Fun Day, Monday

Ok, so when is Monday ever fun, right? I'm trying to psyche myself into believing it is, though, so I'll run with it.

The weekend was enjoyable, though I do sincerely regret eating pizza leftovers Saturday. Once in a blue moon it's ok. Two days in a row, not so much. So I won't be trying that again anytime soon.

Thanks to everyone who's been visiting this blog this week. My numbers went up about 40% this week, so I appreciate all of you out there.

This weekend I put to bed the full issues of Mayden #1 and Twilight #1 lettering-wise. Actually, there are two more pages of Mayden, but I'm waiting on script revisions for those.

I've got a decent plate of stuff for this week, but with room to add more if anyone out there is looking to hire a letterer, editor or writer. :)

I'm starting a new script this week as well tentatively called Dowry: The Beginning. It's a horror story and I'll be working with Ellium artist Jason Moser on it. So I'm excited about that one. More details on it in the weeks to come. This is actually the first time I've ever even put it out there to my recollection. So you're hearing it here first.

I'm also doing a bit of PR work for Digital Webbing this week, and some stuff for Haven Distributors, along with some lettering, editing and logo work of course.

I also snagged an occasional typing gig for some extra income, but nothing on the plate as far as that goes presently.

I'm still waiting to hear back from a few people about potential jobs. And I've got some lettering work in the pipeline in the coming months.

Now for some sad news. Wannabez no longer has a publisher, at least for the moment. Unfortunately, we had to part ways with Nifty Comics, our now former publisher. I won't go into the details, but I will say that Mat Nastos was very kind in our parting and offered any help we may need down the road.

As an aside, I will still be editing Nifty Comics books as far as I'm aware. I have edited a few issues of Cadre already and will be editing a Cadre/Dyna Girl crossover this week.

Back to Wannabez, we are actively looking for a publisher again, so ANYONE out there who is interested in the property, please don't hesitate to contact me. My contact info can be found via the "contact" link in the header of this blog.

Over the next couple of days I'll be re-lettering Wannabez #1 as I'm not happy with the lettering as is seeing that I lettered it so long ago and can painfully see the flaws in it. I might also be doing some on the fly revisions of the script while I'm at it. But we'll have a full package to look at of at least 5-10 pages of issue 1 sometime this week. We have a few publishers we haven't tried yet, and one or two we may try again, but we are open to any and all interest at this point.

If you're not familiar with the project, be sure to hit the Wannabez Blog or MySpace page for details!

I still have a couple of things in the works as well. One of which is going smoothly and progressing quite nicely if I do say so myself. I am very excited about the venture and see mad potential in it. I still can't talk about it yet, but keep watching!

And while I'm here, I'd like to give a shout out to a few people who have been really supportive over the past several weeks just because. In random order:

Cary Kelley - Bro, thanks for your support and friendship.
Jason Berek-Lewis - My brother from another mother, I appreciate you, mate.
Chuck Kennedy - Dude, you rock! Thanks for being there, man.
Ray Hickson - Thanks for the emails and constant encouragement, bro.
Jenny Goguen - Your support, help and friendship are greatly appreciated. Words aren't enough.
Chuck Moore - Your site rocks, and so do you, man. Thanks for being supportive of me, indy comics, and much more.
Scott D.M. Simmons - You're my boy, Scott, and I appreciate everything you've contributed both creatively and personally over the past couple of years.
Lance Stahlberg - Though our relationship is just business, you have been understanding and supportive more than most employers would ever be. I appreciate that, man.

I'm sure I left a few out, and I apologize. These are just the people off the top of my head that I have been in the most contact with over the past couple of weeks.

Now, with all that mushy stuff out of the way, there's not much else to say right now except for you to try and go enjoy your Monday!

B-Out

Closing Out the Week

For those of you that care to know, things are SLOWLY being worked out in that certain situation. Hopefully things will begin to progress faster soon. I wait with bated breath...

In the wide world of lettering, today I finished up most of Karma Game #1 for FE Comics. I say most because there are a few pages not colored yet, one I'm waiting on direction for, and two I forgot I had. So technically about 2/3 of the issue is done.

I'll be finalizing the Epsilon Realm Raven one-shot today as well and I may get to Lightning Squirrel.

I've also got some editing to finally get to today if it kills me. Things have been pretty hectic on the homefront, so I haven't spent as much time on the computer this week as I normally do.

On another note, I reconnected with an old friend and co-worker from my Lexmark days some 6 years ago thanks to the wonder that is MySpace. Turns out she's a model now who just signed with an agency out of New York. So things are going pretty well for her these days, and that was good to hear. She's a smart, cool lady and I'm happy for her.

