Write or Die Review

Write or Die is my all-time favorite tool for when I am overcome as an Anxious Writer. I first discovered Write or Die from veterans of NaNoWriMo who claimed it was the only way to get 50,000 words written in a month. It’s a very basic word processor … with a twist. Here is the description from its inventor, Dr. Wicked:

Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you’re fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.

Consequences include your screen slowly turning red, annoying sounds and finally, eating your words. You can chose the difficulty setting (Gentle, Normal or Kamikaze) as well as how many words you would like to write and how long you would like to write. You can use the online version for free or download the desktop version for a mere $10 (worth every penny). And from his most recent update, it seems an iPad app is in the works as well.

With Write or Die, I usually average 2,000 words per hour. This is more than double my normal writing speed. How does Dr. Wicked do it? Go find out at writeordie.com!