100 Industries

Chipping away

2012-01-29T01:42:00.000-08:00

I got 2,000+ words today on the story I'm writing, which isn't bad considering I'm sick like a dog and was working my part-time job. Actually, working the part-time job is probably the only thing that made getting that many words possible. And I say "story," but it's really a draft of a novella called "The Dedication to Magic." A Novella being between 15 and 40 thousand words. "Dedication" will be on the shorter side of that, probably 15 or 16 thousand words, though it may grow longer in the rewrite. My stories tend to do that because I gloss over things in a rush to finish the initial draft.

2,000 words may not seem like a lot -- it's roughly eight pages -- but like with so many things, I'm a plodding writer. But in the time, get my ass in the chair, and I'll slowly build up a reserve of words. I managed to write a novel in four months by wracking up one or two thousand words a day. And I plan to do it again once I'm done with my thesis.

So, once done with this draft of the novella, I'll need to rewrite three short stories and then I'll be able to give my mentor, Liz Hand, everything for my creative thesis (more about Liz in a later post, I think). Then It'll just be a matter of rewriting everything I've given her. A task that makes me feel sort of weak.

And that is enough for one night.

The image, by the way, comes from Life magazine's online archive of images and is licensed for personal, non-commercial use. I reckon this qualifies.

The return of print porn

2012-01-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted one of these, or anything for that matter. However, the fine folks at Laughing Squid posted this lovely short documentary about letterpress. I always regretted that I while I was learning lithography, I never took the time to also learn letterpress. Ah, wasted youth...

Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

Where I write

2011-12-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

My buddy and fellow Stonecoaster, Zachary Jernigan, does an occasional feature on his blog called "Where I Write." Today he posted my contribution. It's not as glamorous as one might think. You can read it by clicking here.

Her particular flavor of hate

2011-12-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

I hate to write about politics here on the blog... Oh, who am I kidding?

Go here to watch a video which shows Michelle Bachmann being questioned by a young lady, the leader of her school's gay student alliance. When asked about what she would do to protect the LGBT community, Bachmann answers that as Americans, we all have the same rights (which was the first time I thought the top of my head was going to come off while watching this video, but something even better was coming down the pike). The young lady presses her and asks why gays and lesbians can't marry. Bachmann's cutesie answer? "They can, but they have to abide by the same laws as everyone else." Basically, she says that gays and lesbians can marry, but only members of the opposite sex. Oh, that Michelle Backmann! What a card.

One is forced to draw one of two conclusions from this: 1) Michelle Bachmann doesn't understand that the very law which restricts marriage to different sex couples is biased and tantamount to institutionalized discrimination. If that's true, then she's an idiot. 2) That she understands this but doesn't care, in which case she's a monster. I'm going with #2.

I can't wait to see the door of history slammed on her. I think that the early primaries are going to show -- despite the yahoos on the video who clap every time she says something small-minded -- that the Republicans aren't buying her particular flavor of hate. Maybe I should say I hope that'll be the case.

This, by the way, is not the video in question:

Guest Grok: Dana Haynes

2011-11-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

I've known Dana Haynes since he was a wee reporter, toddling up to the Oregon State Capitol to grill some politician or other. And now he's all grown up and writing thrillers! He's an excellent and passionate writer and a hell of a nice guy. Dana was nice enough to write the first ever guest post in a (I think) monthly series of same. I'll let Dana take it from here and come back at the end to wrap up.

Adam Gallardo asked me to be today’s designated hitter for this blog, and the timing was perfect. I’m working on a lecture for the Portland chapter of Sisters in Crime and this will give me an opportunity to mull some of the thoughts I want to share with the “Sissies” (as the members call themselves).
First, some brief background. I am, by training, a journalist. Twenty years in Oregon newspaper newsrooms, split evenly between weeklies and dailies. I am very proud of this background.

Second, I published three mystery novels from Bantam Books and Severn House in the 1980s and early 1990s, then experienced a … shall we say, “dry spell.” A really, really dry spell. I couldn’t get any traction on anything, either novels or screenplays, for close to 15 years. Then Minotaur, the mystery and thriller arm of St. Martin’s Press, picked up my novel “Crashers.” That was published in 2010. The sequel, “Breaking Point,” hit stands this month. Minotaur has asked for two more thrillers, the first due in early 2012.

OK, that’s me.

So: topic.

Here’s one of the things I’m going to tell the Sissies: When thinking about the characters in a scene, remember that “important” is not the same as “essential.”

Always ask yourself: “who should be in this scene?” And keep in mind The Embassy Rule.

Which is this:

During most times, the most important person in a foreign embassy is the ambassador. The ambassador is charged with speaking for his or her country, and for the head of state. The ambassador reaches out to indigenous leaders. The ambassador paves the way for the business community back home, and for tourists. The ambassador serves as a mini head-of-state for a tiny, often walled-off bit of real estate that serves as a slim slice of his or her sovereign country.

In your novel, your protagonist is your ambassador: the most important person, and the one who is charged with carrying the message (the story).

But if there is a suspected bomb in an embassy, or if there is a maddened mob tearing at the gate, or if the military is about to knock down the walls, then the U.S. State Department can make the decision to evacuate all non-essential personnel.

And that usually includes the ambassador.

The ambassador is the most important person in an embassy but, in an emergency, also is a non-essential person. It’s not his or her job to defuse the military or the mob or the bomb. A chargé d’affaires might have that task, or a representative of the State Department, or a military expeditionary force, or the CIA. But not the ambassador.

When writing your novel, there is a tendency to put your protagonist in ever scene. She is your most important person, right? But if you’ve written a scene and something seems wrong, or “fat” or somehow crowded, ask yourself: Do I need my protagonist in this scene? Could the scene move the plot forward, or serve to develop character, without her?

If the answer is “yes,” get her out of there.

Same for other characters. If you have a scene with five characters, ask yourself: Would it have worked with four? With three?

If they don’t serve a person, think about nixing them.

(This, obviously, assumes you write in the third-person and not in the first-person. If you do write first-person … well, you’re screwed, mate. We the readers cannot know anything your protagonist doesn’t know. And any scene in which she’s told about something that happened in her absence, that’s just crap writing. That’s telling-not-showing. David Mamet rightly reminds us that any time you write a scene in which Character A and Character B are talking about Character C, that’s bullshit. Rewrite it.)

OK, that’s my thought for today. Thank you to Adam for this opportunity to test drive one of my themes for the Sisters in Crime speech.

Cheers.

You should check out Dana's web site here, and then go here to look at and buy his books -- Crashers is now out in paperback and his new novel, Breaking Point is out in hard cover today!

The Lonely Spaceman tease

2011-11-11T12:44:00.001-08:00

I've been receiving art from my collaborator on The Lonely Spaceman, Matthew Hope. I'm so happy with what I'm getting that I wanted to share some here. There's no text or titles here, I didn't want to muddy up Matthew's art with my words. And here you go:

My kind of prayer

2011-11-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

This was sent my way by my mentor, the incomparable Scott Wolven (it's true, he cannot be compared!). It comes from writer Chuck Wendig's blog and it's called The Writer's Prayer II:

I am a writer, and I am done fucking around.

That which has prevented me lingers no longer. I am wind and storm and lightning and I shall huff and I shall puff and I shall blow all the barriers down. Then I will drink whisky made from the fear-urine of my loudest detractors and find power in their disbelief.

I don’t have time. I make time. I reach into the universe’s clockwork brain and I take whatever time I jolly well need. I cobble time out of sticks and mud and the finger-bones of naysayers. I am a motherfucking time wizard and with a wave of my pen shall create universes to conquer. Pockets of possibility. Born of my desire to have them made.

Fuck doubt. Doubt is a goblin on my back. I will reach for him with my ink-stained hands and grab his greasy head and fling him into the infinite nothing. His screams will thrill me. The resultant word-boner shall be mighty, and with this tremendous oaken stalk I shall swipe it left and swing it right and sweep all the road-blocks and brick-walls out of my way.

My distractions whimper and plead, their backs pressed against the wall, but I am no creature of mercy. Triple-Tap. Mozambique Drill. Two in the chest and one in the head. I laugh as they fall because their death clears the way and gives me purpose.

I will put myself on the page. I’m all in, with every card face up on the table. I am my stories and my stories are me. I do not merely write what I know: I write who I am. I’ll reach into my own chest and pluck out my still-beating heart and milk its juices like an overripe grapefruit. Squish.

That’s my blood on the page. The helix-spirals of my DNA wound around every word, every character, every plot point and page number. If CSI came here right now with one of those UV lights, you’d see the spatters and stains of my many penmonkey fluids because I can and will no longer contain my seed. You’lltake my inky seed and you’ll like my inky seed. It is a delightful moisturizer.

I do what needs doing. I ride the Loch Ness Monster through the gates of Carthage. I learn forbidden power words from the Undead Shamans of the Tulsa Underground. I kung-fu-kick a hole in the fabric of space and time and stick my head through to see what exists on the other side. I eat planets. I drink oceans. I piss rivers and I shit mountain lions. No task exists that I cannot accomplish on the page.

I write from a place of honesty. My stories are lies that speak truth.

Nobody tells me who I am or what I can’t do. I tell stories. I write characters. I make true shit up out of thin air. And nothing is more perfect than that.

My doubt is dead.

The dream is no longer a dream.

My desires are made manifest.

This is my reality now.

It’s time to load the guns, brew the ink, and go to work.

Because I am a writer, and I am done fucking around.

Amen.

A cursory look around his blog reveals that there are many things worth looking at. Which I would do if I weren't busy writing.

Mazel Todd!

2011-11-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

My friend and collaborator on 100 Girls, Todd Demong, got married this past weekend. He and his bride chose to have a destination wedding in Mexico and school work, finances and family obligations conspired to keep me from attend. I am sick, SICK, that I couldn't be there. Maybe they'll let me join them on their honeymoon...

The accompanying photo is of Todd and me at my wedding reception five years ago.

Congratulations to Todd and Marta!

Things to read and watch 11/04/11

2011-11-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

William Gibson, The Art of Fiction No. 211
Here is the full text of the long interview The Paris Review conducted with William Gibson. Tuck in, kids!

Why Science Fiction Writers are Like Porn Stars
Last weekend, Glen Duncan wrote a trollish piece in the New York Times comparing genre writers to, well, porn stars. Charlie Jane Anders at i09 has some questions for Mr. Duncan. The piece includes portraits by SF writer, Richard Kadrey (whose books you should be reading, by the way).

The Decemberists Played on Austin City Limits
And I missed it. Their album, The King is Dead, is one of my favorites of the year so far. The fact that I can watch this episode on-line makes me very happy.

Here's their video for "The Calamity Song." Enjoy.

Thing to read, listen to 10/10/11

2011-10-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

The Broadcast of Comics
Warren Ellis has a new, long think-piece about digital comics and web comics. This is relevant to my interests, of course.

Ian Fleming interviews Raymond Chanlder
Via the very fine SuperPunch.com, comes this 24-minute long interview featuring two masters of their craft.
The transcript of this talk may be found here.

Modern Horror Defined by Edgy Realism of the 1970s
FInally, from NPR.org come this nice piece about the current state of the horror genre. The article also includes a link to an excerpt of Shock Value which is a book that I think I'll have to put on my to-read list.

Talking with Richard Stevens

2011-10-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Thisis the first in a very occasional series of interviews I plan to do.These first posts will concentrate on my new-found obsession: Webcomics.

DieselSweeties.com ® R Stevens

Ifyou're reading this, that means you're on the Internet and if you'reon the Internet, then you probably already know who Richard Stevensis. For those out of the loop, Stevens is the creator of the wildlypopular DieselSweeties.com. And Diesel Sweeties is among the firstgeneration of web comics. It's been in existence for eleven yearsnow. It's stood the test of time and the fickle tastes of amedia-saturated audience. And it's funny, too. Can't forget that.

Stevenswas nice enough to answer some questions about how he goes aboutmaking his web comic and how he balances it with the business that ithas inspired. (Short answer: He doesn't).

I'dlike to thank him very much for taking the time to speak to me.

AG:What led you to pursue web comics versus print comics?

RS:I never saw any kind of divide between the two. When I started(eleven years ago!) there wasn’t much in the way of a professionalweb comics scene. The plan was to try out comic concepts online andget feedback before going to print. I just wound up never leaving.

AG:And what was the inspiration behind creating Diesel Sweeties?

RS:I wanted to write about relationships and thought that robots wouldmake a good stand-in for clueless men. It spiraled out of control andinto more of an ensemble cast gag strip and I was powerless to stopit.

AG:You did a syndicated version of Diesel Sweeties for a time, but thenstopped. Can you talk about that experience and why you decided tocease the syndicated strip? The old paradigm of comics seems like itwas you tried as hard as you could to get into syndication and thenyou did everything you could to maintain it.

RS:I did the syndicated version as an experiment when I was approachedby an acquisitions editor for a now-dead major syndicate. I neverplanned to or wanted to be in newspapers, but I figured I’d bestupid to turn down those guaranteed riches! The joke was on me whenI found out that newspaper comics sections were shrinking and fairlycalcified. I got out of my contract as soon as legally possible,thanks to a clause about a minimum level of income that I was nowherenear earning.

