Submet Industries

Can 2015 be here yet?

I don’t mean to be ungrateful. 2014 has been great for me. It was the year Danica and I got another cat, took a wonderful three week vacation in Connecticut, got engaged, and then married. It will probably go down in my personal history books as one of my biggest and best. That said, with the year coming to a close, I find myself eager for new challenges.

My employment at Wizard’s Comics comes to an end on December 31st, 2014. After that? Something really crazy starts. Something that I can not wait to start working on properly instead of in half-measures.

And yes, this is a tease of a post. If I’m being perfectly honest, I’m writing this more for me than anyone else. I need to let a little steam out to deaden the pressure that’s building. I need to spill words onto a page so that others can have room in my brain. I need to do something while I float about accomplishing far too little by design and necessity.

2015, get a god damn move on.

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”

-T.S. Elliot

After over eight years of general work, and four spent as store manager, I have tendered my resignation at Wizard’s Comics, effective December 31st, 2014.

This is not a decision that came easily. I love the shop and the people who frequent it. In addition, the owners have been very kind to me over the years, going above and beyond to help me out when various stresses started to overwhelm. My leaving Wizard’s is not a comment on the owners, the business, or the people who frequent the store – it’s a statement about myself, and what I want to do with my life.

Over the next few months, I’m going to be preparing for the next phase of my life. I can’t really tell you all much about it yet, but in the new year, I will continue to be a part of the comic book community. I’m not leaving, so much as adjusting my position within it, and as such, I’m hoping to become a much more powerful advocate for the medium.

Naturally, there will be a few more announcements to come. Those precious few who know more specifics, I’d appreciate it if you kept the information close to your chest. I can’t wait to share everything with all of you, but the timing of announcements is crucial for the next big thing, and I’m already scared enough.

Thank you all, for everything. We’ll talk again soon, I’m sure.

In year’s past, I’ve tried to do the whole NaNoWriMo thing to varying degrees of success. Last year, I made it to almost 20,000 words before stalling – a failure given the scope of the project, but a success in many other ways. I now have a bit of foundation for a series I’ve been planning to do for a few years, and a bit of working history for a whole I’ve wanted to bring to life for even longer, so that’s pretty cool.

I’m not going to try to do NaNoWriMo this year. Between upcoming projects and current commitments, I’m stretched pretty thin as it is. That said, I’m still making it my mission to hit 50,000 words by the end of the month, through posts like this, and my work over at Comics! The Blog and Comics Beat. If I’m feeling really ambitious, I might even write some short fiction. Who knows? Regardless, I will be writing this month, and I will be writing quite a bit. Some of it might even be good. One can hope.

• Tomorrow, I’m going to post about that time that I got married. By the way, you guys, I’m married now. I’m somebody’s husband. Specifically, the wonderful Danica LeBlanc’s husband. She wrote a wonderful piece about the day on her blog, and you should definitely check that out.
• Today was a day off, which probably meant I should have been writing. Instead, I went into work for a bit and fielded a call from the shop owner that got me fairly riled up. I’m sorting through what the consequences of that call might be. Suffice to say, the next little while might be very interesting.
• A big box full of Kyle Starks showed up at the homestead today, and all of Edmonton should be able to get their hands on it soon! Stay tuned for details…
• Comics! The Blog got a bit of a redesign over the past week, and content is gearing back up after a lull. Look for a lot more in the near future.
• It’s bed time. Time for bed. Night all.

And of course, I haven’t written a thing on this vacation. Not really. I usually have grand plans for getting stuff done, but I keep forgetting: I’m on vacation. My mind is pre-tuned to a more relaxing mode, and that mode is never in the mood to analyze or organize thoughts. So hey, check it out! Words!

*We’ve been a bit of everywhere so far, mostly hanging out in Connecticut with short trips out to Cape Cod in Rhode Island (for fun) and Ontario (for fun and family and friends). I actually met Scott Williams in person for the first time ever. By my count, we’ve been working in similar circles going on… 13 years now? Which is insane. He’s a great dude, and just as awesome and funny in person.

*Connecticut is a wonderful place. It’s everything Edmonton isn’t, which isn’t a slight to Edmonton – it’s just the point of a vacation is to go elsewhere and experience something outside of your regular realm of experience. This is definitely that. Beautiful old houses are everywhere, and everything is just so spread out. It’s great.

*And yes, I’ve been ruminating on a few articles. I mean hey, Marvel is apparently trying to get people to go deep on AXIS in order to trade in unsold copies for future Avengers variants. I have opinions on that. There’s also a few half finished things ready to go. So the first week back should be buckshot in terms of content and writing.

