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.

A Week in Writing #399 - The Kickstarter is over 75 Percent Funded

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

I don't mean to bury the lead, so yes the Kickstarter is 75 percent funded with a little more than two weeks left to go. If you're reading this I ask that you take a look at the Kickstarter, as it means a lot to me and I want this to be funded and beyond. All writers want their work to be read and that doesn't only mean serious writers of literary fiction, that means all writers. I've put a lot of sweat and perseverance into Powers Squared and I would hope others would give it a try. Chances are if you read the book, you just might like it.

Shameless plug over.

Had my first experience in a movie theater in over two years. On Friday, my family and I went to see Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (read the review on Trophy Unlocked). It was weird to be back. The last film we'd seen in a theater was the first Sonic The Hedgehog film, so this was a nice bookend, though I'm not convinced, yet, that it will become a normal thing for me. I'm one of those people who still wears a mask in public and I'm not convinced the pandemic is really behind us. The theater was nice and all that but I'm not ready to book my next excursion.

On the subject of Trophy Unlocked, Sonic 2 was the Saturday Morning Review and Paul's review of Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition was the Wednesday Game Day review.

My future contribution is one that I wrote for Murder at the Vanities (1934), a pre-Code murder mystery set on the opening night of Earl Carroll's Vanities. Since we saw Sonic 2 in the afternoon, trying to avoid crowds, we went with something short for our Friday night movie. As always, not sure when it will appear.

Paul and I talked about our experience and about going to WonderCon on our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared on Friday, so the feelings were still fresh. We were back on the air after missing last week's show due to Paul being under the weather.

My main focus over the past week has, no surprise, been the Kickstarter. On the advice of our consultant, I started doing a series of posts on Facebook and Instagram getting more into the story behind Powers Squared with a link to the Kickstarter rather than just an out-and-out plug. Not sure how well those are going over but I'm planning at least a couple of more before the week is out.

No new queries this week, I sort of lost the will to do one. No new rejections either, which really doesn't mean anything.

More work on fka Skylar. I'm finding that I usually work on it at the end of the week, like today, or the beginning of the week, like Monday. I really wish I could work on it more than I do but something's gotta give.

Well, it's a short one this week. Keep writing and I'll see you again next week.

A Week in Writing #398 - WonderCon 2022/Back the Kickstarter

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

Did something this past weekend that I hadn't done in several months and attended a convention, WonderCon in Anaheim. A little apprehensive about the excursion on a couple of fronts. First, still worried about COVID, but everyone was supposed to be vaccinated and wear masks, though not everyone did the latter. Also, my son Paul was recovering from being under the weather, not COVID, and we weren't sure he was going until the morning of. Even then it took us over two hours to drive down there.

We didn't really stay long or attend any panels, so no news from the front report this time. There were some I wanted to attend but we were late to one and there was a speed-dating type Creators, Assemble! Comics Community Creating Camaraderie that I wasn't really prepared for, plus there was at least one of us who would be left to hang for an hour at the end of the day, so I backed off. I was hoping for more of a networking opportunity and peeking in through the doors it looked more serious than that.

Did make contact with some old friends. It's not a convention unless we run into Gary Teetzel, someone I've probably known for over 20 years. We used to work together at MGM, which he still does though it's now spelled A-M-A-Z-O-N. He is very much a convention goer and it's always great to run into him and catch up.

There were some creators we know, Don Ngyuen, Sean Galloway, Patrick Ballesteros, and Stephen Silver, that we made a point to say hello to. And there was Mr. Comic Creator Connection, Doug Neff, and his husband Corey Rothermel that we try to see at every Con. We're trying to get Doug for our show On the Air with Powers Squared.

Speaking of which, we didn't have one this week, due to Paul being under the weather. We should be a go next week. It's the first time in over two years since we didn't do a show. It was kind of weird to have that time available on a Friday. Didn't really know what to do with myself if you must know.

Our Kickstarter launched on Monday and we're off to an okay start, just shy of 50% of the goal. I had really hoped for a bigger kickoff but I guess we're not big enough for that. Either that or we need images of big-breasted girls on the covers, those books always seem to fund multiple times over. Again, I would appreciate if you're reading this that you support the Kickstarter. It would really mean a lot to me.

I spent a lot of my time posting about the Kickstarter this week but I did find time to query another agent to represent Broken People.

And I did make some good progress on fka Skylar. I'm stlll getting to the chapter I've been thinking about for what seems like months now but I hope to get there this week.

Wrote a review for Trophy Unlocked, Torch Singer (1933), a pre-code Hollywood film starring Claudette Colbert. I had heard about it from the Renee Patrick newsletter. It was a film they liked. Again, not sure when it will appear. Saturday's Morning Review was Trevor's Winnie the Pooh (2011) and GameDay Wednesday's was Paul's review of Aperture Desk Job for PC.