AG:Can you talk, in general terms, about the merchandise you sell on thesite? It seems that most web comics make money off of the things theysell. Was that part of your strategy going into the field, or was itsomething that developed over time?

RS:I can’t speak for other cartoonists, but I really enjoymerchandise. I’ve always bought t-shirts and books and dumb littleawesome things, so offering them to people seemed like a natural fitfor me. This doesn’t work for everyone. My theory is that youreally have to like what you’re selling to sell it. Like everythingelse about my early business plan, the only plan was that there wasno plan. (it didn’t hurt that I had a job at the time.)

AG:Were there strips you attempted before you tried Diesel Sweeties?

RS:Nothing major, notable or archived. I did minicomics in college, butthey are long gone.

AG:While there are recurring characters and plot lines that develop overtime, Diesel Sweeties feels like a gag strip. Have you everconsidered doing something with more of a narrative arc?

RS:It feels like a gag strip because that’s what I’m aiming for. Mygoal has always been to write as close to Peanuts as I can but withcharacters who have sex. I’ve written and pitched some longerworks. Nothing’s come to fruition yet, but it’s certainlysomething I see myself doing.

AG:As a follow up, It feels like most successful web comics are gagstrips. Do you think it would be possible for a narrative strip tocatch on in the same way as gag strips?

RS:I guess it depends on your definition of “catch on”. Storycomics are harder to merchandise, but I imagine they could moreeasily sell books. (or sell book rights to publishers) We live in aworld of apps and ebooks nowadays. There’s no reason a narrativecomic couldn’t be fabulously successful.

AG:When was the moment you knew that you were going to succeed? Did yougo into the web comics business with a definable end goal, or was itmore organic?

RS:I started with no goal and hopefully will never feel like I’vesucceeded. Even now, I still wonder how much longer I can survive asan independent artist. Hopefully a little longer!

AG:Do you follow a routine throughout the day? If so, can you describeit?

RS:I tend to do “office work” in daylight and creative work atnight. My drawing and writing time is generally from about 9pm tomidnight. My days are filled with t-shirt folding and mailing anddesigning and every other one of the billion tasks that pay thebills. Most days, I don’t know what I’ll be doing until I’vedone it.

AG:How do you balance the creative and business aspects of DieselSweeties?

RS:I daresay I don’t have any balance in any aspect of my work life. Inever miss deadline and never give up that window of comics time atthe end of the day. That’s the closest I can think of.

AG:And how does social media fit into the mix? You seem particularlyactive on Twitter. Is this part of an overall strategy to drivetraffic to the site, or are you just blowing off steam?

RS:Twitter feels like it was designed for me. I used to throw silly awaymessages on my IM and screw around on message boards. Nowadays, I getto do my goofy short writing for a large audience. I see it as acombination of communication and a second comic strip. It cracks meup when people following me have no idea I draw a comic but stickaround for my puns.

AG:Do you see yourself continuing with Diesel Sweeties forever, or doyou think you might end it someday to pursue other creative ventures?

RS:Couldn’t say. I think if I thought about the end, I’d loseinterest. I am mentally committed to hitting 3,000 comics and willgive it some thought then. That’ll be somewhere around twelve yearsof work!

AG:Is there any parting advice you'd give to someone consideringstarting up a web comic?

RS:Don’t be one of those jerks who posts an update schedule on yoursite only to constantly apologize for missing deadlines. Just be whoyou are and work at the best pace you can. Never apologize foranything. Do your work and get better every day.

Some things to read 10/3/11

2011-10-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Supers

When Warren Ellis thinks about comics, I generally pay attention. If you're interested in the medium, too, so should you. This time he's thinking about rhetorical comics.

People

Did you know that Google publish a quarterly ezine? Well, they do, and it's packed full of interesting looking articles.

Kindle Launches Graphic Novel Price War

ICv2 has an interesting piece about the possible effects of DC's exclusivity deal Amazon. Long story short: Sorry, comics retailers!

'Hark!': From DNA to JFK, a Comic Take on History

and

Kate Beaton, History Girl

One of my favorite cartoonists, Kate Beaton, is getting a lot of attention because of her new book, Hark! A Vagrant (which is also the name of her website). This makes me happy.

Alert the Media: LB Goes Indy!

I love Lawrence Block's writing. Matt Scudder, the creation of Mr. Block is probably my favorite recurring character in fiction. Mr. Block has been toying with self-publishing a short story here and there for the Nook and Kindle for a year or so. Now he's decided to go big: He's self-publishing a collection of Matt Scudder stories. He's doing it in both electronic and meat-world formats. Good luck to him, and for anyone who's never read the Scudder series, this would be a great place to start. And for just $2.99, too.

How pencils are made

2011-10-03T22:49:00.000-07:00

As you may have guessed from the series of print porn videos I've posted here, I'm fascinated by how things are made. In that tradition, here's a video of the production process used to make pencils. My apologies for the pun that closes out this video. Hey, I didn't write it!

Gear School short: The local angle

2011-09-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

The short film based on my comics series, Gear School: Plug and Play has played in festivals all over the US and Europe, a fact that blows me away. But I am humbled by the fact that it has been selected as to screen at my hometown's film fest, The Salem Film Festival. Salem's festival has been named one of the top ten small film fests in the country by Livability.com, so you know it's legit.

At the moment, I'm not sure when it will be screened, but I'll update the blog as more information becomes available.

And if you want to see a teaser trailer, I've posted it to this blog before.

Why a web comic now?

2011-09-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Since2008, all comics sales – single issue and graphic novels – havebeen in steady decline according to ICV2.com. The one brightspot is that for the first half of 2011, graphic novel sales are upwhile single-issue sales continue to fall. (An aside: DC's rebot oftheir universe has given single-issue comics a bump, but there's notelling how long that bump will last and, once it fades, I don'tthink that DC can reboot its universe again.End of aside) The declinein sales of single-issue comics is significant because comicspublishers have traditionally used these as a loss leader for graphicnovels, toys and other merchandise. The Weekly Standard pointed outthis practice in article, “The Crash of 1993”:

Thismight sound like an industry marching toward oblivion, yet in 2009,Disney paid $4 billion to acquire Marvel (DC was already owned by Time-Warner).The reason for this gaudy valuation is that the comicbooks themselves are no longer important to the comic- bookindustry. They’re loss leaders. Thereal money is in the comic-book properties, which power toy and merchandise sales, theme parks, and above all elsemovie franchises. Since

1997, 26 comic book adaptations have gone on to gross more than $100million at the box office. Twelve of these grossed more than $200 million. More—manymore—are coming soon to a theater near you.

Italics are mine in that quote, by the way.

Increasingly,publishers are interested only in titles they believe can beexploited across other media, and they are less and less likely totake a chance on unknown properties.

Publishingfirst to the web, and gaining a following, seems to be a way tosidestep all of this. Penny Arcade was among the first web comics to garner enough of a fan base towarrant a print edition (Dark Horse Comics published their booksstarting in 2006 and Del Rey stole them away from Dark Horse in2010), but it's not the only one to see this sort of success.Publishers are also using webcomics in place of the traditionalsingle-issue monthlies to build an audience. Avatar Press had greatsuccess with Warren Ellis's FreakAngels.Even first second, the comics imprint of traditional publisher,Macmillan, launched a webcomic, Mark Siegel's Sailor Twain.

Andif one wants to eschew traditional publishers, webcomics are a way toattract an audience and self-publish. There are many examples ofartists doing just this – Richard Steven's DieselSweeties (which also enjoyed arun as a print comic in several weekly newspapers based on itssuccess online), Steve LeCouilliard's Much the Miller'sSon, and Ben Costa's ShiLong Pang, The Wandering Shaolin Monkare recent standouts. The lesson here seems to be that an audiencewill follow you from one medium to the next and, more importantly,support you financially if you can gain their loyalty.

Personally,I am leaning toward self-publishing once The LonelySpaceman is completed, and thereare a few different ways to gain funding for such a project. One isto apply for a Xeric Grant. The Xeric Grants were founded in 1992 byKevin Eastman, of Teen-Age Mutant Turtlefame, with the express goal of helping independent creators pay forthe production of their self-published comics. Tens of thousands ofdollars are awarded every quarter.

Anothermeans of funding your comic is to use a crowd-sourcing website likeKickstarter.com. Kickstarter allows artists to post their projects ontheir site and ask complete strangers to pledge money toward theircreation. Artists are only given the money of their projects arefully funded, but Kickstarter has a great track record of helping toproduce comics. According to Publishers Weekly Kickstarter funds roughly as many projects as DC's Vertigo imprint.And it could be considered the third largest publisher of independentgraphic novels in the US, behind only Dark Horse Comics and IDW. Withthe right pitch, a comics project has a decent chance of beingsuccessfully funded.

Thesefactors, tradtional publishers embrace of webcomics and outsidesources of funds for self-publishers, make me confident that a webcomics project could actually be a viable commercial endevour. Allone needs is a solid comics project.

Is The Lonely Spaceman such a project? I guess we're going to find out.

Something you should read, weekend edition

2011-09-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

The Big Sexy Problem with Superheroines and Their "Liberated Sexuality."
A couple of days ago, Laura Hudson wrote a great piece over at Comics Alliance about the way mainstream comics represent female sexuality. It really deserves to be read by everyone with an interest in the comics medium

This is something I think a lot about since I like to write female characters. I don't think I'm guilty of any of the offenses mentioned in the essay -- I hope I'm now -- but it's always good to be mindful, right?

What is The Lonely Spaceman?

2011-09-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

The basics: The Lonely Spaceman is afull-color, 128-page comic written by me and illustrated by MattHope. It will be published to the web at LonelySpaceman.com (sitecurrently under construction) at the rate of 3 pages per week -- apage will publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It will golive in mid-November and run for nearly a year.

So, what's the story? Well, it's sortof a SF fable. I also remember Joss Whedon mentioning about someepisodes of Buffy that the metaphor was very thin. You could say thatThe Lonely Spaceman is a very thin metaphor It's about anastronaut who returns to Earth after a 200-year long mission to findthe planet changed beyond recognition. The only way he can deal withit is to wear his pressure suit, his protective shell, everywhere hegoes. The story is about how he learns to live without his protectivecovering. It has space pirates, romance, and a character based onChristina Hendricks in the Broken Bells music video "The GhostInside." So it's got that going for it.

Broken Bells "The Ghost Inside" from Jacob Gentry on Vimeo.

I found references to The LonelySpaceman in various notebooks going back at least two years. Thestory hasn't changed much in that time, except that it used to bedarker (and that it used to be called The Loneliest Spaceman). I decided to make it more whimsical because I thought thatwould be more palatable, and because I thought it would be more funto write. I think everything I write starts out darker than it endsup in the final version. I am working on my issues, thank you verymuch...

As we get closer to the web site'sactual go-live date, I'll be posting reminders. Many, many reminders,so you can check out the final product for yourself.

Next time: Why a web comic now?

Some things you should read

2011-09-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

My Instapaper page is overflowing with good stuff lately. Here are a few examples. I think I may try and do a more regular links feature...

[A]n orgy of art for its own sake.
I'm lucky to know the graphic novelist, Craig Thompson, and I was very pleased to see his new book, Habibi, reviewed so well in The Guardian.

Embed a Comic Book on any Facebook Page.

Frankly, this just seems sort of neat.

Slave Labor... has decided to go digital-only with their periodicals.
This is a reflection of how terrible the comics market is at the moment. And a damn smart move on Slave Labor's part.

WHAT SERIOUS WRITERS CAN LEARN FROM GENRE COMRADES IN ARMS
An interesting read, though I admit to being a bit self-serving since I hope to someday be a successful genre writer.

Ellen Ripley Is Clearly the Best Female Character in Scifi Film, and That's a Problem

John Scalzi speaks truth.

So, there's that done

2011-09-22T00:04:00.001-07:00

The Lonely Spaceman

2011-09-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

I want to write a short series of postsabout the new comic series I find myself working on. I hope this willprove interesting to someone other than me. Today's installment ispretty much just setting the stage and introducing the players.

Two, maybe three years ago, I stood onthe stage at a Salem Ignite event and I told the audience how much Iloved the Internet as a method of distributing... well, everything. Iconcentrated on comics and I closed with the promise that the nextcomics project I did would be published to the web.

It looks like I'm keeping that promise. I just didn't expect it to take thislong.

I made several half-hearted attempts atgetting a web comic up and running, but there were a couple of thingsthat slowed down the process. The first is that a lot of people stillsee working in web comics as less prestigious than working in printcomics. The second is that not a lot of artists want to work for nomoney up front with no guarantee of money on the back end. And, once I put it in those terms, it's not hard to see why they aren't beating down my door to work on such a project. I woulddefinitely need to find just the right artist for this.

About that: It always helps to knowpeople. In this case it helped a great deal to know Devon Devereaux.Devon is sort of a nexus of cool people (Malcolm Gladwell would call him a "maven") and when I told him that Iwanted to work on a web comic, he immediately thought of someone Ishould contact – his buddy, Matthew Hope. Matt is a designer and hedoes illustrations for concert posters and other things. Devon sentme the link to his web site, Poor Man's Bread, and after pokingaround for just a minute, I knew I wanted to work with Matt. And Iknow on which project I wanted us to join forces. A lot of Matt'swork has a SF feel to it and I've had a SF idea kicking around forseveral years. One piece in particular caught my eye and it's the piece that starts this blog entry. Often when I contact an artist about working together,I send them several ideas and let them choose which one most appealsto them. This time I sent just one idea: The Lonely Spaceman.

