Business Journal
September was the month for me biting off more than I could chew, and learning loads in the process. The result? First shot at getting my play on stage didn’t fall through. In the process, I learned how to manage a casting call, secure rehearsal space, and get people to show up (which is one of the main reasons why I started my website). I’m doing it myself. But I did get to see an actor bring my villain Desmondo to life. It was pretty amazing to see an actor interpret and animate a character I created. Seeing the actor interpret my work was really interesting. Desmondo performed is a different character than the one I intended him to be on the page. The actor kind of sympathized with Desmondo, he said that he sounded hurt, and when I saw him perform Desmondo, I could kind of see what he was saying.
10/7/2010
Sold the first issue of my comics in a few months. Whew! Dry spells are not good. Just doesn’t feel good.
12/11/2010
No Tyrant ever fears
His geologist or engineers
–Auden
(I think that is such a cool rhyme.)
I want to make a run for the stage in 2011. I’ve got all year.
12/12/2010
Future Joy
As the marvels of 2011 take flight, I see them disappear into the the brighter stars of tomorrow. And as things grow more and more bright, I hope that I am remembered with the love of a full heart. I feel the many letting goes of 2010 (it’s inevitable, when darkness passes everyone must chase the light within their life). Sometimes scary thresholds must be crossed to find the brighter paths of tomorrow. Although they are filled with light, sadly, I feel I will walk a few of them alone. I like it when paths cross. I like huddling through a dark winter like emperor penguins (the longing to be needed almost makes me wish for the dark). The world is such an interesting place.
12/21/2010
I lost my DVD case today and for the briefest second I thought: “I’ll just Google it.” I think I’m going to buy a new book tomorrow.
1/4/2011
I just got my saddle-stitched copy of “The Song of Lost Knowledge,” and they did a beautiful job with the book! It’s eighty pages long as a 6 by 9 novella. I did the cover art myself and the illustration came out pretty good. Me like to draw. Welcome, my second-born book and fourth-born baby, to the Riddle Verse Family.
I’m working slowly on my third comic book right now because I want to work on a few things other things as well. Happy New Year.
1/23/2011
The Lakers have stolen the crowd
From the beaches.
The bars roar loud
While the ocean preaches.
I dream of what a mere baby
Will go through,
The struggle and the fight
Of Youth.
With nearly fifty years till I am eighty,
Fifty years of hard work to do,
In truth,
Riddle Verse Comics will be
The only book I ever write.
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I know the prose of my previous post is a little raw.
I was trying to be humorous but came off like Keri Bradshaw;
So there is no need for hushing
When cheeks speak more through blushing.
1/27/2011
I posted new material on my home page. The soup of something new I guess. I colored it with Photoshop.
1/13/2011
I’ve started shopping around the synopsis for my screenplay, “When Gina Bounced.” Finally. I didn’t want to expose it to until it was ‘old and cold.’ I get a little reclusive when I make decision based on instinct. Putting myself out there is thrilling. I’m proud of my work. Having “When Gina Bounced” and “The Song of Lost Knowledge” finished is a huge sigh of relief. I don’t feel so feverish to finish…pant pant pant. I think I just needed proof that I really was a writer. Which is insecure but true. I’m starting to let them go. Sometimes I get whispers in the wind that my work is being read…it’s not like I know…but I do truly get the feeling. I’ve been living in L.A. for the past eight months and the city can be pretty thrilling as a whole. Just one long adventure. I like walking around with a stable of tales. “This is who I am,” I tell myself. When I first started, I was so thin skinned about my comicbook because I wasn’t sure what it was. Now I know exactly what it is. It’s my story. Pretty simple.
4/3/2011
I’ve been working on my second comicbook for a few months. I want to finish it by summer. Hopefully, I can get it into my favorite comicbook store. I need a new issue before they’ll carry the old again. Coo mang!
4/26/2011
To Those Who Whisper in the Face of Noise:
The more I indulge in the need to shout,
The more the whispers in the wind come out.
