I want to work on it for hours but every time I sit down my eyes get all squinky, it is no fun. I am tired, but my mind won’t slow down. Sleep will not be fun tonight.
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I am looking into ways in which my writing can take a prominent role in my life in the coming year of our lord, 2009. Things are looking good and hopefully I can dedicate many happy hours at the laptop, not that I already don’t, but this way the day job might not impact and conflict as much as it currently does.

In all, life is good. Very good.

When something is kicking well inside me I just have to sit down and write it. It has to come out of me. It’s a feeling I get and it cannot and will not be ignored. Lately, I have been writing so much that to do anything else of a night just seems strange. My nights are meant to be spent on the laptop drawing out words. I could not, and would not, have it any other way.

But, at the moment I am not sure exactly where my words are taking me. I pretty much have the Ego proposal finished. Just need to get it nicely printed so I can start sending it off. I just dropped a short story into the printer to get a few copies to give away as presents, so that’s finally done. I am finalising sketches about Fate and so fucking eagerly awaiting the final pages from Justin Greenwood. Yeah, he’s awesome, couldn’t name drop him enough.

It feels like a few things are coming to a close and I really need some new stiff to come forward, but cannot seem to decide what. Well, that’s a lie, I can but damn it is hard work.

I have a novel idea in me. It’s a romance story, or more accurately, it’s a deconstruction of romance after the fact. I have so many chapters planned out for it, but over the past few years I start it and it never seems right. I never like what I have written. It doesn’t have the right feel for me. But I don’t seem to know what the right feel exactly is, or how to get it. I think I might have to start on the twlefth chapter and just work from there, it just seems to be that start that I cannot put my finger on.

It’s not that I don’t have ideas, or work that needs to be done. I am rocking Vista right here and I love the notepad on the side. I keep all my writing priorities there, and right now there are 15 different jobs looking back at me. Plannig, proofing, scripting and writing. This list doesn’t even include my romance idea.

I think tonight I will have another stab at some romance. I’ll look back at Bobsy because I’ve been far too long prepping other gigs that I have ignored the poor little fella. Then I won’t feel like I’ve wasted my night.
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In other news, I found out that End Of Fashion are coming to a pub near me, and soon, so I have to get my tickets sorted soon, man they were good last time.
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I got my pull list in the mail this week. Iron Man was very good, Batman is a little weird but I have to know what happens. Criminal was pretty awesome, I’d almost say one of the best issues of it yet, and definitely my favourite first half so far. Just The Boys and Thor: Reign Of Blood to go, I dare say I’ll trash them later tonight.
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I’m having a clean house, a lot of shit needs to be thrown out. A lot of shit.

I started this rant because I love the word adaptation. It’s a cool word. And I thought of that because I just adapted a short story of mine into a comic script. The short was only a few hundred words and I put it into an eight page script. It was interesting to see the changes that I had to make. Choosing which lines would make the cut and how I wanted to visually represent certain scenes. It took me about forty five minutes to write the short story and a few days to then script it. I like the finished product and would love to see it in some sort of anthology. One day.
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I have received the thumbnail plans for a five page scene that my artist for Fate, the unbelievably talented and nice Justin Greenwood, is going to draw. His character sketches are so unbelievably awesome. He really sees the characters as I do, and in some places adds a new dimension to them that makes them jump off the page. I really like his work, and the sketches remind me of Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, which is a big thing to say, but I stand by it. This guy is great. The next bigh talent and if I can hitch my wagon to his train I will be a very very happy writer.
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I finished reading J.G. Ballard’s Crash. I barely know what to say. If I have to read the word semen one more time I think I’m going to scream. I knew it was a book about auto-erotica and one man’s obsession with merged sex and machine, so I can’t say I didn’t know what I was getting into, but damn, it was so highly sexual in every page and thought. It was really weird. Each chapter was just another detailing of a weird coupling with a hooker in a car, or thinking about hookers in cars, or other such perverted material. The culmination of where bthe lead character was heading kind of took me by surprise and it’s been a while since a book has made me feel dirty. I’m not saying it was a bad book I’m just saying that I am glad that I’ve read it, but I’m also glad that I will probably never read it again.

I’m not reading some Conan short stories. I’ve only just started but I like the language of it.
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I spent a good deal of the last week making notes on this romance novel idea that I have. I think I made some ground on it, and hopefully will be able to finalise my rough outline and actually start writing some of it soon.

