A Week in Writing #469 - Rethinking the Queries

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

Sometimes it's best to stop doing the same old thing and try something new. I've finally come to that conclusion with my query letters for Broken People. I'm not sure what's not clicking but obviously, after so many query emails and nothing to show for it, I'm going back to the drawing board on it. I'm trying to rewrite how the story begins. Maybe those sample pages will work when the ones I've been sending haven't so far.

I began that quest on Thursday night, my usual night for sending a query letter. In the meantime, I'll consider sending out another story. I was close with Past Present, maybe I'll revive that query letter and send it out. Give me a little time on that one though. I've also got Skylar to finish and a new story to think about. Too much, too much.

A big week for us with our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. David Petersen, the creator of Mouse Guard, was our guest for a little over two hours. If that seems long, I think we could have gone another hour but I thought two hours was long enough, not only for any listener/viewers but also for us. He was a great interview, very open and funny. You can still catch it on twitch and the audio is available as well. On Wednesday, the video will premiere on YouTube.

Busy week for me with reviews. My Barbie review was the Saturday Morning review on Trophy Unlocked and my review of Oppenheimer was published today. Sorry, it took us a little time to get to Barbenheimer, but life is complicated. We wanted to see Oppenheimer in 70 mm IMAX, but the theater we went to, the TCL Chinese's 70 mm projector failed. I used to really like the Chinese theater, but the last two times have been disappointing. We got free tickets, rather than a refund, but I'm not sure I can count on them to come through. Not sure what happened to the theater, but it's a shell of what it used to be.

I'm also finishing up another review for the blog, Find the Blackmailer, a definite B-movie from 1943.

I've begun working on the rewrite of the pilot script after receiving notes. And I actually had an idea for the book, a story involving one of the boys' friends, Steve. We've sorted of hinted he has a secret and now it gets revealed and it isn't good.

On the subject of Powers Squared, I've been making some updates to the website following some advice from a fellow and more successful creator, Russell Nohelty, whom I talked with at Comic-Con and followed up with post show. He pointed out that it is not apparent how to get a sample of the book, so I'm adding buttons on pages pointing how to do that, as well as where to buy and our weekly peek-of-the-week feature, which, while on the webpage, is sort of hidden under the More tab on the homepage.

I'm always open to making things better.

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

A Week in Writing #443 - Release Dates Set

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

I don't want to bury the lead, so I'll get to it. Paul and I spent part of Friday applying for copyrights on four issues of Powers Squared, and then setting release dates for those four issues. We announced them on the Friday podcast but in case you're not up to listening, here they are:

Issues 16-18 make up the "Mocha and Raven" story arc which reintroduces Billy O'Shea who made a brief appearance in a flashback in Issue #1 (and yes, it was planned). You can catch a preview of issue 16, here. We're also introducing another yokai, a yatagarasu, Raven, whom Mocha has some history with. Her yatagarasu form is this week's peek-of-the-week. Issue 19, called "Kamaitachi", has Marty and Eli attacked on the college campus by three weasel-like yokai.

I finished three reviews this week for Trophy Unlocked: Bullets or Ballots; The Banshees of Inisherin; and The Lord of the Rings. Of those three, I think Banshees will probably appear first but no promises of when. I'm working currently on two others, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris and Dick Tracy. A note on the latter, this isn't Warren Beatty's version but rather an RKO film from 1945.

We're getting serious about the Academy Awards, which is why my review of Marcel the Shell With Shoes On was the Saturday Morning Review.

I did send a new query for Broken People and started to put together a new spreadsheet to start querying Past Present. I'm trying to make sure that I don't hit up the same agents I did with the original version of the story and ones that have not responded to Broken People.

In between the reviews, I did manage to get to some work on Skylar. Again, not as much as I should and, as always, I need to do more on it.

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

A Week in Writing # 429 - Darkness is Coming

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

Sorry about the apocalyptic-sounding headline, and I don't mean anything political by the way, but I wanted to talk about everyone's favorite topic at this time of year, Daylight Savings Time, or the end of it as the case may be.

Usually, this plays havoc with me. I have sleep issues as it is but the change in time can affect me for a week or so. A heads up, if in the coming week or so it doesn't sound like I'm doing much of anything, blame the time change.

I see we're getting back to normal readership levels, so I personally want to thank those of you that read me every week. For a few weeks there, instead of my usual 7-9, we were getting up into double digits. Not sure what caused that spike or what brought it back down to Earth but I will continue to produce this every week no matter the numbers. I do this as much for myself as anyone.

On to writing. More progress this week on fka Skylar (I'll have to come up with a better title at some point). We're up to 53,429 words, which is up from last week but not a sky-high number, I know. The point is progress is getting made and I believe I've worked out the endings of the two stories. More writing to come.

Another query this week for Broken People. One a week is all I can do, honestly, though I keep thinking maybe I should query another title as well. No responses so far, save for an automatic "we've received your query."

On the Powers Squared front, pages (9-16) from our artist, or actually thumbnails for pages. I hate to keep saying this but these are Rachel's last set of pages 9-16 that we'll be getting from her as she leaves us at the end of the year.

As far as the panel goes, no news this week. I know the time is 11 am on Sunday, Dec 4 but not the room. If you're going to LA Comic-Con, I hope you'll come by.

We inducted a guest into the Five-Timers Club at On the Air with Powers Squared. Lucas Scheffel, the Australian creator behind Angry Fred made his fifth appearance and earned himself a special t-shirt for his trouble. We always have a great time with him and you can catch the audio here and the video on YouTube on Wednesday here.

Today was newsletter day for Powers Squared, The Hound Dogs' Howl. It takes a while to put it all together, so in case you're interested, please enroll today at San Romero Community College.

I'm working on a review this week for Plymouth Adventure (1952). We were looking for something Thanksgiving-ish to review and I recorded it from TCM. I'm still working on that one.

Paul's review of Wendell & Wild was Trophy Unlocked's Saturday morning review. The Wednesday GameDay review was Paul's review of the video game The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. Monday's review was Trevor's review of The Nightmare Before Christmas. That review, for those of you keeping score at home, was the blog's 1400th review.

Does anyone have any thoughts about Twitter they want to share? I'm not sure it's worth $8 a month to tweet without being ghosted. How do you feel about that proposal? Any alternatives you'd recommend? I'm not looking for anything remotely political as that's not my purview, but we're looking for some backup plan in case Twitter gets too much trouble to deal with. I've been tweeting several times a day, but only about something going on with this blog, Powers Squared, or Trophy Unlocked.