Perhaps the only things we ever know
Come from the voices of our own echo.
So if ghosts are watching, suspend all doubt,
I still write in deep artificial-night,
With no guarantees I’ll ever see light
(And keep your greedy little fingers drumming,
I’ve got a sweet-as-honey tale coming).
…if I can finish it. Everytime I start a new story I ask, why do I do this to myself? It feels like marching to Mordor with no one but Gollum to keep you company. I would run away if I knew another path. This thing will not be finished by summer.
4/29/2011
I posted a new illustration on my home page. If it looks good, I will be happy.
5/20/2011
I’ve been scratching away on my new comic book. It’s at that phase where I’m working on 15 pages at once and the script is mostly finished. I don’t know if I should call it a script but what I have does guide the illustrations. And then the illustrations feed back new pieces to the script, the thing gets layered like a bushido blade (like blended steel) and then one sterling day its done. Right now, I don’t have anymore finished pages but a bunch of pages that have continuity with each other, which is good. The book is gelling, thank Heavens. And I’ve been exploring my new city. Finding good Thai food and Boba and daring a foot in some cool bars downtown, for the most part, is how I spend my free time. I found an Irish pub that serves delicious $4 pints. As a whole, my life is gelling page by page and it feels good. I hammer through each chapter of my work week so that, later, I can thumb through the sweet breezy weekend.
6/8/2011
Rome was conquored with a poem and people wonder if its relevant. Would a father need a reason to love his child? Shsh. “Stand stable here and silent be.” You can almost hear the tree’s roots break through concrete.
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On a lighter note, I saw Prince at the Forum the weekend before last and I’ve never before been in the presence of such cool. Such intoxicating cool. Being a writer has its cool points but it isn’t exactly cool. I didn’t realize this until just recently.
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Well, I posted two new pages on my home page. The zombie-comic unfolds!
6/20/2011
I actually have really good news: I just got a table at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco! It’s going to be a great opportunity to market my little business and maybe sell a few issues of my book! Woo!
http://www.comic-con.org/ape/
7/3/2011
Books are to trees what bread is to wheat, made to be eaten.
I just bought an e-reader but I don’t think it’s as important as some people are making it out to be. I’m not saying don’t buy one, but what I am saying is still read books (it kind of feels like holding a nintendo controller). I’ll probably still use it when I go on vacation or if I ever take a trip to the moon and need to travel light.
8/6/2011
Hmm. I just crossed the halfway point with my new comicbook. I stapled a primitive copy together last night, my Neanderthal draft. I thumbed through it this morning and then once again on the beach and, though rough, it moved right along. It’s my Neanderthal draft. I think when I’m done with this book I’m going to start looking for a gig as a storyboard artist or maybe a writer’s assistant. Something like that. I wouldn’t mind being a part of a project of some kind.
8/24/2011
A wiseman once said, “All good things…” That was it.
His grasshopper just blinked at him like an idiot.
It was the classic battle of the nit-wit artist and his brother…bullshit.
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I posted a new panel on my homepage. It’s just a transitional picture but it’s pretty cool.
9/8/2011
I put the first two pages of my new comic book on my home page.
There is not enough hours in the day nor calories in the body to do what must be done. I don’t think I can wait much longer before I start a new project. I’m just going to have to work on several things at once. Ahm hoongry…
9/26/2011
My Products
This is the goods I’m going to bat with this week. I forgot to order promotional stuff like pens, pencils, and key chains (I am bouncing my palm off my forehead). It totally makes me want to do merchandise. Things like action figures. I’ve seen other comicbook guys do it. That’s thinking way ahead but I want to do books, merchandise, and a series of half-hour skits for the Song of Lost Knowledge. The series would be less “Lawrence of Arabia,” more “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” which is totally cool with me. A rhyming voiceover to set the scene, then all drama. I built these books without proof that it was possible. Why not a business? Now…back to reality.
