Getting Busier!

Things are slowly coming together.  I have to say, I like it.

On the comics front, I'm starting up a webcomic with a few friends.  Right now, I'm searching for an artist that has a loose, scratchy style.  Definitely not superheroes.  Once I find one and we get some pages together, I'll talk about it some more.  Right now, though, the going is a little slow.  I have one guy that's interested, but not only is he busy right now, he also wants to know what the other writers are doing, the artists they've secured, and see their artwork.  On the one hand, I get it- no one wants to be associated with bad work.  On the other hand, damn, y'know?  So, there's that.

The column is going well.  I did a rough count, and I have just under 1000 views for eight weeks worth of work.  Not too shabby for a site that boasts less than 200 members.  That means that I'm getting multiple views from the DW crew.  Thanks, guys!  I appreciate it.  I've yet to get any negative feedback, which doesn't mean that I'm right, it just means that I haven't gotten any negative feedback yet.  So far, everyone is very happy with what I have to say, and that's a good feeling.  When my column is mentioned, it's usually something along the lines of "I learned this or that, so thank you!"  It feels nice to know that the service is appreciated.  

I'm also getting contacted more and more for people to look over scripts.  I give my prices, and some shy away, and others say they'll be back when they have it.  We'll see what happens with those.  However, the good thing about being visible and searching for work is that there are writers who see the need for the service I provide.  

Everyone needs an editor.  That's my fervent belief.  Someone who's job is to make the story better.  Anything else isn't servicing the needs of the story or the audience.  Anyone can write drivel.  If you don't want to be a part of that and actually want to be ahead of the pack, then you need to hire an editor.  It doesn't get much simpler than that.

I've since heard back from the editor I'm working with.  He wants me to move forward a little and write a three page intro script for the book I want to write.  This is where I'll get to shine, I hope, because I'm on more comfortable ground.  I'm getting more comfortable with the pitches, but it's still a lot of work getting it just right.  So, I know what's in my future today and tomorrow.  It's going to be a good time, methinks.

Life is also okay.  Still working through the situation I'm in, and hopefully that will be taken care of next month.  I wanted it taken care of last month, but that didn't get done, unfortunately.  I'm trying to be patient, though.  Like I said, it's coming together.

And I've also recently had a couple of blasts from the past.  One is an ex-girlfriend (it was junior high, and it was only for a few weeks in the summer, so if you could consider that "dating..."), and the other is a friend from Virginia Beach.  Did we date?  I dunno.  She was married and still very much in love with her husband and trying to put the marriage back together, but we also enjoyed each other's company.  She came close to moving in with me, but then I met my wife.  My memory tells me that she didn't want to claim to be dating me, even though we spent a decent amount of time together.  I don't really do regrets, however, I have three major ones.  Hurting her was one of them.  

Anyway, Lenora's trying to get Jennifer (our friend from Virginia Beach) to visit in March.  I'd love to see her again.  I miss my friend.

My ex?  We had a nice conversation.  She's a teacher!  Good on her, I say.  We need more teachers.  Personally, I couldn't do it myself.  I have a problem with today's youth.  The vocal minority has made it almost illegal to raise your children, and so today's youth run around crazy.  I have no problem with video games or television- I have a problem with the parents who don't monitor what their children read, watch, or play.  

When I was a kid, my parents had something of a hard time in punishing me when I was bad.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I wasn't a bad child.  Not even overly sneaky.  However, I was still a child, and children do things that earn them spankings.  So, when I did something that was worthy of a spanking or being grounded, I got my butt kicked.  However, the grounding thing was much harder.  You see, I'm a reader.  I'd rather read a book than go outside and play.  I had a better time reading than going out in the cold or the excessive heat.  Video games?  I could take them or leave them.  Very quiet child, I was.  Now, what parent really wants to take a book away from a child?  Mine didn't, so I was hard to punish.  

Now, I read age-appropriate things, even things that outstripped my age.  Nothing truly mature, but definitely things that were for older readers.  My reading comprehension generally outstripped my classmates, and I always blew the curve.  But as a child, my parents taught me a lot of lessons- some of which I didn't understand until I was older.  I was always polite, saying please and thank you, I wasn't loud, touchy-feely on everything I could get my hands on, I didn't talk back, and was respectful.

Nowadays, children who do that are considered an anomaly.  A perfect example of kids running over their parents is one of my co-workers.  She has two kids, a boy and a girl.  They get into all kinds of stuff, being six and four, and are learning the wrong lessons.  Sneaky, tantrums, doing things they know they shouldn't.  What does their mother do?  Nothing, really.  These children are going to grow up being hell on wheels, and I can't really bring myself to feel sorry for her, because you reap what you sow.

So, yeah, I give great kudos to my ex.  Being a teacher is tough.  To be overworked and underpaid while trying to teach and partially raise someone else's kids is not something I'd do, personally.  Bring back the 40's and 50's when it comes to raising kids.  I think that American society would be in a better position if that were to happen.  Sure, it would take three generations, but it'd be better.

Okay, I'm done.  I have three pages of script to write, as well as an artist to look for.

Go listen to some Luther Vandross.  You'll be happy you did.

All The News That's Fit To Update!

Hmm.  My plan is moving slower than I wanted it to.

I went to NY recently to go to court, and there was an adjournment until today.  So, today I had a telephone appearance at court, only to find out it was a conference and not actually court, and the real court date was settled to be Nov 7.  Yeah.  Slow.  But things are moving, which is good.  The Rolling Stones said it best: you can't always get what you want.  

So, the other things that I was working on?  Sending stuff to the editor as well as waiting for word on the Hundred and Four?  

The editor sent the one story on to his partners, who passed on it.  Well, I can't really say passed.  They'd probably look at it again in another incarnation.  One of the comments made on it was spot on, though- the character doesn't learn anything in the end.  I was noticing that as I continued to rework it.  As I hammered and hammered at it, I noticed that the ending of the story in the pitch didn't have the punch I was going for.  I honestly think the story I was trying to tell got sacrificed in the pitch, which is a document aimed at selling something.  The story I "sold" wasn't the one I wanted to tell, and the final result showed.  However, I do have another idea for the same story, thanks to the editor, and I'm just working out the logisitics of it.

He still wants to see the other pitch, and I'll be sending that off as soon as I finish writing this.  That one hasn't changed much, even though I keep hammering away at it.  It's solid in concept, and the execution has to be up to snuff as well.  So there's that.

As for the Hundred and Four, let me tell you, I passed all the "hoop" tests, jumping through them without touching the sides (or even getting singed when they were flaming), and was told wonderful things about myself such as I'm very precise in following directions and that I'm smart and well read, but in the final analysis of my work, I wasn't ready. 

Yep, a disappointment, but it also gives me time to get myself ready.  I just have to work harder at what I want.  (I was also told I have a great work ethic.)  Yes, this was important to me- I not only wrote a lot of things beforehand in an effort to be prepared, but I also reworked and revised some other things to bring them up to snuff.  Then I sweated my trip to NY a bit because it was falling near the date when he wanted the materials, and he didn't want to have them either before or after.  So, yes, there was some sweating going on, and I'm not one that likes to make excuses.  I either do it, or I don't.  Responsibility.

He did say that my personal statement was pitch perfect, and I have to admit, I was a little proud of it.  There were a couple of sentences I feel that could have transitioned better, but I still liked it.  

Anyway.

Webcomics!  I'm going to be starting up a webcomic with some writing friends.  I have some things in mind that I want to do with it, and a story I want to tell, but things are still in the gathering/planning stage.  It'll be great, as long as we have strong stories.  We'll see what happens.  More news on that as it develops.  Like I said, I have a method to my madness, and most of the others are agreeing as well, I'm just trying to get one or two others to see eye to eye with the bigger plan.

And there's an artist I know who's interested in working with me on something.  I just have to get with him to see what story he has.  If it's better than mine, I'll do it.  If it's not, then I'll see what he thinks about mine.  I know it's hard to get excited about someone else's story, but I'm guessing we'll each give it a try.

Editing is still going pretty well.  I had something strange happen to me a couple of days ago, actually.  Someone sent me an e-mail asking about contract language to protect his son and his son's creations from the artists he was going to work with.  It seems his son has written two children's books, with two superheroes and two supervillains, and he wanted the artists to be work-for-hire.  The only problem?

His son is six.

Yeah.  So I did the responsible thing, saying advise an entertainment lawyer, make sure the artists are adults, and since the lad couldn't enter into a contract himself, the parent/legal guardian would be doing so.  However, the big thing was the entertainment lawyer.  Then I pointed him at a work for hire contract, pointed out some terms and what they meant and what I wouldn't sign, and he seemed happy about it.

Yeah.  Strange.  Also strange in the fact that I had finished writing a column for Bolts & Nuts that spoke about contracts and money.  Apropos, no?

But the editing thing is going well, like I said.  If two of the stories get picked up by a certain publsihing house, then I'll be editor on those two books.  Some back-end money, more than likely, but that's okay.  It's more getting my name recognized than it is the money, back- or front-end.  Although the money would help, don't get me wrong.  It's just not as important.

