A Week in Writing #423 - But It's My Birthday!

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

Yes, it is my birthday today just so we get that out of the way.

I know that I've complained here a lot about sending off queries and never hearing back. Well, I had the exact opposite of that this week with my rejection coming back within 8 hours. I sent my query for Broken People  at 10:38 pm on Thursday night and at 6:49 am, received the following:

Thank you, but this doesn't sound right for me.

I wish you the best,

I'm both impressed and disappointed but in record time. Not that I'm counting, but 8 hours and 11 minutes has to be some sort of record for rejection. Fortunately, it was only based on my standard query letter and not on the writing itself. My guess is there's a certain amount of churn going on. So, I'll say I am grateful to find out so soon.

If you were listening on Friday night, you no doubt know that we announced release dates for the next two issues of Powers Squared: October 19th for Issue #14, The Imposter Part 2; and December 7th for Issue #15 How They Met. Oh, what, you didn't listen? Well, now you know. Your patronage would be greatly appreciated. If you care to watch, we do an unboxing as well, it will be up on Wednesday at 2:30 pm on our YouTube channel.

Minor progress this week on pretty much everything. For some reason, schedules being what they are, I'm only getting about an hour to an hour and a half of writing time in. And I'm finding that I'm pretty useless by the end of them. I know sleep is important but it really interferes with getting things done. And the fun part is that no matter how tired I am while sitting at my computer, getting to sleep in a bed can take up to an hour.

I don't normally talk about what I'm reading but it's an interesting and entertaining history of Chateau Marmont, The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont by Shawn Levy. I've been aware of, but have never gone inside, the Chateau and, given the nightly rate of over $1300, I don't think I will be anytime soon. My fascination with the place started when I used it as a location in a book I've written, and which is still unpublished, Public and Private. At the time, I was just looking for a floorplan of one of the rooms to use. 

The Chateau came up again on The Offer, which we watched on Paramount+. Supposedly, Al Ruddy's wife was the owner. Even though the book was written in 2019, it dispelled that. Her former husband did own it but it appears he sold it before he married her. She's only a footnote in the book. When I saw the book at Barnes and Noble, finding that out was one of my reasons for wanting to read it.

Finished a review of Men Are Such Fools, a romantic comedy from 1938. The reason I wanted to watch it was for Humphrey Bogart, who is third-billed but really not a factor. I would suggest reading the review when it's published rather than watching the movie.

Batman Month concluded on Trophy Unlocked on Saturday with Trevor's review of The Batman vs. Dracula. The Wednesday Game Day review was Paul's for Hitman GO: Definitive Edition.

Final pages for Powers Squared Issue #22 are being worked on as you read this but that's about all there is to report on that.

And again, minimal progress on fka Skylar see above for my explanation.

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

A Week in Writing #422 - Working During the Game

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

Another Sunday, and time to recount the past week.

Let's start with querying. I had to DNR another one this week. I sent another one for Broken People, another one that doesn't require a synopsis. I haven't had a chance to get back to the synopsis I'm working on. I've noticed that the agents' requirements are all over the place. Some only want a paragraph in the query letter, some want a page-long synopsis, and others want one that is two to three pages in length. I'm still working on the 2-3 page version.

On to the actual writing on fka Skylar. I've been working on the next chapter this week, on the two days I've had a chance to work on it. I hate the slow work on it. But I think I have the next chapter ready to go, I just need to get to it. That's sort of the process I go through when writing, especially these books. I always know where I want to go it's the getting there that's part of the "fun".

Not a whole lot new to report on Powers Squared. There is always something to do, even if there aren't new pages to review. We did approve some character designs, Marty and Eli's parents, as they appear in the issue we're working on with our artist. Hopefully, the rest of the pages for the issue will follow. However, I'm not counting on that, as our artist is apparently moving at the end of the month.

I did do some work today, while watching the game, on the newsletter as the turnaround will be tight at the end of the month for me. More on that later but I thought it best to do some preliminary work on it now rather than try to squeeze it all in. I try to do a profile on twins, real or fictitious. This month, I decided to write about Tim and Jim Possible from the TV series Kim Possible. We're sort of doing a survey of the series during meals, which means we're not watching every episode. Just became aware there were twin characters in the show, so took the opportunity to feature them. If you're curious about the newsletter, enroll today here.