It’s late and I have to work tomorrow but I really want to stay up and write. I hate having to choose one job over the other. But sleep is a commodity that I always need a lot of to operate at a functional level with a classroom of twenty nine kids. Sigh

A whole week down the drown. I hate not getting to do work. Having just one night off makes me feel lazy. Like that’s one more day it’ll take to get to my dream. To get to the stage where I can write professionally without any other concerns. So to take a day off sucks, to take a week of is going to kill me. I’ll be thinking about it constantly, thinking each night as I yell at the kids who just won’t sit down and eat their gruel about what better things I could be doing. Hopping from one sight to the next imagining how much nicer it would be at my laptop with a hot cup of tea and some words in front of me.

I’m currently trying to adapt a short story of mine into a comic script. It’s the short I wrote a few days/weeks ago. I figure it could make a nice little eight page story for an anthology, and I am starting to get some other ideas for the main character, really flesh out the guy and his universe. Could actually be cool to write a few more shorts for him. But, I have to take a week away from it. Man, this is where my day job really gets in the way.

I work all day, and then come home to work all night. One might think that a break would be nice, but I like coming home to work. To not do it is breaking routine and I’m not a huge fan of that. Especially not for a six hour bus trip with at least two kids who will vomit and I am designated to deal with it, stupid uni training making me impervious to vomit.

Sitting in a room trying to work can be the last thing your brain actually wants. So it will do its best to get out. Distractions were everywhere. The common room down the hall, I could watch Felicity with my best mate. The other 34 people on my floor, I could go into their room and see what’s up, maybe even help them procrastinate too. The other 300+ people in my college, I can waste five minutes walking to someone’s room, to chat for five minutes, and then walk slowly back, maybe even bumping into another person along the way, and then not really have to get anything done at all. I could look out my window and the lovely view of the carpark. It was always interesting to see the random pairings of people travelling together, you could learn a lot about a person’s social groups by the cars the frequented.

Or you could just drink.

I can remember having a 2000word assignment due one day, so the night before I start it. I’m working for five minutes and rocking out the distractions for a solid twenty minutes at a time. Nothing is getting done, it’s nearing midnight. There are three other people still kicking about, two of which have their own assignments to do. We decide to do a floor crawl, which means visiting every floor’s fridge in college (10 in total) and seeing what sort of alcohol we can fleece. We return with about five litres of goon. We finally have motivation.

Get our assignments done so that we can get shitfaced, it’s almost too easy. We decide to work for fifteen minutes increments and then break for fives. We can do it. About three hours later I finish my assignment. I proof it, real quick, go downstairs to print it off and staple it to a cover sheet ready for handing in. I sit and wait patiently, not long after another compadre finishes his paper. The last domino falls in timely succession and it’s goon o’clock.

I’m drinking pint mugs of goon and loving it. There’s music playing and the next thing I know I’m at breakfast having an extremely loud conversation. I’ll never remember what it was I talked about, but I will always know that it was highly inappropriate, the looks of other dining hall patrons told me enough about that. I then realised I still had to actually hand my paper in. A quick stumble to a sober friend’s breakfast table and I begged her to take it up and hand it in for me. The trooper that she was she agreed to do it.

The next thing I know it’s 8:47am and I’m falling asleep on a common room couch watching Sunrise. I wake up just in time to catch lunch, but not before I delouse myself of the blue cowboy hat on my head, fake spider on my chest and Kermit doll performing dirty dirty acts upon me. Apparently others procrastinated by dressing my comatose form. Bastards.

The point: I don’t know, but that was some of the best procrastination I ever did that Goon Morning, and I guess by writing about it I am procrastinating right now.

I think I have finished my Ego proposal. I have a one page summary of the series, so far. I have the four main character sketches, with description. I have the cover design and description about that and I have the six sample pages all put in. I think I just have to print it off now. Scary to think it’s that time already.

I would procrastinate more but I just don’t have enough goon in the house anymore…

Justin Greenwood

I think his shit is just dynamite. Cannot wait to get some character sketches back from him. I’m really excited to see these fellas hit the page. His other stuff is so good I want to see it married to my work. He is definitely a name to keep an eye on, I predict huge things, just hopefully with me snaking along for the ride, ha.