*And uh hmmmm…. What else, what else…

Oh right! I’m engaged! I was going to toss up a picture there, but it doesn’t look like my site will let me at this point, for whatever reason. Disappointing. Anyway, as of a week ago, the wonderful Ms. Danica LeBlanc agreed to marry me, and I’ve been grinning like an idiot ever since. I’m ridiculously happy, and having the time of my life. Vacation ends on Thursday, and while it’s always great to come back home, I’ve had a wonderful time, and the last few days look like they’ll be pretty great as well. Talk with you all later.

1. Trying this out on the iPad, with nothing more than the formatting options that the WordPress app has to offer. I’m pondering a bit of a chronicle of the upcoming vacation, and figured ease would be the key. Low formatting, high content, blah blah blah. Consider this a test.

2. We’ve arrived back home after my sister’s wedding, and while there are definitely stories, they’ll probably happen later or not at all. I was the MC at the reception, and that was a bit of a task, but the whole day went relatively well, and my sister looked happy and wonderful, and that’s really all I could ask. Her husband is a great guy, and I’m glad to have him and his son (and my nephew) be a part of the family.

3. Speaking of weddings, no writing was accomplished this weekend. Oh and also, Danica and I will be attending another wedding this coming weekend. And then it’s time for vacation! Aaaaand I’m still writing what I can for the lovely internet. Ah, the crazy times. I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

4. Speaking of writing, I think I have a decent schedule happening for Variant Edition, one that I hope to maintain while we’re off on vacation. It won’t be anything I’m going to push too hard – the point of a vacation is to relax a bit – but hopefully, it should help get things moving a bit smoother in that regard.

5. This week at Comics Beat: an article about using the power of comics retail responsibly, and that Archie piece, again, probably.

More to come…

And he disappears for a while. Of course he does.

1. A couple of weeks ago, I posted a piece on Archie Comics over at Comics Beat and the damn thing disappeared. There are reasons for this that I may or may not discuss later, but keep an eye out for a similar article to go up early next week.
2. This weekend, I will be attending my sister’s wedding, and man, I’m already stressing. I’m not even a big part of the wedding. Or well… I think I’m supposed to play a piano song at some point and I’m definitely supposed to MC the supper. So there’s that. But as for planning? Not so much. Anyway, still a little stressed, as we have this wedding and another to attend before we head off on our vacation and time is… condensing? I think. It’s weird.
3. I’ve set some impossible goals to hit in terms of content. I think it will help me focus on doing some things, if not all things, and help me keep on track. I mean, if I aim for the impossible, but can be pleased with what amounts to a decent amount of content, that’s still good, right? Right.
4. I started Variant Edition last week, and I didn’t post about it here. There will be something more substantial about it tomorrow, mark my words. MARK THEM.

And I’m out. We’ll talk soon, I promise. Almost definitely. Probably. Maybe.

Not quite a month away from the personal blog. Sadly, this is better than my usual attempts. Shall we?

01. July sees the building of personal insanity to a fever pitch. I’ve become quite enamoured with using my birthday as a personal launching point of sorts, taking the opportunity of ticking ever closer to the unending void to regroup and conquer a new year. In the past, the results have been mixed. I suspect this year will be more of the same. However.

02. Keep an eye on Variant Edition for some very exciting news. As it stands, I’m counting down to the site’s launch on August 1st on various bits of social media. In the five days running up to the launch, I’ll be unleashing the premise of the thing, and what I hope to accomplish with it… for the immediate future, anyway. As always, stay tuned for more.

03. My articles over at Comics Beat keep running. I usually aim for one in depth piece a week, alongside several smaller bits, as it fits my purview. Expect links to a piece on how and why some launches and relaunches work, and why others explode on the runway.

04. As for Comics! The Blog? It’s still humming along. You’ll notice that many of the regular features have disappeared slowly over the past while. I doubt that will change any time soon – the creative juices, they are changing, and there are some personal circumstances that are preventing the blog from functioning at full capacity. I should note: this doesn’t mean things won’t keep going there, nor does it mean that James and I still aren’t interested in doing the bloggity things or hanging with each other. Nothing has changed on the WHY we do the site, just maybe the HOW. Look for bigger and better as we go.

05. As for this blog? I think I’ll finally start using it for what I intended – a catch all for my stuff, as well as the occasional exclusive article. It looks like more and more of my efforts will be focused on a wider variety of sites soon enough, so it will be nice to have a place that acts as a nice firm glove, catching all the… articles that… baseball metaphor. But yeah, like I said, we’ll see how that goes. Until tomorrow, good folks…