Strathmore Water Color

Strathmore Water Color

Soft pastel painting has been frustrating, is strathmore paper the wrong type of paper?

Hi, I just bought all these supplies to TRY and learn how to soft pastel paint. I majored in art, did excellent though assumed I'd be good at pastel painting but am kinda rotten at it. I bought sennelier brand EXPENSIVE pastels, etc. PLUS this "strathmore" charcoal paper doesn't seem to hold the pastel [even though IT SAYS on this tablet pastels can be worked on here. I"m not getting great results and just doodled on the tablet on 3 different pages.
Okay, WHAT is the best soft pastel paper out there please, and SHOULD I PRIME paper w/gesso before even starting a pastel painting? Would it be more effective to get water soluble pastels and combine a background of water colour, then start blending in a design, and also use pastel pencils for fine detailing? Please advise, thanks☺
[I envisioned myself doing well at this. I hope this medium proves to be 'my thing' eventually]
thnx

That's what is wonderful about being an artist. There is no right way. You just stop listening to that voice telling you it's not right. It is right and you're creating. Don't envision the end result; just go with it. I think you're trying too hard to recreate what you think it's supposed to look like rather than letting it flow onto the paper.