He sent me an email with some solid notes on the four issues, so will have to find time to touch them up and make some quality changes.
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The short story that I wrote the other night might be getting a rewrite, as a comic script. It might also be pushed for an anthology for a little comic book company that I know. See how I go with that…
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My brother’s short film, The Pessimist, is being filmed later this week. Man, that is fucking cool. I wish I could bust in on the set. It might take them a while in post but I cannot wait to see this bad boy.
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I ran 14 kilometres yesterday, along with 70grand worth of other assholes. It was a nice day and I made it in 70mins, so for those counting along at home, that’s a solid 5min per click effort. I’m happy with that. I’ve done it quicker before, but with my foot playing up recently until I treated it to some new expensive shoes I figured that a five minute pace would be a cracking achievement. I felt good at the end, and still feel good today.

And that is the state of the ‘brown for today. Good night, and giddy up.

I know in the past if I am at a friend’s house and I’m waiting I’ll cruise the book racks. See what they’ve got. A bookcase can be a real indication of what someone is like. If it’s a longer wait then I’ll get something down and start thumbing through it. If there’s short stories then I look to the contents and find the shortest one. Then I read it. I’m on a time budget and I need to get things done. The one that comes to mind is Dean Koontz’s ‘Kittens‘, in his Strange Highways collection. It’s a story that’s about 7 pages, or something, and it’s always stuck with me. It’s so short, simple and bloody effective. I really dig that story.

Tonight I wrote a short story, just over a grand and a half of words. Pretty short really. But sometimes those ones are the best. Sure, it’s a glorified vignette, but what’s wrong with that? You can get character, you can get scene and you can get some action. What more do you need in a quickie?

More writers need to bring back the quickie. In fact, the short story is a dying art, unless you’re already a published superstar. There’s not really many places that I can find to publish one short story, and good luck getting a collection off the ground if you have nothing else under your belt. I have over a dozen completed shorts, but I have no idea what to do with them. Hopefully, one day I can get a collection together, but the odds of that…I’ll just keep dreaming.
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I wrote most of my Ego proposal the other night, then rewrote most of it tonight. That worked a treat, the second passover was much, much better. Think it might not be that long till I am happy and can send off. Nice.
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I read the first two trades of Brubaker and Rucka’s Gotham Central series today. They’re pretty good. Not what you usually get from a comic, and I kinda dig that. The opening Mr Freeze story really grabbed me, not to mention Lark’s art being fantastic.
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I’m planning on running fourteen kilometres in five days for the city2surf event. I think I’ve trained enough. Guess we’ll have to wait and see…

Then Marvel step it up, they start pseudo-adapting The Dark Tower into comics. It becomes a top 10 best selling item, which I honestly did not think it would do.

Then, they decide to start adapting The Stand into comic form. I cannot wait for it to start, this September I believe, and I will be buying the floppies for sure.

Now, we have N.

King has a collection of short stories coming out in November. It’s called ‘Just After Sunset‘. One of the stories is called N. It seems that before the book is released they are releasing the story to us, his dear constant reader, in a different medium. Comic webisodes.

There will be 25 episodes of the story, one each weekday. They are comic movies, much like Marvel seem to like doing lately, they did it with the first issue of Astonishing X-Men too, which was kick ass. What is also kicking ass is the creative team behind these little flicks.

Alex Maleev on art, and Marc Guggenheim on words. Pretty fucking awesome!

I have watched the first four eps, but I was having problems with the Flash player on the site, so I watched the ones CBS has posted on YouTube.

Here is the main site, Nishere.com

Here is the first YouTube ep, you can click on the others yourself, I had to.

It’s a pretty neat story so far, I’m very interested to see where it goes.
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I’m still writing my proposal for Ego. Nuff said.
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I’m reading Crash, and it is still interesting but unlike a lot of other stuff I have read. Also reading the Iron Fist essentials over breakfast each day, I like ‘em.

I’m writing up my proposal for Ego, the ongoing series that I started scripting last October. I cannot believe it has been that long since I began on it. I cannot believe that nearly a year later I am still passionate about this series and really want to see it get picked up. I cannot believe that nearly a year later I am working on the last step before I start sending it to publishers, for their consideration.

At the beginning of the year, I think, I started liaising with an artist in California, Jim Kagel. I’m pretty sure I got onto him through digitalwebbing. We discussed the series; story, character, theme, look, etc. I wrote a sample script, six pages, that would showcase four of the main characters. It would have quiet scenes as well as some fighting and blood.