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

A Week in Writing #428 - It's Official

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

Well, it's finally official, I know the day and time of the panel, just not the room. It's kind of exciting and scary at the same time. I've never been on a panel at a convention before, let alone moderated one. I think I'll do okay. Paul and I have been doing a podcast for several years, so I know what it's like talking and not knowing who, if anyone, is listening. I've ordered some copies of the first and the 15th issue to have with me. I also ordered new business cards for Powers Squared. I just want to be prepared in case there is a chance of a new reader coming out of this.

I also reserved my tickets for San Diego Comic-Con for next year. One of the advantages of doing a comic book is the Professional status that comes with it. I should check into a table or something when it's time for that convention.

Work continues on the books with our artist, colorist, and letterer all working on different issues. As I wrote earlier, we're losing our current artist at the end of the year and we're hoping our colorist will be able to step forward and take that over. We've all agreed to her doing a test with one page and the four main characters. I'm hoping she makes it. We discussed all this on Friday as part of our October 2022 Team Meeting OAPS podcast.

Jerry Lee Lewis died this past week, so in tribute, we watched High School Confidential (1958), the only Hollywood film I knew he was in. This was my review to write and based on the movie's theme of anti-drugs, this will probably be our next 4/20 review.

My review of Bride of Frankenstein (1935) was Trophy Unlocked's Saturday morning review. Part of the blog's celebration of horror films during the month of October. We were also celebrating Silent Hill Month, which Paul wrapped up with Silent Hill: Downpour on Monday; a review of the comic book Silent Hill Downpour: Anne's Story on Wednesday; and a second look at P.T. on Friday.

In other writing, more progress this week on fka Skylar. For anyone keeping track, I'm up to 51,694 words. Worked on it for a couple of days earlier in the week. I want to spend more time with it and hope to get it done sometime near the end of the year. I can hope, can't I?

One new query and two DNRs this week for Broken People, so I'm keeping pace though I still need to finish a full synopsis before I can send to certain agents.

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

A Week in Writing #427 - Dog Catches Car

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

After a couple of weeks of little time, I felt I had more writing time this week. I spent three nights working on fka Skylar getting more than 2000 words further into the book. Now I'm up to 49,996 words and to be honest I'm enjoying getting on with it.

Got some news while I was writing this. I had proposed a panel for Los Angeles Comic Con and they accepted it. It's about comic books that are under the radar, like Powers Squared. Now I sort of feel like the dog who caught the car; now what? It's sort of exciting and scary at the same time. I have until Tuesday to confirm and I think I have two other creators lined up. More here as I find it out. Wish me luck.

Switching things up, Powers Squared's latest issue got a good review, which I've been sharing pretty much everywhere I can, so I'm going to do it here as well. I will admit I'm not sure how to get more reviews but we've been lucky to get them from First Comics News'  Richard Vasseur, who has reviewed all 14 issues. For the most part, they've been positive but it is always nice to get some feedback. As a plug, the issue is available through our store.

Speaking of Powers Squared, our artist is working on the first 8 pages of her final book for us. We got pencils this week, the last set coming in last night. We still need to review and send any comments. We also have to decide on the test for our colorist to see if she can be the next artist. I am rooting for her.

Worked on but have not finished my review for Everything Everywhere All At Once, but I did write one for Bride of Frankenstein to complete our October tribute to Horror films.

It's still Silent Hill month on Tropy Unlocked and so there were three reviews this week related to that, all written by Paul: Silent Hill: Origins (Monday); Silent Hill: Homecoming (Wednesday); and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Friday). Saturday Morning's review was also Paul's for the 1984 short Frankenweenie.

For our Friday OAPS podcast, we (Paul) discussed the Silent Hill franchise, including games, movies and graphic novels. It goes up on YouTube on Wednesday. I think the visuals will be more compelling but if you want to listen to it, it's available now here.

I also sent out one new query for Broken People. It's one of those only if we're interested kind of agencies. This one wanted approx. the first 25 pages. I sent slightly more to complete the chapter.

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

A Week in Writing #423 - But It's My Birthday!

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

Yes, it is my birthday today just so we get that out of the way.

I know that I've complained here a lot about sending off queries and never hearing back. Well, I had the exact opposite of that this week with my rejection coming back within 8 hours. I sent my query for Broken People  at 10:38 pm on Thursday night and at 6:49 am, received the following:

Thank you, but this doesn't sound right for me.

I wish you the best,

I'm both impressed and disappointed but in record time. Not that I'm counting, but 8 hours and 11 minutes has to be some sort of record for rejection. Fortunately, it was only based on my standard query letter and not on the writing itself. My guess is there's a certain amount of churn going on. So, I'll say I am grateful to find out so soon.

If you were listening on Friday night, you no doubt know that we announced release dates for the next two issues of Powers Squared: October 19th for Issue #14, The Imposter Part 2; and December 7th for Issue #15 How They Met. Oh, what, you didn't listen? Well, now you know. Your patronage would be greatly appreciated. If you care to watch, we do an unboxing as well, it will be up on Wednesday at 2:30 pm on our YouTube channel.

Minor progress this week on pretty much everything. For some reason, schedules being what they are, I'm only getting about an hour to an hour and a half of writing time in. And I'm finding that I'm pretty useless by the end of them. I know sleep is important but it really interferes with getting things done. And the fun part is that no matter how tired I am while sitting at my computer, getting to sleep in a bed can take up to an hour.

I don't normally talk about what I'm reading but it's an interesting and entertaining history of Chateau Marmont, The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont by Shawn Levy. I've been aware of, but have never gone inside, the Chateau and, given the nightly rate of over $1300, I don't think I will be anytime soon. My fascination with the place started when I used it as a location in a book I've written, and which is still unpublished, Public and Private. At the time, I was just looking for a floorplan of one of the rooms to use. 

The Chateau came up again on The Offer, which we watched on Paramount+. Supposedly, Al Ruddy's wife was the owner. Even though the book was written in 2019, it dispelled that. Her former husband did own it but it appears he sold it before he married her. She's only a footnote in the book. When I saw the book at Barnes and Noble, finding that out was one of my reasons for wanting to read it.

Finished a review of Men Are Such Fools, a romantic comedy from 1938. The reason I wanted to watch it was for Humphrey Bogart, who is third-billed but really not a factor. I would suggest reading the review when it's published rather than watching the movie.

