Write or Die!

I woke up this morning to bright blue skies and sunshine, with a bunch of ideas that would fix a weaker part of the novel I'm currently writing. After weeks of rewriting and revising, I finally got to write new scenes, which was actually more exciting than it probably sounds to anybody who hasn't been there.

Either way, as if by cosmic coincidence I found a blog post that mentioned the writing software 'Write or Die' as a great way to churn out first drafts. I love adding gameplay elements to everyday life, so I just had to try it.

I loved it. It worked really well for me, by muzzling my inner editor and forcing me to focus and keep on going without getting distracted. If you stop typing for more than a few seconds, your screen starts turning red and you are punished by an awful sound of your choice, from babies crying or an air raid siren to scary disco songs you happen to have on your hard drive.

The part I like best (I'm all about positive reinforcement, really) is the triumphant sound when you achieve the goal you've set for yourself. You have the options to set a time goal (in minutes) or a word goal.

Like in games, you can choose the difficulty level at which you want to 'play'. The hardest one, 'Kamikaze' will - when you stop writing for too long - delete the words you've last written. Eek!

And there are many other features to fiddle around with, but I'll let you discover those for yourself. I got the desktop version (10USD via Paypal), but you can try out a free online version as well at http://writeordie.com/.

Have you tried it before? What do you think?

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