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

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.

Ommwriter menu

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

This was my tryout blog and I learned a lot from it. But as I felt the need for a personal blog I decided to revitalize this blog after 6 months of inactivity.

Letters and Quill

This was my tryout blog. I published articles on it for almost 6 months in the first half of 2009 on a wide variety of topics. One of the many lessons that I learned from this blog is that you should focus on 1 topic, or on a limited number of closely related topics. In May 2009 I started an online training on professional technical writing and I didn’t have enough time and energy left to keep on blogging. At that time I had over 1500 unique visitors per month. It was my intention to start more focused blogs after the online training. I decided to pull the plug on the life-support of this blog. Thank you, you have served your purpose well, may you rest in peace.

Fast forward 6 months. I just launched my blog ‘Life with ME/CFS’ on living with the disabilitating disease Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and I would very much like to start a technical blog in 2010. I haven’t decided on the topic yet, but suitable subjects are: linux, Mac OS X, open source software, gadgets, and/or blogging. But what if I want to write a book review, a movie review, some personal not ME/CFS-related stuff, or to experiment? Hold on, I already have a blog for that. Without any new articles for the past six months this blog still attracts over 1500 unique visitors per month and the occasional positive comment. All I have to do is to start publishing articles again.

I probably will not publish any technical articles anymore on this blog, although they have been the most successful ones.
I recently lost my job because of my disease and am on disability. This is now, but what about the future? I accept my condition for now, but I expect to get better again, with or without help. I am not one for giving up hope, at least not without a fight, so I expect that one day I will have to go looking for a job again. When, where, how, and what kind of job I do not know. Maybe writing for these 3 different blogs will help me find answers to those questions. I have the greatest expectations for my technical blog, but that’s for 2010.

Good plans, good intentions. For 2009 though I will focus on this personal blog and my Life with ME/CFS blog.

Topics you may expect on this blog:

• book reviews
• movie reviews
• audiobook reviews
• personal stuff
• the past month in pictures
• maybe about politics
• maybe the occasional rant
• maybe about writing and blogging
• …

My tryout blog is dead, long live my personal blog.

Resources

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net