Year of Insanity -- Complete

With the completion of a piano arrangement of Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown this weekend, I have successfully completed 48 musical compositions since August 1, 2009, or an average of four a month.  I still plan on writing a bit more these next few weeks, so there's still an outside chance I can end up at 52, which would be one a week, a rate I never would have dreamed possible just a year or two ago.  When I made the goal, I even thought four a month might be an outside thing, but creative endeavors are like that -- the more you do, the easier it gets (or, if you want to get technical and spiritual, the more you do, the more the muse visits you and gives you what you need to get another one done).

My big plan for this week is to get a submission for The Coming of the Heroes ready.  It's sat here for far too long, and it's just high time it was out there making the rounds.  Much like some of my pieces, there's no way it'll get published if it's just sitting in a folder or my computer.  I've been working on the synopsis and I've discovered I hate them.  I don't hate many things, but synopses are one of them.  It's sheer torture to take a 92,000 word novel you've written, crafted, slaved over, polished, and prayed over, then reduce it to about five double-spaced pages.  Not only that, but you have to transfer it all to present tense, get the major plot points across, and yet still make it interesting, not like reading the pages of the phone book.  That's a tall order even on the best of days. 

I'm on draft three of the synopsis, with several more drafts to come, no doubt.

I want to have this submission finished and out there (thank God for electronic submissions) before this weekend, when Pinnacle starts.  I think I'd have a better time if I knew my literary baby was out making its way in the world instead of languishing on my hard drive until I got back.  If all goes well, I can have that submission off by mid-week, and can then turn my attention back to music for a few days.  I want to get one more piano piece done so I can then send a trio of pieces out for submission.  I'm trying to arrange a bunch of English, Irish, and Welsh tunes, sort of a set I think of as "Songs of the Isles."  Figure it's something that unifies the pieces and, if nothing else, makes it easier to pick the next piece I'll arrange.

I hope to have good news on the submission front later this week.  Expect another update around Wednesday or Thursday.