I submitted an entry into a literary competition on Sunday. There was never any doubt I would enter, but I looked hard at what it meant for me. Ultimately the opportunities outweighed the inconvenience, even if I don’t win. For the record, I don’t expect to win – I need a good editor – but maybe submitting an entry will open doors for me.

I’ve spent much of the last eighteen months pondering a decent title. For much of that time it had a working title of River’s End, which I think is a bit lame. Good titles are hard to come by, but I’m pleased with the title I ultimately chose: Send to Darkness.

I took it from a quote by Shakespeare in Rome and Juliet, and it’s actually pretty apt for the novel:

I will be treble-sinewed, hearted, breathed,

And fight maliciously; for when mine hours

Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives

Of me for jests; but now I’ll set my teeth

And send to darkness all that stop me.

Cross your fingers for me. I don’t find out till February.