We had our second Comic Book Club meeting on our OAPS podcast on Friday. This time it was Blacksad, the noir comic series created by Spanish authors Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist). You can listen to it now on our website or several other platforms the podcast appears on. If you wait until Wednesday, you can watch it on our YouTube Channel. Next time it will be Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe, so read ahead and join us in November when we do it. Comments are always welcomed.

Wrote a new review for Trophy Unlocked this weekend, Pinocchio (1940). I sort of jumped on this one, since we watched both the animated feature and the new live-action one on Disney+. Trevor wrote that review. I'm not sure when these will appear. We might batch it up with a review of Guillermo del Toro's version, which is due out later this year.

My review of The Batman was the Saturday Morning Review on the blog; again part of Batman month on the blog. The Wednesday Game Day review was Trevor's review of Destroy All Humans! 2 - Reprobed, a recent videogame release.

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

A Week in Writing #421 - Is Football Season a Good Thing?

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

I'm writing this prior to watching a game of football. My team, the Dallas Cowboys, plays tonight and I'm thinking about the topic question prior to a win, lose or draw with the Bucs. I've been a fan of the Cowboys almost all of my life, having grown up in Dallas. Unlike many men my age, I only follow one team in one sport, so I lay everything on the line for one game.

Now, I have tried to write or whatnot while watching a football game and it is next to impossible to do both and pay either the attention they're due. This is especially true if the game is close and gets exciting. I don't begrudge the game for that but still, it makes doing anything, save eating and drinking, mostly moot.

And if the team loses, the time spent seems like a real waste for some reason. I mean three-plus hours and I'm left with a losing effort and I'm sort of miserable over the other things I could have used that time doing. If the team wins, I'm spending time looking for highlights and interviews, which in and of itself is also a time suck. I'm sure this would be true of whatever team I followed. Having grown up in Dallas, the Cowboys have been my team.

So, either way, watching football is a bit of a time suck. If you're one of those men who watch multiple teams in multiple sports, I don't know how you do it, especially if you're trying to do something creative on the side like I am, and I don't want to find out. There's more to life than sports.

This week, I've been sort of divided between projects and not really getting anywhere with any of them. I really think it's the past week and not the projects. Have you ever had one of those weeks when nothing seems to work as well as it should?

I'm supposed to be working on a review of Elvis but I haven't started it yet. We finally watched the film on HBO Max on Saturday night. By the time it was over, it was pretty late and I was pretty tired. I actually fell asleep on the couch, which is something I haven't really done in years. I'm not sure if the flu shots we got on Saturday morning had anything to do with that or not.

On the subject of reviews, my review of Batman: Under the Red Hood was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. All part of the site's Batman Month celebration. On Wednesday, GameDay, it was Paul's review of Hitman 3: Ambrose Island (DLC).

Friday's On the Air with Powers Squared was about Disappearing Content on streaming services like HBO Max, and how that might impact us somewhere down the line. You can listen now here or watch it later here when it goes up on Wednesday.

I started working this weekend on a synopsis for Broken People, the book I've been querying agents about. Trying to keep it to two to three pages, which will be somewhat hard. But I've only just started that project. One of those things I might have worked on more had there not been a football game. I did send a new query this week. I haven't heard back from any in quite a while. I'm thinking that I might do a synopsis for another book and try to query another book; I have several I should be trying to get representation for.

Speaking of books, I'm moving forward, slowly, on fka Skylar. I'm finally past where I had been editing and am in the process of transferring from one storyline to another.

And let's not forget Powers Squared. Our artist is getting close to finishing the artwork on Issue 22. Paul and Trevor have each written stories for the next story arc. And I'm still working on the Pitch Deck redux. Again, slower progress than I'd like.

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

A Week in Writing #420 - Happy Labor Day!

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

If you're in America, Happy Labor Day!

Let's start this week with On the Air with Powers Squared. This past Friday, Paul and I celebrated the third anniversary of the podcast by reviewing the guests we've had on the show, which is a fairly impressive list considering the number of viewers we have. For the most part, I can't think of a guest we haven't enjoyed having on the show. If you're interested, you can listen here or watch it next Wednesday on YouTube.

More progress this week on Issue #22, as our artist sent new thumbnails as well as possible covers for Paul and me to review.

This Sunday was also the newsletter, which takes a few days of work to put together. But we got it out, which is the important thing. If you are ever interested, you can always enroll at SRCC. It's free and there's no obligation, plus you'll be helping me out, which I'm sure deep in your heart of hearts you know you want to do.

