Hello, everyone!
At long last, the demands of PhD classwork have come to an end (for the most part, anyway), and it's time for a little relaxation--mixed with a renewed push on the writing front, of course! Since I've been taking it slower the past few days, though, I figured a similarly languid tune was in order; thus, I share as this week's song the Air movement from J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, as performed by the English Chamber Orchestra (Usual copyrights apply; I own nothing!)
Like a lot of the other classical pieces I enjoy, this one was added to my favorites (and later my Classical Mix playlist) at a young age, and has never gone very long without a listen. Some might know it only from weddings, or maybe the movie Se7en; for me, it's simply been around for as long as I can recall, always bringing me to a much-needed peaceful or contemplative state before, during, and after a writing project, or just when I need an escape from the pressures of a moment, day, or week.
The pressure will be on very soon, though in a much more manageable sense than even a week ago. As mentioned previously here and on Wordpress, my Civil War What-If draft Bloody Relations is a little beyond the halfway point to the finish line, so I have a better-than-decent chance of reaching that line by the end of this month or the first week of the next, at the latest. The outline is all but done at this point, in that I know where each and every plot and character will/should wind up by the end; the key issue, as in so many other projects, is linking them all together in a coherent, plausible, and entertaining way. Once finished, it'll be nothing but edits galore on this and my Cross & Flag series for the rest of the summer; I'll also be filling in gaps on the latter with new material, to give both the creative and editing muscles a workout.
Lastly, my new plan for drawing in Discarded pledges (offering freelance editing and beta-read work on Upwork) is nearly ready to launch; start date should be tomorrow evening, or Wed! I haven't yet decided whether I'll apply for specific fiction-related jobs, or wait for offers to come in (Upwork's good on sending alerts for the second option, and it lets me pick and choose), but the former option is more in line with the need to promote in order to get noticed, so I'm leaning more towards that one. I'll have the link to my Upwork profile on FB and Twitter by no later than Wed. night, along with any other news on my current projects; in the meantime, share, review and comment, as ever!