A Week in Writing #200

This week was mostly, though not entirely, about Powers Squared. As confirmation, the next three issues, the story arc With Great Powers Comes Something, Something, Something..., will be published on Wednesday, June 27 on comiXology.com. To that end, we spent part of this past weekend answering some questions for an interview on Freaksugar that should appear on Wednesday. We also edited and posted a video to our YouTube channel and shot another one we'll put up later of Paul, Trevor and I answering Freaksugar's questions. We're also planning to do a Google hangout with our artist, Rachel Wells. So much still to come.

Also, Adventures in Poor Taste is confirmed to run an exclusive preview of issue #3 tentatively on Monday, 6/25 and our good friends at First Comics News is confirmed for review coverage to tentatively run on Wednesday, 6/27.

Okay, now that the shilling has stopped, there was also work done on Powers Squared the project as well. Our artist completed her inks for Issue #7 and we're now moving on to Issue #8, which starts a new story arc, Mathemagical. We're bringing back Dr. Atlas and introducing a new villain, Professor Theorem. Rachel has done some preliminary character design work on her already. We're basing her on alternative rock musician K.Flay, for whom I'm a big fan, as an homage.

We've written the scripts for this story arc and the one to follow, What's In a Name?. I haven't yet started to make revisions on The Imposter, the arc to follow that based on feedback from Paul and Trevor. It's been more a matter of time than any disagreement on making them. In fact, their suggestions should make it better, which as a writer I'm always after.

Rachel has also come back with some comments and suggestions on Mathemagical, all of which are welcomed. We've always meant for the creation of the book to be an interactive process.

On Thursday night, Paul, Trevor and I attended a local gathering, Koffee and Komics at a cafe on Tujunga near Universal City. I had been a member of the group for a couple of years but had never attended one of the functions. It was a small group and the Hankins men do what we do best, sit on the side and talk to one person at a time. We're not great socializers. We did come away with a few ideas, including looking into Printing on Demand for Powers Squared.

We only stayed about an hour and a half as there was work to be done. When I got home I also registered the script for Mathemagical with the WGA, made some updates to files to keep my thumb drive and hard drive in sync.

I also continued editing on Paperback Detective. I've edited through page 436. The next section requires some rewrites, which is why I originally put it aside to finish later.

No new reviews from me this week, though Trophy Unlocked did post Paul's Batman Ninja as our Saturday Morning Review. We are going to work on new ones, including one for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which we saw this afternoon at the Cinerama Dome, so look for that coming soon.

Next week, in addition to seeing our comic book get published, there will be other writing involved, including more rewrites and reviews.

A Week in Writing #199

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that a lot of what goes on revolves around Powers Squared, the comic book my sons and I created several years ago. And I know I've been begging, yes begging, for you to check out us out on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. It's all part of trying to grow our brand and its been a struggle all the way. Organic growth is best, but it is slow and all that work doesn't necessarily end up with increased sales. To that end, we received an accounting update from comiXology this week and we've sold exactly 1 issue in the past two months.

But hopefully, that will change in the very near future. Don't know the details, but we're hopeful that our next release, on June 27th, will be getting more of a push and hopefully, more people will hear about Powers Squared. We're supposed to find out more next week and I will be certain to fill you in here, as well as the other social media outlets I've listed above.

Work continues on the book, as Issue #7 is nearing the end of the art phase and its fairly far along with coloring as well. I'd like to think we'd have the issue ready to go in a couple of months. We've worked out the scripts for the next two issues and we'll probably start working on them next month with the artist.

I'm still giving serious consideration to kickstarting or some other crowdfunding method to help with some of the expenses of the production. Nothing concrete, yet but I'll be sure to let you know if it ever comes to fruition. It's not a make or break issue for the comic book, but it would be a big financial relief to not have to carry it all on my biweekly paychecks.

