Write Or Die Makes Sure You Keep Churning Out Words

Sometimes you need to stop yourself from over-thinking your long-term ideas, pondering a better topic or angle, and just throw down and write something. Write or Die, a clever webapp from Jeff Printy, gives you both a stripped-down web space to write your text in and a bit of negative reinforcement if you let your mind, or your fingers, wander too far from the task at hand. Set a word count and time you want to write for. Then, set how you want the app to “remind” you if you stop writing—”Gentle” pops up a text box, “Normal” plays a harsh sound file, and “Kamikaze” mode slowly deletes back from your stopping point until you get back to it. Can’t tell if “Electric Shock” is a joke or a feature in development. A bonus feature of Write or Die is that once you close the writing window, it asks to copy all your text to your clipboard—a serious salvation if you’re the type to accidentally close browser windows. No sign-up required.