Batman Month concluded on Trophy Unlocked on Saturday with Trevor's review of The Batman vs. Dracula. The Wednesday Game Day review was Paul's for Hitman GO: Definitive Edition.

Final pages for Powers Squared Issue #22 are being worked on as you read this but that's about all there is to report on that.

And again, minimal progress on fka Skylar see above for my explanation.

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

A Week in Writing #419 - Burn it to the Ground

 

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

If you've been reading this blog, I mention from time to time about working on a pitch for turning Powers Squared into an animated series. And yes, we're still working on it. Had a sort of gut check on Friday with someone who is helping us. The verdict wasn't good.

We actually found out earlier in the week some of their opinions and as a result, some rather sleepless nights. They had seen something we had not in the story and gone down a rabbit hole that I believe shocked both Paul and me. We finally talked in a couple of Zoom sessions on Friday afternoon. To say the least, it was actually a good session. We're going to have to burn it down and start over. Some changes are going to have to be made and the stories, while similar, will be somewhat different between the comic book and the proposed TV series.

But that's a good thing. We didn't know what we were doing when we started Powers Squared and the person helping us knows what they're doing. Don't look for it anytime soon. With what's going on with Hollywood and streaming services, places to shop it may be thinning, but I'm of the opinion we need to have a good pitch and then worry about where we can sell it.

So, it's back to the drawing board on that.

On the subject of Powers Squared, and I know that topic comes up a lot, we had our monthly team meeting with our artist, colorist, and letterer. I usually enjoy getting everyone together and hearing what's going on with them. You can listen to it now if you want or wait until Wednesday to watch it.

Speaking of On the Air with Powers Squared, which we were, we're coming up on our third anniversary. We did our first show on August 30, 2019, back in the pre-times. I don't know what we're doing for next week but that's how it is more often than not.

Changing the subject, work continues on fka Skylar. Sometimes I don't get to it until late in my writing session but I do try to get to it every time. I believe I promised you a word count, which now is at 43,268 with more to come. I do feel like I'm finally on a flight path with the story.

For Broken People, one new query and no rejections, at least not in a form I would recognize as communication. I did DNR a couple that had reached their expiry. So, now I have 11 queries out there. I think I need to write a short synopsis, 1 to 2 pages, which I think would open up more possibilities for me.

I'm working on a new review for Trophy Unlocked, the recently DVR-ed The Easiest Way (1931). I've got it started but I was too tired last night to work on it very much. Just got to the downloading of photos and some research.

On the subject of Trophy Unlocked, the Saturday Morning Review was Paul's for 101 Dalmatians (1996). Wednesday's Game Day review was Trevor's for Destroy All Humans! (2020).

Another project I'm working on this week is The Hound Dogs' Howl newsletter which comes out next Sunday morning. Even though it's monthly, it's still more than I can do in one morning. I have a feature to write and updates to make after we've done our show on Friday. If you want to receive it, please enroll at SRCC today. It's free and there's no obligation to keep subscribing other than to make me feel better about myself.

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

A Week in Writing #417 - With Further Ado

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

Let's start off with Powers Squared, only because we received some press this week. I met Ed Catto at Comic-Con a few weeks ago and talked to him after the How to Get Press Coverage panel. The result was this story in his column, With Further Ado #210: More Actual Comics at SDCC – Powers Squared. If you read it you'll find more about us and see what we look like, so that should be tempting enough.

Other than that, sort of a light week with the comic book. Some updates from our colorist to some pages but no new art this week.

I do see why you do proofs. As I believe I've mentioned, I sent off a pdf to have a paperback version of the "graphic novel". After a long time, the book came back and we were shooting an unboxing video. Turns out one of the pages was very blurry. I was going to write the printer to complain when I looked at the pages I had sent them and, indeed, the tiff for that page was blurry. I still don't know how that happened. It's not like I hit the computer while I was putting together the pdf. So now, I'm retrying it again.

Haven't had much luck lately with attempts at unboxing videos. What we've opened has either had problems or wasn't what we were expecting.

We did have a guest, Brandon Starocci, on our Friday podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. Brandon is one of the co-creators of a new series called Avalon. Follow the link if you're interested in learning more about him and his work. The audio is available on our website and the video goes up on our YouTube channel on Wednesday.

On to the subject that usually gets short shrift, fka Skylar. I think I've mentioned here before that the character name has changed to Lillie but I don't have a title for the book, so it's still fka Skylar for the time being. I've been working on it more frequently of late, even some last night and today. I'm going back in and adding the second storyline into what I've written so far and making other changes as I go.

My main character, J.D. Barrister, is just reopening his office after the pandemic. He finds that he has a new neighbor who needs his help. Her name is Lillie, at least for now. I don't want to get into too much detail about her case but on top of that, his live-in girlfriend Leanne's father is coming for a visit post-pandemic and also wants to hire J.D. to help with a tontine dating back to World War II. Again, I don't want to get into the details but the two stories will cross and I'm hoping I can wrap them both up at about the same time. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

In other writing, I had my review of Sabotage appear on Trophy Unlocked as the Saturday Morning Review. We published a review of a Hitchcock film to coincide with the director's birthday that day. No Wednesday morning review this week. As promised, I did finish the two other reviews I was working on, The Devil and Miss Jones and Tomorrow is Another Day.

No new review this week, as instead of draining the DVR, this Saturday night, again in honor of Hitchcock, we watched the first episode of his TV Series, an episode called Revenge which he also directed. And then we watched a couple of episodes of Primal but that's not here nor there for this blog. I can say, though, that it is a learning experience for writing without dialogue.

One new query this week and no rejections to note. I'm coming up on a couple of dates wherein I should have heard back from the agent but until that date comes, I'm considering them still in review.

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

A Week in Writing #413 - Prepping for the Task Ahead

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

Coming up next week is SDCC 2022, or what is also known as Comic-Con. For those who have never been, the convention is a blur of activity with exclusives, panels, autographs, and announcements all seemingly overlapping to the point that you can never see it all, try as you might.

Around my house there is at least two weeks of prep, going through all the posts about what is coming to San Diego and trying to figure out who will go do what (panel, signing) while we're there. I want to mix professional learning with fun and networking, which in our house takes a series of spreadsheets and a planning session or two. Not to mention the nightly bleery-eyed meetings to plan the attack for the next day when we're there.

I wrote last week about my apprehensions with the new COVID variant but we're going anyway. If you want to think happy thoughts about us while we're there, please do. I have to think we'll come out of this clean or clear, after the app of the same name.

