Okay, the film's done.

The nonfiction proposal has, oh, twenty hours of work left.

I have a short story on the newsstands in about a month, and another looking not-unlikely for a sale.

Lots of little blog entries I'm happy with, some writing-related, some about toddlers.

My post-film doldrums and post-film explosion of little creative things are both over, and I'm out of excuses. Now it's either get back to the new novel, or don't.

Here's my dilemma. If I pick up the novel, I'm not working on moving the film career forward, and the film career is what I put novels aside for.

Here's the other problem: It'll be months before I know how the film's going to do on the festival circuit--which gives me time to make progress on the novel...but not finish it. So is that time better spent finding things to do with the film career, or was the plan of just getting the short out there and letting it make its way into the industry (or not) still the best?

I figure after all the writing advice I've doled out lately, I can also share a real-life dilemma. Which to do? I no longer have enough waking time for both, if I'm going to finish things in a timely manner. Which is necessary if I'm to maintain any kind of momentum in either career.

I'm leaning toward picking up again with the novel, and going full-steam on it until something either happens or doesn't with the short film. Let it find its own way in the world, and see who it brings home to meet Daddy. But this is the point at which I need to decide, and as usual, I don't have enough information to base the decision on, and my gut instinct says to push ahead with everything all at once.

Which has always worked when the goal was simply to finish things and make them good. But which is not necessarily the best approach for a guy with a day job and toddlers who wants a career.