A Week in Writing #625 - Stay Cool in August

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

I guess I should also say, staying cool, as August seems to be getting hotter every year. AC is truly a wonderful thing.

I spent most of the week on Blackmail. I'm trying to do a couple of chapters a day. I'm currently up to Chapter 34, page 282/409 and the word count is at 90,047. Going through it with a fine-toothed comb is what I'm trying to do. I'm enjoying it while at the same time trying to take out duplicates, you know describing the same thing twice, and moving wording around, adding here and there. I might be done with this by the end of the week, but that's the goal.

Got some templates from L.A. Comic-Con and put out our first post about the event. They gave me Canva to use, which I, of course, never have. It's a little like setting up business cards, but a little less forgiving. I wasn't sure what I was doing until I saw another artist put his out.

I think it's eye-catching. I've also done one each for Powers Squared and The Blade of Mircales:

They match the banners we'll have up for the show.

I think we're in pretty good shape with supplies, but I want to check on business cards before we get too much closer.

We've put the final touches on the lineart for Issue #30, and our artist is going to start in on Issue #31 soon.

Speaking of new issues, Powers Squared #28, "Agnes Wreckage, Part 1" should be coming out on August 26th, though we're still putting all the ducks in a row. The peek-of-the-week, this week is the cover, minus colors and lettering, so you might want to check it out. There's a new one every week.

In the issue, when Agnes Miller tries to help Dr. Atlas with his research, an overdose of the Viribus compound turns her into a monster with uncontrollable powers. Dr. Atlas needs help, but unfortunately for our heroes, there are only three people he can turn to.

As I wrote last week, the guest we had lined up for Friday's podcast bailed, so we had to come up with something new. We revisited Doctor Who and the franchise rabbit hole we find ourselves going down, with 9th, 10th and 11th Doctors, Torchwood and now The Sarah Jane Adventures all on our "to watch" list. You can watch our podcast on our twitch.tv channel for the next few days, listen to it here, and/or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT to watch on our YouTube channel.

The Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked this week was Trevor's for Mortal Kombat (1995). I did finish my review for The Big House, and tentatively started one for China Clipper. As always, no idea when these will appear.

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

A Week in Writing #621 - Probably Not Tabling at SDCC

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

San Diego Comic-Con is a little over a week away, and even though I have tried to be ready to come off the waitlist to table at the show a second year, I'm really doubting, at this point, that we're going to get the call. I do feel a bit of disappointment at not being chosen, but I hear that it happens to everyone. It's just I'd like to know what we could do to increase our profile and get selected outright rather than playing the waiting game.

We're still going and leaving on Tuesday, even though we're not setting up. Last year, we had a good time prior to Preview Night and wanted to give it another go. Besides, hotel rooms are relatively cheap on Tuesday night before nearly doubling the next day. That all said, in two weeks, there will most likely be a delay in this blog post. I do plan to attend various panels and will report on them, like I always do.

Work continues on issue #30 of Powers Squared, "Aroma Therapy" with the artist working on the last few pages of the issue. That issue should come out next year. I also set up a page on our website for Issue #28, "Agnes Wreckage, Part 1" which we're hoping to drop in August. It's very blank at the moment, with more to come.

I've written two reviews this week. On Wednesday, we went to a Fathom screening of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. Even though I've reviewed the film once, seeing it on a big screen with an audience not made up of film students was a new experience and brought a different appreciation for the film. I also just finished one for Young and Innocent, a 1937 Hitchcock film, which I saw on the little screen at home. As always, not sure when those will see the light of day.

However, my review of Moana was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. However, this was the 1926 "documentary", not the latest Disney live-action/animated remake of an animated film. The Wednesday Game Day review was Paul's for Deltarune Chapter 5.

I don't know how you felt about PlayStation's recent announcement that in 2028, they would no longer be producing physical discs for their videogames, but that didn't sit well with us, so our Friday On the Air with Powers Squared podcast was "The Benefits of Physical Media." You can watch it for the next few days on our Twitch channel, listen to it now here, or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT and watch it on our YouTube channel.

Still working on the ending for Blackmail. I did take a swing but I wasn't happy with it. I'll work more on it this coming week.

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

A Week in Writing #619 - Feeling Good for a Change

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

I had a very nice surprise on Saturday, which I'd like to share. A little over a year ago, we left six copies of our then two trades with Golden Apple Comics in Hollywood. We were supposed to go back in six months to see how things went. As they say, life is what happens while you're busy making other plans, going back seemed to be put off and off and off. When I ran into Ryan, the owner, at WonderCon this spring, I apologized but he seemed to take it in stride. But we finally planned on going and that became one of the things we did on Saturday; wrote it on the calendar and everything.

