Good evening, once again!

With the endless Xmas music barrage now fully upon us, it felt fitting to cave a bit and contribute to it in my own small way :) . Thus, I present for this week's tune Baroque composer Arcangelo Corelli's Concerti Grossi (12) Op.6- No.8 in G minor, 'Fatto per la notte di Natale', as performed by the outstanding Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. (Usual copyrights apply; I own nothing!)

Though I first heard and picked up this song as part of the soundtrack to the film Master & Commander, it gradually found its way to my Classical Mix playlist--and just recently (thanks to belated realization on my part) to my Xmas Mix as well, making it one of the very few songs I have that falls onto three lists. Regardless of season or theme, however, it's always served as a great kickoff to a writing session, or just for quiet contemplation or relaxation in between, during, or after a long project.

There's been plenty of relaxing needed the past few days--given that on 11/30, I officially validated my 50K+ word count for my NaNoWriMo draft All Eyes! It was a long, often grueling month of writing, and I immediately cut more than half the draft after validation, given several new plot ideas popping up at literally the last minute...but the finish line was nonetheless crossed! I've also submitted the sample chapter and summary for my Civil War What-If Bloody Relations to Sea Lion Press; with any luck, I should hear from them within the next two weeks, and the publication process will begin in earnest. For now, I'm content to chill, keep wrapping up end-of-year class work, and add the occasional new section to All Eyes. The last should pick up a bit around the middle of next week, and continue until a bit after Xmas; apart from that, though, I'll be giving my eyes and keyboard a good long rest. Hope to have more news on the Sea Lion front by next post, as well as a possible new sale announcement for Kindle; keep watching this board, and feel free to review, comment and share!