Words on a page

Labels: blogging, tools, writing

What happens if you're not anywhere near your computer and need to write something -- an article, a note, some copy, or anything else? You can turn to one of the number online word processors, of course. There are some really powerful ones, including Google Docs & Spreadsheet and Zoho Writer. Those are great applications, but if you just need to quickly get your words down, then urn to Writeboard.

Writeboard is an incredibly simple and low-fat way to quickly write. You simply go to the Writeboard Web site, enter a name for your document and give it a password.
Then, enter your email address so the site can send you the URL to access your document.

Writeboard is a simple text entry system, sort of like a text editor crossed with a wiki. You can't do much formatting in a Writeboard, just some basic character formatting, lists, and tables. Here's what a Writeboard document looks like while it's being edited:

Writeboard does save previous versions of a document, though. This enables you to not only track your changes, but also roll back to previous versions if necessary. On top of that, you can add comments to a Writeboard document.

On top of that, you can share your Writeboard document with someone else -- say, a collaborator or an editor. If you need to, you can save a Writeboard document as an HTML or a text file. Or, you can copy and paste from your Web browser to a word processor document.

Writeboard is a simple and quick way to write. You don't get the power and flexibility of a word processor. But writing -- especially a preparing a draft -- isn't about formatting and using the bells and whistles. It's about getting information onto a page or screen for later polishing. And Writeboard does that job beautifully.

Labels: tools, Web, writing

A while back, I blogged about nifty piece of software called JDarkRoom. To refresh your memory, it's a full screen text editor that allows you to write without distractions. And lately, it's been a boon to me.

Over the last month or two, there have been a lot of distractions in my life. Distractions that have piled on the stress and which have made writing very difficult at times. So, I've let a few assignments slip. Not to the point of missing deadlines, mind you, but enough so that I have to scramble to meet those deadlines. Which adds to my stress.

In those cases, JDarkRoom really helped me get work done. My writing process has been to find a (relatively) quiet corner, turn off my notebook's wireless card, fire up JDarkRoom, and start writing. Pretty soon, I have a completed draft of an article. With about 70% of articles that I've used JDarkRoom to write, the first draft has been pretty close to the final draft. And I've been able to bang out articles in record time.

Sure, JDarkRoom doesn't have a built-in spelling checker, but I have other tools for that. And I can usually spot spelling errors during my first read-through of an article. The only feature that I'd like added to it is scrolling with the mouse wheel. As with a spelling checker, that's not a make-or-break feature with me. JDarkRoom lets me write. That's the only feature I really need.

Labels: tools, writing

The other day, someone asked me an interesting question about the minimalist writing tools I advocate: "Do these things make you a better writer? If not, why use them?"

The first part of the question ... well, that's a mistake many people who don't write, or who've just started out in the wacky world of smithing words, make. No software will make someone a better writer. That's up to the person.

So, why do I advocate and use tools like Writeboard and JDarkRoom? Sometimes, I just want to get words down quickly and without any distractions. And I can put in the formatting later. With Writeboard (or even Google Docs, which isn't that minimal), I can do it no matter where I am.

Labels: software, tools, writing