Create a Story - Pressing Pause

I'm pressing the pause button on my weekly prompts using the Create a Story book. There are a few reasons for this. The main one is that I want to get my next book released, and I'm afraid this is drawing what little energy I have away from that.

There's more to it, of course, though the underlying reason is true. I really want Fortune's Price out by the end of June and that leaves me just about five weeks to get the work done. It's written and edited, but on a reread I felt there were some places I needed to look at closer, and I need to focus for that.

But there are some underlying frustrations. The prompt shorts aren't getting an audience and I'd hoped for a more interactive exercise. They haven't been creative tasks as much as technical ones, I think in part because they are so brief, and have so many constructed requirements. 500 words. include fifteen specific words. Specific genre and prompt. The creativity becomes bound rather than freeing, and feeling bound isn't a sensation that is helping me right now.

So, I'm putting it on pause, and maybe I'll come back to it after a break, perhaps with less binding restrictions (freeing myself from a need to use all the words, or perhaps longer spacing between prompts to allow for longer stories).

I might also dip a toe into a different kind of prompt, with something like the The Story Engine Deck or the Deck of Worlds.

Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, coming soon, Fortune's Price. I'm determined to get this done and released, since I've had it written since literally before COVID hit.