A Week in Writing #428 - It's Official

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

Well, it's finally official, I know the day and time of the panel, just not the room. It's kind of exciting and scary at the same time. I've never been on a panel at a convention before, let alone moderated one. I think I'll do okay. Paul and I have been doing a podcast for several years, so I know what it's like talking and not knowing who, if anyone, is listening. I've ordered some copies of the first and the 15th issue to have with me. I also ordered new business cards for Powers Squared. I just want to be prepared in case there is a chance of a new reader coming out of this.

I also reserved my tickets for San Diego Comic-Con for next year. One of the advantages of doing a comic book is the Professional status that comes with it. I should check into a table or something when it's time for that convention.

Work continues on the books with our artist, colorist, and letterer all working on different issues. As I wrote earlier, we're losing our current artist at the end of the year and we're hoping our colorist will be able to step forward and take that over. We've all agreed to her doing a test with one page and the four main characters. I'm hoping she makes it. We discussed all this on Friday as part of our October 2022 Team Meeting OAPS podcast.

Jerry Lee Lewis died this past week, so in tribute, we watched High School Confidential (1958), the only Hollywood film I knew he was in. This was my review to write and based on the movie's theme of anti-drugs, this will probably be our next 4/20 review.

My review of Bride of Frankenstein (1935) was Trophy Unlocked's Saturday morning review. Part of the blog's celebration of horror films during the month of October. We were also celebrating Silent Hill Month, which Paul wrapped up with Silent Hill: Downpour on Monday; a review of the comic book Silent Hill Downpour: Anne's Story on Wednesday; and a second look at P.T. on Friday.

In other writing, more progress this week on fka Skylar. For anyone keeping track, I'm up to 51,694 words. Worked on it for a couple of days earlier in the week. I want to spend more time with it and hope to get it done sometime near the end of the year. I can hope, can't I?

One new query and two DNRs this week for Broken People, so I'm keeping pace though I still need to finish a full synopsis before I can send to certain agents.

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

A Week in Writing #427 - Dog Catches Car

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

After a couple of weeks of little time, I felt I had more writing time this week. I spent three nights working on fka Skylar getting more than 2000 words further into the book. Now I'm up to 49,996 words and to be honest I'm enjoying getting on with it.

Got some news while I was writing this. I had proposed a panel for Los Angeles Comic Con and they accepted it. It's about comic books that are under the radar, like Powers Squared. Now I sort of feel like the dog who caught the car; now what? It's sort of exciting and scary at the same time. I have until Tuesday to confirm and I think I have two other creators lined up. More here as I find it out. Wish me luck.

Switching things up, Powers Squared's latest issue got a good review, which I've been sharing pretty much everywhere I can, so I'm going to do it here as well. I will admit I'm not sure how to get more reviews but we've been lucky to get them from First Comics News'  Richard Vasseur, who has reviewed all 14 issues. For the most part, they've been positive but it is always nice to get some feedback. As a plug, the issue is available through our store.

Speaking of Powers Squared, our artist is working on the first 8 pages of her final book for us. We got pencils this week, the last set coming in last night. We still need to review and send any comments. We also have to decide on the test for our colorist to see if she can be the next artist. I am rooting for her.

Worked on but have not finished my review for Everything Everywhere All At Once, but I did write one for Bride of Frankenstein to complete our October tribute to Horror films.

It's still Silent Hill month on Tropy Unlocked and so there were three reviews this week related to that, all written by Paul: Silent Hill: Origins (Monday); Silent Hill: Homecoming (Wednesday); and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Friday). Saturday Morning's review was also Paul's for the 1984 short Frankenweenie.

For our Friday OAPS podcast, we (Paul) discussed the Silent Hill franchise, including games, movies and graphic novels. It goes up on YouTube on Wednesday. I think the visuals will be more compelling but if you want to listen to it, it's available now here.

I also sent out one new query for Broken People. It's one of those only if we're interested kind of agencies. This one wanted approx. the first 25 pages. I sent slightly more to complete the chapter.

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

A Week in Writing #426 - Short Week but Press Coverage

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

Well, this was a short week for me. More birthdays, my wife's this time, so Thursday and Friday were spent in celebration. Disneyland on Thursday and dinner out on Friday. So, some things didn't get done.

To begin with, no queries this week. About the time I would usually be sending one, I think I was somewhere on the I-5 heading north. That said, I did DNR one. The agency's time to respond was "only if we're interested". After two months, I'm going to guess they're not.

I don't want to bury the lead too much, but there was a nice feature about Powers Squared on Scoop this week: Heroic Twins Star in Powers Squared Comic. This was the result of an effort that started back at San Diego Comic-Con in July. While I did not meet the person at Scoop during the panel they were on, I did follow up with them by email. I heard back and sent an introductory press release they asked for but then never heard back. Apparently, they never got the information I sent them, which I didn't find out until I followed up about the upcoming release of Issue #14. I ended up resending the first press release and they ended up writing the story. While perseverance paid off this time, that's not always the case.

This is as good a place as any to announce that the next issue of Powers Squared will be released on October 19th. Issue #14, The Imposter Part 2, completes two story arcs, one that began in Issue #10 and, of course, the one that started with Issue #13. Getting an issue published, even self-published, has proven harder recently. One of the platforms we work with has been slower than usual about getting issues up. Apparently, there are a lot of books and even though I moved it to publish two weeks ago, I don't have any idea when it will appear on that site. But it will be available on the 19th in both digital and print formats and you can find out where at The Campus Store.

