Homesick

I was riding alongside Lenora, who was driving, looking at the mountains in front of me, feeling the cool breeze, smelling the oncoming of spring...  And then I had the onset of pangs of homesickness come over me.  

I get homesick a few times a month, it seems like.  I understand that we chose to move here, but Tucson, for all of its barren beauty, is not in my blood.  It's not where I grew up.  I miss the green, I miss the true cold, I miss the wet.  I miss the variation of houses, the variations of people.  I miss the melting pot that is Long Island.

True, I haven't lived there in years, but at least in Virginia, there was greenery and temperature variations.  Maybe not much of a variation of people, but there were all kinds of nooks and crannies to explore.  It wasn't home, but it was close.  

I miss the snow.

I remember driving back up to the base one night.  I was young and tireless at the time, and the trip was only about two hours or so--most of it was getting off of Long Island.  I was down there for the weekend, and it was snowing.  I don't recall the weekend, I don't know which car I was driving, but I rememember being by myself on the road once I started going into the mountains.  Like I said, it was snowing, and the evergreens were thick with it.  My headlights cut the night, and the shadows in the trees were greenish black.  Greenish black, with white highlights because of the snow, and all I wanted to do was to pull over and stare for a while.  That's all.

It was the first time I'd ever truly ached over the beauty of nature.  

There was another time, after I had gotten out of the Marine Corps and after my first wife and I had split, I was walking along with my girlfriend at the time.  Her name was Wendy, and she was a few years older than me.  At least 35 at the time.  One of my mother's friends.  I was about 28 or so.  Anyway, it was winter, and we were walking along, just taking a stroll.  It was starting to warm up, and the snow was melting.  There was some ice along the curb, and water was running beneath it and to the side, doing some erosion of it as it travelled to a nearby drain.  It struck me as very pretty, approaching beauty, just with the look of the gray day and the snow and the ice and the running water.  As we walked, I just quieted down and watched it, lost.  Wendy asked what was wrong, and I told her what I saw.  She saw it too, but had taken it for granted.  She then looked at me again and called me special.  Not many people would see it the way I had.  

I've never thought of myself as special.  Lenora calls me special all the time, and I don't feel it.  I guess no one ever truly feels special.  Not by themselves.  They may know their self-worth, but it takes two to feel special.  It's like being able to tie a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue.  Some can, most can't.  Do you feel special because you can?  What if someone tells you you're special because you can?  Same thing.  

I write, and I notice things.  I think I notice things because I write, and I write because I notice things.  I think they go hand in hand.  I don't feel special because of either "ability."  I can't draw, and I think those that can do it well are amazing.  

So that's me being homesick.

Writing...  You know, I'm kinda proud of myself.  Only a little, mind you.  I'm seven months into writing Bolts & Nuts, without having missed a week yet.  I could have taken a break over the holidays, I could have taken one for my birthday, I could take a week off due to a well deserved vacation--but I haven't.  I think that says something.  Week in and week out for seven months.  I'd call that a minor accomplishment.

Work on Group is coming along nicely, as well.  Sara and I have decided upon a colorist, so we've added that to the mix.  It knocks down my "ready for publication" pages down to three, but we'll be getting there soon enough.  Three weeks worth of material is golden.  I just need to fix a few things before I letter them up.

I've recently come to the decision to do the lettering myself.  It does take some imagination on my end, some working out of certain things, but I think it's worth it.  It gives me more control over my words.  Not that I'm a control freak or anything.  I think I'm less controlling about my words than a lot of writers out there.  That may come from an understanding that every writer needs an editor.  Being an effective self-editor is difficult, but I'm trusting my storytelling instincts to guide me, and then shore up some of the other things later.  Sara is doing an incredible job with the script, and we're coming up to a really powerful sequence soon.  I'm anxious to see what she does with those pages.  I also have to send her some more money for supplies soon.  

I've also recently decided to do a radio show type of podcast out of one of my stories.  I just wonder how time intensive it's going to be.  Knowing me and my standards, probably decently time intensive.  I'm something of a perfectionist, and I know that's going to come into play when it comes to producing this thing.  Not only do I have to write it, I have to find actors for it, rehearse, record, and then add sound effects and music.  Outside of the actual writing of it, I hope I can get to a point where the rest is done in about three hours or less.  One can dream, right?

I think that's really about it.  Work is going well.  Being off probation and actually having the job is a great weight off my shoulders.  If I could sleep for more than four hours at a time on this shift, I'd be good to go.  The summer bid should be a lot better, though.  Instead of going in at midnight, I'll be going in at ten pm.  I think that'll be a lot better.  Since I'll have to be there by ten, I have to leave the house by 9:35, which means I have to get up no later than 9, but will probably get up by 8:30 or so.  This means I'll have to be asleep by 2 if I want to get about six hours of sleep.  Getting off at 8 and going to bed by 2 gives me six hours of doing whatever needs to get done, and if Lenora is still working nights, I get to spend some time with her in the morning before she has to go in, also.    I'm not seeing a downside here.

