Steven D. Forbes

It’s been a while since there was an update here, huh?

Well, there hasn’t been all that much going on.  I took something of a break from damned near everything.  I was working pretty hard, writing something just about every day, editing, writing the columns, working out, putting together pitches, redoing lettering—I was exhausted!  Something had to give, so I walked away from it all for a little bit, only putting up the columns that I write.

But now I’m back and ready to go.

Like I said, there hasn’t been that much going on in since I took the break.  But before I took it?  That’s something else again.

I wrote up two pitches and sent them over to Lee.  One was for a vampire tale, and the other was for my wife’s cookbook.

He passed on the vampire tale, but gave me some insight on it that I found extremely valuable.  I’m thinking about using that insight to tell a werewolf story, to be honest.  The vampire story, though, may turn into a Zuda entry.  I haven’t written the script, but because I wrote the pitch, I know the story and what I want to do with it.  Eight pages should be fine.  Now, it’s just a matter of coming up with some money to pay a creative team and get the story told.  That might be a little later.  I MAY be able to parlay some work I have already out there into something of a back-end deal, but I’m not holding my breath for that.  If I can get away with just paying for supplies, I’ll do that, gladly.  We’ll see what happens.  I need money, first.

My wife’s cookbook, though, he accepted.  I’m not saying that the pitch was that damned strong, but I like to think I worked it pretty well and got across the tone of what it should be.  He accepted it, and told me to write up an outline as well as a three page script.  That took me longer than I wanted it to, because that’s when I took my little break.  I did a lot of thinking about it, though, and knocked those out yesterday.  I’m just sitting on it for another day, seeing if there’s anything I need to tighten up, and then show it to Lenora and then send it to Lee for his take.

Then, I got three e-mails that made me pretty happy.  The first is an announcement that will have to wait for a little bit, so just be patient.  The other two were about scripts I’d written a little bit ago, but never got any word on.

The first script was for Warmageddon.  Jamal liked the script, but I ended it on a cliffhanger.  He asked me to wrap it up in a couple of pages, which I did satisfactorily, methinks.  The story won’t win any awards, but it’s there to show the progress and changes of my character, Timorn.  I finished that just now, and will send that to him soon.

The second was for a little more work on the story he contacted me to write for him.  I’m in the middle of that now, and it should be pretty good. 

Sara’s back, and I’m pretty happy to hear it.  She had some things to take care of, and couldn’t produce any pages for Group like she had been.  Luckily, the original thrust of Group was to put up a page a week, and I have more than enough pages in the can to get through the small drought here.  Pages should be flowing in sometime early next month, and when that happens, I’ll be pretty happy.  We’re close to the end of the first chapter, and when that happens, I’ll start trying to monetize it.  Project Wonderful, here I come!  Actually, that should be a goal this weekend.  I’ll make it so.

I’m still waiting on pages to come in from Chris Bradberry, but I understand the straights he’s in, so I’m not sweating him on it too much.  An e-mail here and there, just to keep up and let him know I’m still here, and that’s cool.  If he knocks this out the box, I’ll have another story for him that’s also already written.  It’ll be great.

I’m also working on another couple of pitches to send Lee’s way.  One is another how-to book, but this one’ll be pretty tongue in cheek.  A humorous look at the realities of something I enjoy immensely.  While I was working on that pitch, I had yet ANOTHER thought, and I’ll be sending that Lee’s way when I put more flesh on the bones.  I still have to see what he wants to do with the werewolf story I wrote that he asked me to sit on.  I have time and lots of stories.  Something’ll hit, but in the meantime, I have this site as an outlet for my creativity.

I’m having some t-shirts made up for the San Diego convention.  Well, “some” is somewhat misleading.  I’m having two t-shirts made up, in two different styles, for a total of four shirts.  One will be my card, emblazoned on my chest, and the other will be for my webcomic Group.  The card shirt will be white, both long sleeve and short sleeve, and the Group shirt will be black, again, long sleeve and short sleeve.  Four days, five or six shirts.  I also have one for Red Handed Studios, which produced Fallen Justice, which I co-wrote, and the other shirt will be for Project Fanboy if it comes in time.  And then there’s the Spider-Man costume I’m having made.  I’m going to be a shirt-changing mofo during those days.

