With summer drawing to a close, it means it’s time to get off my summer schedule and back to my regular one. Problem is, my regular schedule doesn’t fit what I have coming down the pike.
Presently, I have six books in production and each one needs my attention. I’m finally at that stage where I don’t need to multi-task with them but can work on them one at a time. This will speed up release.
But I want to write. I want to get started on THE BATTLE OF POWER trilogy in THE AXIOM-MAN SAGA.
I’m going to have to spend some think time on this because the variables between my professional life and my personal one don’t always flow together.
Bottom line is I want to get writing and just focus on that.
I’m feeling much better. The lingering effects of covid have lifted. I’m still not 100% due to other issues but the brain fog is gone and I’m getting things done.
All is on schedule for the summer releases, including GIGANTI-GATOR DEATH MACHINE: TRIPLE FEATURE.
Unfortunately, I won’t get the Axiom-man books done in time for comic con. I can write fast enough but it’s the publication lead time that’s the problem.
I’m going to still keep working, though. One step at a time.
Having been so focused on getting books out to you, a lot of little things have piled up both professionally and personally. Today I’m working my way through a laundry list of to-do items like drafting up this week’s issue of THE CANISTER X TRANSMISSION.
I won’t likely get it all done and I have a class tonight. By the time that’s over, it’ll be time to wind down before bed.
Anyway, sometimes you need to set aside a day to play catch-up.
I haven’t blogged here in nearly a year, which makes me a hypocrite because I used to stress blogging fairly frequently. Thing is, I fell ill again and had to put a full stop on most things while I recovered. I was able to pick at odds and ends but wasn’t able to get back into the full swing of things.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been as productive as ever and finally brought some book stuff out of the darkness and into the light. I did a lot of work and the following is an update as to where my various projects are at.
In no particular order:
Giganti-gator Death Machine: Triple Feature – with the editor. The Canister X Transmission: Year Four – with the formatter. The Canister X Transmission: The Long Year Five – with the formatter.
Expected release: Summer 2022
Reissues:
Blood of the Dead – with the formatter. Possession of the Dead – with the formatter. Redemption of the Dead – beginning of final proofread. Surprise Project – In pieces but not in a bad way. Just need to assemble everything and write something for it.
Expected release: Fall 2022
The Axiom-man Saga:
The Summoning – to be written soon. Episode No. 4: Transformations – to be written. New Dawn – to be written.
These three Axiom-man books will be written back-to-back because these three stories are The Battle of Power Trilogy, so essentially one story told over three parts. My goal is to have them out by Winnipeg Comic Con in the fall. I know the above looks like a lot and overshooting the year but you have to remember what these projects are and how close each one is to being finished.
Other items:
Fredrikus – I have one episode inked and ready for scanning. The comic is temporarily on the backburner while I finish up the above. The Canister X Transmission: The Very Long Year Six – I plan to resume the newsletter at a later date. I want to wait until I’m fully back up and running so I have something to write to you every week. YouTube – I have a package here at Axiom-man Central that I want to do an unboxing video for so look for that soon. I also plan to make more videos once I’m fully back in the saddle. Canister X – I’ll blog when I can and when I have something to say.
And there you have it: A complete picture of what’s happening with various projects on the go. Let’s hope my health keeps up.
One of the things we’ve been reviewing around here is our intake of information from our interaction with the Web.
I’m old-fashioned and struggle with everything having to be on a screen–whether for work or play–so to help myself, I’ve entered Mostly Broadcast Mode when it comes to social media. This has cut down on the chatter and done wonders for my mental health. I also get my news directly from the source via a few news apps I have on my computer phone. Other sources of incoming data come from a good old-fashioned newspaper focusing on local news. For websites, I have an app on the computer phone called Read (which I discuss here) and it’s a way to log the websites and blogs I regularly visit and be notified when a new post shows up. Most of them I can read directly on the Read app, which then eliminates the urge to surf the Web.
The idea here is to stay informed while also watching my Web time so I can spend more time making things for you guys.
Yes, the irony of having a blog (on a screen) and a webcomic (on a screen) and a YouTube channel (on a screen) doesn’t escape me. I’m just doing my best to adjust to the Digital Frontier as best I can after having taken some time away from it.
I’m finding the older I get, the harder I find change, but I also realize I need to embrace change to some degree in order for this whole multimedia A.P. Fuchs experiment to work.
Like I’ve been saying lately, one thing at a time.
Driving a tired and sleepy car today, but the show must go on. Did today’s work on Project Rebuild. Now I’m doing this. Then onto something else afterward.
Assuming the world doesn’t explode by end-of-week, on Friday I’m scheduled to speak with someone who understands the Matrix better than me and we’re going to do some behind-the-scenes work on this blog to turn it into the on-line machine I need for going forward (which basically means taking what’s here and doing some back-end stuff to achieve what I hope is the final step in my media machine model). If the blog gets a little screwy on Friday or, potentially, the days leading up to it because I decide to monkey around, just hang tight.
In the meantime, stay safe. Stay healthy. Eat right. Rest right. It’s all any of us can do to ensure we are as healthy as possible for the days ahead.
Side note: The latest Patreon article is written and will be uploaded after final review. The topic is what to do if you’re feeling your arts career is sinking. Part one of two. Read it here by subscribing to the Essays tier. Also gets you access to all uploaded chapters of Gigantigator Death Machine. Thank you in advance for your support.
Outside, it’s cool and gray, but all is well here at Axiom-man Central. We’re taking care of some things on the personal front and are still working on things on the professional front.
Saturday’s newsletter is written and ready to go outside its pre-send proofread.
After years of putting it off, I’m stepping down from being solely an author. “Solely” being the operative word. The book publishing industry rewarded me in the ways I needed, taught me the things I wanted to learn, and helped me meet the types of people I wanted to meet, both creator and reader alike. And while true that since I’ve been back from being ill, I’ve taken on the mantle of writer/artist instead of just writer, I thought it’d be a fair thing to tell you what the current road map looks like career-wise so I don’t accidentally mislead you.
This is the general plan:
2020 is a year of rebuilding hence Project Rebuild. Throughout the course of the year–with the very end of the year being the ideal-but-flexible deadline–I’ll be bringing my book list into the 21st century and will release a new thing or two along the way. And it will take the whole year or potentially more because I have a lot of titles and all this takes time.
Going forward in 2021, I have a few books that are done that need releasing so those will be tended to as well as finishing off some works-in-progress to wrap them up.
While the above two are occuring, I’ll be spending most of my time and energy devoted to making comics. Comics are what started me on the publishing path and are a great love of mine. In short, writing books will be a secondary thing compared to the comics.
All I want to do is finish the last bit of my book publishing life and make comics going forward.
For Axiom-man fans, don’t worry. Lots of prose adventures coming. I’m referring to my non-superhero work.
I also need to point out something to my readers that needs to be taken into consideration: I’m still sick. I’m much better than before, but even when I started up again at the end of last August, I was operating at around 65-70% capacity. Going hard at 1000mph has dropped me to about 50% on a good day, 40-45% on every other day. Each day I come to the keyboard, I’m not healthy on multiple levels, but I work anyway because making art and stories is what I do and it’s what helps me survive. All I’m saying is I’m changing things on various levels so I don’t keel over and die one day in the middle of a script or while drawing something. It is also important to point out that my shift to comics isn’t about accommodating for being unwell. It’s about looking ahead to my deathbed when I’m lying there and looking back. I know I’ll regret it if I don’t do comics and since time is the most valuable thing on this earth, I want to spend it doing something I love.
