The Books of Blood, Vol. 1, by Clive Barker
Buy The Books of Blood at Amazon
Books: 5/52
It Feels Good to Get Burned This Way
Good news from the world of comics as it pertains to me. One of my Split Lip stories from our October two-year anniversary celebration, Bad Radio, has been accepted into a Negative Burn anthology set for publication this summer.
Bad Radio was written by me and drawn by Nelson Evergreen. It’s the story of a kid, a ham radio, and one of America’s most famous serial killers.
Negative Burn, of course, is Desperado Publishing’s famous and long-running anthology series that has been host to some of comics’ biggest names in the last 20 years. It was also home to my Headin’ South (art by Kyle Strahm) in fall 2007. Not sure yet when the anthology is coming out or what its title is but, of course, I’ll post here when I know more.
(The image above isn’t from the anthology Bad Radio is in; it’s just some recent Negative Burn covers I liked. The images are, from left to right, by Michael Gaydos, Dominic Bugatto, and Tom Seelig.)
Monster Vols. 17-18, by Naoki Urasawa
Buy Monster Vols. 17-18 at Amazon
Books: 3-4/52
Getting Real, by 37signals
Book: 2/52
Writing Fridays
Heading into 2009, I’m also heading in my third full year of being a full-time freelancer. In my first two years, that’s meant writing for clients most of the time and trying to fit in time for my own writing on nights, weekends, and during desperately fleeting breaks in the flow of work.
That schedule for my writing has produced work I’m proud of - 21 completed Split Lip stories, a handful of other comics, a handful of magazine articles - but it’s not as much as I’d like to produce.
Talking About Comics
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been interviewed twice about my comics writing, especially Split Lip.
Evidently, I’d forgotten to mention that here, so here are the two pieces:
Ain’t I fascinatin’?
The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain
Buy The Postman Always Rings Twice at Amazon.com
Book: 1/52
What I Did in December 2008
Another installment in my regular series of posts detailing, in brief terms, my professional life for the previous month. Last month, I spent my work time doing the following:
For Schwadesign:
- Vein and Aesthetic Center of Boston - writing web content, preparing website expansion and content updates, project management
- Jobs for the Future - proposal writing
- BioProcess - project management + proposal writing
- Advocacy Solutions - rebranding
- Proposal writing for new 5 clients
For Creative Interiors:
- SEO research and implementation
For About.com:
- Lots of blog posts, new content, and creating holiday content
For Frame Media:
- InformationAppliance.com - blogging
- Setting my parents up with a FrameChannel account to use on their new digital frame
For .406 Ventures:
- Web project management, content updates
Writing:
- Submitted graphic novel proposal noted last month to non-comics publisher
- Began a new Split Lip script
- Cemented agreement with new Split Lip artist, approached another
- Provided art feedback for my two comics in the Work! anthology
- Continued work on secret eBook project
(The image above is a strategically obscured to-do list from, believe it or not, a slow week in December 2008)
What I Read in 2008
I set out at the beginning of 2008 to see if I could do something I’d never specifically tried to do: read 52 books in 52 weeks. This has been a pursuit of bloggers for years (I’m far from the first to attempt it), but as a pretty busy guy, but also one who reads a lot, I wanted to see how I stacked up.
Turns out, pretty well.
In 2008, I read 83 books. When I started the project, I worried that I might not make it to 52, which could have been embarrassing for a professional writer. Guess I don’t need to worry about that, eh?
Here’s how my 2008 reading broke down by type of book:
Non-Fiction: 14
Novel: 10
Short Story Collection: 4
Business: 1
I’m not surprised to see so many comics on the list (though I managed 52-in-52 with comics alone). After all, a 150-page comic can be read in an hour or two, while an equivalently long novel needs to be broken over a couple of days. I am surprised to see so many novels. I’ve been feeling a little disconnected from novels in recent years and have been preferring short story collections, so seeing that I read more than twice as many novels as story collections is a bit of a surprise.
For 2009, my reading goals are:
- Read more short story collections
- Up the number of business books to 3
- Drop back on comics a little, and make up the difference in prose
Around this time next year, we’ll see how I did.
(The photo above is of the bookshelves in my office. Not the only bookshelves in my house, but certainly the most heavily laden)
Site Redesigned
As promised earlier in the year, my site has been redesigned and relaunched. The content is primarily the same (for now), but the design is way different. I think I’ve worked out all the bugs and kinks in my customization of this theme (barring one or two that are out of my hands right now), but if you come across anything, please let me know in the comments on this post.
As the year goes on, I expect to add more functionality and features to the site to make it a little more exciting and interactive. As always, though, I welcome your input in the form of emails or comments on any blog posts.
Here’s to 2009!
