A Week in Writing #489 - Taking a Week Off?

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing. Hope you have a Happy New Year!

I can honestly say that I did less writing this week than I had the week before. While I didn't take the week off, per se, I might as well have. Christmas was Monday and that's followed in my house by Movie Day, in which we watch movies all day. Followed by spending one afternoon putting together a 1000 piece puzzle with my family, some yard work, visiting the zoo today, etc. This week, I pretty much broke up the routine that my life is normally. So, the word count may not be great, it's good to take some time away.

My review of Wonka was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. No new review, but I did write a highlights of 2023 post for the end of the year; all of the reviewers did. Mine is here, Paul's is here and Trevor's is here. They're somewhat similar but still different and their posts deal with video games, while mine is strictly films.

Our podcast this week was about plans for 2024. Our arists Julia Canon joined Paul and me on the show. There are four new issues coming this year, two story arcs: Mission: Istanistan and what's currently called The Parents Come for a Visit (working title). You can listen to it here or watch it on Wednesday on our YouTube Channel.

Work on Issue #26 continues, as our artists has at least sketched out the first 8 pages, with some already approved and inked.

As I alluded to, Skylar didn't get much work this week; nothing did.

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

A Week in Writing #488 - Merry Christmas

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing. And hope you have a Merry Christmas if you celebrate.

As we get close to the end of the year, it always sees like it's time to look back at the year. That's what we did on Friday's On the Air with Powers Squared podcast. Our artist wasn't able to make it, but we had colorist Jen Moreno and letterer, and co-creator, Trevor Hankins came on the show to take a look back at the 4 issues we released and the 60 videos we put out on our YouTube Channel. We are nothing, if not consistent.

The most views we had on a video this year, unaided, was OAPS 213 Eyeshield 21 21th Anniversary with 71. We did 8 book clubs with the one with the most views was OAPS 192 Comic Book Club #7 - Made in Abyss with 41 views. We had three guest interviews on the show with OAPS 204 A Conversation with David Petersen getting the most views with 40.

Powers Squared released four issues this year: Issue #16: "Mocha and Raven Part 1" on March 15; Issue #17: "Mocha and Raven Part 2" on June 14; Issue #18: "Mocha and Raven Part 3" on Sept 6; and Issue #19: "Kamaitachi" released on December 6. All are available in digital and print through The Campus Store.

Speaking of Powers Squared, we finished work on Issue #23 and saw the first pages come into their own for Issue #26.

For Trophy Unlocked, the Saturday Morning Review was our last for the holiday season, my review of  Lady on a Train. This week, I also wrote two future reviews for the blog. One, Hell's Heroes (1929), which I watched on my laptop, will probably wait until next Christmas and the other, Wonka (2023), which I watched in a theater, will be coming out next week.

My big hope this week was to work more on Skylar. On that, I failed to get much done. I did decide to remove a section from this book and add it to the next one I've already started. If it makes sense, the situation in the next book, still unnamed, fits better. Well, that's no excuse, but it does show I'm at least thinking about it.

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

A Week in Writing #487 - Here Come the Holidays, Ready or Not

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

Christmas is almost upon us, and, if you're like me, you let yourself listen to holiday music and watch Christmas films. We did that this past Friday, and watched a film that gets listed on some drive-by Christmas film lists, You've Got Mail.  I won't spoil how I felt about it, but I did just finish a review of it for Trophy Unlocked. It might be considered a holiday film since it came out on December 18, 1998, even though the holiday only gets a passing reference. Well, you'll have to wait for my review but you can read my review of Fitzwilly (1967), which went up on Saturday morning.

Our Friday On the Air with Powers Squared was supposed to feature an interview with a comic book creator in Australia, someone we've had on the show five times previously, but he cancelled on us on Thursday. Instead, we shifted to The Last Kids on Earth, the TV series, which we had just finished watching, not on Netflix but on these things called DVDs. You can listen to our discussion here or watch it on Wednesday when it goes up on YouTube.

Did receive new pages for Powers Squared this week; three instead of four, but you got to count what you have. I had done some rather bad thumbnails for the pages, which the artist did a pretty good job of adapting. This is the beginning of Issue #26, which I wrote. It's called The Great Escape. And if all goes well, we're talking 2025 before anyone will probably see it. Talk about planning ahead.

I will admit I'm a little more frustrated with the progress of the books, which seem to be more hit and miss from art to lettering. I got spoiled when 8 pages a month was almost an automatic. Now, it takes more patience to get what we can get. I'm really not a patient person by nature. Read into that what you will.

I did have some time this past week to work on Skylar. I'm just getting to a new patch in the story. But it's too soon to get into word counts, as that number really hasn't changed much yet. But if you push me, it's north of 68,000 but short of where it needs to get. I will say that I'm enjoying working on it more and hope with time off from work, I'll be able to work on it when I'm fully awake, rather than trying to squeeze it in after dinner and before bed every night. But with the holidays, plans can go out the window.

