Most years end with a whimper, not a bang. For me, it happens around Thanksgiving – the business of business – phone-calls, emails and meetings all usually end with “let’s touch base after the Holiday”, meaning Christmas-New Year’s. There’s a serious decline in workload between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In years past I’ve pretty much thrown in the towel on getting anything accomplished in that month-long period.
Also, for some reason I tend to make the bulk of my money in the first half-three quarters of the year. Meaning; year starts off strong, then everything grinds to a halt six months down the road. The holiday shut-down is more a case of self-imposed hibernation than anything. Who doesn’t want to close up shop, take a month off and just relax?
[Well, me for one — even when the year is “over” I still find a way to push through on whatever personal project I have been quietly working on]
This year’s been different for a couple of reasons.
The first is that a screenplay I co-wrote years ago titled “Hell For Breakfast” went into production in mid-November in New Zealand. Re-titled “Fresh Meat” it stars Temuera Morrison (Once Were Warriors, Star Wars: Episode Two), and will be released, one assumes, sometime in 2012. This, of course, meant I got paid, finally, which for a freelance writer is the equivalent of Christmas and your birthday rolled into one. So this year ended on an “up” note.
The second is, of course, Mixtape, which is gathering steam in advance of its release in February 2012. Ordinarily I’d be downshifting throughout December, and though the workload has lightened somewhat as I feverishly push to get things off my desk and out the door, Mixtape demands are keeping me tied to it. There’s artwork to approve, scripts to rewrite, and media to assault.
There has been some media response too, much which will hopefully run in Jan-Feb 2012 in advance of the first issue’s release. In the meantime you can check out an early review of Mixtape #1, preview some pages , and, of course, check out our official page.
And, of course, a request: please call or visit your local comic shop (with Diamond code DEC 11 0835) and tell them you want them to pre-order Mixtape. The book’s success (and long-term health) depends on those solicits, so the more we get the better.
And there will be another cool announcement to make on Mixtape in January, when the ink dries, so to speak. Something that has been in the works for a long time, that firmly plants our little 20th Century analog story into the 21st Century’s digital age.
See you in 2012!