Next: What is The Lonely Spaceman?

Like a scene from a (lesser) Tennessee Williams play

2011-09-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

As O and I were walking today, we strolled past the following scene:

A YOUNG MAN and YOUNG WOMAN stood on the sidewalk in front of a house. An OLDER MAN stood on the porch.

OLDER MAN: I have rules.

YOUNG MAN: I respect that, sir.

OLDER MAN: Rules.

YOUNG MAN: Yes, sir.

OLDER MAN: I don't -- I don't want to be running a whore house.

YOUNG MAN (earnest): No, sir!

And then, thankfully, we were out of ear shot.

2011-08-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

Someone on twitter quoted part of this. I liked it so much, I looked up the entire thing. I think it's sort of a lovely sentiment:

"But who prays for Satan? Who in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most, our one fellow and brother who most needed a friend yet had not a single one, the one sinner among us all who had the highest and clearest right to every Christian's daily and nightly prayers, for the plain and unassailable reason that his was the first and greatest need, he being among sinners the supremest?" -Mark Twain

Also, hello, again, Blogger.

Words, words, words

2011-05-29T00:35:00.000-07:00

I've really had my head down lately in an attempt to get some stuff done before Baby 2.0 arrives at the end of June/beginning of July. Let's see, there's homework to be done (two papers to write, a bunch of books to read for the next residency); I've started to meet with a friend whom I hope will be the producer of the short film I plan to make next semester, and I've been trying to get a lot done on the web comic I'm trying to get off the ground. The novel I started working on is going to sit and marinate for a while. Something had to give way and that seemed like the easiest thing to set aside.

The web comic is really taking shape on paper. I've never worked this quickly on a comics project. Last week I wrote a pitch document that included character descriptions, a description of the world and the general shape of the story. I also plotted out and scripted the first chapter of the book (26 pages!) and got all of that to the artist. Best of all, he likes what I've written and didn't ask for any changes. This is a rare and magical occurrence. Over the last two days I've worked out a very basic plot of the rest of the first book (in a perfect world this will be a story told in three volumes). I wanted to work far ahead on this project because come the arrival of the baby, I'll probably have to set it aside for a while. I want the artist to have lots of material to work with while I settle into my new life. Also, the more material there is, the easier it will be for me to hit the ground running when I get back to the project. I think I'm at a place where I can leave it alone for a while and concentrate on homework.

Thanks for indulging me and my sporadic updates. As a reward, have a video of Jenny Owen Youngs performing one of my favorite of her songs live. Take it away, Jenny.

Tidbits 5/23

2011-05-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

This makes me both sad and joyful: An archive of mugshots of Freedom Riders.

This seems like a worthy Kickstarter project to back: A book of interviews and articles all about a subject near and dear to my heart, comics. If you don't know about Kickstarter, please do yourself a favor and go to their homepage and read about them. There are many fine and worthy projects that could use your financial support.

I've recently subscribed to Rolling Stone magazine (Amazon.com had a special offer), and today the subscription paid for itself by introducing me to the band The Head and the Heart. The video below sealed the deal, but really, I knew I wanted to buy their album after reading the following quote from singer/guitarist Josiah Johnson, "If there's such a thing as a neo-folk movement happening right now, it's simply a reflection of the fact that music has become so negative, bands decided to go in a different direction. We are shamelessly happy."

Beautiful Machines

2011-05-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get sad thinking there will never be a photo of me working in front of my typewriter. Then I think, "Fuck it. Faulkner probably wasn't sad that there'd never be a photo of him writing in cuneiform on a clay tablet."

The photo of Faulkner comes from a gallery of authors and their beautiful machines at Dangerous Minds.

Update 4/20

2011-04-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

One of the things that thrills me, and frustrates me, about writing is how things I am making up -- things coming out of my own head and which I should know very well -- can so completely surprise me. Case in point: Tonight I began a chapter featuring a new character. A character that I wasn't expecting to show up for several more chapters. A character who isn't even in the outline I wrote out for several more chapters! And yet, there she is, in a scene I never outlined but that seems to make total sense. And is a much better introduction than my outline gives her, too, by the way. Why did I even bother with an outline? I guess I'm more of a "making it up as I go along" type writer...

I hope I continue to be surprised.

Here are tonight's numbers:

Daily word count: 1,129

Monthly word count:6,265

Novel word count: 6,265

Writing! New numbers!

2011-04-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

Lots of writing-related stuff going on at the moment, which is probably how it should be. I guess. Zomburbia is currently with three new readers, and its first reader thinks that I'm a polish away from being able to send it to an agent and then to publishers. My fingers are crossed. I'm working on what looks like will be another novel, numbers for which you will find at the bottom of this post. I've joined a new writing group. Actually, I am the founding member of a brand new writing group which is comprised of me and one other writer (hi, Kate!), but it's gonna blow up, I can tell. On top of all of that, I currently have, what, four comics things in various stages of development. Three of those are with a co-writer (hi, Phil!) and one that I'm writing my self.

That feels like a lot. Probably more than I can reasonably handle. We'll see.

And here are today's numbers:

Daily word count: 1,018

Monthly word count: 5,136

Novel word count: 5,136

I'm well into chapter two and things are developing nicely. I like the main character and I'm having fun developing the world. So that's all good.

Thanks for your kind attention.

Hello, Blogger. I've missed you.

2011-04-18T23:01:00.001-07:00

Speaking with Greig Means this weekend (editor and publisher of the excellent Tugboat Press, about which I need to write, I think) it occurred to me that I hadn't been updating this blog much lately. This is for a variety of reasons, none of which need to be gone into here despite the fact that this is a blog and that's usually exactly the kind of thing that is gone into.

Anyway, it occurred to me what I useful tool this blog was when I was writing my novel. I posted my progress every day and if I had no progress, I posted that, too. The knowledge that people were keeping track of those slowly mounting numbers helped to motivate me. I bring this all up because I seem to find myself writing another novel. What I think will become another novel, at least. (My wife's declaration to this bit of news was something like, "Why would you do that?" Indeed.)

I didn't come up with the idea of publicly tracking my progress. In the grand tradition of writers everywhere, I stole the idea from someone more talented and more intelligent than me. Cherie Priest, writer of scary stories and, lately, steampunk novels does just this. I've also noted that just lately, in the last couple of days, Warren Ellis (Ellis's site is very often NSFW) is also tracking his novel-in-progress's growing word count. So I'm in good company, I suppose.

So let me recap, very quickly, my progress so far, starting with the fact that my goal is to write 1,000 words a day.

On Friday, I wrote 1,026 words. Saturday yielded 1,092. On Sunday I had a full day with Oscar up in Portland and I only managed 317 words, but I made up for that by writing 1,683 words tonight which is 2,000 exactly for the last two days. That makes a grand total of 4,118. There. Starting tomorrow, I'll start having a running total at the bottom of each post until I get to end of the first draft.

I suppose I should write just a bit about the first novel, Zomburbia. I finished the second draft and sent it off to three readers. My first reader is going to give it another once-over and two new ~~victims~~ volunteers are also reading it. Soon I will have even more corrections to make, I'm sure, and I'll be able start on a third draft. After that, who knows. Maybe it'll be time to start finding an agent. As much as I'm able, I'll document the whole process here.

Lucky you.

Some things worth reading 03/22/11

2011-03-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

Mulholland Books has pretty quickly made itself an indispensable site, in my opinion. Many of its features skew toward the crime genre, but some of it is more general. Here are two examples:

Derek Haas recently wrote an article entitled "Seven Things Novelists Should Know About Screenwriting." I don't think I need to be explain what it's about, do I?

The next day, he offered a follow-up: "Seven Things Screenwriters Should Know About Writing Novels."

"Hollywood Shadows" by Dana Goodyear tells the story of how one therapist helps Hollywood screenwriters overcome writer's block.

One story down...

2011-03-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

I finished that short story. No, I conquered it. I laid waste to its, um, something. Anyway, you can be sure that I saw it driven before me and heard the lamentation of its women. So there.

It helped to walk away from it for a couple of days. Give it a rest. Back in the old days I used to feel like it was some kind of defeat if I couldn't finish a story in just a few days. maybe that's why they weren't very good and none of them were ever published. Just a thought. This time around, by which I mean this current push to write and publish, I'm letting things take as much time as they need. Though it still feels good to put the words THE END at the bottom of a document.

This story turned out to be about 4,200 words written over four sessions. That's roughly 1,000 words a session. It feels like I should be able to do it more quickly than I did, but I'm cutting myself slack. Something I need to do a lot more of.

Now I need to let it sit for a few days more and give it a polish before I send it off to a reader.

In other writing news, I got back notes on my novel from my first reader. Now I need to sit down and actually make the changes and polish it up. A month's work? That's what I'll be aiming for. Wish me luck.

And to make this post of interest to more than just me (maybe), here's a music video. This is what I listened to for the most part as I wrote. Weezer's first album. Good, good stuff.

Another quick update

2011-03-15T14:09:00.000-07:00

I wrote another 1,082 words on the short story I started yesterday. For those keeping count, meaning me, that's 2,151 words total so far.

This is another in a series I've been writing featuring a magician named (stage-named) Christopher Dark. This story is about a bit of sex magic that goes pretty horribly wrong and it's been a lot of fun to write so far. I stopped writing just before it's revealed exactly how it went wrong, so it should be even more fun to write once I pick it up again. Yea for having fun while I write!

That is all for now.

The smallest update possible

2011-03-14T23:58:00.000-07:00

New words tonight after much too long. I started a new story. It's funny, over the last week I made three other attempts to start this thing, getting as far as two full pages before I decided that what I was writing was no good. Last night I started the same story in a new location -- Portland's The Roxy -- and suddenly the story was flowing. I don't know why these things work, but I'm glad that they do. Eventually.

1,069 words this evening. A good start. The best part is that I can see where the story is going. It has helped me a lot to ground these new stories I'm writing in Portland. It's a city I know well. And, maybe more importantly, while I like the city, I don't love it. I lived there for 18 years, in all parts of the city, and I saw both the good and the bad sides of it. I think Portland is a lot darker than most people, including those who live there, would like to think. But that may be true of most places, I suppose.

Regardless, a new story, yes. It feels good to get words on the page. Most definitely, yes.

Stephen King on the Tea Party

2011-03-10T16:50:00.000-08:00

“And remember, when these people talk to you about it, if you like your weekend, thank a union guy. If you like a 40-hour week, thank a union guy. If you like a day’s honest pay for a day’s honest work, thank a union guy!”

I've had a lot of reasons over the years to like Stephen King. Now I have a new reason to respect him.

Will Ludwigsen speaks clever

2011-03-09T21:22:00.000-08:00

This is advice for young or otherwise new writers. And it doesn't come from me, so you can probably trust it. Will Ludwigsen is a newly minted MFA (he graduated just this past January). He went through the Stonecoast program, the very same one that I am currently attending. Honestly, knowing that people like Will are in the program is what gives me faith that I made the correct academic decision. He's got a list of published stories that would make me envious if he weren't such a nice guy.

On his site, Will offers some pointers that have helped him along the way. Each one seems reasonable and achievable. Rather than steal the list, I'll just direct you to it.

Also, remember his name. You'll be hearing it a lot, I think.

Pipe dreams

2011-02-23T23:46:00.000-08:00

I daydream a lot, and I often berate myself for the ludicrous nature of those daydreams -- so ludicrous that they are elevated to the status of pipe dreams. But just lately, I've had a couple of these fantasies come true. So here's one more:

I used to want Dakota Fanning to star as Sylvia in a motion picture adaptation of my book, 100 Girls. Now that she's too old for the part, I'd like to see the role go to either her sister, Elle, or to Chloe Moretz.

Okay, Universe, you've got your work cut out for you.

Vintage print porn

2011-02-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

Anyone who's visited this blog a time or two probably knows that I have a ~~fetish~~ fascination with the printing process. I found this video today on BoingBoing and my heart just melted. This is an old instructional film released by The Encyclopedia Britannica Films, Inc. It shows all the steps of book production in the pre-digital age. Great stuff. It makes me wish that my (theoretical) novel could be set in Linotype.

Neil Gaiman speaks wise words about Internet piracy

2011-02-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

And there was much rejoicing

2011-02-10T23:57:00.001-08:00

This evening I finished cleaning up the first draft of my novel, Zomburbia, and I sent it away to its first reader. It is now out in the world like some fledgling bird. A fledgling zombie bird. I feel like I'll now be able to think again about things not related to the novel. And I think I'll be posting here again with more regularity. I hope.

First up, a bit of music. This video is for a song by Lelia Broussard, "Satellite." Ms Broussard is from New York and she is part of the same scene (in my mind at least) that also includes Allison Weiss, Jenny Owen Youngs and Bess Rogers -- all of whom I've written about before, right? Either way, I hope you like this song.

Good night.