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

A Week in Writing #486 - New Issue Out

Hope everyne is staying, and, of course, writing.

Well, the big news this week was the new issue of Powers Squared that was released on Wednesday. Written by Paul, with very little help for me, "Kamaitachi" tells the story of three yokai who ride in on the wind to attack Marty, Eli and their friends on the campus of San Romero Community College. The issue received a good review from Richard Vasseur, who wrote, "This is a great all-ages comic about heroes." The credit goes to the writer and the artwork; one of our best reviewed efforts. You can read the review here. If you like what you read, you can purchase it at one of several platforms, which you can find at The Canpus Store.

My part in this was to get some publicity for the issue, so we did get with an article in First Comics News, which has been very supportive of Powers Squared, and the promise of being included in a holiday guide, though I haven't seen it yet. I'll let you know if it does happen.

No new review this week from me, as we rewatched A Charlie Brown Christmas, which happened to also be the Saturday morning review on Trophy Unlocked and as it turns out on the same day it was first released in 1965. It's nice when those things work out. More on Christmas movies in a minute. Trophy Unlocked was busy this week with three reviews related to the first trilogy of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise. Paul got it started with Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010) on Monday, followed by Trevor's review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011) on Wednesday and ending with Paul's review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012).

Back to Christmas movies, the drive-by variety was the focus of Friday's On the Air with Powers Squared podcast. Many, but not all, have been reviewed on Trophy Unlocked and are available in the Christmas Review Hub, If you're curious what films we talked about, you can listen here now or watch it here on Wednesday. Maybe you have a favorite drive by Christmas film; let us hear from you.

Well, that does mean that I was able to spend some real time working on Skylar, the oft overlooked novel that I've been working on through most of 2023. I'm still editing what I had previously written, and hopefully making it better, but it's too soon to talk word count or anything like that.

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

A Week in Writing #485 - A Surprisingly Hard Week

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

Let me start off with a plug, the next issue of Powers Squared, #19 "Kamaitachi", is coming out on Wednesday, December 6. It will be available in print and digital and can be ordered through The Campus Store on our website. Now back to the usual blog post.

Not one of my more productive weeks and Powers Squared is to blame. I don't mean anyone in particular connected with the project but my own struggles to get something done. As I had written previously, we're going to be working with LibraryPass next year and I wanted to put togther a new trade for them to have.

I thought it would be mostly putting together some pages from previous issues. The trade ended up being over 80 pages and a certain number of the pages ended up having to be re-sized and then edited and then put back together. What I thought would take a night took multiple nights to get done. And there's not a lot I could do while waitng for the trade to process. My goal was to have it done by the beginning of December and I did manage to get to them on Friday, December 1, but it took way longer than I had anticipated.

That cut into other things I wanted to get done, like sending out a press release for out next issue, which drops on December 6. I had already decided to change up my distribution of releases. Rather than trying to hit up a bunch of sites, most of which ignore that I send, I decided to instead just concentrate on the few that have ever published them or anything about Powers Squared. And I decided it was all-right to wait until closer to release. It seemed to have worked, as First Comics News posted, read the story here, and another wants to include the issue in the Christmas gift guide.

As part of the release of the new issue, our On the Air with Powers Squared  podcast was a preview of the issue, which we called Issue #19 Hype. You can listen to it here now and/or watch it here on Wednesday.

With today being the first Sunday of the month, it was time for the next newsletter The Hound Dogs' Howl. These aren't too hard to put together but there are always issues like misplaced links, which I can only discover when I send myself a test email, which is usually the last thing I do before sending it out. Would love it if you would sign up for the newsletter by enrolling at SRCC (it is free).

To add to the fun, I'm still working on the last review I was writing last week for Trophy Unlocked. The blog kicked off Christmas month with a look at Elf, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, on Saturday. Last week also saw reviews of both Good Burger and Good Burger 2, written by Paul and Trevor respectively.

While I did open Skylar, that was about all I did with it.

So, my goals for next week are to hype the new release, finish my review of Abandoned and work more on Skylar.

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

A Week in Writing #484 - The Thanksgiving Hole

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

If you're like me, you spent a good portion of the Thanksgiving holiday travelling. For me it was two days, Thursday and Friday with about 14 hours behind the wheel. While it's nice to spend time with family, the holiday leaves a hole in the week in writing that really can't be filled. Which is my way to introduce this blog where not much happened.

I'll start with our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. We weren't sure we'd be back in time on Friday to do it live and if we were would we feel like doing one. So, to fill the void, we pre-recorded one, just Paul, Trevor and myself, discussing the Japanese drama series Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan and the feature film Rohan at the Louvre. Our artrist, Julia Canon, was nice enough to post it for us. As always, you can listen to it now here or watch it on Wednesday after 2:30 pm here. The choice is yours.

