I’ve shared a lot, here on my blog, how much I enjoy Hour of Writes. It’s a weekly writing competition with a different three word prompt each week, and the challenge is to respond to that prompt in any way you choose, within the time limit of one hour. You mark three other entries, and get feedback from three other writers on your own, which can be really valuable.

I took a break from the competition after entering pretty much every week for months, because I needed different challenges and because I was focusing on Alfie Slider; getting Shape Shifter into print and Frozen Prince to beta readers.

I bought myself four credits last month, and I’m pleased to say that three of those four entries got me into the top three with a ‘Featured Entry’; they’re listed on my successes page. The one that didn’t get featured was one that I really liked writing; ‘I Can Change‘.

I find that I’m not a great judge of what will be popular with others. Things that I write that I think are awesome get a lukewarm reaction, things I don’t like at all go down well. That’s part of the value of the experience for me, that and being nudged to write stories that are out of my usual genres of Sci Fi or Fantasy. Maybe one day I’ll see the pattern and be able to tell what will be well received, but for now? I’m rather enjoying finding out.