Orchestrated Update

I’ve been struggling to get back into the flow of Orchestrated. I’m so close to the end, and it’s frustrating because things are moving at a snail’s pace. Not the actual story, but my execution of it. I worked on it January 5, then it lay untouched (other work with deadlines, small child at home) until last Thursday when I got just over six hundred words down in it. Today, I ground out a more respectable amount of work, but it still feels like pulling teeth. I hate having to leave things aside for more than a day; I lose the flow and the mindset and the sense of what’s happening. The longer it’s aside, the longer it takes me to get back into it.

Orchestrated:
New words today: 1,588
Total word count, Orchestrated: 60,840

I didn’t even register that I broke 60K. As that had been my arbitrary target word count for the completed project, I’m going to have to revise that to something between 65K and 70K. I’d like to wrap it up in 5K, although it will feel rushed. What I need is a completed first draft, though, so I can go back and start doing the subtle stuff instead of trying to put the subtle stuff in as I go. A first draft is too clunky for that, especially in the wrap-up part. Get the skeleton down, then flesh it out; that’s what I should be thinking at this point.

To that end, I will write brief one-line descriptions of what scenes need to happen between here and the end, then expand them one by one. We’ll see how that goes.

Boy’s Post Up, Plus A Brief Weekend Review

I finally published the 43-month post for the boy, and backdated it. It had been sitting there for quite some time, only missing photos. So that’s done.

Other than that, well, I finished knitting my slippers and had fun felting for the very first time. The slippers fit my feet fine around the foot, but ended up two inches too long and pointy instead of rounded. I suspect I misread part of the pattern that said ‘knit till 22 cm long;’ I measured from the start of the piece instead of from the last increase, thereby missing about three or four inches of knitting. I’ll try again with the different measurement to see what happens. In the meantime they are warm, which is what I wanted, and after cutting two inches off the not-supposed-to-be-pointy toes and seaming them shut, they’re fine for home use. Although I took them to my cello lesson yesterday and my teacher thought they were great, and has asked for the pattern. So. Also, the machine felting was much more exciting than it should have been. (I take my fun where I can get it.)

I still have the 7/8; I called to make an appointment for the adjustments and the evaluation of the slice/scratch/cut thing last Saturday and the people who I needed to look at it weren’t there. I’ll call them at the Montreal store this week and make an appointment with them for Friday night. Rental is $75 per month for a cello for at least two months, and 70% of the rental fee goes toward eventual purchase of whatever, which is good news. I had a very frustrating cello lesson on Sunday, which I would like to think means I’m plateauing and am about to make some sort of brilliant breakthrough, but I suspect only reflects the general fatigue and frustration of the weekend. We’d been invited out for dinner Saturday night but had to decline due to a previous engagement, which ended up being cancelled by the other person involved two hours before it was supposed to begin, which didn’t do much for my mood this weekend, either. Especially since we’d had a second invitation for Saturday night that we’d also turned down.

On the other hand, the boy had his first official pagan playgroup session yesterday morning (which he is already calling ‘circle’) and had a blast casting the circle with singing and instrument-playing and marching, talking about spring and the return of the sun, planting seeds and making Brigid’s crosses out of pipe-cleaners, then having a snack afterwards. I suspect that he would much prefer something more frequent than once a month.

I’ve finally downloaded iTunes to test-run it as a possible alternative to WMP and purchasing music via eMusic. Other than that, I am generally exhausted, and have had not-nice headaches the past three days. But I ate a piece of chocolate cake for breakfast. So there.

In Which She Apologizes


Dear new guest conductor,

I’m really, really sorry for panicking about the second bassoon part you asked me to play for the L’Arlesienne suite two nights ago at rehearsal. I agree that it was really needed so we could fill in the missing bits, and I was willing to give it a shot on the cello until you handed me the music. I was having a really bad day, and all I saw was multiple flats and tenor clef, and I knew I couldn’t sight-read it. Thank gods for M, who was willing to give it a shot (and pulled it off creditably, too). I’m pretty ashamed of myself, especially because it turned out that I could have done it as the crucial bit she ended up playing in that exposed part was in fact in bass clef and nice relaxed eighth notes. But her intonation while sight-reading is probably more reliable than mine anyway.

