Much progress has been made in the writing department! Hoorah! My goal is to get a complete draft of In the Face of the Sun wrapped up by the end of February, and then get down to work on Loosened from the Sky, which is my alt-history-with-bugs story. I've been waiting for the plot to come to me (I often do this - write the opening of a novel and then sit, waiting, until the rest of the story magically appears in my brain) and presto! It appeared on Thursday.

So, a word countage, just for my records:

In the Face of the Sun - just shy of 35,000 words (hooray, wordage!)

Loosened from the Sky - just shy of 12,500 words, all of which are printed and waiting for my sparkly purple pen to mark them up.

And soon my first editorial letter shall appear (I hope!) and I can get back to work on Shadows. Today I shall print it all out so I'm ready to go - eager, yes, that is me!

All this enthusiasm is fueled by the good things going on behind the scenes in my life - nothing momentous, just the sense that things are in forward motion rather than reverse, and the fact that the snowdrops in the garden have poked their little heads up. Spring is on its way!

Reading...is not simply an inscribing of the author's personal subjectivity upon a reader's receptivity. Rather, it is the collaborative bringing forth of an entire world, a world complete with a meaning structure. For hearing completes itself in listening, and listening happens only where there is some subjective basis for recognition. The work is not merely the bridge between author and reader; it is an enabling entity. The text is a pretext...

The writer needs the idea of audition - of readers - in order to begin the creative process that gets him beyond the immediate, daily perception of things. In this one sense, the writer does not bring forth the work so much as the work, the idea of it, brings the writer to imaginative readiness.

- Sven Birkerts

In a word: Yes.

(Posted here because I need to remember this, but also because I thought it might be helpful to others.)

Good News Item #1: Sold to On-Spec: one story entitled "Sky Falling" - my first pro short fiction sale. Yay!

Good News Item #2: A note from Ms. Agent to go forth and conquer the new WIP (in other words, the first three chaps meet with her general approval). Double yay!

Good News Item #3: Got my hands on a duplicate copy of one of the pieces of music I need for Wednesday, along with an email from the composer's daughter saying she's thrilled my student is singing her father's work. Always a cool thing!

Good New Item #4: Two more sleeps until my last music festival.

I think I like Mondays....or, maybe just 2009 in general. What with the above news and my book deal, it's shaping up to be a pretty good year!

In addition to my regular writings, I've been working on a series of posts regarding the art of practicing. After all, a musician's life is largely devoted to practicing, and many of the techniques I used to further my musical studies have come in handy since I turned my hand (heh) to writing.

As a prologue to those posts, I'm re-posting an article called "Perspective" that one of my singing teachers gave to me when I began to make the transition from student to professional. While the article is focused on musicians, I believe most of the points apply to any creative pursuit, whether it be writing, art, cooking, riding...any activity that one dedicates oneself to. I give this article to any student I teach who expresses a desire to make music a career, because perspective is important, and often, dear.

Stay tuned for more about the art of practicing...

Perspective

If you can be happy doing something else, do it.

1. No one insists that you be a musician.
2. No one is going to pay you to practice.
3. There's no job or concert guarantee at the end of long training.
4. Four percent of the U.S. population supports the arts.
5. A musician's life is not "normal". It's a radical lifestyle. You need 4-5 hours a day of practicing or you're not in the game. The rest of your life has to fit around that pillar.
6. There's a difference between a life with music and a career in music. Find a place for your art.
7. Art is not, by definition, linked to fame and fortune. Art is simply what artists do. A "big" career is the rare exception, not the rule.
8. "Celebrity is conferred upon on by the mediocre and the rogues, with whom one is then bound to share it." - Camus

If you have decided that music is your vocation, relax, and adjust your sights.

9. Seek growth, not perfection.
10. Rework your life so that music is first; that's what your decision was all about.
11. Be patient with yourself. You don't have the deadlines other people have. It's your life's work. "Only the mediocre are impatient; the great know how to wait." - Pablo Cassels
12. Guard your time. It is the key to your development.
13. Look forward to spending a lot of time alone with your work.
14. Find mentors and support systems that sustain and encourage you.
15. Only compete with yourself and your last best performance. Yours is a personal odyssey. What someone else does is part of their story, not yours.
16. Get the best information and training you can find. "Genius without education is live silver in the mine." - Benjamin Franklin
17. Continue to coach with people and seek other opinions.
18. Keep a balanced view of success and failure. The sun comes up tomorrow regardless. "It is nothing to succeed if one has taken great trouble and it is nothing to fail if one has done the best one could." - Nadia Boulanger
19. Stay flexible.
20. There is nothing wrong with doing some commercial music. It helps pay bills. If it takes too much time, re-evaluate.
21. "Ambition is not enough; necessity is everything." - Martha Graham
22. Your art will take everything you have - every strength, every insight, every effort, every minute. It is perhaps the most exhilarating and consuming way of life there is.
23. Keep your life simple. Where there is an intense interior life, the outside life needs to be calm.
24. Share your art with others via teaching, recitals, etc. It is of incalculable value and unending personal satisfaction. "You can't get the news from poems, but men die everyday for lack of what is found there." - William Carlos William
25. Realize that your gift is very special and affords you experiences others may never have. It is freely given, but you have to pay for it. "If you have a voice, your voice has you." - Shirley Verrett
26. The more talent you have, the longer it will take to hone it.
27. "Courage is the difference between talent and art." - Louise Nevelson.

Why so excited?

Well, because! Because, I've just finished editing the first 40,000 words or so of In the Face of the Sun!

Hooray!

And now, I've just got to fix up a few things and then proofread before sending these words off for eyeballing.

Inertia's a wonderful thing!