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Not sure if this tidbit of advice will help, but here's how I finished American Pixels. That was a 5+ year project, tons of excitement at the front-end, and then it turned into... work. And here's the problem, I have a family and a full-time job, so I kept hitting the snag where I'd work all day, spend time with the family, have a pocket of free time at night, and then... not have any energy left. That, or there'd be this sense of "yay, I have time to work on music... and oh no, I feel obligated to work on that project and I'm really not in the mood..." So, that happened over and over, and occasionally I'd have a magic day off (holiday, whatever) where I'd get a wonderful 4 hours in a row to myself... and during those moments, I could tap into the creative juices and get it going again... but man, those little magical windows were rare. Like, once every few months rare. It got really frustrating seeing an album inch to completion in those sporadic bursts. The answer for me: wake up earlier. I'd set my alarm for 4:30am, be in my studio by 5am, and get in a solid hour, hour and a half every morning. My brain wasn't yet tired from the day job, I was rested and fresh, and the stuff that seemed like work before now seemed fun again. And, it actually helped my happiness level, so even though I was sleepy, I was giddy at work considering the progress I made in the early morning hours. And then I just had to ride and chase that feeling until things were done. It was tough to get started, but then it became strangely addicting.

finishing a project of any kind is a skill. it's one that takes repetition and focus to improve at. the best advice is just to buckle up and finish your stuff. i make a point to always finish every track i ever work on, simply because i don't have the time to goof around with stuff i don't care about. if i'm working on it, it's gonna get done, or else it was nothing more than a waste of time. if you're not motivated enough to finish your music, ask yourself what's getting in the way? is it desire? i've been there - if something else is more important, then it's more important, and you should treat it as such. is it skill? put in the time and improve. find the impingement and correct it, the same way you'd correct a wrong note or a wonky freq in your render.

Hey, everyone! It's been a while. Thanks to those folks who have been looking in on me to make sure I haven't died. Still kicking and thanks for the updates! I know I haven't been doing great at this lately. Last year wasn't a wonderful year for me, but this year I have no excuse - I've been behind and I'm just being slow about trying to keep up. I could say that depression has gotten the better of me, I could say there are several developments in my life I'm dealing with, but really, I just haven't been making the time a priority. That being said, this project means a great deal to me; I think we have some great folks on board, I'm proud of what we have so far, and still excited for where we are going - and a likely reason for my depression is the lack of my own progress on the project itself. So, I'll be recommitting myself to this again - it's time for me to stop sulking and get back to work! ---- So, here is what I see I have to do to get things to current: Update front page and Project Overview - I've received many reminders about this. I will have this back up and running this week. WIP Spreadsheet - I have some new updates to post here too, but I need to confirm permission to post from a few folks. Will update this week as permissions come in. @TheChargingRhino - It is time-consuming to keep all this on Drive as well as the project Box account, and considering how my time has been lately, I'm going to keep it all on Box moving forward. Sorry for this, but you can PM me if you are having trouble accessing. Checking in with folks - I'm checking where everyone is in the next two weeks. No pressure for updates at this time - that would be hardly fair of me - but I am wondering how folks are. Some of you I've heard from recently, some of you I haven't heard from in a while. Please let me know where you are with your track - feel free to reach out to me if I don't get to you first! Updates @Etzaen has been working on some art over the last year which I'd like to share with the team, but I need to figure out the where and how first. Stay tuned for more on this. Our back covers are being produced NOW! I've received the first drafts from my guy and they are looking good. I will post these with the rest of the art when I figure out format. Of all the things I've been asked about on this project, the narratives have generated the most interest! So, by popular demand, 6 of 8 scripts are complete and I will have the rest done in time for March. I need to refresh myself on this part of the project and get the scripts proofread before we start recording, but hopefully I can get folks to start doing this for me by the end of March. Will advise as this progresses. Open voice roles are still available to claim! @classic_gamer_76, please PM me on this when you get a chance. I need to confirm some things for Star Wolf parts. --- Due to my own absence and timing issues, I am no longer optimistic that the project will be ready for submission when reach our July deadline. I think that with a little effort, we can still finish the project by the end of September, but I'm wondering if we should push this to January instead. Please let me know what you think, on the thread or with a PM, on whether pushing for September is something folks think they are capable of. Thanks again for everyone's patience as I figure my stuff out. More to come as things get under way.

I might need to take Mazedude's excellent advice. I especially relate because I also have a family and a full-time job, so my only time to work on music is at night (usually after 8-9 PM) and pockets of time on the weekends. So, I've been doing the opposite - staying up late. And it works okay, because I am generally NOT an early riser. However, I think it could be worth a shot to see if I feel more energized and productive by getting up earlier as opposed to staying up until after midnight. The whole idea of finishing something I've started as opposed to cycling through different projects without completing anything is something I've been continuously working on, and something I really was never any good at until well into adulthood. Interestingly enough (and this is just how it worked out for me), taking a break from music for a few years and raising my son has actually re-energized me, so I'm a much more disciplined and focused person than I ever was before. So while I have less time than I used to for noodling around on instruments or working on projects, I'm much more efficient and productive with the time I do have. I finally figured out that the joy of finishing a project helps carry me through the day-to-day challenges of actually keeping my commitments and doing the not-so-fun stuff sometimes. It's a wonderful feeling!

I've been wanting to work this genre anyway, so I'm down! I can (attempt) to provide live bass if needed

All right, time for another deadline: Saturday, March 31 I have three entries that are complete or nearly complete, and they're all pretty fantastic. It would be a grave injustice to not get them into an album. @ThePlasma, @ibeginwiththeendinmind, @Steele, please send an update my way or be cut. @Chernabogue you know where you stand and what I'm waiting for. I'll see if I can do some more recruiting.