'm thinking that will go up soon.

As far as movie reviews, Trophy Unlocked's Saturday Morning Review was Trevor's review of Freakier Friday. I'm going to work on one for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which we watched this morning, and Trevor will be working on one for the anime of Look Back, which we watched on Saturday night.

Editing continues on Blackmail, and I'm only at 51,209 words. I'm almost done with editing what I've written and hope to move on to new chapters this week.

So, submission, queries and Blackmail are on this week's agenda. But plans can change, I'm afraid.

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

A Week in Writing #552 - Another Down Week

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

I seem to be racking up disappointing weeks here. I'm not sure what the issue is, but I'm pretty sure it's time, or lack thereof.

On the accomplishment-side of the equation, I did rewatch Brother Orchid and write the review. As always, I don't know when it will see the light of day. That doesn't mean things haven't been busy on Trophy Unlocked. My review of the new Superman movie went up on Wednesday. Saturday saw Trevor's review of Freaky Friday, and then today, his review of Bad Guys 2 went up. Soon, there will be his review of Freakier Friday, which we watched this morning. I also started working on one for The Gangster, another recording from the last Summer of Darkness on TCM.

We also discussed movies on our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. Paul and I reviewed the summer movies, or the few we wanted to talk about, as there were like 139 films that will have come out between the beginning of May and the end of August. There are several which we think are better to wait for streaming. You can listen to the podcast here, watch it for a couple of days here or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm to watch it here.

In the meantime, another video went up today on our YouTube channel, Paul's SDCC 2025 Vlog. After about 20 years of SDCC, we got to experience it from the other side of the table. Paul talks about how that went from his perspective. You can watch it now here.

One of the outgrowths of Comic-Con is that we might have found a distributor. However, I'm going through the .pdfs of our remastered first five issues and there are a lot of changes as far as placement that I need to go through. By that, I mean the margins, which for some reason are really off. I'm going back and trying to correct them before moving on with pursuing the distributor, as they want .pdfs. I've done one issue this afternoon and will keep working on that.

We also registered the next two issues of Powers Squared, #26 and 27, for copyright, so I have to update them as well before getting test printings done. It never seems to stop.

No queries again this week, as we spent some of that time inviting people we met at Comic-Con to be guests on the podcast. So far, the only one to come back to us is David Petersen, the creator of Mouse Guard. This would be his second time on the show. Stay tuned. We're also trying to line up a Comic Book Club session as well.

I did some work on Blackmail this week. Still editing. I'm not really happy with one chapter, so I'm going to work some more on it before moving on with the book. I'm a couple of hundred words south of 51,000 with 80,000 a minimum.

This week, I've got pages to realign, as well as a review to work on. I'm sort of promising to do a new query and to work more on Blackmail.

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

A Week in Writing #551 - Not a Banner Week

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

This was not a great week for me, writing-wise. I'm not sure if it was Comic-Con hangover or getting back to reality, but I didn't seem to have the stamina to get much done.

I spent most of the week working on The Hound Dogs' Howl newsletter, which seemed to be as much as I could muster.

I also added the 16 to 17 names who signed up at Comic-Con to our mailing list. I say 16 or 17 because one email address didn't work, no matter how we tried to enter it. (Sorry, Caitilin, if you're out there).

I guess I got too clever, because I thought to send a notice to the new members, thanking them for stopping by and telling them something about the newsletter, and explaining the "Hey Hound Dogs" salutation. I sent them all as a group on blindcopy and they all came back as undeliverable. The actual newsletter apparently went through, no bounces, so I'm not sure why the emails weren't delivered. I probably should have sent them individually, but I was trying to be efficient.

We also contacted most of the people we had talked to about possibly appearing on our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. No undeliverables, but no replies as of yet, though it was only yesterday that we sent them. Still have a couple to go.

Comic-Con was the subject of two videos that we put up on our YouTube channel. First, was Paul's SDCC 2025 Haul video, which you can watch here. And, surprise-surprise, Paul and I talked about it on our weekly podcast On the Air with Powers Squared. You can listen to it here, or watch it for the next few days at twitch.tv/powerssuared, or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT to watch it on our YouTube channel here.

I finished my review of Superman, and I believe it will go up mid-week. I'm sort of working on a review for Brother Orchard, but I'll admit I'm having to watch certain sections of the movie over as I sort of dozed in parts; I was tired, it was not the movie.

The Saturday Morning review this week on Trophy Unlocked was Paul's review of A Minecraft Movie. The Wednesday Game Day review was Trevor's review of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.

No new query this week, put it down to fatigue. I'm pretty sure there are bunch of DNRs, but that's for next week.

I'm still editing what I've already written on Blackmail; 50449 words, so far.

So, not a banner week for me with the promise to do better.

Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week.