Issue 26: 2023 Roundup
The end is here! (Of 2023, that is...)
Greetings, friends!
I usually try to kick these things off with an amusing anecdote that has happened recently. However, I’ve been bombing you all with chapters of my sci-fi/adventure graphic novel Awry, and while I’m totally giving you something for free, I actually have an immense amount of guilt built up for sending out messages so regularly. After all, one doesn’t want to wear out a welcome.
Instead, let’s get to the 2023 roundup and call it a year, huh? Thank you for being a subscriber. Thank you for reading or purchasing my work. Thank you for being supportive. Thank you for being you. See you in 2024.
What happened last issue?
It was Thanksgiving, so I showed some gratitude!
Issue 25: Thanks to YOU!
In this issue:
Farewell 2023!
Hello 2024!
2023 in Review!
The main accomplishment for 2023 was bumping up the font size on all of my computer programs so I can actually read the text. My eyes just aren’t what they used to be, after all.
I decided it might be fun to review the past year based on the predictions that I shared with you in last year’s 2022 Roundup newsletter.
COME ON. IT’LL BE FUN. It’s time to get all introspective!
What the heck am I going to do in 2023? Gosh, I really have no idea.
IT’S SO TRUE! I didn’t know what I was going to do in 2023. I usually have some kind of professional game plan, but I went into 2023 rather “blind.” Luckily, things happened which helped me to chart a course.
I’m not necessarily one for goals, especially since the world has become extremely unpredictable in so many aspects. I mean, one minute you’re trying to get to the end of a story, and the next, you’re stuck in a hotel for days on end.
I said this because at the time of writing it, I had LITERALLY BEEN STUCK IN A HOTEL FOR DAYS ON END. Gosh, how do you handle all this funny that I throw at you?
In a perfect world we’ll get issue #2 of The Obsoletes out there, especially considering that it’s already drawn and just needs inked/colored/lettered). I hope to see issues #7 and #8 of Unit 44 also released, which will bring season 2 to a close. I’ll keep my fingers crossed we can also get issues #9 and #10 out into the world as well, kicking off an exciting season 3.
How’s that for a twist? The two things I predicted here actually came true!
The Obsoletes #2 was published via Silverline Comics, and issues #7 and #8 of Unit 44 were released through Alterna Comics!
I hope we can find a publishing home for The Oddity, and through that experience I’ll learn about a new market, meet new people, and hopefully align myself with some solid people in the publishing world.
No takers on Molly’s Oddities YET, but I’ll continue submitting the sample pages and script to literary agents in the first quarter of 2024.
I’m aiming low so that I can only impress myself.
I aimed low, and I DID impress myself. How about that?
There’s other stuff I’d like to do, to write, to experience… but why put all that pressure on myself to achieve it? Perhaps that’s my overarching goal for the year… I want to work on stuff that’s fun and interests me. So that’s what I shall do. I encourage you to do that as well.
WAY TO NAIL IT, WES OF LAST YEAR! If I had any sort of marching orders for myself headed into 2023, they were to work on things that interested me, and I totally did that!
I wrote the script for the Molly’s Oddities graphic novel and put together a pitch package with Aleks Jovic, one of my all-time favorite collaborators. I wrote five new scripts for Unit 44, which is my favorite thing in the entire world to write. I wrote nearly half of a novel featuring a story that I desperately wanted to tell. I wrote my first book for mega-publisher Penguin Random House. When I cut loose a bunch of freelance contracts and projects over the last couple years, I told myself I was doing so in order to write things that I wanted to write. And you know what? I totally accomplished that.
So, in a weird way, by not having a plan going into this year, I improvised my way into a plan. And that is oddly satisfying. GOOD JOB, WES.
2023 Reading List
I consumed 32 books across 2023! However, I had to shorten the list below because nearly half of what I read was research for upcoming titles that haven’t yet been announced. (Thank goodness those research books were highly interesting!) Did you read any of these? What did you think of them?
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (This’ll be a movie soon, from what I understand. I’m eager to see how the director and cast pull it off!)
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (I first read this in middle school—7th or 8th grade?—and remember really enjoying it. It still holds up, but dare I suggest that the film might be… better?)
Smile by Raina Telgemeir (I’m late to the party, but I see what the fuss was all about!)
Final Chapters by Jim Bernhard (How did your favorite authors die? FIND OUT AND BE DEPRESSED.)
Boss Fight Books Presents: PaRappa the Rappa by Mike Sholars (I read every book Boss Fight Books puts out. Each title is tons of fun. This was no exception.)
Embed with Games by Cara Ellison (Cara Ellison is such an amazing journalist that it fills me with jealousy.)
Where Are Your Boys Tonight? by Chris Payne (The oral history of emo music breaking into the mainstream. Took me right back to 2000/2001. Simpler times.)
That will Never Work by Marc Randolph (The birth of Netflix as told by the man who birthed it. Super fascinating.)
This is a Call by Paul Brannigan (The history of everyone’s favorite musician, Dave Grohl.)
The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman (A wonderful assortment of nonfiction and essays from one of the best nonfiction and essayists—and fiction writers!—around.)
Writer Tells All by Robert Masello (Author Robert Masello discusses his life in the author/publishing world. This fella has a wonderful voice.)
Thrill Me by Benjamin Percy (Loved this book. Wrote about it in my Favorite Books on Writing: Part II.)
Robert’s Rules of Writing by Robert Masello (I was on a Masello kick. The authors lays out [his] writing rules to live by. A quick, entertaining read.)
