Doc Coleman's Blog, page 21

The Wayback Machine: Galley Table Episode Thirty-One: Translating Comics

Time once again to fire up the Wayback Machine and visit a podcast from the past. Today we are setting the clock back to April 10th, 2011, and listening in on an episode of the Galley Table. Since there were no ladies present on the podcast, we discussed comics with our guest Blake M. Petit, podcast novelist. We looked at comic books as an art form, and how they have moved into other forms of art, such as novels and movies.

Some highlights from the episode:

"Wait, I wasn't ready!" "Tough."
"The geek rage must flow!"
"There are officially 52 earths, and that's it."
"Scott, have you ever noticed how wrestlers go into acting?" "I don't think you can call what wrestlers do acting."
"In a page, an artist can tell you more about a whole world than a writer can say in an entire issue."
"How do super heroes prepare for the zombie apocalypse?"
"Topher Grace's voice coming out of the Venom mask isn't going to scare anyone."
"Geek fight."
"Here's where I'm going to lose some geek cred with somebody…"
"If they're too successful, they have to become the villains."
"If you're going to reboot something, you should at least wait until the corpse is cold."
"Cue geek rage! Geek rage smash!"
"There was a New Mutants's TV series?" "There was." "I don't remember it." "That is probably to your benefit."
"Some would say we're well beyond…"
"About fifteen years and several thousand dollars later…"
"I think that Archie was the only thing I ever got into."
"It was a comic book! Nobody dies in comics!"
"Spider-man was my first love."
"I find it amusing that the Batman fans are always convinced that Batman will always win."
"I'm all about the vengeance place."
"Soonish."

Mentioned:

CXPulp.com
BackIssueBin.blogspot.com
Evertime Realms
Get Jeff a new mic stand.
Incubator Press
Playing For Keeps
Union Dues
Brave Men Run
Balticon
Geek Out With Mainframe
Wiener Blut

Some writing this Sunday

This past has been a busy week. I've been driven to exhaustion a couple of times, and had my day taken up by errands.With production down so much on this week, I had pinned a lot of hopes on this weekend. In the end, I didn't get as much done this weekend as I had hoped, but I did manage to get a bit of work done.

Friday night, I managed to do some voice work. I broke out the mic and recorded my lines for Veronica Giguere's new full cast podcast project. I only had around twenty-five lines for that project, so I was able to get them all recorded. I'm not sure how much I can say about this project until I can get the go-ahead to start pimping it. And I'm sure that Veronica isn't sure how long she'll be splicing audio from her cast together.

Saturday was pretty much completely taken up by the 11th Annual Privateer's Feast. This is a yearly fund-raiser benefiting breast cancer research held by Team Wench, which is an offshoot of the Maryland local chapter of The International Wenches Guild. My wife is a member of Team Wench and is the Acquisitions Chair for this year. This puts her in charge of items donated to be raffled off at the fundraising events. Even though most donations are gathered in the fall, there are always some people who show up at an event with things to donate. This meant that we had to show up early with the crew that was setting up and get her set up and prepared to handle any donations that came in.

The Feast itself was a good event. Saw a lot of old friends, and met some new ones. I even managed to win a  prize in the raffle. For the most part it was a chance to put pirate garb on and hang out with a bunch of friends. Just what I needed this winter.

Sunday, I slept in late. Saturday night was a late night, and my muscles were sore. After getting out for a walk, and getting cleaned up, I set to work. I wrote the script for a new episode of The Shrinking Man Project, which I plan to record tomorrow. After that, I turned to writing "Mists". I wrote over 1000 words on the second scene, and discovered the need to insert a new scene into the narrative. I suspect that will not be the last time that happens. I'm pretty happy with this progress, but I'm afraid it is too late for me to get any work done on Perils. I managed to steal some time on the car pool this past week and add another 500 or so words to Perils. I think that I'm probably going to have to do the same this week.

Still, progress is progress.

The Wayback Machine: The Shrinking Man Project: Episode 16 – The Yo-Yo Effect

Some trouble getting the Wayback Machine working this week, but I finally got it to kick over. Today's trip into the past takes us to April 7th, 2011 and an episode of The Shrinking Man Project. This episode's featured promo is Katarina Maimer's Wiener Blut. This episode comes from the beginning of the plateau that I spent most of last year struggling with. This is also the first episode where my wife has taken over the editing duties from me.

Enjoy the show.

Show notes included below.

Show Notes:

Welcome!


Off to the scales…


Promo – Wiener Blut


Weigh in


Week in review

Computer stuff.
Trouble Sleeping.
Four exercises done!
Another week on plan.
Getting a little help .
Balticon news!
Lessons learned. A good night's sleep can have a big effect on everything you do.
Moving forward. I gotta get more rest.