If you're going, I'll be the one wearing a Powers Squared t-shirt, so if you are, say hello if you see me.

In the spirit of Comic-Con, we had artist and creator Don Nguyen on our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. Unlike us, Don has a table at the con in Artist Alley. We did apply but we were turned down due to the backlog from the previous canceled SDCCs in 2020 and 2021. I imagine it's a very different experience but one that we'll need to do eventually if we want to play in the big leagues. I always feel like we're just a step or two away from something happening.

On the subject of Powers Squared, our latest issue dropped this past Wednesday; Issue #13, The Imposter, Part 1. (The link will take you to where you can buy it.) Releasing printed comic books in this day and age is harder than you'd think, what with paper shortages. One of the platforms we use is backlogged to the point that they couldn't guarantee it would be up on their site, even with two weeks' notice, so we're only up on three out of the four we usually work with. I checked as I'm writing this and it is still not up and they're closing shop and will be at SDCC as well.

Had a learning experience with proofs. One set, from the other print platform, took over two months to get the proofs to us and it was only then that we saw the error in our ways. Apparently, I had included two of the same page in the pdf so there were three blank pages at the end of the issue, including the back cover. Thankfully, it is not an issue that we're releasing in the near future so we can make the change.

While it might seem like we're only doing Comic-Con prep, that would be wrong.

During this past week, I did send out a new query for Broken People, my Thursday night chore. I also messed around a little more with the opening chapter. I'm sure that is not the right thing to do but I decided that I could make it better, so I did. I still need to rewrite the synopsis, which would open up more query options for the book. I did remove one from my list as a DNR, as their prescribed time period had expired.

I also managed to make some headway with fka Skylar, though I think I'm updating some backstory ideas I have for it, all of which I think will make it better and have a better twist at the end. So, the word count will come; trust me.

I also wrote a review for Blast of Silence, which I realized was a leftover from some Christmas holiday recording and part of the Drain the DVR campaign. Not sure when that will come out. As I mentioned last week, we're good with Christmas movies for a couple of seasons and we're not in a rush to put this one out.

My review of Jingle All the Way was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. We decided to give in to the inevitable pressure from Hallmark and acknowledge Christmas in July. No game review this week but that feature will return next week.

Let's talk next week, while we're on the subject. Writing, including this blog, will go on hiatus from Wednesday until Sunday, so I probably won't get a lot of work done before we leave; no film reviews will be written and no queries will be sent. On Monday, I will, however, publish a Report From the Front, detailing my experiences at Comic-Con and any pertinent information I might have learned while attending.

So, until then, keep writing and I'll see you next week.

A Week in Writing #412 - New Issue Coming Out

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

Let's start with Powers Squared. We have a new issue coming out officially on Wednesday, July 13. It's #13, The Imposter Part 1. Just when relationships appear to be pulling Marty and Eli apart, someone on campus tries ruining Marty's reputation by impersonating him. Who could it be? Find out on Wednesday. The issue and where to buy it can be found at The Campus Store. As they become available, there will be links to where it can be purchased both physically and digitally. There is also some new merch as well that I'm excited about, some chibi t-shirts, and a new poster, again, links at The Campus Store if you're at all interested. I'd love it if you were.

In addition to that, we're also releasing a short character video - Who is Pedro? He's a character that is introduced in this story arc and plays a big part in the story. You can watch it here on Wednesday morning.

On our Friday podcast, we talked about the new book but Paul also discussed the passing of Kazuki Takahashi, the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh!, and what the manga, anime, and games have meant to him. And, surprisingly, how it influenced an issue of Powers Squared. That also goes up on YouTube on Wednesday afternoon and can be watched here when it does.

Otherwise, it's been rather slow on the comic book front, nothing new, so far, from our artist or colorist, at least not this past week.

On our horizon is San Diego Comic-Con. No table this year, though we did apply, there was no room. We'll try again next year if there is one. I don't mean to sound cryptic but I'm not hundred percent sure this year is going to happen, what with COVID numbers rising. I believe it will but I am sort of nervous about being in a room with 160,000 of my closest friends. Can anyone say "super spreader event"? We're taking precautions but it is always in the back of your mind.

Just as an editor's note: I don't envision doing this blog on the Sunday night we get back. However, I will do it on that Monday, as a Report from the Front. I will be attending some panels about writing and comic books and I will share what I learn here, but you'll have to wait.

Did get some time working on fka Skylar this week. I've been moving around some things and have some, of what I consider, to be really good ideas for how it will end; I just got to get there. But I do want to report, time was spent on the project.

Another query this week for Broken People. I did DNR one of my queries since I never did hear back but otherwise it has been radio silence from the agents so far. This is, of course, the new normal so I feel like I have Schrodinger's query until either the time passes or I hear back.

Finished a new future review for Trophy Unlocked. This one is for a less than cheery Christmas movie, The Cheaters (1945), part of our Drain the DVR campaign. I guess this caught my eye last December. I know, the title alone really makes you think about the holidays. Not sure when this one will appear. We seem to be overwhelmed with Christmas movie reviews and there are only so many weeks in December.

We did manage to cut into our backlog this week with the Saturday morning review being Paul's review of Mickey's Christmas Carol. As I wrote on Facebook, blame Hallmark for making Christmas in July a thing. We're just trying to keep up, that's all. Wednesday's Game Day review was Trevor's review of Kao the Kangaroo (2022).

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

A Week in Writing #410 - The Work of Writing

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

Not a bad week, really, but sometimes it feels like I'm doing more of the work of writing, rather than actually writing if that makes sense.

I sometimes feel like I spend more time making updates to the Powers Squared website. I thought I had been keeping up but apparently, there were covers to update, links to change and even credits that needed to be updated. It seems like a never-ending process. Even trying to keep up with it, I realize I miss things, like posting links to videos. I decided to change that by posting them early rather than waiting for them to be released. I upload the videos on Sunday mornings and schedule them for Wednesday afternoons, and I also update the peek-of-the-week every Sunday. For both, I schedule Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts for later in the week; Tuesday for the peek-of-the-week and Wednesday for the videos.

There are other posts I make, like every morning on Twitter for posts on Trophy Unlocked that have anniversaries, #OTD. I've been doing that for a couple of years now, but finally got wise last year to saving and reusing the posts rather than trying to come up with a new one every time.

