Life Updates

     Well, in all this time, it is a logical assumption that I have been doing things. (Or, at least, if I haven't been doing things, that I've successfully wasted a whole year.) 

Life in General

    To start, as I mentioned in my last post, my family moved this summer. They are now living down South, and I still abide in the lands of the North. I'm in a music school at present for a dual degree in Music Performance and Music Education (my primary instruments are voice and piano). I got another new sibling this past summer, and he's very cute and very fat. Pressured by location, I am back to the Novus Ordo grind and in the choir. I live with my best friend and writing confidante, and we have gotten a lot of nonsense and very little writing done thus far with this arrangement. On the side, I teach music, work a pretty effortless desk job, and help direct a high school musical theater group. Those are really the biggest things that are going on at the moment. 

Writing

    As far as writing goes, I was somewhat productive up until the school year started. The Second Brother is now finished and under critique from beta readers, and the sequel(s) have been started with some headway. I decided to trash My Land, My Heart (the idea was very trite), and my opera's present plot, In Greater Hands, and my Giselle retelling are also prospectively on the chopping block. I wrote some draft ideas for He Travels the Fastest, and I may be writing it in earnest as the next main project. I came up with another archive novel idea (which I will probably expound on in another Meet the Books! at some point). 

    Probably the biggest thing that happened as far as writing goes was a redraft, though. My writer friends on Camp NaNo may remember that I have a coauthored novel project which has never been talked about on this blog (mainly to respect my coauthor's privacy). Now, however, Grim has her own blog, and I plan to introduce the story via Meet the Books! sometime very soon. In a nutshell, the story was dull, medieval fantasy of a rather cliche type and has been - um - remodeled, shall we say? Very, very remodeled... Anyhow, more on that later.

Reading

It would take all night for me to cover the reading of a year, so I will just touch on some honorable mentions:

The Journal of Hildegard of Bingen, interpreted by Barbara Lachman

• You must read it!
• Don't read my translation because it was terrible. The lady was intent on making St. Hildegard out as some proto-feminist or female priest or something. Her footnotes were beyond weird. Do yourself a favor and find a better version. 
• Overall, even with the terrible commentary, it was quite a fascinating look into life in a twelfth-century abbey. St. Hildegard was quite an inspiring woman, too - scientist, singer, composer, doctor, abbess, and mystic, and writer of the first musical, to boot. 

Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology by Noelle Mering

• This fabulous book takes the reader through a careful reconstruction of the processes leading to common political thought today in America. She then proceeds to look at each aspect of the philosophy through a Christian lens, with frequent recourse to the Bible, Catechism, writings of the saints and other great Christian authors. Certainly worth reading.

Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph by Jan Swafford

• Okay, guys, you need to know about Beethoven. For better or worse, intentionally or not, this guy created the musical world we live in now. (The musical nerd side of me wants to promote it more, but I think I'd probably better stop before I get carried away.)
• The one huge problem I had with this book was the anti-Catholicism of it all. The author showed rather painfully that she had no competent understanding of Christianity at all. She was quite biased when mentioning anything about the Church, and very strangely positive about every conflicting philosophy except traditional Catholicism. I find this a very high failing when dealing with a composer like Beethoven, who had a complicated and influential relationship with Catholicism. You'd think she would put a little more time and thought into that aspect of the book at least for Beethoven's sake. 

A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt

• To be perfectly honest, I was actually a bit disappointed by the play. It was not as good as the movie (*gasp*), and the author had a very strange way of looking at St. Thomas's philosophy that didn't really show up in the original movie version. 
• All the same, beautiful verse, splendid play. Definitely go watch the Paul Scofield movie. 

Music

    Well, All's Fair got two new songs added to it that it really didn't need and doesn't have a place for. I also wrote a quite useless, cheery little WWI style song and a fantasy for oboe and piano (the fantasy was for a composer's competition which I did not win but had a lot of fun with... the WWI song still has no purpose). I sang on the radio over the summer and got to perform at the reopening of a certain old theater building here, so that was cool. I also got somewhat addicted to TwoSetViolin for a period. 

