Friday update: 17th March 2023

On packing up my study, marvelling at cosplay and invoking the all-powerful cuteness of guinea pigs.

And here we are back for another of my fortnightly updates, the first since swapping over to Substack! I’ve been enjoying the Substack experience so far, especially all the discussion that stemmed from my Movie DNA post earlier this week. If you haven’t subscribed yet, here’s your chance so you don’t miss any of these posts!

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Behind-the-scenes

Since my last update two weeks ago, I’ve:

• Written the final draft of my script for an animated kids’ series.

• Rewritten my spec script following notes from my team (with more to come!)

• Had numerous meetings about upcoming High Republic projects (and no, I can’t talk about them… yet.)

• Continued work on a couple of animated movie proposals.

• Did lettering passes for various issues of Dead Seas, The High Republic and the Hawkman & Hawkwoman: Changeling pitch sample Fico Ossio and I did for last year’s DC Round Robin contest.

• Had meetings regarding the as-yet-unannounced movie George Mann and I are developing for Strange Matter.

• Started to research the subject matter of my next novel.

• Had a meeting to kick off work on my next creator-owned comic, currently code-named Project: Holy Terror. This was the pitch I talked about in my last update and my editor has come up with a hell of a twist that is going to make the story sing. Listen to your editors, folks!

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The great study pack down

As I’ve been chronicling on Instagram, I’ve started the long process of packing down my study. We’re not moving house, but my youngest daughter needs more space as she has been living in what appears to be a shoebox for the last 14 years. So, I’ve agreed to move out of the study so she can have it as a make-up / dressing room.

I plan to have a garden office built in the (hopefully) near future, but in the meantime, I’m packing up nearly two decades of books, toys and tech. So far, the books alone have filled 30 boxes and there’s more to go. Wish me luck.

This was the before shot…

You don’t want to see its current state, I promise you!

One silver lining has been corralling all the books and audios I’ve published in the last 20-plus years into one bookshelf downstairs.

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Things you might have missed

• Jaxxon’s back… again! The new Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories - Jaxxon Annual was announced yesterday with a script by me, art by my fellow Dead Seas creator Nick Brokenshire and an exclusive convention edition by…wait for it… MIKE MIGNOLA! Holy Hutch!
  
  Check out what Nick and I say about Jax here and ensure you get your order from Dark Horse.

  

  And yes, there are Ewoks in it too!

• IDW revealed the covers of Dead Seas issue 6 and I think Ario Anindito’s gory variant might be my favourite from the entire series.

• Dark Horse are collecting Star Wars: The High Republic - The Monster of Temple Peak in a new collection with a host of other stories from my fellow High Republic creators.

• Entertainment Weekly revealed the title and cover of our upcoming High Republic short story collection, which includes a story from me. The announcement also featured an extract from Claudia Gray’s contribution to the anthology, set one day after the fall of Starlight!

• There was also a new episode of The High Republic Show packed with news, reveals and fresh concept art.
  

• We now have a chat feature for this newsletter. Head here to join in the fun if you’ve subscribed. I’ll be sharing bits and bobs of what I’m up to day by day and asking regular questions. And if you’re a subscriber, you can create threads too!

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Fan Art Friday

Calling all High Republic cosplayers: I’m LOVING seeing all your Star Wars Celebration costume prep. This has been one of my favourites this week:

It’s the work of Robin, who posts as thought_it_was_obvious on Instagram and, if you don’t know, is Skoot, Tey Sirrek’s little scout droid from the current Star Wars: The High Republic run.

Here’s how I described Skoot in the script for issue one:

And here’s how he appeared in Ario’s pencils:

I can’t wait to hopefully see Robin’s version of Skoot in person!

And please, please, please keep tagging me in your cosplay pics. I’m cavanscottwriter on Instagram and cavanscott on Twitter.

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That’s all, folks

I never know how to finish these round-ups, so I’ve decided to go for the cute. Fancy a pic of our guinea pigs? Okay then, here are Grogu and Moon enjoying a snuggle with my youngest…

Until next time, stay safe and don’t forget to subscribe. If you already have, please share this email with anyone you think might enjoy the newsletter (even if only for the picture of the piggies!)