"I Ching Symphony": Spiritual Music

 I recently listened to the I Ching Symphony composed by Frank Steiner Jr. I had not listened to it in probably twelve to fifteen years. It is one of the most beautiful symphonies I have ever heard. I'm transported to another realm of existence when I listen to it. I had not listened to it for all that time, because it had been an integral part of my writing my novel The Sendoff. When I was writing the novel, I used to listen to the symphony every night when I went to bed. I put my headphones on and listened to the symphony as I drifted off to sleep. The next to the last movement of the symphony was/is, in my mind, an integral part of the last chapter of the novel. I would imagine the last chapter playing out, and the music of the next to the last movement of the symphony helped transport the character Mitchell to his destination. The music was perfect for that chapter. So, listening to it while I was painting today, I was once again transported to a miraculous state of mind. If you get a chance to listen to the I Ching Symphony, I hope you have the same kind of experience.

I Ching Symphony

The Sendoff

My New Self-published Novel: The Sendoff

It's been quite a while since I last posted here. I just ran out of things to say, and much of my attention has been on my new art endeavor--painting. I've been painting quite a bit over the past year, establishing an Etsy shop, as well. But writing is still an important part of my life.

I've written some new work, but this post is about the novel I just self-published on Amazon as an e-book. It's a short novel, about 108 pages, according to Amazon's calculator. Its title is "The Sendoff," about an elderly man dying of cancer. In fact, he has only hours or days to live. It's not a morbid work in any sense of the word. I hope it's anything but. It has a strong spiritual content that involves pretty much all the main religions. If you're interested, see it on Amazon at The Sendoff.

Quandary resolved--"The Sendoff"

I want to thank everyone who commented on my quandary about what to work on next. It was a tough decision at first, but I decided to listen to my heart, and my heart says The Sendoff. I love that book. It's something I want to publish.  When I made the decision Friday night in my sleep, and woke up Saturday morning and began revising the first chapter of the book, I was excited, thrilled. I knew I had made the right decision. Thank you all.

I'm in a quandary.

Yes. I'm in a bit of a quandary. I've basically finished Only The Lonely and hope to publish it soon. The quandary is: what do I work on next. Maybe you can help me decide.

 I've got perhaps 80-85% of a sequel to Only The Lonely already written called Battlefields of Love. My crude estimation is that I can finish it in 3-6 months, maybe even closer to 3 months. In some ways I think it's a better book than OTL. It will be about the same length, 75-80 thousand words.

I've got another novel that I wrote maybe 8-10 years ago that is probably 99% complete called The Sendoff. It has nothing to do with the OTL saga I have planned. I crudely estimate finishing it in 1-2 months. In some ways, I think it's the best book I've ever written, but it's from when I was first transistioning from literary writing to a more popular vein of writing. And it's somewhat, though not entirely, different from OTL. It's probably a bit shorter than 75,000 words, more like 50-60 thousand.

So, there's my quandary. Which do I work on next? Which one would you work on?