Well, although my trip to Labrador was one of the best experiences of life, it did not, for some strange reason, include any composing. Therefore, I have two days to revise my first composition (with which I was extremely dissatisfied) and get moving on my second. This afternoon I completely reworked/ rewrote my first piece, keeping only about 4 bars the same. I tried really hard to a) keep it simple (I was inspired by Saird's discipline and commitment to motif this afternoon) b) maintain charcter while also building meaningful tension and c) make sure it would be easier for the performers to play. At this point, I'm not really following my original chord progression at all. Rather I stuck to 3 or 4 of my favorite parts of the piece and developed those rather than try to reflect my original chord progression. I think I have a more coherent result, but one can never tell. I don't have the use of a computer program so many things I write are approximations that are only filtered by my poor mental ability to visualize the music in my head.
I just read the creative angst entry and I must say that the element of composing that causes me the most angst is most certainly coherency. I have lots of ideas all the time, but very little idea how to combine, develop or display them. Deadlines are always good for a little angstiness as well.