I'm also going to be writing some more Warmageddon stories.  I got an e-mail from Jamal yesterday asking for some.  So, more things to keep me busy and writing.  I love it!

As for life in general, well, that keeps getting better all the time!  

I moved from Virginia to Tucson, right?  But, I'm not native to Virginia, I'm originally from NY.  That's got nothing to do with anything, except that one of my high-school friends found me on Facebook.  And damn, she's still looking good, too.  I was dating my now ex-wife then, and she was dating someone else also, but don't think I never looked at her with some lust in my eye.  I'm male, after all.  Anyway, it's just good to hear from her again, even if we weren't really close. 

But that's got nothing to do with Virginia.  I got an e-mail from a good friend of mine in Virginia Beach, totally out of the blue.  

Cell phones are the Debbil!  They make it so that you don't need to remember things like phone numbers anymore, and if your cellphone gets lost or stolen, then you're screwed.  I guess I'll be investing in a paper phone book soon, but anyway, our original cellphone got lost, the second one was destroyed by my granddaughter, and so we lost all the numbers.  I thought she was gone for good, but she managed to track me down through an old e-mail addy I barely use nowadays, and we're back in contact!  We're also seeing about getting her to come out here in March.  Just trying to get that to work.  We'll see how it goes.

Let's see, I've talked about writing, editing, court, webcomics, and resurrecting friendships.  I think that gets us caught up.

Okay, time to send out an e-mail, as well as get something to eat, and then maybe a nap before work.  Short day today, which is good.  

Go have some Mexican food today.  Real Mexican, but I guess Taco Bell will do in a pince.  You'll be glad you did.

-Steven

Crossing Hurdles!

There's been a flurry of activity lately with Yours Truly, and I have to say, being busy has its perks.

I've been writing columns for Project Fanboy, and so far, I haven't had any backlash from it.  Actually, everyone who's said something to me about it has been really positive, and I'm very thankful for that.  For a while, it felt like I was writing in a void, but over at Digital Webbing, people say they've been checking it out and that it's been really helpful.  That's great, really, because I'd hate to think I was giving out bad advice.  And for those of you who are wondering, yes, I try to write them ahead of time.  Right now, I have about five weeks worth, and I'll probably write a couple more tomorrow- right after I post up the one for this week.

A couple of weeks ago, I volunteered to look at a script for a friend as an editor, and gave him the full treatment.  He liked it a LOT.  So much so that if the title gets the home that he wants for it, he wants me to edit it.  Yes, there's a deeper story here, but I'll go into it once there's something more concrete, one way or the other.  Basically, we'll see what happens.

However, because of him, I was able to get some more work as an editor.  I looked over a fellow DW poster's script as a hired consultant, and he enjoyed what I did so much that he showed it to someone else- who promptly sent me an e-mail asking if I'd look over their script, and how much I'd charge.  There were also another couple of posters there who asked me to look over some scripts for them, as well.  See?  Busy.

If this keeps up, and I hope it does, it might be time to start thinking about a website.  I'd want it to be able to pay for itself, of course, so it's a little way down the road.  If my other good news continues on the road it's going on, then I'll have to see what a site will cost me.

That other good news?  Well, I recently heard back from the editor I've been working with on a couple of my pitches.  He's going to send one of them on to his partners!  That's great news, and it means that I could be extremely busy in the near future.  The other pitch still needs some work, and I'm going over it, doing my best to make it as strong as possible.  

I'll tell you something: pitchwriting is an art, and I'm extremely green with it.  I don't see the work as a chore- I see it as learning a new skill and honing it.  I do feel I get better at it with every pass.  He already told me it was going to be a long process, and he was right.  I'm not discouraged, though.  I look forward to it.

And I'm still waiting to hear back from Hannibal Tabu about the 104.  I have a few more days before I contact him.  Again, we'll see what happens.

As for my job, I'm going to be able to bid for my shift here in a few days.  I'm looking forward to having a shift that's stable, instead of changing from month to month.  It won't start until January, but it'll start.  That's really what's important.  A stable night shift will allow me to write while at work, and that time is going to be used to the best of my ability.

You see, I told a friend of mine that I'd also start work on a novel- and yes, I have a novel idea to go with it.  Luckily, I don't have much in the way of plotting to go, since I've already plotted it out as a comic.  Lenora is happy I'm turning the idea into a novel, though.  She wishes I wrote more of my ideas as novels.  So, I have a novel to write, along with my weekly column, and hopefully, a graphic novel or two, plus editing work, and possibly weekly work for the 104.

Yeah.  I know, be careful of what you wish for.  I'll just have to be strict with my time.  

And that's about it for me.  Go listen to some Slick Rick.  You can thank me later.  

-Steven

There And Back Again- A Forby's Tale

I know, I know, it's a riff on Tolkein, but it's fitting, methinks.

The plan I keep talking about?  Well, I had to fly to NY in order to further it.  It was a nice flight, and I got a huge feeling of homesickness while there.  Trees, grass, familiar places, familiar faces, and not to mention, the dulcet tones of New Yorkers.  It was great.

And I won't say that it was useless, but I will say that it was frustrating.  At least I got to spend time with my family.  That's important.  

And I flew!  I hadn't flown since the last time- and that was from Virginia Beach to San Diego for SDCC about four years ago.  I missed flying.  I took off a couple of days from work, and it was at the tail end of my weekend, so I had five days off.  I flew out on Wednesday, and I'm sorry to say that that was a wasted day.  The flight left at 6 am, and I had to fly to LAX, and had a four hour layover.  I finally got in to NY at 9 pm.  Wasted day.  

Getting back was in itself a small adventure.  I was to have two connecting flights, but when I got to the airport, my initial flight was cancelled.  Then they tried to say that I could fly out at 7 pm!  My initial flight was supposed to be at 1:50 pm, and I was supposed to finally land in Tucson at 9 pm so I could be at work at 3 am the next day.  Cutting it close, I know, but that's Cheaptickets.com for you.  I was finally able to get a flight directly to my second connecting flight, and fly in to Tucson from there, where I finally got some sleep and went to work.

And Treat Williams was on my flight from NY.  I'm not much for autographs- "celebrities" are people too- but I didn't have any trouble recognizing him.  Very distictive look, and I don't really think anyone else noticed him.  At least, no one came up to ask for his autograph.  I guess that's what happens when you're a B or C list actor.  The only thing he did that was in front of a lot of faces was Everville, but he's also done a LOT of acting.  A couple of Substitute movies in the 90's and another horror movie about him on a ship stand out in my mind.  I told Lenora about seeing him, and she had a blank look on her face.  I'm not that surprised at it, though.  I would have been MORE surprised if she knew who I was talking about.  She's not really one for knowing actors or movies.  That's my schtick when it comes to our marriage.  

Anyway, other things have been happening in my writing life.  The editor I've been talking to keeps asking for revisions to the pitches I've been sending him, and I'm thrilled about it, to be honest.  He hasn't said "no," and he hasn't seemed ambivalent about them.  It seems like active interest on his part, and he already told me it was a long process.  I sent off the revisions before I went to NY, and am waiting to hear back from him.  I've had other ideas to send to him, as well, but I'd like to get these nailed down before sending him others.  (There's a book I'd like to turn into a graphic novel, and he seemed interested in my choice, but it's a matter of getting the rights to the book, and according to the editor, that's a process in itself.  However, getting that done would really be something!  A great book by my favorite writer.)

A guy I know from Digital Webbing, whom I'm also quickly coming to think of as a friend, gave me a glowing recommendation to another guy I know who's willing to pay for editing services.  I actually almost blushed at what he said.  Well, the guy bit, and he's going to hire me to look at his script as soon as he gets paid.  So there's a little more money coming in from that.

I've been asked to script some finished pages for a letterer, and I'll be doing that as soon as I finish writing this post.

And yesterday was Sep 8th!  I sent off the materials to Hannibal Tabu, and got back an e-mail stating he was wondering if I was going to show up and that he liked my initiative.  So, it's a little more waiting on that.  

I've also asked a few writers I know to form a writing group.  So far, I've had a positive response, and we're in the midst of talking about what we want out of the group.  I can't say that the e-mails are flying fast and furiously, but there's conversation going, and that's a step in the right direction.

And that's really about it for the moment.  Things are looking up all around.  This is all good news- and as soon as I have some excellent news, I'll share that, too.

Until then, go buy some Marvel movies.  It'll be good for your soul.

Wanted.... Eh.

Finally saw Wanted at the cheap theaters here. There's a theater that runs a dollar special on Tuesdays. Lenora and I went and spent the two bucks at a decent theater and saw a pretty decent movie. She called "bullshit" on a lot of it, and I did too, but it was still enjoyable. I would have been kinda upset if I paid full price for it, though. It wasn't that good, outrageous special effects and all.