It also gives me a more of a slow time at work, so I can get more work done while there.  That's where I'll be doing the bulk of my lettering and plotting, as well as the column writing and editing.  I'll save the comic writing for home, where I can work on it undisturbed.

I finally have letters for the big project I keep talking about!  I'm excited about it, actually.  I have the letters in, they've already been colored, and there's something of a promo piece.  That just needs a logo of some sort, and then it should be off to the races!  The next month should be VERY exciting, depending on the timeframe with which these things move.

I think that's it for now.  Go watch The Thing From Another World.  You'll be glad you did.

-Steven

Self Empowerment!!!

I have to say that I'm feeling pretty good about myself today.  No, I don't say that all that often, but then again, I'm not easily satisfied with myself.

I guess you could call it a little thing, but it's a step forward for me, and because of it, I'm pretty proud.

I'm teaching myself how to letter.  Finally.  And I'm having a good time doing it.

A little backstory.  I decided to teach myself how to letter months ago.  About a month or so before we moved.  Maybe a little more.  So, it's been on my back burner for a decent amount of time.  I went out and bought a couple of books on it: the ComiCraft book and the DC Guide.  The DC guide is on both coloring and lettering.  Since I have trouble putting together blue jeans and a black shirt, I'll stay away from trying to color.  Well, I'll stay away from trying to color for myself.  I'll learn some of it as an editor, but that's about it.

I also went and got the Adobe CS3, as well as a Dummies book on it.  Ready to rock, right?

Wrong.

My plan is to do a lot of this work while at my job.  Because I work at night, I have a LOT of free time to do stuff.  I get a ton of writing done, and I've read more books in the past year and a half than I have in years.  It's a great job, and now that I'm off of probation, I don't have to ask permission to bring out my laptop or read or anything like that.  I know the rules, I do my job, and my extra-curricular stuff is my reward.  Nice.

Anyway, I didn't have enough RAM on the laptop in order to run the stinkin' program!  I was frustrated with that, yes.  One of my co-workers helped me to look up some RAM, and I eventually bought it.  Sure, it was six months or so later, but I got it.  (And it was cheaper than what I was originally going to pay for it, too.)  So, THANK YOU, Harry D.  You hired me as an editor for your script, and that allowed me to buy the RAM, and a few other things.

There's a funny story to go along with this.  Lenora and I also joined Columbia House through her My Points.  We ordered The Flash: the complete series for myself, and CSI season three for her.  This was before I ordered the RAM.  We did it all online, and we were waiting for Columbia House to send us back an e-mail saying we were in.  Days went by with nothing.  

I ordered the RAM, and figured out when it was supposed to arrive.  I was checking the mail like a madman, wanting the RAM to get here.  So I'm on my weekend, had already taken a nap, and went to the door to check the mail.  Lo and behold, there's a box!  I'm happy as hell, and bring the box inside, tearing into it.

Only to find the dvd sets we ordered!

I howled!!!!

Nope.  Wasn't happy at all.

The RAM came the day after.

So, I installed it, and the laptop thanked me for it.  It now runs CS3 with no problem.  

I broke out my books and dove in, face first.  And I was stymied and frustrated.  First, it was trying to find the damned elliptical tool in order to make the actual word balloons.  After I found that, it was trying to make the words appear in the damned balloons!  I didn't realize (until right this moment, actually) that I had the layers backward.  Letters have to lay on top of the balloons.  Yeah.  Nice.

I started out just placing words anywhere on some art I had laying around the computer.  Once I got a little bit of the knack for doing it, I lettered up one of the pages of the project I'm waiting to hear back on.  I have the three pages of artwork from the script I wrote, but none of the lettered pages yet.  After I lettered the first page, I knew that I found a worthy challenge.

The purpose of me learning to letter is trifold.  First and foremost, it'll make me self-sufficient enough so that I can do it myself.  I'll hire someone for logo's, but that's about it.  Since I really only plan to letter my own stuff, it saves me money on hiring a letterer.  Secondly, it'll help me become a better writer.  I won't flood the page with words anymore.  It takes being conscious of space requirements to a whole different level.  Lastly, it will help me be a better editor.  I can watch for spacing and placement and the like, and know how to correct them or speak from a place of knowledge when I ask for changes.  It's a win-win-win situation all the way around.

After I lettered up that page, I downloaded all of the free fonts from Blambot, and put them in Illustrator before lettering up the second page.  After I lettered up the second page, I went back to the book for some minor tweaks about how to do some things, and the third page turned out better than the previous two.

I'm not yet ready for the neighborhood chores, but I'm getting there.

And yes, lettering those pages was a delightful challenge.  Forming the words into a diamond shape, placing the balloons around them, finding out the best way to put them so that the eye is led across the page in the correct manner, figuring that out around the artwork...challenging.  But one I'm up for.

With that under my belt, I'll more than likely letter my webcomics myself.  That's the goal, and there's nothing like jumping right on in.  I'll be working on the pages I have starting tomorrow, and make a decision then.  

That's what I have going on in the self-empowerment movement when it comes to lettering.  There is more, though.

