Win some, lose some

Restructured the something I pulled out of the drawer a while ago, and lost some 400 words in the process. While it always makes me sad to part with words, sometimes it helps prepare for more words being added. Knock on veneer, thank you.

A discussion this weekend on the joys of reading made me realize that I don't like reading short stories because they are ... well, short. When I come at the end of the text, I usually feel like I started out with this big-ass gift-wrapped box only to find it contains one single lonely cookie.
Sometimes it is chocolate chip, but most of the time it's stale and someone already took a bite out of it.

In other words, most short stories don't punch my catharsis button, and leave me feeling like a moron (especially when the set of short stories or the author get glowing reviews). I mean, I come at the end of the story and go, "What? That's it?" and then start to feel like there is something I'm just not getting.
Whenever I do like a short story, it is because it is beautifully told, with nicely developed characters, some layering of what always is a very simple plot, with or without a twist in the end, but always the kind of journey that doesn't make me feel sorry I went on foot instead of taking the bus. But there are far too little of those in the world, and I've read too many of the worst kind to have much gusto left to try.

And I sure as hell can't write short stories, not like that. If it's "just like that", why bother at all?
I do write short scenes, tools for developing some character or idea outside of the novel-in-progress. But those aren't stories, just studies. Outside of the box they don't make any sense.

I did write a short story once, a very long time ago. It took me two years to write and review and polish and perfect. I tried to translate it into English but it's just not working. Maybe if I work three years on the translation...
I also wrote a novel once. All in all it took me four years, but it is about 82 times as long as the short story. Until it's published, it goes through a yearly range of revisions, and I guess it will never be as perfect as that one short story, but at least I enjoy the writing more. Agonizing over three-letter-words is no fun at all.