2024-W36 EOW Report
Highlights This Week
- Back in the swing of work. A lot of hours put in. Learning video editing, not as a doer of it, but as a manager of it. Putting together training for my team of copywriters. Learned… AI this week. Was conflicted, of course (so many reasons wrong with what it is, how it came to be, how it plagiarizes and steals and it’s “ok” to them, how tech-bros keep defending it, how tech-billionaires tell us its existential, how destructive it is to the climate, how lovely schadenfraude – they lost a trillion in market cap recently, just overall how shitty it is in the way they keep forcing it to be used when it is ultimately a net-negative and produces negative value, really)… until I think I’ve finally justified it to myself: what I do at work is for work, and frankly, copy and content can be junk as long as it works and nobody cares… but 100% agree with Ted Chiang that you can’t make ART with it. But even on the work side, playing with Claude, at best, at best, you’ll get 20% of ideas that are acutally any good, and when you make it write content, the sheer amount of prompting and commands you need to feed it, and then still requiring my 15+ years of experience to discern and RECOGNIZE what is good and what is bad… and I end up throwing away most of what it spits back out at me, and rewriting the rest… like did we really end up doing anything faster or more efficient here? So I am still conflicted I guess, to a degree, but have accepted this is just a job.
- Back in the swing of creation as well. Working through the plotting and character arcs for MINOS. I really should be working on BECKY instead though, because it’s the perfect candidate for Strange Horizon’s call for surveillance themed stories.
- Comics. Just a lot of comics. Organized my pull list. (I know what a “pull list” is now). I also know what FOC is (final order cut-off date). It’s looking really long. I mean, yes, a lot of it are miniseries. They’ll disappear after 4-6 issues. But it’s still long. Doesn’t help that I’m slowly getting sucked into the DC universe as well.
Project Status Dashboard
The following are ongoing fiction writing projects broken down to what stage they’re in. Legend in footnote1
| P | prj | s1 | s2 | s3 | s4 | fd | ed | rv | xd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MINOS | 2/11 | 2 | ||||||
| 2 | SAVED | 3/12 | X | X | X | 3/25 | 4/28 | 3 | |
| 3 | BECKY | 1/7 | 1 | ||||||
| BACKLOG | ~~~ | ~~~ | ~~~ | ~~~ | ~~~ | ~~~ | ~~~ | ~~~ | |
| SATSU | 1/21 | 1 | |||||||
| ROBOT | 1/28 | 1/29 | 2 | ||||||
| YOKO | 2/18 | 1 | |||||||
| STAR | 3/3 | 1 | |||||||
| BELLA | 3/10 | 1 | |||||||
| AURA | 1/6 | 1/6 | 1 | ||||||
| FIRED | 1/14 | 1 |
Not much. Lots of brainstorming and thinking, but no writing yet. Need to transition into writing too.
EOW Time Tracking
Three Sentences First Thing Streak
- CURRENT STREAK: 70 Days
- BEST STREAK: 70 Days (September 7, 2024)
Thirty Minutes A Day Streak
- CURRENT STREAK: 0 Days
- LAST STREAK: 10 Days (August 17, 2024)
- BEST STREAK: 18 Days (May 10, 2024)
Four Thousand Weeks
| Wks Lft | HP |
|---|---|
| 1728/4000 | 43.200% |
This week was just heavy on work. Was in the office until 6 or 7PM, and 8PM on Friday. And this is even though I’m going in earlier. Eldest is driving me to school/work now. I’m sitting in the passenger seat for the first time in a very long time and surprisingly calm.
Book Reading
- Finished Words for Pictures (2014) by Brian Michael Bendis. Very minimal notes here.
- Very little reading in terms of novels this past week.
- This week’s comic reading: 45 issues. Lots of new stuff still. Probably because as we head into the fall? I picked up Jason Aaron’s TMNT. So… basically Raphael as Wolverine with a lot of internal monologuing and badassery, yeah? Did I get that right? Added to the pull list. Also added TMNT: Nightwatcher and TMNT: Mutant Nation. Because why not.