I guess I was just looking for more story than I got, with some better reasoning. I liked the special effects, though, and in an effort to support the creators, I'll be buying the movie. Yeah, I know, I know, but still. I'll be buying it just the same. I did like the stunts, even if it wasn't that respectful of the source material.

Well, I can't say that it wasn't respectful. It's hard to do when you've written a story about the end of superheroes, turning them into myths only remembered in comics. I guess they did the best they could with the story they had to work from, and incorporated as they could of the comic into the script. I can live with it.

I'm also making friends! Well, comic contacts, I should say. The script I looked over for that new writer? He asked me to look at something else for him, too, with an eye at turning it into a script. So far it seems like a decent story. I'll read a decent portion of it today, and put a bigger dent in it tonight at work. I think it would be a good idea, depending on what happens in it.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the editor on the stories I submitted. I'm patient about it- well, as patient as I have to be. I have other things to occupy my time, thankfully. There are people who are asking me to look over scripts, plus my own stories I need to get started on. And then there's the anthology idea that someone may be starting up, and a "rock band" I'm thinking about doing.

For a while, I was a poster over at One Nexus Studios. Call it six months. During those six months, I made a lot of notes on a lot of scripts, and the owners of the studio liked what I had to say. They agreed with me 95% of the time, so they said. They just thought that I was sometimes too harsh with my critiques. They were going to offer me a position with the company as an editor, but somehow never really got around to it.

They were also going to be publishing a lot of stories. I had offers for a few of mine, such as Keys and The Were, but they wanted me to find my own artists and such. Eh, I didn't mind that. I could have found artists I was willing to work with. I was waiting on pesky things such as contracts for the stories I submitted, a contract to be an editor, and moderator status of the writer's section, as well as a place to put a column I wanted to write to help new writers. Yeah. None of that turned out the way they wanted. They took a long time to get back to creators, and some of them they didn't get back to at all. When I approached them about it, I was told that their time was better spent going over the projects they knew they were going to move forward with than sending a five-minute e-mail to creators that still needed to come up to snuff. And when I approached them about their slowness in getting me anything resembling what they had promised, calling them on their slowness, I was summarily told to take my toys and go. (Yes, I was confrontational when I called them on their slowness, and they may have been right to decline to work with me, but still...things didn't get any better.)

Anyway, the site is pretty dead. My post in the writer's forum was the last one in that section, and that was in January. There are some sections that haven't been updated with a post in over a year. However, I had a few supporters, and one of the guys there contacted me via AIM a few times. We probably thought of each other as something of a prick- I know he wasn't too fond of the way I presented my thoughts on scripts sometimes, and I wasn't too fond of the way he approached me on certain things.

Well, it turns out he wants to create an anthology, and was looking for ideas of a theme. I came up with one, and he seemed to like it. He also wants me to edit it. So, there's that.

And the rock band idea? The idea is from Warren Ellis, and the basic premise is to get three artists with one writer to do three serialized stories, splitting the proceeds equally. It's basically a one-writer anthology, and it seems pretty decent to do. I just need to get a few things out of the way first. Lots of things are just over the horizon, and the good news is that they're a LOT closer than they used to be.

I also heard from Bruno. He's willing to do a cover for Loxley, and also found an inker. Fast, kinda cheap, and has a name. We'll see about getting it into Image yet. I just have to get to that horizon.

I also have to start cleaning up the scripts for Nation. I have some things ready for Will, but I'm also getting others slowly- like characters generated through City of Heroes. It's really a time consuming process, and there are a lot of things that just can't be done with it. That's where imagination comes in.

That's really about it. I need to make some phone calls, swap out some movies, wash another load of laundry, and do other various and sundry before going to bed. I have to be to work at 3 a.m. tomorrow, and that's always fun. I'm looking forward to when I get to bid for my shift, simply because it'll be something that I picked, and it'll be something that I'll be on for four months. As long as it's at night, I have no real qualms.

Go watch The Thin Man. You'll be glad you did.

Shaping Up

Things seem to be coming together all around, thankfully. It's a trend that I want to see continue.

My plan to get things back on track is reaching a head. I have to fly to NY in a couple of weeks in order to finish that off, but I'm expecting good things to come out of it. That will be the biggest obstacle to my small plan of living happily ever after.

I don't ask for much, do I?

Oh, and I have December flowing through my veins! That's how one of the fellows at Digital Webbing described me. I LOVE it! It's going to be my signature there. Why did he say it? Because I'm a little hard on scripts. Only a little. It's not as if people come away bleeding or anything. Maybe frostbitten, but not bleeding.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Remember the conversation I had with that editor a few weeks ago? Well, I've sent him a couple of book ideas, and he's really taken with them. I'm still reworking them so that they'll be good enough to sell, and its more waiting once that happens, but I'll have an in, you know? So that's going VERY well. I couldn't be happier with the progress made.

Also, my column is seeing regular hits. I'm happy about that. If I'm also able to get some discussion started there, that'd be great, too, but I knew what I was getting into when I decided to do it. I knew it was a small site and that traffic would be a bit slow. However, the traffic that I do get to the site is steady, so there's at least that to consider.

I also have to write some more articles for it. I'm weeks ahead, but it's easy to get behind, you know? So, I know what I'll be doing tonight. Working on the pitches and writing articles. (Only so I can get even busier later.)

Last night was pretty decent, actually. I asked one of the guys at DW to send me a script of his so I could edit it, and that's what I spent my time doing last night. It took me longer than I wished because work got in the way (as well as conversation, but I knew I was going to have conversation as soon as I saw who my partner was), but I think it turned out pretty well. The script itself was extremely good, especially for a first time comic writer (when I say extremely good, I mean the guy did his homework when it comes to EVERYTHING in writing a comic script). My job, really, was as proofreader and doing some lite editing. Yes, it was that good.

Well, he loved it. Absolutely. He already has a company on the hook for it (that was a happy accident), but is thinking about going another way. If he goes the other way, he's going to ask me to edit the book. If he goes with the company that wants it now, they already have their own editor, which is understandable. But he absolutely loved the edits, because they were helpful. There was one scene that he was worrying over for days, and he says I fixed it for him perfectly.

Nah, I don't think I'm that smart. This isn't me getting a big head. I have December running through my veins, remember? That should stop the swelling. I'm honestly just happy to help. I'll get there on my own soon enough. I have a goal to be extremely busy, remember? That goal is coming along nicely.

I can't think of much else that's been going on. I'm sure there's more, like Robert Kirkman's Kontroversy- saying that creators should do creator-owned work, and Marvel/DC should direct their wares more towards children. A bit pie in the sky, but there is truth to what he says. Personally, though, I'm with Steven Grant's point of view with this one- do both. There's enough space for it, and if you can do both, then do both.

I'll just not be leaving my full-time job in order to do it. Health insurance is nice, y'know?

Okay, I'm done. Waiting for the mailman to come, and then it's back to sleep for me. I have work tonight, and Lenora and I are going to the movies tomorrow. (Cheap theater, $1 per movie. Can't beat that!) I'll also be putting up the next installment of Bolts & Nuts when I get home from work. It'll be good.

Go listen to the Krush Groove soundtrack. You'll be glad you did.

Fingers In Different Pies...

I hang out at Digital Webbing a lot. A LOT. As a writer, I feel it's something that I have to do. I get a lot of different things out of it: some camaraderie with fellow writers, as well as the ability to look for artists; the ability to help newer writers with their work; and just be part of a pretty decent online community. It's fun and educational.

Because of that online community, I was able to ask some questions for an interview of Erik Larsen. I asked three questions, but the interviewer only used two of them. Hey, I'm cool with that. I got my questions answered sufficiently, one of which I already knew I wasn't going to get much of an answer for. However, the asking of those questions translated into the ability to write a weekly column at Project Fanboy, and I have to say that so far it's going pretty nicely. I've only posted two of them, an introduction that gives who I am and a general layout of what I want to accomplish, and a second one that's really the first post, talking about story and fitting it inside of a comic format. Next week I'll be talking about plotting, and the week after that will be characters. I've got a plan, and will be writing far into the future whenever possible. I want to have about a good six weeks of columns ahead of me at any one time, and I'm in the process right now of building that up.

I've also gotten some feedback on a couple of pitches I sent out. The editor wanted to see two pages of story for a romance OGN that I want to do, plus a revised pitch for one on car insurance. I sent both of those on Monday and am now just waiting to hear back from him. I was pretty surprised when I heard back from him within a relatively short time on the first set- it was about a week, if not two, when he got back to me. Usually he takes about a month. We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, he wants me to watch a movie. To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday. It was something of a minor problem, but it's been overcome. I love movies, but neither Lenora nor I are movie renters. We'd rather watch it on cable, and if we like it enough, we want to own it so we can watch it whenever we want. I'm an admitted sci-fi/horror buff, especially the old ones in b/w and early color; being male, I also like action and comedy. While I'm not big on drama, I'll get in a mood every so often lately. (Getting older and tastes are changing.) Lenora likes offbeat movies- Crazy In Alabama, Real Women Have Curves, stuff like that. Suffice it to say that while I've heard of To Gillian, I've never seen it. Neither has Lenora. That's about to change in a few days. We got a friend to get it from Netflix, and then I'll be able to watch it, make some notes, and give it back. It'll be good.

