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