2024-W37 EOW Report

Highlights This Week

• I think I’ve solved 80% of the ARC for MINOS. So that was exciting. I’m working on these on the commute to work now that I’m no longer driving. I mean yes, I should be paying full attention to the driver, as he’s 17 and not fully licensed… but aside from driving too close to the right sometimes, and braking a little too late… he’s getting better. We probably need to practice a few more turns though. But the way to his-school/my-work is relatively straightforward.
• First session with Sandra Tayler’s group mentoring for “Structuring Life to Support Creativity” (SLSC 2024). Met new people!
• Still no novel reading. Two weeks dry spell now. Comics up to 53 issues this week. Frankly, no TV or film either TBH. I saw an episode of The Bear (2022-), I saw two episodes of Industry(2020) b/c wife threw it on. But I’m just not invested in anything except comics these days.

Project Status Dashboard

The following are ongoing fiction writing projects broken down to what stage they’re in. Legend in footnote¹

Worked on the arc for MINOS. Think I’ve cracked it… but I seriously need to work on BECKY instead as the Strange Horizon’s Copaganda contest is due November 21st.

EOW Time Tracking

Three Sentences First Thing Streak

• CURRENT STREAK: 77 Days
• BEST STREAK: 77 Days (September 14, 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

I’ve been thinking a lot about the “starter pack” I got in life and the starter pack I’m providing my kids and keep getting reminded of how extremely lucky and privileged I am. Yes, I grew up poor-ish to immigrant parents, but I was born in the 80s in Canada. If you take away 1987’s Black Monday, that is a 18 year bull run from 1982 to 2000. My blue collar father got raises, we bought a house for 280k in the early 90s in East Vancouver, and I, as a son of an immigrant, went to university and catapulted, through a white-collar profession, my family into upper-ish middle class. I was blessed with my father’s memory, an above average intelligence, and an overabundance of energy, a somewhat higher set-point on the optimism thermometer, and remarkably little health issues after a somewhat sickly childhood. (So I got a dairy intolerance. Boo fucking hoo). I’m writing all this because this past week, I had encounters with several people who are absolutely, decidedly less fortunate than I am on the health side, physical, mental, psychological, emotional… and this past month or so, I’ve simply been more aware of it, and hoping I can in turn, be more sensitive to it.

Book Reading

• Still not reading novels. lol. But comics. This week was a new high score at 53 issues. A lot of miniseries I, frankly, did not care for, and yet read, because “reading order” and “completeness” and curiosity. Things I did not care for: King in Black (2020). I have come to the simple conclusion that I just don’t care about anything that has anything to do with Spider-Man. Yes, the Tom Holland films are great, but the comics? Not so much. And yet, I read Spider-Punk (2022), because the middle one likes him and bought a poster of him and I was like, let’s check this out and maybe I’ll buy her the TPB. But no, this made me as angry as another book that had a “band analogy” and just had so many missed opportunities. Finally, Curse of the Man-Thing (2021). Ugh. I was sorta like, I love this writer, so kinda looked forward to it, but no. This didn’t work either. So three miniseries, none of them good.
• What am I loving? I read Hickman’s Doom (2024) one-shot and was blown away by the splashes and two-page spreads, even though it was on my tiny iPhone screen… and was going to pick up a physical copy, but I was told by Sean at Hourglass Comics that no, collectors decided this one-shot was a “thing” and bought up all the copies. So shrug? I mean, if a second or third printing shows up, I’ll get it. I don’t care for the collectors’ value here. I just want to be able to see Sanford Greene’s art in all its 13.25 x 10.25" glory. Couldn’t care less that it’s already trading at $40.
• I am enjoying William’s run on X-Factor more and more now. It’s CSI meets Archie. It took me a while to “get it”, but I totally get it now. Prodigy’s boyfriend starstruck by Northstar is one of the greatest comedic moments in comics. I am enjoying Ayala taking over New Mutants (2019). Percy continues to deliver on X-Force (2020) and Wolverine (2020) and I want to hunt down these single issues in physical form… especially those illustrated by Joshua Cassara. And of course, Adam Kubert. Duggan’s Cable (2020) wrapped up its 12 issue run beautifully.
• Added Iron Man (2024) to my pull list because… ok, listen, I realize I am a 43yo man, but Spencer Ackerman was offering up FREE STICKERS if you preorder the book and I wanted the damn stickers. Does my prefrontal cortex justify this childish gimme-gimme-gimme mentality with the fact that Ackerman is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist with in-depth knowledge of National Security? Yes, of course the PFC justifies it, and I’m sure I will love his take on Iron Man and the military-industrial complex and corporate espionage and all that. But I’m going to be honest. I put it on my pull list because of stickers. I can own that.
• Speaking of childish impulses. I added Magik (2025) to my pull list too. I one-hundred-percent agree with Connor Goldsmith. This is a poorly designed, trope-laden, utterly stupid chararacter… and yet, and yet, and yet, like Connor… I LOVE HER. It’s not because she’s blonde and wears a black sports bra get up. It’s not the giant sword. It’s not the demon slaying. It’s not the non-stop snark and jokes. It’s not the occulty stuff. It’s not because of her soul sword. It’s not the super-convenient teleportation holes. IT IS ALL OF IT TOGETHER. So maybe there’s something to be learned here. If you have one, or two, or even three stupid elements in your character design, it sucks. But if you have TEN OF THEM TOGETHER… it crosses this invisible line from stupid to… I DON’T CARE IT’S STUPID, I LOVE IT. I really should backtest this theory on other stupid characters I’ve loved in the past. I mean, re-reading The Twins Trilogy, I know very honestly now, how dumb wimpy Raistlin is and he’s just despicable. But do I still love him? I need to think about it. How much is nostalgia and how much is… he’s got enough stupid elements that it crosses that invislble line?
• I need to get back on the novel train. Seriously.

Comic Book Issues Tracking

Archive of all EOW reports here