Tell the Truth Tuesday

I’ve been pretty busy this past week. Not so much with the Comic Booked articles, though I’ve been doing that, too, but generally trying to keep an income flowing in. Also, spending time with my beloved, who is celebrating a birthday this week. (Everyone say “Happy birthday, Loki!” in the comments below!) But with everything that’s been going on, I didn’t want you to think I’m only going to be linking to my Comic Booked articles on my blog. So, let’s take it by the numbers, shall we?

1) Working for Comic Booked is exactly what it is, work. I used to go to events and talk to comic book creators as a fan, now I’m doing it both as a fan and as a professional. I talk to people and pull together information for an article, then go home and write it all up in MS Word. Then I edit the piece, maybe even have someone look it over for me if I’m lucky and have the time. I log into WordPress and copy over everything I’ve written, adding in links and uploading images to flesh it out and appease the SEO requirements, along with tags, article title, description of article, etc. Then I submit the article for the editors to review for publication on the site. All in all, it’s pretty involved and not nearly as simple as writing up a little piece and sending it in.

2) Though it may be work, writing for Comic Booked is an excellent learning experience. I didn’t even know what SEO was until I started working for them. Getting trained in how to put together an article for them has helped my own writing significantly (specifically in terms of my own blog), and I’m sure there’s still more to learn.

3) I don’t work in a vacuum. There are other members of Team Comic Booked out here, like Nicole Sixx and Cousin Matt, and they’re good people. I’ve covered three events now with Nicole, and I’ll likely cover more with her as time passes. Cousin Matt, it should be noted, is the Comic Booked forums guru, and a fellow gamer!

4) As awesome as it is to write about comics and comic-related events for Comic Booked, they’re not paying my bills. No, I’m picking up every odd job I can to make ends meet, and I’ve been hired as a consultant for two people who own their own businesses this past month. I’ve also been working my organizational magic for a law office, and I’m hoping to get steady office work again soon. Gotta find a steady gig again so I can afford to write, right?

5) In other writing news, I haven’t forgotten about my trilogy or my anthology, it just got pushed back a bit in the wake of everything else happening in my life. More news on this soon, I promise!

6) Captain America was a much better movie than I thought it would be. Tommy Lee Jones is awesome in it, and Chris Evans really sells Cap as more than just an overgrown boy scout. Hugo Weaving did an excellent Red Skull, even if the role was pretty two-dimensional. Very much looking forward to The Avengers, and if you haven’t seen Cap yet, stay for the awesome after-credits sequence!

7) I’m seeing Cowboys vs. Aliens today, which I’m totally hyped about. C’mon, you have James Bond and Indiana Jones in a western version of the alien invasion movie! What’s not to love?!

8) I got Jim Butcher’s new Dresden Files novel, Ghost Story, and blew through it in record time. I maintain that each Dresden book is better than the last, and this one is no exception. Wow. Very powerful story.

9) The completion of Ghost Story means I can get back to the next Percy Jackson book on my list, The Titan’s Curse. So far, it’s pretty entertaining, and I really like this series. It’s no Harry Potter, but that’s not a bad thing.

10) I’m very hungry, and I should probably get my day started. Lots to do, so it’s time to get to it! …Right after I eat.

After Comic-Con Monday Meet-Up Party!

The San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, leaving geek culture reeling from the flood of news that pours out of the convention. For those who spent the better part of a week roaming the convention halls in search of their favorite artists, writers, creators and celebrities, it’s a time to wind down and take stock of everything they walked away with; be it autographs, exclusive comics or just plain booth swag. They’re not the only ones enjoying the downtime, though. The same artists, writers, creators and celebrities also take time in the aftermath to decompress from the hectic schedule of signings and panels and reconnect with their fellows in ways that they can’t while in the midst of the Comic-Con crowd.

This is where Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles steps in.



Jump over to Comic Booked and read all about the After Comic-Con Monday Meet-Up Party!

Captain America-Fest!

Captain America: The First Avenger is coming to theaters on July 22! To celebrate the movie’s upcoming release, Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles, CA hosted a Sunday Cap-Fest, and the turnout was amazing!



Yours truly was there with Nicole Sixx to capture all the fun as Golden Apple Comics converted their parking lot into a patriotic festival ground. There was so much to do, I scarcely knew where to start!

Jump over to Comic Booked and read all about Captain America-Fest!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

A couple days ago, I was able to see this last installment of the Harry Potter film franchise as an exclusive screening, thanks to the L.A. Times Hero Complex. My partner in crime, James Lentzsch, braved the increasingly crazed L.A. drivers to get to my neighborhood, and we drove down together to experience the journey’s end in IMAX 3D. We also got there astoundingly early for fear of a mind-bogglingly big crowd, and ended up this close to the start of the line:



Because of that, we got astonishingly good seats, free popcorn and drinks, and a night of epic sorcery and witchcraft.