I'm frustrated with some of my writing friends.  We were supposed to launch a webcomic site last month, but we're now well into February, and there are only three of the five of us who are ready.  The idea is to do a page a week of our own stories.  I have 12 pages ready to rock.  Twelve pages, and a logo.  So I'm good to go for three months.  The goal was to have about 6 pages each ready to go, and then we can move forward with the site.  We've already got the hosted space.  We just need to get on the stick.  

I'm afraid of it falling apart around me.  That would depress me.  I'd move forward, but I wouldn't be extremely happy about it.

I do have an idea, though.  I just have to talk to one of the other guys to see where they're at before moving forward with it.  I may just do it, anyway.  I just need another paid editing gig, and I can go look for an artist for another story.  If I can get another paid gig or two, I'll search for the appropriate artists and move forward from there.  

As it stands right now, I can put up the pages of the first issue of Bullet Time for content.  That would give me either eleven or twenty-two weeks of content, depending on how often I updated it.  My goal is to have five or six days worth of content.  I gotta keep you all coming back for more!  I have an artist who wants to work with me on a story, which gives me another forty-four or twenty-two weeks, depending on if I update once or twice a week.  So if I start with Bullet Time as just content, and then add Group and My Life, and did all of them once a week, that's three days a week of content for no less than 22 weeks.  I call that very nice.

And if I get one more artist, that gives me four days of content.  

Well, I do have Annie O.N.E. on deck.  I have five penciled and inked pages for that.  (AND I just realized how the inks can go to both the letterer and colorist at the same time!  Lettering rocks!!!!)  That project is slated to go to traditional publishers first, but if they don't bite, I'll take it to the web.  That would give me five days of content for twenty-two weeks, and more than enough time to search for another artist to replace Bullet Time on the rotation. 

A LOT of things on the plate.  Writing, lettering, editing, the columns, and then I'm also burning to do a podcast like the old radio shows of yore.  I have an actor that's interested.  I just need to write it, and get some sound effects to produce it with.  If I'm able to produce those well and sell them, I'll have a GREAT many things to sell next year.  Books and an audio cd.  

If I don't dream big and being totally dependent on me, who else will?

Non-comic stuff?  Well, I got a new tattoo on Saturday.  After it's all healed up, I'll put up a pic of it.  It was a birthday present from Lenora.  She loves me!

I'll also be getting an iPhone in a few weeks.  That's one of my own gifts to myself.  Sara Cappoli, the artist of Group, is my other present to myself.  That woman has skills!  

Besides that, I'm waiting patiently for Prince to drop the first album of the year.  He said he'd be dropping three, and I'm waiting for it.  (And I just decided which story I'm going to search for an artist on.  Three issues, sixty-six weeks!)  

And that's it.  I'm hungry, but Lenora should be home soon.  Gonna have some bratwurst, and she's bringing buns home.  Some bratwurst, cheese, and mustard.  Good times, folks.  Good times.

And I'm out!  Go listen to some Huey Lewis and the News.  You'll be glad you did.

-Steven

Two Steps Forward- And The Bus

Ever see the movie Meet Joe Black?  Where the guy gets killed by the bus that comes out of nowhere?  I laughed my ass off when that happened.  Truly.  It was hilarious.  

And then it happened to me.  Metaphorically, of course, but still.

So, it's nearing the end of January.  I'm still getting pages from Sara, which is a great thing.  Group is shaping up very well.  I'm still getting pages (slowly) from Cristhian for Annie O.N.E.  I had to search for a colorist, and may have found one, but I have to get approval from my partners first.  So, I'm waiting on that.  I should be used to waiting.  I seem to do a lot of it.

Like I'm still waiting on lettered pages from my editor for the big project I want to do.  The sooner we get resolution on that, the better I'd feel.  I'm still working on other things, sure, but it's looming over me.   

I've started another column over at Project Fanboy.  This one is called The Proving Grounds, and it's basically me editing scripts that are sent to me.  It's the brainchild of Sebastian Piccione, one of the admins over at PFB.  At first, I was highly skeptical.  Seriously.  It's not like I wasn't already running one column that seems to have a dedicated fan base.  Would that fan base translate to another column?  I didn't know, so I put out some feelers, and did some preliminary math based on some nearly arbitrary numbers.

I came up with I needed 10 people to say that they wanted the other column.  I got 8.  I figured that was close enough, so I went ahead and did it.  I posted one column last week, and it already has over 200 views.  It hasn't been a week yet.  I'd say that's pretty good for a relatively obscure site.  

Its also got me a paid editing gig, with the possibility of more down the road.  I'm pretty happy about that, to tell the truth.  It had been a while since I had one, and I needed to get a memory upgrade for my laptop.  I'm trying to teach myself how to letter, and CS3 isn't running on my laptop due to not enough memory.  So, the first thing I did with part of the money was to buy that upgrade.  It should be here pretty soon.  I'm hoping today or tomorrow.  That would be nice.

I also may be entering into another editing position with Red Handed Studios.  Basically, Cary left Premiere publishing and is striking out on his own.  There are a few lines for things to happen, such as getting into Haven to be distributed and possible webcomics, but we'll see where that leads.  