- Absolute Power #3 we start seeing the reversal in the mini-series. Starting to pick up on more of the DC character names? Still think it’s absolutely ridiculous and boring. So many ___man, ___woman, ___girl, ___boy, all wearing similar costumes, all in one family. Super, Bat, Cat, Hawk, Aqua, Wonder. It’s all so vanilla and conservative. I find myself being drawn to Green Lantern, Black Canary, Oracle, Swamp Thing, and hell, even Black Orchid… partly because of their name, and mostly because I know so little about them and they’re not as huge in the public consciousness. I think what got me hooked on Absolute Power #1 as my way as an intro into the DC universe was Amanada Waller. Badass black woman, villain, and just “cool and in control”. Couldn’t care less about the heroes. As I read more reddit forums to get culturally caught up… DC’s good guys are just… too good. They are like conservative and upstandingly good. The model citizen of good. Marvel has flaws heroes. That’s why it works. But also – Connor Goldsmith on Cerebro #4 on Storm really clarified it for me. The Avengers are cops. Who wants to read about cops and police? And that’s what I get with DC. They’re all actually good guys in the sense that they’re almost infallible, aspirational, but ultimately, un-relatable. These are people I would look up to in REAL LIFE, not in my escapism where I want grounded stories. Weird to say that. That said, I am inching towards buying Gail Simone’s run on Wonder Woman and Geoff John’s run on Green Lantern because I want to explore this universe more.
- RANDOM FINAL NOTES: So The Power Fantasy lived up to its hype. Didn’t really care for the whole X of Swords event. The final issue though, reminding us of the stakes really worked out. I was expecting Aliens vs. Avengers to be stupid. Like dumb, stupid, idiotic fun… but instead I get old-assed Avengers with gravitas. WTF. That’s what makes Hickman great, I guess. He’s got range. Started my third? fourth? attempt of Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles. Made it past the first two issues this time.
- I sat down to organize my pull list so I could see what’s what and it’s looking a little absurdly long.
Comic Book Issues Tracking
| date | title | issue | writer | artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/1 | X of Swords: Stasis | 1 | Jonathan Hickman & Tini Howard | Pepe Larraz & Mahmud Asrar |
| 9/2 | X-Men (2019) | 14 (658) | Jonathan Hickman | Mahmud Asrar & Leinil Francis Yu |
| 9/3 | Marauders (2020) | 14 | Gerry Duggan & Benjamin Percy | Stefano Caselli |
| 9/4 | Exceptional X-Men (2024) | 1 | Eve L. Ewing | Carmen Carnero |
| 9/4 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2024) | 1 | Jason Aaron | Joelle Jones |
| 9/4 | The Power Fantasy (2024) | 1 | Kieron Gillen | Caspar Wijngaard |
| 9/4 | Ultimates (2024) | 1 | Deniz Camp | Juan Frigeri |
| 9/5 | Marauders (2020) | 15 | Gerry Duggan & Benjamin Percy | Stefano Caselli |
| 9/5 | Excalibur (2019) | 14 | Tini Howard | Phil Noto |
| 9/5 | Wolverine (2020) | 7 | Benjamin Percy & Gerry Duggan | Joshua Cassara |
| 9/5 | X-Force (2019) | 14 | Benjamin Percy & Gerry Duggan | Joshua Cassara |
| 9/5 | Hellions (2020) | 6 | Zeb Wells | Carmen Carnero |
| 9/5 | Cable (2020) | 6 | Gerry Duggan | Phil Noto |
| 9/5 | X-Men (2019) | 15 (659) | Jonathan Hickman | Mahmud Asrar |
| 9/5 | Excalibur (2019) | 15 | Tini Howard | Mahmud Asrar & Stefano Casseli |
| 9/5 | X of Swords: Destruction | 1 | Jonathan Hickman & Tini Howard | Pepe Larraz |
