the MARTINI SHAKER

If you recall, I said in my creativity lecture a couple of weeks ago that you should beware of tips and tricks that make you feel more creative but don’t necessarily make you more creative or productive.

Keeping that in mind, I do want to share a Mac application that was brought to my attention this morning that I feel has the potential to actually make you more productive while making you feel better in the process.

Sounds like snake oil, right?

Well, it might be, but at first glance, I am loving OmmWriter. This writing application works similar to WriteRoom in the way that it creates a full-screen, no-frills writing environment that shields you from all the other distractions that bombard you while you are trying to get down to the task at hand. And hopefully, that task at hand is writing something awesome that you care about.

Where OmmWriter differentiates itself is the actual environment where you work. WriteRoom looks like an old school monochrome word processor. You feel like you’re working on a PC circa 1983. Sure, you’re single-tasking, but that’s about it. OmmWriter puts you on a snowy field, a blank canvas or a white color field and plays subtle ambient music and/or keystroke sounds as you type. It’s a very relaxing, Zen-like experience.

Also like WriteRoom, it’s a no-frills word processor. There’s no formatting of the text aside from the display setting you choose. Files are saved as plain text or in OmmWriter format (which I guess is just text accompanied by your background/music preferences).

This is the second document I’ve written today using the application¹, and I’ve already fallen in love with it.

I can certainly see how this application might not be for everyone. Not everyone will like the ambient soundtrack or the keystroke sounds (both of which can be disabled), the text cursor feels a tad sluggish/weird to me and it would be nice if there was a preference to allow custom backgrounds instead of the three that come with it, but the application is in beta, and looks like it might also be freeware, so that’s all something to keep in mind when looking at this application.

If you are someone who writes regularly for any reason, I’d give OmmWriter a look. It certainly has the potential to put you onto a new plane of writing productivity.