Not long after that last update, I became ill, and then Thanksgiving happened, and then problems with StoryBox crept up and I had to deal deal with them. What that means is that Moony isn’t done yet, and neither is Questioner’s Shadow. I’m really annoyed they’re not done, but they are getting closer, and that’s all that really matters.

The first two things in that list I could do nothing about. The third thing was, and still is, under my control. I thought the 1.5.126 release was simple and wouldn’t have any real issues. However, I was wrong. I forgot a single line of code, so I had to release 1.5.127. And then there was another bug that someone noticed, where I had again forgot a line of code, which led to 1.5.128. The next build came about when someone had an error which led to the notes being overwritten. That took me two days to figure out because it only happened on her machine.

I spent days working on StoryBox, days that I could have been writing.

And here’s the thing. If I’m lucky, I get three or four sales of StoryBox a month. Yup. Time I spend on StoryBox is not paying off financially. Not even close.

When I started StoryBox, I started it because I wanted writing software that worked the way I wanted it to work, and I wanted it on the PC. At the time, only Scrivener was close to what I wanted, and it wasn’t available on the PC. The key, however, is that I was creating a tool so that I could write. I wasn’t creating it to make money.

That’s still true today. StoryBox is only available for sale because I figure that other people might benefit from it. I’ve never wanted to be one of those writers who wrote some software and then made enough money that they chose to become software developers instead of writers.

I’m a writer who happened to make some software.

So, I am announcing that I am taking the next year or so OFF from StoryBox development. I will still fix any bugs that are found and are critical, but I will not be adding new features in 2012. This is not the end of StoryBox. It still works, and it has all the features I need.

This is an effort to concentrate 100% on writing and publishing new books. I’m trying to free myself from distractions, and StoryBox has become a distraction.

Again, this is not the end of the line for StoryBox. It already has all the features I need for writing and publishing novels.

– One exception to the new features embargo. If/when Amazon releases an updated KindleGen, I will add support for it.

– I reserve the right to change my mind about new features if there is something that I determine I absolutely need to write or publish any particular novel.