I also heard some news about a comic company, but I have to keep it under wraps for now. I just hope that everything works out well with the deal. Once it's announced, it'll be a done deal. Just looking for that announcement.

I just checked out a story and ran across the most absurd thing that makes absolute sense, as well as touches on a story I want to write. I hate being beaten to the punch, but I have to also figure out where I want my story to go, as well as how I want to write it. Ah, well...

I just finished reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and it was a GREAT book. Makes me want to write another story, actually. A political thriller with a Merovingian as the protagonist. It also led to an arguement with Lenora.

I read the book, and had the kernel for a story. I usually take those kernels and talk with her about them. So I took it to her, first trying to explain where I was coming from, and she wanted to argue the merits of the book. That's fine. I can deal with that. Give me a chance to explain where I'm coming from, and then tell me what you think.

Nope. That seemed to be too hard. She didn't want to be quiet long enough to listen to what I had to say.

Now, I'm openly pagan. Lenora calls herself pagan, but doesn't really know what she is, from a religious standpoint. She was in a family of Jehovah's Witnesses for a while, and still filters a lot of things through those eyes. She also has remnant's of her grandmother's views, basically that religion is someone's "paramount personal opinion." And she's not incorrect. Her grandmother was quite possibly pagan, and her mother has some psychic powers also. Anyway, Lenora even said she went as far as to watch a program about the book, and didn't like the fact that they "made stuff up." I don't know anything about the program. I didn't watch it. However, the book has not only footnotes, but a bibliography of their references, a lot of which are in French, which I can't read. She didn't want to listen to it. Every time I started to try to explain, she would talk over me, because she was already "right."

So I decided not to talk to her about my work anymore. Pretty sad state, don't you think? It reminds me somewhat of April, my first wife. She wanted everything to be about her, and my mind was always on a story I wanted to work on, and we argued about it, and I stopped talking to her about it, too. What's the point if someone doesn't want to hear it?

Oh, she wants to change her tune now, saying she'll listen and keep her mouth shut, but to my mind, it's kinda late for that. All I wanted was her opinion on the story. I guess it wasn't t be.

Still waiting on some paperwork from the NY court system. Once that gets settled, LOTS of things will be easier around here. I'm hoping it'll be within the next couple of days. I'd like to have this done by the end of the month, truthfully. The sooner the better.

And I finally got an address on Boom! Studios! I'll be sending them over a couple of pitches, along with a script or four. We'll see how that goes. As a matter of fact, I need to make sure those scripts are scrubbed clean before I send them. I also need to write a cover letter, as well as decide what I want to send, besides Keys. And then there's scripts to finish, as well as some to write...

When I was sending pitches to the editor, he turned a lot of them down, but wants to see some others. I have a better idea now on where to go with some of those others, and will rework those accordingly, but I also don't want those pitches I wrote just languish. So I'll start sending those out and see who nibbles. I could be very busy very quickly, not to mention if the editor wants to buy the two pitches I just sent.

Let's say I got everything I wanted: three graphic novels and three limited series. One of the limited series is already written, it would just need to be edited, so that's five. Four of them would need to be plotted and written, and since I know where I want to go with them, that's the relative easy part. The big one would be the one on car insurance. A lot of research still to be done on that one, and it would need to be outlined before I could even think about plotting, let alone a page count.

That would mean I'd be a VERY busy guy for a while. I'd have six books to get ready, a column to write, blogging, plus my day job. That's not even counting possibly becoming part of the One Hundred and Four. My day job gives me a lot of stability, not to mention health insurance, and that's not something I'd want to give up if I didn't have to. Yes, Lenora has health insurance at her job, but she can retire in a few years. She probably won't want to, but she'd have that option. I'd rather not make it harder than necessary. Freelance work is difficult to get, and while it wouldn't take me as long if I worked from home and wrote all day long, it's still something I'm reluctant to do.

Between the two of us, Lenora and I have ten kids and ten grandkids. That's a lot of mouths to feed, a lot of birthdays, and Christmas- let's not even talk about Christmas. I'd rather just work when I had to and write every day (I wouldn't need to go in for as much overtime as I do if I were getting an advance and royalty checks) rather than give up the stability the City gives my family. Not to mention my probation is nearly up, and I'll really have the job at that time.

So it's really not wishful thinking. It could happen. I just have to make it happen.

I guess that means it's time for me to get to work, so that's what I'm going to do. Go get some Digital Underground cd's. You'll be glad you did.

It's Already August

I have no idea where the time goes. Honestly. Remember when the lazy days of summer would be the best thing in the word? You'd wake up to bright sunlight and just know it was a beautiful day out. No school, you had to wait for the afternoon to get cartoons, but that was fine because you'd be able to go outside and play until then. Life was great.

Now look at us. We wake up because we have to work. We work because we want to eat and pay the bills on the stuff we bought because we wanted it, and it goes on and on. Vacations? Who can 1) afford to take a vacation, and 2) wants to take one when the only thing you have to look forward to when you get back is the pile of work you left behind- the pile of work that's somehow managed to grow in your absence.

All of that, and it's August already.

Actually, things are going a little rough right now. The family car has started giving us problems, and we're coming up with a solution to fix it. The solution should fix a few other problems, as well- at least until my plan finishes coming together. As soon as that's taken care of, everything else should fall into place neatly.

Anyway, I had a telephone conversation with an editor about a week ago. That went really well! I now have a better understanding of what he's looking for, and have sent in a couple of pitches accordingly. I had been sending pitches almost regularly to him, and they kept getting batted down, but now that I better understand what he's looking for, I have to tailor the stories and the pitches to conform to those. So I'm waiting to see what happens with those. If things go true to form like they have been, I'll be waiting for about a month, but if the pitch I really want gets accepted, it's a month worth waiting for. Then the REAL work will begin. I'm trying to get a small jump on the process now, thinking about a vague outline, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. This book will be a LOT of work. It may feel like I'm writing it forever, but it'll be a good thing- it means that it's being published AND that I'm being paid for it.

I also started up a new column called Bolts & Nuts at Project Fanboy. See the sidebar for the link. It's basically about helping new comic writers and the comic creation process. It's a small site, but it has some members. The only thing it can do is grow. (Well, that's not the only thing, but I'm going to remain positive.) I want it to be more informative than Dirk Manning's Write or Wrong at Newsarama. Nothing against him, but I've read a few of his articles, and there's nothing really useful in there. I guess I should peek in again, but I'm not too hopeful about what I'll find.

Kittens! We're now down to two of them, which means we have four cats and the dog. Lenora's friend came and got one last week, and we just got back from dropping two off at the animal shelter. We're keeping two, and my stepdaughter says that she's taking the two adults with her when she moves out. She's supposed to be moving sometime in the middle of the month, but we'll see what happens.

Short story: my stepdaugher is 24. She wants to move into her own place. (Hell, she needs it!) Lenora went to San Diego with her best friend in order to pick up her best friend's car, and I had to work until 5am (a twelve-hour shift that I had no knowledge of when I went in that day, but I digress). When I came home, I found the girl sleeping on the couch in the living room. We had already gone a round about the living room not being a bedroom, and I won that discussion. (She and her 18 year old brother are also scared of spiders, apparently.) Anyway, the reason she was sleeping on the couch? She was home alone, and wanted to hear every sound as they happened. A big chicken, and she wants her own place. Yeah.

Okay, going to spend some time with Lenora, eat, watch some bad movies, and go to bed. Going to spend the day tomororw working on my column as well as seeing a friend. It's going to be great.

And that's me. Go watch the original Frankenstien. Boris will love you for it.

-Steven

Last Things First...

Lenora and I went to see The Dark Knight last night. It was a GREAT movie. Easily as good as Iron Man, and better than Batman Begins. That's my idea of a good time.

What's better? There's a Coldstone Creamery on the south side of Tucson! A five minute trip (well, ten), and I'll have great ice cream. It doesn't get much better than that.

Well, that's not true. It does. The getting better just takes more time, is all. Tomorrow I have a phone meeting with an editor about the stories I've been pitching him. Doesn't that sound misleading? Like he wants to buy one? Nah, nothing that great. He's just trying to get me to pitch him stories that are more in line with his place in the sandbox. I'm very excited about that, to tell the truth. I have a lot more stories to pitch, and if they're more in line with what he's looking for, then I have a better shot of getting a story picked up.

What else? You want more? Sheesh. Demanding.

Okay. I've been in touch with Hannibal Tabu of the 104. He said that it was too early to begin looking for more apprentices, but he'd treat this like a sports recruitment, and gave me some marching orders. He also gave me a deadline to get him some writing I've done. September 8. Gives me time to do some writing and refining.

Hmm. I don't seem to be as garrolous today. Wonder what that's all about.

Anything else, working backwards? I don't think so. So, forward again.