On the query front, not only did I send a new one on Thursday, but I also set 4 older ones to DNR as they reached their expiration dates. I never know if I'll hear from one of them but I have to assume after three months or 10 weeks or whatever timeframe they set that it won't be "please send us more." If I hear from them, there will probably be something along the lines of "not right for my list" or "not what I'm looking for."

I don't know if you took advantage of Saturday's $3 cinema admissions but we did. It was a great opportunity to take a chance on a movie for pretty cheap, though the chain I bought it through charged me an additional $7.20 for the pleasure. (I miss the Arclight.) We took a chance on Bullet Train and I'll admit, we were happy we did. I wrote a review that will be up on tomorrow's Trophy Unlocked.

We also watched another movie that same night, The Wild Party, which I also reviewed. Not sure when that one will go up. Between the two, I wrote over 3000 words.

On the subject of Trophy Unlocked, my review of Batman vs. Two-Face was the Saturday Morning Review. I think I wrote it a little over a year ago so you never know. We're kicking off Batman month on the blog and I believe I'll have three of the posts.

Trevor wrote Wednesday, Game Day's, review for Destroy All Humans! 2 which was timed to go up on the same date as the new game came out.

More work on fka Skylar though most of my work was at the beginning of the week. Making progress but it always seems slow.

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

A Week in Writing #419 - Burn it to the Ground

 

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

If you've been reading this blog, I mention from time to time about working on a pitch for turning Powers Squared into an animated series. And yes, we're still working on it. Had a sort of gut check on Friday with someone who is helping us. The verdict wasn't good.

We actually found out earlier in the week some of their opinions and as a result, some rather sleepless nights. They had seen something we had not in the story and gone down a rabbit hole that I believe shocked both Paul and me. We finally talked in a couple of Zoom sessions on Friday afternoon. To say the least, it was actually a good session. We're going to have to burn it down and start over. Some changes are going to have to be made and the stories, while similar, will be somewhat different between the comic book and the proposed TV series.

But that's a good thing. We didn't know what we were doing when we started Powers Squared and the person helping us knows what they're doing. Don't look for it anytime soon. With what's going on with Hollywood and streaming services, places to shop it may be thinning, but I'm of the opinion we need to have a good pitch and then worry about where we can sell it.

So, it's back to the drawing board on that.

On the subject of Powers Squared, and I know that topic comes up a lot, we had our monthly team meeting with our artist, colorist, and letterer. I usually enjoy getting everyone together and hearing what's going on with them. You can listen to it now if you want or wait until Wednesday to watch it.

Speaking of On the Air with Powers Squared, which we were, we're coming up on our third anniversary. We did our first show on August 30, 2019, back in the pre-times. I don't know what we're doing for next week but that's how it is more often than not.

Changing the subject, work continues on fka Skylar. Sometimes I don't get to it until late in my writing session but I do try to get to it every time. I believe I promised you a word count, which now is at 43,268 with more to come. I do feel like I'm finally on a flight path with the story.

For Broken People, one new query and no rejections, at least not in a form I would recognize as communication. I did DNR a couple that had reached their expiry. So, now I have 11 queries out there. I think I need to write a short synopsis, 1 to 2 pages, which I think would open up more possibilities for me.

I'm working on a new review for Trophy Unlocked, the recently DVR-ed The Easiest Way (1931). I've got it started but I was too tired last night to work on it very much. Just got to the downloading of photos and some research.

On the subject of Trophy Unlocked, the Saturday Morning Review was Paul's for 101 Dalmatians (1996). Wednesday's Game Day review was Trevor's for Destroy All Humans! (2020).

Another project I'm working on this week is The Hound Dogs' Howl newsletter which comes out next Sunday morning. Even though it's monthly, it's still more than I can do in one morning. I have a feature to write and updates to make after we've done our show on Friday. If you want to receive it, please enroll at SRCC today. It's free and there's no obligation to keep subscribing other than to make me feel better about myself.

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

A Week in Writing #418 - Is it a rejection if they don't say "no"?

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

Well, let's start with the bad news, another rejection, or was it? I finally heard back from a query I sent on June 23, so it's been a little shy of 2 months.

"Thanks for writing to me about this book, but the _______ Agency is not accepting submissions from new authors for the foreseeable future."