Then there are also posts I make to Pinterest, some for Trophy Unlocked and others for Powers Squared. As I started with, sometimes it feels like the work of writing, not the writing itself that takes up my time.

Worked a little bit on fka Skylar. I had an idea I wanted to introduce but I couldn't find the right place to do it. I guess I'll have to save it for later.

After rewriting the first chapter of Broken People, I started to go back through the book. I even found one section that didn't make sense where it was. I guess it's fortunate that no agent has asked to see more than the first three chapters so far.

I did query the book again, though I'm not really hopeful of the agent. I read some comments on Query Tracker about them. Apparently, they received responses that they didn't like. So far, I haven't received anything, so I'm waiting that out.

Powers Squared continues to move forward with our artist sending in eight pages of pencils for issue #22.

We're going to set release dates for Issue #13 this week and hopefully some more things as well, like new merch.

We had our monthly team meeting on Friday and since we're going to be at Comic-Con, Rachel and Julia may host a show without us. That should be fun. We're also talking about setting up a Comic Book Club for the podcast as well.

Our pitch is finally finished and now we're waiting to schedule someone we trust to go through it for us. So much is going on.

With Trophy Unlocked, I wrote a review for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which should be going up soon on the blog. We watched it finally on Friday night on Disney+. I'm also working on a review for Chance of Heaven (1933) from Saturday night but that's still in progress. For those interested, the Saturday Morning Review was Paul's review of Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe and the Wednesday Game Day Review was Paul's for Bugsnax: The Isle of Bigsnax (DLC).

So in the week ahead, I have to finish my review of Chance of Heaven, work on our monthly newsletter, The Hound Dogs's Howl, make a new query and work on fka Skylar. Wish me luck.

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

A Week in Writing #409 - Numbering and Rewrites

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

Funny thing. As soon as I published last week's post, I realized I had been numbering wrong for the past few weeks. Apparently, in my world #406 repeats, so I was off by one for about three weeks. The numbering has been corrected but it's things like that that make you feel stupid. Great way to end a week.

I know I said I was going to work on fka Skylar this week, and surprise surprise, I didn't really. Instead, I got interested in rewriting the first chapter of the book I'm currently querying around, Broken People. As you probably know, most queries require a writing sample, some part of the beginning of the novel. It can be 1000 words, the first chapter, the first three chapters, or the first 50 pages, depending on the agent/agency. The one thing they all have in common is that they start at the beginning. I started to wonder if the lack of response was due to how the first chapter started, so I thought I should rewrite it.

I don't usually get into specifics of what I'm actually writing but I'll make an exception in this case.

The first chapter takes place in a club, A-X-N, pronounced Action, where my private detective has followed a man that he has to serve with a subpoena. With the help of a waitress, whose name he doesn't yet know, they've found the man getting into a boxing ring with a former flyweight; the guy's large but super drunk. I won't get into all the action but I began to feel that I had started the chapter in the wrong place.

In the old version, I had the private detective enjoying holding the woman's hand; helping to ground him after a day of searching for people in a rain storm in Los Angeles. If you've ever lived here, rain is a scarce commodity so when it rains, things don't work. Traffic, the backbone of the city, bogs down and what might have taken you an hour can take three. I'm serious, I used to commute to Santa Monica and I had spent that much time one-way because of rain. (Don't miss it.) I thought it humanized my main character but I think maybe that doesn't work so well in a thriller.

In the new version, I have the action start when the first punch from the flyweight lands and draws blood. After all this time, I remembered the old adage start as close to the action as you can, which I wasn't doing obviously.

Now, rewriting a chapter is more than just moving paragraphs around. I mean, there is some of that but things still have to flow. It's not a one-time sit-down and it's done thing either. It took a couple of nights and in the end, the first chapter got shorter but I think it reads better.

I used it on my Thursday night query, so we'll have to wait to see if that was the missing ingredient. I still need to write a short synopsis so I can broaden my search. All in due time.

So, I still need to get back into fka Skylar but I think the time was well spent.

I wrote a new future review for Trophy Unlocked. This time it was Steamboat 'Round the Bend (1935), Will Rogers' last film. Interesting, that wasn't the reason I DVRed it a year or so ago. I had heard about him as a film star amongst his other accomplishments but had never seen anything he had been in, so when this film was shown I thought it would be a chance to watch something he was in. I'll save my opinion for the review, whenever that gets posted.

Paul's review of Hercules (1997) was the Saturday Morning Review. The Wednesday Game Day review was Trevor's review of Moss: Book 2.

Finally received the proofs for Issues 13-15 of Powers Squared. Paul and I did an unboxing video on our Friday On the Air with Powers Squared podcast, which you're invited to listen to and/or watch. I had requested sets of proofs from two of our on-demand publishers but only received one set so far, but you can't wait forever. Check it out at https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/oaps if you're interested.

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

A Week in Writing #408 - Another Banner Week, Not.

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

I realize I sit down every Sunday night to write this and I really never know if anyone reading this is actually writing. I would really like to hear from someone, anyone, reading this to leave a comment and let me know what you're doing. Are you a writer? Is this blog ever helpful? Feel free to leave comments below. It would be nice to hear from you.

I can't say I really burned it up this week at the laptop. I'm really not sure what the reason is. I'd like to say it's Daylight Savings Time that is throwing me off. I never feel like I get enough sleep. I'm aware that this is an ongoing theme of the blog but it gets light outside at five-something in the morning and I'm apparently a light sleeper. Brain turns on, worrying about things I can't control mind you, but I'm up. At night, I try to soldier through until 11 but I'm getting to be no good after 10:30.

To that end, not much happened on fka Skylar. I mean I opened it up and figured out what I need to do next but beyond that a few lines and nothing more.

As far as reviews go, I've been busy. The Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked was mine for Nanook of the North (1922), which came out 100 years ago that day. I like it when that works out. Am I the only one?

Wednesday's GameDay review was Trevor's for Resistance: Burning Skies.

I also wrote two reviews for the future. Has anyone else been watching the TV Series, Julia? Well, we have been which got us interested in re-watching Julie & Julia (2009), which I wrote a review for on Friday night/Saturday Morning. Then, as part of our drain the DVR Saturday night, we watched Stage Fright (1950), so that was what I worked on Saturday night and Sunday. In all about 3500 words, for those who are counting.

