Steven D. Forbes

Yes, things are proceeding apace. Faster, even, in some circumstances.

I was recently made a request that made my mental jaw drop. However, I’m also a realist. I know what needs to happen, and I’m just waiting to see if things can fall into place with it. If it does, then I’ll be an EXTREMELY happy camper. I’ll talk more about it if it does or does not happen. However, it would be a logical progression. That’s all I’m saying. Infer from it what you will.

Grand Master O’Neal asked me to pick up a few things on public relations/being a publicist. Fascinating stuff, really. And it made me realize, as a creator, how narrowly focused I’ve been. I’ve got to broaden myself. This is the start of that.

Things are happening on the Lionman front. Still can’t talk about them, but when I can, expect an avalanche of “OH SHIT!” info to come down the pike. It’s going to be amazing.

Then, there’s the other things I have going on. Once Lionman starts up in earnest, I’m going to have to shut down The Proving Grounds. I may also have to shut down Bolts & Nuts. But that’s okay. I have a plan for B&N. Shutting it down should give me time to pursue that avenue.

Things at home…they’re okay and getting better. The end of the month should be great. I should have an empty house, my 4 year anniversary is coming, I’ll be on vacation without using too much time on the books, and then we go into the final stretch of the year. And if things fall into place, 2010 should be an EXTREMELY good year!

I’ve worked hard this past year to get myself into a position where I could say that 2010 is my year. Things that I didn’t think were as important as others are turning out to be the most important, and vice versa. I feel that I’m slowly being built to reach a cusp of action, of decisions, and I like to think I’m in the position to make the correct ones. It should be a great year, if they go the way I want them to. Even better than expected, to be honest.

And that’s really everything I have, for now.

Go watch The Trouble with Tribbles episode of Star Trek. Thank me later.

-Steven

Things are steady with Grand Master O’Neal. The man is a genius in certain respects, and is ignorant in others. Note, I said ignorant, not stupid. He’s ignorant in comics. Not to say that he couldn’t learn. Even though he’s creating a line of graphic novels, that’s not where his focus is. Right now, his focus is all over the place.

One of the things that I like but also frustrates me is that he’s trying to apply a corporate sense to a freelance world. I’m a little torn, because I see both sides of the coin, but I don’t think there’s any “right” way to approach it. I’ve been doing this so long that I’ve kinda been beaten down by the freelance system, because I know that the freelancers have to line up continual work in order to put food on the table. At the same time, there is a LOT of whining and complaining about the current way things are done–and this is coming from freelancers. Is there a right way? I don’t know. Even though comics is really relatively small, there are SO many ways things can be done that it can be said that the only right way is the way that is right for your individual needs at that point in time.

Anyway, what do I mean by applying a corporate mindset to a freelance world? He wants to hire now for work to be done a few months from now. Which I both understand and don’t. I mean, I get it, thoroughly. But I don’t know if my senses are telling me it’s wrong because it’s different, or if it’s wrong because it’s wrong. Time will tell.

And Wednesday…Wednesday was fun. I came home from work that morning, and eventually laid down to go to sleep. Then my phone rang, and it was Grand Master O’Neal. We talked for a while, and then he asked me if I could write a press release for him, because the guy that usually does it is sick. The problem was, he needed it asap, because he planned to place a copy of it in the hands of President Obama on Thursday. GM O’Neal has done (and continues to do) work for the mayor of New Orleans, so it was definitely within the realm of possibility.

I sacrifice my sleep in order to do the work. We talked about what he wanted it to say, and I took notes, organized my thoughts, and put it together. I sent it off to him, and he said he liked it, and but wanted some changes made. I made the changes, and he said those were on the money. He just wanted to make one small change, but other than that, it was a done deal, and he thanked me for the work.

What he sent back to me wasn’t what I sent him.

I’m an editor as well as a writer. I understand about editing, and I know that when you write, you’re more than likely going to be edited. So, I was edited, but I wasn’t edited well. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Anyway, on to less frustrating news.

