A Week in Writing #465 - Blame This Week on Me

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

Every Sunday I sit down at my computer and try to think of what I've done or, more likely the case, haven't done to move my writing career, if you can call it that, forward. This week seems to be the case of the haven't dones and didn't dos.

As an example, I didn't send out a query again this week. I'm not sure why this time but I'm sure if I really think hard I could come up with a really great excuse. But in reality, there isn't one. I failed, even though I promised I would. Forgive me?

Not much to report on the Powers Squared front except to say that our Friday On the Air with Powers Squared was our 200th. We got a badge from PodBean to prove it. As monumental as that is, showing I guess what could be called stick-to-itiveness, we didn't really celebrate it on the show. Instead, we did the show about our expectations for next week's San Diego Comic-Con. As you're no doubt aware there are strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA that will have an impact but there is really a lot of stuff to see and do. I will, of course, be reporting all this next Monday in a Report from the Front. That's right, no blog post on Sunday. I'll just be happy to have made it home by then.

I should take a moment hear to mention all the hard work that does go into the podcast and want to thank my son Paul, who has co-hosted from the beginning. I don't think it would ever make it air without him. Trevor has been a frequent guest, but Paul has been the mainstay.

We've had some great guests on, including many from our creative team include Rachel Wells, Julia Canon and the recent addition of Jen Moreno. One thing I've enjoyed is meeting other creators and people in the industry and we look forward to having more people like that on the show. And, of course, the people that listen, download and/or watch the show are really the best. It's those who keep us doing it.

Found out that our colorist is streaming her work on the book on twitch. I don't know if there's a schedule but you can check it out at https://www.twitch.tv/kskart. And there is a link on the SRCC page on the website.

I also wrote out some concepts for possible episodes for a Powers Squared show. But I'm waiting to hear back on the script before geting too excited. I figure that feedback isn't coming until after Comic-Con. Everything else sort of stops until after that's over. Right now this is an exercise in the what could be not the what is.

The Saturday Morning Review this week on Trophy Unlocked was mine for Snowglobe, a 2007 TV Movie that starred Christina Milian. Blame it on Hallmark, who invented the concept of Chirstmas in July, which is why we selected this Christmas film to feature. Next week, we're continunig with another Milian Christmas-starrer, A Snow Globe Christmas.

I'm working on a review now for Murder in a Private Car (1934). This was a more recent addition to the DVR so it was all actually still there. As always, not sure when it will appear on the blog.

To continue with the didn't dos for the week, I didn't write anymore on Skylar, but I did work a couple of nights on the new story idea.

Okay, the next week doesn't promise to be productive as far as the word count goes. After Tuesday, I'll be at the Con and writing doesn't fit in considering the schedule.

So, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you next on the 24th.

A Week in Writing #464 - Blame the Fireworks

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

I can't say that this was a banner week for me. Maybe it was the holiday, but I don't think I ever got this week fully off the ground.

Tuesday evening had a lot of promise but blame fireworks for what didn't happen. On that night, about a dozen of teenagers/young adults descended on our neighborhood and took over the intersection a house down from mine. To make a long story short, things got out of hand and the police were called. I'll admit I was surprised at the response, but about five cars showed up.

A couple of the culprits tried to hide out next to one of our neighbor's houses. One neighbor, whose involvement prompted me to call, had video of the shennigans but it took up most of the evening and I didn't get back to writing, as it was already a quarter to 11, which is about the time I'm wrapping things up.

As for the rest of the week, I don't think I have all that much to show for it. I didn't even send out a new query this week, just to show you what it was like for me. I keep getting a late start and never get anything done. I did research some potential agents but by the time I was ready to send something, it was already after 11 and I wasn't up to it.

I also didn't do a review this week. Oh, I wanted to and we were all watching The Woman on the Beach, but even though there was about half an hour to go on the recording, it stopped at about 48 minutes in. And, though I looked, the film wasn't available anywhere to stream; another damnation of the streaming present: Not all films are available to watch. Granted the recording was pretty old, 2015, but I guess I assumed it would still play. I'm wondering now about even older recordings I've been saving. They're probably junk as well. If that's true then draining the DVR won't take as long as I once feared.

Trophy Unlocked didn't wait for me though, and there was a new review out on Saturday morning, Paul's for An American Tail.

Spent a good deal of time the last few days on SDCC, which opens in about ten days. Everyday since Thursday, they've been releasing their program schedule for that day. I'm looking for panels that will "educate" me about whatever it is I'm doing, but I'm sure there are ones I've missed, it's the same thing every year. The other thing about a schedule is that there are always compromises that have to be made as you go along so everything I've earmarked will not come to fruition for me, that's just how it is. Unfortunately, there can be two programs at the same time and I can't be in two places at once. And sometimes, they're too far away (Library) to make it to the next one, etc. As always, I'll write a Report from the Front the Monday I get back.