Next week, a new issue of Powers Squared drops. Issue #19, "Kamaitachi", written primarily by Paul with my assist. Of course, I'd appreciate it if you would check it out. It will be available in print and digital, all of which you can find in The Campus Store, where the Hound Dogs shop. It's the site for links to all our publications and merch, so I would encourage you to check it out.

I still have a lot of work to do between now and then. I need to send out a press release for the book. I usually send it out to several outlets and, of course, am ignored by them. I'm just going to send it this time to the few that have actually published it or have published something about Powers Squared. That way I'm not so disappointed.

Still waiting to hear from San Diego Comic-Con about our professional renewal. We're still within the window for hearing back but I'd rather have it settled. I believe we qualify so I'll give it a few more weeks before I out-and-out panic. I'm also trying to find out about tabling at WonderCon and SDCC, as it appears to be the time. More waiting ahead for me and for us.

For Trophy Unlocked, my review of Three Strangers appeared as the Saturday Morning Review, ending the short celebration of Noirvember on the blog. We're now turning our attention to Christmas. No shortage of reviews for that holiday, so stayed tuned. I'm also working on a new review of Abandoned (1949); don't expect it to appear this year but want to get it done.

As usual, more progress but not as much as I'd like on Skylar.

For the coming week, besides the press release, I have the newsletter to complete, a review to complete and hopefully, the next trade to complete; it's close. Well, more about in the next blog.

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

A Week in Writing #483 - A Week Behind the Scenes

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

I felt like this was a week for doing other things related to writing, but not the craft itself. Some weeks are just like that.

There was a lot of behind the scenes things to do and mostly with Powers Squared, what else is new?

I've been trying to do three things at once for the book. Our former artist, Rachel Wells, had been working on a project for me which finally came to fruition this week, a seal for San Romero Community College, the location for the comic book. It had started out as a different project, a diploma for the schoool. On that, she had put a seal for the school, which got me to thinking. On the website, we've been using an edited ad for The Campus Store as the logo for the school itself, but it really should have its own.

There was some back and forth as we discussed ideas. Sort of loosely based on several that we found on the internet, including CSUN's, where Paul and Trevor attended, and SCAD, which is Rachel's alma mater, we decided to break the seal down into certain quadrants to represent the school, including the mascot, the English building (the oldest building on campus), academics, represented by a quill and parchment, and wheat fields, representing the old farm the school sits on. Then there were the colors to use, which should be school colors. Anyway, the seal came out pretty good:

You can read the story behind the seal and a short history of San Romero Community College on the website.

With the comic book, we're not only gearing up for a release of the next issue, #19 "Kamaitachi", on December 6, but also with the second trade for the book, which I'm hoping to launch initially on Library Pass next year. With that, it was getting the colors right for the cover and now it's getting the credits page updated. Jen Moreno, our colorist, handled the cover for me and did a really good job, but you'll have to wait to find out.

One of the background duties that I hadn't realized hadn't been done was getting the new issue up on Kindle and GlobalComix. But the issue will be up on both and is currently available for pre-ordering on Kindle. 

Speaking of Kindle, I've been reading about the demise of ComiXology, to which I have to say good riddance. While I was initially happy to be available on the platform, I'm not sure if it was really worth it as I think our launch was botched by the site. We stopped submitting to them several issues ago and started with Kindle since we figured that was where it was going; not that we've made anything from that site either. But hey, who's bitter?

If it's not one thing it's another. The next issue we're going to work on, #26, has a lot of yokai and I asked our current artist, Julia Canon, to do some character designs for the project, which she did this week as well. Work should start on that pretty soon, though we are coming into the holidays, so I'm sure schedules will get messed with.

Our podcast this week, was an early Monthly Team Meeting with Julia and Jen, along with Trevor, on OAPS. You can listen here and/or watch it here on Wednesday afternoon on.

I also started working this weekend on the next Hound Dog's Howl, our monthly newsletter. I had some free time, so why not get started on it?

For Trophy Unlocked, I completed the review I was doing for Coquette and wrote a new one for The Red Badge of Courage (1951), don't know when either will appear. Wedneday was Trevor's review of TY the Tasmanian Tiger 4: Bush Rescue Returns and on Saturday we took a pause from Noirvember to celebrate the 35th anniversary of The Land Before Time with a review also written by Trevor.

All that didn't leave much time for Skylar, though I did do some minor work on it. The desire is there, it is just time which is always in short supply.

Next week is Thanksgiving, so I want to make sure to wish everyone a Happy and Safe day, especially if you're travelling. And, of course, that will impact my output, so understand when next's weeks post might seem short.

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