Saturday Summary, September 22, 2012

Wow, what a week!  When it rains it pours, and this week has certainly been evidence of that. 

Music -- I started off the week working on finishing up some pieces for organ, and then turned my attention to some music for 2/3 octave handbell choirs.  I've got a couple of new rough drafts done, and just need to go and add all those fun little extra bits I'm not fond of adding, but which publishers and players want to see.

Writing -- If you read Wednesday's post, you'll know I've abandoned my Year of Insanity 2 goal of writing a thousand words a day.  At the time I made the goal, it seemed important to me and my life, but as the past several months have intervened, I've found my priorities shifting very heavily toward composing.  It wasn't so much a matter of my not being physically and mentally able to keep up with the thousand words -- I was managing to do that daily -- but rather the time spent on that was leaving me without the time I needed to do the composing I felt called to do.  As much as I regret not being able to write every day, I think, in the long run, I'll be much happier with the extra time I'll have to compose.

Publishing -- I've had some weeks this good before in my publishing career, but not many.  I received six (6!) acceptances this week, one of which pushed me from double to triple digits in terms of titles published.  Here, in very brief run down, is what got accepted:

• A 5-7 octave handbell adaptation of Debussy's Clair de Lune
• A 4-octave handbell trio adaptation of Bach's Minuet in G
• A 5-octave handbell trio adaptation of Bach's Prelude in C
• A 2-3 octave handbell arrangement of This Is My Father's World
• A 3-6 octave handbell arrangement of Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
• A 3-5 octave handbell arrangement of the song Jerusalem (if you listened to the very, very beginning of the opening ceremonies of this year's summer games in London, you heard the song)

All of this from three different publishers, and half of the pieces with an almost-ridiculously fast turn-around time.  Add to that some looking over of proofs for other upcoming pieces, and it was a tremendously busy week in the publishing department, but a very satisfying one.  It will most likely be some time before I have a week so wild and crazy again.


That's it from here.  Oddly enough, I'm off to go do some more composing.  Now that I've passed the 100-piece mark, it only makes sense to set my sights on 200.  From my first acceptance, it took me 75 months to get to 100 pieces (or, I suppose, an average of 1.33 pieces accepted per month).  With any luck, I'll hit 200 before another 75 months elapse.  Of course, for that to happen, I need to compose.  Off I go!  See you back here Wednesday!