The other interesting thing is that if your philosophy changes, so does the story you want to tell. I had a goal for my next set of stories, but now I'm evaluating if that is good or if I should work more toward Moharo's latest series of stories about True Love. One thing I do love about the series is that it points out that True Love is not restricted to only romance. In fact, friendship is probably even greater than romance, which is certainly counter-cultural but makes sense when you think about it.
Now if I do consider changing my approach, it at least shouldn't affect the next novel. However, I still don't know when I'll have time and energy to focus on it. The biggest threat would actually be another novel that I've been thinking about quite often but takes place quite some time after the next novel. While I think it has to the potential to be better, that also indicates that I should write the weaker novel first. But... yeah. Being an author is quite difficult.
J. D. Nyle