Eric Powell is my new hero

2011-01-28T15:33:00.000-08:00

Visit and Like the Creators Front for Diversity in Comics on FaceBook.

The residency so far

2011-01-25T20:58:00.000-08:00

My first packet of homework is due on February 7. All I have left to do is finish reading one book (less than fifty pages) and then write a reading response to it. So why do I feel like I'm already so far behind?

Part of it is that I wanted to have reread and cleaned up the Zomburbia manuscript by the first of the month. Unless a miracle occurs, that won't happen. There are also three short stories for me to rewrite. Two that I submit to publishers, and one that I will send to Jim Kelly. Jim workshopped this story with me at the latest Stonecoast residency and he's offered to look at it again once it's rewritten. He thinks it's publishable. Have I mentioned that Jim is a hell of a guy?

I also have a ton of email I still need to answer from when I was in Maine.

One of these days I'll feel like I'm caught up.

Links 1/21/11

2011-01-21T21:18:00.000-08:00

This year is off to a lousy start, posting-wise. Not sure when that will change. I am sick. My wife is sick. My son may still be sick. It is a time of pestilence here in the Kreutz Gallardo household. But some day all will be well and I will start to write again and posting here will resume. Until then, enjoy some links to articles I've read over the last few days!

Rick Bass, who is an instructor at Stonecoast, has advice for beginning writers. Oddly, "Run away!" is not on the list.

Welcome to Project: Iceworm, a city built under the ice of Greenland.

Mexican drug lords are now importing foreign models and beauty queens as their girlfriends.

How have I been a fan of SF for so long without knowing about The Turkey City Lexicon? This lapse in my education was remedied by workshop instructor, and all-around swell guy, Jim Kelly. I note with interest, and without comment, the definition of the term "slipstream."

This is about ten tons of adorable

2011-01-18T17:41:00.001-08:00

This video is making the rounds on the internet, but I couldn't pass up posting it here. A little French girl recounts the plot to Winnie-the-Pooh. If you don't like this, you have no soul.

Also, I don't have the strength to post anything else after getting back from my trip to Maine. Regular posting will resume... at some point in the future?

People I know eating in restaurants, Julie

2011-01-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

People I know eating in restaurants, Keith

2011-01-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

My view of Atlanta

2011-01-07T03:40:00.000-08:00

Gone educatin'

2011-01-06T14:32:00.000-08:00

In a little while I'll be off to Maine where an army of instructors shall try and penetrate my dense head bones in an attempt to fill my brain with knowledge. While I am away in the Winter Wonderland that is Maine, posts of any length will be in short supply here. However, since I learned last night how to publish photos to this blog from my phone, you can probably expect a sort of photo travelogue of my journey.

See you in a couple of weeks!

This is a test, too

2011-01-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

The future of music distribution

2011-01-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

Damian Kulash, the lead singer of the band OK Go, was interviewed on NPR's Talk of the Nation yesterday. Kulash talks about, in broad strokes, the history of music distribution and, more in depth, his band's decision to leave the major label which handled them and start their own. He also wrote an opinion piece on the subject for The Wall Street Journal.

This is relevant to my interests for a couple of reasons. 1) Because I like this band and am interested in how they conduct themselves and 2) because I wonder if what they've done in music can be replicated in the medium of comics. Especially on the scale they seem to be doing it at.

Here's a link to the audio of that interview.

Links 1/5/11

2011-01-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

There was a night during Cortes's conquest of Mexico that he was very nearly handed his ass by the Aztecs. It was called La Noche Triste. (Via Wikipedia)

Knock know. Who's there? Alternate universes, baby. (Via New Scientist)

Hey, look, somehow Jenny McCarthy was wrong all along. There never was a link between autism and vaccination. Who'd have imagined...

The last numbers of 2010

2011-01-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

I was at my part-time job when the yearly odometer rolled over from 2010 to 2011. Don't get me wrong, I really like my job, but that was not really where I wanted to be Friday night. There was nothing to do about it, however. Nothing but sulk, I mean.

I like the way I spend my time over New Year's Eve/Day to be meaningful to me. I want it to be a reflection of my values and desires. Usually It will be with friends or family. That wasn't an option this year. So as I sat there feeling sorry for myself, I started to wonder how I could use that time in a way that meant something to me. And then I remembered that I had an unfinished draft of a short story on my laptop.

Let me say a word about my job here. I work as a projectionist at a locally-owned, independent movie theater. Projecting films is just one of the things I do as that process is largely automated. You should forget your romantic notions of sitting up in the booth waiting to change over from one reel to another. In our theater, we have a platter system. When the reels come in, our manager, Abby (hi, Abby!), assembles them into one big reel on a platter. So once I thread up the film in the projector, all I have to do is hit start, make sure everything is running fine, and then walk away. That's simplified a bit, but not much. After the films have all been started (there are three auditoriums in the theater), we employees have a bit of down time. We stock and clean, too, but we still have a lot of time to ourselves. Most folks play games, talk, eat, etc. I usually choose to write or work on homework. I'm explaining all of this so you won't think that I was getting away with something as I sat there for an hour and wrote. This happened after the last set of shows had started for the night and we had cleaned and stocked all we could before the movies let out.

So, yeah, I finished a story. My fourth of the semester. I was happy because I had originally thought I wouldn't get to finish it until after I came back from the MFA residency later this month. I was also happy because writing is one of the things I want to devote myself to this year. It felt good. And, after a month of not writing, I was happy with how easily I fell back into the process. I wrote a little more than 3,000 words in just over an hour. That might be faster than I've ever written. I think it's because I told myself that I had to finish the story before midnight rolled around, which meant I would need to finish it before the movies let out and I had my theater duties to attend to.

So, here are some updated numbers for the last of 2010:

Words written for 12/31/10: 3,080

Words total for Story D: 8,870

Which brings my word total for the semester up to 124,720. Just shy of 125k, which is just shy of 500 pages. Damn. Ah, well, maybe next semester. It's a new year, after all. Anything feels possible.

Links 12/30/10

2010-12-30T21:13:00.000-08:00

Jess Nevins gives a close reading of Mary Poppins and he can reach only one conclusion: It's a horror film! “Mary Poppins’ mirror image moves and acts on its own. It smiles now—but what is it doing when the children are asleep? Is it still there, looking at them? Does it—can it—affect the children’s reality? Heroes nods at this, with Mirror Jessica haunting Niki, but the show doesn’t make full use of this. Neither does Mary Poppins, but in context Mirror Mary Poppins is actually more disturbing than Mirror Jessica.”

The best, most disheartening analysis of the Wikileaks affair so far comes from SF writer Bruce Sterling. Everyone involved, including Julian Assange and Wikileaks, gets taken to task: “Diplomats have become weak in the way that musicians are weak. Musicians naturally want people to pay real money for music, but if you press them on it, they’ll sadly admit that they don’t buy any music themselves. Because, well, they’re in the business, so why should they? And the same goes for diplomats and discreet secrets.”

Like me, you may still have folks asking you how Twitter works or why you do it. Designer Jessica Hische has put together a simple and conclusive explanation called Mom, This is How Twitter Works. I will be directing people to this page a lot, I think.

Expecting

2010-12-29T20:09:00.000-08:00

Melissa and I found out she was pregnant quite a while ago and we've been sitting on the news. We've been told it's a good idea to wait until at least the eighth week of pregnancy to spread the news. Given Melissa's age, we wanted to wait even longer and get the results of some non-invasive genetics testing before we let the cat out of the bag. Well, the results were positive enough that we're letting the world know. Sometime in Late June or early July we'll be welcoming baby #2, whom we are calling Blossom (we called Oscar The Sprout). This is an interesting date just because on July fifth I am expecting to board a plane bound for Ireland for a little more than a week as part of my MFA program. We'll see how all of that goes.

This pregnancy has been a little rough. Melissa has been nauseated, sometimes to the point of incapacity, nearly the entire time. On top of everything else I've got going on, I've picked up the slack around the house and helped to ease her suffering -- and that's exactly what it looked like to me. It seems to be letting up, and I'm glad of that for a few reasons.

So, come the Summer, things will once again be pretty interesting. Melissa and I are trying to prepare ourselves to have a newborn in the house again, but I feel like we can't really. One of the reason I think people have more children is that they can't remember exactly what the experience was like. We're also trying to prepare Oscar. We'll see how that goes. Some days he seems excited, or at least interested, by the prospect. Some days he flat out says he doesn't want a little brother or sister.

For the next little while you can expect the usual silliness on this blog to be peppered with news about The Blossom -- how it's developing, it's entrance into the world, etc. Hope no one minds.

Wish us luck.

The Beauty of Pixar

2010-12-29T12:23:00.001-08:00

UPDATE: The video has since been deleted from Copperfield's Vimeo stream. Sorry, folks.

This video is making the rounds, but if you haven't seen it, you should definitely watch it. It's a mashup of all of Pixar's films set to music, edited by Leandro Copperfield. This makes me want to watch each and every one of these movies again. Enjoy.

The Beauty of Pixar from Leandro Copperfield on Vimeo.

Links 12/28/10

2010-12-29T00:45:00.000-08:00

Via BoingBoing comes this collection of Civil-War-era photos of battlefield injuries. Not easy to look at, but fascinating and informative.

Tineye.com. Reverse image search. Have a cool image but you don't know the artist? Tineye seems like it could help. Useful is good.

Once again, Patton Oswalt speaks truth. This time about geek culture: “The coming decades—the 21st-century’s ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s—have the potential to be one long, unbroken, recut spoof in which everything in Avatar farts while Keyboard Cat plays eerily in the background.”

Back From Kathmandu

2010-12-27T00:41:00.000-08:00

To wash the taste of that previous, terribly dry post out of our collective mouth (ugh), here's a lovely video. I posted this a while ago on FaceBook, but I think that site is imperfect vessel for something so lovely. Also, I want it somewhere I can find it quickly.

Ok Go make very lovely videos. I thought this was a lost art. I especially like the "Hey, kid's, let's put on a show!" aspect that must of their videos embody. Very DIY, very spontaneous and, because of that, very full of energy and very inventive. That's too many instances of the word "very", but I think you get what I'm going for.

I also like the lyrics to this song:

In the dream you were someone different
You and everyone else all at once
You were beautiful, you were beautiful
In the dream you were just like you are

You loved everyone like a sovereign
Half magnanimous, half unimpressed
And I was talkin' too much I was tryin' too hard
In the dream it was just like it is

Everything was so simple
Things are how they always will be
You are the answer to the question that is me
In the dream it was just like it is

We were captive in, in a prison
Where everyone was guilty by mistake
And it was infinite, it was infinite
In the dream it was just like it is

And I, I asked, "Is that good for you?"
You said, "No, probably not
But everybody's gotta get through the night
And love is all we got", yeah

In the dream it was just like it is
Yeah, in the dream it was just like it is

In the dream you were someone different
You and everyone else all at once
You were beautiful, you were beautiful
In the dream it was just like it is

Links 12/26/10

2010-12-27T00:24:00.000-08:00

I have heard rumors that Delicious.com is going away. This distress me. I like that site a lot. (For those that don't know, Delicious is a bookmarking site. Rather than create bookmarks on your computer's web browser, you save them to the site. This means you can access them from any computer with internet access.) I'm hunting around for a replacement site. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I've started using Mister-Wong.com, but I'm not falling in love with it so far.

In the mean time, I'm going to start saving links right here. I figure that this site won't ever go away, right? I also figure that people might be interested to see what's catching my eye. Some of this is for specific projects, some of it's just because it's weird and informative and of general interest.

James Burke: Connections. One of the finest documentary series ever produced on television. EVER. Now available to stream on your Internet viewing device (otherwise known as your computer).

Jaguar Warrior - Wikipedia.

Aztec Warfare - Wikipedia.

Stone of Tizoc - Wikipedia.

In which the novel is discussed and the title is revealed

2010-12-18T23:47:00.000-08:00

I have a habit of not talking about what I'm writing. There are two parts to this. 1) I often feel like talking too much about something I'm writing robs it of a lot of energy. Sometimes I can talk so much about something that I feel no desire to actually get it on paper. And 2) I don't want to jinx any of the projects I'm working on by mentioning them. If there's something I'm excited about and mention it to a lot of people, I don't want to have to go back to this people later and explain that it's not going to happen should some disaster befall the whole process. I've been burned by both of those in the past. Or, perhaps I should say, I have burned myself with both of those in the past.

Such was the case with my novel. Which, for the past few months, I have been calling simply, "The novel." I didn't want to mention too many specifics here as I wrote it. And now that a draft is done and some people have asked about it, I want to talk about it in more detail, but it feels really awkward. Like when you want to bring up something in casual conversation, maybe something you are really proud of -- some accomplishment -- but there's no graceful way to steer the conversation that way and so you just end up bringing it up and you feel like an ass, but you just can't help yourself. Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, I know that no one mentioned novels, but hey, let me tell you about the novel I just wrote! For starters, it has a title: Zomburbia. It's a YA novel. Here's the elevator pitch:

Zomburbia is about a smart-ass sixteen-year-old girl trying to navigate burgeoning first love in a world infested by zombies.

That log line is a work-in-progress, but it's nearly there. Also, I am very proud of myself for having spelled "burgeoning" correctly on the first attempt.