Feedback!


Sign off

Comments on the blog at http://theshrinkingmanproject.com
E-mail at Doc@theshrinkingmanproject.com
Voice mail at (240) 745-5022
Join the Fans of the Shrinking Man Project on Facebook
If you have a podcast, send me your promos!
Leave a review on iTunes or Podcast Alley.
Tell your friends about the podcast.
Have a good week!


End credits

Mentioned on the show:

Every Photo Tells…
Wiener Blut
Balticon 45
Fans of The Shrinking Man Project

Good news! More work.

About ten days ago, I posted about being invited to write in another author's universe. At the time, I was ecstatic just for being offered the chance to contribute to another author's universe. Of course, the easy part is getting the invitation. Then you have to come up with an actual idea for the story, get it approved, and then write the sucker.

This weekend, I took a big step forward. I came up with an idea, wrote it up, and sent it in. And the author loved it! OK, there were a few changes, but other than that, loved it!

Now the hard work begins: actually writing the story. I took some time today to get what notes I had organized in Scrivener, and plotted out a loose structure of my story. In the past, I've just started writing because the story has only been in my head. That changed with NaNoWriMo. When I started on Perils, I needed to plot out how the events were going to proceed in the story before I could get started. So I made up a loose list of chapter names. Not even an outline, just chapter names to remind me what needed to happen in that chapter. And it worked. So I'm trying it again. I've broken the pitch I sent in down into a number of specific scenes and built the structure for those scenes in Scrivener.

The code name for this new WIP is "Northern Mist". Until it gets released, or until I get permission to talk more openly about it, that is how I'll be referring to this project. In addition to laying out the structure, I also started writing on "Mist". I wrote up the first scene for the story tonight, cranking out about 660 words for the scene.

I have noticed that in my writing process I tend to need to start off with a scene that sets the stage for the rest of the story, but doesn't directly involve any of the main characters. Given that this is a short story, I rather suspect that this first scene will get cut in editing. But even if it does get cut, I feel that this is a scene that I need to write in order to get the atmosphere for the rest of the story right. It sets the stage in my mind, and that helps the rest of the story flow.

Of course, I had said that I wasn't going to start anything new until I had finished Perils. That isn't going to be strictly possible right now, but I at least need to make sure that progress on Perils continues. So, I put in some time tonight working on Perils. I only managed to get about 450 words written, but I did manage to finish the chapter that I was working on. Unfortunately, I also realized that I'm going to need at least one more chapter in addition to the ones I had planned, so I still have three chapters left to go in the book.

So I've managed to get about 1100 words written today, and kept things moving forward. Tomorrow I'm back to work on podcasting. Hopefully I'll get in some time for writing as well.

Voice Work Day

This week has gotten me off track with my planned production. I started off well with a Wayback Machine post, and a new review up on the Nifty Tech Blog, but then Wednesday and Thursday I was so exhausted I just couldn't get anything done. I just slept. Today wasn't exactly brilliant either. I didn't get any writing done, but I did get out the mic and catch up on some overdue voice work.

I finished up the lines I owed Scott Roche for Ginnie Dare. Unless he finds more lines in the book for me, or he wants me to re-do some of the lines, I am done with that project now. Illness and bad scheduling have really stretched out this project much longer than it should have taken.

I also recorded another chapter for Treasure Island. I am still well ahead of the production schedule for the podcast, but there is still a long way to go. I've got another 22 chapters of Treasure Island to record, so it is going to take some time. I've tried to do at least two chapters at a pop, but it hasn't always been possible.

I've also got a new voice work gig as part of Veronica Giguere's cast for her first full cast production. I've also got a bit part in a live production taken from Laura Nicole's Stargazers that she will be running at Balticon 46. And that is still not counting the major role in PC Haring's upcoming podcast production. Some really great voice work opportunities have fallen at my feet lately, but now I am swamped. Got to get some of these projects wrapped up and off of my plate.

Oh, and I need to get back into writing again. Still need to finish the first draft of Perils. Perhaps tomorrow will be for writing.

The Wayback Machine: The Shrinking Man Project: Episode 15 – Declaring Victory

Time for another trip with The Wayback Machine, folks! Today's trip takes us back to April 1st, 2011 for an episode of The Shrinking Man Project. This is a check in episode, but it includes the excellent promo for Brand Gamblin's podcast novel, The Hidden Institute. This is an excellent steampunk tale in a more modern version of a steampunk universe. If you haven't given it  a listen, or a read, I recommend checking it out.

Show notes included below.