I look forward to going every year, though I still like I'm a spectator and not really a part of it. I really want to change that and am hoping to make next year the breakthrough year. The only "major" con left this year is LA Comic Con, but it comes at that very awkward time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so attending it is problematic for me. We'll see.

We had a fairly good conversation with the creatives on Powers Squared about A.I. in Media on our podcast on Friday. You can listen to it now at https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/oaps or watch it on Wednesday evening (after 2:30 pm PT) here: https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/videos. It's a link to the YouTube channel on our website.

Next week, we'll be talking about Comic Con at 6 pm PT @twitch.tv/powerssquared and the week after (same time same channel) the women of Powers Squared will be doing the show without us. Those have been some of my favorite shows in the past.

The one thing I think I did do was finish a first draft of the Pilot script. A first draft for me includes several edits but I'm think I'm ready to share. I think it's pretty good, but I'm a bad judge. I'm sure there are things that still need to be fixed with it.

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

A Week in Writing #463 - Pilot Scripts and Newsletters

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

My writing this week took a different bent. I started working again on the pilot script for our proposed series based on Powers Squared. It's something that we've been kicking around for a while now and I finally got back into it. If your curious, there are some subtle changes between the origins of the story in the comic book and what will be in the pilot. I won't go into details but the same basic story will get told but in a slightly different way based on some feedback we've gotten on the idea. I had been trying to work on one scene a night so I'm only about three into it. This is a first draft, mostly for myself, so it won't be the one that sees the light of day.

Just in case anyone thinks differently, I am not a member of the WGA nor am I trying to show this to anyone prior to the end of the current strike. This is, at this point, for myself and Powers Squared. I support the aim of the strike and want all writers to get fair pay and compensation.

To cover it, while I did some work on my new idea, I didn't, this week, work on Skylar. It was more down to time and what I spent it on, which was the script.

Our latest newsletter came out this morning with the usual news about Powers Squared. If you're interested in reading The Hound Dogs' Howl, I encourage you to join the mailing list by enrolling here: https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/srcc. For those of you unfamiliar with it, SRCC stands for San Romero Community College, which is where the story is based. In order to get on the mailing list, you enroll at the school. SRCC is not a real school and there are no fees attached with enrolling. All "classes", such as there are, are free. The only thing that costs are the books and merch. End of ad.

There is currently some momentum on the new issue as our artist dropped the last four pages of the month and has already made the edits Trevor requested. It is his story after all. We're about a month away from starting on its companion issue, written by Paul.

I'm also thinking seriously about a new Kickstarter next year, promoting these new issues as well as a new trade of issues 6 through 9. Stay tuned for that.

No new review for me this week. We ended up watching a movie we had seen before, thanks to my confusion. I had originally written the review for Their Own Desire back in 2019, but it hadn't yet been published. I must have forgotten the title and when looking ahead at TCM last week, the logline sounded more salacious pre-code than I remembered. But seeing it again did help me with putting the photos I'd downloaded with the story, so it is now at least in draft form on the blog.

Three new reviews on Trophy Unlocked this week, though none of them mine. Monday started off with Paul's review of Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, which has proven a very popular post with over 100 hits so far. Wednesday's Game Day review was Trevor's for We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie and the Saturday Morning Review was Paul's for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, an MCU title we did not see in a theater.

One new query this week to round out the checklist and I DNR'd a couple that have spoiled on the shelf. They're the "No Word means 'No'" sort of agencies.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you again next week. And, have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July.

A Week in Writing #462 - And the Rejections Keep Coming

 

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

In not so good news, the rejections keep coming. 

Received this one on Thursday, which was nice but I had already DNR'd the request since I had sent the query in January and they had a six week turn around. So, that took some of the sting out of receiving the official notification five months later:

Dear David,

 

Thank you for your interest in our agency. We have reviewed the material you sent regarding your manuscript and are sorry to report to you that we will not ask to consider the work for representation.

 

Please understand that we are a small agency and take on very few new clients. With limited time and personnel, we've learned to trust our instincts about whether there would be a good fit between a particular writer and us. We certainly recognize that we might well be passing up a good opportunity.

 

We wish you the best of luck in placing this with another agent and ultimately, a publisher.

 

Sincerely,

While I was at it, I decided to DNR another one that I had sent on 3/30. It had apparently gone past their response time, too, so I took it as a pass. But maybe it a few months I'll hear it officially.

On the subject of rejections, I mean queries, I sent another out on Thuirsday. This one was interesting as the agent want page, synopsis and then the query letter, in that order. I sort of had to try, since that was so different. So far, no rejection yet.

