Here is my construtive critism....

Let me give you my background quickly that way you have the opporunity to
weigh my opinion....

I'v been writing for 5 years.  I graduated with a degree in music - playing
percussion.  I love writing though it takes me a long time to finish
something...

Thirty and Thiry-Eight is minimalist.  So let me tell you the difference
between Philip Glass and John Adams.  John Adams is great because is of his
creative part writing, his use of rhythm to alter the minimalistic, that
is, repetitive tendencies, and his use of color.(Harmonium and Haromoliere)
Philip Glass is boring because does none of that.

Two of the toughest things about righting with MIDI is not letting the
sounds influence your writing.  A lot of sounds sound awful - like the
oboe and the french horns.  Be creative, let your imagination guide as you
write, and not the sounds.  Let the sounds be your guide.  I have gone to,
as I finish my second wind symphony changing all of the sounds to the piano
sounds - so not to influence my ideas.

Don't let the software you are using limit you.  When I started writing
I was using Finale 98 - and it really didn't have a lot to offer.  Since
then I have gone to Sibelius 2000 - which has come a long way, especially
in the way of Avante Garde.

Another thing that you might want to think about - as this is on my mind,
I just read it in a bio that I am reading on Schoenberg ....  listen to all
of the "wrong notes" that you play.  Many times, these notes might take us
in different directions with our music.

Also, do you map out your music? Think of it this way, do you often have
a motif that you want to start with, and you write it down.  You write
some harmony with it, and then that is it.  Later on you come up with a
clever variation of it.  Often times I would hate working ahead without
first developing what I had - I wanted to write music like one would read
a book ...  letter by letter, word to word, paragraph to chapter and so
on.  By why do that with music.  Because you are creating it, you can
essentially begin musical "chapters" get them started and then work on
them seperatly, Connecting them later.

I must tell you, however, that my girlfriend that I Arcadia sounded like a
pop holloween song.  I liked it.

Hope this helps.

Jeremy