To be honest, I expected to come away with 12 copies of the books, but to my surprise, they had sold 4 of each and kept the other four to sell them as well. I know there are books out there by indie publishers that sell that many in an afternoon at a con, but for me and Powers Squared, this was a big deal. So, I left the shop feeling good with more money in my pocket than I had going in.

While we're on the subject of Powers Squared, our artist is now working on page 15 of the next issue and the colorist has finished the first 8 pages, so things are coming togther.

Still waiting to hear if we're going to be called off the bench again for San Diego Comic Con. I'm not getting a good feeling about that, so we might not be tabling there this year. We are, and pardon me if I've mentioned this before, going to be Guests at L.A. Comic Con in October, so things aren't so bad, I guess.

I did work some on Blackmail this past week, but it's been a little slower than I expected. I've rewritten bits and pieces of the story leading up to the third act, so to speak, of the story. The word count is now at 88,460, as I've been taking away as much as I've been adding. I'm not going to promise a date when I'll be done, as there will be other things, no doubt that will come up, or have to be done this next week.

Our podcast this week, "OAPS #357 - DesignerCon 2026 (Pasadena)", was recapping our recent experience at DesignerCon last weekend. You never waste an experience when you do a podcast. You can watch now on our twitch channel for the next few days, listen to it here, or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT to watch it on our YouTube channel.

Next Friday will be somewhat momentous, as it will be the eve of the United States' 250th anniversary. We're not a political podcast, but wanted to not let such a memorable anniversary go by without comment, so we've invited Lucas Scheffel (Angry Fred, Gary the Gorilla, Ned Kelly: First Blood) to be our guest, as he was an American History major in college.

I did write a review today for Supergirl, which we watched in a theater this morning. I think you'll have to wait until tomorrow to know what I thought about it. Otherwise, Trophy Unlocked is starting a summer of John Wick reviews, beginning with Trevor's review of the first film, John Wick. There will be other reviews, but we had a backlog of those films, so stayed tuned.

This coming week, will be more about the monthly newsletter than anything else. The Hound Dogs' Howl comes out once a month on the first Sunday of the month, so if you want to get your own copy, sign up. It's FREE!

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

A Week in Writing #618 - Tell Me If This Has Happened to You

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing. And Happy Father's Day!

We were going to do a very different podcast than we ended up doing. The idea was to talk about the 70th anniversary of San Romero Community College, the fake college where Powers Squared is based. The plan was to do an unboxing of the t-shirts I had ordered to celebrate, and, hopefully encourage someone to buy when they went online. Instead, we ended up talking about Toy Story 5 as well as the entire franchise.

The pivot came when we unboxed the shirts and discovered we got the wrong ones. Instead of the 70th anniversary shirts, we got the regular shirts. To complete the tale, I had also ordered one for the artist who designed them and she received hers earlier than we were going to do the podcast. She said they looked good, so I thought we were good to go. Turns out, I had inadvertantly ordered her the old t-shirt and she was tired when she looked at it, and didn't notice the error. The supplier is supposed to make good on ours, so hopefully that'll come quickly. And, yes, I ordered the artist the correct one this time. My guess is someone completed her order and then just continued with ours not noticing they were different items.

If you're interested, you can listen to the podcast here, and/or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT to watch it on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared).

Speaking of Toy Story 5, I wrote the review, which came out today on Trophy Unlocked. This was a culmination of Toy Story related reviews, including the Wednesday Game Day review of Toy Story 3 (Game) by Trevor, and his second opinion review of Toy Story 4, which was the Saturday Morning Review on the blog.

I did mention last week that I was going to Designer-Con, known as D-Con on Saturday in Pasadena. It was my first time to attend. Even though we had weekend passes, it was pretty easy to do it all in one afternoon. It's more like LightBox than say Comic-Con. A lot of creatives showing their wares. We were able to make contact with someone we would like to have on the podcast, and see artists we were familiar with, but overall, we had a good time. No panels to attend, but still a lot of walking.

Work continues on the next issues of Powers Squared, though we sort of working on the same page for a week now. I think it'll get sorted out, but it really comes down to consistency of how a room looks now to how it's looked in previous issues.

I did work, and I'm still working on Blackmail. I'm still going through the last few chapters, currently making minor changes. It's currently 88,467 words, if you're still counting.

This coming week, we're planning to go to Golden Apple and pick up the trades that didn't sell. We were supposed to go back about six months ago, but Saturdays are hard to plan, so we're planning to go next Saturday. Hopefully, some sold, but otherwise, we can reuse them.