I guess that'll do it on this fine (and unfortunately very rainy) Friday.

B-Out

Waffles, License, Friends and Lettering

This morning I made homemade waffles for the fam. They were very appreciative. I overcooked the bacon (I don't eat it, and therefore don't normally cook it) but they still enjoyed it. It was the first time in a long time we all ate together.

Why waffles? Simply put, I wanted to cook something, and that's about all we had. lol I could have even gone the Eggo route, but I felt like making something special. I even heated up the syrup and put it in one of those silver containers they use at the restaurants. Good times. If only I had some hashbrowns to go with it all would have been good!

I turned down a lettering job this morning. The guy wanted me to send a photocopy of my driver's license, and with identity theft at the rate it is and so forth I just didn't feel comfortable with that. I know it's normal practice with 9-5 jobs, but on a freelance/work-for-hire gig for a self-publisher? I don't think so. I asked around to make sure I wasn't being stubborn about it and everyone I got feedback from felt the same way I did.

Scott (Wannabez) is MIA. Ok, so technically it's only been about 4 or 5 days since I heard from him, but I've sent him several emails (I need to get the man's phone number!) that were mostly rather important. I'm actually kind of concerned. I know he's been busy, and he does have the (good) habit of staying off the PC when he's got a lot of work to do. So maybe that's all it is.

I also haven't heard much out of Chuck or Jason lately. I got a mass email from Chuck yesterday, which was for a good cause. But nothing from Jason. I sent him an email the other day too. He may still be taking it easy though, I'm not sure. I know everyone's busy, and the four of us (Cary, Chuck, Jason and myself) don't get together and chat nearly as much as we used to.

Ray Hickson, thanks for keeping up with the blog, man. I see you've posted another comment a couple of posts back. Thanks for the support.

I hope more than just you four read this thing! Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself!

In the wide world of lettering it looks like I'll have a full day to work on things. SBC's site is down again, which means I can't do my work, which is really frustrating instead of being relaxing as it should be. When I don't do it right away, though, it just tends to build up, and then I end up with a huge workload. Them's the breaks though.

Anyway, I worked up a rough logo this morning for someone, and I'm about to get cracking on the last couple of pages of the Raven One-Shot. Then I've got some more corrections on Fracture and finishing up AOH #2-3, which should keep me steadily busy throughout the remainder of the week.

This weekend providing other work doesn't come in I'll do some work on Lightning Squirrel #3. I've only got 7 inked pages, so I'm not really too behind on that. Plus it's kind of on the back burner for now while a publisher is sought.

More news in the days and weeks to come I hope, so stay tuned!

I guess that's it for now. I have no clever quip to end the post, so I'll just bid you farewell until next time.

B-Out

Yesterday

August 14th. That is a date I will always remember whether I want to or not. I know two people whose birthdays occupy that date, and both were, once upon a time, very close and important people in my life.

The first is my first girlfriend, Jamie. We were together for 10 months when I was 16-17, she was 15-16. Yesterday she turned 30. I think it's been about 8 years since I saw her last give or take a year. We had known each other in our youth briefly (she went to my church for a bit) and then I didn't see her for a few years. When she came back it wasn't but about a month or two later we were boyfriend and girlfriend. Even though life has taken us in completely different routes I still can't forget her birthday. I'm good with dates like that I guess. Anyway, if you're out there and happen to come across this, I hope life is treating you well.

The second is a relative of hers, David Lovin, who was like my little brother for a number of years, far after Jamie and I had broken up (which was on Easter, believe it or not). I miss David a lot, and I think it's been about 5 or 6 years since I saw him last. Man, time flies. I used to stay with his family a lot. We were as different as night and day in some respects, but we had this kindred something that connected us. Then some stuff happened, his family moved away, though not that far away, and we just lost touch. I tried to reconnect a couple of times, but there was just too much... stuff in the way.If you come across this, bro, I hope you are doing well also.

I actually know quite a few people who have birthdays this month. My cousin just turned 15 Saturday, and two of my former pastor's kids have birthdays this week and next. And another friend's b-day is also next week. So happy b-days all around, guy and gals. I hope life is treating you all well, and I hope you have wonderful birthdays this year.

B-Out

Keeping Up...

I read a friend's blog the other day about not realizing how long goes between posts when you're busy and it made me feel bad. Here I claim I update this daily (then semi-daily) and then I go for days, almost a week between posts anymore. I get the emails from my sitemeter indicating that views have drastically dropped and it makes me feel even worse. Not because I care about view counts, but because it means people are losing interest or I'm just not providing content to read.