    As far as music goes, I'm quickly gaining a persona as someone who collects and learns really random instruments. I've sung and played piano for a while now, but I now also play organ, banjo, and ukulele. I dabble in recorder and bagpipes. I plan to take up violin or cello for my strings class this semester and drop the recorder as soon as my wind exams are over. If anyone has need of a dying cat meme track, I would be happy to pick up my recorder for a little bit longer.

Well, that's really about it. How about all of you? What has life held for you this past year? How are the writing projects? Reading? And my musical buddies? (Does anybody else name their instruments...???) 

Meet The Books! - All's Fair

Hello! It's time for another Meet The Books!... finally, haha. :P Anyways, though, this one's an interesting one, because this is no ordinary novel (I mean, obviously none of my novels are, but you know what I mean). ;) This project of mine, started only two weeks exactly after the last book I introduced was, is a musical. That's right, like Broadway, dancing, singing, super funny ridiculous scenarios musical, by the name of All's Fair.

What is the genre?
Well, as I said, it's a (wanna-be) Broadway musical. However, were it an ordinary novel, it would fit into the category of Romantic Comedy.
What is the title? Time period?
The title is All's Fair, after something one of the characters says, and after that one Shakespeare quote - "All's fair in love and war". And, speaking of love and war, that brings us to the time period, which is World War II. Aren't wartime musicals the best???!!! :D Which is exactly why I wanted to write one. ;)
How is it written (Point of view, MC, etc.)?
Well, it's written in play format, but it was written in novel format first, so it does have a POV sort-of. When it was in novel format, it was in third person (limited). The main character is a rather irate American pilot named Cap. Mont Williams.
Who are the characters?
Well... :)
Mont Williams is a 22 year-old pilot who is rather easily made irritated, and can be a bit easily distracted at times. He is an American, and - just so you know - he is what I call an AF/A, in other words, an Air Force/ Army (you see, up to a certain point in WWII, the Air Force didn't even exist, but was only a part of the other two branches at that time, so Mont is currently in the Army technically, but I like to say he's in the Air Force, as that is my favored, inherited branch of the military). He has brown hair, hazel eyes, and is about six foot or so - maybe more, maybe less.

Ned Norster  is Mont's sometimes bumbling best friend. Ned is a very jokey sort, and imagines himself to be extremely well-off with the ladies, but is in reality quite laughable in his flirting attempts. He is also a pilot, and an American. He's peanut-butter-blond, and has bright blue-ish eyes. He is fit, but rather short, being only 5'9 (and believe me, he gets teased about it plenty by Mont and Irv).

Haha, this is how Ned would love to think that he is. ;)

Irv Baines is, unlike his friends, Mont and Ned, not a pilot. He is an ensign (a minor officer) in the Navy. And he rather likes to rub it in, too (because, even though his rank is technically lower than Mont and Ned's, he persists in saying that the Navy is better than the Air Force/Army). He can be rather a bit of a jerk at times, as Ned is always telling him (but I think that Ned's just jealous, because Irv actually is quite a proud proficient with the women). ;) Irv is very tall, strong of build, and fairly handsome (which he also loves to rub in), being about six foot two. He has hair that's in between black and dark brown, and has dark blue-gray eyes.

And.... yep. That's Irv all right. :P

Doctor Lucie Lavet is a French/American doctor at Mont and Ned's base who is eventually at the front. She is rather unimpressed with any of the soldiers, who - since she is one of the few women on the front - all pay plenty of attention to her. She is uninterested in romance, and uninterested in anyone seemingly, though quite willing to give a rude or sarcastic comment to any soldier who dares to try and gain her favor. She is almost as tall as Ned, being five foot seven and a half, but is very slender. She has bright red hair and silvery-blue eyes.

This could very well be Lavet and Miss No-Name, though it's unusual for Lavet to be so silly, even in a picture.