I recently heard back from Lee Nordling. For the project that I want to do (and have been waiting months to start!), there’s an editor at a publishing house that is interested in it! So now, I just have to write up an outline and a bio in order to send it over to Lee for him to finish the package. I’ll be working on that for the rest of my weekend. Luckily, I already have the notes for the outline, and the bio…I’ve always hated talking about myself. Whenever I do, it sounds like I haven’t done anything. At least, not to me. Maybe my ego’s not big enough. I don’t know. I kinda like it where it is.

But here’s the thing: if the editor likes it and it gets made, it’s something that’ll have JUST my name on it, front and center. It will be like Bullet Time, only better, because it will have publishing and distribution in a broad sense. Trade book publishing may be where its at, and as such, I’ll have to go to a conference or two when other things pick up elsewhere.

I know, I know. It doesn’t make much sense now, but I promise, once things fall into place, everything will become clear.

In other news, a friend of mine from the Marine Corps and I recently reconnected. (Did I already mention that?) He wants me to move to Oregon with him, and to be honest, it sounds tempting. It would be damned green and beautiful, unlike Tucson. (Tucson’s not ugly–not by any means. It’s just not green.) He has a proposal for a bar, and he wants me and another guy we both know from the Corps to go in on it with him. It is definitely a tempting offer, and I plan to go in on it with him even if I don’t move out there. However, I promised him that I would talk to Lenora about it if certain things happened first. Everything is predicated upon everything else, and sometimes that’s good, and other times, it totally sucks.

Anyway, he’s getting married in July/August, and asked me to be in the wedding. They need to settle on a date first. As long as it’s not the second to last weekend in July, it’s all good. That’s the weekend of SDCC, and I’ll be there as a professional for Lionman. (SDCC as a professional! I might have just creamed my pants at the thought.) If it’s the last weekend of the month, which I was told (and it had moved from August), then I won’t even go home. I’ll just go on up to Portland from the convention, and spend the time there until the wedding. That’s what makes the most sense to me, anyway. Basically, it’s going to be a busy two weeks.

I’ve never been in a wedding before. Been to a few of them, and participated in two of my own, but except for my parents wedding (which I barely remember being in, since I was pretty young), I’ve never actually been in a wedding. The only thing I’m hoping for, really, is that whoever I’m paired up with is cute. I don’t think that’s too much to ask for. I’m not asking for gorgeous. I’m not asking for a knockout. I’m just asking for cute. Semi-attractive. Not too hard to get, I don’t think.  More than likely, she’ll be a gamer, and I’ve gamed before. (My friend is REALLY into his rpg’s, and is currently running a Whitewolf game that runs both LARP and online, and recently needed to bring in another person to help run the game because it had gotten so large.) Anyway, we may have something to talk about besides the wedding. If she’s playing the game, I could pick her brain for a story I want to tell. You never know.

And that’s really about it for the moment. Bolts & Nuts is still going strong, and once Lionman picks up, I’ll have to give The Proving Grounds over to the crew at Project Fanboy.  Once I get these books well underway, I’ll then turn my concentration to the B&N book I want to do. I just need to put together a few sample chapters first, and I think I’ve got a handle on that and how I want it to appear. I just need to figure out a few things, and then send it off. It’s going to be interesting, to say the least. I’ll send that over to Image to see what they say, and then I’ll take it from there.

It’s October. Go watch The Wolf Man with Lon Chaney, Jr. You’ll be glad you did.

-Steven

Here I am, wondering about comic books.

I just sent out a submission package for Bullet Time. Well, call it a submission inquiry. Hopefully, it goes well enough that I can finally get an artist onboard and thus, finish the series.  Three issues to go on it. I’d like to have a deal in place first, before starting to look for an artist on a back-end deal. In order to finish it, that’s as good as it’s going to get for now.

And to tell the truth, I’m not looking forward to it. When I was looking for an artist for Lionman, I got in some truly wretched artists who were charging something like $10/page. NOPE! Not going to work. I think that if you pay an artist, you get what you pay for. However, I also believe that some of these artists bumped their damned heads with what they wanted to charge.

