Game Plans

So despite the chaos of this year, I've managed to finish an average of a short story a month, in addition to work on my novel and editing.  I have my next short story plotted, and I had planned to start groundwork on another novel, but I'm not really sure I'm feeling it.  It requires a lot of concentration and firm commitment to one idea, which ... trust me, my brain is never that good at doing.

So I'm tossing around two story vehicles versus two boot camps.

STORIES

1.  Sometimes, when watching TV - as one does - I'm intrigued by the commercials for shows I don't watch.  The snippets of plot in media res, without context, get my brain spinning.  I always think it would be fun to take an episode trailer for a series I don't follow and write a story inspired by what I think is going on.  I can guarantee you it wouldn't be particularly close to the original ...

2.  In the "unusual formats for stories," I thought it would be fun to write a tale as an email conversation.  This is certainly not a new idea - I've read a couple stories like this - but I think it's something that would suit my style, and it's off-beat without being too hard to work with.

BOOT CAMPS

Note that in both these cases, the usual method would be "one a day," but I know myself and my incubator brain well enough to know that's not going to work terribly well, so I might do an average:  four a week?

1.  Flash fiction from a prompt at regular intervals (see above).  I am thinking of using a random word generator, but I would be open to suggestions.

2.  Poetry from a prompt at regular intervals (see above), using various forms.  Yes, I write form poetry.  Deal with it.  I'm intrigued by this list - http://www.agodon.com/uploads/2/9/4/3/2943768/writing_prompts_by_kelli_russell_agodon.pdf - but again,I am open to suggestions.

That's all I've got for now.  I haven't written a lot of flash or poetry of late, so I thought it would be nice to kick my brain back into it, change the pace ... but I also enjoy a good short story, too.