Lenora is undert he impression that either Marvel or DC is going to scoop me up to edit for them.  She seems to think that will happen this year or next.  I love her for it.  She's good for my ego.  I know better, but still, it's nice that someone thinks decently of me.  

I wouldn't say that I'm a great editor.  I have a LONG way to go to become a good editor.  I think I'm decent, but I still have a ton to learn.  I have books and am studying them and trying to apply my knowledge to create better books, but I still have a LONG way to go.  So, when she says things like she's just waiting for the publishing fairy to come along and whisk me up, it makes me feel good, but since I consider myself an adolescent in comics, I know there's no publishing fairy.  I have to do the work in order to open doors for myself, and that's what I'm in the process of doing.  

Things are going much better for Bear, our cat.  He's up to his tricks again, bouncing around, feeling wonderful.  He's gained his weight back, as well as his appetite.  I don't know if I told you, but he has feline leukemia.  Not cool for a kitten.  He's about 7 months old now, and he's spoiled.  But he's basically a good cat.  We had him neutered, which triggered the leukemia and some sort of infection.  We beat it back, and he's doing much better, so we're happy.  We just can't get him declawed, or it's the same thing all over again.  Instead, we have to put caps on his claws.  Went to the vet last night and did it.

He's also taking to sleeping on the bed with us.  Not something I mind in the least.  I know Lenora doesn't.  She likes having him really close.  He surprised me yesterday by basically sleeping on the bed with me all day.  Not something I was expecting from him.

And then, the bus.

I mentioned my friend Jennifer from Virginia Beach.  We had a semi-relationship...  Okay, time for a small tangent.  

I don't think it's too much to ask for women to say what the hell they mean, or at least give us some damned strong hints as to what they want.  Cue cards would be nice.  Men aren't smart.  Not when it comes to the arcane and mystic ways of women.  We can put together a shelving unit with no problem, and we understand electronics.  Want us to grill?  We're right there.  Ask us about a color or a style of women's dress or female haircut--superficial stuff, right?--and we're lost.  And then you're going to ask us to understand you?  Why not ask for peace in the middle east while you're at it?

Okay, so we were in some sort of relationship.  Sex was involved.  She was married, and wanted to get back with her husband.  I could kinda understand that.  I was married, but April and I knew we weren't getting back together.  So, we were both separated.  I was lusting after her for a while.  An attractive woman, with everything in all the right places.  Funny, smart, but just a bit young for me.  I did it anyway.

I already said that I hurt her.  I'm not going to revisit that.  She unfortunately had a breakdown, and that's all I'm going to say about that.  I apologized to her, and thought we were on the way to making peace.  

Then, I get a text this morning asking if I took advantage of her.  She was supposed to come out in March to visit Lenora for her birthday, but now says she's not coming because she can't stand the sight of me.  

Blew me away.

I think I know where it's coming from, and I probably deserve it, but it doesn't mean I was prepared for it.  

I've never claimed to be a nice guy.  Never.  Others may say it of me, others may think it of me, but I've never claimed it for myself.  I've hurt people.  Unintentionally and never with forethought, but I've done it.  I've done it, and I'm sorry about it.  But to be told that I hurt you more than the man who married you only to get citizenship papers...a man that you loved...yeah, that hurts.  

And it's put me into a melancholy mood.  

So, I'm going to watch The Dark Knight, and some things on Hulu.  We'll see what happens with the rest of this evening.  

Thanks.

Some Days...

You ever feel like the more you try to help someone, the more of an asshole you are?  

So, I was fired yesterday off of an editing job.  No, I don't mince words.  I was fired.  Yes, I'm going to go into it somewhat.

A friend asked me to edit their work.  It was part of an agreement to basically watch each other's back, and I had no problem in doing it at all.  I'm still waiting for that big project to get off the ground, so it's not like I'm ultra-busy at the moment.  So I agreed to it, and was sent over a 10 page script.  

The format was fine, the story was decent, it was the execution that was mediocre.  So I rolled up my sleeves a little and dug in.  It wasn't hard.  It wasn't a lot of work.  Some dialogue problems, some issues with panels being impossible to be drawn, some things didn't make sense, but it wasn't horrible by any means.  I've seen horrible.  I've copyedited stories that changed tone mid-stream, and did my best to make sure they made some sort of sense.  This was nothing compared to that.

So, I take a few hours and do my thing, when I could have been working on Bolts & Nuts, and I edit the thing.  

What I got back was crap.  I was told by my friend that I was a good editor, and that I caught some technical difficulties, but they disagreed with some of my edits.  They said it was basically a critique, and put it down to a difference of style.

Yup, I was a little frustrated.  First, I wasn't hired to critique.  I hand out critiques on Digital Webbing, going over things done wrong and some ideas on how to fix them.  My friend knows how I do my critiques, because we "met" on the DW boards.  They know that I don't pull punches, giving it to you straight.  So I took some umbrage to have my edits called a critique--especially when they just got no less than $150 of work out of me for free.  

