August 31, 2005
A Thing Called Priority
I would like to inform you all that the story of my intended comic book is taking form already. See, I plan this to be an epic; something that would run for two years at a rate of one book per month. Photocopied of course, unless I find a financer (or somebody volunteers to be).
Hopefully I finish conceptualization by the third week of September. That means I've got enough weeks to finish the first issue in time for the Comic Convention this October. I wouldn't worry if I'd planned a three issue mini-series, but I'm not doing that. This is an epic, with lots of stuff going on. I've never done a comic book of epic proportions before, so this is going to be a challenge. Still, It's decided, and that's what's going to happen.
I haven't written anything about anything since I've found my copy of Civil War 2 Generals and decided to play a few battles. It's a very old game that I bought around '97, and it's the only game I consistently play. I am very much fascinated with that kind of battle: men lining up in a row marching in an open field to meet their adversary in a similar formation, loading their guns and firing on the enemy, the enemy receiving the bullets without flinching and fires back. How do these people just stand and wait for the bullets? What kind of leadership and principle existed in those days that made such an action possible? Amazing.
In ancient times the inhabitants of what would then be called the Philippines took their swords and went head-to-head with Spanish conquistadors, probably under the same state of mind as the Civil War soldiers. Unfortunately, a game featuring the Philippine - Spanish/American/Japanese war has not been created yet.
I have three new stories due this September. Maybe this time (if I stop playing games) my submissions would be accepted.
August 26, 2005
Kinda Lost Track of Things
I'm not writing. Instead, I'm helping a friend color comic books. Yes, that dreaded task of using the computer to place hues on two-dimensional characters with the hope that they would look more realistic. If it were up to me, I'd give the characters a good character description without actually describing them (or as most writers prefer to say, show and not tell). The things you have to do for money.
The site is still being updated. Yes, it isn't perfect. Yes, I know that the stories section should contain more than my testimony, and it will, after the weekend (I hope). I've got two deadlines next week, all involving poetry. Plus, I have to start writing comic book scripts again this September. And the comic book story I thought of doing a few days ago? 'Still on it.
And NaNoWriMo's getting closer. Ooh. Scary.
Now that all the problems are laid out, it's time to figure out solutions.
No Need to Click Here - Just working my Feedster.
August 24, 2005
While I Was Thinking
I was reading a textbook on economics when I got this idea for a comic book. It’s weird, because the story and economics are totally unrelated, but that’s inspiration for ‘ya: never know when it’ll come; it just does. So I spread out all my comic books to hopefully feed my inspiration and come up with a story that I could write and draw.
The biggest drawback I have is that I lost my drawing skills. I’ve opted to instead excel in writing and let the artists draw for me. Problem is, the artists I work with behave unprofessionally, and so there are only two comic books out in the market that I’ve written.
I want to do more but I don’t have artists! So this time I’ll eliminate that problem and draw the comic book myself (which brings in a different set of problems, like I’m not that good an artist). Think I can? Think I can’t? Stay tuned!
August 22, 2005
Trouble with the Website Again
There's going to be a praise night this first Sunday of October in our church. That's two hours of worship through songs to start of the month-long celebration of the church's 25th anniversary. It sounds fun, yes, but the music team only has a month to practice. So I've decided to divide the team into two: one to practice for the praise night, the other to play every Sunday during the service. That way I don't exhaust the team. 'Hope it works.
The team to play every Sunday will be composed of newbies - members less than a month old - to be supervised by two senior members, myself included. They're not that good musicians yet, and we're short of a drummer, which is why I decided to learn how to play the drums in a week.
And the world had just come to an end.
I figure that’s some very bad logic I just did.
I spent over eight hours cumulative fixing up the website, again. By some unknown procedure the greater than / less than (< >) signs of the Blogger tags were converted into its text representation (> <). Could you imagine spending eight hours just figuring out what’s wrong with your site, and find that it’s this just this small thing that’s ruining everything? I guess I should be thankful since it’s just something small and within my technical understanding of websites, but still. It’s like spending the whole day figuring out how to describe orange without saying “orange”. At least I enjoy it when I write, but programming, it’s just not me.
August 20, 2005
Back to Work
It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do. Yes, I feel much better now. And so, this is what I've been doing lately:
I encourage everyone to visit the komiks network website and download our mobile phone comics at http://www.komiksnetwork.com/k_kof.htm. Here the future King of Fon meets Yana for the first time, the daughter of the High Priestess of Hor. Go on, have a look. Other downloadable comics are also available including Lyndon Gregorio's Go-Beerkada and Syeri Baet's Carpool,
The blog has links on the right side of the site, the links being some of the sites where I'm at such as faithwriters and emanilapoetry. However, the sites I want to link up with increases, and I've decided to feature this in a separate blog at erwinrobledo-links.blogspot.com. I've finised layouting the page. I should have set it up by the end of the week.