So. A zombie novel. I resisted it for a long time. I know that zombies are everywhere right now and that makes me think that they are about to disappear. I did think about something else as a first novel, but everything I thought of interested me less than Zomburbia. Nothing inspired me in the same way. So I decided to go with my gut and hope I was doing the right thing.

The world of Zomburbia is different than other zombie stories in that the world never ground to a halt because of the zombie infestation. Of course, they were never able to get rid of the undead either, so now they're a threat, but one that everyone is familiar with.

Here's a little bit about where the idea came from. This may be of interest to exactly no one, but what the hell. I live in Salem, Oregon. Salem is about an hour south of Portland. There was a time when my wife and I drove back and forth to Portland a lot. We'd see friends, catch a rock show, go to eat, see plays. Portland is a nice place to go and experience some culture that isn't available in Salem. On one of these trips, I sat in the passenger seat and just watched the scenery roll by. The area between Salem and Portland is open fields for the most part. Agricultural land, and not all of it along the highways is developed. Sometimes it's easy to watch that empty land roll by and imagine that there's not a single person alive out there. I was thinking that very thing on that trip and, as is my wont, I started imaging why the land would be empty. Naturally, for me anyway, zombies were the first thing to come to mind. One of the things that's always bothered me about zombie movies is the way civilization just grinds to a halt. I think that humans have overcome way worse things in its history than the dead returning. (Before everyone rushes to tell me about it, I am aware of a film out there called Fido, which posits the same kind of world. Friends told me about it after I had the general outline to Zomburbia done and I was willing to talk about it. But I have purposefully avoided watching the movie because I didn't want to be contaminated by it.) I started to imagine a world where zombies had come back, but that still functioned. What would that world look like? How would you live in it? And then I imagined a bored teenager living in this world. She would think of zombies as just another nuisance in her day to day life right along with boys, her friends, her teachers and parents. Zombies might be more deadly than any of those things, but they're still just one more hassle to try and avoid as she goes about her business.

And after I knew what kind of girl this still unnamed character was, the story just sort of came to me all in a flash. Her, her friends and her dad, I knew what kinds of characters they were. I knew the broad outlines of the story. I knew what she would have to overcome by the novels end. I knew practically all of it. That sort of inspiration has never come to me before, and I remember getting home that night and writing away in one of my notebooks trying to capture all of it. It's at this point that I have to admit that I did rework that original outline. If I was given the story from A to Z, I actually used everything from, say, A to W. I changed the ending, made the girl more sympathetic and less of an outright psychotic. She was pretty dark in the original and I brightened her up a bit.

And I think I'll stop there. I don't want to discuss too much more. I'm going to start rewriting the book next month and so things might change, but the basic world and concept will stay the same.

So, if you've been wondering what I was working on for the last five months, there you go.

*The picture that goes with this post is a still from the seminal zombie movie, Night of the Living Dead, written directed by George Romero.

Cooperation!

2010-12-13T22:26:00.000-08:00

Something I've never done before is to collaborate on a piece of writing. That may be changing. If I'm lucky.

I have a friend who also writes comics on occasion. He contacted me out of the blue last month to tell me that he had an artist who was interested in working with him to put together a comics pitch. They both know an editor at a large comics publisher and wanted to work up something to pitch to him specifically. My writer friend worried that he didn't have enough time to work on anything by himself, so he wrote to me and asked if I'd like to write something with him. For a number of reason -- the chance to work with my friend, the chance to be published by this particular company -- I said yes.

I thought that we would just be working on an idea that he had come up with, but he and the artist had not actually settled on an idea yet, so I was asked to contribute some ideas as well. My friend then put the four best ideas, two from him and two from me, into one list and sent it off to the artist. I just heard back from my friend today and it turns out the artist picked one of my ideas. I won! General congratulations and back slapping for me...

And now I feel the pressure to deliver since it was my idea that was chosen. *sigh*

And the idea? In a nutshell, t's about Mexican wrestlers, Aztec death gods and general mayhem and untra-violence. You know, the usual...

More updates as the situation warrants, of course. Oh, and this is the comics project that I wrote about on occasion last month. It'll be interesting to fit in even more writing with everything that's going on now, and everything that I know is coming down the pike in the near future.

Wish me luck.

Stonecoast and lots of numbers

2010-12-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are unaware, I started a writing MFA program, Stonecoast, this Summer. I know I've mentioned it in this space a few times and I wanted to write about it at more length now that I've just completed the first semester of work. First I'll talk about my intentions in following the grad school route, and then I'll assess what I think I've accomplished this semester. Finally, tacked on to the end in an ungainly manner, I'll run the numbers on what I wrote over the last few months. Sounds fun, right?

First, what I wasn't expecting by attending an MFA program. I don't think writing that leads to publishing can be taught. I certainly had no belief that I would be handed a magical set of rules that, once followed, led to me becoming the next Stephen King. I think that lots of writing and re-writing is the only thing that can lead to publication.

And that's one of the big reasons I wanted to go back to school. Time. I'll admit that last year when I was considering applying to grad school , I was feeling more than a little lost. I had been a stay-at-home dad for two years and while that was great, and continues to be great, it was not how I defined myself. I'd always thought of myself as a writer. Only I wasn't doing much writing. Since 2003, when my first professionally published comic came out, comics was the medium through which I channeled my creativity. There was no comics work. Several proposals had been rejected and no one was exactly knocking down my door to submit more. I knew that the entire industry was in an economic downturn, but that didn't really help boost my ego.

It occurred to me then that I should get back to writing prose. Writing comics had seemed like a sideline back when I was first published, but then it became my sole focus. So, prose. I tried a couple of times to write longer prose pieces -- I've never cared much for writing short stories, though I seem to be developing a taste for them now. But it was hard to find a focus. I struggled for more than a year with one piece, got about 150 pages and then stalled out when my computer suffered a hard drive crash that was unrepairable. After I calmed down about so much wasted work, it was almost a relief. I've since recovered that word document and can't bring myself to go back and reread it to see if it can be salvaged. I may need to just consign it to the dustbin of history, as it were.

I thought that a writing program of some sort might be just what I needed. It would get me back into the habit of writing prose and it would impose a deadline to do so. Perfect. And while I don't believe you can teach someone to write, I did think that a grad program would have other benefits. Among these, I'd be exposed to a group of writing professional and I would get their critiques of my work, I'd meet and (I hoped) become friends with peers who were in the same situation as me, and I would learn from those who had already gone through the process of getting published the ins and outs of the business. Of those three the second, meeting peers, was most important to me. Living where I do, I feel sometimes like I'm living in a creative vacuum. It's been nice to have people I can reach out to via email or facebook and know that they are sharing a similar experience.

Once I decided that a writing program is what I wanted, I had to decide which one. I interviewed a couple of writers who had been through MFAs. They told me the same thing -- an observation borne out on various websites and in interviews I've read. As soon as I told them that I wanted to write genre fiction, their reply was that I would have a difficult time finding a program that would work with me. Most MFA programs are welcoming of non-genre, or literary, fiction and don't know what to do with genre. And even if a program said they'd work with you, I was told, I would find that that statement was designed just to get me in the door. Once there, I'd find an environment hostile to genre fiction. This was discouraging to say the least, and it led to me putting the idea on the back burner for a while.

I was toying with the idea of applying to the Clarion Writers' Workshop, an intensive six-week long "boot camp" for writers, when I heard a radio interview with Kelly Link. Ms Link is a phenomenal writer of surreal short stories and a recent favorite of mine. In the interview she was asked what work she did besides writing and she said that she taught at the Stonecoast MFA. That sent me running to the Internet to look up the program. Like every MFA in the country, Stonecoast has disciplines in Fiction, Non-fiction, and Poetry. What makes them unique is that they also offer a concentration in Popular Fiction (read: Genre Fiction). It didn't take me long to decide that I wanted to go there. And it was the only program to which I applied. If I had not been accepted, I would have taken it as a sign that I wasn't meant to go to grad school and I needed to find another way to advance my writing. I am so happy that I got accepted.

I was even happier when, a few months ago, Poets and Writers magazine named Stonecoast one of the top ten low-residency MFA programs in the country. What, I hear you asking, does low-residency mean? A full-residency program is one which holds classes every day. You stop your life to attend, move to the city where the college is located, etc. A low-res program just means it's part-time. Twice a year I go to Maine for two weeks to attend classes, lectures, and workshops. The rest of the time, I'm at home doing the required homework. I mail off five packets over the six months of the semester and communicate with my advisor (in the program they are called "mentors") over the phone or via email. It's all self-directed and self-motivating so it's really a case of sink or swim for the students.

Which leads to the section where I talk about what I've accomplished. One of the unexpected results of being accepted -- a real sense of urgency to my writing. Seriousness. Fucking gravitas. Let me give you an example using the novel I just finished. In the four months before I started the MFA program, I wrote just 12,500 words -- that's 56 pages. After starting the program in mid-July through the beginning of December -- about four and a half months -- I wrote an additional 91,000 words. That's just shy of 400 pages. And I didn't use the novel toward the page count for my homework. It far exceeded what the school's handbook says to send to the advisors on a monthly basis. I wrote and sent in short stories. If there was a day when I didn't write, I felt bad about myself.

And I wasn't the only person affected by this. Paying for an MFA program makes your family and friends take your writing very seriously. Suddenly my writing became a priority.

I also feel like I've gained confidence in my writing. The comments I received in workshop last July, and the critiques from my advisor, have really boosted my ego -- in a good way. And, not to worry, I'm still getting some fairly humbling responses as well.

Now that I've completed a draft of my novel, I feel like my experience at Stonecoast will be different. Next semester I see myself devoting myself to rewriting the novel and not devoting so much time to writing new material. I'll probably write enough just to satisfy the packet requirements and then use the rest of my time on the rewrites. I want to get this thing polished up and to an agent as soon as possible. I want to see if it's publishable.

And now the numbers:

Last numbers dump of the semester. Here is what I've been doing for the last five months.

As I mentioned, I wrote 91,000 words on my novel. In addition, I also wrote three-and-a-half short stories and a short film script. There was also a new comics proposal thrown in their as well.

Short story A: 8,026

Short story B: 8,682

Short story C: 5,319

Short story D: 5,089 (so far)

Short film: 2,008 (an 11-page script)

Comics project: 1,516

That gives us a grand total of 121, 640 words for the semester. That's 486 pages. Not bad. I guess I don't feel too bad about slowing down through this month (which is all about preparing for the next residency) and the next semester. Come next July, though, I bet I'll be ready to get back on that horse.

I already have an idea for a second novel...

The Holiday Pimp

2010-12-06T20:48:00.000-08:00

File this under "shameless self-promotion." Christmas is just around the corner, Hanukkah is nearly over, Kwanzaa is nearly upon as are other celebrations about which I am unaware because I am an American with a public school education. In that spirit, I thought I would take this opportunity to point out to you, the gift-buying public, that I am the author of several fine comic books. Which comics? Well, let me show you. Consider the list below the only one you need to complete your holiday shopping:

Star Wars: Infinities -- Return of the Jedi

Art by Ryan Benjamin

My very first published work. Also the most awkwardly titled. It's an alternate-universe take on the third of the Star Wars films (or the sixth if you are a heretic and consider the new trilogy worthy of the canon). This book is perfect for the sci-fi-loving geek in your household.

100 Girls

Art by Todd Demong

My first creator-owned titled. Originally published by Arcana

Comics, it was later collected by big-time publisher, Simon & Schuster. This one is near and dear to heart. It's the story of

thirteen-year-old Sylvia Mark. She's the product of a government-funded experiment and she can totally kick your butt. Honestly,

my favorite thing about this book is Todd Demong's art, which evolved over the course of our doing the book together (as a bonus, if you follow the link to Todd's blog, he posted a new sketch of Regina from 100 Girls just today!). It starts out great and moves on to face-meltingly great. This is recommended for teens as there is a fair bit of violence.

Tales of Hot-Rod Horror

Art by Justin Nitz

An anthology of indie horror comics featuring some very cool cats (Rick Geary is at the top of that heap!) and published by my good friend Devon Devereaux. Buy this book and see my riff on classic EC horror tales of old. There's a lot of fun stuff here for those who like their horror mixed with black comedy. This is definitely suggested for adults.

Gear School

Art by Nuria Peris, Sergio Sandoval and Studio Fenix

Another creator-owned title, this one published by Dark Horse Comics. It features a young girl in a world where giant mecha

are the principle war machines. Children are taught to drive these machines at an early age. I've always thought of this series as Digrassi High meets Mobile Suit Gundum. It's high melodrama in a futuristic high school and the occasional alien menace. Yes. And it features gorgeous art by a team of Spanish

artists. Suitable for younger teens or anyone who was once a young teen.

MySpace Dark Horse Presents volumes 1 & 5

I have one short story in each of these volumes. Volume one features a Gear School short story with art by Nuria and Sergio. Volume five features a new character, Dalton, with art by Todd Demong. Both are fun little romps surrounded by an eclectic collection of very cool comics. DHP has always had a reputation for publishing some of the finest comics in the business, and the on-line incarnation was no exception (my own contributions notwithstanding). Get these for anyone who is looking to be exposed to a lot of new titles. Probably rated PG-13.