This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley (I read it, and then this year I wrote half a novel, so it must have been inspiring.)
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix (Love me some Grady Hendrix. Last year I had sort of a lukewarm response to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, but this book was a bonafide winner. We Sold Our Souls is still my favorite!)
Pop Classics: Let’s Go Exploring by Michael Hingston (A quick and critical look at the work of Bill Watterson and the impact of his famous comic strip, Calvin & Hobbes.)
Pop Classics: Down, Right, Plus Circle by Cole Nowicki (A quick and critical look at the impact of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game series.)
Pop Classics: Ain’t No Place for a Hero by Kaitlyn Tremblay (A quick and critical look at the impact of the Borderlands video game series.)
2023 in Media!
I think I have a problem. Despite spending 40 hours a week writing for my day job at a video game studio, and the time I spent atop that writing various freelance projects, any other time I have leftover is usually dedicated to writing something that I want to write. And when I really want to disconnect my brain, I pick up a book before turning on the television. I’ve said it before, but it’s a sickness, this writing thing.
Because I spend so much time buried in words, I don’t always put a lot of effort toward things like television or movies. Don’t get me wrong—I watch stuff with my wife a few nights a week. Sometimes it’s just noise. Other times I get totally engaged. But it’s rare for me to see a movie that has come out the same year. It’s rare for me to play a video game that won all the accolades and awards. It’s rare for me to even see a TV show without it being spoiled for me simply by using the internet.
Now, despite that disclaimer, I can tell you that when I did need to shut off my brain in 2023, I booted up Marvel Snap on my phone.
I do love a good documentary and found that my attention was thoroughly rapt at Netflix’s Fear City: New York Vs The Mafia.
When the second season of The Bear dropped on Hulu, I dropped everything to watch it (and enjoyed every second of it).
Just last week my wife filled a quiet Friday night by putting on the new Gran Turismo movie, and I got TOTALLY SUCKED IN despite not knowing the true story on which it was based and having zero desire to watch it. (It’s fun being wrong!)
It’s possible that on the way to drop off or pick up my daughter from school, I listened to an inordinate amount of albums such as 15 Years by Into It. Over It. and One More Time… by Blink-182.
So, there. I was a good a consumer, see? I consumed.
All that said, media suggestions are welcome! If you have things that you saw/read/experienced that you loved, drop a comment and tell me about it!
2024 in Preview!
So, what the heck am I doing with myself in 2024? (Especially now that I’ve realized that bumbling my way through 2023 brought me professional happiness and creative satisfaction?)
GOOD QUESTION, YOU.
Here’s what I have on my to-do’s:
Publish Unit 44 #9 and #10.
These two issues are complete and have been submitted to the book’s publisher, Alterna Comics. They’ll be part of a crowdfunding campaign in early 2024 and will be in your hands sooner rather than later. Then, I hope to make more issues. #11-14 have been scripted and series artist Aleks Jovic is just waiting for me to give him the green light. (I mean, Aleks isn’t waiting waiting. He’s drawing other stuff for other people, but you know what I mean…)
Publish The Obsoletes #3
I hope to get (at the very least) the third issue of The Obsoletes out via Silverline Comics. It’s a slower process than I’d like, but I look forward to rallying the troops to see this one out the door. Maybe we can even sneak the final issue out as well!
Release a new video game.
The game company where I work has spent the past two years working on a new game. While NDAs prevent me from saying anything about anything, there’s a big chance the title might see release in the new year. Always exciting to have a new game ship!
Write more books for young readers.
I’ve been very fortunate on this front. Last year as I dipped my toe into the world of young readers nonfiction (ages 8-12), I found a wonderful group of people to work with, and really enjoyed the projects I was assigned. These aren’t throwaway projects, either. They’re written for children at an age where they’re exploring their own interests and hobbies independently. If I can encourage them to learn and—most importantly—to keep on reading when it’s so easy to stare into the pixels of a screen, then sign me up. I’m currently contracted for two additional projects with Penguin Random House, but I hope that is not an end, but just a beginning.
Finish the novel.
I really, really, really wanted to get a first draft of my in-progress novel done before the end of the year. However, I quickly fell victim to the holiday jitters, stressors, and time-consumers that come with the end of a year. December was pretty much a wash on this front, but I’m still interested in the story and looking to get back to drafting after the calendar flips over.
Write the next thing.
There are so many “things” that this could be. Comics. Nonfiction. Novels. Other… stuff. I have an entire notebook page just full of ideas I WANT to bring to life. But as it usually works in my world, the more I want to do, the more interesting and exciting opportunities pop up, and I’m always forced to choose whether to accept those opportunities or not. (I get in my own way better than anyone I know!)
***
Perhaps the goals detailed above aren’t the loftiest you’ve read in the many 2023 roundups that have gone out this month, but they’re all very ATTAINABLE. I’d rather have goals that I know I can reach than set impossible standards for myself and then feel all guilty come this time next year. Wouldn’t you?
Are you checking out Awry?
A few weeks ago, I started serializing one of my backlist graphic novels—a sci-fi/adventure story called Awry (co-created with artist Graeham Jarvis)—and it’s totally FREE to read! If you’ve been enjoying the ride, wonderful! If you haven’t given it a chance yet, get started with chapter 1!
Happy New Year!
I’m Wes Locher. I’ve been writing professionally for more than a decade. I write comic books, video games, fiction, and nonfiction. I write whatever seems fun, cool, and inspiring. I also love helping other writers to demystify the process of making a living through words. This is my newsletter.