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.

A Week in Writing #482 - Things Are Getting Back to Normal

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

Things seem to be getting back to normal, which means back to what might be a normal routine.

Let's start this week off with Trophy Unlocked. I finished my review of Two O’clock Courage and started a new one for Coquette (1929), an early sound film starring Mary Pickford, part of the drain the DVR Saturdays.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary, Trevor's review of the animated Disney film Robin Hood (1973) went up on the date it was released.

The celebration of Noirvember continued with my review of Tomorrow is Another Day (1951). And today, Trevor's review of Rohan at the Louvre (2023) went up. This is a Japanese film, in Japanese with subtitles. We had watched the series, Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, which is, itself, a spin-off series of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Rohan bled over into a podcast that we recorded on Friday after our live podcast, with Trevor joining us. We're trying to plan for the Friday after Thanksgiving, which we're not sure we'll be back in time for the podcast.

Our live podcast, "Writers Roundtable" was just Paul and I and we were discussing our writing process for Powers Squared and the collaborative process that follows as we work with artists and colorists to bring the words to life. It's available to listen to here and will be up on Wednesday afternoon on YouTube here.

We're starting to transition to a new issue, #26 "The Great Escape" while still wrapping up pages from issue #25. I've asked our artist, Julia Canon, to do some character designs before we get going.

In other Powers Squared news, our new logo for San Romero Community College seems to be getting close. Mostly, we're going over the colored version that our previous artist, Rachel Wells prepared for me. It started out as a project to design a diploma for the school and started with the seal on that document. I like making the school seem more "real".

To round out the week, I did work on Skylar this week and am finally to the point where I'm actually writing and not just editing, so that's sort of exciting. I'm not going to get into word counts just yet, but it is progress.

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

A Week in Writing #481 - It's Back

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

Well, it's that time of the year again, the big experiment with time-shifting known as the end of Daylight Savings Time. Fall back only means you get an extra hour once and for that you get days betting darker sooner and your internal clocks thrown off for a day or so. Not really sure it's a good deal. I write this, as I do every year, because I don't know the impact it's going to have on me next week. I try to write until I get sleepy and that might come earlier for a few days. Forwarning that next week might not be too productive.

The big project for this week was the newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, and the big announcement was something I've already talked about last week, the book becoming available on ComicsPlus powered by LibraryPass. Last week, I wrote about the anxiety, or the sense of finality with submitting it. That surprisingly went well, so we're on course.

In addition to the news, there are links to last month's OAPS, a link to the newest Peek-of-the-week, an article about Booster Gold and Goldstar, and a recommendation for Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, not to mention the usual Heard on Campus feature. As always, you can always sign up for the newsletter and get a free copy of the first book by signing up here.

I'm still hoping we can get the second trade ready in the next few days or week and submit that as well. The covers have been drawn and are being colored, so we should be good to go soon. It will be different to release something through another method than we have before, but it's hopefully all about getting eyes on the book.

The drawing on Issue 25 seems to be coming to an end, so we should be start working on Issue 26. I've already sent the artist a list of yokai that will appear in the book and asked her to come up with some character designs before we launch into it.

Finishing up on Powers Squared, our Friday OAPS was dedicated to another franchise, in this case, Five Nights at Freddy's. The movie, currently playing in theaters, is based on a series of video games developed by Scott Cawthon and this what we, Trevor, Paul and I, discussed on our podcast, though they know much more about it than I do. You can listen now here or watch it on Wednesday on our YouTube channel.

Trophy Unlocked kicked off Noirvember with my review of The Killer is Loose on Saturday. I frankly don't remember when I wrote it but it was nice to get one up on the blog. For Halloween, Paul's review of Five Nights at Freddy's the movie went up. Fitting for the day. On Monday, it was the conclusion of Resident Evil Month with Paul's review of Resident Evil 4 - Separate Ways (DLC).

I've started working on a new review of yet another film noir, Two O’clock Courage (1945). Not sure when it will appear. 

I also managed to get some work done on Sklyar this week, though I'm still going through the book and haven't, yet, written anything new.

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

A Week in Writing #480 - Anxiety

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

I know if may not seem like much, but I just sent off a link to our first trade to LibraryPass. But for me it was a somewhat tense and anxious moment. There was a real sense of finality in doing it, something that I rarely feel when working on Powers Squared or even sending a query letter.

We've been told for a couple of years now that we should try to get our book into libraries, especially school libraries, and to put a fine point on it, college libraries, since the book takes place at a college; San Romero Community College. The trick, which no one bothered to show us, was how to do that. School libraries, like any other government agency, buys from a set list of contractors/companies, and little ol' SRCC Press was not on that list. Library Pass is and so the hope is we'll get a little exposure.

While it should have been pretty much a slam dunk, I wanted to add SRCC Press to the cover and, for some reason, this took more than one "build" to do. First the cover was too big and had to be resized and then when I put together all the pages (104 if you're counting), the revised cover wasn't included. Nothing makes you feel more stupid than messing that up.

Well, anyway, it's sent and now the anxiety of waiting to hear back sets in. Hopefully, everything works and we're good to go. The second trade is pretty much ready, we just need the new covers to be colored, a little lettering and it should be ready to go.

