Good evening, all!
With both the exciting and plain decent news of late, and the steady writing progress being made of late, I figured some relaxing and triumphant music was in order for this post. Thus, I share with you for this week's music the traditional Irish folksong Erin Shore, as performed by The Corrs for their 1995 debut album, Forgiven, Not Forgotten (Usual copyrights apply; I own nothing!)
I was first introduced to this stellar band almost in passing, while on a family stay in Spain during high school; the father was a tremendous fan, and played their music often. Within minutes of listening to them, I was hooked; just before the flight back, I wandered into a store in the Madrid airport, found one of their CDs, and played it continuously all the way home. I've picked up most of their music since, and it's never failed to amp me up, make me laugh or chill me out, before, during and after a writing project or whenever the demands from the Outside World lead to me needing one or the other. This song in particular is a great blend of soothing and rousing, its melody helping me stay in a calm, clearheaded state, while at the same time often giving me the push that's needed to get past a dialogue or action block--or all the way past the finish line of a draft.
Such a push must be in effect right now, since the finish line for Bloody Relations is within sight as of this post! One trick that's having the most obvious effect is writing out key chunks of dialogue and action in longhand; somehow it seems more real and immediate, and once I type it up, changes are minimal. Current plan is still to be finished within the next week or so, preferably before a much-needed vacation out to the East Coast; with luck, my next update, on the road, will be one of celebration!
In other news, for those who haven't seen my latest Wordpress post, my What-if novel Red Delta has been added to the Indie Wisconsin collection for self-published and e-book authors, as part of the process for the WI Author Program contest I submitted this story to back in June. Winners won't be announced until sometime in October, yet this widening of my reader base is already making its effect clear :) . I've also taken the plunge and opened an official pledge fundraiser on Facebook for Discarded; the link is attached below. Pledges having been picking up of late, so I figured it was best to pull out all the stops; don't hesitate to share the link far and wide, and consider pitching in yourself! Other than that, just keep on commenting and reviewing!
https://www.facebook.com/donate/1051334381697255/