Jump over to Comic Booked and read my Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2!

And if you'd like to see any of the video from the Q&A after the movie, you can see clips from it here and here.

Quick Take On My First Comic Booked Article!

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very proud to present to you my introductory piece for Comic Booked! It's all official and live on the site, and so exciting to see on the site's main page!

Follow the link to check it out!

Settling In

For those of you who have been following my blog for the past month, you know that there's been some pretty major events in my life recently. Fortunately, my life is starting to calm down now. I have my car back, I'm personalizing the room I'm now occupying, and I've been getting to know some of my fellow staff writers.

Now it's time to settle in.

After every major event, there's the downtime to reflect on the past, how this event has impacted the present, and what sort of future is built out of it. Even though the car accident wasn't my fault, you can bet I'm more paranoid than ever when I drive in Los Angeles. That accident also lit a fire under me to step up my move from that part of town, and now I rarely venture into that area. While my employment with Comic Booked is still in its infancy, I'm already making plans for articles, interviews and more with the staff.

More than that, "settling in" to me means getting comfortable. I've definitely settled in to my used car that runs like a new car, and I'm starting to find a nice comfortable rhythm with the couple that has graciously allowed me to take up residence in their house for the time being. I'm not quite comfortable in my Comic Booked role, but the staff has been nothing but welcoming and available to me, and I expect that I'll be comfortable with them all in no time. And while I do that, it's always with an eye to the future, looking for ways to better myself and my life and, by extension, the lives around me.

Settling in is a perfect time to form new habits, too. I've already started employing greater awareness of my surroundings when I drive. I'm keeping very good relations with my housemates and even striving to make each room I leave a little better than when I walked in. But all of that pales in the face of the other habit I need to work on: WRITING.

Now that I'm a staff writer of a growing website AND a kidlit author, I'm going to need to step up my dedication to reserving time in the day for my writing. Articles can't get neglected for a scene I'm especially inspired to write, and my trilogy can't be forgotten while I focus on churning out reviews and interviews. Now more than ever, I need to call upon the focus that got me my first novel written and forge my passion into a pursuit like none other.

Don't worry, I won't neglect this blog, either. To the contrary, I may be posting here even more soon...

I Got Comic Booked!

This has been an exciting week for me as a writer and as a comic book geek!

It started on June 24th over Twitter. I was hanging out in my corner of the Twitterverse, as I do from time to time, and a tweet from Comic Booked got my attention. Now, it should be noted that I’d only recently started following them. I don’t do the random follow thing on Twitter very often, and I’m certainly not one to follow back just because you started following me. (Here’s a tip: Engage me in conversation and I’m much more likely to follow you.) But as it turns out, my timing was impeccable. The tweet read:

Want to write for Comic Booked? Email admin@comicbooked.com for more information today! Positions will be filled this weekend!

Now, the first thought that went through my mind, after the initial shock and excitement passed, was that this was my chance to make my dreams come true. It’s no secret that I’m a huge geek. From a very early age, I’ve been collecting comics since the first Transformers issues and watching Adam West’s cheesy take on the Caped Crusader every morning in my terry cloth Batman robe. The years have not diminished this in the least, and I can argue both sides of the Marvel vs. DC debate with the best of them. (And yes, I still have some of those Amalgam Comics issues the two companies published together.) I watch my favorite heroes come to life in movies and TV, both live-action and animated, and I put myself in their shoes in many of their video games. And back when I had a budget for such things, I’d visit as many of the comic book conventions in the area as I could, if only for the chance to shake hands with some of my favorite writers and artists.

I could go on, but you get the picture. Comic books have been a part of my life since I was a little boy, just as much as writing. So you can imagine my excitement at the opportunity to merge my two great passions into one awesome position on the Comic Booked writing staff! I just had to make sure my email to them conveyed two things clearly:

1) I really want to write for them.
2) My geekitude knows no boundaries.

Apparently, it worked as well as I wanted, because I got a response back that Sunday morning, June 26, from the Editor In Chief of Comic Booked. They liked what they read, and bumped me up to the second phase of their staffing process! That meant I had to write up a sample article for them to make sure I was a good fit. Normally, this would be a slam dunk for me. I’d spend the majority of the day working up a stellar article that would make Perry White exclaim “Great Ceasar’s Ghost!” and email it in, no problem. There was just one little hiccup: I was about to embark on a day-long process of moving furniture that would effectively remove me from my computer and any ability to churn out a quality article!

