Editing an Old Friend - Cupid's Mistake

Almost done proofreading the scanned copy of Cupid's Mistake so that I can republish it as an e-book.

I haven't read it in years, and so I can edit with a good amount of detachment and objectivity. It feels, oddly, as if someone else wrote it, not me.  The good thing is that I believe it's a solid story. The bad thing is that part of me wonders whether I can write as well again after not writing a full-length novel for almost a decade.

I'd like to test the waters by entering some RWA contests, but I think because they won't let previously published authors enter unpublished work unless they've not been published for five years (my last novella--not a full-length novel--was published in 2010), I have to wait a total of 11 years before I can enter an unpublished work in one of those contests.

Yeah, I know, I should just write a new one and put it out there.  But times--and styles--change. I, personally, like my writing style, because the rhythm of it falls well on my inner ear. However, I am not so certain younger, more modern, ears are tuned to such sounds any more, if that makes any sense. As a result, I'd like to test the waters via a contest before I put a book out there.  But, I don't really want to wait more years to test the waters.

That said, it's nice revisiting the Hathaway family in Cupid's Mistake.  The Hathaways are a loving family--a bit eccentric, but all of them kind-hearted.  Even the matchmaking Lady Hathaway--ever ambitious for her children--is there with a hug and a shoulder to cry on should her children need it. There are a lot of dysfunctional families in novels, even in romance novels, and I've written more than a few of them. But the Hathaways are, I think, one of the few who are simply nice, caring people.  And that does make me happy.  It's like visiting old friends, and good-hearted friends at that.  :-)