Anyway, for the shirts, I have Lenora who’s going to wear a couple of them during the days, and there’s another writer who’s offered to wear the Group shirt during a few days of the con.  As long as he comes through, I’ll be eternally grateful to him for it.  That’ll be three people walking around the con floor, advertising just by breathing and being seen.  I also have the cards I’ll be handing out, and getting together with some other creators, so I’ll have eyes on me.  What I need to do is also get some pages together and printed for the con as packages to hand out, with some pitches and such.  Hopefully, that shouldn’t be too expensive.  I have some time for that, but I’ll be doing my investigations on Thursday.  Kinko’s, here I come!  I figure about fifteen or twenty packages, depending on price, should do me.

As for real-life stuff…interestingly enough, I was told I have an ego problem, and that I was insecure.  This was from my elementary school friend’s sister, who’s the doctor.  She tut-tuts the book idea, says that she’s the target audience (as a working professional), and basically says that what she wants from a book is what the buying public wants, and that I didn’t know what I was talking about when it comes to page counts and the number of recipes that should be in the book.  She also goes on to recount her experience as a professor in having to grade papers and such.  Hilarity.  Being a doctor, a BA in Sociology and such really doesn’t mean anything when it comes to knowing how a comic book works, what will sell and what won’t sell (actually, what a publisher will and will not buy), or the intricacies of putting something like this together.  Now, I had already talked the basic premise of the book over with Lee, who was interested in it.  We share something of a common philosophy: he believes there aren’t enough cookbooks in the world, and I believe that damn near everything should be told graphically.  Two great tastes that go great together.

Actually, during the conversation with Lee, it sounded like he put me through a bit of a test.  He asked me why I wanted to write a cookbook as a graphic representation.  I told him the truth: there are a lot of times when reading a cookbook, the instructions are as clear as mud.  Doing it graphically, step by step, is a great way to show how the recipes are supposed to go.  He understood and liked the answer I gave, and we continued on with the discussion.

And now, because I “vented” on the internet, I have an ego problem and am insecure.  Pretty funny, that.

Anyway, work is proceeding apace.  The City is doing something I’m not entirely pleased with, starting next year.  Because they can’t seem to get their act together, they’re forcing everyone to take 40 hours of furlough during the next fiscal year.

Let me put this in perspective.

The City of Tucson is mismanaged, and has been for a long time.  There are employees that have been working this job for upwards of 20 years, and have only gotten something like eight raises.  Not because they haven’t earned a merit raise—not at all.  The city just hasn’t been able to balance itself in order to give a raise. 

And that’s sad.

With the economic downturn, everyone’s scrambling for ways to shore up shortfalls.  So, the City, in its infinite wisdom, not only will not be giving raises this year, not only are they not hiring in anything not considered mission critical (luckily, my job is mission critical), not only are they only hiring a single class of police officers and firefighters for the year, they’re also forcing 40 hours of furlough—unpaid. 

That’s right, they’re forcing all city employees to take off 40 hours, unpaid. 

Yes, I do wonder at the legality of it. 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  It’s not all at one time.  It’s not like I’m suddenly forced to be off for a week with no pay.  They’re still working out the kinks, but it’ll be spread out over the year. 

If done correctly, it will all come out in the wash.  We get paid for the holidays, so the money itself isn’t lost, if they don’t make us take it on the holidays.

Whatever.  I’m ahead of the game.  I have a DAMNED good job, and it’s stable.  There are a lot of people that can’t say that.  I’m no longer on probation, so it’s much harder to get rid of me.  I get to write (where do you think I’m writing this?), and I get three days off in a row.

I should have listened to Brandon a few years ago.  He traded a longer shift at GEICO for three days off in a row.  It really is a lot of time off, all at once.  And because of the fact that I work at night, I really do less on an average “day” than most folks.  I get to read, write, play on the computer, be on the internet, what-have-you.  As long as I’m here and do the work when it comes (like just now—I was interrupted by some radio traffic.  I took care of it, did some quick typing on the keyboard, and now I’m back here with you), there’s almost nothing I can’t do.  If I could watch dvd’s while here, I’d be in a pretty damned dangerous position!  Did I mention that I love my job?

