The American
journalist Gene Fowler
once said that, "Writing is easy;
All you do is stare at
a blank sheet of paper
until drops of blood
form on your forehead."
Make no mistake though,
writing is hard and
  Fowler was lying.
Coffee can help,
especially when it's in
   a cool mug like this one,
but it only goes so far.
So today, let's enlist the
  help of our robot overlords
and look at some writing apps
that can help us write more
  efficiently and faster.
- [Voiceover] Coggle is
a free mind mapping tool
you can use to
 organize your thoughts
and get down everything
you want to write about.
If you want something a
  little bit more time based,
maybe you're writing fiction,
then Storyline Creator
 is another tool
that will work for you.
Also, I have to
   mention Evernote.
That is where all my scripts
  and video ideas start out.
I basically just dump the info
and it is my favorite
organizational tool for writing.
Speaking of huge,
  multi-purpose applications,
Scrivener is an app that
many, many novelists use
to write their books.
In fact I used it
   to write my book.
It's got a planning tool,
it's got a cork board
where you can put
   sayings and ideas,
it's got sophisticated
 writing tools,
a distraction free mode,
all sorts of features.
And if you want something
   a little bit more simple,
I've heard that Novlr is
an alternative to that.
While it's got a
paired down feature set
compared to Scrivener,
it's got a nicer design
and it's meant to be a
 little bit more simple
and I've seen some
writers enjoy using it.
To get really simple,
one of my absolute favorite
  writing apps is Byword
which is a minimalist mark
   down editor for the Mac.
If you often have trouble
   finding the right word
to describe something
 then Twinword Writer
might be for you.
It's got an engine that detects
when you pause your writing
and then suggests
   alternate words
to the word that you just wrote.
If you have trouble
 writing altogether,
then you should check
 out Write or Die
which is an app that
   lets you set consequences
for not writing,
including Kamakazi mode which
 starts deleting your writing
if you pause for too long.
On the positive side,
Written? Kitten! is an app
that shows you a cute
 picture of a kitten
every 100 words you write.
You can also check out 750Words
which is a web app
that helps you build
  a consistent habit
  of writing every day
and gives you your stats,
and in that vein,
there's also a new
website called DailyPage
which gives you a
  daily writing prompt
to help you build
  your writing skills.
Now if you're a grad student
or somebody who has to manage
a lot of research
   in your writing,
then you should definitely
   give Mendeley a look.
And if you want to edit your
  papers more effectively,
Editminion is a little tool
  made by the guy who created
Write or Die,
which will point out weak
   words in your writing.
Lastly, I've got those
 little accessory apps
to help you get in
 the mood for writing,
and one of them is Coffitivity
which is the website that
  generates coffee shop noise
in case you really like that
  and it gets you in the mood,
but you don't happen to
  have a coffee shop near by.
And the last one is
  Brain.FM which is a website
that uses artificial
 intelligence to generate music
that supposedly
   helps you increase
your focus and concentration.
- So that is all I've
 got for this video.
Obviously this is not
 a comprehensive list
of all the writing
   apps out there
so definitely suggest other
  ones down in the comments
that we would find helpful.
Also, if you've watched any
 of my other videos to the end,
you probably know that I
 wrote a book about a year ago
and if you would like
 to know how I wrote
that 27,000 word book within
  a period of three months,
I have a podcast episode
where I go over some
  of what I learned
and some of the practices
   I used to get it done.
So click the card right now
  if you'd like to tune in.
That's all I've got
  for you guys today,
so if you're using this
video to procrastinate
on a big writing
  assignment, stop it!
And otherwise I will see you
  guys in next week's video.
Thanks for watchin'.
(high energy music)
- [Voiceover] Hey guys,
thanks so much for watchin'
  this video on writing apps.
Now if you want to get new tips
on being a more effective
   student every single week,
you can click that big, red
 Subscribe button right there.
I also wrote an entire book
  on how to earn better grades
and if you would like to
get a free copy of it,
click the picture of the
  book and I'll send you one.
And if you would like to see
  the list of all these apps
with links to each one,
go to the companion blog post
by clicking the orange
 logo right there.
In last week's video,
we talked about how to
 overcome perfectionism
so check it out if you
 haven't seen it yet.
And if you would like
 to connect with me,
I'm @TomFrankly on
 Instagram and Twitter,
or you can leave a
  comment down below.
