A Week in Writing #566 - Gearing Up for Summer (New Issues)

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

By gearing up for the summer, I'm not talking about repacking the tents but rather working on what needs to be done during the summer months ahead. We took a step in that direction this weekend with some podcasts we shot.

Our ode to the start of summer was the Friday podcast, or "Jaws 50th Anniversary Sharktacular", that we did on Friday night. With the official start of summer comes the summer blockbuster and many credit Jaws with being the first. Paul, Trevor and I spent the time talking about the film, and our impressions, etc. You can listen to it here or wait to watch it on our YouTube channel on Wednesday at 2:30 PDT here (more podcasts below).

Separate from that, but connected, was a special Friday morning review of Jaws by Paul on Trophy Unlocked published to commorate the anniversary. And even the Saturday Morning Review was Jaws-themed, with Trevor's review of the game, Jaws Unleashed (2006), in which you are the shark.

And if that wasn't enough, we shot two more podcasts on Saturday afternoon with Julia Canon. The first one we did won't go up until the 4th of July. We do an occassional Comic Book Club and not everyone could make the meeting. The four of us discussed Usagi Yojimbo Volume 39: Ice and Snow by Stan Sakai. So, forget about that one for a couple of weeks.

It's the second one that will go up immediately; a preview of the two books SRCC Press is releasing on Wednesday, Powers Squared Issue #25 and The Blade of Miracles #4. Julia was part of the former but not of the latter, so there are really two podcasts put together with some clever editing by Paul. It's called: "[Secret Episode] OAPS #304 - SRCC Press Double Feature! PSQ #25 + TBOM #4 Preview". This is also available to listen to here and will also be available on our YouTube channel on Wednesday but at 2:31 pm PDT.

I would be remiss not to talk more about both issues. Powers Squared #25, "Yuki-Onna" was written by Paul as a companion to Powers Squared #24, "Gashadokuro", which was written by Trevor. Just as that first issue dealt with Eli on his own fighting an evil yokai, "Yuki-Onna" finds Marty in a life or death battle with a yokai known to suck the life force from her victims. The artwork was by artist Julia Canon, colors were by Jennifer Moreno with Trevor doing the lettering.

The Blade of Miracles is Trevor's 12-part epic adventure loosely based on the Arthurian legend. In the fourth issue, "The Black Knight, Part 1," Lancelot returns to his hometown of Benwick in search of Excalibur, only to find it in ruin. Who would commit such a terrible deed and why? In addition to writing, Trevor also illustrated and lettered the issue with Paul serving as editor.

Both issues will be available starting on June 25 through The Campus Store in both print and digital formats.

No new review from me this week. On Friday night, we watched Mission: Impossible 2, which I wasn't going to review, but because there was a lot written about its similarities to the Alfred Hitchcock film, Notorious, we rewatched that film. I had reviewed the film on the blog about 14 years ago, and I'll stand by what I wrote at the time. I did go back and add some images that we weren't adding to reviews at the time.

About 1500 more words this week on Blackmail, so for anyone counting, it's up to 43,806 words.

One new query this week, and while none have come back as rejected, one is about to DNR itself in a couple of days. They all go ripe after 8 weeks and this one is about to hit that mark. Would love to hear from an agent out there.

Well, that about does it for me. One note, I'm spending time with my wife's family this weekend, so next week's may be delayed a day, so bear with me. Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week.

A Week in Writing #561 - Three Videos and a 4th Query

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

Ever had what feels like a busy week but you're not sure what you've accomplished?

Let's start with the good. Busy YouTube week, shooting three podcasts. For our usual podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared featured an old friend, Josue Kure, as well as his writer Tim Gomez. I had met Josue online in a Facebook group called List Launch, and we had him on the podcast in December 2011, #63 if you're keeping track. He was on, then, to promote a comic book he and Tim had written called Reaper Rules, and this time, he was on to promote Super Foods, and their upcoming Kickstarter. You can listen on our website here, or watch it on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 pm PDT here.

