Giving it another go

So I sent off my short 'Arabian Nights' story to the anthology competition which closed on Sunday. I was happy enough with the story in the end, after some serious edits from two close friends, however I think it is one of the pieces I feel most critical about. I guess having so little time, I didn't really research middle eastern society in that period particularly closely and relied almost entirely on stereotypes from Aladdin and One Thousand and One Nights, which made it sound like many other stories in that genre, but perhaps not as original and genuinely 'me' as some of my other writing. Moral of the story, try and pick projects with slightly longer deadlines? Oh, and forgive yourself and keep going.