Tomorrow will be too late. You can't catch up this time.

[piano]

(A story of taking action too late, and that too much action-faking/no action at all can and will most likely mess you up)
I went into the kitchen today and ate cereal. I was walking in a circle and noticed a letter lying on the kitchen table.



"It's december,
I've been wanting to compose a piece for a huge national music composition competition. I knew of it long ago, but I only started on the 22th of this month. The deadline is on the 5th of January and I am slowly losing my mind"

During december I was working on a music piece for instruments that I'm not even sure I have even all seen in real life before.
I wanted to start way earlier. In fact, I actually wanted to write 2-3 pieces, but the time was closing in on me so I only barely had time for 1. I had only 2 weeks left. I was working everyday for hours. I'd wake up, not even eating, go to the basement and compose for hours, with a calendar reminding me that I should have started 1-2 months earlier.

I honestly had no clue about the instruments I was writing for. I'm a pianist, not a string or woodwind player.
I also had no time to research about them. I was purely relying on intuition and foolish hope.
The days before I started, I'd be whining about minor inconviniences. Now I was taking daily naps due to exhaustion, each day.
I would continue like this for the next 10 days. Even working on new year's eve.
And at that time, new year's eve, I realized that I would need luck - luck I didn't even deserve - to win.

Mentally and physically uncared for, I finished in a distressed manner and tried to forget what happened.


I went to the letter in excitement and fear. It had the symbol of the organization I composed a piece for. I took it out of the envelope. I was scared.
I started reading.





It was the result I knew it would be.

 

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[Bekit]

Well-written post that packs a massive emotional impact. Congratulations on lighting a fire under me on those things that I know I should have started already.

(A story of taking action too late, and that too much action-faking/no action at all can and will most likely mess you up)
I went into the kitchen today and ate cereal. I was walking in a circle and noticed a letter lying on the kitchen table.



"It's december,
I've been wanting to compose a piece for a huge national music composition competition. I knew of it long ago, but I only started on the 22th of this month. The deadline is on the 5th of January and I am slowly losing my mind"

During december I was working on a music piece for instruments that I'm not even sure I have even all seen in real life before.
I wanted to start way earlier. In fact, I actually wanted to write 2-3 pieces, but the time was closing in on me so I only barely had time for 1. I had only 2 weeks left. I was working everyday for hours. I'd wake up, not even eating, go to the basement and compose for hours, with a calendar reminding me that I should have started 1-2 months earlier.

I honestly had no clue about the instruments I was writing for. I'm a pianist, not a string or woodwind player.
I also had no time to research about them. I was purely relying on intuition and foolish hope.
The days before I started, I'd be whining about minor inconviniences. Now I was taking daily naps due to exhaustion, each day.
I would continue like this for the next 10 days. Even working on new year's eve.
And at that time, new year's eve, I realized that I would need luck - luck I didn't even deserve - to win.

Mentally and physically uncared for, I finished in a distressed manner and tried to forget what happened.


I went to the letter in excitement and fear. It had the symbol of the organization I composed a piece for. I took it out of the envelope. I was scared.
I started reading.





It was the result I knew it would be.

But I'm sure you must be gutted after putting so much effort into the composition. Sorry it ended up that way.

Even if you didn't win, can you build on this piece, polish it up, and release the version that you wish you had produced and theoretically could have if you had started early enough?

Or can you adapt the best parts of what you produced in the piece and recombine them into a piece specifically for piano?

Sure, it wouldn't be for the competition anymore, but it would be one of your opus numbers. And it would be a stepping stone towards the next composition. And the next.

The young Schubert or Mendelssohn surely had pieces that they slaved over and didn't "come out ahead" like they hoped. But we're all glad to this day that they kept at it despite any setbacks.

Any chance you can share a recording? I wouldn't mind hearing it, even if it's just a midi version or one synthesized by your composing software.

And just to put a smile on your face and let you know you're not alone in this kind of thing, I'll just leave this here.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU

 

[piano]

Well-written post that packs a massive emotional impact. Congratulations on lighting a fire under me on those things that I know I should have started already.

Phew, I'm glad you liked it and that I was able to fire you up! It was my main reason to share this with you guys after all.

But I'm sure you must be gutted after putting so much effort into the composition. Sorry it ended up that way.

Even if you didn't win, can you build on this piece, polish it up, and release the version that you wish you had produced and theoretically could have if you had started early enough?

Or can you adapt the best parts of what you produced in the piece and recombine them into a piece specifically for piano?

Sure, it wouldn't be for the competition anymore, but it would be one of your opus numbers. And it would be a stepping stone towards the next composition. And the next.

The young Schubert or Mendelssohn surely had pieces that they slaved over and didn't "come out ahead" like they hoped. But we're all glad to this day that they kept at it despite any setbacks.

Thank you for the kind words! I am however thankfully fine with how the situation turned out and see it as a lesson (or am simply in denial. I don't know haha..).
I will compete again this year.
You're right, I could polish the piece/transfer it onto piano etc. But I think polishing it up wouldn't serve me as much ROI as moving on and trying new things. But I will very likely polish it one day.

Any chance you can share a recording? I wouldn't mind hearing it, even if it's just a midi version or one synthesized by your composing software.

Imma send you a short part of it in dms.

And just to put a smile on your face and let you know you're not alone in this kind of thing, I'll just leave this here.

While watching, I thought you were mocking me with how accurate it was LMAO
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Bekit]

Phew, I'm glad you liked it and that I was able to fire you up! It was my main reason to share this with you guys after all.

Thank you for the kind words! I am however thankfully fine with how the situation turned out and see it as a lesson (or am simply in denial. I don't know haha..).
I will compete again this year.
You're right, I could polish the piece/transfer it onto piano etc. But I think polishing it up wouldn't serve me as much ROI as moving on and trying new things. But I will very likely polish it one day.

Imma send you a short part of it in dms.

While watching, I thought you were mocking me with how accurate it was LMAO
Thanks for sharing!

Hey thanks for the clip you sent me! Thought it was really good!

That's a fair point on making a decision about ROI.

While watching, I thought you were mocking me with how accurate it was LMAO

Hey I'm in the same boat! No mockery intended. If you liked that, you'll probably also like his blog post on how to beat procrastination and this other one about the procrastination matrix.

 

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[srodrigo]

And just to put a smile on your face and let you know you're not alone in this kind of thing, I'll just leave this here.

I remember reading some of this guy's posts. They are freaking books turned into blog posts. They are really dense and take a while to digest, which is a good thing. I abstained from the rabbit hole of reading more of them to avoid wasting time, but this blog looks like a gem.