Still no word about SDCC, but I'm still trying to get ready in case it happens. We're hopefully, readying possible trades of both Powers Squared  and The Blade of Miracles. We got proofs back yesterday and made some minor changes, so hopefully, they'll look better.

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

A Week in Writing #617 - So, I Lied

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

I know I said last week that I would be working on Blackmail this week, but I didn't. Instead, I continued to work on the new story, untitled at this juncture. It's been a combination of editing what I had previously written as well as some new bits to tie it together. I do plan to get back to Blackmail, but this one sort of drew me in. In this one, he's hired to find a girl that supposedly ran away from home the summer before her senior year at high school. The twist is that it was 15 years ago. Also, at this point, J.D., my main character, is now a father by his wife, so I get to mix that into the story as well. At this stage, I'm 17,771 words in, compared to the 20,546 words I had on the first draft and there is only one more chapter from the previous version, then I will get back to Blackmail and finish that up.

Our podcast this week was our 24th Comic Book Club. This time it was my choice, usually I let my turn pass but I had become aware of what was supposed to be one of the first graphic novels, It Rhymes with Lust written by Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller (under the pseudonym "Drake Waller"), with art by Matt Baker and inks by Ray Osrin. Besides the three of us, Rachel Wells and Julia Canon were also there to give their opinions. The book dates from 1950, and is influenced by film noir. You can watch it on our twitch channel for the next few days but there may be audio issues. You're better off listening to it here or waiting until Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT to watch it on our YouTube channel.

I'm sort of working for a review of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1929), though sometimes watching a movie on Saturday night can be a dicey endeavor. And, yes, I dozed during the watching, so I'm rewatching those parts I missed. Being more awake has made me enjoy it more, but I won't be starting a review until I've seen it all. Trophy Unlocked isn't dependent on me for reviews and there were three this past week, starting with Tuesday's review of The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act, written by Paul. The Wednesday Game Day review was Paul's review of River City Girls 2; and the Saturday Morning Review was Paul's of Toy Story 3: it is his blog after all.

Waiting for a second proof of the third Trade for Powers Squared and a first for Trevor's for The Blade of Miracles. Trying to get ready in case we're called off the bench for San Diego Comic-Con. We were last year, so you never know. I just don't want to be caught flat-footed again. We managed to scramble to get everything ready with three weeks notice but the stars sort of aligned for some of that to happen, and I don't want to count on that coming together again.

Work continues on issue #30 of Powers Squared. Our artist is currently working on page 14 and our colorist is working on the first 8 pages. The next issue to come out would #28, "Agnes, Wreckage", Part 1 and I think we're probably looking at August for that to come out. It's going to be an interesting story arc, as two different artists will have drawn the two issues.

So next week, I should get back to Blackmail and finish my review of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. Next weekend, we're attending DesignerCon in Pasadena. I've never attended it before, so it will be new, and hopefully exciting. I'll be writing about it after.

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

A Week in Writing #616 - Going Back to LA Comic Con

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

The big news for me this week, is that SRCC Press, the publisher behind Powers Squared and The Blade of Miracles, will be returning to LA Comic Con in October, as a "guest" of the convention. It seems like every other year, we get involved with this Con. In 2022, we had a panel at the show and in 2024, we tabled and had a panel. Now, we're going back two years later. This is one of those things about Cons that I wouldn't have known if someone hadn't brought it to my attention. Steven Prince, the creator of Monster Matador, brought it to my attention, so I applied. We get a table and two chairs and I'm sure we'll be in the garage somewhere as the halls are being rennovated for the 2028 Olympics, but a free table is a free table. I'll give you more as I learn more, and, of course, will write about the experience here.

This week, the newsletter was the prime activity. Happy to say it was finished and sent out this morning, which is always a good feeling. If you haven't signed up for it, you have until August 1st to do so, if you'd like to receive it. Enroll here. It comes out once a month and it is FREE.

Our podcast this week featured another comic book writer, David Lucarelli, one of the only people we actually talked to at the Fanbase 10th Anniversary Potluck, a couple of weeks ago. He's the writer behind Tinsletown, The Children's Vampire Hunting Brigade, and Dr. Zomba's Ghostly Tales. Cool guy and I think it's a good interview. We prepped questions and he kept answering them before we asked, which is always nice. You can catch it on our Twitch channel for the next few days, listen here, and/or wait to watch it on our YouTube channel on Wednesday at 2:30 pm.

