Three Ways to Write More

Writing is a great activity for generating new ideas and getting over your fear of creating. It's a great practice to adopt even if you don't care about writing in general. Some people might turn to it for the therapeutic benefits of getting things off your chest, but it would be just as good for people in music or business.  

The Morning Pages method by Julia Cameron is one of my favourite ways to write as it takes the pressure off of trying to be good. By just writing whatever comes to your mind for around ten-fifteen minutes, you eventually start stumbling across ideas that were in the back of your mind. But it's not easy to just sit down and write.

First Place to Start: Use a Timer

That's why the first tip is to use a timer. The timer will keep you focused on writing for say ten minutes, and you don't stop until the timer goes off. This is the most basic tip that I have, but if you haven't tried this, then it's a good place to start since it's free and timers are everywhere from your phone to your oven.  A great one in your browser is Egg Timer.

Keep the Pace with FlowState

The next way is to use an app called FlowState. The way this one works is you pick a time for how long you want to write for, and if you don't keep the cursor moving it will delete what you've written. Awful! I have the version for my iPad and I use a keyboard with it, but it also exists for Mac. It unfortunately doesn't seem to exist outside the Apple ecosystem.

Hit a Daily Quota with 750 Words

Another app that I had heard about for a long time and finally gave a shot is 750 Words. It runs in the browser which is convenient so you can access it on any device. They recently launched a new version of the site so if you're going to try it you might as well go with that one.

This app does not time you and delete your words if you don't keep the speed up like FlowState does, but just asks you to hit the quota of 750 words, which is like hitting 10,000 steps on a FitBit.

It costs $5/month, but from my experience in working with the freewriting method, it's a good price.  It also has some other gamification features for trying to motivate you, but that might be a nuisance to some users who want the most minimalist experience possible.

Happy writing!