What is a good alternative to Storyworth?

Image: pxhere.com

(This is the fifth in a series of essays that I wrote in early 2024 in response to writing prompts from Storyworth. More information)

I’m frustrated with Storyworth.

Or rather, I’m frustrated with the text editor in their web app. It doesn’t give me the control I like to have over formatting. It doesn’t let me chose the font (e.g., bold, italic or underlined), control the line spacing, or wrap text around images (or create image captions).

It just frustrates me.

I do like their prompts. I like that they let me add family members to a list and handle sending my essays to them, though just saying that out loud (err, writing it down for me to see) sounds narcissistic.

(Another benefit might be that, once I move to another platform and remove you from the Storyworth distribution list, you probably won’t see sales pitches coming from them anymore.)

But how is Storyworth different from subscribing to a writer’s prompt service (there are a few free ones) and posting entries to a blog that you can subscribe to? Heck, I can just create a Google Group, add you as a member, and everything I send to that group goes out to you. (Even Gmail’s message editor is better than Storyworth’s. That’s sayin’ something.)

So I’m on a hunt for another platform. I’ll probably keep using the prompts that Storyworth sends me, though I’m curious to see what free prompt services might offer. But today I’m looking for another place to post and distribute those posts.

If you have any suggestions for me or thoughts on this quest (for or against), let me know in the comments below.