Jim nailed some pages together and I now have them in high resolution jpeg’s. I also have character sketches for the four mains, as well as a cover idea to sell the companies on (were I able to add pics to these entries I would post them up here). All I have to do now is write up the proposal.

I’ve read Kirkman’s proposal for Invincible. It’s pretty short and I get the feeling I might not have all of it. I’ve just read Vaughan’s proposal for Ex Machina that is in the back of the first deluxe hardcover. It is pretty good, and I like the structure of it. I’ve looked at this page from Dwayne McDuffie that shows a stack of his proposals, which is really nice to look at. Being my first proposal I’m wondering what exactly has to be in there. The more I can see that has been done before the better I will feel about treading into this dark unknown.

When I started writing comics I read a lot of scripts, especially over the wwInterweb, but also collected in editions of different comics. I loved that there was such a variety of ways to get the job done. Now I see that there are many ways to set a proposal out as well. I guess that explains why so many guys watch porn, they’re just trying to cover all bases and make sure they’re getting the job done.

I know I have to get the premise out very quickly. The shorter the overview, it would seem, the better, so long as it is still interesting. Grab the editor before his triple latte wears off. I’ve looked on Image’s submissions page and seen what they expect. They want one page to sum up the story. They want to know what’s going to happen. Now.

I have the first year of Ego scripted, and a fair few storylines that would probably take me through another two to three years. I really see a future for this book, but not once in my head have I expected to actually sell. If that happens, giddy up, but I am going in assuming that the odds are against me and I should be prepared for that. I still think it’s an awesome series, and has some real room to move and shake, but I can’t help but be realistic. A first submission rarely sells in this business. That’s not going to stop me trying my ass off to get it out there.

Once I have shopped Ego, and if there is no love, then I will move on. I will start pushing Once Upon A Time In Atlantis on publishers. I will continue to draft out my space story. I really want to get my Hail HYDRA! story worked into some form of submission.

I am talking with an artist about Fate, and my purloined idea. I am also looking into self-publishing another short story this year, just in time for xmas, ha. I’m trying to keep as many irons in the fire as possible.

It’s exciting to do, but also scary as fuck. Look for me to get a lot more self-doubting on here when I actually have to send the bastard off. Yikes.

I’m pretty pumped for it. I don’t think it will be a perfect movie, and I think the fanboy community will give it a drubbing for that, but I think it will be a very stand alone flick. The comic is obviously something special, to have struck more chords than Hendrix in his day it clearly is the shit. I’m not going into this flick expecting it to be the book. That would be impossible. But I am going into this flick expecting it to be pretty awesome.

Dr Manhattan looks pretty fucking awesome, and that’s one that I wondered how they would go with it. It’s in the face that I really buy it. Rorschach also looks suitably awesome, and sounds just as impressive. Cannot wait to see him slinking about the city. Comedian should be good, as with Night Owl. I didn’t even mind the song, Smashing Pumpkins if I’m not mistaken. I think all the actors will do their roles justice but there is one main reason for me to see this flick.

Zack fucking Snyder. The dude is a film genius. Dawn of the Dead, solid gold. 300, gold dust. Watchmen, surely some form of precious mineral deposit.

The direction on the trailer looked superb. The action is going to be smooth and crystal. The transition from the page should be pretty close to seamless.

I’m pumped for this movie, just not for the fanboy backlash that will surely rail against it.
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In other news, I’ve seen The Dark Knight twice and loved it both times. There’s not much that I could say was wrong with the movie. Script and direction were tight, acting was great and the flick kept me wanting more, even after it had crept well past two hours.

As much as people love Ledger in it, and I think he is fucking insanely awesome, you have to credit the Nolan brothers for creating a Joker who was quite simply perfect. They gave him all the right words, motivations and actions. The magic trick, the plan for aggressive expansion, the childhood stories. They just made him exactly the way you always wanted to see him. Brutal, shocking and fucked up crazy.
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I’m trying to do some proof reading tonight. My eyes are tired, my weekend was awesome, my work is going to be busy this week, but I have to get some done. At least one more issue.
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The last time I grew my beard my brother said it made me look more like a writer. I wonder why that is? Why are writer’s so lazy about shaving?

Writer’s beards that I dig. Off the top of my head. Are there more out there?
That nasty one Stephen King grows from time to time.
Matt Fraction’s full-ass beard.
Alan Moore’s bushman.