As I tend to do, I bemoaned this new torture in my life on Facebook. In moments, I had a private message from the CEO of Comic Booked that read:

If you're busy today, you can send something in tomorrow. Or, you can let me know here why you want to join the team and we can go from there. I know how it is when you're busy, so no worries at all.

Yeah. The CEO of the company I wanted to work for friended me on Facebook and gave me, a hopeful recruit, permission to submit my sample article a day late because of my dilemma. My desire to join their staff doubled in that moment, and that's a conservative estimate.

After killing myself to finish moving my stuff in record time, I went home and spent the rest of the night working on my sample article. I knew I had an extra day to submit it, but I didn’t want to waste any time. (I might also have wanted to prove that I can meet crazy deadlines by getting it in as early as possible.) I wrote up a great review of one of my favorite DC Universe animated movies, Wonder Woman, gave it a quick self-editorial pass, then sent it off before passing out from exhaustion. Maybe I would have an email from them waiting for me when I woke up.

Or maybe not.

As the week progressed, I grew more and more worried that I hadn’t heard from them yet. Was my writing not up to their standards? Did they not like my review? Hundreds of “what if” scenarios played out in my head, all revolving around what I could have done differently in my sample article to make it more interesting, more exciting, more more. It was agony, I tell you, of kryptonite poisoning proportions.

Then, early on Saturday morning, I got an email from the EIC. I made the grade! I'm now part of Team Comic Booked!

As of the posting of this entry, I’ve made the acquaintance of some of the other new writers who were hired alongside me, as well as the site’s editors. (And I already know one fellow recruit!) My pic and mini-bio have been submitted for inclusion on their Meet the Team page, and I’m already privy to some of the inner workings of this amazing group of fellow geeks. In the coming weeks, I’ll know more about my role on Team Comic Booked, and you can expect many posts from here on out linking to my articles on their site. In the meantime, I’ll be over here, basking in the glow of realizing a dream come true.

I Hate Moving

As if the stress of getting into an accident isn’t enough to make me want to hibernate for a month, I’m in the middle of that other life-changing event that adds unnecessary stress to one’s life: moving.

Yes, it’s time to move once again, to pack up everything I own and move from one home to another. When I was younger, this wasn’t such a big deal. Sure, the inconvenience of having everything I own packed up and largely unavailable to me as a kid was mildly irritating, but I didn’t have a lot of stuff that was really mine back then. Clothes, toys, video game consoles, and a few odds and ends were all that I claimed as my own. I also lived in apartments for most of my life. I’ve lived in 10 homes up to this point, and only 4 of those were houses. Living in an apartment meant you couldn’t have too much stuff, there’s no place to put it all. It also meant that non-essentials could be kept in that box until you needed it. That made moving again so much easier, if it was still in a box for ease of storage and transport.

Now that I think of it, I’ve never really lived in one residence for more than a handful of years. I do believe I set a record with this last apartment, having stayed there for over 7 years.

In preparing for this move, I promised myself that I’d toss anything that I hadn’t used or even looked at since the last move, and I did a fair amount of house cleaning in the past couple weeks. It gave me something to focus on other than dealing with insurance companies and car repair places, and helped me deal with shock from the accident. It’s been tricky getting this move going since my car is still being repaired, but I’m blessed with some wonderful friends who, for the most part, haven’t complained about me using them as substitute transportation. Loki, especially, has been very helpful in getting me settled into my new place, but my beloved is always so wonderful to me.

So, it’s safe to say that this isn’t my first move, and it certainly won’t be the last. The difference between this move and so many others is that I’m the one doing all the legwork to make it go smoothly. There’s no one else to delegate to, no one else to make all the decisions for me. Nope, this is all me, and I’m happy to say that I’m doing a pretty good job of handling this, all things considered.

You’re maybe wondering how I’m going to link this into my writing. Well, it just so happens that this journey of moving from one place to another, of trying to find home, plays in perfectly with my trilogy, particularly Book Three. I can’t say much about it, but there are certain characters who have been moving for as long as I have, and my current ordeal is helping me remember what it was like to live that kind of life. Between this move and my accident, it’s been a very inspirational (if stressful) month for my writing, and I hope bringing that to bear in my writing will make it that much more engaging to readers.

Do you have thoughts, comments or rants about moving? Leave ‘em in the comments below!

I Don't Want To Read The Book! ...Yet

The last episode of Game of Thrones season one has aired, and damn was it good! I must confess, however, that worse than the cliffhanger final scene the show ends with is the response I get from everyone who has read the books when I bemoan the 9 month wait for season 2: "Read the books!"

I've had people trying to get me to read these books for years. In fact, name any popular book series adapted for TV or movies, and odds are good I've had at least one person trying to sell me on reading the books. (Except the Twilight series. Those who recommend books to me know I have good taste. Besides, I'm done with the whole vampires in the media thing now. Moving on...) And there's one thing I'd like to tell those of you who insist that I should read the books, that they're so much better than the show/movie, that I'm missing out on so much story by not reading them:

LAY OFF!!!

