Trouble getting motivation to write? Watch you stats go *brrr* with 4thewords (free)
I have always struggled to actually focus and get myself to write. A few weeks ago, I saw a recommendation on reddit for 4thewords, an online writing site:
It recently became free(!!), but you can pay extra to get more quests at one time and support the site.
Basically, you battle monsters, and each word you type is 1 damage dealt to that monster. You have to write a certain number of words to defeat a monster within a certain time. You get rewards for defeating monsters to give you better armor, weapons, cosmetics, etc.
None of these items matters though except as internal motivation to write. It does feed that stats go up, new gear, new items, crafting items type itch, giving that little extra boost to write more. This helps you gamify your writing.
Often in the past, I found myself trying to make sure I am writing the perfect word, or get sidetracked to check reddit, or something else. But if I do that now, I won't defeat the monster as I will run out of time. There are small creatures and large creatures depending on the length of time you want to commit.
After I am done writing, I copy/paste my work to Scrivener. There is the ability to use this to manage different projects/chapters, etc, but I am just using it for productivity enhancement.
I am getting a lot more writing done than I EVER have. Over 20,000 words this month, so I probably won't beat Nanowrimo, but I'm happy with my progress.