Second, the script that was sent back basically ignored the bulk of my edits.  I'd say about 90% of them.  I wasn't happy about that, either.  If they wanted a critique, then ask for one.  I can give my opinion for free on the boards.  I do it all the time.  If you want me to edit you, why struggle with it?  

So, that's basically what I told them, and sent them a link to my B&N column dealing with communication, in which I talk about writers and how much power they want to give up in their scripts.  They thought about it for a couple of days, and then sent the script back, this time ignoring only about 25% of my revisions, again saying they thought it was only a difference of style.

I have no problem adapting to someone's writing style.  What I want is clarity of writing.  If you want something to be a surprise in panel 5 of page 7, then make sure you set it up correctly on panel 2 of page 3.  If I'm telling you that something isn't able to be drawn, then visualize the panel in your head and see if I'm right, or if you are.  Chances are, you're going to see it my way.  If I'm telling you that some information is extraneous, then more than likely it is.  Except for the last, and even then, not really, these things aren't a question of style, it's a question of clear storytelling.

So, like I said, I got the script back a second time, and went back to work on it.  It was better, but still not there yet.  I moved around some dialogue to make a page have more balance, and edited some of the dialogue to sound better when read aloud.  The thing is, the dialogue itself was very serviceable, it just wasn't sounding right in the places my friend had it.  I didn't even rearrange any words, just their placement.  I also asked about some choppy-ness of the dialogue, because they did it throughout the entire script, and I wanted to understand why they were doing it that way.  It annoyed the hell out of me, because people don't speak with pauses like that.  Bendis, this writer ain't.  I also asked about another line that contradicted a previous statement.  Yup.  Real deep and evil, I know.

So, I fired it off and waiting.  Went back to sleep to get ready for work, and when I got up, I had an e-mail telling me thanks but no thanks.  They said that if they made the changes I suggested, it would no longer be "their" story.  (Remember, I didn't change any words coming out of anyone's mouth, I just rearranged the placement of some dialogue to make it flow better.)  Again, they said that it was a matter of style (like my editing style wasn't known going in), and the two of us didn't match, and they hoped that there were no hard feelings.

And to be honest, there's not.  I have my own feelings about the story, and if this is something they're going to pursue alone, then I don't feel they're ready to be published yet.  They haven't yet learned that the moment they give it to an artist to draw, it's no longer "their" story alone.  And if they haven't yet learned to accept some editorial guidance, then again, they're not ready to be published.  And as much as I want to help, not being ready isn't something I can help with.  I can only sit back and watch, because my help isn't wanted.

I'm not going to sit here and lie.  I'm not necessarily easy to work with, not because I demand perfection, but because I point out your flaws and want you to fix them yourself, without any molly-coddling.  I'll hold your hand, but I have a firm grip.  You'd better, too, unless you want to have your hand hurt.  

I remember when I first started editing Hollow.  Larime is an award winning playwright, and has studied television shows with the thought of bringing something of that format to comics.  His entire first issue was nothing more than a series of what I call fast cuts.  Two, maybe three pages, and then he'd abruptly cut to another scene.  Picture a 28 page comic, something like seven scenes, and all of them cut in half and interspersed throughout the issue.  Drove me up a wall!  And my edits were pissing Larime off.  He was almost in my face about it, and asked me to stop after I got to the third issue because he wanted to remain friends with me.  Yes, it was that deep.

However, he eventually realized that in his rush to emulate television, he was forgetting the medium he was working in, and was actively getting in the way of my enjoyment of the story.  If I was the average reader, and for the most part I am, then the majority of readers out there would feel the same frustration.  After he realized that, and the fact that I wasn't out to turn his story into something it wasn't but was only trying to make it better, he thanked me and officially asked me to come on board as his editor.

Will my friend do the same thing?  Who knows.  I did have hopes that they were ready, but it appears I was wrong.  It'll all come out in the wash.

Yes, I'm still waiting for pages to come back from my editor on the big project.  Basically, colors and letters on the three pages of art, and then it's a publisher hunt.  Waiting sucks, so I keep busy.

I'm coming up on six months of Bolts & Nuts, without a Tuesday being missed.  That's dedication, I'd say.  Right now, I'm three weeks ahead (really two, since tomorrow's Tuesday), and I'm working on another one presently.  After I write that one, I'll be at three weeks again, and I have about another four weeks of material planned, to include a mail bag week.  I'm also lining up a couple of guests, and their contributions would take me to seven weeks out, when I decide to use them.  That would give me a grand total of 31 columns done (including tomorrow's).  I would say that that's pretty damned good.  

What's not good is the mailbag week.  I sent out a call for questions, two weeks in a row, and so far, only one person has sent in questions.  They're enough for a column, sure, but that's not the point.  The point is that out of all the readers I have, only one person sent in questions.  I honestly don't think I'm doing such an incredible job that no one else has questions.  And honestly, part of it may be that Project Fanboy is such a small site.  Right now, it boasts something like 200 registered members.  Compare that to Digital Webbing, which has 7800, and you start to see what I mean.  