Gear School volume 2

Art by Nuria Peris, Sergio Sandoval and Studio Fenix

A follow-up to the original Gear School, this book features more of everything you (well, maybe not you) loved in the first volume -- romance, rivalry, giant robots beating the snot out of each other. Buy this for anyone who loved book one or buy both for a great little set. Again, suitable for young teens and up.

Arcana Team-Up

Art by Todd Demong and mumble-mumble...

This is an odd little number, but of potential interest to some folks out there. This book collects some team-up stories featuring characters that Arcana has published over the years. One of these is a 100 girls story published for the first time ever. It was written and drawn years ago and fell into a pit of legal darkness when the character with which Sylvia teamed up had her company go bankrupt. Some deft maneuvering on the part of Arcana makes this story's publication possible. It's a 48-page story told in two parts. Part one features art by Todd Demong, part two by a fine young man whose name I've forgotten and can't find record of. C'mon, it was like four or five years ago. Buy the book and you can look it up yourself. Recommended for older teens.

There you go. A little something for everyone on your holiday gift list. Unless I'm that person, of course. But you can always just send me cash. Happy holidays, folks.

Draft 0.9

2010-12-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

Late Friday night/early Saturday morning I typed THE END at the bottom of my novel. And then I just stared at it for a while. And then, this being the age that it is and the time that it was, I updated my FaceBook status and went to bed.

If only typing those words meant that I was done with this particular work. Unfortunately, it's not even at a place where I can call it a complete draft--that will require another couple of months of writing. Writing I won't be able to get to until January. I have a story to rewrite for my last homework packet and much, much reading to do to prepare for January's residency in Maine. Oh, and I still need to read a short story for a friend and give her notes. Honestly, it already feels a little anticlimactic.

But I am happy to be done. This is the first time I've been able to finish the draft of a novel. Now I need to figure out what to do with it. In January, I suppose I'll start patching some of the holes I know exist in the draft. One of the things that allowed me to finish is that I didn't go back and fix things as they occurred to me. I think that's where I'd lost momentum on earlier attempts at a novel. I rewrote as I went and I lost steam. This time I forged ahead and kept notes about all of the things I needed correct. Another thing that helped me was a trick I picked up from Corey Doctorow. He suggest that anytime he came across something that he needed to look up while writing would instead get a "TK" in it's place in the manuscript. TK being two letters that almost never occur together in English. Then, once he's done with a draft, he goes back and replaces all those TKs. Using that method meant that I ran up against something I didn't know at the time I was writing, I didn't have to stop and go look something up on the amazing time-suck device known as the Internet. I just typed two little letters and continued on. We'll see how I feel once I start replacing all of those instances of TK.

So things will be a little quiet here as I try and get caught up on homework. No more writing about writing. At least not the close-to-real-time blogging I've been doing lately. There are a few things I want to write about in the next little while. I want to write about the novel I just (sort of) finished. I want to write about the MFA program I am attending and why I decided to attend one at all. And, based on an email I got from a friend on FaceBook, I want to write a little about my process of writing in general. If anyone reading this has any questions along those lines, add them as a comment and I'll do my best to answer them.

For now, here's the last numbers update for some time. Remember that these are Friday/Saturday's numbers

Daily word count: 2,339

Monthly word count: 5,319

Novel word count: 103,450

Dave Brubeck

2010-12-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

An early update. I had to do my writing this afternoon because I won't have a chance tonight. I gave up a nap to get it done. Do you see the kinds of sacrifices I make for my art?!

It'll be another short, music-related post. I thought I'd class it up a little bit. This is a video of The Dave Brubeck Quartet doing "Blue Rondo a la Turk." Good, good stuff. I remember being at a party once in college and a girl I was talking to asked me what kind of jazz I liked. I started my (admittedly short list) with Dave Brubeck. Because of this, she said something to the effect of, "You don't know shit about jazz." I had never stated I did, but this really threw me. It's like she was telling me that I wasn't qualified to like what I liked. And I know this kind of pretentious behavior is part and parcel of being that age, but man it got under my skin. I was so mad I didn't even try to hit on her later in the evening when she was obviously drunk. Because, you know, I have principles. I think it was around this time that I started formulating my "no guilty pleasures" theory, where I refuse to feel bad about anything I like. I may have to expound on that at some point here.

Anyway, take it away, Dave:

And here are today's numbers:

Daily word count: 1,010

Monthly word count: 2,980

Novel word count: 101,111

The Johnny Cash Project + numbers

2010-12-01T23:23:00.000-08:00

As I near the end of the draft of the novel, I feel like I'm developing tunnel vision. All I can think about is the book. What happens next, and after that? Until I get to the end. Which will be soon. All I really have time for are these bits of Internet flotsam that seem to constitute how I take in the world these days. The easiest of these to post, and those that seem most meaningful to me right now, are the music videos I've been posting. I feel like I couldn't write without music and when I discover that videos exist for these songs that are meaningful in their own right, well, I just have to share them.

A case in point: The Johnny Cash Project. Director Chris Milk (who directed the beautiful video experience for Arcade Fire's "We Used to Wait") has created a site where fans of the late Johnny Cash may contribute to a video of his song "Ain't No Grave." The result is beautiful and moving. I don't want to say too much about it, I'll leave it to you to explore the site, or not. If you click on the link, you won't be disappointed. I promise.

And here are today's numbers.

I was filled with a desire to reach 100,000 words on the novel today. That number, which is nice and round and darts around my brain in a pleasing way, has been floating just out of reach for the last few days and I was determined to put it behind me. Long story short, I did it. Yea, me. Oh, and since this is the beginning of a new month, I'm resetting the numbers. I have a feeling that the novel is the only thing I'll be working on until I reach the end. But I could very well be wrong about that.

Daily word count: 1,970 (which is also the year I was born--more resonance.)

Monthly word count: 1,970

Novel word count: 100,101

"Turn it down, hipster"

2010-11-30T19:56:00.001-08:00

No writing tonight, and no writing update, but I leave you with this. The Death Wish trailer re-cut for our modern times. For those who are faint of heart, it contains swearing.

My favorite line: "No, it's a right-now coat!"

Writing update: Nov 29 edition

2010-11-30T00:23:00.000-08:00

Just numbers tonight. I didn't start writing until 11:00, which means it's now late and I am tired. Though I feel like I'm having to force myself to stop. I'm in the middle of an exciting (to me) scene, and it's hard to not just keep going. I can feel the novel winding down. This scene, another big character scene, and then some mop up. I'm guess by this weekend I'll be done with this draft. Crazy. I really didn't know if I had it in me. And maybe I still don't. I guess it could all implode before I finish.

Anyway, here are the numbers:

Daily word count: 1405 (novel)

Monthly word count: 34,647 (26,630 novel, 5,790 story, 2,227 new project)

Novel word count: 98,131

R.I.P. Leslie Neilsen

2010-11-28T22:08:00.000-08:00

Also, weekend numbers.

Just this morning I was talking to to my wife about Police Squad and some of the hilarious devices they used in each episode to satirize detective shows at the time. This evening I was saddened to learn that Leslie Neielsen, the star of Police Squad and Airplane! and, of course, Forbidden Planet. Nielsen was one of those lucky actors who got to have a second act to his career. (I know that F. Scott Fitzgerald was mostly wrong when he said that there are no second acts in American lives, but, as far as actors are concerned, he was mostly right.) A handsome dramatic actor as a young man, Nielsen was given the opportunity to reinvent himself when he starred in Airplane! There was no looking back.

I remember seeing Airplane! in the theater, which seems impossible now since I was only ten years old at the time, but that might say something about how I was raised. Regardless, I know I didn't understand everything I was watching, but I knew it was transformative. That movie was the benchmark against which I measured all comedies for a very long time.

I'm going to look on amazon.com now to see about buying Police Squad on DVD. If you haven't seen it before, I suggest you do the same.

And here are the numbers:

Daily word count: 3,266 (1,049 novel, 701 story, 1,516 new project)

Monthly word count: 33,242 (25,225 novel, 5,790 story, 2,227 new project)

Novel word count: 96,726

Friday's numbers

2010-11-27T01:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I'm posting so little besides my daily numbers and the occasional video. I feel like all my free time is spent doing other writing and it's sometimes hard to muster up a decent post here. And I'm not sure when it'll let up. New and interesting things keep cropping up and I can't seem to say no to them. It's not a bad problem to have.

I'm thinking of setting myself a goal of one or two large, juicy posts a week. The rest would just be the filler that you've come to expect, of course. We'll see if I can manage that once I'm done with the draft of this damned novel.

Which brings me to today's numbers:

I started making notes on a new project and I'm going to throw those numbers into the mix, mostly because it's writing I'm doing and I think those numbers should count toward my goal for the month. So there. Also, I made no progress on the short story today.

Daily word count: 1,897 (1,186 novel, 711 new project)

Monthly word count: 28404 (22,608 novel, 5,089 story, 711 new project)

Novel word count: 94,109

It's like a Thanksgiving present to myself

2010-11-25T23:02:00.000-08:00

My wife and I decided to stay home today rather than travel to see family for Thanksgiving. That meant it was going to fall to me to make a Turkey and all the trimmings. That's just how things go in the Kreutz Gallardo household. I'm fine with it. I like to cook, and I'm good at it, so I really don't mind. But I had made myself a little crazy over the last few days because I'd never made a turkey before. I think I devoted more time to researching roasting techniques than I have on any piece of homework so far this semester. (If my advisor is reading this, that's hyberbole!) I'd also never made stuffing or from-scratch giblet gravy. Even more time spent researching.

But you can all rest easy, everything (except the stuffing) came out fine. Great, in fact! Not to toot my own own horn, but I think that turkey ranked up there with the top five turkeys I've ever eaten. And, because it was just the three of us -- and one of us is a two-year-old -- we have tons of leftovers. Yes. And it may have gone well, and not been as difficult as I imagined it would be, but I was still confined to the kitchen all day. And the last hour was a mad dash to make sure everything came out at roughly the same time. The point I'm trying to make here is that I felt the need to indulge myself. I'd suggested renting a movie, but my wife didn't feel up to it.

So I wrote. I made a public statement on this forum two days ago that I would be taking Wednesday and Thursday off from writing. That, I can now tell you, was a lie. I am apparently in a place where writing is something I do when I want to treat myself. Who knew I'd ever get there? I feel like mI'm a long ways from the days when staring at the blank screen would just about reduce me to tears. And I may very well get back there again, but I'm enjoying it while I'm able.

I just wrote 1,000+ words on the short story I'm writing. I'd been experiencing some frustration with this story. I had a beginning I liked, and I was pretty sure I knew where I wanted it to end up. It was that pesky middle part that I couldn't figure out. Well, t seems to be coming together now. Hopefully I'll wrap it up the first draft over the weekend.

And now I'll give myself another Thanksgiving present and send myself to bed.

That photo, by the way, was taken by my wife and is of my son regarding the thing that kept his dad from playing with him all day long.

Here are today's numbers:

Daily word count: 1,073 (all on the short story)

Monthly word count: 26,508 (21,419 novel, 5,089 story)

Novel word count: 92,923 (unchanged)

Just the numbers

2010-11-23T22:45:00.001-08:00

I'm going to be taking off tomorrow and Thursday from writing. I'm far enough ahead that I just want to enjoy Thanksgiving. And, of course, I need tomorrow to actually prepare for the enjoyment of Thanksgiving (I'll be preparing my first Turkey, etc). It'll be nice, and I'll be back at it starting Friday.

I stopped writing last night at the end of a chapter. I then realized that when I started writing today, I'd be starting on what I believe will be the last chapter of the novel. I know that I wrote a while ago that it felt like the ending was receding away from me, but lately I feel like I need to slow myself down -- that I need to not rush the ending. The whole process that's gone into writing this thing has made me feel crazy at times, I tell you what. Anyway, I'll write more about that later. You know, after I actually finish writing the damned thing.

For now, here are today's numbers:

Daily word count: 1,284 (all on the novel)

Monthly word count: 25,438 (21,419 novel, 4,016 story)

Novel word count: 92,923

Mostly numbers, but also a video

2010-11-22T23:45:00.000-08:00

I took the weekend off from writing and read a book for homework. I got back to it tonight and I realized how being away from it for even two days makes me feel sketchy. Aw, well, it was unavoidable.

As to the video: It's been more than a year-and-a-half since I last wrote about Jenny Owen Youngs. I still listen to her music quite a bit. And today on FaceBook, I saw that it's her birthday today. (More than likely, it was her birthday yesterday to you since I'm posting this just before midnight.) I posted songs of hers on Twitter and FaceBook to celebrate, but I thought I'd post a video here. This is Ms Youngs's cover of the Nelly song, "Hot in Here." It's a hoot and a half and I think it still manages to showcase her amazing voice. I hope you like it. Oh, I should probably warn you that it contains some adult language. You've been warned.

And now, here are the numbers:

Daily word count: 1,914 (1,412 novel, 502 story)

Monthly word count: 24,154 (20,138 novel, 4,016 story)

Novel word count: 91,639

The Suburbs + 90k

2010-11-20T00:34:00.000-08:00

Like me, do you like the band Arcade Fire? Do you like music videos directed by Spike Jonze? Do you like beautiful, but bleak visions of the lives of aimless teenagers who live in endless, surreal, militarized suburbs? If you said yes to all three then you have scored a trifecta of likes with this, the latest video from the aforementioned band directed by that guy I already named. It really is a lovely video, but it is also bleak, bleak, bleak. Enjoy!

