3 Free Tools To Help You Meet Your Writing Goals
Do you remember those days when all you do is sit at your computer and stare? You had no clue of what you wanted to write about. Maybe you had writers block, trouble with finding a good plot or topic, or you were just not feeling too enthusiastic about the whole point of writing.
Listed below are 3 resources that will get your creative juices flowing. You can't go wrong with either of these. It's best if you give each one a try to see which one suits your needs better.
750 Words is like a private journal that you can use to write about anything. The concept revolves around dumping everything you have on your mind and putting them into words. This is a great stress reliever if you're one of those people who need a way to get everything off your chest. 750 Words tracks down your progress through points on your scorecard so that you can stay motivated. The thing I like the most is the fact that you can go back and see your archive months or even years from now, and see how your writing has improved.
One Page Per Day is similar to 750 Words. The major differences are: writing one page a day, you can only sign up with your existing Google or Twitter accounts, and they will send you a gentle reminder to write your page each day. I see OPPD as a better fit for writers who aim to write a book because OPPD will not let you write over or under a page. I find that great since it motivates you to get a page done automatically and it's a good way to see your book come together more quickly.
You may have heard of Write or Die in the Nanowrimo forums. WOD can be really brutal so I only insist you try this tool when you are ready for the consequences. WOD was made by Dr. Wicked who aims to stop procrastination in a unique way. You get to set your time that you want to spend writing then you can choose what mode you want to try: gentle, normal, or kamikaze. From there, you can start writing in the little box that pops up. Seems easy, right? The challenge comes in when you don't continuously write. If you are idle for more than a couple of seconds, your work starts getting deleted. Dr Wicked quotes, "Negative Reinforcement strengthens a behavior because a negative
condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior.” WOD is a favorite among most writers because it motivates them to get the job done.
Get Rewarded For Exercising
Exercising is a must for most people's everyday life. Then there are those of us who hate exercising or don't find enough time to set aside for it. There's always something that stops us from doing the things we know we should be doing.
I realized yesterday that I've been slacking on my push-ups, sit-ups, and running. Push-ups and sit-ups come easily to me, but running is another story. For some reason I'm having a hard time catching my breath these days. I have trouble trying to stop myself from passing out more than anything else.
As I got to thinking, I thought that maybe I needed something to motivate me to do exercise more often. So I looked through some of my bookmarks because I save lots of articles, sites, and other ideas for my posts. I came across two lonely apps that could help motivate me more.
Nexercise is an app that's available for both iPhones and androids. Nexercise's purpose is that they can help you stay motivated with their point system. For every exercise you choose to do, your smartphone keeps track of the length of your workout and the effort put into it. The more points you get, the better chance there is for you to win their prizes. They give away gift cards, discounts, and other free stuff.
Earndit is a cute, little website that rewards you for earning points for exercising. They require you to connect a tracking device with them so that they can keep track of your progress. You get the option of competing in challenges and check on your rankings to see how you're fairing. What I like about Earndit is that once you accumulated enough points, you get to choose your rewards. You can also refer your friends for 100 credits or brag about your accomplishments for 20 credits. It's like a fun game that you can play everyday.
2 Writing Software I'm Using For My Novel
Okay, so I might be pushing it, but I wanted to stop beating around the bush. As you might know, I've been wanting to write a novel for the longest of time. I made the step today to get started and I'm proud to say I did. I got some outlining and other story essentials done. The results were rewarding but my mind feels muddied up now.
I would like to share with you the two writing software I used today that helped me tremendously. Who knows, you might want to use them as well. Heck, you might already use them.
Scrivener is an awesome writing software so far. I've been researching for the past few days for which software I should use for my novel, and I ended up choosing this. It's like a writing dream. It has many options for me to outline and keep track of my characters and places/settings. I hope that this software continues to please because if it does, I'll end up purchasing it. Right now I am using the 30-day free trial to test it out. They have a good deal going for Scrivener. They are selling it for $40 for a limited time, I believe.
Evernote is a software that is suppose to help you remember things. I know many of y'all might have already heard of this one. I've been using it on and off for the last two years. I use their web clipper a lot in order to capture research materials for my novel.
