Write or Die!
The title brings to mind the late Robert E. Howard, creator of such legends as Conan the Cimmerian and Kull the Conqueror. He even created Red Sonya, which Roy Thomas used as inspiration to create Red Sonja. Mr. Howard wrote these stories in the early 1900s, ages before Tolkien could even dream of Middle Earth. He often wrote through the night and sometimes believed that Conan or Kull was standing behind him with a raised axe ready to cleave his head if his writing faltered.
This post is not about bloodshed, violence, or even the loss of a minor limb. It’s about something I saw Willsin Rowe, talented writer and cover artist, mention using to crank out some impressive word counts recently. It’s a program for computers, iPads, and more that allegedly puts the prod in productivity (their slogan, not mine).
With Write of Die you establish goals (timeline, word count, etc.) and then you start typing. If you slow down or stop before reaching your milestone the program will punish you for your indiscretions. These punishments can range from a message popping up on your device to annoying tones / noises coming from your device to text being deleted on the screen. I don’t believe it comes with the angry axe wielding barbarian mode.
I have not tried this program, I’ve just read about it. If it works for someone, that’s great. I think it would be irritating. When it’s time to write, I write. I can immerse myself in what I’m writing and as long there’s nobody actively seeking my attention (and sometimes even then), I can hammer out the words. Just about the only exceptions to that are when there’s some horrible reality show on the television. It doesn’t matter which one, they’re all horrible. The train wrecks they display on a daily basis can pull me out of my writing cocoon. That makes me angry – angry at being interrupted and even angrier at whatever mind-numbingly stupid antics the attention whores on the TV are doing.
Maybe if I had Write or Die that wouldn’t happen. Or maybe I’d get even angrier if I lost brain cells to Desperate Housewives and word could to a program I intentionally installed to help increase my productivity.
At first glance it seems wrong to punish yourself for falling short. Looking deeper, I can think of many times I’ve put myself in a time out for doing things I didn’t approve of. I’ve gotten angry at myself and had a serious talk (with myself) to keep myself on track when dieting or working towards weight lifting goals. I’ve smacked myself mentally around as a means of breaking bad habits. I even remember one time years ago when I made a mistake while typing but didn’t realize it until I was a sentence or two down the road. I backspaced until I got to the misspelled word and corrected it, then retyped what I’d deleted. A friend who happened to be sitting next to me suggested I used the cursor keys or mouse to just click on the screw up and fix it. I told her that this was my way of punishing myself for screwing up in the first place.
So maybe Write or Die’s not such a bad solution after all. It offers punishment and conditioning but it’s also voluntary. I’m not interested in it myself, but I can see the appeal if it helps. If you’re interested, check it out. I think it’s $9.99 and no, I don’t get any kickback.
If you’d rather have the axe wielding barbarian go with lots sleep deprivation and possibly some hallucinogenic narcotics. Personally I think the $9.99 would be cheaper and less likely to make a mess on your writing desk.
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