Next week, our podcast will be the Comic Book Club, and we'll be discussing It Rhymes With Lust, hailed as the first graphic novel. If you've read it or are curious, check us out at 6 pm PDT at twitch.tv/powerssquared.

I'm finishing up a review of Scarlet Street, which I believe was a recording leftover from TCM's last Summer of Darkness. As always, not sure when it will go up. But there are plenty of other reviews on Trophy Unlocked  for you to read, including Wednesday's Game Day review of I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Paul; Trevor's Second Opinion - Toy Story 2 was the Saturday Morning Review; and there was a surprise review this morning on Mortal Kombat 2, also by Paul. If you haven't caught on, this is Toy Story month on the blog.

I haven't yet picked up with Blackmail. Instead, I read through my sketchy start on another story in the franchise. I've started rewriting it, but I will spend sometime working on Blackmail, since that needs to get done.

Well, that's about it from me. Keep writing and I'll see back here next week.

A Week in Writing #613 - Social Media Meltdown

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

I don't know if you're like me, but there is a certain amount of pressure to post regularly on social media platforms. For me, the main ones I use are Facebook (both David Hankins and Powers Squared), Instagram, LinkedIn (both David Hankins and Powers Squared), Threads, amd Bluesky. [This is not a call to follow me on any of them, but I'm just trying to give you an idea of what I'm on. I used to use GoDaddy for this, but they have very limited reach, like Facebook and Instagram. I decided to try another service, PaddyPost, which are usually Powers Squared related.

With PaddyPost, there were always issues with Bluesky, since they have limited space and for PaddyPost to interface, it has to be shorter than their limit, so I try to keep that in mind. But there are problems with PaddyPost, such as my social media connections keep getting lost, pretty much exclusively Bluesky, but it gets worse. My two LinkedIn accounts stopped working several weeks ago and my emails to PaddyPost Support went unanswered for several weeks. They finally acknowledged me but claimed never to have receive my emails, which I attached on my response. But still no response to my issue.

I also post to Threads directly, because when I try through PaddyPost, I get the largest QR Code I've ever seen and this is only the top part, which fills the screen:

Thanks for nothing.

This led me to reconsider GoDaddy, but you don't create your social media posts, their AI slop does it for you and there's no way to opt out. After spending thirty or more minutes with their help chat, the answer was to let AI write them and then edit it to what you want. What a load of BS. So they're out.

As I'm writing this, I've gotten two emails from PaddyPost about losing connection to BlueSky (both accounts), again, again today! WTF?

My postings are pretty simple. I post every morning about anniversaries of titles reviewed in Trophy Unlocked on BlueSky. I do these directly under my name, and I'm editing as I go to ensure they will work again next year. On Saturdays I post on Facebook and BlueSky about the Saturday Morning Review; I also do it on Wednesday if there is a game review and I know about it ahead of time. Again, these are done directly on the plaforms, little to no issues. I also post on Sunday nights regarding this post on both platforms, again with minimal issues.

What I want help with are the two to three Powers Squared posts, which I try to get to as many platforms as possible. Our Wedneday video goes up at 2:30 pm, which happens to be when I supposed to be doing my day job. So I had been trying to use PaddyPost for those, as well as the Tuesday Peek-of-the-Week post about that feature on our Powers Squared website. We also post a video to Instagram and that works. Even afterwards, there are more groups to post it to on Facebook, which again, I do directly. But it's also supposed to go to BlueSky, Instagram, LinkedIn, but it's not going to LinkedIn and BlueSky's connection, as noted above, is lost at the drop of a hat.

So, I feel like I'm spending too much time trying to get PaddyPost to work properly and if they don't respond in short order, I'm apt to give up on them all together. I had high hopes that they would be a reliable partner and they're proving not to be. 

End of Rant.

In other news, I finsished a review of Moana (1926), the Robert Flaherty documentary. My goal is to save it until the new live-action Disney Moana comes out. You're now officially in on the joke. My review of The Sheep Detectives went up as the Saturday Morning review on Trophy Unlocked. Our artist on Powers Squared has been very busy and I'm already behind as I write this with a new page from her. It's great but every night, I have to review what she's sent and give comments. It's more time consuming that you think, though necessary.

Our Friday night On the Air with Powers Squared podcast, which I had tried to use PaddyPost to "advertise", this week was a look at the Steven Universe universe, the original series, the movie and the Steven Universe Future series. You can listen to it now here, watch it on our Twitch channel for the next few days, or watch it on our YouTube channel on Wednesday at 2:30 pm. It will go up even if the social posts don't.

