A Week in Writing #627 - 25th Comic Book Club

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing. Since it's August, hopefully you're also staying cool.

We had our 25th Comic Book Club meeting this past Friday with artists Julia Canon and Rachel Wells joining us to discuss Paul's selection, Maid to Skate, a manga by Suzushiro. It's always fun to listen to what others say about the works we choose. While it's a comic book club, most of the selections have been of the manga variety, which I think has more to do with the ages of all but one of the participants. I do learn alot, since oftentimes their references are new to me. As always,  you're invited to watch it for the next few days on our twitch channel, listen to it on various platforms, found here, or wait to watch it on our YouTube channel on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT. Rachel picked the next book, Dogs on Dates, a graphic novel by Luke Healy if you want to read ahead or join us for the next one.

Wednesday is also the day we're releasing the 28th issue of Powers Squared, "Agnes: Wreckage, Part 1." Powers Squared, for those of you who have missed out, tells the story of Marty and Eli, college-aged identical twins who discover that they were granted super powers by a magical kitsune when they were young. In this issue, while trying to assist with his research, the Marty and Eli Powers’ former science instructor Agnes Miller, accidentally took an overdose of the Viribus compound, a chemical blend found in the blood of people with superpowers. As a result, she now has powers that she can’t control and neither can Dr. Atlas. With nowhere to turn, he comes to beg Marty, Eli and Mocha for help. But will they answer the call? It should be available in print and digital through The Campus Store on our website.

I have yet to start a review of A Girl in Every Port (1952), but my review of Dr. Who and The Daleks (1965) was the Saturday morning review on Trophy Unlocked. This all comes from our recent obessession with all things Doctor Who. We literally just finished the Tenth Doctor's (David Tennant) run. We're taking a break, but there's more to come with the Ninth Doctor, the Eleventh Doctor, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures in the queue.

It's sort of the finale specials of the Tenth Doctor that I'm blaming for not finishing the go through of Blackmail that I've been doing. Some nights, if dinner is late and the show runs over an hour, I get less than two hours a night to work on things. I am enjoying the go through, as I'm finding a lot of little things that need changing. I'm currently at 369 of 408 pages and the word count is up slightly to 90,174. As always, the goal is to get through it this week, but don't hold me to it.

So, I've got a review to start and finish, a new issue coming out, and hopefully, two OAPS podcasts to record this week (details after they happen) and the work on Blackmail to keep me busy next week.

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 #576 - 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 #574 - 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 #522 - Personal Changes and Fighting the Tired

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

I don't want to get into it right now, but things are changing that may lead to changes in finances. and I I'm talking, of course, about Powers Squared. I've been financing it and after a while, that will probably have to stop. I'm hoping we can do a Kickstarter next year and raise some capital to continue when the self-financing pool gets shallow. More details forthcoming but that's all I'm going to say about it now.

On the subject of Powers Squared, we had our 15th Comic Book Club meeting on Friday. Julia Canon and Jen Moreno joined Paul, Trevor and I to discuss Marvel’s Secret Reverse by Kazuki Takahashi, the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! There was a 4-to-1 on recommending the book, but you'll have to listen to or watch the podcast to find out the split.

Still doing some prep work for L.A. Comic-Con, which is now less than two months away. The books I've ordered have arrived, as has a display rack for the books. There are still odds and ends we need to purchase, but the list is getting shorter. Today, as an example, we ordered a cloth to go over the table if and when we're away. I will, of course, publicize the location when I know it, and that might not be until after September 1st.

And I still don't know the date and place of the panel, Under the Radar, but I will, of course, publicize that as soon as I know.

A surprise Saturday Morning Review for me, my review of You've Got Mail was selected. We had originally thought about it as a possible drive-by Christmas movie, but it's really too drive-by to really count for that.

I did finish my review of Daughter of Shanghai and have begun, barely, one for Lady Be Good (1941). Again, not sure when either will appear.

I worked for three days on Skylar this week, and while I made a change in the storyline, my three days of work amounted to about a 1000 pages total. I'm trying to power through being tired to work on it, but sometimes the tired wins.

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

A Week in Writing #501 - There's Always a First Time for Everything

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

My writing this week took a twist I hadn't expected. Since our artist on Powers Squared, Julia Canon, was finishing up her work on issue #26, The Great Escape, I sent her the script for the next issue. As a change of pace, this one is more Powers Squared related than about the actual story. In issue #1, we introduced Billy O'Shea, a young boy whom like Marty and Eli, had super powers granted to him by a yokai. Billy came back in issues 16-18, Mocha and Raven, Parts 1-3, accompanied by Raven, the Yatagarasu who granted him the powers for his good deeds and turned protector when Dr. Atlas threatened him. We established in that story that Billy and Raven make a living as a long haul trucker utilizing Billy's powers of super strength and punctuality.

Well, there were things in the script that Julia questioned and after conversing with Paul and myself during the week, it was decided a rewrite was in order, so there goes Thursday night. With the rewrites and editing complete, a new version is ready. If this new storyline turns out to be a go, and we make more, Trevor has also come up with some story ideas that we might use in future.

A comic book is a collaborative process, at least for us who do not draw. We've gotten used to changes being made when the words on the page get turned into images. Rachel Wells, our previous artist, would occasionally move and/or combine panels when she thought it was necessary for the story. Usually, we went along with her suggestions. However, this is the first time we've rewritten a script, like this, for the artist.

Speaking of comic books, we had our 13th Comic Book Club session on Friday's On the Air with Powers Squared. Along with Rachel, Julia, Trevor and Jen Moreno, we discussed The Apothecary Diaries manga written by Itsuki Nanao and illustrated by Nekokurage. Afterward, a tribute to Akira Toriyama, the creator behind Dragon Ball. You can listen here or watch it here on Wednesday afternoon after 2:30 pm PT. Our next book will be Pompo the Cinephile, a Japanese manga by Shogo Sugitani. Read along and join us when we discuss. That session hasn't yet been scheduled, but I'll let you know when here. If you do plan to be a part of it, please have your three favorite films ready as well.

On the subject of the movies, on Saturday afternoon, we watched Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and I wrote the review, which will appear next Saturday morning on Trophy Unlocked. It's been a busy week on the blog. God of War month continued with Trevor's Second Look - God of War: Ghost of Sparta on Tuesday, and his Second Look - God of War (WildStorm/DC Comic) on Thursday, with more to come next week. The Saturday Morning Review this week was Paul's take on Kung Fu Panda 4.

A lot of my writing this week has been Powers Squared related. In addition to the rewrites, there was  work on the newsletter, which will go out the first Sunday in April. I think, with the exception of some last minute updates, it should be ready to go.

I did manage to do some work on Skylar, but most of it has been rewrites rather than new pages. 

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

A Week in Writing #422 - Working During the Game

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

Another Sunday, and time to recount the past week.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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