10/04/2011
I think I’m going to start using my comic book page as an events journal. I posted a picture from the Alternative Press Expo there. I had a great week in San Francisco. I sold a few issues of both books, got some great ideas from other vendors, traded a few issues with cool dudes, and handed out almost 150 business cards for the website. I distilled everything at once. All of the pieces fit together and I am very happy because it could have been a shut-out if I didn’t get my table right. Simply to sit and write has never felt more peaceful. I can get back to a few dormant pieces now that I’ve created a successful event. I have a pretty clear picture of what I want and that picture is the guide in my life right now. The only promises I make are to myself.
10/26/2011
I’ve wanted to say hello to those who send hellos to me. So I do.
11/17/2011
I feel lost with new technology when I ask myself what it can do. When I ask myself what I can do with it, immediately, I feel myself grow. Comprehension, for me, begins with a sense of purpose. My point being, I’ve made my first important purchase.
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🙂
12/25/2011
[unintended crass omitted]
Merry Christmas.
1/7/2012
I’m resume work on my new comicbook. I inked the first page in months over dinner. It feels good to pick up the cold pages. I’m carrying around a few drafts of the same story, each draft contains elements of what I hope will one day be the final draft. I do that sometimes. I’ll write away on an older draft until it out evolves the newer one. The two drafts compete and that competition kind of creates the final draft. It also feels good to get back to writing verse, like stretching after a long road trip.
1/26/2012
Blank Slate Before Bed
Nothing new here aside from the occasional fun rooting around the westside. Aside from that, I don’t have anything to say. I feel comfortable leaving this post as a blank slate. However, I will say this much, I was intending to post today and I feel no need to contextualize the statement any further. Now I’m done.
2/20/2012
My new book is realistically a few months from being done. A dozen or so illustrations, twenty or so pages of coloring, a few pages of writing and it will be complete. I posted a few setting panels on my home page. They’re just chunks of a larger page but they were cataloged away in the folder “I’ll never get them painted,” so I wanted to post them.
4/2/2012
So I did it. Of course I haven’t finished the book but I did finish the first third which was the most important part. It introduces Shaman’s main foe, his compliment. He is a perfect compliment to my hero and I am very proud of the new characters I pulled together. The rest of the book is going to be action-packed entertainment. Now I just hope that the gods smile upon me and save their thunderbolts. I truly am spent. The irony of my life is that the joke is…and is not on me. So stay tuned for more secret conversations with Brandon Lund. This journal is just between us. Wink, wink.
5/23/2012
I was going to post last night but I was busy worrying. I’m here and I have absolutely no idea what dreams may come. Why do I move forward? I think just to say hello. I always end up wading through BS just to say hello.
9/4/2012
The best way to describe my life right now would be like trying to cross a lake, when you’re out just far enough that you can’t touch the bottom.
9/20/2012
[omitted]
9/28/2012
I’ve decided to take down my previous post; just because I don’t think it makes me a better person to write those things.
10/18/2012
The dream feels pretty real to me at this point. But I’m going about things in a very particular way. I want to guide the growth of something cool, which takes time if you want it done right. My house isn’t built, but I feel like I’ve laid some concrete. Sometimes I think that if an established institution amplified my voice I would have “proof” my house is real, but the fact that I didn’t ask anyone simply means my house is new. Some voices just tend to travel. They have legs and they travel. They amplify irregardless of intention. I just want to clarify the things I want to do so that others can do what they do…too.
11/1/2012
There is nothing wrong with asking for a little coin for your craft;
After years of toil, what’s a writer supposed to eat, the second draft?
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I’ve started working on a companion piece for my new comicbook, which is closer to completion. A few pieces came together and the new story looks cool and has a little momentum. I like to write like this, a few stories at a time. It helps me keep my thoughts organized to multi-task storytelling. My stage play compliments my comicbook and my screenplay compliments my novella, in terms of composition.
12/10/2012
You know that poem written by that one guy that talks about him wanting his creative tricks and techniques to be remember alongside his poems. It’s in that one anthology that’s really good. I completely agree. It ranks right up there with that ditty about old friends being good and new friends being good too. All good stuff. I’m totally reading old stuff right now, books that I have had a long relationship with, but I ‘m picking up some new ones that looking pretty damn illuminating in their own light.