So, I think some artists overcharge for their ability.

I think most writers undercharge for their work. Oh, don’t get me wrong. There are a LOT of writers who are just starting out who don’t know how to write a decent script at all. Don’t know how to write it, and are too damned lazy to take the time to really learn the medium. But for the ones who are putting in the work, honing their natural talent? I think they’re underselling themselves because it’s a buyer’s market, and few companies need to buy what the writers are selling.

There are hundreds of writers that are trying to tell thousands of stories, but only a few dozen jobs are available. And when I say jobs, I mean companies that are actively looking for new voices. Basically, Marvel/DC. There are those writers out there who turn their noses up at Marvel/DC, but I personally think they don’t have a real clue as to what they’re talking about. Let’s see: non-selling arthouse work that keeps your artistic integrity but no one will hear about it, versus writing Iron Man and getting your name known, so you can then sell your arthouse comics?

Marvel/DC truly IS the Promised Land, because there are damned few that actually make a living in the indies.

I made a declaration a few months ago about going around the barriers and doing it my own way. Self-publishing on the web and owning my own stuff. Something of a hardline stance, but I still think that it’s valid. Doors are closed left and right to writers, and few are willing to put in the hard work to get their work known.

I write my Bolts & Nuts column every week. It’s about to be 15 months, nonstop, and still LOTS more to go and talk about. And I’m talking quality stuff. How many writers can say that they’ve been writing something weekly for a year? Most can’t even seem to write weekly for a month! And then when it comes to creation…

Writers whine about how they’re not given chances to tell their multi-title universe spanning crossover that will forever change their mostest favoritest character ever. They’ve gotten outlines and subplots and stuff for years worth of continuity, but they’ve never sat down to write an actual script from start to finish.

Laughable.

The barriers of entry are there to keep out most of the dreck. Notice I said most, because it’s definitely not all. Some few sneak in and tell their clunkers, and then go back down to the bottom of the barrel. It happens. But, they have that writing credit!

I’d love for writers to stop whining and start writing. There are some over at The Proving Grounds, because they know how I am and they still submit things in to me to go over. Nice, right?

I was just talking with my wife about reputations. She said she thinks my reputation precedes me as being something of a hardass. I think that’s generally fair. I AM something of a hardass, but I don’t know if I have a reputation that precedes me about it.

I think it’s funny that I have a “reputation” at all. Who am I? I’m no one important. I can’t give or take away jobs. I can’t recommend people for paying work. All I can do is tell what I see, and try to help those willing to listen. If that gives me a reputation, so be it.

I’m looking forward to a change in my fortunes, though. And that will hopefully be in the new year. If things go the way I want, I’m going to be busy as hell next year. I’ll have Lionman in full swing, I’ll have a book moved from the back to the front burner, I’ll be finishing up Bullet Time, I’ll have another couple of books with my name on them out, and I’ll be moving forward with the Bolts & Nuts book. Busy. It’s going to be beautiful, if it happens the way I want.

I have to set myself up as an LLC. I bought a book on it, and am going through it, and once I get some questions answered, it’ll be spectacular. I’ll have to redo my cards,though. Not extremely happy about that. I have roughly a thousand cards that will be virtually useless once I do it. Ah, well. But the LLC needs to be done. I hope to have the book finished by the end of the week, have my questions answered by the end of the month, and then move forward with it by the middle of November, and be done with it by the end of December. I think that’s a realistic timeframe. Then, people will hire the LLC, and things will be created through the LLC, and everything’s protected.

I think it’s win-win.

Yes, I’m formulating the questions I need to ask that the book doesn’t answer. It’ll be fine.

Fighting a bug. Finally on the winning end of the battle, which is good. I have to go in to work tonight.

Hungry now. Have some more writing to do, but that will be after I eat. Will write while I watch The Great Vampire Killers. You should, too.

I LOVE this time of the year!

-Steven