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

A Week in Writing #397 - Kickstarter Delayed But Live Soon

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

I know I did a lot of plugging last week for our Kickstarter and you can imagine my disappointment when it got delayed. There are a couple of reasons for that happening. The official reason is that my co-collaborator on the campaign was sick with COVID. He's supposed to be back in the office tomorrow so that's when we rescheduled it to. The other reason was that Monday is a better day to launch according to our consultant. I wasn't sure we were delaying it until the morning it was supposed to go live. So, I had to quickly cancel a post and a version of our newsletter, The Bark, and write a new one.

I feel kind of bad, having pushed the Kickstarter start date and then have to rescind it but I guess that's what happens sometimes. Again, I'll ask you to support it https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/artithmeric/powers-squared-a-twin-superhero-drama. I'd appreciate your support.

I don't often mention our weekly podcast. Of course, I would want you to listen or watch. This week, we had Steve Bee on the show. It was actually an interview we pre-taped since he's in England. Steve is an interesting guy; a pension expert, he is also a published cartoonist, a comic book creator and co-founder of Artithmeric. Currently, you can listen to it on our website at https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/oaps and watch it at twitch.tv/powerssquared.

I end up doing a lot of social posts, not all of them successful, trying to publicize the comic book and Trophy Unlocked. One of the platforms I use is Pinterest. For some reason, this week, I lost the ability to save Pins. Sort of frustrating to hit save and wait thirty minutes and it's still saving, which means it's not.

I ended up writing two reviews this week, the first for Jingle All the Way (1996) and the other for Nanook of the North (1922). Very different films to say the least. The first was the film we watched on Friday night via Hulu. My sons had been wanting to watch it because it had been mentioned in some videos they had watched. Nanook was something I DVRed a few years ago when it was on TCM. I thought it might be interesting for my sons to see it. As it turns out, it will be celebrating its 100th anniversary this June, and I think that we can publish it on the anniversary of its release.

In other Trophy Unlocked news, the Saturday morning review was Trevor's of The Cat Returns (2002). The Wednesday Game Day review was Paul's review of Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018), a platformer collection from Activision.

I failed this week to send a new query. I had the time but just couldn't find the right agent to send it to. I'm looking for ones who only want a query letter and pages. I'm, for now, trying to avoid online forms and those agents looking for one to two-page synopsis. It really comes down to more things to be worried about. Did I use the right example of a book like mine? Did I summarize the 92,000+ words correctly? They just seem like one more easy way to get thrown into the reject pile as opposed to being judged on the merits of the writing itself. I'll try to get back to it next week.

To wrap it up, I did make progress again on fka Skylar. I'm still getting to the part of the story I've been thinking about for some time now. I'm hoping that I get to it this week so I can move on to other things.

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

A Week in Writing #396 - The Kickstarter is Upon Us

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

Our Kickstarter is just about to start. We're working with Artithmeric.com, a British on-demand publisher, to raise money to have our Graphic Novel translated into French so that it can be sold in Europe as a bande dessinée, or BD. We go live on the 24th, and I hope you, dear reader, will help to support the cause. You can sign up in advance and/or pledge at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/artithmeric/powers-squared-a-twin-superhero-drama. It would really mean a lot to me.

Paul and I did a walkthrough of our Kickstarter on our live twitch.tv video. You can watch it there or wait for it to show up on Wednesday on YouTube.

Needless to say, a lot of my time has been spent on the Kickstarter campaign and trying to get all the social media posts and our newsletter ready to go. I like the idea that you can schedule things to post, which means I don't have to be sitting at this computer when I'm supposed to be sitting at my work computer and still get the message out.

On that topic, tell me if this has ever happened to you. I have a series of social media posts I make every week, which I now schedule through our Go Daddy website powerssquaredcomicbook.com only two of them didn't go, for some reason that was never explained. I hate when that happens, even though that was the first time because time is always tight for me. I don't want to have to redo anything like that if I don't have to.

The Kickstarter has been the only thing I've been working on. I manage to spend a couple of nights with my long-neglected thriller, fka Skylar. I'm happy with actually working on it and making some progress.

And I've sent a new query this week, which sort of negates the rejection I received on Thursday. This was from the agency I queried on March 3rd:

Hi David,

Thank you for querying XXXXXXXXXp. We have read your query and regrettably, your project does not seem like a right fit for our agency.

Thank you again for thinking of us. Please be well.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXX

Surprised to get a response so quickly, and frankly at all these days.

My review of Wife vs. Secretary was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked this week. I started a new one for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) but I'm not terribly far along. The Wednesday Game Day Review was Paul's review of Spyro: Year of the Dragon.

Well, that about does it for me. Please consider supporting our Kickstarter and I'll see you next week.

A Week in Writing #395 - Your Audience is Growing

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

I chose the headline not to be egotistical but because I received an email today from Medium informing me that my audience is growing. Since I haven't posted on the site for several years, I was naturally curious. I used to post this blog on there as well, in hopes of growing my audience but when that wasn't happening and it was extra work, I decided to stop. Well, as it turns out the number of followers I had on Medium peaked at 2 and my audience hadn't grown in two years. I'm surprised it hasn't dropped to zero. Not sure why they sent me that email but I thought it might be appropriate nonetheless.