August 18, 2005
Didn't Make the Cut
I want to tell you guys that my story would be published, but I can't. I love to say that it's no big deal, but it is. Yes, my Monday adventure didn't pay off, and there's nothing to do but shrug my shoulders and sigh.
Of course, I'll continue writing. If anything, I'll be writing more. Wow, and I thought that I was good. Oh well.
So the next project is a set of haikus and more poetry. Also in the list is a fiction book about the music team in the church.
There's a lot more to tell, but the rejection overwhelms my desire to share. Maybe tomorrow.
What Happened on Monday
It took me this long to write about it. Did I kill the tension?
Ok. So there I was, with only 200 words written down and 3,300 words to go, and how many hours left till five, which was my set deadline. I was working as hard and fast as I could and the best I could do is five hundred words per hour (that, considering grammar, punctuation, plot consistency and so on). Five o’ clock arrived and I still had 800 words to write. Should I quit? Is this the end of everything?
When you’ve written almost 80 per cent of the content, you don’t quit. It didn’t matter if I couldn’t publish it anymore (it’s my fault anyway, the project was announced last month); the thing is, I’m doing this because I’m a writer, and I am definitely enjoying the story. You know that feeling when you’re just about to work and you’re like, “Oh this again. Boo hoo,” and then later after doing a few lines you can’t leave your work? That’s exactly what happened. I submitted my story around 8 in the evening, via email. Hey, you want a sample?
Jose thought it strange for a half-American, half-Filipino living in the States to be interested in Philippine history more than anyone he had ever encountered, with the exception of his history teachers and an author he had met during a field trip some years back, and those were enough reasons to be interested in a country. Amanda was neither; she was a high school sophomore who swims, skates, watches TV, and plans to study psychology, get a decent job, get married, have kids, and live happily ever after.
They met in a Pinoy chatroom. Amanda appeared an hour after Jose logged in and immediately began asking about the Philippines, its history and present situation, and other interesting trivia. The other chatters were eager to help, and soon the discussion shifted from everybody’s asl’s to a comparison of the socio-economic condition of the country from the present back to a thousand years ago. Jose, who had no inclination or interest in the subject, began looking at the profile of everyone in the chatroom. They were a regular group, all students like Jose living in different parts of the world having ordinary hobbies, except for one who used inline skates to cross a tightrope. One guy was a self-proclaimed rockstar. Another had nothing in her profile. Jose then absent-mindedly selected Amanda’s profile for review.
She was gorgeous! Her picture revealed a gracefully slim girl with dark, lustrous hair sleeping like a child on the milk-white curve of her neck and shoulders, parting to show a round, angelic face with a smile that released a thousand summers, eyes that were kind and innocent, and a nose delicately shaped to perfection. Seeing her webcam appearance confirmed that she was the same person in the picture, and Jose immediately sent her a private message.
I’m glad that’s over. Now it’s time for my poetry submission. Yes, I’ve learned my lesson. I’m starting that right away, after I’ve reorganized my computer files. I become messy when I procrastinate.
August 15, 2005
To Quit or not to Quit
I spent half the day talking to three people yesterday, one of my many jobs keeping relationships intact. It doesn't sound like a job though if you enjoy it, but I have a deadline to beat.
As I said, I needed to finish at least 3,500 words. As of now I have...490. I am so dead. Will I finish? Should I quit? Stay tuned!
August 13, 2005
No Rest Until Next Week
I've submitted my poem today via email, so there's nothing else to do but pray that all that hard work for one week wouldn't be wasted (translation: I want to win first place). The odds are against me though. Aside from my confessed inability to write good Filipino, there are a lot of talented people who'll be joining.
There's no use worrying now. I've got a 3,500 word deadline on Monday, and I have to figure out what to do in tomorrow's practice. Our official church keyboardist is back and will start playing again during worship through song. He'll be practicing tomorrow at 9; my commitment shouldn't be until 1 unless I feel bad for the team and practice the guitar with the rest of the team.
I have a 3,500 word deadline, and I haven't started anything.
This is because of me. Yes, I'm admitting the fault. It takes me anywhere from thirty minutes to two hours just daydreaming. Yes, I daydream for two hours. And the bad thing is, I forget everything when it's time to write about it.
The moral: dream during the night.
There are three links so far: emanila, faithwriters and isnare. I've placed some sort of content on each of the sites (isnare hasn't approved of my short story yet, still praying) and all that's left for me to do is write two more stories for this site. Then it's promotion all the way.
August 11, 2005
Yes, I'm Late
I've got a deadline tomorrow - one Filipino poem I've worked on for a week. A week, for one measly poem! And it's not even that perfect! If Rizal were alive, he'd give me the, "Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika..." lecture. Yes, I'm a disgrace. Oh, misery.
I'm changing some of the links among other things. Of course, you won't see the changes, I'm just stating the fact for the record. Sorry. In the next few days my blog would be a little bit more interesting. It's not a promise, just a goal.
Deadlines. And a lot of them. Oh, misery.
