Writing a symphony takes a long time

I've started working on writing my symphony. I've had it on my to do list for a long time, and I've finally gotten started. I took some time a while ago to plan out the movements and theme developments, but now I actually have music going down.

I have a whole new respect for composers and film music writers, creating symphonies and scoring music in weeks. It takes FOREVER to actually write this stuff. Especially if you don't have an orchestra ready or some other means to hear how everything sounds together. I can hear how the whole piece sounds together, but I have a hard time isolating the separate parts to actually write them out. I have a piano, but I can only play so many parts at a time. And the real instruments provide a whole different blend of sounds apart from the notes, the texture of which I can only guess at discerning. I have a small amount of experience participating in band/orchestra setting, but not enough to be able to hear and pick apart the music to write it faster.

It's nice to actually see the notes written out (after only thinking about doing it for a while), but it's going to be a while before I get anything substantial. So let the music play .... dah dah dee dum doo dah....