Show Notes:

Welcome!
Off to the scales…
Promo – The Hidden Institute
Weigh in
Week in review

Backup issues finally solved!
All exercises done!
The schedule, rewritten.
Another week on plan.
A Midsummer Night's Dream debuts on Pirates Cove!
Lessons learned. Adjust priorities.
Moving forward. Make time for what is important.


Feedback!
Sign off

Comments on the blog at http://theshrinkingmanproject.com
E-mail at Doc@theshrinkingmanproject.com
Voice mail at (240) 745-5022
Join the Fans of the Shrinking Man Project on Facebook
If you have a podcast, send me your promos!
Leave a review on iTunes or Podcast Alley.
Tell your friends about the podcast.
Have a good week!


End credits

Mentioned on the show:

The Hidden Institute
The Nifty Tech Blog
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Balticon 45
Fans of The Shrinking Man Project

The Wayback Machine: Galley Table Episode Twenty-Eight: E-book Pricing

If you're also a listener to The Shrinking Man Project, you'll know that I have one final surgical procedure coming up in the beginning of February. If you've been following my Twitter feed, you'll know that this procedure is today. So, while I'm off getting operated on, and recuperating, I thought I'd bring you another treat from the Wayback Machine. Today's offering comes from March 26, 2011, and it is another Galley Table episode. In this one, we're talking about strategies for e-book pricing. Our guest for this show is the lovely and talented Veronica Giguerre.  As ever, notes, and the episode after the jump.

Quotes from the episode:

"If you're going to go, Doc, go all the way."
"Throw the hand grenade at your baby."
"How much is information worth?"
"Put it out there where people can get it for free, and if they like it enough, they'll come back and buy physical books."
"The price that you're putting out has to reflect the value of the book."
"Is textbook pricing an artifact of the past?"
"Textbook prices are analogous to the prices of  snacks at major sporting events."
"The publisher is setting the price."
"There is the perception of a 99 cent book being a throw-away, or lesser quality."
"The podcast becomes the loss leader to get you interested in the printed versions."
"You may have other reasons for building your audience, but tangled in there you want to get this paid for somewhere."
"I may be a liberal, but I am also a capitalist."
"When they dropped it to 99 cents, the sales went down."
"Every book has its own sweet spot."
"Don't worry, we can edit out the silence."
"We are professional podcasters here."
"I keep track of how much time I spend on each chapter."
"Since Doc is running around…"
"We asked the question and waited for about two minutes before we realized you were no longer on the call."
"There is no mute on the cat, sorry."
"I'll go ahead and start up the pimping."
"I think I have a pimp hat somewhere here I can put on."
"Prussian blimp dragons? Excellent!"

Mentioned:

Zach vs Nate discussion in SVAllie's blog
The Secret World Chronicle
Baen Free Library
E-book Pricing vs. Revenue
MegaCon
The Keepers
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ginnie Dare!

A day of great news

Yesterday was a day for great news to come my way. Not all of the good news happened yesterday, but it was the day that word reached me on a number of things. If any of this is news to you, I'm happy to be the bearer of glad tidings.

The first piece of great news was that Mur Lafferty has a new book contract with Orbit Books and will be releasing her book The Shambling Guide to New York City sometime next year. Mur has been working at the writing game for a while now, and is well known for her podcast I Should be Writing where she offers advice and encouragement to would be writers to do the work necessary to improve their writing and build a career. Despite all her hard work, Mur has had some difficulty getting her work picked up by traditional publishing markets. Hopefully this contract is a sign that publishers are starting to appreciate Mur's writing. Go Mur!

The second piece of good news is more personal. I have been invited to write in an anthology for another author. This will be a commissioned work set in that author's world and using characters that are peripheral to the author's established characters. I am thrilled to be given this opportunity, and pleasantly surprised that this author was willing to have me play in their world. I hope I can measure up to their expectations. Unfortunately, that is about all I can say on this opportunity at this time. But rest assured, I will let you know when I can share more.

The last bit of good news that came my way yesterday is that J.R. Blackwell and her husband Jared Axelrod are expecting a new addition to their family. J.R. is pregnant, and they are expecting the baby in August. They are a wonderful and talented couple, and I am sure the world will tremble when their child enters this realm. A new generation of brilliance makes the world a better place.

All this good news got me working on Perils again last night. I added over 1200 words, bringing the total word count up over 60 thousand. Things aren't look nearly so bright for my characters. They are in a sticky situation and will have to use both cleverness and brute force to get themselves out of it. My revised target for Perils is 75 thousand words. Right now, I feel like I'm going to come pretty close to that target. I already know that in the first round of editing I'm going to have to adjust the number and length of my chapters. Some of them are huge, while others are very short. I've learned a heck of a lot in the process and had a lot of fun along the way. I really want to get to the end so I can move on to editing.