Just wanted to say I was sorry. And I should apologize to M again too, who was almost as flustered as I was about the music, even though I probably already apologized to her too many times during and after the rehearsal. I feel awful about it.

But hey, how about that sight-reading of the third movement of Scheherazade? Pretty good, hunh?

Sincerely,
the cellist in the second chair

Sigh

Why, snow-clearing crews, why must you always plough a snowbank across the end of my driveway ten minutes before I plan to leave in the car?

ETA: Oh, hey, wow; the machines are actually going by and removing the pile of prepared snow like they’re supposed to. I’m positively stunned at the efficiency of today’s operation. Usually the pile of snow gets left for half an hour or so.

Done

My latest assignment has been handed in, and I’m exhausted. This one really drained me. I’ve told them that I need to take a couple of weeks off to work on my other stuff; I can’t keep juggling it all.

I can’t face opening Orchestrated right now. I need to walk away from the computer for a bit. I’d start messing about with the lightsaber pattern but I don’t have the correct size DPNs or yarn. I’ll work on my slippers instead.

I wish I could muster up some enthusiasm for orchestra tonight. All I want to do is have a hot bath and go to bed. I’m having a lot of problems managing my energy levels these days, which is mostly fibro-related, and somewhat connected to the weather and the season as well.

Hrm. Taking a couple of Tylenol might help, too.

Awesome

My friends are awesome. Most of you know this, because you are either a friend in real life, or you have read here before how awesome they are.

Today’s proof of awesome: Ceri just bought me a knitting pattern so I can make a lightsaber for the boy. Ceri is made of awesome.

I’ve been having a really tough time lately for a variety of reasons. This, and the news about how advanced the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World movie is (they’re filming in Toronto this spring!) have been the highlights of the past two days.

As of Monday afternoon I’ve also been negotiating another book project. Not mine, exactly; picking up someone else’s anthology collection after their departure. More news once things settle and we see where they are.

More Musings on 7/8 Cello No. 7

Yeah, I know, I tend to go on about this. It’s a big thing in my life, and this journal is mainly for my records, after all.

I mentioned the slice in the table to my teacher at the ensemble lesson on Sunday and her eyes got very big. She looked at it and said, “Do you have a digital camera? Take a picture and send it to them, and ask them what they’re prepared to do about it, and if they’ll guarantee the work. This kind of thing can really affect resale value.” I wonder if they might end up dropping the price a bit because of it. Because damn it, I like the sound of this one. I’ve already seen that four different examples of this model sound completely different; it’s not like they can just order another one in for me.

Also, the more I think about this, the less willing I am to make an absolute decision one way or another in this brief space of time. Renting had occurred to me months ago when I was trying the Jay Haides in Toronto, but my mother reminded me of it yesterday. I know my local luthier rents student kits; there’s probably no reason why they wouldn’t rent this student cello to me for a few months, in order for me to get a better sense of how the size is going to affect my playing. Not all my rental fee will go toward the purchase, of course, but most of it will, and if I don’t buy this one then I have a credit for whatever I do end up buying, be it cello or bow.

We got new music in the ensemble class yesterday: The Beatles’ ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ arranged for trio (so much fun for the middle voice because there’s that rhythm but you’re not playing the melody you expect), ‘Dona Nobis Pacem’ as a canon, ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ (which I could not get in tune; the 7/8 felt like it was sitting funny, as if I was torqued, but no matter how I adjusted I couldn’t shake it, and of course I was playing the top voice which goes stratospheric), a really fun blend of two popular tunes done tango-style, and a kids’ song (we get to accompany the littles, and it’s going to be hilarious). There will be more, no doubt. And I learned that my friend from orchestra, who also began studying with our principal cellist about a month before I did (and who also plays a 7/8), is playing the other part of the Lee duet with me, which is going to be lovely.

Back to work.