Some of this news, about Library Pass, was shared on our latest OAPS podcast, the October 2023 Team Meeting. Listen here now and watch here later (Wednesday on).

Busy week on Trophy Unlocked. Monday was Paul's Second Look at Devil May Cry; Wednesday was Paul's review of Haunting Ground, Friday was Paul's review of Resident Evil 4 (2023) and Saturday was Trevor's review of Willy's Wonderland. This month was Resident Evil/horror, so these all fit that pattern. Spoiler, we did see Five Nights at Freddy's on opening day, and Paul's review will be up on Halloween; something to look forward to.

Unrelated, I'm working on a review of The Famous Ferguson Case (1932), which in and of itself isn't that famous at all but did star one of my favorites from that time, Joan Blondell. You'll have to wait for that one.

Did some more work on the re-tooled Skylar, by which I mean I got through a chapter and part of the next one. So progess is being made on that front.

This coming week, I need to finish Famous Ferguson and also work on the newsletter, The Hound Dogs' Howl, which comes out next Sunday.

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

A Week in Writing #479 - Still Slow Going

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

Speaking of staying safe, over the weekend, I, along with the rest of my family, got vaccinated for the flu and for the new strain of Covid. In a couple of weeks, I'll go back and get one for RSV, as, yes, I'm in that age range.

Another not so effective week of writing. The cold was still with me for a good part of the week, so that's my excuse. Now that I've rounded that corner, I have to get back to getting things done.

This week, my big accomplishment was getting a dba set up. I'm doing business as SRCC Press, the publisher of Powers Squared. I don't think it means anything really, but my CPA has been after me to set one up, so I finally did it. Partly because I need to but also because in the new year, Powers Squared will be available on Library Pass, which means our books will be in school libraries across the country. This has been something we were told to do by Gamal Hennessey a couple of years ago, but that was easier said than done.

But it looks like that's coming along. I need to send in the materials still. Being under the weather was my excuse, but now it's getting ISBN numbers. Not that I'm afraid of the process of getting one, it's the cost. Since a number costs more than all the monies we've ever received for the books, I've been a little squeamish about the expense, but I think it would help with the entire process so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and do it.

We're putting together a second trade, issues 6-9 for Library Pass. The covers have been drawn, but not colored and it's a chance for us to fix something that bothered my co-creators when it was printed. A minor bit of dialogue, and no, it's not what was said, nothing bad, more like how it was presented. I think I kind of bullied it through the first go round so this would be a chance to make it right. We'll incorporate it into the Kickstarter I'd like to do next year and then make them available some time after that.

I have done some work, but not much, on a new approach to Skylar, that long suffering novel I keep writing about writing. I moved the introduction of the character up and I'm making some other changes. We'll see if it comes out better this time around.

I am working on a review of The Vampire Bat (1933), look for that next Halloween on Trophy Unlocked, so watch for it. In the meantime, it's been horror and Resident Evil Month. Tuesday was Paul's review of Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster followed on Thursday with his review of Resident Evil 4 (2005). The Saturday morning review was, surprise, also Paul's, this one for Frankenweenie (2012).

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Trophy Unlocked hit a new milestone over the weekend, 1500 Reviews.

The OAPS this week was our 11th Comic Book Club meeting, this time it was Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, written and illustrated by Bryan Lee O'Malley, with Julia Canon, Jen Moreno, Rachel Wells and Trevor. You can listen here or watch it here on Wednesday. Next week, it's a team meeting, which you're welcome to watch on twitch.tv/powerssquared at 6 pm PT next Friday. Be There and Be Squared.

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

A Week in Writing #478 - Under the Weather and Another Birthday

 

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

I'm sorry to say that this has not been a banner week for me, mostly because I've been under the weather for the last few days. It's not so much writer's block as thinking block. I'd rather veg out than do anything constructive.

It's nothing really serious, mostly a dry cough but it has seemed to zap a lot of my energy for most of the week. I get really tired and fall to sleep or just sit and stare at the computer screen.

As a result, not much progress has been made on the rewrite of Skylar. I did start the book over again, using mostly what I've already written but moving up the first encounter to page one, etc., after which things got a little foggy. In the original version, she was a stripper, but I'm adding in a new element to her character, she is also on OnlyFans. I've been reading that many people, during Covid, went to that site when they couldn't work in public, so it might make sense for a stripper to have gone to that site in order to financially survive when they couldn't dance. Some women have done quite well by using the site.

That was the only writing I've done so far this week, which isn't much.

No new review for me this week, and not so much because of illness but because it was my wife's birthday on Saturday and we went out rather than drain the DVR. That said, my review of Drácula (1931) was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. Otherwise, the blog has been mostly Resident Evil with Paul's review of Resident Evil 3 (2020) on Tuesday and his review of Resident Evil Code: Veronica X on Thursday. I would be remiss not to mention that our review hub for Assassin's Creed also dropped on Thursday.

For OAPS this week, it was a look back at EyeShield 21, an American football manga written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata that is celebrating its 21th year. Paul and Trevor did most of the talking on this show, which was fine by me. They have and have read all 37 volumes of the story. Listen here now or watch here on Wednesday. Next week's podcast is our Comic Book Club. We're reading Scott Pilgrim Vol 1.

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