I guess that is it for now. Have a great day, folks!

The Wayback Machine: The Shrinking Man Project: Episode 14 – The Hijack Highway

For Monday of this week, we're going to fire up the Wayback Machine again and point it back to March 25th of 2011 and another episode of The Shrinking Man Project! This episode marked a return to Philosophy after a long hiatus. It also marked a return to me doing episodes on the fly without writing a script out ahead of time, so the episode is a bit on the long side, and does kind of ramble a bit.

This episode has a particularly useful bit of Philosophy, talking about how we create conditioned responses and find ourselves reacting instead of reasoning, and what we can do to regain control and keep from being hijacked. If you can gain some control over that part of your mind that is commonly called the "lizard brain", you gain much more control of your life and how you present yourself. It is a simple idea, but it can help improve your life in untold ways.

Show notes included below.

Show Notes:

Welcome!
Philosophy
Off to the scales…
Promo – Nutty Bites!
Weigh in
Week in review

My food has been pretty good. I did splurge a bit in the latter part of the week. Might affect the weigh in. Still on plan!
All exercises done! And got four runs toward my goal of being consistently under 16.5 minutes per mile.
Not getting enough sleep due to adjusting to a new schedule.
Seem to be working all the time. Need more relaxation in my schedule.
Getting ready for Balticon, Galley Table Live, and an unofficial Shrinking Man Project Live.
Let me know if you will be at Balticon 45 and are interested in being part of The Shrinking Man Project Live.
Taxes filed.
Money is tight and we are struggling.
Not going to make the Steampunk World's Fair this year.
The Shrinking Man Project Zazzle Store
Lessons learned. Change always leads to uncertain results. Things don't go smooth. Usually seems worse than it is.
Moving forward. Revising the schedule and making more relaxation time. May need to revise schedule for The Nifty Tech Blog. Getting by with a little help from my friends.


Feedback!
Sign off

Comments on the blog at http://theshrinkingmanproject.com
E-mail at Doc@theshrinkingmanproject.com
Voice mail at (240) 745-5022
Join the Fans of the Shrinking Man Project on Facebook
If you have a podcast, send me your promos!
Leave a review on iTunes or Podcast Alley.
Tell your friends about the podcast.
Stop by The Shrinking Man Project Zazzle Store
Have a good week!


End credits

Mentioned on the show:

Nutty Bites!
Flying Island Press' Galley Table.
Balticon 45
The Steampunk World's Faire
The Shrinking Man Project Zazzle Store
Fans of The Shrinking Man Project

Working the new production schedule

For those with no interest in the Super Bowl, such as myself, I thought I'd provide a little update on how things have been going in the studios lately. As usual, things have been busy. But in comparison to recent weeks, I feel as if I've gotten a lot more accomplished in the past week than I have in the weeks that preceded it.

Last Sunday I started working on Perils again and had a good writing session, racking up over 1500 words towards the last three chapters. Our heroes have penetrated deep into the villain's lair and discovered his doomsday device, but can they disable it before it is too late? And what has happened to the Professor? I got back to writing again on Thursday, but only managed to put in a little more than 600 words before my energy ran out for the evening. This time our heroes believe they have managed to shut off the device, but they are still looking for signs of their missing comrade.

Monday I wrote up a new episode of The Shrinking Man Project, including a new Philosophy segment. I recorded that on Tuesday, but it is still being edited. Hopefully we'll be able to release it soon.

I was also able to record a new Galley Table episode on Tuesday, though we have such a back log of recorded episodes now I have no idea when it will be released. It is possible that if Kee starts doing some editing for Flying Island Press that some of those "lost" episodes might come out and catch us up. This was another episode with the lovely and talented Veronica Giguere as a guest. It is always fun working with Veronica, although it is more fun when she can't mute her mic and we can he giggling ar her at our antics.

Wednesday and Friday I was able to release two Wayback Machine episodes. I've also been playing around with a new syndication tool. My hope is that when I can get the Wayback Machine episodes caught up to the present, I might be able to just use the syndication tool for the Shrinking Man Project episodes. However, I am not sure that it is fully compatible with PowerPress, the plug-in I use for podcasting. We shall see when we get there.

Friday I managed to record a new chapter of Treasure Island. I had hoped to get in two, but time did not work out to my favor. At the very least, I'm not falling behind.

I am hoping to work this into a fairly regular production schedule so I can keep all of my projects moving forward. We shall have to see how that works in the weeks ahead.

I did get some more good news from Balticon 46: The Shrinking Man Project Live! and Galley Table Live! will be on the schedule again this year. They are confirmed, although it is way too early to know when the panels will be scheduled.

I guess that is all the news for now. Talk to you soon.