Hiding the joins

When I was younger I liked colouring in. Sometimes I didn't have time to finish so I would have to come back to a picture. Even if I used the exact same felt tipped pen you could still see the place where I'd started again. That's how I feel about my writing at the moment, so much so that I'm seriously considering a complete rewrite. I've added in a lot of description and I'm convinced that the 'joins' are showing, so I was pleased to read today's post at The Other Side of the Story. I need all the help I can get in this area at the moment and this is seriously good help. I've taken a few days off from the WiP to see if I can view it objectively, but it's not looking good right now.

While I'm letting 'The Bad Mother' rest I'm trying something different. I should add here that 'The Bad Mother' is a working title and not an insulting description of my WiP ( in which case, I'm sure it would be 'Mutha' but that could just be me). Yes I know that's a terrible title but I had to call it something for the file names and at the moment that's all I've got. Anyway, the 'something different' is a short story for a competition. I know winning is unlikely but the discipline is good. I'm having to write to a deadline, and within someone else's parameters. What really attracted me to this particular competition is that one of the requirements is that the story is set in a specific area and that it evokes a strong sense of place. Now if that's not a good exercise in descriptive writing I don't know what is! It's also tougher than it sounds. My first few attempts ended up sounding like a travelogue but I think I'm getting there.

This is a link to the competition in case you're interested. There are some nice prizes including one hundred books. One hundred books people! In one go! How awesome would that be? Oh yeah, and also two days in Sweden.

I found out about the competition here. This is a lovely site and I know Sally does her very best to make sure there are no vanity competitions listed (or as I like to call them, 'cons') although, as ever, it's down to us to check it all out.

Has anyone ever won a competition? Do you enter them regularly? I never have before but I must admit it's tempting. After all, writing is awesome. Being paid for it would be even more awesome. Even if it's in books. Especially if it's in books.