What if you ordered a proof and it never came? Well, that's what it feels like sometimes. In May, I ordered two sets of proofs for new issues of Powers Squared: Issues 13-15. As of Friday, I had not received either set. What I had hoped to be an unboxing video for them on OAPS turned into a pre-recorded segment of us signing the fine art prints from our less than recent Kickstarter. Actually, the timing was good as the rewards went out on Friday or were supposed to. I'm hopeful that I'll have one by this week. Would really like to know they exist before launching them onto the world.

Final touches on the pitch, which now goes to Trevor to put together. I went through and selected images for us to use. Hopefully, we can get this done soon and see if we can get another look at it from the person that gave us feedback. Things just take time.

We're in the beginning stages of organizing our yearly pilgrimage to San Diego Comic-Con, which should be live this year. Preliminary stuff so far, like signing up for the parking lottery, but steps that have to be taken.

Sent another query for Broken People, and surprise, no response from any of them so far. This week, I should expand to another book. Can't hurt to have more than one out on the query trail, can it?

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

A Week in Writing #406 - Where Did the Week Go?

Hope everyone is well, enjoying the long weekend and, of course, writing.

Have you ever had a week where it doesn't feel like you've got anything done? I mean, despite sitting at the computer and ready to go, nothing seems to get finished. This was the week for me. I kept getting a late start and despite best intentions, I don't feel like much got accomplished.

On the plus side, I did send out a new query for Broken People, the thing I detest most doing. No word yet, so you know, fingers crossed. It only takes one, as they say, to believe in you. I was going to DNR another query because it was coming up on their time period for responding. I didn't when I saw on Query Tracker that the agent got back to someone, a rejection, after that time frame, so I thought I'd wait around to see if I hear back. Of course, not hoping for a rejection.

Other than that, I was spending most of my "wake" time working on a script for a possible issue for Powers Squared. Even if we don't use it, I felt like I had to write it. It's about Jennifer Perry and trying to delve into her backstory a bit more. As I believe I mentioned, she was not a favorite character by the person who reviewed our Pitch Packet and we wanted to give her something more and have it still fit in with our story. I think we did that and this script was sort of introducing that side. Trying to make her a "real" character, which I believe was the knock against her.

I did write a new review for Trophy Unlocked for the film Downton Abbey: A New Era, which went up this morning. We saw it in a theater on Saturday morning, hoping the hour and a week's delay from the opening would mean sparse attendance and it was only about 20% full. We watched it in a theater that used to be part of the Arclight Cinemas, here in Los Angeles. I really miss that chain.

I also had another review up on Saturday morning, Top Gun, the original film, not the higher-flying Maverick sequel. My guess is we're probably going to see that film next weekend. Not sure how early we'd have to go to avoid a crowd for that one. That may be our pattern for the rest of the summer, go a week late to avoid the crowds but not too late to hear spoilers.

The Wednesday Game Day review was Trevor's for Kao the Kangaroo: Mystery of the Volcano.

Speaking of films, we had Lucas Scheffel, a creator we know from Australia, on our podcast on Friday. Not only does he work a remote job, for a company in Austin, Texas, but he and his family are living in a caravan while driving around the country. Lucas, the creator of Angry Fred, is also a big Elvis Presley fan, so we talked about the upcoming Elvis movie. You can listen to the conversation on our website: https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/oaps or wait until this coming Wednesday to watch it on YouTube on our channel. Your choice.

No work this week on fka Skylar, sorry about that. I think that's the real reason I don't feel like I got anything done.

Well, that's about all from me. Keep writing, and I'll see you next week.

A Week in Writing #405 - Hitting a Wall

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

Monday started off with a rejection, a query I made back at the end of March, so I was figuring it was about out of code anyway. Decided to take the opportunity to DNR the three previous ones I hadn't heard from that pre-dated that query. One had a day to go before their two-month lead time. Was I too hasty? Somehow I doubt it; just taking care of the inevitable early. So, is the going rate 1 in 4 actually send rejections? Down now to just three "live" ones.

Make that four, as I did squeeze out a new query on Thursday night. I think I'm selling myself short and I might, dare I say it, try to query another book simultaneously. I'm also thinking that maybe I need to rewrite the first chapter since maybe it comes off too soft for a thriller. I don't know, really, I'm floundering here. I don't know what agents are necessarily looking for or I would have one by now. But the rewrite has some merit as I need to get into the story right away; previous advice from an agent who didn't sign me regarding another book.

I've been hitting a wall recently with my writing and I'm not talking about being bereft of ideas, it's time. I've been crashing, physically, at about ten or ten-thirty and I have to force myself to get back to work. Doing that, of course, throws off my sleep and I end up crashing the next night as a result. Vicious circle.

That's been cutting into my writing time quite a bit of late. I don't know about you but sleep for me is a sometimes thing and there are times when everything is running smoothly and then there are times when it's not and it throws everything else off. My problem to deal with.

Spent some time working on a script idea for a one-off about Jennifer Perry. Trying to give her some more background and make her a more interesting character. This is based, in part, on some feedback we received on our Pitch Packet a while back.

Writing that and my review of The Killer is Loose were just about all I got through this week. My review of Our Town was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. We decided to go one and two with that and Paul's review of Wonder for obvious reasons if you've seen that movie. Trevor's review of Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2 was the Wednesday Game Day Review.

No new review from me this week. We went to Amoeba Records in Hollywood on Saturday and purchased a copy of MST3K Season 11. Ended up watching the first episode of that instead of draining the DVR (good thing we don't review TV). To make up for it, I posted, as a draft, a review I had done for Chaplin. You gotta do something, right?

Sadly, nothing new on fka Skylar. Blame the lack of sleep and the script.

Speaking of, Trevor wrote one for Powers Squared that's pretty good with the Eli character fighting a Gashadokuro. Paul and I need to write a companion piece for Marty. We're thinking of sliding it in after our next story arc.

I'm also reading Paul's fourth draft of his book; so much writing going on. I'm a little more than three chapters in. I reserve critique for him when I'm done. And no, I won't give away any of the plot.

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

A Week in Writing #404 - Plowing Forward

Hope everyone is well, and, of course, writing.

I'm sure you get tired of hearing this, but a lot of the week was taken up with Powers Squared. To begin with, there was new artwork for Issue #21 from our artist, Rachel Wells, to be reviewed. Maybe that wasn't the first thing but it is the most important thing to review. We had some back and forth on the cover earlier but that seems to have been worked out. We're going for a Metal Gear vibe with the cover.