So, like I said, I’m ahead of the game.  I understand how hard it is out there, and having a stable, well paying job is a great thing.

My P90X workouts are pretty good, as well.  When I said I took a break from damned near everything, I meant it.  I haven’t worked out, either, which is somewhat okay.  My muscles were getting used to the routine I was doing, so a break was needed, anyway.  I’ll be going onto the third phase of it today, and will basically just maintain that.  I’ll work out every other day, and do the X Stretch on the in-between days.  In a couple of months, I’ll probably be ready for more weight.  But the changes I’ve done to my body are visible.  I’ve slimmed down around my waist (like I had anything to spare, before), and have my six-pack back.  My biceps and triceps have grown, my chest has grown, and my back has gotten more defined.  And best of all, I’ve maintained my weight.  If I put on another five pounds, I’ll be the heaviest I’ve ever been, and it will be natural weight.  I don’t feel heavy or bloated.  I actually feel pretty darn good.  I like the changes, and will see them continue.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not fat, and never will be.  My grandfather is skinny as a reed, as is my mother.  My father has been lifting weights of some sort since before I was born, and while he’s not fat, he’s definitely not skinny.  Stocky, really.  As a matter of fact, the man’s about to turn 55 this year, and won either second or third place in a local powerlifting contest.  At 55.  Yeah.  So, when I say that I got my six-pack back, it wasn’t ever really gone.  I just had a happy, marriage layer over it.  I’m redistributing that layer and turning it into muscle.  It looks nice. 

I just got finished reading Man Plus, a Hugo winning novel that was written in ’76.  A pretty good book, and I can see why it won the award.  I read it, and thought of how to turn it into a graphic novel, serialized or not, and am wondering how to get across the central twist to the story.  Well there were two twists.  No, I’m not going to ruin it for you.  Go read the book, if you can find it.  It’s pretty good, and I’ll worry about it later.  I have enough projects to sustain me.  I still need to get these damned trees out of my head as a children’s book, get some psych evals on some characters, and get some superhero stuff done…and that’s not counting the myriad other stories I have and projects I want to do, like turn Zelazny’s Lord of Light into a graphic novel.

Yeah, I have more projects than I have time to write. 

Guess I better get hot, huh?

I just got Clue and Murder By Death back from a friend.  I suggest you watch them both.  You’ll be glad you did.

-Steven

I found out yesterday that Dave Simons died after a long battle with cancer.

Dave was the first artist I worked with that helped me complete an issue of comic book work.  The story was Bullet Time, and it was really a pleasure working with him on it.

If Bullet Time took off and was made into a movie, I would have given him half of what I made from it.  That was my plan, and it was something that I wanted to do to show my gratitude for the beautiful art that was done.

I’m upset that I didn’t get to know him better, even though I could have.  I thought I had time.  We always think we have time.

So now, I have a decision to make when it concerns the story.  I already decided to do it in b/w for printing purposes, and because I’m becoming pretty enamored with black and white stories.  Now, I have to decide whether or not to move forward with the two issues that Dave did and then have the other three issues done by another artist, or to start over from the beginning with a completely new artist.

I’m thinking about starting over, doing it as a webcomic, but when it gets collected, adding the two issues that Dave did as an extra.  Five issues, with two complete issues, and a couple of scripts thrown in for good measure would be a pretty good sized book.  And yes, it will be dedicated to Dave.

I also finally had the script I’ve been working on approved by the creator for the webcomic I’ve been talking about.  I got some notes from the creator on it a couple of days ago, and had some thoughts on how to get the changes accomplished.  I did those changes in a night, along with some additions to the Warmageddon story I’d worked as well.

Speaking of Warmageddon, the story I’d worked on more than a year ago has finally been finished with the artwork.  Raven’s Town has been completely drawn, and the letters should be done, too.  I proofed the art pages, and it looks good!  No word yet on the first Timorn story, and the second Timorn has been written and submitted, as I said.

