Hello, again!
The last week of PhD work for the semester is now upon me, and the near-summery weather is making it all the harder to concentrate, on this and writing. In celebration of the former, motivation for the latter (and to herald a new, soon-to-be unveiled promo approach for Discarded, which will be detailed below), I present for this week's song the Main Title music from the soundtrack to the epic Civil War film, Gettysburg (Usual copyrights apply; I own nothing!)
As I've said elsewhere (and as my taste in What-If makes pretty clear :P), I've had a fascination with the Civil War that stretches back to the first days I was able to read; when exactly this passion became such a fixture is lost to the mists of time :D . One of my happiest memories is visiting the Gettysburg battlefield at age 10, hiking all along the various ridges and lines of battle from the town itself to Devil's Den and Little Round Top; I also picked up a book of battlefields and landmarks across the country, that's still on my shelf today. Although it wasn't until some years later that I saw the 1993 film this week's tune comes from, it and the soundtrack quickly became a favorite, and both have stayed on my movie shelf and Soundtracks playlist ever since. What's always impressed me the most about the film is the attention to period-appropriate detail (a must for historians and the historically-minded :) ), and the fact that so many of the thousands of extras (Union and CSA) were reenactors showing up in whole units and associations, on their own dime and time, bringing their own gear and the knowledge of how to use it and how to comport themselves as though it really were July 1863. The stirring, moving music from the film (especially this opening track) only makes it more enjoyable, and has never failed to amp or soothe me at just the right time in any writing project.
The right time, as it happens, is tonight: At long last, and slightly ahead of schedule, work on my Civil War What-If Bloody Relations has restarted! The course of this project will be a bit different than most I've done in the past (most of the outline is done or taking rough shape, but I'll be writing the rest while also working on the draft), although I still expect to finish the rough draft by the end of this month, and spend the summer editing it (along with additional work on my Cross & Flag series); I may even have it publish-ready well before September, if all goes well!
Now to the Discarded news: Since there's been plenty of updates going out regarding this draft, yet only a modest amount of notice and replies, I've decided it's time to spread the word (and increase the pledges) by offering more than what's listed for each level. Given the recent experiences I've had with my fiction writing workshop, I've decided the first step in this will be offering editing services to new and established writers (detailed feedback, beta reads, short story or chapter reviews) in exchange for specific pledge levels or other amounts. I'm currently looking at setting this service up on the freelancer site Upwork.com, once I've confirmed the levels and rules for doing so; the full details will be up on my Twitter & FB feeds, and/or my Wordpress blog, before the week is out. Not sure yet how much attention I can draw to Discarded this way, but any notice helps in the self-publishing and crowdfunding worlds! Spread the news on this far and wide, and the Upwork link(s) when the service is up; until then, keep on commenting, sharing and reviewing!