We had two shows this weekend, one with the entire creative team, our monthly team meeting. If you didn't catch it live (and I'm betting you didn't) it'll go up on YouTube on Wednesday at https://youtu.be/fGZ8_vs0wWg. We sort of had a discussion about what to do if Twitter goes weird (weirder?) after Musk's proposed takeover (Is it back on or still on hold?). I was on it before and still am, but I'm concerned about what could happen to it in the future. Is there an alternative?

We did another show with Rachel on Saturday morning (LA time), wherein we discussed the books we had all picked up on Free Comic Book Day, which was last week. We did that live, as well, on twitch.tv/powerssquared and also posted it that day on YouTube at https://youtu.be/1SEHw-o8adA. That's available now.

Next the fun of submitting proofs. Ordinarily not a hard process. We use two on-demand printers: Artithmeric (our partners in the Kickstarter) and Ka-Blam in Florida to provide a domestic source. Both have different processes for submitting and neither is as easy as you'd want.

We're still waiting for the fine art prints to sign. I've been told they've been sent but I don't know when to expect them or how to send them back once we receive and sign. I did receive my share of the cut from the Kickstarter, which wasn't really all that much. However, I'm prepared to move forward on the translations.

We did a table read of the pilot script, a real family affair with my sons, my wife, and I each taking parts. Read pretty well and with a few minor changes, we should be good to go with it.

Had one of those going to sleep thoughts about the next scripts for the comic book. I had written one with Marty and Eli's parents coming for a visit. In the first few versions, it was coming for a Parent's Day at the school but I didn't really like that. I set it at Christmas and we were going with that version when last night it hit me that the prior issues (20 and 21: "Mission: Istanistan") take place at Spring Break and I didn't like the time skip implied.

Did a rewrite today taking out the Christmas references and I think it still works. The holiday wasn't so important to the plot as a nice backdrop and a chance to get some Christmas stuff for the comic book. I guess that'll have to wait.

I also tried my hand at a script explaining Jennifer Perry's past. For those of you unfamiliar, Jennifer is Eli's girlfriend in the comic book. When we did the first go-round of the Pitch Packet, we got surprisingly negative reviews on Jennifer, which we tried to fix by giving her a backstory that still fits with the book but gives her more depth. That was the script I was working on. I haven't given up but it seems to be harder than I thought to make an issue out of it.

No new reviews from me this week, though I will be working on one for The Killer is Loose, which I saw on Saturday night after watching the Amphibia finale (and no, I won't spoil it).

Only one new review on Trophy Unlocked this week. Paul's Saturday morning review of Wonder. My review of Our Town will follow next Saturday. If you've seen Wonder, it makes sense.

More writing on fka Skylar but never enough to take note about.

And I did manage one new query for Broken People on Thursday. So far nothing back on any of the others, which in this day and age means an eventual rejection when the clock runs out.

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

A Week in Writing #403 - Am I Getting Anywhere?

Happy Mother's Day!

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

Do you ever have weeks when you feel like you're running in place?

For some reason, it struck me this week that I'm feeling that way with my writing. I feel like I'm going through the motions but not advancing. Have you ever felt like that?

It's not that I plan on walking away from writing, only that I need to figure a way to shake things up. I'm thinking about this in connection with the thriller I'm querying and the comic book, Powers Squared. Week after week I do things, the "right" things, but I'm not seeing results. It's all about growing a fan base, which is the one thing I really struggle at. 

I think Powers Squared is a good comic book. We're telling an interesting story, and getting better at it as we go, but I feel like we're stuck at the beginning of the process. No one new is coming on board and that's sort of defeating. As I've written here many times, a writer wants someone to read their work and so far, at least, no one seems to read it. The Kickstarter was sort of a wake up call to me. If there is a secret sauce, I definitely don't know the recipe.

On the subject of Powers Squared, we're getting closer to finishing the art for Issue #21, "Mission Istanistan Part 2", coming years from now it seems. Our artist has finished thumbnails, so pencils and inks will probably be done this month unless her other gigs get in the way. Not sure yet what the next story will be, though I do have three scripts already written.

In addition to our usual On the Air with Powers Squared we also did a special What's in My Bag? related to Free Comic Book Day. We included Rachel Wells, our artist, for the first time. We're doing another special next Saturday to discuss the books we've read. It'll be live on twitch.tv/powerssquared at 11 am PT, if you're interested.

Need to get back to the Pitch Packet and the pilot script. We're having our artist redo one of the character designs and I think we've made a character that was sort of weak stronger as well. They happen to be one and the same. Jennifer Perry was not a favorite of the person we showed the pitch to and we need a new image to move forward with finalizing it. It is interesting that the "show" and the comic book are the same but different and I think the pitch is helping make the book better as well, though on a go-forward basis. We're not going back to the first five issues. No, you can't make us. I think I can speak for everyone involved that we're done with those.

Changing to Trophy Unlocked,  this was Star Wars week with five reviews, starting Monday with Paul's review of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition for the PS3. That was followed on Tuesday with Paul's review of Second Look - Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, another videogame; Wednesday was Trevor's Second Look - Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens; Thursday was Paul's Second Look - Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi; and the week ended on Friday with Trevor's Second Look - Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.

For something completely different, Saturday Morning's Review was mine for The Egg and I.

I did write one new review this weekend, Our Town (1940). Interesting story, Paul has been reading some middle grade fiction because the book he's written fits in with that age group. One of the books he read was Wonder, and so on Friday night, we watched the film version. In the movie, at least, the high school put on Our Town as their spring play. I had recorded the film from a previous showing on TCM, so it seemed appropriate to finally watch it on Drain the DVR Saturday.

One new query this week and no responses for far from anyone. Circle back to the title of this post for how I feel about that.

Did some more writing on fka Skylar this week but never enough.

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

A Week in Writing #402 - Not Quite Done

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

While I'm done hyping the Kickstarter, I wasn't free from it this past week. While I was pretty sure I had sent all the pages for the Graphic Novel months ago, they apparently didn't have them at Artithmeric. I found this out when I was sent the Graphic Novel to give an artist approval. Problem. The version they sent me was the 2019 version and not the remastered version we had worked on last year.

So, I had to reassemble the pages for both the graphic novel and for the five issues that make it up, which we had also remastered and had added our SRCC bug to. I wanted to be sure they had everything. So I assembled about 225 pages in six different folders and sent the files to them in two We Transfers. Well, that was too easy, as even though they had the .tif files and could manipulate .pdfs, they couldn't or wouldn't for whatever reason make the files into .pdfs.

