My favorite voices are mezzo-soprano and baritone, the ones that come closest to the sound of speech. I take texts from the best writers I can find, living or dead. If I can collaborate directly with a like-minded writer, so much the better. After a while the pieces I wrote began getting longer and fatter. Maybe it's the result of those galley years, but my main principle of orchestration is to give each player something interesting to do, instead of treating instruments as aural ballast.
Happy players perform better than makework drudges.
When the opera was staged in Brattleboro in 1981, it received two reviews. I like it that way. The very notion of competitions is odious, and randomly sending material to musicians of established reputation is like throwing it at a black hole. The best way to get your music performed is to produce your own concerts. Every town should have one.