| 9/5 | X-Men (2019) | 16 (660) | Jonathan Hickman | Phil Noto |
| 9/5 | Hellions (2020) | 7 | Zeb Wells | Stephen Segovia |
| 9/5 | Absolute Power (2024) | 3 | Mark Waid | Dan Mora |
| 9/5 | Hellions (2020) | 8 | Zeb Wells | Stephen Segovia |
| 9/5 | Marauders (2020) | 16 | Gerry Duggan | Stefano Caselli |
| 9/5 | Cable (2020) | 7 | Gerry Duggan | Phil Noto |
| 9/5 | Cable (2020) | 8 | Gerry Duggan | Phil Noto |
| 9/6 | Excalibur (2019) | 16 | Tini Howard | Marcus To |
| 9/6 | Excalibur (2019) | 17 | Tini Howard | Marcus To |
| 9/6 | Marauders (2020) | 17 | Gerry Duggan | Matteo Lolli |
| 9/6 | Excalibur (2019) | 18 | Tini Howard | Marcus To |
| 9/6 | Nightwatcher (2024) | 1 | Juni Ba | Fero Pe |
| 9/6 | Aliens Vs. Avengers (2024) | 1 | Jonathan Hickman | Esad Ribić |
| 9/6 | The Invisibles (1996) | 1 | Grant Morrison | Steve Yeowell |
| 9/6 | The Invisibles (1996) | 2 | Grant Morrison | Steve Yeowell |
| 9/6 | The Invisibles (1996) | 3 | Grant Morrison | Steve Yeowell |
| 9/6 | The Invisibles (1996) | 4 | Grant Morrison | Steve Yeowell |
| 9/6 | The Invisibles (1996) | 5 | Grant Morrison | Jill Thompson |
| 9/6 | Excalibur (2019) | 19 | Tini Howard | Marcus To |
| 9/6 | The Invisibles (1996) | 6 | Grant Morrison | Jill Thompson |
| 9/6 | The Invisibles (1996) | 7 | Grant Morrison | Jill Thompson |
| 9/6 | The Invisibles (1996) | 8 | Grant Morrison | Jill Thompson |
| 9/7 | Excalibur (2019) | 20 | Tini Howard | Marcus To |
| 9/7 | X-Factor (2020) | 5 | Leah Williams | David Baldeón |
| 9/7 | Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver (2023) | 4 | Steve Orlando | Lorenzo Tammetta |
| 9/7 | Hellions (2020) | 9 | Zeb Wells | Stephen Segovia |
| 9/7 | The Invisibles (1996) | 9 | Grant Morrison | Jill Thompson |
| 9/7 | Hellions (2020) | 10 | Zeb Wells | Stephen Segovia |
| 9/7 | Hellions (2020) | 11 | Zeb Wells | Stephen Segovia |
My Pull List
- Absolute Power by Mark Waid
- Absolute Wonder Woman (2024) by Kelly Thompson
- Aliens vs. Avengers (2024) by Jonathan Hickman
- Avengers (2023) by Jed MacKay
- Dazzler (2024) by Jason Loo
- Exceptional X-Men (2024) by Eve L. Ewing
- Hyde Street (Ghost Machine) by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis
- Laura Kinney (2024) by Erica Schultz
- Mystique (2024) by Declan Shalvey
- NYX (2024) by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing
- Phoenix (2024) by Stephanie Phillips
- Psylocke (2024) by Alyssa Wong
- Sentinels (2024) by Alex Paknadel
- Skin Police #1 (Oni Press) by Jordan Thomas & Daniel Gete
- Storm (2024) by Murewa Ayodele
- The Power Fantasy by Kieron Gillen
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2024) by Jason Aaron
- TMNT: Mutant Nation (2024) by Tom Waltz & Erik Burnham
- TMNT: Nightwatcher (2024) by Juni Ba
- Uncanny X-Men (2024) by Gail Simone
- Wolverine (2024) by Saladin Ahmed
- Wolverine: Revenge by Jonathan Hickman
- X-Factor (2024) by Mark Russel
- X-Force (2024) by Geoffrey Thorne
- X-Men (2024) by Jed MacKay
One Shots
- DC All In Special #1
- Deathlok 50th Anniversary Special
- Green Lantern Civil Corps Special #1
- It Happened on Hyde Street: Devour (Ghost Machine)
Archive of all EOW reports here
LEGEND for Project Status Dashboard
- P = priority (limit to 3 projects at any given time)
- prj = project codename
- s1 = stage one: MECH/CDA + PROT/ARC
- s2 = stage two: DSR/PROG + WANT/ANTG
- s3 = stage three: Outline ARC/PROG
- s4 = stage four: Sc1 & Sc2
- fd = 1st draft completed
- ed = edits (before beta/crits) completed
- rv = revisions (post-feedback) completed
- xd = current draft being worked on