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