Put Some Zen Into Your Writing

Do you know that feeling of being completely absorbed by what you are doing? Being on a roll, concentrating so hard that you are no longer aware of your surroundings. Then (part of) the job is done and you kind of wake up from this trance, becoming more aware of your surroundings, realizing that 3-4 hours have passed, and suddenly feeling the pressure in your bladder. Over the years, has it become easier or more difficult for you to enter this zone? Browsers with 5 open tabs, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, word processor, spreadsheet, Skype, Google Talk, Yahoo! or Live messenger, … When was the last time you have experienced this trance like productive state? I am experiencing it now.

Ommwriter

In the words of the creators: “Ommwriter is a humble attempt to recapture what technology has snatched away from us today: our capacity to concentrate.”
Ommwriter is quite a unique text editor for Mac OS X in the way that it’s aim is at helping you to keep focused on your writing and getting things done. I would indeed file this text editor under GTD (Getting Things Done).

How does Ommwriter create this experience?

• Full-screen text editing. Once activated, Ommwriter becomes the dominant application on your Mac: full-screen, blocking all other applications from view and blocking all notifications.
• Ambient instrumental music that tends to reduce other sounds to background noise, especially with your headphones on. In the current version 7 tunes are available, some with nature sounds like birdsong, crickets and waves. The music can be turned off.
• Keyboard sounds. There are 7 different keyboard sounds: pebbles, water drops, … The keyboard sounds can also be turned off.
• Background. There are 3 different backgrounds to choose from: white, some kind of fabric pattern, and the default one a misty, snow covered field with some lonely looking trees.
• Minimalistic. When you are typing the only thing you see is your text; no buttons, no menus, no toolbars, and no other windows.
• Focus on content. The only thing you can do with Ommwriter is create content. You cannot do any layout; no changing fonts or colors, no graphics, … No messing about, the layout is for later.

When you move the mouse a minimalistic menu appears on the upper right corner where you can:

• switch fonts between serif, sans-serif and script
• change the fontsize from default to large and larger
• change the background
• change the music
• change the keyboard sounds
• open and save files

Moving the mouse also displays the word count. You can change the width and height of the text area. And that’s it.

Drawbacks

• It is (currently) only available for Mac OS X.
• If you don’t like ambient, instrumental music this might not be your cup of tea, but you can turn the sound off.
• If you are a multitasking adrenaline junkie, switching to Ommwriter might feel like going cold turkey.
• If you are writing an article for which you still have to do research and you have a several other windows open (browser, email, PDF viewer, …) you are better of using another text editor. Ommwriter dominates your screen so you have to minimize and afterwards maximize it again every time you want to consult information in another window. A dual monitor setup provides a way around this limitation, because the program only blocks the main screen. You can scroll using the scroll-wheel in windows displayed on the second monitor, but as soon as you click Ommwriter gets minimized.

Conclusion

If you own a Mac (Mac OS X 10.5 or higher) and you write a lot, whether you are a scriptwriter, blogger, journalist, or poet, you should definitely give Ommwriter a try. It provides a unique experience and maybe it will help for you getting things done.
The difference between the common multitasking approach and using Ommwriter is that with the former you look productive and with the latter you are productive.
Did I mention that it is free. No more excuses. Download it. Now.

Resources

• Ommwriter
• YouTube video by 4nitsirk

Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine

Shunryu Suzuk

Tagged as: blogging, GTD, Mac OS X, review, software