That said, I'm going to try to do better. It's hard when you get so busy and when you get downtime the last place you want to be is the place you work, which for me is the computer. But I started this blog to connect with people, to share things - such as my projects, my thoughts, etc. - and to give updates on my work. Lately all of those have been few and far between. And I know all of you out there understand, and I appreciate that, but I still want to try to post more. So here I am.


Another friend mentioned to me recently how surprised he was at how open I am in this blog, and it's funny because in person I'm not that open. I'm a pretty guarded person actually. I'm not shy and I love meeting new people and talking and hanging out as much of the next guy. But I'm also a loner of sorts, as contradictory as that may sound. I'll put it like this. When I go home or somewhere alone that's exactly what I want to be, alone. I stay up late at night because of the solitude.

I also don't let a lot of people in. I've been hurt by a lot of people in my life that were supposedly close to me, and I guess it built up a wall. I'm not too trusting and it takes a lot to earn my trust. And except for those I'm close to I really don't talk about myself a whole lot when you meet me. If someone asks a question I'm honest because that's all I know how to be. If it's something personal I'll try to tactfully avoid the question. But I'm still a fun-loving, easy to get along with type of guy. It's just hard to get inside and become one of my very, very few close friends. It takes a long time to build that kind of relationship with me.

Which is why it's weird to hear that I'm so open. I'll be the first to admit, though, that in the written word I'm far more verbose than in the spoken word. I'm also a lot more articulate when I write. When I talk I'm just myself, and I don't use a lot of big words as it's usually off-putting to most. Maybe it's because I'm a writer, I don't know.

In any case, I guess this blog allows me an outlet that I don't really have elsewhere. I don't really have a lot of close friends that I can talk to, and you can only talk to your parents about so much. My brother's half my age, so he doesn't get where I'm at understandably. So this is my outlet, my venting if you will. On top of that it gives people a rare opportunity to get to know me better than they would if they met me in person first.

And that's the beauty of the internet. I've developed bonds with guys in different states or continents without ever meeting them in person. I feel open enough with some of them to talk about things I don't post here or talk to most people about. Without the internet these kinds of connections wouldn't be possible, so I guess technology is good for something. I never have had a lot in common with people around me and have never felt like I fit in. Now that I'm older I view that as a good thing in a way, but when I was young it was hard. But thanks to this blog and forums and so forth I can converse with tons of people who share the same interests as me and it's quite a refreshing experience, let me tell ya.

So I'm glad I started this blog a year and a half a go or so.


I have to give a quick shout out to Matt Yocum who gave me some props on his blog. I was supposed to do some lettering for him, but scheduling and computer problems prohibited it. Luckily he got someone else who did a great job. So go check out Devolution, which is a cool story too, and Matt's Devolution column!


Elsewhere in the wide world of comics, I've posted a piece on Marvel's The Initiative at SBC, which lists all the related titles in the story line that have been revealed so far through July. I'm sure there will be more to add after Marvel's solicitations go online Tuesday.

We've also gotten a whole bunch of new writers for the site who have been turning in a lot of reviews thankfully. So come check those out. We've got some great writers on board.


As for my work, I did wrap all the finishing touches on Nocturnal Essence #1 thankfully, and began working on some other stuff for someone else, though I've neglected to update the writer, so hopefully he'll read this.


Small Press Idol round 2 is underway and Scott is nearing completion on our materials for the round. He showed me I think three of our five characters inked the other day, so hopefully this week he'll get a chance to color those bad boys. I did a second draft of the bios, but we're still kicking them back and forth.


I have sadly not done any other writing in a long time. It sucks because I'm so busy I don't have time to do the one thing I want to excel at more than the other aspects of comics. But hey, ya gotta pay the bills, right?


Ending on a personal note, man I had a restful weekend for a change... sort of. Friday I wasn't feeling well (my stomach, again) and took some medication, which typically knocks me out for a couple of hours. Well, I guess being ill mixed with the medication and my near state of exhaustion just kind of teamed up on me because I wound up sleeping for over 12 hours straight! And then I was still tired, but I forced myself to stay awake and work some. Then I crashed for another 8 Saturday! Today I also slept in late and then kind of chilled and watched TV for several hours, something I rarely do. Usually I'll tape most of my stuff and watch it in spurts. But hey, it was a nice change of pace. I may not have gotten out of the house, but at least it gave me some time away from the computer, which was very welcome, and I love the computer. I'm just in front of it way too much.

I guess that's about it. It's after 5am now and I've got a busy day ahead of me, so I'm gonna chill for a bit before tackling it.

B-Out