After fiction

I have a very strong sense, increasing all the time, that this Great Short Opus I'm working on, if I can pull it off, will be the last thing I write in the "short novel" genre. And that's fine. However, this does not mean I'm "retiring," just that I'm changing focus. I know I want to do something with music. And lately I've been thinking of returning to Alice animation and doing those "animated opera music videos" I fiddled around with. I fiddled enough to know it can work. I know I have to start small and short -- dramatic moments in song -- while I learn, and now re-learn, the animation skills in this cool but limited program. But the form combines storytelling with music, which is the area I want to explore once I leave "straight text."

I've also thought about showing some nature videos.

So I'll remain busy. But in a different way.

But if I don't pull this short novel off, still a significant possibility, well, I suspect I'll probably try again. I'd like to "retire" with a winner -- by my terms, not any commercial or critical terms "out there," which at this point in my life are irrelevant and serve only as a distraction, teasing me with ego-diseases.

I will know if the book works or not. I'm honest about that. (And I already know that even a brilliant success here would appeal only to a very, very small number of readers.)