We posted another video this past week on our YouTube channel, one featuring Paul and Trevor, the co-creators and the basis for Marty and Eli Powers in the comic book. We have more footage, so hopefully, there will be more forthcoming, as well as a chat with our current artist, Rachel Wells, yet to be scheduled.

Finished a review this week for Conflict (1945) and published one on Trophy Unlocked for Buster Keaton's Seven Chances (1925), the latter in honor of Saturday being Buster Keaton Day in Los Angeles. Besides the proclamation, I don't think there was really much else done to commemorate one of the greats of silent film comedies.

Still no word from my editor on Familiar Stranger. Not wanting to let the grass grow under my feet, I decided to re-edit another in the yet to be published J.D. Barrister series of private investigator mysteries. This one is called Paperback Detective. I started working on it on Friday and I'm about 134 pages into editing it. I know there will be needed work at the end of the book, as I decided to change the location, but right now I'm enjoying the work. I'm printing out forty pages at a time and working on it in odd moments during the day.

A Week in Writing #198

Another week spent mostly but not exclusively on Powers Squared.

No new pages from anyone this week which is no big deal, but work was still done on upcoming issues. I finally finished a draft for the script for The Imposter, so after feedback from Paul and Trevor, I'm hoping to put that writing to the side. We would then have three story arcs and seven issues worked out so we should be good for a year or more, based on our rate of production.

Paul and I had a brief conversation with our contact at comiXology on Monday with the promise of more information later in the week but now pushed back to tomorrow, so we'll see. Still sounds like there would be some sort of push for our next few issues that are supposed to be published soon, still don't know exactly when. Again, it is something they control, not us. Hoping to hear something on this coming Monday.

Still working on trying to build some following. Published our third video on our YouTube channel featuring me talking about the comic book the origins and future. You can watch it here: Powers Squared Interview Part 3. Would really appreciate your patronage and would welcome feedback either on the channel or here.

Also posted some images on Instagram, which you can also follow if you choose to: https://www.instagram.com/powerssquaredcomicbook/. Trying to be somewhat active and post every day or so to keep it fresh and interesting.

In other writing, did finish and publish a 2000+ word review of Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets for Trophy Unlocked's Saturday Morning Review. Also this week, we published  Trevor's review of Epic Mickey.

I don't mean for this to turn into selling my brand but that is part of the job of writing. You write hoping someone will read you and the best way to do that is to put yourself out there to be judged. It may not be the noblest of efforts but it is a necessary evil I hate to tell you. I'm not really sure how good I am at it as growth in followers seems slow but you've got to try.

No word again this week from my editor on Familiar Stranger, despite my reaching out to him. Not really concerned since this is sort of typical. He'll get back to me when he's ready not before. Nudging doesn't always mean success I'm afraid.

Hoping this week to finish a review I started of Conflict (1945) for future publication. Also, want to find out when we're being published and what PR effort awaits us. Maybe there will be news from my editor and there will be more rewrites or else I might start a new story. So much potential for the next week.

A Week in Writing #197

It's been a productive week but without any real breakthrough moments. Most of the time has been spent on various aspects of Powers Squared.

We received eight new pages from our artist for Issue #7 and thumbnails for the last four pages of the issue and the cover. Things seem to be moving forward on those. There were some lighting concerns which she diagramed and which we sent to our colorist.

Most of the writing has been on the last two issues of the story arc we're hopefully starting in July. These issues are called The Imposter and come after two other story arcs, Mathmagical and What's in a Name? which are two and three issue arcs respectively.

Just trying to be prepared. It's sometimes hard to keep everything straight. We're trying to do some planning for the upcoming release of With Great Powers Comes Something, Something, Something... which is supposed to be published later this month. BTW, we released the second of our videos about the creation of the comic book. You could be a real hero and take a look at it, here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRntK-uJYZA&feature=youtu.be

And by hero, I mean you could be the first one on your block or any block, for that matter, to take a look. We have one more of me to go, which will probably be next Friday, if you want to wait and binge watch them all.