1/9/2013
The delusional hero
Proclaimed: “I expanded the vocabulary of zero!”
The world did not even peep…
And the hero did not know whether to laugh loudest, or weep
Because inventing the number was already a done deal,
But to build a car one does not need to invent the wheel.
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Everybody has their respective powers, strong suites, and character. That’s what makes it fun and interesting. When people who can do different things still compete. You don’t always need to get along to still be respectful. I think that’s how you get results. Riddle Verse Comics is my character, my goal, my play and strong suite. I don’t always know what’s going on but sometimes I think, does it really matter? I’m pretty sure that’s the answer.
3/3/13
I’m thinking about starting a soft rock band called “International Love,” that’s going to be inspired by this graphic. “I Take Love Where I Can Get It” is going to be our first single.
4/21/2013
I wrote down on the back of a business card all of the things that I needed to make a successful booth to sell my books: bookstand, banner, tape, table cloth, sellers permit, things like that. Tape was actually one of those little things that I over looked that turned out to be hugely important. It actually took me awhile to figure out all of the little pieces to make it happen. I look back now, and it doesn’t seem quite so difficult. At the time, it was a little bit of an evolution to get there. I think that one of the keys to success is transferring life experience into knowledge and vise versus because, in doing so, both become aspects of your life.
5/12/2013
Recording the Nature of Wealth
My business journal is fast becoming a piece of writing that I am very proud of. Almost three years of consistent progress. Like Samuel Pepes. Sure it’s not literary gold but it’s a record that goes way back. Everyday I get a little bit done. Everyday. And the picture focuses everyday. I love it. A record of your life that goes way back is wealth. The difficulty is that wealth can draw sentiments that are not often appealing from others. This is something that I have struggled to learn (since I still work a day job). But I am starting to see how the work can have the same effect on people as any other form of wealth. It’s difficult for some people to understand because they can only see the work. But the picture for me is crystal clear because I’ve been doing it so long.
5/30/2013
I’ve decided to post the first three pages of my new comicbook, The Sepulture’s Destruction! The new pages are important for me because they introduce the adversary within my new book, Merc-Zero. I am content thus far.
9/3/2013
This is the first chance I’ve had in a few months to update my business journal. Just keeping my records straight.
11/25/2013
“Edward Helpless to Do Good”
I finally got new content posted on my home page. My comicbook is written and in the process of being inked and colored. Getting my website back to where I want it has been very difficult but what’s the point in posting if you don’t have new content?
1/16/2014
Posted a new page from my comicbook on my home page. These pages do not easily piece together but the book is still rolling along
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2/24/2014
Posted content.
4/14/2014
A wiseman once said, “Knowledge is a flower in a vase that leaks.”
The boy replied, “Only hot air blows when the smelly bum speaks.”
After this the boy returned to the wild the vase-bound flower
And the wiseman went home to take a shower,
Both having learned that day that they were blind
While other matters occupied the mind.
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5/8/2014
Posted content. “Shamzie Thread Pivots…”
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8/4/2014
A Dialogue Between Father and Son
Son: Father, if I cannot feed myself, what is coin worth?
Father: Son, go wherever there is buffalo
And find your solace in the earth.
Son: But shouldn’t I strive for good
And better the world , if I can?
Father: Son, there is no bigger pain in the ass
Than dealing with your fellowman.
Son, trust me on this one, I’m your dad,
And I will not blame you one bit
If you end a just a little bit bad.
Just follow the freaking buffalo
And at least you won’t go mad.
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There is a hyper link to an audio poem on my index page. Click on it if you want to hear a recording of a poem I wrote in college. The grapic is the hyperlink.
11/13/2014
I posted content on my index page. My book is that much nearer to completion (although the image posted is an older image). I am selling issues and I should have a full trade novel by the time I am finished.
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Books sleep
And wake
When opened