I'm on vacation. Have been for a while. It's my first real vacation in years, to tell the truth. Actually, come to think of it, it's my first real vacation ever. Sure, I've taken vacations before, but I always considered them to be working vacations. When I was in Virginia Beach, I'd head up to NY or something because I had to, or went to San Diego for a few days (which is when I met my wife in person). There was even a trip to the San Diego Comic-Con, and I had a blast.

That was the entire reason I took this vacation, to tell the truth. When I first started working for the city of Tucson, I had to sign up for some vacation. I didn't want to, but was almost forced to. Anyway, I signed up for the vacation over the SDCC weekend, and then promptly forgot about it. It was damn near a year away, so why worry about it. It was a nice surprise when they asked me for my vacation signup that I found out I had vacation time coming, and then remembered signing up for this time. I was able to work it so that I had ten whole days off, but only taking three days of vacation and one floating holiday. That's my idea of a good time.

But then, I became financially embarrased. We moved twice, and other things were happening that I'm now in the process of taking care of. So instead of going to San Diego, I'm here at home. The only bad part about it is that I've only spent a little more time with my wife. She has things to do, too, and of course, does them.

So what have I been doing with all my time? Some of it was spent cleaning, some reading, some writing. Speaking of which, I just thought of something else I've done. Great news, actually. I've found an artist for another title of mine, and am in the process of converting a lot of my characters into snapshots using City of Heroes so the artist knows what direction to take it. I've also written a document that will keep me in a particular direction. We're hoping to start work in September or October, and I have some other things I want to get done, as well. Looking forward to that. The City of Heroes character creation just takes a while, is all, and it doesn't do everything I want it to do. It couldn't, and I understand that. Far be it from me to blame the program for not being able to do a manifestation of the Phoenix Force, for example. I'll just have to be pretty descriptive when I do the character designs. I have plans. I have plans.

I've also been thinking about a couple of stories. They've been burning a hole in my mind, but I have to rework the pitch for one, and write the pitch for the other, but that'll happen after my conversation tomorrow. I may send him four pitches, where I usually send him three. I have to either expand or undercut the genre I'm writing in, and that's easier said than done. One of the stories- okay, two of the stories- would possibly be doing just that, but that's for him to decide.

Actually, I have three pitches already written and ready to go, but want to send them after I talk to him. That's really not asking too much, especially when it could lead to a lot of other things. One of the stories is Ministry, a tale about government; the other is a story about a private detective. I'm actually going to be rewriting that pitch, incorporating some of the recent thoughts I've been having lately. Then there's the story he wants to see again, but more as a comedy. Not something I really want to do, but I'm trying to make it work. I'm just not seeing it come together.

The good news is that there's another story he wants to see again, as well. The Confessional. He wants a complete rethink of it, and I'm going to give it to him. This one I can do. I want to give that one some time to simmer in my head, though. See how else I can say it- push the story into other areas to really get across what I want it to do.

Then there's Her Voice, which is new. I haven't written a word of it yet. Well, that's not true. It started out as something else, and morphed into this. A sadly triumphant story of loss and love. It has me excited, too. I just have to find the best way to tell the story. I have two ways to go, and now that I think about it, it may be best if I use them both in the separate stories. The first way for the first story I was writing, and the second way for this story. It works. Now I just have to find the rest of the story for each of them.

Ever have more stories than you know what to do with? That's me. Not all of them will get done, but I have faith that a good portion of them will. Hell, Spawn was years in the making, as was Wanted. I have time, but I'm actively working to make it happen.

That's really about it. I have to pick up Lenora in a little bit, and that's going to be my day. Get some writing done later, if not tomorrow.

Okay, I'm gone. Have a great one. I have to make a list of questions to ask the editor tomorrow, as well as some writing.

You be good. Listen to some Bootsy.

-Steven

Being Flexible

Last time, I said I was going to spend yesterday with Lenora, and today working on my writing.

Well, yesterday I spent sleeping (and finally feel caught up!), and today Lenora said she's going to stay home- but she's still debating that with herself.

Which means I'm a bit out of luck for writing, if she does.

Personally, I'm quite happy if she stays home. We haven't spent much time together lately. I've gone over my job some, but not much. I work from Friday to Monday now, with Tuesday-Thursday off. What does that mean for my marriage? Not much, except I don't get to see my wife as often as I'd like. She has to take days off in the middle of the week in order to spend real time with me, and while I love it, I'm also not happy about it. Her job is one of those where if she's not there, she comes back to yesterday's pile, as well as today's pile. I'm extremely happy that my job isn't like that anymore. I just have to deal with things right this very moment, and then it's done. I don't even have a desk- just a space I occupy for my shift. It's great.

What else is great is the fact that I have a plan. Implementation starts today. Once successful, it frees up my checkbook so that I can actually see some of the money I'm "making."

It'll also allow me to hire another artist for a project I've had in my head for years.

I saw this artist on DW, and he's perfect for the needs of the story. He does both pencils and inks, with very clean lines and clear storytelling ability. If he accepts my generous offer, I suspect great things from us.

We'll see what happens.

It's almost 5:30 am. Lenora is going to be up in a little bit. We made an agreement to pick weeds at first light. (It's HOT here, and we want to do it while it's cool.) It shouldn't take too long- not even an hour, if we're lucky.

So, I'm off to pick weeds, look for an address or call my ex-wife, and get some court papers notarized and put them in the mail.

Then I'm going to watch a movie with my wife while we put away laundry.

And then nap, because I have some overtime today.

That's my plan. What are YOU doing?

-Steven

Getting It Done (kinda)

Okay, I've been watching Clue as I go to sleep for the past few sleep cycles (I can't call them nights- going to bed at 4 am is not a "night", no matter how long you sleep for!), and it's as good as I remember. I watched the trailer, and there's a scene in the trailer that didn't make the cut of the movie. Yeah, I know it that well. Kinda sad, I know, but don't tell me you don't know every word to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, or Grease, or Blazing Saddles. So, no digs on me about clue. Besides, Leslie Ann Warren and Colleen Camp were sexy in it.

Before the move, I was flipping channels and landed on Murder She Wrote. Angela Landsbury and Tom Bosly, yadda yadda. However, Tom was looking for a new deputy, and it turned out to be a woman. Her face bothered me, because I couldn't place it. And then the light bulb finally went off- Colleen Camp.

I was watching the new (not scary) Halloween. The nurse that got killed by little Mikey? She looked familiar as hell to me, but I couldn't place her. Watching the commentary track, it turned out to be Sybil Danning. I was only slightly horrified. She still looks good (I loves me some older wimmins!), but there was something going on with her teeth that was un-sexy. All it did was serve to remind me I need to get Howling II: Your Sister's A Werewolf. (Yes, I like bad movies! Give me a good bad movie over this cgi crap any day. At least those movies have real special effects.)

Yes, I'm still waiting to hear about the pitches I sent. This is the last time I'll mention it for a while. In the meantime, I'm working on other pitches.

I still have yet to watch Benny Hill. When I get some downtime lately, it's basically sleep time. So, that's on my plate. However, it's not the monkey that's on my back. THAT particular monkey belongs to a private detective I'm also going to submit. I'm combining some elements from other stories I have in order to make this new one, and while I find it interesting, I'm having trouble writing an interesting pitch for it. I'll work on it on Wednesday. Tomorrow is my day with Lenora, and I have some overtime to do on Wednesday. When I'm not doing the overtime, I'll be working on the pitches. Then I'm off on Thurs, and that'll probably be devoted to cleaning house.

I also requested to become an apprentice of the Hundred and Four. Kinda like the 4400, but much different. (Was that show any good? I only watched a couple of episodes. It seemed decent enough.) What is the 104? Basically, it's a group of people that will help teach how to write in a multitude of disciplines, as well as the business side of writing. The editor in chief of the endeavor is Hannibal Tabu, creator of The Buy Pile, which is where I learned of the 104 in the first place. (Hannibal is also the assumed first name of my private detective. Hannibal means "grace of Baal" and is the name of a great general of Carthage, from Africa. But you knew that, right?) So, we'll see what happens with that. I really like their mission statement, and I truly want to become a better writer. I just have to wait almost a week to hear back from him.

They say patience is a virtue, but I'm as patient as a llama with it's tail on fire.

Okay, time for bed. What's the movie? I don't remember. It'll be a b/w horror movie, though. Those are the best kinds. Which reminds me of another pitch I have to write... Wednesday, llama. Wednesday.

Be good. Go buy a Public Enemy album today.

-Steven

Not Dead Yet!

I've had a headache for the past few days. Nothing major, but I haven't really felt like doing too much. Lenora says it's a stress headache, and while I'm inclined to believe her, I really try not to stress too much. Really.

Comics-wise, things are on hold for a while. I'm broke, so I'm in no position to get an inker for the pages I have, nor get the rest of the art team paid for. I have another project that I'd like to do as well, but without the money to pay the artist, that's on hold, too. The good thing is that he'll wait to get paid before starting. He doesn't mind being in a holding pattern, and I'm VERY happy about that.