Well, we also go a few more registered members.  I created a poll to see if there would be enough support for a second column where I actually edited scripts, and some of my constant readers registered in order to vote.  Sebastian thinks that I'm the main draw at PFB, and the new registrants prove it, but I disagree.  Part of the draw?  Sure.  I can accept that.  Main draw?  Nope.  If we had a surge of about fifty new registrants who all voted in the poll, then I might start thinking that way.  However, the poll has only 7 voters.  They were all yes votes, but for something that has close to 200 views, that's not a lot of votes.

Anyway.  Things are still moving along with my webcomic.  I got a page yesterday for Annie O.N.E. from Cristhian, and I got a page for Group from Sara about 30 minutes ago.  It'll be good once it gets rolling.

And life?  Things are decent.  No real complaints, and the things I can complain about, I'm actively working to recify.  When that's finally cleared up, I'll be VERY happy.

I think that's it.  Go watch Eddie Murphy: Delerious.  You'll be glad you did.

The past few days have been kind of eventful.  I've been living in interesting times, and I haven't been liking it.

Our car isn't doing so hot.  Seems there's something up with the engine.  An engineering fault, really.  There's even a tech bulletin out on it.  I've been taking it to the shop to get it looked at, but now I have to take it to the dealership.  I'm not too thrilled about that, to tell the truth.  I'll do that next week.  I have to go to work tonight, and that'll keep me busy until then.

But the car is manageable.  That's not what had me worried.  What had me worried was our cat.

Or kitten, I should say.  His name is Bear, and he's an American Shorthair cat.  Just your basic black cat.  He's not seven months old, and we just had him neutered.  Well, he stopped eating and drinking a few days ago.  We took him to the vet, and he has leukemia.  Not happy about it in the least.  Lenora was really torn up about him not eating or drinking, especially after we lost Abby.

So I went looking online for a vet, and found one that I liked.  Gave them a call, and not only do they have extended hours, they have reasonable prices.  So reasonable, in fact, that they saved us fifty bucks.

They were going to charge us for the doctor's exam, and two tests.  When one of the tests came up positive, then they should have charged us for medicine and some special cat food to put some weight back on him.  Instead, they charged us for the doctor's visit, the medicine, and the food.  Not charging us for the tests was a bonus, and it ended up being less than we initially would have paid for the visit and the tests.  

So, we've found a vet for life.

We gave Bear his medicine last night, and there's been improvement in him already!  He's talking more (Bear's a talker, especially when Lenora's around), and best of all, he's drinking water.  We just have to finish his regimen of medicine and make sure he continues on the road to recovery.  That's always a good thing, right?

I'm hungry.  Going to have some pizza soon.  

Comics!  Every day that passes is a day closer to my big project coming to fruition.  The editor that I'm working with (and his partners) loved the pitch, so that's done.  The three page script has been written and edited, with only minor changes there.  I'd like to say that my writing has improved because I write as well as edit, and he did say that it was good work that was done there.  There weren't a lot of changes that needed to be made.  I got the tone done pretty easily, and had to cut some words (you know that I'm wordy), but it flowed together pretty well.  I honestly don't think he had a ton of work to do with it.  That comes later.  Heh.  Anyway, he also found an artist, like I said, and some sketches of me were done, as well as some layouts.

Well, I've got the inked pages in my inbox, and they're gorgeous.  Absolutely.  Now, the pages just need to be colored and lettered.  I'm waiting to see how they turn out.  It should be good.  After that, it's off to publishers to see what they say.  I have my own internal timeframe for what I'd like to see happen, and we'll see if that gibes with reality.

My Italian artist, Sara, is also sending me in page after beautiful page of Group.  I have a logo for it now and a letterer onboard.  Those pages should be done soon.  Right now, I have 9 pages in total, and she has more than 20 pages of script.  If we went live today, going with the original plan of each of us publishing a page a week, Sara and I are 8 weeks ahead, which means as long as she sent me a page a week, we'd be EXTREMELY ahead of the curve.  Nice, right?

I'm still waiting on pages from Cristhian, a Brazilian artist that's working with me on another project.  He was looking for a sci-fi story, and I presented him with Annie O.N.E.  He liked it, and we're moving forward on it.  He's already done sketches of the characters, and has sent over pencils of the first four pages, and inks of the first page.  All we need is five pages in order to take it to a few different companies.  Of course, I'll let you know how that works out.

I may also be working with another artist on a different webcomic.  We've been trying to get together to do something for a while now.  I sent him over the first half of a script of a relatively short story- 44 pages- and he loved what he read.  I recently sent him over the second half.  We'll see how he likes that, and if he wants to do it.  We're also talking about another project to do, and possibly even a third.  Things are looking good!

Oh, and my microfiction is still being published.  Flashes in the Dark.  I've finally (I know!) put it in my links.  Enjoy, and write some comments!

