Writing in small bursts

I am in the final stages of writing a 12,000 word thesis (in ecclesiology, in case that interests you) and one method of procrastination has been to write a little about some of the software that is helping me keep going.

OmmWriter Mac app. This is one of the many apps that seek to remove the distractions that are so much a part of modern computer desktop environments. This app takes over the whole screen, turns off notifications from other programs, and plays some non-intrusive background music (I use earphones to minimise external noise). At this stage in the writing process, I have all of my sections planned, with various stages of drafting, from almost-complete drafts to bare outlines. However, when I am writing, I write everything in one single text file, with notes to myself to indicate where the small snippets I write belong. Afterwards, during dedicated editing time, I will incorporate these into the master document in Scrivener (that’s a whole other post).

Nag iPhone app. This is simply a timer with various buttons for preset alarms. Twenty minutes for a writing dash, five minutes for a break. I’ve become so much more focused and productive knowing that I have fixed periods for writing and for resting (or browsing the web, or writing blog posts, or …)