I'm still waiting to hear back on some pitches I sent in. The guy there usually takes about a month, so I have another couple of weeks to go. That's okay. Gives me time to work up some other pitches for him. That's a nut I'm going to crack. I have an idea for a private detective story that I want to send him, as well as a few others that I'll work on tonight when I go to work. The detective story is kicking my ass, though. I have to find a way to succinctly say what I want to do, and still make it interesting. It's something to work on. I'll get it done.

I've also decided to work on a werewolf story, but something that's not been done a billion times, you know? Most of the werewolf stories you see are the same thing: guy gets bitten, and now wants to get rid of the curse. He just has to find the one that bit him, or go all the way to the start of the strain, and kill them. Some variation of the "wanting to get rid of the curse" is as old as The Wolf Man, and frankly, I'm tired of it. I've had this idea for a couple of weeks now, even before I read Fool Moon by Jim Butcher. I forgot that I knew some things about werewolves, and could have sworn I had a werewolf book in my personal library, but I was wrong. So, I have to get some books on it. Yes, I know, the web is right there, but I can also get a lot of reading done at work, and since I don't have the money to pay for an aircard as yet, buying books and taking them with me will have to do.

There's also a writer I'm working with to take a screenplay he wrote and turn it into a graphic novel. I gave him a few tasks to write some other scripts before tackling the conversion, so that it's more of a natural thing for him, and he did pretty well. The conversion itself, though, may be a bit harder. We both are going to break it down, and see where each issue lies before comparing notes. I'm trying to get him to think critically, as well as think as a comic book writer. It's a bit different than thinking as a screenwriter. It'll be good for him.

I'm also waiting to hear back from Cary about the proposition I made him. He's been silent so far- maybe he doesn't like it. No skin off my nose if he doesn't. As always, we'll see what happens.

Tennis. -sigh- Federer lost Wimbledon to Nadal. That blew me away.

Wait. Let me set the stage a little bit.

I don't have tv here. Remember being broke? Well, the money for the internet is really all we have right now. So I haven't been able to get my tennis on. It's a little worse here in Tucson, because the Cox cable here doesn't carry the Tennis Channel. The house I moved from had Comcast, and they carried it, as did the Cox in Virginia Beach, but not here in Tucson. At the other house, was still too broke to get the sports package, but was able to catch about half the tennis on ESPN2. But like I said, since we moved, no cable except for the internet.

So, as I was checking my hotmail account, I saw that Nadal beat Federer. I wasn't happy. Lenora loves Nadal, and I'm a Roger fan. She gives Roger props for being extremely talented, but doesn't like him. It went five sets, though, and while I'm not happy about the outcome, it was a better showing than Roger's French Open showing. Next is the U.S. Open. We'll see what happens there. At least it was an all Williams final on the women's side. The sisters need to become a force to be reckoned with in women's tennis again. With Justine Henin out of the picture, all they really have to do now is beat the Serbs and Maria. Not too tough, right? Yes, there is some sarcasm in there.

Oh, and I finally found a Suncoast Video here, and they had Clue! I've been wanting this movie on dvd for a while, and Lenora let me have it. Wonderful woman, my wife. We also saw some other things we want, and will get when we're not so broke: The Tick vs Season Two, Dark Shadows (have to finish that collection), 24, as well as some random movies. I couldn't tell you what, though. She was looking through the movies, while I was looking at the collections. But now I have Clue, and I'm going to watch it again before taking a nap. Well, that and other movies. And breakfast. Can't forget breakfast. My stomach won't let me. At least my headache seems to be gone. I took the ibuprofin about twelve hours ago, and haven't had a twinge since. That's great news for me. My co-workers were a little worried. I wasn't my usual perky self.

And it's monsoon season here. Finally, we get rain and cloudy days. It's been raining off and on here all night. I just looked out my office window into my "low maintenance" backyard, and noticed a LOT of weeds coming up. I guess I have my work cut out for me either later today or tomorrow morning. When we buy it, I don't know what we're going to do with the backyard, but we'll think of something. Probably a pool area, and some plants. I dunno. Just thoughts.

Okay, I'm done. Food, movies, and sleep, in that order.

Be safe.

-Steven

Finally!!!!

Where to begin?

I'm finally all moved. Yeah, that was a bit of a tribulation, but it's all done, and for that, I'm pretty grateful. The new house is very nice- I'm still enamored with it, and that might take a while to calm down some.

During the move, one of my co-workers, Nicci, asked me if I'd change shifts with her for a couple of weeks. She's pregnant, and not getting enough rest on her shift. I said sure. It's from 1715-0315, and I get an extra dollar for every hour worked between 1800-0600. While an extra dollar isn't much, every little bit helps, you know?

So, we did a straight swap- everywhere she was, I'm going to be, and vice versa. That means we also took each other's overtimes. What does that mean to me? A little more money in my pocket, and the ability to write while at work. Oh, beat me!

So, right after the move, I've been working. Including the overtime I've been working, today is the first day I've had off. I worked seven days straight, and then I'll be working five days straight. What's so bad about that? My work week is only four days long. So, yeah, I'm just a little tired. Hell, I still haven't really put my office together, yet.

So, I've been working at night, and getting some pitches done. The last round I sent was rejected, but I'm getting closer. He DID ask to see something in a different form, though, so I'm working on that. I just need to watch some Benny Hill. It'll be good. (It's Benny Hill!)

I also got in the final page from Bruno. Like all of his other pages, it looks good! I can't wait to find an inker so we can call this puppy done. I have a colorist on standby, as well as Larime for letters. Actually, the colorist knows an inker, and I just have to have some money in reserve to pay him. Actually, I need some money to pay everyone.

Did I mention that making comics is expensive?

So, what's left on my agenda for today? I have to edit two scripts that Benson sent, I have to find and watch Benny Hill, and maybe start putting my office together. Oh, I also have to fix my network so my laptop will stop having a hissy-fit. I also have to e-mail Bruno about the fixes on the pages before calling the pencils done. If I wanted to, I could make this into a full day, but this is supposed to be my day of REST, dammit! LOL I may just do the edits, find Benny Hill, and not move for the rest of the day. That sounds nice.

That's my plan, now. I'm gonna go with it.

Be good, y'hear?

-Steven

Page Two!!

I go to work yesterday, and narrowly make it. I mean narrowly. For my job, you HAVE to be in the briefing room by the appointed time of your shift, to the SECOND, or you're late. Let me clarify with an example: my shift starts at 12:45pm. If I'm in the briefing room at 12:44, I'm good. If I'm in the briefing room at 12:45:01, then I'm late, and will be written up. Yes, it's that serious. How much time did I have to spare? A whole 15 seconds. Yeah.

So I'm at work, and during regular hours, we're not allowed to bring out our laptops or anything like that. Not until after six pm. However, I have a pda as my phone (a Blackjack, and it works great! however, I'm going to trade it for a 16gb iphone. it just makes better sense...), so I checked my e-mail a few hours after I got in.

And what do I find? I find the second page from Bruno, and it's BEAUTIFUL! I sent it to Ken for his approval, but really, I'm loving it. Bruno's a madman! You'll see when I eventually put up a page. I'll show the depths of his madness. He's a bit expensive, but I'm never letting him go. Ever. These pages kick so much ass that I'm using them as screen savers when they come in. Hmm. That's an idea, actually. To use all of the pages I have as screen savers, for all of the comics I've produced. Yep. I'll work on that later.

I spoke to the property manager for the new house, and we'll have the keys to the place in about thirty minutes. Well, Lenora will. I'm half tempted to load some boxes into the car, go get the keys, and then take them over to the house, but I can wait until this evening. It's Friday (HULK DAY!!!!), and Lenora's off tomorrow. Besides, I don't have to be in to work tomorrow until 12:45, so I'll be good. I'll pick her up tonight, or meet her at the house, and we'll go through it together. There are some friends of hers that will help her move some boxes with their truck over the weekend, which means less for us to move on Monday when we get the truck. Why Monday? Because that's my next day off, and while I appreciate any help that comes my way, I still need to move my stuff myself, you know? So that's where that's coming from.

And the Hulk came out today. I'll probably go see it on Tuesday. I want to help the box office, but at the same time, there's stuff I need to do, like move. What will probably happen is this: go to the movies on Tuesday morning, drop Lenora off to work, go get a haircut, and go back to my new home to continue to unbox. That's the tentative plan, at least.

Hmm. I forgot that I may have to work some overtime today. We'll see what happens. Won't put a cramp in my plans for tonight or tomorrow, it just means that I'll get a little less sleep. But that doesn't matter because I'm heading into the weekend, and things should be slow, especially at night. It's been a LONG time since I've had to work at night. I'm looking forward to it. Especially next month, when my shift changes again. I'll be working from 10:45pm to 7:45am. I'll be able to go in, and immediately pull out my laptop for comic related work.