Basically, it’s a buildup of my writing credits.  Well, my credits, period.  I’ll have an announcement in about a month about something else, and things will move forward from there.

Anyway, the webcomic thing I’ve been working on has also gotten an artist attached.  The creator found the artist, has approved my script, and has sent over a contract that’s not odious at all.  Definitely something I can live with.  I’ll be sending that out today, so there’s that.  Looking forward to the time when I can talk about this stuff in more detail.

I’ve also finally ordered my t-shirts for the upcoming SDCC.  VistaPrint is having a pretty decent sale, and the shirts have come out pretty nice.  I have a shirt through them for Red Handed Studios, and I liked the quality of it.  There are four shirts: two long sleeve, two short sleeve, one each of black, one each of white.  The black shirts will have a panel from Group on it, and the white shirts will have my card on it.  So, with the RHS shirt, my four shirts, and possibly a Project Fanboy shirt, I’ll be a shirt-wearing fiend.  Six shirts in four days.  Nice, right?  I think so.

I also ordered a book to help me learn InDesign.  I’m quite serious about turning Bolts & Nuts into a book, and learning InDesign will help me do that.  If I do it up right and am able to sell it, that really only helps me.  I’ll need to find an artist for it, but I can wait a little bit for that.

Honestly, I think I’ll just tinker around with it for a while, and then get serious about it after the new year.  That gives me six months to become proficient, as well as time enough to get other things done.  Like I said before, I’ll try Image with it, next, and if they pass, I’ll just sell it myself.  I’m not looking forward to doing the appendices, though.  Lots of links to collate, and an index.  We’ll see how it all turns out.  However, I’m pretty excited about the prospects of doing the book itself, and doing it myself.  The book is going to be very dense with information, and I’m looking forward to people’s reactions to it.

OH!  I just thought of someone who might be able to help me with this!  I’ll hit him up and see what happens.

That’s really about it.  Time to get some other things done.

Go listen to Digital Underground.  You’ll be happy you did.

-Steven

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and…

Huh?  Okay, fine.  It was Saturday.  Saturday evening.

As I’ve said before, between my wife and I, we have ten kids.  Living with us at the moment are the 30 year old, the 25 year old, and our 3 year old granddaughter.  We also have a 24 year old that’s living in town with her cousin, who moved here for the express purpose of getting out of New Mexico.  So, three daughters living either with or around us.

The 24 year old, Tammy, borrowed a blender, my extra computer speakers (the speaker that came with the computer doesn’t work), and the digital camera that my wife got.  No, I don’t remember how my wife came to acquire the camera.  Anyway, the camera was borrowed because Tammy was going down to NM.  The blender and speakers were borrowed because she was going to have a party.  This was months ago.  More than four.  Probably more than six.

I eventually got the blender back.

The camera…the camera was taken down to NM, and somehow or another, came back from NM without the charger.  The charger hasn’t been replaced.  It’s probably been longer than six months.

The speakers.  They were borrowed for a party.  I want them back.  If she wants speakers like mine, they’re pretty damned cheap.  I think I paid $25 for them at Wal-Mart.

Now, Tammy sounds like Minnie Mouse on crack.  She has a high pitched voice, and she won’t shut up.  Annoys the hell out of me.  Couple that with her being rude and havin an attitude, it doesn’t make for a good mix.  Not in my household.

Because these aren’t my kids, Lenora puts herself in the middle.  I can understand that, generally.  However, they’re also adults, and should be treated as such.  She doesn’t.  Lenora makes excuses for them.

Anyway, I’ve been after the speakers for months.  All I hear from Lenora is that they’re coming.  I want the camera, too, because I’m going to the San Diego convention, and want to take some pictures.  I couldn’t care less about taking pics of celebrities, or taking pictures with them.  I don’t see taking a picture with someone as having “met” them.  I’d like to have conversations with people and such.  That’s what I call “meeting” someone.  I want the camera in order to take pictures with my contemporaries: Digital Webbing folk, see if I can catch Jamal smiling, things like that.

I tell Lenora I want the camera and speakers by this past weekend.  I know the camera doesn’t have a charger.  It was left in New Mexico.  Not my problem.  It should have been replaced by now.  Then Lenora tells me that Tammy’s hours have been cut, and that she’s having trouble making her bills.  Again, not my problem.  The charger should have been replaced by now.