I was about to sign off, but I don't think I mentioned it: Prince is dropping not one, not two, but THREE albums this year!  That has me jazzed beyond belief!  Yes, I'll be getting them not long after they drop.  We'll see how the funds run.  However, depending on when he drops the first one, I have to also get Lenora some Rosie Gaines for her birthday.  She's fallen in love with her voice.  The bad part is that I have to get the songs from Europe.  That's where she did most of her recording.  I don't mind, though.  I love her, and she's definitely worth it.

And I'll be getting another tatoo soon.  I have a gift card for one, so it'll be sometime near the end of Feb, if not March.  I'll show it when it's done.

Okay, I've bored you all enough.  I'm done for now.  Talk to you in a few days.

Go read some David Gerrold.  You'll thank me for it.

Getting Older

It's my birthday tomorrow, and it's a time when I reflect just a little, just like everyone else.  

Like I said in a previous post, 2009 will be a good year.  I planted the seeds last year, and I have a lot of work to do in order to make things come out the way I want this year.  It's not like I can just sit back and hope things come to me.  I can look at other's blogs to see the results of that.  I don't plan on that being my fate this year.  I have too many plans for it to happen.

Resolutions?  Nope.  I'm not going to make a list of things that I want to accomplish for the year.  I know what I have to do, and I've already started what I need to do in order to see them through.

I'm still getting pages in from the artists I'm working with.  They're gorgeous.  I'll let you know how it goes with the proposal.  I'm not going to call it a submission.  If they reject the proposal, then I'll be publishing it on the web.  

I'm going to keep it kinda short today.  I made a proposal for a combination of work, and waiting to hear back on that.  

A lot of waiting, but there's a lot of feelers out, work being done.

Basically, it's nothing but one big present I'm giving to myself for my birthday.

It's Been A Long Time...

Anyone else have Rakim going through their brain now?  Good.  Then I've done my job..

I guess it's time for a massive update, huh?  Get some tea, maybe even a tea biscuit, sit back, and relax.  It's going to be a while.

So, like I said in my last post, it's getting busier.  Busy is a great thing, yes?  Yes.  I've made some decisions, and am moving forward with them.  I'm determined to make 2009 my year.  

The last time we talked, I spoke about making a webcomic with friends.  That's still a go.  Actually, if everything goes the way I hope, we should start publishing this month!  I have a GREAT artist in Italy, and she's doing spectacular work.  I'm something of an art snob, so when I say I'm happy to have found her, I'm actually pretty estatic.  

There are five of us, and the goal is for us to publish a page a day of our own stories, and leave the weekends alone.  Five guys, five stories, five days a week.  So far, I have six pages of my horror graphic novel Group penciled and inked.  It just needs to be lettered, and then they're ready to go up.  So, I'm good for six weeks, and I expect to have another page in the next couple of days.  Sorry, no preview art.  When we go live, I'll let you know, and post a link.  It'll be good.

I'm also making a LOT of headway with the other book I want to do with the editor I keep talking about.  He sent the pitch to his partners, who loved the idea of the book I want to do.  I then wrote up the script, and after some tweaks, that was good to go, too.  

Then I didn't hear from him for a little over a month.  I figured it was the holidays.  You know how they can get crazy.  I was going to get in contact with him this week about it, but I was pleasantly surprised when he got in contact with me, saying he was searching for an artist for the book, and may have found someone.  I got a huge file of art to peruse, and liked what I saw.  I told him I liked the artist, and was then asked for some pictures of me in order to make a passable caricature.  What I got back blew me away!  I'm going to be only a little stingy and not share that, either.  The next step in the process is for the artist to draw the pages, and then the editor will go hunt for a publisher, taking the pitch and the three pages of artwork that were derived from my script.  If a publisher bites, I'll then be paid something against the royalties for making the book, and then continue on from there.  And while I'm not trying to count my chickens before they're hatched, I do have plans for the money.  More about that in a little bit.

I'm still writing my Bolts & Nuts column for Project Fanboy, and it seems to be something of a minor hit.  Those of you who come to read it week in and week out, thank you for your support.  I'm doing it for you, and because of that, I couldn't do it without you.  I'm making something of an impact with it, as well.  

The column has gotten one person (that I know of) to change their screen name on DW.  More writers are thinking through their scripts when they post them, and I've noticed the quality of writing is going up some.  And really, I still haven't gotten any negative feedback for the column, which I find to be only slightly strange.  Again, I'm not claiming to be right, or that my way is best.  I'm just trying to help out.  

I've also been getting some editing jobs because of it, which is great.  I've also got to recount something that happened recently, because of it.  I thought it was pretty funny.

This guy puts up a post saying he's looking for a proofreader.  To my mind, everyone needs an editor, and if you need a proofreader, you know you need an editor.  So, I contacted him, saying I was available, what my prices were, and what I could do for him.  He wrote back saying that he couldn't afford what I was offering, but that he would keep me in mind.  Fine.

He gets back to me a couple of weeks later, saying he'd like me to proofread the story.  I told him I'd proof it, do some light editing on it, and give it back to him in 24-36 hours.  And I did.  However, the thing was dripping with red.