I think I finally got my cellphone fixed, so I should be getting back to more Instagram as well. I'm having a bit of an issue though, with multiple versions of those posts showing up on the @MartyandEli twitter feed. Hopefully, I've got the right setting on IFTTT, so that doesn't happen again.

Also, as part of the process, we also wrote a press release. We're supposed to have communications with Comixology this week, perhaps Monday, about what they might have prepped, but I thought we should be ready with our own just in case. You might have watched, as we did, their big announcement about Comixology Originals on Twitch on Friday. Big, I meant Epic.

Didn't write any new reviews this week, though we did watch Valerian on Friday night, so there may be something a-coming about that in the near future. Published Trophy Unlocked's Saturday Morning Review of Sky High. You can be a real hero and read that one as well.

No word, so far, from my editor on Familiar Stranger but I'm not worried, at least not yet. Haven't decided what to work on next, sort of dragging my feet until the writing is done on Powers Squared and there is some time.

A Week in Writing #196

Okay, let's start with the things I didn't get completed as that seems like a good place to start:

I haven't finished the review for Crime Wave, though I am about 1200 words into it. I've completed summarizing the movie but its the opinion part I'm struggling with. It has more to do with time than anything else.

I didn't reach out to my editor until this evening, so I have nothing new to report on Familiar Stranger. Hopefully, that's going well.

I haven't started to write a press release for Powers Squared yet. I'll put that to time, too. I wanted to get to a certain place with the scripts before I did that and I haven't gotten there yet, either. Part of the problem for me has been a "dry" spot in one of the scripts that I've been trying to get right.  When I get that done, it's on to trying to write a Press Release.

I started to get back to Instagram but after my first photo, I had phone problems and that stopped me cold. I've gotten it fixed, but it may be a day or two before I'm back at it. Seems the battery is being very slow to charge and quick to drain. Oh, the joys of modern living.

Let's get back to what we have done this week. On Friday, I did publish the first of our videos about Powers Squared on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPAijjRsRXQ&feature=youtu.be. First chance to see me on video.

I'm sure it's me, but the fact that my YouTube account and the rest of my Google apps are under different logins has not been fun. When I tried to update Trophy Unlocked on Saturday morning, I found myself locked out of that blog and this one as well. I managed to figure it out but not without having to redo the password on this Google account. More frustrating than anything else.

Other progress on Powers Squared, include our artist sending us pencils of pages 13-16 of Issue #7, our colorist finishing the first four pages of the same issue and our letterer finishing Issue #6, minus the cover and inner page.

I think we're on target for having the next issue ready to go when needed, which I believe will be July.

It's been a busy week on Trophy Unlocked. On Monday, we published a review of Deadpool 2, on Tuesday there was a review of Early Man on the date it was released on home video. Thursday saw a review for the video game Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality. Our Saturday morning review was another video game, Thimbleweed Park. We got back to the movies today with my review of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Please hope you'll check out the reviews and the video. Let me know what you think in the comments.

A Week in Writing #195

Time this week, like the last few weeks, was mostly spent working on Powers Squared with time for a future review for Trophy Unlocked.

Most of the writing was working on Part 2 of a future story arc and the beginnings of combining Parts 3 and 4 into one for the same story arc, What's in a Name? While it's not the final draft, I feel I got it to at least draft worthy of sharing for feedback. I'm about halfway through with the scripts for the next three story arcs that we've planned out after we finish with Kirby Good and Evil.

On that front, our artist submitted pencils for pages 9 through 12 for Issue #7, the colorist sent the first four pages for the same issue and our letterer, Trevor, submitted 8 lettered pages for Issue #6. Paul and I ran out of time today to review everything, so my apologies if any of our creative team is waiting for us. We'll get to them tomorrow, I promise.

This afternoon got away from us. We went as a family to see Deadpool 2 and after that, the boys shot interviews to be edited down for a future video(s) on Google. Time just got away from us for anything else.

Over the weekend, added some images of locations from various issues of the comic book, including future ones. You can see them at https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/places and they will be distributed on Instagram in the days ahead.