I'm still working on Blackmail, but I've come to a part I plan to rewrite, as the timeline in the story allows me to do that. I'm about 84% through the book at this point and standing at 89,538 words. I'm guessing the latter number will go down with the rewrites, which should tighten the story somewhat. 

So, my next week will be reviewing and rewriting.

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

A Week in Writing #611 - Still Churning

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

I'm still working on Blackmail. After the print out edits, I'm going through it again on the computer, making more edits as I go. I'm not quite to 3/4 of the way through. Currently, the word count is 89,238, though that is subject to change, either up or down. Doing it this way is sort of slow going but I hope to be done soon. I'm also making changes that I may have to also make in previous books, trying to stay consistent with the characters.

The newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, came out this morning. Click the link if you want to read it. It includes links to our YouTube videos, Heard Around Campus section, and a feature on twins in the arts,  as well as a recommendation, and more. It's Free, so take a look.

This past Friday we had the pleasure to interview Megatron, actually Daniel Riordan, who voiced the character during the Robots in Disguise (2001) run. As always, that interview is available on our Twitch channel for the next few days, available as an audio podcast, and will be up on our YouTube channel this coming Wednesday at 2:30 pm.

And because Saturday was Free Comic Book Day/Comics Giveaway Day, we did our annual "What's in My Bag?" stream, in which Paul, Trevor and I discuss the books we picked up and then next week we'll discuss/review them in another stream. Usually, our former artist Rachel Wells will join us, but she couldn't this year.

No new review for me this week. Saturday was a long day, and we decided to watch one of the MST3K films that our recent podcast guest, Joshua Pruett had worked on instead. My recent review of Le Ballet Mécanique went up as Trophy Unlocked's Saturday Morning Review.

Progress continues on the next issue of Powers Squared. Our artist has completed work on five pages for the next issue, "Aroma Therapy, Part 1", and it is looking good.

My goal this week is to try to get through Blackmail. I'm also going to finally submit the 3rd trade for printing. I'm hoping to have some on hand should we get chosen again from San Diego Comic-Con, Last year, there was so much to get done in a little over two weeks, so I'm trying to be better prepared this time through.

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

A Week in Writing #610 - All That's Left is the Shredding

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

On Monday, I finally finished going through my notes on the draft for Blackmail. One of the results is that I've got 409 pages to shred, a task I have not yet faced. The word count ended up being 88,940 when I was done with that. I've since started to going through it on the computer, as a second run through. And I'm finding missed words or awkward phrasing this time around. This is somewhat slower, as I don't really like reading on the computer. I'm a little over a quarter of the way through it again, and the current word count is up to 89,018.

Also, on Monday, I finished some edits on a script for a future Powers Squared story arc. I haven't sent it yet for more revisions, but it's always good to have someone read it and make comments. In this case, the reader is my co-writer Paul.

And on Monday, we gave final approval for the lineart for page 3 for the next issue of Powers Squared, "Aroma Therapy," which is currently set as issues 30 and 31. Our artist is doing two pages a week, which is a good pace and we're now working on page 5. 

Trevor, this week, also finished lettering 8 more pages of what should be Issue #29. Currently, our colorist is caught up, but that should change next month.

Our podcast this week was "Record Store Day Memories," a look back on this past year's RSD, including items exclusive to RSD and items we found on sale- at the time. The three of us, Trevor, Paul and I also divulged our greated RSD Exclusive find. If you'd like to watch it on our Twitch channel for the next few days, you can watch it here. It's available in audio now and you can listen here. And if you want to wait for YouTube, it goes up on our channel (@powerssquared) on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT.

This coming week is Free Comic Book Day, and we'll be doing a special, "What's In My Bag?" sometime on Saturday. TBD, but it will be on our YouTube channel. This is traditionally a two-parter; we do a follow up the next week, talking about what we've read.

I finished a review for Blondie of the Follies, a Marion Davies film that I happened across. As always, not sure when it will come out. The Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked, was Trevor's review of Mercy, a sci-fi thriller, that came out earlier this year. We watched it on Prime Video, rather than in the theater.

I looked at the calendar and next weekend will be time for The Hounds' Howl newsletter, so I have a feeling that will be a priority for me, as well as trying to get more done on Blackmail. If you're curious about the newsletter, you can always sign up here. It's FREE and you get a digital copy of Issue #1.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you 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 #605 - New Powers Squared Release

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Week in Writing #604 - Blackmail and Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Week in Writing #603 - Botching My Way Through

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Week in Writing #596 - Getting Ready for Pasadena

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Week in Writing #595 - AI Was the Topic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Week in Writing #594 - Happy New Year 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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