Blog

Vitamin Constatntine

Optic House — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:19:08 +0000

Oatmeal w/ fresh raisins, warm cup of Apple cider, & a Hellblazer graphic novel… Now that’s nutritious breakfast.

Focals

Optic House — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:18:21 +0000

I've recently began wearing glasses again. I had Lasik surgery several years ago, but they tell you upfront, that it's not permanent. Over time, the effects of aging will take their toll and you'll still need vision correction as you approach middle age. The thing I find out is that my need is inconsistent. I generally use them for driving at night, although , what drove me to get them was the discomfort I experience on a daily basis, due to the long hours I spend in front of a computer for work.

Today, I'm noticing the oddly inconstant level of discomfort. For the first time in weeks, I'm finding myself at the computer with my glasses OFF, giving my eyes a break from vision correction. It's been quite the opposite for the month or two since I started wearing them again. Usually, I could only stand to use the compute for a few minutes at time, without them.

Considering I wrote an entire graphic novel about a character having vision problems, it's kind of a thing with me.

Super Spy

Optic House — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:14:22 +0000

Little more than half-way through Matt Kindt's Super Spy. Short gripping vignettes of betrayal, loss, and in rare cases, love, in the world of WWII espionage. So far, my favorite is Dossier #0141944, Sharlink "The Shark."

I'd tell you why, but that would ruin the story.

Double-Space

Optic House — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:48:20 +0000

Really having a hard time breaking the habit of double-spacing after a period. My mother forced me to take a typing class when I was in Seventh grade. I have discovered, since she acquired a computer and began using email regularly, that she is an inveterate hunter-pecker. Heavy on the "hunt." Clearly a case of "My child will learn what I did not." Mind you, I'm grateful in the long run, but it's funny that I never saw her type until the past five years. I love my Mom dearly, but watching her type is writing equivalent of holding your buddy's hand through an adult circumcision.

I ended up getting an "A" in the class, but I did it by cheating and looking at the keyboard. Who the f**k trusts Seventh graders with the honor system? Consequently, I exist in a literary limbo, halfway between Touch-Type and Hunt-Peck. I'm not fast, but I'm functional. It will have to do. My point, though, is that the typing class was instructed on typewriters, not computers. Double-spacing after periods is one of the legacies of old-school typing courses. It's the way I was taught and it continues to plague me today.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html

A Mind of it's own

Optic House — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 05:43:27 +0000

Writing a sequence for one of the later issues of Morningstar. One of the characters made a decision. I didn't make the decision, the CHARACTER did. It's going to force me to rewrite certain aspects of the story and I'm going to lose some scenes I was looking forward to, but I finally had that experience that so many writers talk about, where a character surprises you for the first time. I had a specific direction plotted and pointed out and the character rebelled. The irony that I'm writing a book about Lucifer rebelling against God is not lost on me.

It has given me a whole new perspective on plotting. I will freely admit that I'm a plot-driven storyteller, but I'm learning that when I'm having plotting problems, it may well be that I'm asking things of the character that are against their true nature. That's when I need to sit back and let them drive. Maybe it will take the story into a completely new direction. Maybe they'll get to where I wanted them, but they need to go about it their own way. I've read and listened to dozens of writer interviews, telling me in the clearest language possible, the exact thing I'm communicating now. But hearing about something and experiencing it first-hand are two massively different things.

I Should Be Writing Podcast

http://isbw.murlafferty.com/

The Creative Penn Podcast

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Point of entry

Optic House — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:33:17 +0000

I was interested in the X-men from the moment they appeared on an episode of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.

I didn’t start reading comics regularly until 6th or 7th grade, and even then, it was mostly Transformers and GI Joe. Still, I kept seeing ads in the back of the comics for all these magical unknown worlds… New Universe, Thor, and of course the X-men.

The first issue I ever picked up… Uncanny 247, the Issue where the X-Men get sucked into the Siege Perilous, fighting Master Mold. Looking back, probably not the best place to start, but screw it! I kept reading. And I loved Silvestri’s art.

Makes me wanna go back and find that old Amazing Spider-Man cartoon… and the Pryde of the X-Men special while I’m at it.

Where is my mind?

Optic House — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:32:31 +0000

I am the unreliable narrator of my own existence.

…or am I?

“I am gonna kick DC right in the balls!”

Optic House — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:35:53 +0000

@ 14:00 - Best Ralph Garman nerd quote ever.
http://smodcast.com/episodes/babble-on-san-diego-hob/

You let me violate you

Optic House — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:20:06 +0000

Everything’s got it’s price… I’m always 2 steps away from obsessive. Some would say closer.

Ape-free?

Optic House — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:18:31 +0000

Inking w/ thick bold brushstrokes and fighting like hell to not ape Tim Sale’s style