So, is that really a rejection? Trust me I check the websites before I send out queries and I don't recall such a declaration on _________ Agency's website. But why did it take nearly 2 months? You'd think such an across-the-board decision would have generated an automatic response when I sent it, sort of like an out-of-office email.

I did send in another query this week; no telling when I'll hear back, or if I will. I have a couple out that are getting close to expiration. I'm reluctant to DNR them since, as we've seen, there is no strict deadline for rejection.

No new reviews this week for me. We didn't do our normal Saturday night and watch a movie. Rather, we did something we don't do very often of late and went out for dinner. Instead of a movie, we watched episodes of Primal when we got home. I don't really watch a lot of new TV shows. Yes, I know it's the new Golden Age, but I really don't have time to invest in too much television.

I do read, however, which is a segue to the latest episode of On the Air with Powers Squared, in which Paul and I discuss our summer reads. I've read sort of a mixture of books, in the last few months, including some graphic novels, one a version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and Blacksad, which I'm reading for the Powers Squared Book Club, which we'll shoot in September. I'm also reading the new Woody Allen collection of essays, Zero Gravity, and David Sedaris's Happy-Go-Lucky. These last two are ones you can read on from time to time as they don't really tell a linear story.

In protest of HBO Max's taking down of so many animated shows, we put up Paul's review of The Emperor's New Groove, which, is, of course, animated. Wednesday's GameDay review was Trevor's review of Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (PS5). I'm sure one of mine will be back up there someday soon, though I think we're getting close to our Batman salute in September, which will include three of mine.

Work continues on fka Skylar. I'm getting better at mixing the two storylines together, so I'm happy with that. I'll give you a word count next week.

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

A Week in Writing #417 - With Further Ado

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

Let's start off with Powers Squared, only because we received some press this week. I met Ed Catto at Comic-Con a few weeks ago and talked to him after the How to Get Press Coverage panel. The result was this story in his column, With Further Ado #210: More Actual Comics at SDCC – Powers Squared. If you read it you'll find more about us and see what we look like, so that should be tempting enough.

Other than that, sort of a light week with the comic book. Some updates from our colorist to some pages but no new art this week.

I do see why you do proofs. As I believe I've mentioned, I sent off a pdf to have a paperback version of the "graphic novel". After a long time, the book came back and we were shooting an unboxing video. Turns out one of the pages was very blurry. I was going to write the printer to complain when I looked at the pages I had sent them and, indeed, the tiff for that page was blurry. I still don't know how that happened. It's not like I hit the computer while I was putting together the pdf. So now, I'm retrying it again.

Haven't had much luck lately with attempts at unboxing videos. What we've opened has either had problems or wasn't what we were expecting.

We did have a guest, Brandon Starocci, on our Friday podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. Brandon is one of the co-creators of a new series called Avalon. Follow the link if you're interested in learning more about him and his work. The audio is available on our website and the video goes up on our YouTube channel on Wednesday.

On to the subject that usually gets short shrift, fka Skylar. I think I've mentioned here before that the character name has changed to Lillie but I don't have a title for the book, so it's still fka Skylar for the time being. I've been working on it more frequently of late, even some last night and today. I'm going back in and adding the second storyline into what I've written so far and making other changes as I go.

My main character, J.D. Barrister, is just reopening his office after the pandemic. He finds that he has a new neighbor who needs his help. Her name is Lillie, at least for now. I don't want to get into too much detail about her case but on top of that, his live-in girlfriend Leanne's father is coming for a visit post-pandemic and also wants to hire J.D. to help with a tontine dating back to World War II. Again, I don't want to get into the details but the two stories will cross and I'm hoping I can wrap them both up at about the same time. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

In other writing, I had my review of Sabotage appear on Trophy Unlocked as the Saturday Morning Review. We published a review of a Hitchcock film to coincide with the director's birthday that day. No Wednesday morning review this week. As promised, I did finish the two other reviews I was working on, The Devil and Miss Jones and Tomorrow is Another Day.

No new review this week, as instead of draining the DVR, this Saturday night, again in honor of Hitchcock, we watched the first episode of his TV Series, an episode called Revenge which he also directed. And then we watched a couple of episodes of Primal but that's not here nor there for this blog. I can say, though, that it is a learning experience for writing without dialogue.

One new query this week and no rejections to note. I'm coming up on a couple of dates wherein I should have heard back from the agent but until that date comes, I'm considering them still in review.

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