Miss Girl Without A Name is a sweet girl, who - as indicated previously - does not yet have a name. :P I'm pretty sure she's a performer for the troops, but originally she was a nurse. Truly, I can't say much about her without giving spoilers, but I can at least tell you that there's a little more to her than meets the eye. She has golden-blond hair, and has aqua-blue eyes.
And then there will be various soldiers and a couple other nurses who will appear, but none of them have set-in-stone names yet.
What does the plot consist of?
Well, hmm... How's about I show the Broadway poster I made for it to explain this? :)

The inscription reads:
All's Fair! - It's the Air Force versus the Navy in a wartime musical like you've never seen before! When two pilots meet an old naval pal on the front, the three become engaged in a hilarious three-way for a hard-to-catch Army nurse. As it goes on, the gimmicks and songs become greater and greater all in the name of the rivalry's slogan - "All's fair in love and war"!
So, perhaps you can figure out what the plot is just from that purposefully over-dramatized summary, but if not, I'll lay it out. So, due to a certain chain of events, Irv, Ned, and (due to the other two's cajoling) Mont challenge each other to try and gain the impossible Dr. Lavet's favor in a certain amount of time. Because it is for a friendly bet, none of them is afraid to use any amount of gimmick or trick to get ahead of the other, resulting in quite a comedy. However, bind this plot in with Mont and Ned's immense wish to help on the front, and then the war hitting them, and all that going on, and then the nameless girl's whole sub-plot, and this is what All's Fair consists of.
What is the setting?
Why, WWII, of course! It starts out in a random base in Haiti, but then *spoilers* Mont and Ned's wish of going to the front is fulfilled *spoilers end* and it takes place on the front in Italy from there.

Don't ask about the quote... it is indeed fitting for a certain character in the story, but I won't say who... :)

Who are the favorite characters in it?
So far, everybody (meaning the only two readers I have for it and myself) has favored Ned. He has risen rather to levels that he was not meant to go to in people's favor. So much so, that I may or may not kill him off. Just kidding.... maybe. ;)
What is the favorite scene?
Um, so far there's only one written scene that's really been noted above the others. A scene in which Mont converses rather briefly and irately with Lavet, and ends by running off (because he was late for something very important, due to Ned, which was also why he was irritated).
Any themes of music for this work?
Well, originally, back when it was just a novel, it was inspired by the old song I Left My Hat In Haiti, from the movie Royal Wedding. And I had also considered as a romantic theme once the song I Won't Dance by Frank Sinatra. However, now, it has the songs I have written for it. I would put a pic of the music, but I am a bit paranoid about random people finding it and taking it. :P The songs I've written for it so far are (the temporarily-named) A Piece Of Advice, sung by Irv, and contributed to a little by Ned; Even Now, a duet between Mont and Lavet; The Almost Bride, another Irv song, but this one a solo, and then a vague idea for one of Ned's songs, which I have also temporarily named I Guess So.

Any drawings?
Besides that Broadway poster, only one unfinished one of Irv and a girl (whom I will not name in case there are spoiler-seeking readers in the crowd). I will not share it, only because the girl's looks are very much a giveaway to the keen reader, not to mention the pose that the two are depicted in.
Strong point in story?
Probably the characters. I feel like - especially in writing songs for them - their voices are coming through very well, especially Irv.
Weak point in story?
Well, probably the slow beginning. I mean, if it were a normal novel, nobody among modern readers would really probably take a second look, because the beginning is fairly quiet and very much non action-packed.
What are you plans for it?
Well, to finish composing the music, finish putting it into play form, and then give it to the world! I know it's rather ambitious, but I want to try and actually get it out there and performed. I know... in my dreams... :P :)
Any particular writing habits for it?
Well, when I'm writing the music, I always sit and do it at my piano, and I generally take a pretty long time tweaking it. When I'm writing the actual story, I often listen to Oldies music (particularly songs from old movies), and also like to eat mini-pretzels while doing so.

If it were made into a movie, what would be your ideal cast for it?
Well, I'm sure I do envision it as a movie someday, and is definitely intended to be performed in some manner or other. I think I would take Gene Kelly as Mont Williams, just with brown hair instead of black. And for Ned, I can see either Santino Fontana or Nelson Eddy playing him, though I suppose a young Frank Sinatra would also act the part well. And Irv, I can see being played by a dark-haired Howard Keel (though Thomas Hampson playing him would be most amusing indeed). I would have Esther Williams as Dr. Lavet, and either Laura Osnes or a blond Katherine Grayson as the nameless sweet girl.
Anyways, though, that's about all there is for the story of All's Fair. Now to go and write more songs for it! :D
What did you think? Would you read it? Would you go and see it if it were being performed? Is anyone a little nervous about Belle attempting to be a composer? Was anybody not bored out of their skull reading this? ;)