Writing Constraints: The Fast Creativity Reset

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Subject: Writing Constraints: The Fast Creativity Reset

** This email may show up long in your inbox, so you may need to click to expand and to read the full email. Or read online.

Friday, Feb. 13, 2026

Hi Friend,

I love games and I love game rules.

Game rules are a form of constraints. I love how clear they are.

How you win
How you lose
What each part of the game is good for

Writing prompts function the same way - what to use and not use.

As you'll hear in my podcast, I've been stalled out on 2 big, important-to-me writing projects (Janey Book 5 and a Henrietta script) that need massive rewrites.

So I needed to work on something else to feel creative, while my brain noodles on the back burner these other 2 projects.

If you're stuck in your writing pick a prompt, make a constraint, and set a timer.

That's what I talk about in the podcast this week!

Newsflash: I'm doing a flash sale tomorrow on my Writing Prompt Pack -- and other writer tools! Stay tuned.

❤️

🌟 Doing a Live Soon!

Next Monday, Feb. 16, 10am PT/1pm ET, I'm doing a Facebook Live to talk about creative planning for creative people for 30 minutes with Gala Russ, my co-teacher in the creative entrepreneur space.

Come join us live!

https://fb.me/e/4imBvrVwB

You have already be a member of this group to see this event, so be sure to join if you haven't ready.

*If you're not already a member of our Fellowship of the Pen Facebook group, click to JOIN and answer ALL the questions.

Fellowship of the Pen is a perk for being on this list, the Creativity Sparks newsletter.

Don't worry if you're not on Facebook. We'll be doing Lives on Youtube and Instagram, too, and maybe Substack.

❤️

Take the quiz to be sure to get notified of this event! Find Your Creative Entrepreneur Niche bootcamp March 20-24, 2026

🔥 Find Your Creative Entrepreneur Niche Bootcamp coming in March

Thinking about becoming a book coach, editor, author assistant, or creative entrepreneur who supports writers but not sure where you fit?

Our 4-day bootcamp will help you figure it out.

Find Your Creative Entrepreneur Niche

Date: March 20–24, 2026

Who: Hosted by Gala Russ + Beth Barany

Cost: $67

Across four days, you’ll:

• Assess your readiness

• Identify your skills

• Map your strengths to real services

• Take the Creative Entrepreneur Type quiz

• Get your personalized next-step roadmap

If 2026 is the year you want to step into a writing-related business, start with clarity and take action.

Details and registration coming Monday, Feb. 16th.

Get started by taking the Creative Business Style Quiz:

http://bethbarany.com/quiz

❤️

Writing Constraints: The Fast Creativity Reset

🎤 How To Write The Future podcast

This week's episode is on overcoming a creative slump for a creativity reset.

“For me, writing fiction is a place of play.” - Beth Barany

I share how to use writing prompts to rediscover the joy of writing, plus I ask:

How do you get unstuck in your writing?
How can you make the process more fun?

Writing Constraints: The Fast Creativity Reset

How To Write the Future podcast, episode 191

Read | Listen | Watch

❤️

Happy Writing!

Best,

Beth

Are you writing? Hit reply with YES! If you are. And NO, if not, and let's figure out what can get you writing.

PS. Here are some of the upcoming events!

🌟 I'll be sharing The Art of Self-Editing Challenge by Tara R. Alemany -- coming in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

🚀 In March, Gala Russ and I will be running our first bootcamp "Find Your Creative Entrepreneur Niche" to help people who want help writers to get clear on which services you can offer that align with your skills, your interests, and that writers will gladly pay for. -- March 20-24. Registration opens Feb. 16th!

📚 I'll be teaching in Lorin Oberweger's Free Expressions: Settings that Wow Your Readers: in 2 parts. Get on her list to get all the details. Save the dates!

❤️ Come to the intro night next week.

April 9, 4:30pm PT
May 14, 4:30pm PT

🎙️ And I'm excited to announce that I'll be speaking at Alexa Bigwarfe's Marketing Bootcamp for Authors and Publishing Professionals, June 12-13, 2026.

🌟 If you find my resources helpful, please forward them to a friend who may need them too. Thanks!

Beth Barany
Creativity Coach for Writers

Teacher, Speaker, Workshop Facilitator
bethbarany.com

I not only teach and coach novelists, I am one too!

*Magical Tales of Romance, Mystery, and Adventure* author.bethbarany.com

Including the award-winning, Henrietta The Dragon Slayer (Book 1), and Into The Black, about Janey McCallister space station investigator (Book 1)

__________________________

❤️ - Here to empower you with core principles, mindset tools, and doable roadmaps to build your sustainable, thriving creative career on your own terms.

🚀 🐲 - Passionate about supporting science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction writers; and creative entrepreneurs serving writers.

🎬 - Filmmaker with a BIG mission: to celebrate warrior women!

Writer's Fun zone blog by and for creative writers, published by Beth Barany

Subscribe to be notified when each blog post goes live. Or wait for the weekly round-up in this newsletter. *Write for us.

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☕️

Support This Creative Entrepreneur

My mission is to support your adventure as a creative and step into your next best self.

If you want to support my mission, I invite you to:

📚 buy my books: Fiction | Nonfiction

☕️ buy me a coffee

🎬 support my Henrietta The Dragon Slayer short film

Or share my work with your friends. Thanks!

Beth Barany is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy novelist, and certified creativity coach for writers.

She specializes in helping writers experience clarity, so they can write, revise, and proudly publish their novels to the delight of their readers.

Here be the legalese: In connection with the operation of this newsletter and business, Creativity Sparks includes affiliate links to trusted partners. Barany Consulting earns a commission from the Affiliate Links which commission is based on the number of sales that are made as a result of users of the Newsletter clicking over to the Affiliate Link and purchasing from the Affiliate Link a product and/or service. Thus endth the legalese.

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The Solar System. → Carina–Sagittarius Arm in the Milky Way galaxy. Milky Way subgroup → Local Group → Local Sheet → Virgo Supercluster → Laniakea Supercluster → Local Hole → Observable universe → Universe.

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