Now, I’ve seen Tammy twice since I told Lenora I want these items back in the house.  Neither time did she have them.  ”She forgot.  You know what?  They’re in Shenavia’s car, and they took Tammy’s truck.  She just wanted to get out of the house…blah blah blah.”  Excuses.  Hold that thought, okay?  Time to backtrack a little.

I work out on a pretty regular basis.  I want to get chiseled up, and I’m finally doing it.   I use the P90X system, and it works great.  It also has a recovery formula that also seems to help.  It’s a big cannister with a 30 day supply.   I also want to gain some weight.  To that end, I bought some protien powder.  Says protein right on the cannister.    With me so far?  Two cannisters, one a recovery formula, one a protien/weight gain formula.  My 25 year old, Angie, made me a protien shake, at my request, for me to take to work.  She made it with the recovery formula, because she didn’t read the cannister.  But you know what?  That’s a simple, honest mistake.  It has a man and woman on it with sculpted bodies, so, yeah, I can see where the mistake was made.

Fast forward to this past Saturday.

I’m annoyed because Tammy’s in the house, but neither the speakers (which don’t need anything to function) nor the camera are in the house with her.  What do I get?  Excuses.  The speakers were supposed to be in the house on Thursday or Friday, but Tammy got called in to work.  That’s nice, but not my problem.  Lenora calls Shenavia and leaves a message/talks to her/I don’t know.  The speakers are supposed to be here.  It’s Saturday, and they’re not.

I ask Angie to make me a protien shake to take to work with me.  She says sure.  I work out, have my recovery drink, then go shower and get ready for work.  I’m shaving, and I hear the blender, and I’m thinking to myself…she did it again.  No, she couldn’t have.

Sure as shit, she does it again.  She uses the recovery formula instead of the protien powder.  The first time, she drank the shake she made with the recovery formula, and made me another with the protien powder.  This time, she says she “looked” for the protien powder, couldn’t find it, and used the recovery formula instead.  So, my protien shake doesn’t have any protien in it.

I go and find the protien powder, hidden behind some cereal.  So much for looking, right?

So, I go to her to say “what the hell?”, and she’s high.  She’s not really caring too much about it because she’s high, and I get more excuses, which do nothing except piss me off even more.

So, I have no speakers, I have no camera, I have no protien shake.  I’m PISSED.

I go out to the car, because I have to get to work.  I notice that the remote isn’t working, and I think it strange, but batteries die, right?  I open the car with the key, and then go to put it in the ignition…only to find Lenora’s keys already in it.  Not only are her keys in the ignition, but they’re turned.  This means the car is running on battery power.  I have a sinking feeling, and then think that I have a smart car, that turns itself off to conserve battery power.  If the lights are left on accidentally while the car isn’t running, it’ll shut the lights off.  I put in my keys and turn the ignition.

The car starts, and I don’t have to call in to work, looking stupid.

I go back in the house to tell Lenora about herself.  She’s already pissed off because she has to rush to get ready to go out with her girlfriend, and I ask her where her keys are.  She says in her purse.  I say really?  She then starts thinking and say that they could be in the car.  I toss the keys on the bed, in her general direction, saying that they were in the ignition, turned.  She’s not interested in that.  She’s interested in putting her shoes on and answering her phone.  Yup, it only serves to piss me off some more.

So I go to work.  I’m pissed, but I get over it.  I go home, and am avoided, because everyone knows how I get when I’m pissed.  I sleep all day that day (now Sunday), and am not looked in on once.  Why?  Because Lenora’s not talking to me.

Let’s see: I don’t have speakers, even though they’re already supposed to be here.  I don’t have the camera, even though I say I want it.  My protien shake is protien-less, because my adult stepdaughter doesn’t know enough to actually look, or ask for help.  I could have been really late for work, through no fault of my own, because of her carelessness.  But she’s not talking to me.

Right.

So, what do I do?

Nothing.  Fuck it.  She can be upset.  And Tammy can keep the speakers, and do as she wishes with the camera.  I’m going to get my own.  A cost of $150 max for a decent camera and speakers.  Something I’ll be making up in overtime.