Oh, and I came up with another idea yesterday as I watched Dr. Who. It needs some work, but basically it'll be about improbable things happening with ubiquitous objects. It'll be good. And Martha Jones? Excuse me. Dr. Martha Jone? That chick is beautiful. I shouldn't even call her a chick, really. I'm not usually attracted to younger women, but this one... yeah. She's just beautiful in a way that Angelina isn't. And when I say younger, I mean younger than 40. Is Salma Hayek 40? If she isn't, then she should be. Oh, the only other younger one that comes to mind is Serena Williams. Yeah. I'm gonna need a cold shower soon...

Anyway, the idea. Yeah. I know what I want to do with it, and it'll work. I just need to flesh it out some more.

Oh! I was reading Popular Science yesterday, and finished a thought on a different story I have. I have this story in a particular setting, and I wanted it to ring true for what was going on. Well, I didn't feel it was really doing that, so the story felt weak to me. This was basically because of the setting. When it gets read, I don't want it to be torn apart because my science was bad. Well, now I can finish it, because my science is now good! My science is good, AND it works with my setting. It doesn't get better than that, really.

Did I mention that I can't wait to start working nights? I have SO much writing to do!

Okay, Lenora should have the keys soon. I'll be seeing my new place again either tonight or tomorrow (depending on if I have to work late or not). I still have to get ready for work, doing such mundane stuff as packing my lunch, showering, getting dressed... I'd rather be moving, but that's just me. The sooner we start, the sooner it's over with.

Be good out there.

-Steven

Overtime and Moving

I was able to pick up some overtime last night. I got the call at 6:45 pm to work from 10:45 pm to 7:45 am. Yeah, it was rough, but only at the end of the shift. However, every little bit helps.

It was a pretty decent night, actually. I got some editing done, I read the screenplay of The Legion, and did some writing on Loxley. I have no complaints.

I also heard from the new property manager. Friday is the day we get to move. I'm not looking forward to it, but excited all the same. It's finally getting into the 100's here, and moving in the daytime is not something I'm looking forward to.

So, Friday it is. I have the day off from work, and that's a great thing. Whoa. No it's not. I was supposed to have some overtime on Friday, and losing that isn't my idea of a good time. Oh, well. It'll all work out. Having that huge chunk of overtime last night will definitely take the sting out. It's just two hours, so instead of having thirteen hours, I'll only have eleven. I'll live.

I had a decent conversation with Benson when I got home. For his vision of The Legion, he had his female lead in a unisex body, and while that's okay in theory, it's not in practice. I gave him some reasons to change a few things around, keeping her female form and changing another detail. Nothing that harms the integrity of the story, and nothing he couldn't live with. Yes, of course I asked if the changes were okay. What kind of cad do you think I am?

Oh, and I got a present from Bruno yesterday. It looks GOOOOD. I'm waiting for the other pages to come in, and then see how much an inker will run me. I need to finish paying for a few things, and Bruno is one of them.

Okay, I'm hungry, and the strange thing is that the movie I'm watching just mentioned food and the time- and both were decently accurate.

I also found another artist that I want to work with. I have a few things he'd be absolutely perfect for. However, it will probably have to wait until my birthday, which is in January. Six months. Six months to the day, actually.

Oh, and today is my oldest cousin's birthday! He's thirty-seven! Happy birthday, Wes!

That's it for now. Be safe.

-Steven

Packing Up

The title says it all, doesn't it?

We're getting ready to leave our expensive abode, and move again for the last time.

Honestly, if we EVER move again, we're paying someone to pack us up and move us. Otherwise, it's just not happening.

Yes, the kittens are doing fine. No, I haven't grown attached to any of them. I don't want them. We already have two cats and a dog, all of which are going to have to find a way to live in peace once we move. Rukus (the dog) is going to be inside a hell of a lot more.

I spoke to the property manager of the house we're moving to. He said he'd be talking to the old property manager later today, to get a date when the house would be ready to move into. As soon as we get a date, we can start talking about utilities and moving trucks and all that good stuff. He said that the old property manager said it would be ready today, but he didn't really believe it. Probably Tuesday or Wednesday.

So, what does that mean for other stuff, like the internet? Well, I'll be talking to Lenora about that one. I can't be without my internet!!! How am I supposed to get any work done? Especially the work that I already started: Loxley and Keys, editing Hollow and The Legion, possibly editing someone else on a different book... All of that is done over the 'net. I'd rather be without television for a little bit than be without my connection, and that's the honest truth. (It doesn't hurt that I also have shows to watch, like Dark Shadows, three seasons of 24, some Farscape... Couple that with movies that we bought but I still haven't watched, and we're talking about a few weeks worth of entertainment. We'll see what happens.)

On the comics front, I have only a few new things. Benson, the writer I'm working with and whipping into shape, sent over the first of three different scripts I asked him to write. It's not bad. Could use some work, but that's why I'm working with him. Getting him ready for the big conversion of his screenplay. And Larime sent over a Hollow script for me to edit, so I'll be working on that, too. However, I haven't heard back from Ryan on Keys yet, and I'm expecting pages to come from Bruno literally any day now.

So that's where I'm at. Tonight I'll start moving boxes into the garage for staging. The less that's in the house, the easier the move itself will be. Like I said before, I'm not really looking forward to the physical aspect of it, but once it's done, it's done.

And I'm done. Talk to you soon.

-Steven

Yesterday

Okay, so yesterday I didn't post. Pretty good reason for that.

I was pissed. And, I got only a little comic work done.

And I'll show you a sketch of my character, Loxley.

But first, why I was pissed:

Like I said before, we're moving. However, it seems like we can't do it without some drama being attached to it.

I'll go over the drama for the move her to Tucson at another time. This is a story of two houses. The first house, we'll just call "here". The new house, we'll call "there." Simple. Okay.

So, we're here. Like I said before, I've called the landlord a couple of times, and gotten no answer, as well as having gotten a call from the property management company- the property manager happens to be the landlord's brother. The landlord owns the house, but is letting his brother manage it. Okay.

We've been here since November. It's now June. That makes it eight months. Everyone on the same page? Great! Let's switch gears.

We're moving to another house, also under a property management company. I don't think it's the same one, but who knows. Stranger things have happened. We've been talking about moving for about a month or two before deciding to look for a place, and when we decided, this house just landed in our laps. Like I said before: four bedrooms, two baths, decent sized back yard, in a housing development on a cul-de-sac, with only one house to our left. It's going to be rent to own, so it's going to be ours within a year. We're REALLY looking forward to that.

Well, the house was currently being rented, but the people in it were supposed to be out by June 1. Notice the "supposed to be out" part. They were supposed to be gone, the management company was going to clean the property, and we'd be able to move in by June 5.

Wrong! The people didn't get all of their stuff out, and the management company couldn't find them. So, they sent a three day abandonment notice, and if they don't get their stuff, then their stuff will be boxed up and put into storage, the house will be cleaned, and then we'll be able to take possession. Right. So, today's Sun, and we probably won't be able to take it until Tues or Wed. But that's small stuff that's happening over there.

That doesn't hold a candle to what's happening over here.

Lenora goes to check the mail a couple of days ago, and comes back with a letter from a law firm. The letter is addressed to Parties In Possession of my address.

Are you hearing the ominous music?

The letter states that the house is going up for public auction on Aug 28th.

Wait. Let me say that again.

The letter states that the house (here) is going up for public auction on Aug 28th.

That's right. He lost the damned house! And we would have been screwed if we hadn't already started looking for a new place! But that's not all!


Like I said, we moved here in November, and it's now June. He hadn't made a house payment since JULY!!!!! We were supposed to have a one year lease (which he never got to us), but he hadn't made a payment for FOUR MONTHS BEFORE WE EVER MOVED IN!!!! He KNEW he was losing the house BEFORE WE STEPPED FOOT INSIDE!

We scrambled to pay first and last month's rent, plus paid rent for seven months. His brother even had the temerity to call here asking for the rent! Granted, this was before we got the letter, but I had already called the landlord and told him we were moving. Then his brother calls, looking for the rent. I told him we were moving, and to apply the deposit for this month's rent, an all he said was "Oh, okay." Literally, that was it. That was the length of his answer.

And then we get the letter, and found out that we would have been screwed royally if we didn't already have something lined up.

But he hasn't paid the mortgage since July. What did he do with my money?! That's a question.

Yeah, pissed.

Anyway, my artist for Loxley is sending in pages soon, but I thought I'd share some character sketches.

First up is Mr. Punchy.

Yeah, he's a bad guy with a stupid name, but it's staying. There is a method to my madness.

Next, there's Loxley. Here's the first image of her.


I wasn't too thrilled with it, you know? I thought it lacked something. So I asked Bruno to add a hood and cape. Something simple, yet elegant.

This is what he came up with.

Slight change, sure, but one that I'm quite happy with.

Once we get the move done and get accepted somewhere, I'll get some promo pieces from him.

And Ross Hughes, the colorist for Fallen Justice, has agreed to color Loxley, so I'm happy there. Larime's still working on the logo, but has some ideas in mind. I just need to get it all done and sent in to Image.