Or, for something you can watch now, try our videoblog, What's in My Bag? FCBD 2025, Part 2. As no surprise, this is a follow up to our What's in My Bag? FCBD 2025, Part 1, from 2 weeks ago. In that one, Rachel Wells, Paul, Trevor and I talked about the books we'd picked up at our local comic bookstore on Free Comic Book Day. In this one, we actually discuss the books we'd read, which can be the more interesting part. You can only watch it on our YouTube channel, here, or on twitch.tv here for the next few days.

On, if that weren't enough, we also pre-taped a preview of Trevor's next book, Blade of Miracles Issue #3, but you'll have to wait to see that. Ths issue drops at the end of the month. I also did a peek-of-the-week about it too, which you can see here. When the book drops on the 28th, you'll be able to find it on our website in The Campus Store.

I sent out my fourth query this past week. So far no rejections (they're no doubt coming) and no DNRs (they're coming as well). But I'm trying to be consistent and get them done.

The Saturday Morning Review this week on Trophy Unlocked was Paul's review of Moana 2, the sequel to Moana, which Trevor reviewed last week. I'm currently working on a review of I Wake Up Screaming (1941), which was another of our draining the DVR. I believe this recording was about 5 years old. I had another one I wanted to watch, A Lady of Chance (1928), but TCM sort of screwed up the recording, since it cut off the first few minutes, meaning they went ahead of schedule. But the other got the job done.

I worked some this week on Blackmail, though I think I'm more in an editing mode with it at the moment, so the word count didn't really grow; 34,157.

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

A Week in Writing #559 - Two Down More to Go

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

My big project this week was the Powers Squared monthly newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, which went out this morning. While it's not hard work, it is time consuming. There are three sections that I actually have to write: The introduction, the Heard Around Campus section, and the spotlight on twins. The rest of it sort of follows a format. My biggest complaint isn't the work, but the platform we use. For some reason Mail Chimp, which we've been using since the beginning, and I have different ideas on punctuation. I like the period at the end, but it likes to have it at the beginning of the last line. At least, that's been my editing challenge the last few times. Maybe there's a simple fix but maybe, as Paul suggested, we have to burn the format to the ground and build it back. Anyway, if you're interested, you can read it here. Of course, I'd appreciate it more if you'd subscribe.

It's been a busy week with videos. Two videos went up on Wednesday, last week's OAPS podcasts (see last week's missive for links), then on Thursday, Paul's Ruffles vs Lay's All Dressed Taste Test went up. We used a pre-recorded Comic Book Club for Friday's OAPS. Back in April, we got together with artists Julia Canon and Rachel Wells to discuss The Sculptor by Scott McCloud. You can listen to it here or wait until Wedneday at 2:30 pm on our YouTube Channel. And, if that wasn't enough, we did a live podcast with Rachel, our annual Free Comic Book Day "What's in my Bag? Part 1". We discuss the pulls we made at our local comic book shops for FCBD. Next week, we'll discuss what we read. You can watch the first part here.

A bit of good news, we got pages from our artist this week, so things are, at least, for now all good. Now the final pages for Issue #27 are ready for coloring.

My review for Blade went up on Trophy Unlocked, as the Saturday Morning Review. We decided that since it was one of the earlier Marvel Comic movies, it was fitting given it was also Free Comic Book Day. I also finished a review of Isle of Fury, an early Humphrey Bogart film that I came across on TCM. No hurry to get that one up, if you know what I mean.

Another query went out and I was surprised to recieve a response back. Not a rejection or an ask for pages but rather a "we got your query" email and to set my expectations. If I don't hear back in 8 weeks, it's a pass. So far, we're two in and no rejections/DNRs yet.

Not much happened this week with Blackmail, not that I don't have an idea where to add to the story, but I ran out of time this week. So, with some edits, I only pushed it to 28,966 words; so far to go. But that will have to wait until next week.

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