Yes, I tell Lenora this.  Her response?  ”Tammy doesn’t want the speakers.  She just keeps forgetting to bring them.”

I don’t care anymore.  I really don’t.  When I get my own stuff, nobody better ask me to borrow it.  Or if they do, they’re going to rent it.  Ten dollars a day, and there’s a five-day deposit to start.  If they don’t like it or don’t pay it, they don’t get it.

No, it’s not funny.  It’s fuckin’ sad.  It’s sad that these are supposedly adults, and instead of acting their age, they’re acting their shoe size.

I don’t borrow anything from anyone without the thought of giving it back, and if it gets damaged, I replace it at the earliest opportunity.  Not at my earliest convenience, but at the earliest opportunity.  I’ll go without whatever it is I think I need in order to get someone their item back, either the way I got it, or better.  That’s the responsible, adult thing to do.

Not so with these children.  Nope, I don’t get it, either.  All I get are excuses.  So now, instead of putting up with it, I’m writing it off and getting my own.  And if the words “may I borrow” comes from either their lips or their mother’s, my answer is “you didn’t just ask me that, did you?”  That’s the most polite way I can think of to say “fuck you,” because the answer is automatically no.  You can rent it, but you have to have the down payment.  Don’t want to do that?  Too bad.

So, yeah, frustrated, because it shouldn’t have to be like this.

And yes, Lenora’s talking to me now, but no, I don’t know the reason she wasn’t talking to me in the first place.  I have my suspicions, but right now, it’s not important.  I don’t care enough to follow up on it.  She’ll either tell me, or she won’t.  Right now, I’m not concerned with it.  Right now, I’m concerned with picking up some more overtime in order to make sure I can pay for the camera and speakers.

Now, if the speakers somehow make it into the house before payday, great, that’s one less expense.  But no matter what, I’m getting my own camera.  Lenora is very liberal with the stuff that is hers, but will ask me first about stuff that is mine.  I shouldn’t have this problem anymore.  (And if I had known I wasn’t getting the speakers back in a timely fashion, I would have said no.)

But that’s my frustration.

The t-shirts are IN!

Not only are they in, they look great!  I’m pretty excited about it.  So excited that I’m wearing one now.  They came in yesterday, and really, I couldn’t be more pleased.  This is going to go down SO well when I get to SDCC in a little over a month!

What also came in?  The book I bought to learn InDesign.  I’m going to be starting that today, actually.  Not too long after I finish writing in here.  I have a LOT to do, and not enough time to do it in, if I want to get things done in a timely manner.

I also need to get on the ball with my short stories.  I have stoires I want to tell using the 9-panel grid, and I’m seeing artists I want to work with, but I want to have something already written for them to just plug in to, you know?  Of all the stories I need, I only have one written, and that’s not nearly enough.  I have fourteen more to go!  I do have a plan, though, and I’m writing up the e-mails to the artists I want as I find them, but I’m not sending them out until I’m in a position to pay for the supplies and such, not to mention, have actually written the stories.  I have a LOT of catching up to do in the writing sense.

Well, call it thirteen stories.  Or fourteen point five.  I’ve started writing another one already, but it’s not finished.  That should be soon.  I should endeavor to write a story every other day on it, or something to that effect.  The sooner I have them all written, the sooner I’ll be able to find artists for them.  I want to have artists for every character for these tales, and start putting the stories up when I have two artists working on them.  Since I’m going to letter these myself, and they’re going to be in black and white, it cuts down on my outlay of money quite nicely.  But, I need to write in order to get the artists.  Something to work on tomorrow.  I have my goal for today already.

I’m also waiting for another influx of creators to work with.  There’s a writer I’m waiting to hear back from, who’s waiting for the school year to end before he hires me.  If he does that within the next couple of weeks, so much the better.  There’s that writer, as well as another one whom I’m waiting on.  Actually, if I got these two creators on board right now, I’d be set for a little while from the creative side of things.

Oh!  I need to write up a synopsis.  I’ll do that before taking Lenora to work.

