JANUARY 2014

I’ll update readers of this bloggy thing on all things Tony around
the first of each month.  I’ll be covering convention appearances,
garage sales, online sales and more. 

The big news for January is that my friend Bob Ingersoll and I will
be in Los Angeles from Thursday, January 9 to the wee morning hours
of Sunday, January 19.  There’s no business or convention reasons
for this trip.  I just wanted to spend time with some dear friends
I don’t see often enough and maybe make some new friends.  I’m not
adverse to taking business meetings while I’m in town, but I have
not planned or sought any such meetings.

Bob and I will be arriving at LAX around 11 am on January 9.  From
there, we drive to the Disneyland Hotel and stay there through the
evening of January 11.  Bob is a major amusement park afficionado,
so he’ll be spending a lot of time at Disneyland.  I will be at the
park some of the time as well, none of it spent riding things that
will hurt me.  I wonder if the park offers a Prince Makeover?  I’m
thinking Charming, but the Beast is probably a more likely choice.

From Disneyland, we’ll be moving over to the Hilton Los Angeles at
Universal City.  We’ll be staying there until late afternoon on the
18th and heading back home on the 19th. If you would like to hang
out with us or meet with me for other reasons, e-mail me and I’ll
give you further contact information.  I recommend not waiting too
long to contact me as our dance cards are filling up fast.

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I have no appearances scheduled for January, which is fine with me
on account of I’ll be goofing off for ten days on the West Coast.
I’ll probably be going through blog withdrawal midway through the
trip.  It’s sad, really.

This year, I am only planning to accept one convention/appearance
invitation per month.  February is wide open at the moment, which
could change quickly.  I have been contacted in some manner by two
conventions and a university.  None of them have done the follow-up
to secure my appearance, but that’s understandable given that we’re
barely through the holidays.  If none of the three get back to me
to finalize these appearances, I’ll be staying home in February.
That doesn’t displease me for reasons I’ll be covering a bit later
in today’s exercise in “me, me, me.”

For future reference, if you would like me at some event in, say,
March, you will need to contact me and finalize the arrangements by
the end of January.  That gives me time to publicize my appearance
in the various venues available to me.

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The bloggy thing will appear daily through January 9 and then go on
hiatus until January 20 or 21.  I got a new laptop for a Christmas
present, but it’s not what I need for travel purposes.  Not that I
was eager to blog during my vacation, though, as I said above, the
withdrawal pains may kick in midway through the trip.

Between now and January 9, I hope to write about a bunch of stuff
I’ve been meaning to write about.  When I come back from L.A., I’ll
likely devote a few days to telling you about my vacation and then
get back to clearing the decks for February.

What happens in February? We’ll talk about that in a couple weeks.
If you’re half as excited about my plans as I am, then I’m twice as
excited as you.

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My Facebook page will be going inactive while I’m in Los Angeles.
Trying to fend off the trolls from afar would distract from the big
fun I intend on having.  However, up until I leave, I’ll continue
to post all manner of fun and informative material there. 

The downside of going inactive is that I’ll miss posting birthday
greetings and remembrances during my absence.  If at all possible,
I’ll catch up on those when I return.

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Even while I’m away, The Official Tony Isabella Message Board will
remain active on Facebook.  Moderator Jim Guida will remain on duty
and keep the fun going until I return.  If you were a visitor to my
old message board at World Famous Comics, you’ll enjoy the Facebook
version of the board which comes complete with Bob Ingersoll’s “In
the Comics” and “Movie Quiz” features.

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In other online business...

I won’t be checking my e-mail while I’m gone.  If you need to talk
with me about anything, you also need to e-mail sooner rather than
later.  Otherwise, I won’t be able to read and respond to you until
I get back from Los Angeles.

I hope to resume my online garage sales in February.  I’m thinking
about tweaking - not twerking - how I do those sales, but they will
still be filled with great items at low prices.

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Even I’m tired of this “me, me, me” bloggy thing, but please bear
with me a little longer.  When I’m not traveling, I’ll be spending
much of January wrapping up some financial matters, preparing for
some legal stuff and generally clearing my desk for next month and
beyond.  You see...

Thanks to the good fortune I’ve mentioned in some recent blogs, I’m
finally going to get to work on my bucket list of things I want to
write before I kick the bucket.  It’s a long list containing around
160 ideas for books, comic books, graphic novels, novels and even
a screenplay or three.  I’ll be taking the list with me when I go
to Los Angeles and making decisions as to which of these ideas are
going to be written first.

When I complete a script or a proposal for any bigger project, I’ll
start figuring out how I’m going to bring the finished work to the
marketplace.  I have some ideas in that regard, but the writing is
always going to come first.

On any comics projects, I will be looking for artists and doing my
best to create fair and equitable contracts for them.  These will
be partnerships and not work-for-hire arrangements.  As each comics
project is ready for an artist, I’ll start making decisions as to
who the artist will be.  If you’re an artist who has always wanted
to work with me...or an artist who has who’s worked with me before
and not run screaming into the night and wants to work with me once
again...you’ll have a chance to do so.

While my own projects are very important to me, I’m not adverse to
accepting assignments from new or old clients.  As always, if you
have a gig for me, if I can know I can do right by it, if the terms
of my employment are fair, and if I have no moral objection to the
job, I’m good to go.  Sorry, Tea Party, you’ll have to get someone
else to write The Adventures of Ted Cruz.  Yeah, I could write one
hilarious comic book for you, but you wouldn’t like it...assuming
you could even read it.

Whew! Thank Godzilla today’s bloggy thing is finally done.  I’ll be
back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2014 Tony Isabella