What I’m Doing & What I’m Enjoying
It’s been a while since I last sent out a newsletter. I started writing this from the Substack app on Monday, so this might end up being a long one. I do apologize, I’ve been a little busy with:
Home repairs: We finally finished building that fence we started last year. I filled the yard with toys for the kids, plus a trampoline, but the wild fire smoke as prevented them from actually going outside and enjoying the yard. 🙄
I need to write up a list of repairs and renovations. I really don’t want to do anymore this year, but these are things I need to plan for before they become problematic.🏚️
“Age related” doctor appointments: I had some knee and hip pain. Apparently, I have arthritis in my left knee and right hip. Not what I was expecting, but at least I don’t need surgery. Still, it’s a little humbling that I’m not as young as I was.
The constant cycle of coming down with & recovering from colds: Now that school is out, the cold/COVID cycle has been paused. It really does help that we never leave the house anymore.
Stay @ Home Dad Stuff: These kids keep me on my toes. I’m back to drinking about a pot of coffee a day just to keep up with them. I tend to distract with baking muffins and banana bread or switching things up and making jello instead. One will have me read every book on the shelf twice by noon. The other wants me to play video games so they have a P2 all day.
What I’m Doing
Back in May, I started writing what I thought was going to be a critical article about AI. However, as I researched the subject, I started to come around on it, but maybe not in the way you think. Now I’m rethinking how I will do this. It may be a video essay instead.
My comic is still a work in progress. I’m getting impatient. I want to just start drawing and make it up as I go, but since this will be my first (and most likely last) self published comic, I want to get it right.
I printed off what I have of a novel I started writing back in 2020. I’m reading it with fresh eyes five years later, and I can see it needs a massive rewrite already. I want to save the editing for my second draft, but I’m not sure I can finish it if I leave it in its current state. I initially wrote it from a first person POV, but I think an omnipresent narrator might be a better option.
I’ve been revamping/rebranding my company website with an emphasis on our background as Canadian writers and artists. My business plan is getting the rewrite/rebrand next. I told my wife that I need to make a profit off of it before the end of 2026, or I’m pulling the plug and getting a “real job” again. Dear God, I hope it turns a profit!🤞🤞
What I’m Enjoying
I picked up volume one of Justice League International. It was expensive, but it’s also massive. You need to sit at a table to read it properly. These are some of my all time favourite comics. These were written in the 1980s & 1990s, and comics today still don’t hold a candle to them. I’m tempted to pick up the final two volumes and just quit comic collecting.
I recently started a new Tumblr account. I had one when Tumblr first debuted, and again around the time Twitter became X. I’m using it as an online notebook. I think “cool hunting” is the word to use for its purpose. MarkL.ca is the link. Tumblr is far more enjoyable when you don’t care about accumulating likes and followers.
Ozzy Osbourne passed away on Tuesday morning. I’m not sure why that hit me so hard. It occurred to me later in the day that the his concert with Rob Zombie for the Black Rain tour was the best concerts I’ve ever I’ve ever been to. I was seven rows away from the stage. Rob Zombie came out to our row, stood on someone’s chair and expressed disappointment that there weren’t more people dressed up for Halloween or being impressed with his stage decorations. Then Ozzy hit the stage and was running all over the place while singing his heart out. I couldn’t believe how great of shape he was in. My friends and I were winded halfway through, just from singing along and cheering. Meanwhile, this guy is bouncing around all over the stage. I left that concert incredibly happy before going to an incredibly sad party after. So, I looked up the set list and have been enjoying that. The only thing that bothered me about the concert was that it was called Black Rain, but he didn’t perform the song once throughout the show.
South Park. The latest episode will piss off a lot of people, but as far as satire goes, this one was a work of art. My wife hates the show, but even she loved this episode.
SDCC is going on right now. Back in the 1990s, I wanted to be there more than any theme park on the planet. Now, it is the one comic convention that I would never go anywhere near, just due to all all the densely packed people waiting in lines for everything. Still, it’s nice to watch the news from the show on YouTube.
That’s all for this week. Saw the Kindle Colorsoft is finally available in Canada. I’m colouring some of my old b&w comics so I can sell them on Amazon and Patreon as an ebooks that can be viewed on devices like this. I usually leave them b&w because colouring is my LEAST favourite part of the comic making process. Hopefully, I’ll have a preview page or two to share with you next week.
Take care,
Mark