Apparently this is taken from a short film that Jonze directed titled "Scenes From the Suburbs." I just did a quick search online, but I couldn't find any information about when or where one might be able to see the short film. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

And now here are today's numbers:

Daily word count: 1,386 (all for the novel. Sorry, short story, no words for you today.)

Monthly word count: 22,240 (18,726, novel, 3,514, story)

Novel word count: 90,227 (Holy cow, I feel like I buried the lede here.)

Since I'm ahead on my weekly goal, I'm going to take the weekend off from writing and devote that time to catching up on some of my reading. That means no updates over the weekend. I'm sure you'll all muddle through somehow.

De-ritualization

2010-11-19T01:26:00.000-08:00

Melissa is off watching the adventures of some boy wizard (maybe you've heard of him?), and I get to stay home and finish up my writing for the day. I think it's a fair trade.

It occurs to me, having started doing these almost-daily updates, that my writing schedule must seem fairly erratic. That's actually a choice as much as it is a necessity. I've spent the last years of my life intentionally de-ritualizing my writing process. I feel like I've spent, possibly wasted, a lot of time in the past waiting for inspiration to strike. And I did lots of things to try and court inspiration -- I always sat in the same place, I always wrote at the same time. Hell, there was a time when I had to have a candle and some incense burning. Lately, I have purposefully gotten away from all of that. Like I said, part of that is necessity. I'm a stay-at-home dad, I have to be able to sit down whenever and where ever the opportunity presents itself.

Some days it's harder than others to get into the writing, but there hasn't been a day I can recall in this semester that I haven't been able to write at all. And I've skipped days certainly, but that's mostly because I sometimes need sleep more than I need to write. Another hazard of being a writer raising a child.

The twitter post from Roger Ebert that illustrates this post really says it all. I wish I could go back in time and tell this to my younger self. Not that my younger self would believe it. My younger self was sort of a jerk. A bigger jerk, I should say.

I guess I can be happy that I've finally learned the lesson. Better late than never, I'm getting the writing done.

And here are today's numbers.

Daily word count: 1,734 (1,001 novel, 733 short)

Monthly word count: 20,854 (17,340 novel, 3,514 short)

Novel word count: 88,841

O + AW 4EVER

2010-11-16T23:56:00.000-08:00

I'm up late writing this evening because earlier, Melissa and I were ~~irresponsible~~ awesome parents and we drove Oscar an hour South to Eugene so we could all go watch Allison Weiss play live. Allison Weiss is a big deal in our house and Oscar often demands that we play her music. (Actually, given his two-year-old soft palate, he demands that we play "Al Wise.") Ms Weiss, who hails from Brooklyn, is touring the West coast with her friends Bess Rogers and Lelia Broussard, both of whom are very talented in their own rights.

We were also lucky because our friend, Eugene musician, Dan Jones, was able to join us for dinner and the show.

As we walked into the venue, Oscar started marching around, asking very loudly where Al Wise was. I had seen them on the sidewalk outside unloading their equipment. He wanted to go and see them. Who are we as parents to deny out son (read: I wanted to meet her, too)? Here's a tip to anyone who wants to introduce themselves to three lovely young ladies: have a cute-as-hell two-year-old with you. They thought he was very cute, indeed.

Especially when he was able to tell Ms Weiss the title of his favorite song. It's "Let Me Go" for the record.

The cuteness continued to build to dangerous levels once the show got under way. Oscar stood right in front of the stage, danced and sang along with her set. And then we got pictures and her signature on two of her CDs. Besides being crazy talented, she's also nice and gracious. I think it was well worth the travel and the fact that we kept Oscar up past his bed time. We'll remember it for a long time to come.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay to see either Bess Rogers or Lelia Broussard perform. O had reached the end of his tether and we needed to leave before a screaming tantrum wiped away all those cute memories. All in all, an excellent night.

And now, here are the numbers.

Daily word count: 1,622 (1,082 novel, 540, story)

Monthly word count: 19,120 (16,339, 2,781 story)

Novel word count: 87,840

Human Behavior

2010-11-16T00:12:00.000-08:00

No new writing today, but I'm ahead on my word count so that's okay. Instead, I finally finished rewriting that short story I've been working on for the last several weeks. Man, it was tough to crack. It doesn't help that I am the world's worst rewriter. Tomorrow I will send it off to my advisor and see if he agrees with that assessment.

In the meantime, a video from the past. I sometimes watch music videos with my son--he's a fan of Vampire Weekend and Allison Weiss, but he'll tolerate nearly everything I show him. I like sharing music I like with him. The other day I showed him the video for Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet." It's directed by Spike Jonez and it's bright and colorful and a lot of fun. Later, after he'd gone to bed, I thought that I should have shown him the video for her song, "Human Behavior." It's also directed by Spike Jonez. I looked it up and watched it. I did not remember it being so nightmare-inducing. Seriously. Everything about it is terrifying. It looks and feels like a kid's movie directed by David Lynch. I am eternally grateful that I didn't show it to my son. The damage to his psyche would have been massive.

Having said all of that, enjoy!

Jess Nevins: Hero to the Nation!

2010-11-14T23:41:00.000-08:00

Okay, maybe I'm overstating it a bit, but I like his stuff a lot.

Nevins first came to my attention as the man who obsessively annotated Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comics series, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. The comic is crammed with more visual references and in-jokes than the casual reader could be expected to know. Nevins took it upon himself to identify them all. This is a feat I find both amazing and scary.

Nevins is, by profession, a research librarian and his affection for data is apparent in everything he does. In 2005 he wrote the exhaustive 1,200-page Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana wherein Nevins maps out the roots of modern Fantasy and science fiction. I still kick myself for not buying the book when I had a chance as it can now only be found used at usurious prices.

His latest project is a series of columns for the science fiction website, i09.com. He plans to trace the history of science fiction publishing starting at the turn of the last century with the rise of the pulps. For anyone interested in fantasy or science fiction, it makes for fascinating reading.

Nevins maintains a personal blog, a tumblr blog and his twitter feed (where, for example, he once expounded on trends in Mexican pulp magazines) is one of the things that makes me feel that service is worthwhile.

And now for today's numbers.

I thought I'd be taking the day off from my novel, but that wasn't to be. I seem to be unable to stop writing the freaking thing. It's a bit scary. To me, anyway. That being said, here are the numbers.

Daily word count: 1,165 (all on the novel -- no words for you, short story!)

Monthly word count: 17,498

Novel word count: 86,758

Numbers, November 13 edition.

2010-11-13T20:52:00.000-08:00

For these keeping score at home, here are the numbers.

Daily word count: 1,750 (1,031 novel, 719 story)

Monthly word count: 16,333

Novel word count: 85,593

Getting it done getting it done getting it done.

On even stranger tides...

2010-11-13T00:40:00.000-08:00

Found today on BoingBoing is this interview with SF authors Tim Powers, James Blaylock and K. W. Jeter. These three wrote the earliest recognized Steampunk novels (Jeter coined the term),and all three were friends at Cal State Fulerton. Where they all met and befriended Philip K. Dick. Um, wow. In the interview, they talk about PKD and what led them to write those early Steampunk works, and what they think of the genre's current incarnation.

Leading the article, however, is the news that Powers sold one of his novels, On Stranger Tides, to Disney and that it serves as the basis for the newest Pirates of the Caribbean movie which I believe is titled, Pirates of the Caribbean: I Saw the First One and Sort of Liked It, But Didn't See Any of the Others. Awkward title. Having read and loved the source novel, I'm a bit horrified to see it Disney-fied, but I'm glad to see Powers earning a paycheck for his wonderful work. (Like Whitman, I contradict myself.) The best case scenario here is that people will seek out the original novel and be exposed to one of the best writers of SF out there.

And here are today's numbers.

Daily word count: 1,708 (1,323 novel, 385 story)

Monthly word count: 14,583 (13,061, 1,522 story)

Novel word count: 84,562

I couldn't help myself

2010-11-12T00:09:00.000-08:00

During the few breaks I had today at my part-time job, I started pecking away at a new short story. I hadn't planned to do this. Hell, I didn't even particularly like that I was doing it. I still have the novel to write and I have homework I should be doing for the MFA. But there it was, a story. Plot, characters, dialog--it all just sort of fell into my brain whether I wanted it or not. I've learned in these situations that I need to actually start writing it down or else it'll just disappear. And if I say I'm going to write down a few notes so I can come back to it later, well, that never works. So I have the opening to a new short story and I guess I'll be writing it over the next little while.

I'm updating the writing numbers I posted earlier today. I'm not sure if I should count the words I write for the short in my stated goal of 30,000 for the month since I wanted those all to go toward my novel. Not that anyone reading this cares, but I've already admitted that I'm doing this for myself. If anyone happens to have an opinion, however, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

For now, here are the numbers.

Daily word count: 2,262 (1,125 novel, 1,137 story)

Monthly word count: 12,875 (11,738 novel, 1137 story)

Novel word count: 83,239 (unchanged from earlier)

And I have to warn you, we've only scratched the surface on how obsessive I can be.

This Is How Michael Caine Speaks

2010-11-11T14:01:00.000-08:00

This video is helping me to get through a day when I 1)am sick and 2)can't seem to get warm. I'm not sure what The Trip is, but I think I need to find out.

Also, we have early numbers from my daily writing/torture session.

Daily word count: 1,125

Monthly word count: 11,738

Novel word count: 83,239

Writing watch, day 9

2010-11-09T23:51:00.000-08:00

This image, which I like a lot and will try and incorporate into my working ethos, was found here.

And now, here is the usual blather about my writing:

I decided I needed another day to work on the rewrites for my short story. These rewrites are kicking my ass, quite frankly. My goal as a writer is to get to the point where every story is golden in the first draft. That's possible, right? Anywho, I told myself that if I was going to take a day to rework a story, then I had to double up on the my word goal for the novel. That makes sense, right?

I did it, believe it or not. It felt good. I wonder if I could do it every day. I suspect I could, but I think it would require abandoning my family and all worldly concerns such as eating and bathing. I doubt that it would be worth it.

Here are the numbers.

Daily word count: 2,065

Monthly word count: 10,613

Novel word count: 82,114

Is my printing fetish unseemly?

2010-11-08T22:37:00.000-08:00

I think the only things for which I feel truly nostalgic all orbit around printing. I just discovered that someone is making a feature-length documentary about Linotype machines. My heart nearly burst while watching this trailer. I'll be watching for when this film is completed and gets a distributor.

"Linotype: The Film" Teaser from Linotype: The Film on Vimeo.

80k

2010-11-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

I reached the 80,000-word mark on my novel this evening. That's 350 type-written manuscript pages. This is the furthest I've ever gotten on a novel attempt. And, honestly, I don't think this one will be an attempt. I'm going the distance on this one.

A couple of weeks ago, I was telling Melissa that no matter how much I wrote, the ending felt like it was running away from me. I think the actual words I said were, "The ending is receding so fast, I can see itsred shift." Because I know science. But I don't feel that way anymore. Within 20,000 words or so, I'm going to reach the point where all that's left to write is THE END.

And then the real work of rewriting will start. But still...

Here,as they say on Market Place, are the numbers.

Daily word count: 1,263

Monthly word count: 8,548

Novel word count: 80,049 (This is a new category for those playing at home.)

Wrung out

2010-11-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

I have nothing very clever to say this evening. Unlike every other evening. I worked a long day and then walked home in a rain that could only be described as "biblical." I'm posting here only so I can update my word count. Here goes:

Daily word count: 1,625

Monthly word count: 7,285

That means I have earned the right to take tomorrow off from new writing and I can rewrite a short story for my next homework packet.

Thank you and good night.

Boost

2010-11-06T01:07:00.001-07:00

I work a part-time job Thursday through Saturday. It's those days when I knew reaching my daily writing goal would the most difficult. On Thursday and Friday, I watch my son all day long and only hand him off to my wife as I am on my way to work. After that I work until late and then come home to write. Sometimes I get some work done if he naps really well in the afternoon, but that's far from a given. And I also use my breaks at work to peck away at my writing, but, again, it's rare that I am able to get my daily goal that way.

Today I didn't get home until just before midnight. Beat from a full day with my son and a nearly full work day at the job. I really wondered how I'd have it in me to finish what I need to. Then my wife showed me something my son had wanted me to have. It's a business card-sized piece of paper. My son dictated a note to me for my wife to transcribe. He then ordered her to place it under my pillow for me to find.

In case you can't read the writing in the photo, it says:

"Daddy,

This is a

surprise for

Halloween.

Good morning!

Good night.

I love my

Daddy.

Oscar"

After seeing that, I felt like I could stay up as long as I needed to to make this happen.

And here's the daily word count:

Words for the day: 1,127

Words for the month: 5,660

If I am able to reach 7,000 words tomorrow (a not-unreasonable goal) then I'll be taking Sunday off from new writing to work on the revisions for a short story.