Speaking of Lenora, I also need her to finish writing down a recipe so I can finish writing the outline for the book that Lee will pitch.  I’ve finished the script, but I want to send him all three pieces at once.  So, I’ll get that from her before she goes in to work today.  Yeah, there’s a lot on my plate when I decide to get moving.

Yes, I’m still going to try and win a Zuda contract.  All the cool kids are doing it.  I have a few ideas that I’d like to submit, but I have to find one that really stands out to me.

The problem with Zuda, as I see it, is that there’s really a lot of crap there.  Pretty decent artwork, but no rhyme or reason to what’s being pitted against each other month in and month out.  And some of the writing is just atrocious.  The writers aren’t native English speakers, and it shows.  Not the greatest thing.  And no, a lot of the stories there don’t appeal to me.  Either art, writing, or story, I find a lot there to be desired.  Not to say that I’m the greatest writer who’s ever lived.  Far from it.  But, with a good artist, I think I should be able to gt in and at least place with my stories, if not win it outright.  So, we’ll see what happens with it.

That’s it for comic stuff, methinks.

In the real world, I reconnected with a friend yesterday.  We hadn’t spoken in nearly six years.  Her husband was something of an asshole and treated her badly.  He was also deeply into government and conspiracies, and would send out a newsletter weekly or so.  It went to a different e-mail addy I have, with said addy being filled with spam.  Anyway, I hadn’t recieved a newsletter for months, and sent an e-mail to them a few months back, just seeing what was up.  I was much closer to her than I was to him, but I sent the e-mail to him so as not to be rude.  I got no answer.

A few days ago, I got an e-mail from her, via another social network type of thing.  I joined up, got her e-mail addy, and wrote her from the address I currently use (and will likely use forever).  I didn’t hold out much hope of her answering me, because I knew what a control-freak her husband was.

Yesterday, I get an e-mail back from her, giving me a brief rundown of what happened since we last spoke.  Her husband died of cancer (brain tumors) in April, and she’s been trying to get over it since.

That’s not something you  can really get over soon.  25 years of marriage, and then the other person is suddenly gone.  That’s not something that yu just get up one morning and say, “Yup!  I’m over it.  My grief is done.”  I called her, and we spent damned near three hours on the phone.  She did a lot talking and a lot of crying, and I did the only thing I know how to do well: I listened.  It’s going to take some time, but she should be all right.  She said she’s thought a lot about me over the past few years, and I was able to bring a smile to her face when she thought of me.  I thought that was nice.  She’s really a nice person, and deserves some happiness and joy to be injected back into her life.  If I’m able to help make her smile, then I’ve done my job.

Getting tired.  I’ve been up since about 1 am, after getting about four hours of sleep.  I ahve to go to bed almost immediately after dropping Lenora off to work, because I have to be in to work early tonight.  Those hours are going to pay for the camera I’m going to be buying on payday.  But like I said, I’m getting tired, but I can’t go to sleep.  Not yet.  I have three hours to go before bedtime.  In those three hours, I have to install a new program, watch a video or two, and then start learning InDesign tonight…after I write a few stories.  My work nights are going to be FILLED the next couple of weeks.  I have a lot of stories to write, and then will put them up and schedule the updates.  As long as I can stay ahead of the curve, everything should be fine.

Enough!  I’m done.  Go watch Alien.

-Steven

Waiting sucks, but I seem to be doing a lot of it, lately.

A few days ago, I took steps to start trying to monetize my comic stuff.  To that end, I went to Project Wonderful for Bullet Time and for Group.  They were approved, and I just added the code for it to the sites.  Now, for the bids to start coming in.

I put up two ads per page, and for Group, whatever gets made, gets shared with Sara.  That’s part of the deal, as well as a sign of respect.  I respect her thoroughly, and absolutely love the work she’s done for the comic.  I’d love to reach a point where we update the site twice a week, but as long as she’s willing to do the work at this pace, I’m not going to complain.

My hope is that I make enough money from this on my side of it to pay for her supplies.  Anything after that is gravy, and goes toward the eventual print run.  Basically, it means that the work will begin to pay for itself, and that’s never a bad thing.  I wouldn’t even mind throwing the money from Bullet Time into that pot, since I put ads up there, as well.