My review of The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. The Wednesday Game Day review as Trevor's for Katamari Damacy Reroll (PS4). I'm currently working on a review of Bombshell (1933), the Jean Harlow starrer.

It's sort of been quiet on the Powers Squared  front. Our artist had a family crisis and has been pulled away for the time being, so new pages for our new colorist to work on. Hopefully, the pages are coming soon but family does come first.

I decided to make some updates to the website and especially the page on SRCC (San Romero Community College). I'm trying to update the class list on the page, so it's a WIP as they say. I'll be sure to let you know when it's safe to look.

I also worked on the newsletter for next Sunday, today. Not hard work but there is stuff to do to get it ready.

Our latest podcast was our comic book club, our 9th meeting, discussing the Bernie Krigstein book, Master Race. It supposed to be a very influential comic book and if you watch the video, there's a link to where you can read it for free. It goes up on Wednesday on YouTube.

In the meantime, we put up the fifth and final taste test video on Sunday, Multiflavor Blowout | Taste Test #5. It was recorded in February but with summer approaching, I thought it might be  helpful on what to drink and which ones to avoid.

This might be a good place to come clean about something I did. When we put up the video OAPS #195 Issue #17 Preview I paid someone to boost it. I have boosted previous videos on Facebook but my hope was that since it was basically a commercial for the issue boosting it might lead to more readers. I don't believe there were necessarily bots involved but we hit an abnormally high views (1K). I didn't clear this with the others involved, especially my son Paul, who is my co-host on the podcast. In the long run, I don't think there was any real harm done but I don't think it necessarily led to more readers. I want to apologize here for my actions. My intentions might have good but it was not a good thing to have done.

More writing on Skylar but I'm sort of in limbo at the moment. I did have the opening idea for the next book, so I've written about 2300 words since Friday.

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

A Week in Writing #461 - Quick Turn Around

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing. And, hey Happy Father's Day to everyone that applies to.

Well, I got one of the quickest turn arounds on a query this week. This was an agency that just wants a letter, so I sent one on Thursday night at 10:32 pm PT. And less that 14 hours later, I received this following rejection at 12:10 pm the next day:

Dear David . . . Thank you for your query for BROKEN PEOPLE. Unfortunately, I'm unable at this time to consider representation, but I wish you the best with your project.

Short and not so sweet from my perspective but at least it's definitive. I will say I've had one rejection sent even quicker like first thing the next morning but this is pretty quick. Of course, nothing to be learned from the experience except the agent is quick.

Moving on -

This past week saw the release of Issue #17 of Powers Squared: Mocha and Raven, Part 2. If you've never done a comic book, there is a lot of work that goes into one and you really want people to read it. Still waiting for it all to someday pay off. We' re half way through with our releases for this year with the next one, which ends the story arc comes out in September.

This morning marked a new round of peek-of-the-weeks for that issue. It's a weekly feature on the website, Instagram and Pinterest. I try to spotlight one panel or image and show its progression from thumbnail to finished work.

I would say we introduced our new colorist, Jen Moreno, on our Friday podcast, but it was more like we met her for the first time. You can listen here or wait until Wednesday to watch it on YouTube.

Adding her to the group reminded me that the SRCC page on the website needs some updating. We're trying to, in a small way, emulate a college catalog so we need to update courses and professors to go along with our new creative team. I have ideas but I want everyone to agree before I implement anything.

Getting some work in on the books. Trevor finished work on Issue #22 and Julia's turning in pages for Issue #24. Since its Trevor's script, we're giving him final approval over the art.

Finished another draft of the Pilot script outline and waiting for feedback. I'd like to work on this project this summer.

Wrote a new review for Trophy Unlocked, this time about The Flash. We squeezed in a showing of it at 2 o'clock on Friday afternoon and I wrote the review that night with some more wide-eyed edits the next morning. It was my idea to go so I thought I should write the review. The post went up on Sunday. 

I was all set to write another one, this time for Armored Car Robbery, part of the drain the DVR, but the recording ended before the movie was over, so I haven't seen  how it ended, so that's one for a later time.

Busy week on the blog with five reviews coutning mine for The Flash. There were three game reviews by Trevor all from the same series Bluehills County Stories: Parsnip (on Monday), The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith (on Wednesday), and Three Lesbians in a Barrow (on Friday). The Saturday Morning review was Paul's review of Ratatouille; sort of our way to acknowledge that Pixar has put out a new movie, but one we're not planning to see in a theater.

All that and some work in the early part of the week on Skylar; finished a chapter but thinking about where to go next with the story.

