In December, my old computer died. That didn’t seem like a good thing at first. It meant bringing it in for repair, and apart from the money, it was a hassle. I hate hassle. But then I thought of how old it was, that I’d had to replace the monitor and the hard drive, and decided it was time to retire it. Instead I bought a cute little laptop. It’s one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time.

When the old machine was fixed and I was able to get my old data from it, I realized I had to transfer files written in software that was cutting-edge in the 1980’s, into something more modern. That meant reading my old manuscripts, and boy, has that been a revelation. It led to self-publishing an ebook (Gifts of the Heart, available at Amazon and Smashwords.com. Yes, I am a shameless hussy when it comes to promotion). It also led to rediscovering a very old, unpublished manuscript.

Facing the Music is my only semi-successful attempt at writing a contemporary romance, before I found my niche as a Regency author. And guess what? It’s not awful. Oh, it’s no masterpiece. While I did have an agent interested, it didn't sell. With experience under my belt, I understand why. For one thing, it doesn't really fit into any category. It's not a traditional category romance. It's not chick lit. If anything, it’s closer to the romances written by Elswyth Thane, one of my influences.

For all the negatives I just listed, it's still a book I like. I like the characters, who are people I'd like to meet in real life. The premise is slim, but can be beefed up. So can the characters' motivations. Do you see where I'm going with this? This book has caught me. It’s changed my direction.

Instead of working on revising and formatting No Honeymoon for Death, the second of my Gilded Age mystery series, I think I’m going to rewrite Facing the Music. It’s a pleasant little book. It’ll never set the world on fire, and it’s still unsalable in the traditional way, but that’s where epublishing comes in. It will give the old, new life.

So, after being creatively dormant for over three years, I’m going to take a deep breath to calm my anxiety and plunge in to rewriting and revising this old book, for which I hold a great deal of affection. If all goes well, I’ll be shamelessly promoting it in a few months.