Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Write Or Die!

I started using Dr. Wicked's Write or Die program earlier this week. I've found it to be a great help to get me writing. I usually start strong in my writing sessions, but as I go, my attention tends to wander, and I want to check out different Internet sites, either for research or to just avoid the current writing session. As you can imagine, the words don't come quickly or easily.

With Write or Die, though, there is no distraction. It's a bare-minimum word processing program, basically just a notepad writer. The trick is you have to keep typing in order to keep the consequences from lashing out at you. Instead of me telling you what the consequences are, just go check out Write or Die from my above link. It's quite self-explanatory. I usually use "gentle mode" because I tend to have my speakers off when I'm writing, although so far the red background warning of the coming consequence has been enough to get my fingers typing again.

This is a great program for first drafts of any kind. It forces you to keep your fingers on the keyboard so you'll actually get words down. Make sure you save your work before you close your window, as it does not auto-save it for you. Anyway, I just wanted to let those writers who don't know about this handy website that it exists and is easy to use. I hope it will help with your output. You can also brag about how many words you wrote by clicking a button on the "Done" screen. I posted my word count on Twitter just a few minutes ago. Anyway, that's enough for this week. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing.