Ended my weekly column for Winchester, IN paper to put more time into something I’ve only dabbled in: writing short stories and longer memoir. Change is hard for me, where once it was easy, but this may be the right time. I’ve enjoyed seeing my stories and interviews in small periodicals like Limberlost Review and South Carolina Review.

In addition, I’d like to finish writing a young adult novel set in San Francisco at time of the Great earthquake; I have about 8,000 polished words. Although I can hammer out two columns a week in spare mornings or evenings (The current book gets prime daytime), writing for quality literary magazines can take 30-35 days for one story/essay).

Besides, any time I feel an urge to write a column, I can place it in my Realalaskadaily blog online.

I also can take a low-cost creative writing grad class at UAF if I want the peer advice I’ll no doubt ignore (but I would LOVE reading the stories of those peers). I learned a few important things about technique and style taking an essay course for fun in Minnesota from a New Yorker essay author.

And, of course, I might fail altogether at attacking an unfamiliar genre as a relative newbie. (sound of fingernail being chomped).

One friend keeps telling me, gently and humorously, to act my age and just retire. I still have no television, and I read all I can, but if I lurked behind Gosia in the kitchen with nothing for me to do, she might unleash her inner axe murderer.

So, to my friend, I say, “I didn’t act my age at the junior seminary when the priests commanded, so why start now at 78?”

What about you old timers–supposedly retired? Satisfied with your free time spent traveling, taking photos, scribbling, or being a pest to your numero uno?