More inspiration coming soon

2010-11-05T01:36:00.000-07:00

I read today on his blog that Warren Ellis is working on, as he calls it, "a short booklet about writing comics." This is exciting news. When Ellis writes about comics, I pay attention. I may not love every comic he does, but they are all worth looking at and dissecting. He seems to be one of the few people working in the field who really thinks about the medium. I think most people, myself included, operate from a sort of gut-level, but Ellis is a formalist. That's my take on it anyway.

The last book of his about comics that I read was 2001's Come In Alone which collected the columns he wrote for Comic Book Resources. I've read it several times and have been thinking recently that it's time to read it again. A new book on the subject from the same author makes me happy. Maybe I'll finally be able to figure out how these comics things work. Though that is asking a lot.

And, before I forget, here are today's numbers.

Words for the day: 1,249

Words for the month: 4,533

Also, I should note that I love writing scary, prophetic dream sequences. That is all.

More porn for print nerds

2010-11-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

Also, the day's numbers

One of the cooler products I've discovered in a while is Field Notes Brand notebooks. For the last year or so I never go anywhere without one -- they've supplant Moleskine notebooks as a common book for me. I collect all sorts of random things in them, from phone numbers to passwords to comics pages layouts. They are well-designed and sturdily-made. I have always been attracted to items like this. Throw in that they are made in the USA, and I feel like they are doing me a favor every time I send the company money.

In addition to the chip-board covers of the everyday notebooks, they also do limited runs of different colors and designs once a quarter. The last limited edition color they did was a black cover with debossed type. It's a really snazzy number.

The video below sows how the notebooks were made and it features the pressmen who operate the machinery with which they were made. It's beautifully shot and the care and devotion of the craftsmen involved really comes through. Watching stuff like this makes me wish I'd stayed in printing.

Wings: Making the Field Notes 2010 Fall Edition from Coudal Partners on Vimeo.

Also, here are my writing numbers for today:

Words for the day: 1,206

Words for the month: 3,284

Writing update: Nov 2 edition

2010-11-02T23:23:00.000-07:00

I had a hard time concentrating on my writing this evening. Every five minutes I was checking the election results and diving deeper and deeper into a funk. So it impeded my writing a bit. But now the results are mostly in. One last kick in the stomach would be if Oregon handed the governorship over to a guy who's only qualifications seem to be he was once able to throw a ball through a hoop. I should stop this now.

Here are the numbers.

Words for the day: 1,066

Words for the month: 2,078

That first number resonates. 1066 was the year of the Norman invasion of England, and the battle of Hastings (which is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry). 2078, of course, is the year that the robot army will rise and finally crush its human oppressors. But the robots will vote a straight Democratic ticket, so that'll be okay.

Statement of intention

2010-11-01T23:55:00.000-07:00

October felt like a lost month somehow. I rewrote a couple of stories and did manage to write some new material on my novel, but I was nowhere near as productive as I should have been (nowhere near as productive as I'd been in August and September). So, I figured I'd use this space to publicly state my goal for the month.

I plan to write a thousand words a day this month. Every day. That's 30,000 words for the month. There. Plan on a lot of little entries on the blog this month updating my progress. I think I'll have time for little else. I still have reading to do for my MFA, and reading responses. And we just got our list of seminars for the next residency in January and those all have reading to be done for them as well. November and December will be very busy months for me.

So, to start the month off right, here's my daily update.

Words for the day: 1,012

Words for the month: 1,012

Wish me luck.

All Hallow's Read

2010-10-29T13:46:00.000-07:00

Writer Neil Gaiman is trying to start a new tradition that I really want to get behind: All Hallow's Read. The idea is a simple one, on Halloween, or during the week of Halloween, give someone a scary book. That's it. Any chance to give and receive books is okay by me. Here's a link to the All Hallow's Read FAQ.

This reminds me of some conversations I've had with my Gear School partner, Nuria Peris. Apparently in Barcelona, their version of Valentine's day, The Day of Saint George, is observed by men giving women flowers and women giving men books. As soon as I heard that, I started looking into how to move to Spain.

For a number of reasons, I'd love to see this tradition catch on. Chief among them is my love of books. And I have a vested interest in passing that love onto others. For instance, my son, and other future readers.

Okay, who has some good scary book recommendations?

Workshop

2010-10-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today I sent off my second packet of stories that will be workshopped at the Stonecoast residency in January. Stonecoast being the MFA in creative writing program I am attending. I am completing? Which has taken over my life? One of those is the correct usage, I'm not sure which.

This time around, I submitted a short prose story and a script for a short film. Both of them feature the same protagonist. That means something, but what exactly scares me. I'm three-quarters of the way through the novel I'm writing (give or take) and some part of my brain keeps telling me that this character will be the main character of the next one that I write. I keep telling my brain to shut up and let me finish the book in front of me, but it doesn't listen.

Anyway, I'm surprised by how much more confident I feel about my writing after just a few months in the program. Whether or not that confidence is earned I can't say. But I know that six months ago when I submitted my first ;packet for workshop, I was a nervous wreck. I convinced myself that I was deluded if I thought my pieces, the first two chapters from my novel, were up to snuff. I don't have any of those fears now. Not that I'm convinced I'm the second coming of Ernest Hemingway or anything. I just think I've written solid stories that will become better once they've been workshopped. Feeling confident about my writing is a new feeling for me. It's one I could get used to.

Another reason for me to be excited this residency is that I get to workshop with two amazing writers, Mike Kimball and James Patrick Kelly. Mike is my advisor/mentor this semester so I know that his comments will be thorough (I restrained myself from typing "brutal") and helpful in the extreme. I've never worked with or met James, but I've read some of his short fiction, which I liked, and I know he teaches at Clarion, so I'm expecting great things.

Reading over this, I realize I should probably write more about both the MFA program and about the novel. I won't do that tonight, but I will soon. Can you stand the suspense?

What sort of day was it?

2010-10-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

It was the sort of day where only one thing will make me feel better: looking at photos of female cosplayers!*

You are welcome.

If memory serves, the contents of this site are safe for work.

For your edification

2010-10-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

I found two very cool things on Warren Ellis's blog today. If you are at all interested in media, whether it be print, television, film or comics (which, yes, I know are printed), then you should be checking in on this blog. Ellis has an interesting take on things and the items he chooses to post are always thought-provoking. Cases in point:

Here is part one of an essay on the occult written by comics writer Alan Moore. Mr Moore, in addition to being one of the finest writers to have ever worked in comics, is a practicing magician. His insights into the subject are required reading for anyone with an interest in magic.

And here is a thread from Ellis's message board, White Chapel. I'd suggest you read the thing in it's entirety, but for those in a hurry, here's a summary: comics artist Steve Lieber found out that the entire run of one of his miniseries had been scanned and put up on 4chan's comics channel. Rather than demand that it be taken down, Lieber went on 4chan and talked with interacted with them, answered their questions and generally played nicer than I think I would have. The upshot? A big surge in sales of his books through his Etsy page. This is very interesting to me because of my new interest in publishing to the web.

Gear School + FaceBook

2010-10-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

The folks at Bamf! have created a presence for the Gear School short film on FaceBook. It's in Spanish, but for those of you who went to public school and can only read one language (like me!) there is some non-language-specific content up there including a peek behind the scenes at the making of the film and some production photos. It's all pretty neat. If you're on the FaceBook, which I hear is popular with the kids, then you should "like" it.

That is all.

Inspiring...

2010-10-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

Inspiration is strange and, to me at least, unfathomable.

I had the morning to write and I wanted to work on a piece for my next MFA residency. I knew that I wanted to write a short about a character I've been thinking about a lot lately (I almost wrote "a character that's been plaguing me lately" since that's what it feels like. I just can't get the guy out of my head). But knowing that, I had no idea what I wanted the story to be about. This seems to happen to me all the time and it's a major source of frustration.

One of the main influences for this character is Lawrence Block's "Scudder" books, which feature his private detective, Matthew Scudder. I decided to read a few Scudder short stories for inspiration. After I got to spent half an hour with a character I really like, I sat down and tried to map out a story for my own character.

About twenty minutes of staring at my fellow coffee shop patrons ensued before I actually got to writing. Starting with a blank page, I wrote down the first image in my head and just kept going. In bullet list style, I wrote out the broad action of the thing and some minor scraps of dialog. Then I moved on to flesh it out with an outline. (Yes, I outlined a short story. Why are you looking at me like that?)

When I was done, I had something that didn't look at all like a Scudder story, but I know, somehow, that the story I'd produced came about because I'd been thinking about Block's character and because I'd read those short stories before I began. I wish that my own creative process was a bit more transparent to me. I feel like my brain is a delicate engine, for which I never received an owner's manual. And I have to do everything I can to keep the damn thing working. I never know what will get the engine started, and I never know what will make it go completely haywire. It's very frustrating, my brain.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to now writing this story. And having it savaged in workshop...

The image, by the way, comes from Doug Savage's collection of sticky note cartoons.

Salem drama

2010-10-14T15:35:00.001-07:00

Cast of Characters:

Oscar

Lady (who will later become Crazy Lady)

Scene: The streets of downtown Salem

O and I walk down the street. I see an unassuming Lady standing on the corner. My assessment of her as unassuming is shaken when she starts to yell at someone across the street. O and I continue on our way with me keeping an eye on the Crazy Lady. She sees me looking at her and she turns to face us.

Crazy Lady (at the top of her lungs): And he has a child to protect him! As long as he has a child to shield him, he can do anything he wants and not take any responsibility, RIGHT?

O (cheerful): No-oh!

Crazy Lady looks confused and goes on her way.

And scene.

Fameish

2010-10-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

The Moth Radio Hour, which features people telling true stories in front of an audience without any notes, has a podcast component. I ran across this story by Steve Burns. Burns used to be the host of Blue's Clues. For reasons I don't want to go into right now (I was a sad loser...) I used to watch this show a lot despite the fact that I was not eight-years-old at the time that it aired. Anyway, here Burns tells a story about parlaying his small bit of fame into dating a Playboy model/stripper. It's funny and poignant, like a lot of the best stories featured on the Moth.

Here's a link to where you can listen to the story.

My Playlist for the Melissa

2010-10-11T18:44:00.001-07:00

Done just because.

We Used to Wait by Arcade Fire

Sometimes pop songs, despite their ephemeral nature, can really speak to me. This song, a love letter to writing letters to your love, grabbed both me and Melissa the first time we listened to it. Maybe it's just our generation's tendency to navel gaze, but lines like:

"So I never wrote a letter

I never took my true heart I never wrote it down

So when the lights cut out

I was left standing in the wilderness downtown"

and:

"It seems strange to think

How we used to wait for letters to arrive

But what's stranger still

Is how something so small can keep you alive"

seem designed to invoke emotions in us that we forgot existed. Especially since we both used to be big time letter-writers.

Dance Me to the End of Love by Leonard Cohen

The first song that Melissa and I danced to at our wedding. A love song from Mr Cohen that is without irony or cynicism seems pretty specially.

Move the Earth by Dr Theopolis

Melissa knows why.

I'm standing exactly like that right now

2010-10-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

This is the single greatest comics panel I have ever encountered.

That is all.

Gear School news

2010-10-09T18:42:00.001-07:00

I have just been informed that the short film based on my comic, Gear School, has been chosen to be screened at the Sitges International Film Festival. Wikipedia tells me that Sitges is "considered the world's foremost international film festival specializing in fantasy and horror movies". Sounds good. And it looks like the festival is underway even as I type this. Congratulations to everyone at Bamf! Productions who produced the film. I hope to hear a full report on the doings over there in Spain.

And you can go here to see the trailer for the short film.

Untergangsstimmung (UPDATED)

2010-10-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

Found on Heidi MacDonald's twitter feed.

Bad news for those looking to be published in the world of comics. I'm looking online, trying to find the white paper referenced in this tweet. No luck so far. So I'm not sure if the report references single-issue comics and trade paperbacks, or just single-issues. Either way it's bad.

Let's look at the best-case scenarios, that the report is only talking about single-issues: I know thyat publishers use those floppies as loss-leaders for the trade paperback collections into which they will eventually be collected. If those monthly comics are no longer absorbing the cost of production and creative expenses, then it's going to be harder and harder to justify the cost of projects in the first place. Does that make sense?

I think this bolsters my argument that the way to go with regards to distributing comics is online. Put your comics up on the web, do it consistently, build a readership and show publishers that you have a built-in audience for a printed book. Or self-publish. Or create an electronic reader-friendly version of your material. (In that same series of tweets, Heidi MacDonald says that digital comics will make an estimated 6-8 million dollars this year.)

And all of this pertains to traditional comics publishing, ie, Marvel, DC and Dark Horse, etc. I have no clue how mainstream publishers handle things.

I still want to find that white paper. If anyone out there has an idea where it is, please let me know.

UPDATE: ICv2 gives us the lowdown on this (link via Publisher's Weekly). Apparently it sales of trade paperbacks (or, as they call them, graphic novels) that are down 20%. Sales of single-issue comics are up slightly. This is really bad news. For publishers. Trades are where publishers make their money and if they can't sell those... well, in the biz, we call that "shitty."

However, the article does note that digital sales will increase, etc. So, claim those domain names, kids, and learn how to push those pixels. Things are changing. Are you going to keep up?