New competitions

Although I'd promised myself I would concentrate on my works-in-progress, I saw this:
http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2016/02/16/opportunities-for-writers-march-and-april-2016/?utm_content=buffer3bff5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

Could be interesting......

Loyalty - latest edition released

For those of you who already have a copy of Loyalty - thanks for your support and I hope you enjoyed it. A new edition has just been released (available from Monday) with a couple of typos corrected. You can get this revised edition, free of charge, by going to your Amazon account and selecting 'manage my kindle'. Then just click on the book title to update it.
For those of you who have yet to get a copy, wait until Monday to get the latest version.
Don't forget, reviews are always welcome.

Insomnia put to use

Well, once again can't sleep. Too tired to tackle my complicated historical texts. So, I found a competition to enter. A short story by a British writer for the Irish Post. It's part of Listowel writers week. 1000 word limit on an Irish theme.
That was a challenge. What is an Irish theme?
Anyway I produced a short piece I was very happy with and with a click if the mouse it was gone!
So, let's see what they think.
After the deadline I'll publish it here, so you can comment..

Putting my time to good use?

Just decided to enter the Reader's Digest 100 word story competition, as suggested by my wonderful Dad. His blog.
100 words is not a lot, and it had to be precisely 100, not 99 and not 101. Submitted a piece called Retribution. Successful entries for public voting (how scary is that!) go on their website 6 March.

Another sleepless night

Oh well, if I cant sleep I might as well think about my writing. I was trying not to use the computer, trying to let the brain chill and hopefully fall asleep, but I couldn't resist!

I've been working on my sci-fi novella, and finally found a name for my alien protagonist. Imagination defeated I turned to the internet. I looked up some ancient names and found one that fitted the pronunciation patterns I had decided upon for my alien language. When I looked to see what the name had been associated with I found that it was the goddess of a moon of Venus and/or Venus - and my story references that planet. Co-incidence? Did I already know that? I don't care - its a great name and I'm really happy!

I have also been trying to progress Maryland - my novel about the transportation of female convicts to the American colonies in the 1730s.
I have pivotal violent scene in the early part of the book and  keep going back to it. It's the first time I've written such a sexually violent  section and I am almost literally sweating blood over it. Am I over-sensitive? I don't want it to be trite or hackneyed. I want it to be respectful of the victim - after all the writer does not know their reader, they may be a victim. I want it to be accurate but not overly-disturbing. Its probably the hardest thing I've ever written. I'll let you know how I get on.