Image first, other companies later.

And this evening, I start writing up the script for the second issue. I'm looking forward to it, because I get to do it while at work. I LOVE that fact about my job- I can write on my laptop, and still get paid for doing my job. It's WONDERFUL, and I don't think I'll ever be leaving it. Not unless something significant changes, like I sell a few comic ideas for a million bucks apiece. Then we'll talk about changes in my job.

But that's it. Enjoy.

-Steven

Mother's Day

So, today's my mother's birthday.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Yeah, there's a whole convoluted story behind it, and I'll not go into it with you. Sorry.

I went back to work today. It was pretty good. I have no complaints about it. Signed up for some overtime, and will stay over when needed. I really, REALLY love what I do. Honestly. No sarcasm involved. Where else am I going to get paid to write?

I checked DW this morning before I went to work, and had a private message from one of the writers there, thanking me for all the help I'd given him. He's a novelist by trade, and is doing his first comics work. The work itself is pretty strong. He did his homework, studied the format, and started knocking it near the wall on his first outing. He said that Lee Nordling and myself were head and shoulders above the rest in actual help. It was kinda strange to hear it. I mean, sure, other writers say "thanks for the help" all the time, that's nothing new. But to take the extra couple of clicks to write a private message? That's heartfelt thanks in my book, and I was a little humbled by it.

However, not being one to let a potential job pass me by, I also offered to edit the book. :) He said he'd take me up on it. I see the story going places. He's a strong writer, I just hope he hooked up with a strong artist. We'll see what happens.

Get used to hearing that phrase. "We'll see what happens." I tend to say it a lot, basically because I'm waiting for others.

I have to finish reading the Legion screenplay today. I'll do it as I watch tennis. Today was the men's semifinal, and we had Djokovic playing Nadal, and Federer will roll over Monfils. Should be fun.

Okay, short one today. One of the cats is pregnant, and about to give birth any hour now. Some of her water just broke on my chair.

Stop laughing! It could happen to you.

I'm going to go change my pants and watch tennis. You be good.

-Steven

On Projects and Moving

Okay, so we moved from Virginia Beach, VA, to Tucson, AZ. I already said that. We were living in a townhouse, and moved into an apartment here. We were in the apartment for about a year, but then moved into a house. We're renting it, and have been here for about eight months. It's a very nice place with a big yard, a pool, four bedrooms, three baths, a game room, GRASS... It's nice and it's big and it's expensive, but it's not ours.

So, we're moving. The landlord hasn't been here to check up on things since December, and I've tried raising him on the phone. No luck. There's no lease, which is his fault, especially since he's going through his brother's property management company. I called him and left a message, telling him we're moving, but still no response. However, the management company just called, so I'll be talking with them later today.

Where are we moving to? A VERY nice house that's rent to own. What are we giving up? A pool, a bathroom, and a game room- things we can definitely live without. Oh, and grass, which will help keep the damned water bill down. So, this house has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a pretty big yard that's gravel (not going to get grass. i live in the desert!!), a two car garage, air conditioning... It's in a housing development, about three years old, on a cul de sac. It's actually the last house on the cul de sac, and we only have one house to the left of us. Lots of privacy. We love it.

Another thing that we love about the house is that it's cheaper! I mean, damn. A little bit less house for a LOT less money. Come on! How often does that happen?

What does the extra money mean to the family? A LOT. We're also getting my three youngest children soon, which means the child support that's coming out of my check will stop, which increases the amount of money in the house. We'll be able to pay all the bills and groceries, and have a LOT left over.

Part of that money is going to be going for two projects that I have artists working on. One is a superhero story, and the other is a religious story. Well, I can't even say religious. It's about reality, really, and those that have control over it.

I found both artists on Digital Webbing, THE place on the internet to go when it comes to looking for collaborators, and anything else dealing with comics, really. The guy working on the superhero story I found just lurking around. He's damned good. Already have the thumbnails for the five pages I commissioned from him. Once he's done, I have a friend of mine named Larime working on letters and a logo. I also have a colorist onboard, and he knows an inker. So, I have most of a team put together for the submission to Image. If they don't bite, there's Premiere Publishing, who's doing Fallen Justice. We'll see what they say. I'd rather have Image, but you take what you can.

For the second story, I came across the artist in a strange way. Well, not necessarily strange, but not the usual way. I have a very particular look in my mind when it comes to a colorist for the book, and I found one who's perfect on DW. So I approached her, and she's willing to do it. Well, as I was talking to her, another guy came up and said he'd be interested in doing the pencils. I had been watching the guy's work, but didn't really think of him for the art. Well, he showed me some other work that he's doing, and I made my choice instantly. It also helps that the artist and colorist have been wanting to collaborate for a while. This series will be taken to Archaia Studios Press to see what they think. I'm thinking they'll bite. It's perfect in story and look for them, as is IDW, which I hadn't thought of initially, and have to thank Ryan for. Well, to be totally honest, Boom! Studios would be a nice home for it, too. I dunno. We'll see what happens.

I also have some submissions in to Lee Nordling, leader of The Pack, a comics packaging company. I sent him three stories: The Show, Annie O.N.E., and Madhouse. It's been three weeks since I sent off two of those three, going on a month, and I'll bug him about it later. For these submissions, I don't need an artist. All I need is a good story that has mass appeal, because The Pack's focus is the bookstore market. The stories I sent have mass appeal, methinks, and like I said, it's going on a month. I take that as a good sign. Of course, the first set I sent over he passed on, Keys being one of them, but I understood the reasons for that. We'll see what happens. He said it's a process, and it takes time, and I'm a believer.

If I'm able to sell the stories, then I've sold the stories, and will be paid. I'm looking forward to that. The money would definitely be helpful- clean up some debt, or put it back into the comics I'll be submitting elsewhere. Either way, money is always welcome, especially when it comes from hard work doing something that you love.

On the editing front, I'm still working with Larime on Hollow, as well as working with a new writer on a graphic novel. He's making the conversion of the graphic novel from a screenplay he wrote, and we have a lot of work ahead of us. However, he's coming along just fine. He's not afraid of the work, and is a fast study. I'm enjoying working with him.

I'm also waiting to hear from Cary about a proposal I sent him. It has to do with my superhero project, and if we can find terms agreeable to both, we may have some exciting things going on.

Lots of irons in the fire, just waiting to be struck. I'm very excited to see how it all comes out.

Okay, I'm done. Time to continue mocking Pimpzilla (I'll tell you about that tomorrow), and read the screenplay. I'll also be watching my e-mail. I'm waiting for artwork to start coming in. :) Until tomorrow, be good out there.

-Steven

History of My World- Pt 1

For some of you (all three of you out there!), I need no introduction. For the rest, though, pull up a chair, and I'll tell you a little bit about myself.

Okay, so I'm Steve Forbes. No, not the rich white guy that owns Forbes magazine, but just a guy bound and determined to make it in the world of comics. Currently, I'm 34, and between my wife and I, we have ten kids. Yes, ten. Our oldest is 33, and our youngest just turned 8. You figure it out. ;)

I've been a lot of things in my thirty-four years: a Marine, a security guard, a secretary, a maintenance controller, a video game playtester, I've worked for UPS, and have done auto insurance claims for one of the more popular insurance companies. You've seen the commercials and know a catch-phrase. Oh, and I've also done customer service for a large cell phone company. They'll never get my money, though. I've seen how they work.

Originally from Long Island, NY, I'm now in Tucson, AZ by way of Virginia Beach, VA. I'm currently working for my local city government as a 911 emergency dispatcher. I LOVE this job, and find it personally fulfilling. Sometimes it's about saving lives, others it's just helping with an emergency. I've been there for just under a year, and my probation isn't up until Christmas, but that's a great present, don't you think?

The best part about the job is that there's a lot of down time. Not everyone is having an emergency all the time, especially at night. So, I get to do what my calling really is, which is writing comic books.

This past year hasn't seen a lot of movement from me on the comics front. A lot of that was due to the move from Virginia to here, but now that we're a lot more settled, I've started gearing up again. I'll share more about that later.

I used to be editor in chief of a small indie company called Paper Dragonz. Through them, I started getting my name out there as a writer and editor. It was owned by Susan and Cary Kelley, but when they split up, the company went the way of the dodo. I guess that's fine. We weren't doing as well as I would have liked, anyway. It could have been turned around, but comics is a HARD, EXPENSIVE business.

However, through them, I've gotten some work done. The first issue of my five issue mini called Bullet Time was through them, and although it's languishing right now, it will make a comeback. I've also co-written Fallen Justice with Cary, the first issue of which should be coming out this month from Premiere Publishing. You can find it here.

There are some exciting things on the horizon, and I can't wait to tell you all about it, but it'll have to wait until the history lesson is over.

I think that's about it, really. I'll talk about grandkids and my personal projects tomorrow. Right now, I have some stuff to finish editing, as well as writing to do, tennis to watch, and boxes to pack. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Until then, be safe.

-Steven