His introduction to the story said the story was about one thing, and the story he wrote was about another.  Remember the show Dead Like Me?  The writer said the story was about a guy who died, became a grim reaper, and it was supposed to deal with his feelings about the position and being a serial killer for those who were supposed to die.  The story he told was about a guy who died, became a grim reaper, and "fathered" the next messiah.  Yeah, two different stories.  Not only that, but he had WAAY too much dialogue per balloon, per panel, per page.  It was a mess, really, and unpublishable in that form.  And he said that there was publisher interest in it.  They probably only read a pitch, if that, and didn't read the script.  Craptacular, but what are you going to do?  I got paid, and there was that.

So, I gave it back to him, really going above and beyond the call of duty.  I haven't heard from him since.  Not even a thanks, which would have been polite.  Sure, he paid me for the job he wanted done, and I went over and above, and he probably didn't like what I had to say, but I'm not going to blow smoke up someone's ass just to make them feel better.  That's not how I roll.

Anyway, a few days ago, the same guy posts something else, saying he's looking for someone to only proofread his script.  He's not looking for an editor--he'd already been down that path, and didn't like it too much.  He said he changed some things around because of it, but still, he was only looking for someone to proofread the book.

I guess his ass stung because of the hatchet job I did on his work.  Remorse on my part?  Not at all.  You want someone to kiss your ass as a writer?  Write better.  Tell the story you said you were going to tell.  It's that simple.  

To end the story, yes, I wrote the guy again, saying I'd do the job.  I already knew he wasn't going to answer me, and he hasn't.  Oh, well.  Good luck to him.  

I did something similar with someone else who asked me to look over his manuscript.  We have something of a working relationship going.  He sent me his script for a graphic novel about a guy's emotional trauma about breaking up with a girl, and that was a mess, too.  Again, too many words per balloon per panel per page, and no real story to be seen until we're more than 20+ pages in.  Not good, and I told him about it.  His response was a lot different than the other guy's.  He said thanks, and decided to re-write in order to make it better.  He then decided to set it aside for a while, because he was going to try to make it into a romantic comedy.  I may see it again, who knows.

I've also gotten into writing micro-fiction.  Flashesinthedark.com is a new site that publishes micro-fiction, no more than 1k words, and I've gotten four pieces accepted by them so far.  No, it's not paying, yet, but it could happen.  It's another venue to get my writing seen, so I'm happy about that.

Speaking of my writing, it looks like Cary is going to self-publish Fallen Justice.  Cool.  I have no problem with that.  Looking forward to it, actually.  More things to put on my resume--something I can hand to someone for them to read.  So, I'm pretty stoked about that.

I was also contacted by Jamal to write another Warmageddon story, and finally did that.  He didn't give me a deadline, so I took my sweet time in doing it.  Probably too long, but it finally got done.   If that gets accepted, or if there are any changes and then accepted, it means money in my pocket.  Not a lot, but a paid job is a paid job.

The big thing, though, is that I've decided that I'm going to self-publish.  I've looked at the numbers while I was doing research for my column, and self-publishing makes sense if you have a story to tell, and the publishers have barriers getting in your way.  If you're good, if the story is good, and you market yourself well, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to tell the stories you want to tell.  Especially on the web.

So, that's what I'm going to be doing.  I'm going to get some webcomics done from the money I hope to make from the book I was talking about earlier.  I have a plan to do three different graphic novels, and post pages of them two days a week, and have the seventh day either be a day of rest, or maybe a repost of my Bolts & Nuts column.  I don't know yet.  But, like I said, I publish the pages to the web, and when they're done, I collect them into their respective books, and sell them.  I also plan on hitting conventions and the like with the books.

I figure that I can have at least three books completed and ready to be sold by con season next year.  Probably even make a fourth book, one with a chapter of each book in it or something.  I also have a thought for a daily webcomic, but I'd need an artist for that.  It'll come, once I get the books done.  I have thoughts for a couple of strips, actually.  It's a LOT of work, but if I keep plugging away, it'll get done.

On the homefront, I'm finally off probation at my job.  You have NO idea how much better that makes me feel.  Having a stable job in this economy is a great thing, and I'm happy to have it.  I just need to sign my final paperwork, and it's formal.  

In a bit of sad news, one of our cats died on Thanksgiving.  I miss her.  Her name was Abby, and she was the most dog-like cat I've ever seen.  She'd come stand in front of me, and then roll over onto her back.  She didn't meow a lot, didn't cause any trouble, was just really cool and laid back.  She wasn't old, either.  She caught something, and died from it.  Lenora didn't handle it well at all.  She cried for damn near a week.  It wasn't a good time.  As cats go, Abby was cool.

We have another one, though.  His name is Bear, and was one of Twix's litter.  He's a little spoiled, and seems to meow all the time when Lenora's home.  He's a good cat, too.  Still a kitten, but growing.  He's never going to be huge, but that's okay.  I can handle that.

I think that's about it.  I'm going to try to update this three times a week.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm just waiting on pages of the book to be completed so it can be pitched to a publisher so I can move forward with it.  

Get the new Prince cd when it drops.  I know I will.