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

A Week in Writing #460 - New Issue Dropping

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

This is really a week that Powers Squared has dominated. We have a new issue dropping next Wednesday, Issue #17 Mocha and Raven, Part 2, so I've been busy with that project this week. I sent out a press release to about a dozen outlets and as far as I know, the only one to post it was First Comic News, which has been friendly to us since the beginning. With a few exceptions, they've been our main outlet in the comic news forum and they've also reviewed all of our issues. The latest review came out this week. You can read it here if you want. It wasn't quite as positive as I would have liked, but beggars can't be choosers, I think the saying goes.

There's also been the fun of getting a correction page submitted for this issue. While we can control what's on GlobalComix and Kindle, the other plaforms are not the same. We managed to get Artithmeric, our British-based platform, on board but I'm not sure about IndyPlanet. My panicked messages, I don't believe, have been answered, so while it may very well appear on their site on the right date, I don't know if it will have the corrected page or not.

We're also onboarding a new colorist, Jen Moreno, whom we plan to introduce on our show next Friday. Our artist, Julia Canon, has been helping getting her onto our Discord group and attached to our Dropbox. I was also trying to make available to her the 17 issues we've released, so I had the pleasure of making new .pdfs of some of the older ones that we've updated since. Not hard work, but time consuming nonetheless. But it had to be done.

Our OAPS podcast this past Friday was all about the book, with Rachel Wells and Julia Canon joining Trevor, Paul and myself to discuss. The idea is that the video of our show will drop on the same day as the issue, Wednesday. If you can wait, you can watch it here on Wednesday.

In the meantime, we released the fourth Galco's taste test video. In this one, Paul reviews some Japanese drinks that we bought there. That's up now and available on our YouTube channel.

Trophy Unlocked was particularly busy this week with four, starting with Trevor's second look at Transformers: Age of Extinction on Monday and his second look at Transformers: The Last Knight on Wedneday. Both were our way of leading up to Thursday's was his review of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the new film which we saw at a preview on Wednesday night. Number four was a major change of direction; the Saturday morning review was mine of Julie & Julia (2009).

I've written a new review this weekend for One Way Passage (1932), a William Powell - Kay Francis pre-code comedy/drama. Part of draining the DVR with no date set for when it will be released.

No new rejections, at least that I've been made aware of, this week and I did send out a new query per the schedule on Thursday.

While Wednesday was fun, it's all about time as that night was pretty much gone by the time we got home. Not that I didn't enjoy the film and being out with the family, but there are only so many hours in the day and something has to give. I'm sorry to report that Skylar is what got squeezed out; sorry.

Next week, besides Skylar, I want to get back to the pilot outline. But, of course, there will be a lot of updates to the website and social media posts during the week leading up to the release of "Mocha and Raven, Part 2".

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

A Week in Writing #459 - A Pretty Busy Week

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

A lot happened this week, so, let's get to it.

I guess the big news is that we hired a new colorist for Powers Squared. Our current artist, Julia Canon, was handling both the art and the coloring, which proved to be too much. She suggested three people that she had worked with before who were possibly intersted in the position. I sent them a test, a page from a future issue and gave them ten days to complete it. Two did and on Friday's OAPS, we sat down with Julia, Rachel and Trevor to decide which of the two to go with or if we would still need to keep looking.

Well, the group voted and we chose Jennifer Moreno as the fifth colorist on the book. Actually, she's the sixth but that's a tale for another time. We're going to introduce her on our June 16th OAPS, but you're among the first to know.

I also wrote the Powers Squared newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, this week and sent that out this morning. Since it's a wrap up the month of May and the hiring took place in June, the new hire isn't mentioned but will be featured next month. I've given up asking you to sign up for it, as that doesn't seem to work.

We are having a new release on June 14th, Mocha and Raven, Part 2, our 17th issue. You can find where to buy it at The Campus Store, if you're so inclined.

For Trophy Unlocked, I wrote a 2000+ word review today for Anna Karenina (1935). Don't know when it will be published. Busy week on that blog with Paul's review today of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, a movie we watched at 9 am on Saturday.

The Saturday morning review, was mine for Five Star Final. And if that wasn't enough, there was a Wednesday is Game Day review of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake written by Trevor.

What would a busy week be without news on the query front, and, well, bad news at that. I didn't have to wait long this time. The query I sent on May 25 was answered on May 30th. Not suprisingly, the answer was "no".

Thank you for your query letter.

I'm sorry not to offer to read more of your work or offer to represent you, but it doesn't sound like a good fit for my list.

Publishing is very subjective, and this is just one opinion. I encourage you to get other opinions.

Best of luck in all that you pursue.

It's always appreciated when they tell you "no" and not make you guess. That said, I sent another one out.

And let's not forget about Skylar, I actually did about 1000 words on that as well this week. Can't not work on it.

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