Saturday Summary, November 12, 2011

Well, it's been a while since I've written.  After a fantastic couple of days last weekend in Raleigh, I returned home this week to a funeral, a Veterans' Day program (neither of which I had practiced for before Monday night) and an upcoming church service tomorrow, along with my usual teaching duties and adding in the fun of shepherding my students through their own National Novel Writing Month journies.

Needless to say, not much got done this week, but since it's been two weeks since we've had an official summary, here we go ...

Music -- Right before leaving for Raleigh, I finished up a couple of pieces I sent off to Bill Griffin at Beckenhorst for his consideration: Sleep in Heavenly Peace (a nice arrangement of Silent Night that I think turned out really well); In the Garden (a fairly straightforward version of the piece); and Nocturne (an original that ought to come in around a 2- level, give or take -- nothing too difficult, though there are some bell changes).

I've got several projects lined up to work on in the coming weeks, but who can say when I'll be able to get to them.  None should pose too much difficulty, other than the difficulty of finding the time to accomplish them.

For those keeping score, here's the current count on the year:

• Handbell pieces -- 20 -1
• Piano pieces -- 20 9
• Choral pieces -10  9
• String pieces --  4  0
• Band pieces -- 2
• Other instrumental pieces -- 4
• GRAND TOTAL FOR 2011 -- 60 23

Yes, I've gone over my 20 handbell pieces, but on the whole, I consider that an okay thing.

Writing -- Most of my free time the past week and a half or so has been spent working on my National Novel Writing Month novel, a strange modern-day sort of Arthurian story.  I'm not sure anything good is going to come of it, but it's fun to write for now, and I always like the yearly reminder that even insane projects with unrealistic deadlines are doable.

I've also pretty much decided that the second book in the Sadonian Chronicles, Fealty and Fire, will not be released in December.  There's just still too much to get done on it to have it ready in the next two to six weeks, so we'll push the release date back to the spring.  That ought to be more reasonable ... I hope.

Publishing -- There's been no major movement here, other than some checks coming in.  I know my pieces are showing up on publisher and retailer sites and are available for purchase, so that's a good thing, but at least lately, there's been no more yeas or nays on any pieces.  As busy as the week has been, honestly, I'm not sure I'd have noticed one way or the other.


That's it from here.  This coming week ought to afford me some more creative time, so I'll hope for some better news next week.  In the meantime, enjoy this beautiful fall weather, and keep on creating!