We also heard back this week from Comixology and we'll be talking to them again the first week in June about the publication of the next batch of comic books. After I finish the next script, I'm going to work on a press release since I'm not sure what to expect. The problem will be after writing it, who to send it to, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.

The review I wrote was for Seven Chances and that will appear soon, but this past week was given to the other writers on Trophy Unlocked. Trevor wrote a review for Shrek, which we published on the anniversary of its release this past Friday. Paul wrote what became our Saturday Morning Review of Shrek 2, which was also published on its anniversary.

This next week, I hope to finish the script I'm working on, start work on the Press Release, review all artwork submitted in a timely manner, contact my editor about Familiar Stranger, post the first of the Powers Squared videos on YouTube; and start working on a review for Crime Wave, a film noir I watched on Saturday night.

A Week in Writing #194

Another week working on the next scripts for Powers Squared and writing reviews for Trophy Unlocked. I've put the mystery writing on hold until I get through the comic book scripts. At that point, we should be good for a year or more and I can get back to more in the series I've been writing. If my editor sends back revisions, I'll address those, but in the meantime, that series is on hold for new material.

Spent Saturday night at the Soraya at CSUN listening to one of the more successful writers, David Sedaris, perform. I think that's the right word for it. He read pretty much new things, ones written after he submitted his manuscript for his new book Calypso as well as a commencement speech he's giving at Oberlin College and Conservatory. He also read some excerpts from his current book, Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002) and the follow-up diary book due out in 2020, I believe.

One of the nice things about his "concerts" is that he signs books before and after. I've heard that the after sessions can go on until 1 am, which is frankly later than I would want to stay unless there were refreshments. We were earlier enough to meet him before, which allowed time to autograph the six books I had brought. My favorite of his is "Thanks for making me rich." Am I the only one he wrote that to?

He sort of drove the conversation, asking me if I had any doctors in my family. I happen to have two brothers who are surgeons, which prompted him to ask me if I thought I could operate on someone. "No," was my answer which prompted his question, "What if it was someone you hated?" "If I wanted to kill them."

He did get around to asking about the people I was with, and I introduced my sons and my wife. He asked them what they did and when Paul told him he was working at UCLA Extension's Writing Program, he offered the advice, through the question, "Do you write every day?" to which the answer should be "Yes", which is my roundabout way of sharing this advice with you. During a Q & A session at the end, mostly with the house lights down, someone asked him about writer's block. His advice here was that he had never found a writer who had writer's block and that there was always something to work on, even if it didn't pan out in the end. He said he never thought that it would ever be easy and mentioned that he rewrites some of his essays many times, so don't think you're alone in that process.

As far as my writing goes, I've spent a good deal of time working on the first twenty pages of the next Powers Squared story arc, What's In a Name? Originally this was mapped out at 4 issues so there will be some slogging ahead. After that, is another story arc, The Imposter, so I'll be at this for the foreseeable future.

Our artist delivered pencils for the second set of 8 pages for Issue #7, but we haven't heard anything from her for a few days.

In related news, we finished editing the third of the interview videos I did for Powers Squared, though I'd like to have a release from the interviewer before we put them out, as well as get on with interviewing the boys. Scheduling is always hard with him so hopefully, we can get to it next week. Again, I think I've threatened to let you know when these finally start popping up on YouTube.

Finished the review of Sky High and am about 2800 words into a review of Seven Chances (1925), a Buster Keaton silent comedy, for Trophy Unlocked. On Mother's Day, we went to see Sunset Boulevard (1950) and used that as an excuse to watch Seven Chances, as Keaton does have a small bit in the film, on Friday night. Both reviews should be up in the next few weeks, but this weekend the Saturday Morning Review went to a review of the latest God of War video game. Check it out!

So, the following week is pretty well set, more on What's in a Name? and finishing my review for Seven Chances. Maybe more videos as well. At least that's the plan.