With Paul and I preoccupied on Friday, our artist Rachel Wells and our colorist Julia Canon did OAPS without us, drawing characters from the upcoming issue, as well as one for Halloween. You can watch this now on twitch.tv/powerssquared or wait until Wednesday at 2:30 pm on our YouTube channel but it is worth watching, they always seem to have a good time when they get together.

And work continues on Issue #23, which will be our last with Rachel.

Did some more writing on fka Skylar but I'm only up to 47,770 words, which is only +61 words from last week, so not all effort moves the stick. I did work on it for two nights but probably only a couple of hours in total.

On the review front, I did manage to get one of the two I needed to get done, When Worlds Collide. As always not sure when it will appear. My review of The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. In addition to Halloween, it's also Silent Hill month with three reviews, all by Paul: Silent Hill: Revelation on Monday, Silent Hill HD Collection on Wednesday and Silent Hill 4: The Room on Friday.

Next week will be a full week and I hope to get more done.

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

A Week in Writing #425 - Halloween is Coming

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

If you read Trophy Unlocked, and you should, you'll notice that we're in the middle of two different month-long themes; Halloween, of course, with Paul's review of Hocus Pocus 2 as the Saturday Morning Review and Silent Hill. Paul has been very into the Silent Hill franchise and has been saving up his reviews for this month's blowout. So far this week, Monday was Silent Hill (Game), Wednesday was Silent Hill (Film) and Friday was Silent Hill 3. And there is more to come, believe me, on both themes.

This week, I've got two reviews to work on, Everything Everywhere All at Once and When Worlds Collide. I've only done research but I haven't written anything on either. And reviews aren't going to be my priority this week.

I made an effort this week to work on fka Skylar. Most of my writing early this week was working on that book. To keep me honest, let's start keeping track of the word count, 47709. I know, I've been working on this for a while now but I think I've turned the corner with the story and it should be more straightforward going from here. I can't guarantee I'll be making progress in leaps and bounds but I'll stay with it. I wish I could spend more time on it but there always seems to be other things to work on.

A lot of activity this week with Powers Squared. Our artist, Rachel Wells, sent us thumbnails for the first eight pages of Issue #23, her last with us. Later in the week, Julia Canon, our colorist, sent us the first eight pages of Issue #22. Everything is reviewed and approved and it's all part of the process.

Speaking of Powers Squared, our next issue, Issue 14, The Imposter Part 2, comes out on the 19th, so I'll be sending around a press release. If you're curious about the book, you can go to The Campus Store and find out where you can purchase past issues. I'll be putting up links for the new issue in the next few days.

Our OAPS this week was pre-recorded. The guest, Jon Dexter, has a new Kickstarter going, so we wanted to support him. The audio is available at  https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/oaps and the video goes up on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PT on our YouTube channel.

Next week, Rachel and Julia will be doing the show without us again. The last one was a lot of fun, so I would encourage everyone to catch it at 6 pm PT Friday at twitch.tv/powerssquared.

I got back into querying again this week. Sent one and wrote off a couple that were past their expiration dates.

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

A Week in Writing #424 - Things Happen Even on Vacation

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

Well, I'll have to admit, I didn't do much writing this past week. We did something we really haven't done in quite a while, took a vacation. This was my twin sons' 30th birthday this past week, so we went to San Diego to go to the Zoo and the Safari Park down there. While this isn't a travel blog, we did have a good time.

But even though I was on vacation a big event happened the morning we were planning to leave. The artist on Powers Squared, Rachel Wells, announced that the next issue will be her last. After five years, she wants to try her hand at children's illustrations. I can't tell you what a blow that news was to receive. The weekend before we had bragged about our longevity with her when we recorded an OAPS with another creator. Continuity is something that you can take for granted and you shouldn't.

For those of you that may not know, Rachel came to us fresh from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Five years ago, we came to the realization that we needed a change. Even our colorist at the time, Paige Redbird, thought we needed someone new. Also a SCAD grad, Paige helped us find several candidates and from them we chose Rachel.

We were hoping for some continuity in the look of the characters but she added a bit more of the style we were looking for, a western anime, and she was the best candidate with that style. Even though we weren't through with our first artist, we had Rachel do a couple of covers for us, issues #3 and #5, before she took over as the artist with issue #6. Five years later, we'll be working on issue #23 with her through the end of the year.

In the vein of "in the tree, part of the tree", we're looking to our current colorist, Julia Canon, an artist in her own right, to possibly take over as the artist for the book. She was our first choice and we're rooting for her. It will be a group decision, including her. We should know by the end of the year.

Well, that wasn't all that happened, but it was the biggest event we've had in quite a while.

As to other writing, there wasn't a lot during the week, I'm afraid. No queries this week and no responses either. I haven't checked so I don't know if any would be DNR.

Finished two reviews this week for Trophy Unlocked. See How They Run was a film we watched on my birthday last Sunday, and The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein (2018), a documentary about Mary Shelley's book. I think the latter will appear this month, not sure when the former will, since October is Halloween and Silent Hill month on the blog. No Wednesday Game Day review either, again we were on vacation.

The Saturday Morning Review was mine for Hocus Pocus (1993). Paul's review of Hocus Pocus 2 will appear next week.

To round things off, no new work on fka Skylar this week.

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

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.