Night two, made the .pdfs, which was really easy since I had made sure the files were sorted. Feels like busywork rather than anything creative. Sent those back overnight only to receive the artist proofs the next morning, with the pages resized, something I told them I wasn't going to do (talk about the busywork that would be).

So, night three did a precursory look at the pages. If they used the same ones I had sent them and kept them in order, they should be good to go. I checked and even asked Paul to check them as well. So, the thing I wanted to avoid came true, having a crush of work at the end of the Kickstarter. Now, it is in Artithmeric's hands. Since I didn't back it, I'm not sure what the updates are for it.

I do know there's one more thing for me to do connected to it. One of the tier rewards was signed prints, which we'll have to sign. Sorry if you wanted the artist to sign them but he's in Indonesia, so I don't see that happening.

So, three of my nights were sort of compromised with lingering duties for the Kickstarter. However, that wasn't the only thing I worked on.

Finished another version of the pilot script, yes Powers Squared. Edits and punctuations. Actually, made a second set of corrections based on Paul's editing this weekend. Now I'm starting in on the Pitch Packet. A lot of updates to be made before we're done with that.

It's funny how dates sort of sneak up on you. On Saturday, I had started working on a brief essay for our newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, when I realized that Sunday, today, was May 1st and we publish the first Sunday of the month. Thankfully, the newsletters sort of write themselves but it still has to be written, reviewed and edited. Made it out before 10:30 am, which is sort of the goal.

No new reviews this week, though I did put up an older review I had written, All Through the Night (1942), Bogart's follow up to The Maltese Falcon. I wrote the review back in August 2019 and just now got around to putting it up on the blog, though not published. Fun to look at the photos I had collected over two years ago and put them into the review. Talk about a bit of a brain teaser. I've got a lot more of these to get through during any downtime.

Only one new review this week on Trophy Unlocked. The Saturday morning review was Paul's of The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, a version that had been released only days before. Next week promises to be a busy one, as Paul and Trevor have a new crop of reviews and Second Looks regarding Star Wars films and games.

Worked a lot, that being a relative term, on fka Skylar this week. I really enjoyed getting past that chapter and now it's back to the other story in the book.

And one new query this week, which I squeezed in on Thursday, unofficially Query Night. So, while I added one new one, I also DNRed two others that were past their expiration dates and no communication about them.

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

A Week in Writing #400 - Almost There

Hope everyone is staying safe, getting boosted if you need it, and, of course, writing. Hope everyone had a happy holiday no matter what you might be celebrating.

I'll get the numbers out of the way since I sense people reading this blog for the most part don't care about them, but we're a hair's breadth away from funding our Kickstarter. I have shaken every tree, sometimes more than once, and there you go, I can't quite raise 1000 pounds on my own. On the other hand, my partners in this, well it's actually their Kickstarter, have brought in sizably less money than I have. I really think they expect me to do most of the heavy lifting and I have as much as I can do in a couple of hours every night and on weekends. I apparently have a limited appeal.

I have learned a couple of things. Most importantly, if you're trying to build up favors by backing other people's Kickstarters, then you can pretty much forget it. I went back to about 13 Kickstarters I had backed in recent memory, some within the past two weeks, and only two reciprocated and backed ours and for far less than I backed theirs.

I've learned that you get as much credit for the lowest amount as you do for a moderate amount. So, unless there is something I really want in print, it's the first tier for me.

I've also found that people will say they'll back you and then "forget" to actually do it. Or they'll tell you they can't because they're short at the moment, which is a bit of a frivolous argument since you can back someone for $1 and still get credit for backing them. It's not that the money comes out of your bank account right away, it has to fund first, and then, if you're paying by credit card, which you have to, then that $1 doesn't come due for another 30 days after that.

I know I sound bitter because I kind of am. This is the part of the Kickstarter process that I hate, the feeling like you're being judged as worthy or not.

This was made clear to me when I went on a show the other night. It was other creators discussing their Kickstarters. I got the sense that I was an intruder at someone else's club and my camera didn't work but I persisted. They showed the Kickstarter, I gave a brief explanation about it, and answered the one question that was asked. One of the other creators said something to the effect of "I can't back that but look at this" and then made a visual joke using a black mask as if it were the beard of another creator on the call. Not a great way to build up your confidence. That said, I netted 12 pounds from the evening, as three of the creators on the call backed us.

On the other side of the equation, we did a similar Kickstarter, at least for a Graphic Novel for the first five issues, about two and a half years ago. We funded at a much higher amount, too. And, even though we rewrote most of the book for this one and paid for new covers, I think that plays into it, too. Even family doesn't want to get pinched twice, I guess.

But we'll fund, I know that. I can still back it and put it over the top, but I've been trying to let others have that honor. And the other creators who ignored me can pretty much write off any future funding from me. It may sound petty but I'm keeping a list.

We are moving forward on Issue #21, the conclusion of the "Mission: Istanistan" story arc, which finds Marty and Eli called in to help the U.S. military with a rogue nation's WMD. Look for it in a couple of years, at the rate we're releasing. We're planning to release three more issues this year, "The Imposter" issues 13 and 14, as well as a one-shot "How They Met" issue #15. No dates have been set just yet.

Onto other writings. I finally got to that chapter I've been talking about for a couple of weeks now in fka Skylar. It didn't come off as good as I had it in my head, they never do, but at least I got it down and can go back later when I finally edit this puppy. And I have no idea where I am with respect to the book's length. Still more to write, but I have been trying to work on it in between messaging within Facebook groups.

No new review from me this week. It may sound weird but you can blame my lawn for that, or more exactly, my new lawn. I know what you're saying, a new lawn in Southern California in the middle of a drought, you cad, how could you? Well, I haven't had one in about ten years or more and I finally decided I wanted to put one down before there is no more water. And I'm putting down a drought grass to boot. So after it gets set, I only have to water it every so often rather than three times a week for 15 minutes as someone at a nursery told us we'd have to do with some grasses.

The reason there was no movie was that the delivery, which was supposed to happen between 8 and 10 in the morning, didn't happen until almost 6 pm at night. By the time all was said and done and they put the sod in that evening, it was too late for a movie with dinner. Instead of a new review, I moved one I had written sometime back for Gulliver's Travels (1939) up on the blog for future consideration.

I was the coveted Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked this week with Crime School (1938) starring Humphrey Bogart and the Dead End Kids. Trevor's review of Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition was the Wednesday Gameday review.

No new queries this week, as I was being humiliated on the internet, see above.

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