Comments on: Distraction-free Writing Is Distracting to Me

By: Will Kelly

Will Kelly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:29:46 +0000

Unfortunately, WriteRoom didn’t fit into my composing process and the look and feel of a terminal window when I was writing became very distracting to me. If such tools work for you, then I say use them. All of us have our own work styles and composing processes so word processors and tools like WriteRoom can never be a “one size fits all” for writers.

By: Will Kelly

Will Kelly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:26:04 +0000

Angus– I tried the color change preferences but came to see that WriteRoom wasn’t the right tool for the way I write. Even if I am writing an articles or a blog post, I still like to see the formatting even if it is just the font. Not having that available in WriteRoom was very distracting to me personally.

By: Simon Mackie

Simon Mackie — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:38:57 +0000

Thanks for letting us know about the color preferences. I don’t mind green on black at all (reminds me of working on my old Apple IIe) but I can see how others might find it irritating

By: Simon Mackie

Simon Mackie — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:37:07 +0000

I don’t think Will has “missed the point,” he tried it and it just didn’t work out for him. He acknowledges in the post that he’s probably not the type of writer to benefit most from this type of tool and even suggests that others should try it if they think they might get some benefit.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:49:03 +0000

Clearly, you have missed the point of these writing tools. These were made for writers to focus on the content of the article. Any formatting and revisions needed for a good printout can be done later. And as mentioned, there’s a setting for the colors. The green text on black background is designed for those geeky writers that like the feel and look of a terminal window.

I tried several of these but my choice is WriteMonkey. http://writemonkey.com/

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:33:51 +0000

For Windows and Linux, there’s also TextRoom (http://code.google.com/p/textroom/).

Essentially the same thing, but free and GPL’d.

By: Angus McIntyre

Angus McIntyre — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:51:33 +0000

If you don’t like the green on black, the solution is as easy as a trip to the Preferences. Look under the ‘Full Screen’ options and you’ll find that you can change the colors to whatever combination works for you.

If the kind of writing that you do means that you need to think about formatting and layout as you write, then Writeroom probably isn’t the right tool for you – but then it’s not intended to be. If I understand its purpose correctly, it aims to help writers concentrate on the words and worry about the rest later. I’ve been using it for writing fiction, and I do have the impression that it’s helpful in keeping me focused on the task.

A possible alternative for Mac users is Scrivener (http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html), which is also intended as a writer’s editor, but allows more control over formatting.

By: Davide Di Cillo

Davide Di Cillo — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:18:57 +0000

The other day I downloaded OmmWriter, and I love it!