Exactly What Did I Accomplish In 2010?

February 22, 2011 will be the two-year anniversary of my completing my first novel.  I have yet to come even close to finishing my second.  That’s been weighing heavily on my mind, lately.  So, I thought I’d run down my various projects and wins from the past year.  Sure, it’s just a huge pat on the back, but what’re you gonna do, right?

• Wrote a chapter on Grim Wars, Book One
• Wrote a chapter or two on Corrupting Truth
• Wrote Double Date for Incubator Press
• Wrote Black Dawg for Viper Comic’s Cryptophobia
• Wrote several columns for ProjectFanboy.com
• Became an intern with Dark Quest Books and read numerous authors’ submissions
• Submitted Forging Truth to Dark Quest and a handful of other places
• Started a second entry to submit to Cryptophobia, entitled The Coyote and the Spider
• Tweeted like a mug!  Made friends and networked, too
• Read articles on my craft
• Developed a handful of future stories

What goals do I have for 2011?  The short answer is, pretty much, more of the same.  My birthday is June 30.  That’s the perfect benchmark, as it falls right at the midpoint of the year.  So, by my birthday, I plan on pulling off the following:

• Submit Forging Truth to no fewer than 25 agents/publishing houses (if it’s not snapped up by Dark Quest first)
• Submit The Coyote and the Spider and one of my own to Viper Comics
• Finish the first draft of Corrupting Truth

That’s probably enough, right?  That still gives me another half a year to kick some more tail.  Oh, and edit, edit, edit.

Happy 2011, everyone.

- Ray

Thank You Thursday – Willie Freeman

Ok, it’s Thank You Thursday on a Friday.  I started typing this during the day, yesterday.  I was going to finish the saved draft last night, but I got to playing around with some of my new birthday toys. 

Before I start, be sure to check out this website: http://incubatorpress.com/?page_id=2.

While their page is still being constructed, they have still managed to put together a list of awesome talent (including myself *ahem*). 

This, as you know from my previous blog post, is the homepage of Incubator Press ran by Willie Freeman.  Willie is a man who has grabbed hold of a huge undertaking and is trying his best to bring the beast down.  If he tames it, it’ll be wonderful for all involved.  If it refuses to be tamed, well . . . it sure won’t be for lack of trying.

For months now (and no telling how long behind the scenes), Willie has been chipping away at the standard comic publishing model.  It’s his goal to pickup struggling, novice writers and artists and give them the tools and support they need to get started in today’s market.  While not everything has gone super smooth for him, things are starting to pull together into a cohesive shape.

 So, thank you, Willie for doing this – not just for me, but for all the others like myself who have been craving this opportunity our entire lives. 

Next time, I’ll try to be on time.

- Ray

Zombie Double Date

Finally!  I can finally reveal the big news that I’ve been kicking around these past couple of months.

I am going to be featured in an upcoming zombie comic anthology series published by Incubator Press.

In April, I pitched Willie Freeman an idea based upon the guidelines he had established for a world where zombies have taken over, and we’ve really just started to realize how screwed we truly are.  He was gracious enough to take me up on it a short time later.  It is the first comic I’ve ever written, though I own over 6,000.

Double Date tells the story of a very ill-conceived double date set smack dab in the middle of a rainy, zombie-filled night.

So far, I’ve not been assigned an artist, and the publication date is still TBA, but I’m excited.  Hopefully you are, too.  Believe me when I say that I’ll be keeping you all updated.

In the meantime, please, check them (and me) out here.  I’m listed under Food Chain, Vol. 3: Omnivore: Double Date.

Also, I feel I can’t end this post without expressing thanks to not only Willie and Incubator, but also to Veronica Giguere.  She is a highly talented voice actress; and she’s the one who first turned me on to this opportunity.  You can check out her site here.  Veronica also designed the city of Charlton for Incubator’s gangster noir series.  If that’s not enough, she’s also the author of Keepers, a story from the first Food Chain book, drawn by Cristian Navarro.  Be sure to check them out, too.

Ok, see you in the funny pages,

Ray