As an author (albeit unpublished, but that will change soon), I know full well the depth of storytelling that goes into a book, and how little of that actually makes it into any adaptation for stage and screen (both the big screen and the one at home). When I was younger, I read Jurassic Park before it was made into a movie and walked out of the theater wondering where 2/3 of the story went. I did the same more recently with The Dresden Files. Having read Harry Dresden's adventures and come to know the people around him in the story, I spent more time wondering why they changed things as arbitrarily as it seems they did, instead of enjoying the show for what it was.

Enjoying something for what it is. It needs to be said again, because some people let loose with both barrels when a movie or TV show doesn't include all of their favorite bits from a series. Comic book fandom is especially guilty of this whenever a big-budget movie comes out and liberties are taken with their continuity-laden comic book heroes and their sometimes cheesy, often rewritten backstory and adventures. The Harry Potter movies have taken their share of liberties with its literary source material, but each film is better than the last. Some movies leave out and/or change so much that it's almost an entirely different story (I'm looking at you, Percy Jackson and the Olympians), and that's OK, too.

Why? Because it's impossible for a movie to express everything that a book can. A book isn't limited by budget constraints, or available actors, or studio politics. A book is limited only by the talent of its writer and the imagination of its reader. OF COURSE a movie isn't going to be able to give you all the backstory and hidden thoughts that a book can. OF COURSE the big CGI effects aren't going to be as grand as what your imagination conjured. OF COURSE it's not going to be the same experience, because it's not meant to be. Unless you get out there and direct your own fan film imagining of your favorite book, you're never going to get the exact experience you'll expect from reading your favorite story. That's the wondrous power of books, and why I'll always love them over any blockbuster movie. Sometimes, though, the imagination needs a rest and wants to be spoonfed a good story.

I'll always want to explore the literary world of whatever awesome series ends up in movies or on TV. But personally, if I haven't read it already, I like to wait until after I see the adaptation before launching into the book series, especially if it has a definitive beginning, middle and end, and that end is in sight. That way, I feel like I'm getting a special behind-the-scenes look at the real story behind the story!

What are your thoughts on book adaptations for stage and screen? How do you tackle the "read the books" retort? Leave your comments below!

Paradigm Shift

"Seize the moment. 'Cause tommorow you might be dead."
—Buffy Summers, S1Ep1 Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy had amazing insight into how to live life for a teenage girl. And while this is wisdom from a fictional character, the quote stands as a very good way to live one's life.

A couple of days ago, I was in a car accident. Nothing too serious, I assure you. I'm fine, though my car is currently at the body shop having the damage assessed. The other guy was not nearly so lucky. For a motorcyclist, he was not practicing safe driving by hurling down a street in front of a school well in excess of the speed limit, and paid the price for his lapse in judgment. That didn't stop him from getting back on his bike, despite suffering heavy injury to the leg that got trapped under the motorcycle, and speeding off to put more lives in danger. Blood loss + reckless driving = another accident waiting to happen.

In the aftermath of the accident, I've been reflecting on how it could have been much, much worse for both me and the guy who hit me. Thankfully, none of the kids getting out of school at that time were injured. My car was damaged, but not nearly as much as it could have been. And, of course, my lack of physical injury could just as easily have gone the other way if the motorcycle's trajectory had been different, or if I'd been moving instead of stopped at a red light.

We go through life never really understanding that it can all change in one catastrophic moment, and not even through any consequence of our actions beyond being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I used to envision certain dangerous events that could happen in the course of stepping outside my front door for use in my writing, but it's something else entirely when one of those scenarios comes true. This is not the product of my overactive imagination. This is real catastrophe, with real consequences and a very real impact on my life.

I haven't really been in my right mind since that day, and I'm fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful people who love and care about me enough to look out for me and help me through this ordeal. I think part of that altered mindset is that I'm going through a paradigm shift, for lack of better phrasing, a change in my way of thinking in the face of a dramatic and life-changing moment. Old assumptions are being cast aside as a new reality asserts itself in my way of thinking, a reality that I'm still trying to come to terms with.

I'm not sure where my writing fits into this reality, but I know that I've come too far to simply declare it insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I want to revisit parts of my trilogy and write all new stories, now that I have a different vantage point on potentially life-threatening moments that might occur within the course of the narrative, but I don't know if I'm ready to tackle it so soon after the accident. Naturally, I'll keep you all posted here once things settle down and my life isn't in upheaval.

Have you had a brush with fate that changed your way of living, or been close to someone who has? Share your stories in the comments below.