What I’ve also done (and need to link) is created an online store.  Not Cafepress, but a different place called Spreadshirt.  They have some nice, high quality stuff over there, not just the same thinnish t-shirts.  VistaPrints is good for what they do, but that’s not a store.  You buy, you store yourself.  Cafepress is expensive (or maybe I’m just cheap), and I don’t see how people can actually make any money there.  Spreadshirt is a little cheaper, you get to set the price of what you make in the store, and the quality is the same, or higher.  I’d call that win-win.

What do I have in the store?  Well, I have the panel of Group that I made into a t-shirt for SDCC, and a couple of pages of Bullet Time.  Over the next few days, I’ll be making more stuff from each comic, and then start hawking the wares.  Again, anything made from the Group stuff goes into the kitty, half of which belongs to Sara.  These should help a lot, if they manage to sell.  And since there’s no advertising like self-advertising, I’m going to order some of these myself to wear.  It’s really going to be great.

So, I’m waiting on people to bid on my ad space, as well as for people to buy my wares.  What else am I waiting on?  Glad you asked.

The first five pages of Annie O.N.E. are done.  My colorist, Mark, had a death in the family, and disappeared on me for a while.  However, he’s back, and he finished the pages, which look outstanding.  Because of the complexity of what I’m going to be asking, I asked Cary to letter them for me, which he got around to doing after he got married again (to a cutie with…y’know what?  nevermind…).  So, what did I do?  I worked the pitch a little bit more, went over the script again, and then got in contact with the submission editor at Ape Entertainment.  I sent that over yesterday, and am now waiting to hear back from him on it.

If that gets accepted, I’ll be estatic.  No, really.  I’ll sign whatever contract they ask me to, and really just be happy to have this up and out the door.  While I like the concept, I don’t consider Annie to be my best story.  Its got its merits and its moments, but Group is a better story all around, as is Bullet Time.  Cristhian wanted a sci-fi story, though, so that’s what I had on tap and gave to him.  He’s doing a bang-up job on it, and he’s doing it for free, as is Mark, the colorist, and Cary on letters.  This gets through, it means that I don’t have to worry about paying them to do the work beforehand, because we’ll ALL get paid on the back-end.  We’ll get paid on the back-end, and the money made goes into the pot to get other projects off the ground, as well as getting more writing credits under my belt.  I’d call that a win, all the way around.

If it doesn’t happen, well, there are other places to submit, before just publishing it on the web.  It’ll be fine.

Learning InDesign is coming along rather well, too.  I’ve learned a lot using the book already, and I hope to learn a lot more.  It’s a powerful tool to use, and I’m VERY glad I got the book to help me work through it.  I won’t lie, though.  It feels like I’m back in school again.  Not my idea of the best time, but at least I know the purpose of it.

And I really must thank Tyler James for helping me find another vein to mine for Bolts & Nuts.  It felt like I was coming up on empty, with a LOT of pages written, but I didn’t know what I was going to write about next.  Something that was within the purview of the column.  He pointed me in a great direction, almost by accident, and that direction will put me over the top for a year’s worth of material, easily.  So, thank you, Tyler.  I appreciate it.

As for the B&N book, I’m thinking that I’ll be breaking that in two.  The books themselves are going to be thick, and if I want to get in a lot of information for a decent price point, I’m going to have to break it in two.  That’s fine.  I figure, twenty-six articles a pop, and that’ll cover the first year of what I’ve written.  Not bad, methinks…especially if the first one sells well.

As for real life stuff, things are okay.  No real complaints at the moment.  Getting sleep will do that.  My sleep was interrupted three days in a row this past week, which really pissed me off, but there seems to be a handle on that.

Now, it’s time for me to work out, shower, shave, and take Lenora to work, before coming back home and delving back into all the work I still need to be doing.  A lot of writing, more learning, and FOOD!  Yeah, I’m hungry.  Pancake time is coming…

Go watch Lost Voyage.  It’s only redeeming qualities are Judd Nelson and Lance Henrickson, and barely that.  Just relax.  It’ll be fine.

-Steven