Big week for me and reviews, I wrote two this week, one which went up today for Turning Red, the Pixar animated coming-of-age fantasy. We watched it on Friday night and I was chosen to review it, which I didn't mind. We finally got back to drain the DVR Saturdays, and we watched and I reviewed A Family Affair (1937), which was the forerunner to the Andy Hardy series of films, starring Mickey Rooney. Not sure when it will post but it was fun to get back to that part of my writing.

On the subject of Trophy Unlocked, in addition to my review today, the Saturday Morning Review was Paul's review of The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which happened to just win the Annie Award. On Wednesday, Game Day, we posted Paul's review of Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, a PS1 platform videogame.

Turning away from reviews, I think we finally ended up in a good place with our Kickstarter. I know I was very down on things last week but for some reason, I think I got practically everything I wanted. Now, it all depends on the execution. I hope you will consider backing it when it comes up later this month. As soon as I have a link, I will, of course, share it here.

Had a nice team meeting on Friday night with Rachel Wells, Julia Canon, Trevor, and Paul. We try to have these once a month as they are a pretty interesting and fun group, and we need content. It goes up later in the week on our YouTube channel or you can listen to it now through our website.

I don't know if I mention this enough here or not but we also do a peek-of-the-week of images from upcoming issues. For the last few weeks and for the next several, we're looking at the evolution of our front and back graphic novel covers. End plug.

This had turned into a busy week, with new pages from Rachel to review and the Kickstarter to look over, but I did manage to do two things, send a new query for Broken People, and work more on fka Skylar, which under the right context might make a good title.

This week, no new rejections but we know that doesn't mean they haven't already passed on it. I keep tweaking things ever so slightly with the query letter, even after my major rewrite of it. I'm still avoiding agents who want an online form and who want a 1-2 page synopsis. The former because they always ask you to compare your work to other works, etc., and the latter because I should probably rewrite mine. I'm also thinking crazy here that I might try to query another book. It's not that I really love punishment and disappointment but I feel a sense of urgency with things these days. Let's get on with it, good or bad.

With fka Skylar, I managed to move to a new chapter and I'm on the cusp of getting to one that I've been thinking about for a long time. I won't get into counts and amounts as they are definitely not impressive.

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

A Week in Writing #394 - Feeling Like I Belong

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

Every so often, I really enjoy having a comic book more than usual. And it's not the sales, but because I get to meet different people than I normally would, people that are also in the same position as we are with Powers Squared. On Saturday afternoon, Paul and I spent a little more than an hour on a live podcast with host Greg Moquin, the SeerNova Podcast or SNP with other creators, Tim Waits, Peter Welmerink, JT Molloy, and Christian Douglas, who like us have indie comic books and have Kickstarters either in progress or pending.

This came the day after hosting Paige Redbird on On the Air with Powers Squared. Even though Paige had colored three issues for us about five years ago, we had never met her until Friday's podcast. She turned out to be an amazing person who had done and is still doing some really interesting things. I was really glad that we were able to reconnect with her, as well as the other creators the next day.

Friday didn't start off so well from a comic book perspective. As I've written here before, we're a few weeks away now from launching a Kickstarter with Artithmeric for Powers Squared. Even though we had, along with our consultant, been making suggestions and asking questions, they seem to have gone down their own path, made their own decisions, and to add insult to injury, sent us a giant long .jpg to review the proposed page. I don't know if you've ever been presented with something like that, but they don't print out. And yes, I probably could have or had someone with better photoshop skills chop it up into bite-sized, printable pieces, but I don't think I should have to do that.

I've since calmed down but my first reaction is that I didn't want to do business with them. I felt ignored and insulted and that's not a great motivator for me. I am waiting for the proper scans to be sent on Monday before I write back but I am not a happy camper. I want this to be a success but I truly was rethinking my involvement with them in the future. There's still time to make things better so I'm still hopeful that the Kickstarter will be a success despite them.

This week, we sent our weekly newsletter to people on our mailing list (which you could join by signing up here). I try to write about twins in media, either creatives or characters. This week, I did Julius and Vincent Benedict. I mention that for two reasons, trying to get people to sign up for our mailing list and as a transition to posts on Trophy Unlocked.

No new review for me this week. We watched The Mitchells vs. The Machines on Saturday night, rather than draining the DVR. Saturday morning's review was Paul's for Free Guy, and Wednesday's Game Day review was another from Paul, Spyro the Dragon.

Did some work earlier in the week on fka Skylar but that lost out to other work later in the week.

And, of course, since everyone wants to know, I did send a new query letter this week. I've continued my research on possible agents and have found several who are no longer agents but were still on various lists I used to put together my list. I guess there will be new ones to replace them.

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