Writer's block.
That's when you boot up Microsoft Word at 9.14pm, with all the intention of producing a killer post on Steemit and rake in money. Then at 11.53pm, you wrote… nothing.
Not sure about you, but I was taught my mentors that writer's block is total BS, an absolute excuse. I was taught that it's more a mindset than anything else.
As a matter of fact, if you watch the Sean Connery movie Finding Forrester, there's one part where Mr. Connery's character was giving advice on writing:
The key to writing is to write, not to think.
Essentially what Mr. Forrester was saying is, just bloody write! Edit later. Screw grammar mistakes, f*ck it if the sentense doesn't sound good, or if you spelt words wrongly. Just go without stop, remove the backspace key if you have to.
Now, will you produce a masterpiece at the end of the keyboard mashing epic brain dump? Hardly. As a matter of fact, most of what you wrote will be crap, until you edit it.
But guess what? You wrote something. Writer's block no more.
Now, what if there's an app for that?
Enter: The Most Dangerous Writing App
As the name suggest, it's a writing app. It runs off your browser, so you don't have to worry about installing softwares on your hardware.
And how is it dangerous? Well, once you hit the START button and start writing, all is good. But the moment you start stalling or slowing down, the words you just typed start to fade!
Pause too long, and everything will be gone!
And no, smart-ass, they disabled the copy-and-paste function too!
Exciting right? Definately!
Let's take the app for a spin.
Step 1: Head over to www.themostdangerouswritingapp.com (yeah, long name, I know).
Step 2: Pick a time. You may be gung-ho and all, but unless you're really a seasoned writer, I seriously advice against picking 60 minutes. Try 3 or 5 to start with.
Step 3: Take a deep breath, pick a thought.
Step 4: Hit Start Writing!
Step 5: Write, don't think. Type, don't stall.
Step 6: Hint: Backspace is not counted as keystrokes, mind you, so forget about getting the right spelling.
Step 7: Don't try to CONTROL-C. It's disabled.
Step 8: You will noticed there's a moving bar on the top. That's the timer.
Step 9: You can even go full screen to remove all distractions. Totally try it!
Step 10: Time's up, and you have the option to downlod what you've typed (serious need heavy editing) or Start Again!
Now, you may notice at Step 2, there's Hardcore Mode. What's the difference?
Hardcore Mode: You can't see anything you type, so you can even know if you've written something correctly. Hardcore Mode is ideal if you find yourself still looking back at what you just typed. Two things for sure.
- Your typing speed will increase a lot.
- You realise you have much errors in your typing, but who cares, because you can make all the corrections during editing time, eh?
I use this app to teach writing during my workshops, and it probably the go-to-app for us during the Boiler Room initiative. I can already imagine hearing some one shouting "Oh nooooooo! Stupid App!"
Seriously, this is a lot better than me usual method, which involves me shifting my car under the sun, switching off the A/C and locking all doors and windows, and start writing. Until I hit 1500 words, I can't get out. Like I said, I don't recommend this, because if anything happens to you, it's not gonna be on me. :
Wait, why's Mav posting on Steemit nowadays?
Well, unlike other blogging and social media platform, Steemit is the only platform that allows me to earn cryptocurrency when I engage with it. Yup, one Steem is about USD1, and you, too, can earn Steem Dollars every time you:
- Create content (articles, blog posts, podcasts, videos, photos)
- Upvote (like) other people contents
- Comment on other people's posts
- Have discussions, share opinions etc!
Yup, basically it's the very same thing you're doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc all along!
The only difference? For once you can earn a nice income on the side!
Sign up for a free Steemit account, and you can thank me by coming back and upvoting this article. And guess what, you will earn Steem too for doing that! #awesome
