Pomodoro technique (Mac, Win)

This is here because there are a couple if applications available to help you with the technique. Here is a quick rundown of what Pomodoro is:

• It is a well recognised fact that us humans have difficulty concentrating on anything for more than 20-30 minutes. We suck at focussing. This technique aims to help with this.
• It advocates you work in 25 minute chunks, each followed by a 5 minute break.
• These 25 minutes must be disciplined, focused work, and the breaks genuine breaks.

The pomodoro website explains more (though really, what needs explaining?), and there is a downloadable PDF, too. And here is a Pomodoro app for Macs, which has more features than is strictly necessary, and is definitely worth a look.

Focus booster is usually mentioned alongside the Pomodoro app. It allows you to set 25 minute intervals andshows a bar that counts down. Personally though, I don’t like clock watching and think it rather spoils the point if having an application to do it for you. But, it’s built on Adobe Air, so can be used on Windows or Mac.

Spirited away (Mac)

I have recently started using this app at work, where I can have upwards of five programs open at once. If an open app is not used for a set interval it gets automatically hidden, removing clutter without you having to think about it. You can exclude programs from being hidden with an easy icon in your top bar. Simple and very effective.

MinimOther (Win)

The Windows equivalent of Spirited Away, MinimOther minimises every window save for the one that currently has focus. It does this immediately rather than on a timed basis, so as soon as one window is selected, the others are gone! I recommend using the tab key to move to any other windows you might need rather than fiddling with your mouse (ooh-er).

Think (Mac)

Think is well known in the Mac productivity community, and has a similar agenda to Spirited Away and MinimOther in that it aims to let you focus on only the applications you need and hide the others. Think’s approach is to darken the rest of the screen, leaving only one app highlighted. There are lots of options and you can bring other apps to the fore temporarily if you need to.

Ghoster (Win)

Does the same, but for windows. It blacks out everything else, including the taskbar, which on Windiws 7 is all shiny and flashy and animated and distracting!

Writeroom (Mac)

When all you want to do is write, having a load of other programs hanging around can be distracting. Even the operating systems menus and widgets and doodas can be distracting. Even the buttons and menus if the word processor are unnecessary clutter!

Writeroom gets rid of all of that by just displaying the text. All else fades neatly away until you move to another program or quit the application. The only feature is a very useful word count, which only appears when you mouse over the bottom of the screen. Writeroom doesn’t sound like it should be as useful as it is, but once you start using it, it soon feels necessary, then essential.

You might argue that for such a simple tool it’s rather expensive, and I would not disagree. Still, for thosepeople who were not lucky enough to get Writeroom for free in a MacHeist bundle, there is another alternative called JDarkroom, which is set up as a free version of Darkroom (below), and is Java-based, making it cross-platform.

Darkroom (Win)

Does pretty much the same as Writeroom, but for Windows. I’m sure the green writing is only there to appeal to geeks and retrophiles, but it can be changed to black and white.

Freemind (Java-based)

I’ve blogged about this before, so follow this link for more on how you can use this excellent free mindmapping software. In some ways this is an anti-focus tool, as it allows your mind to wander freely over the “page”, but that’s just what you need when what you’re focussing on is generating ideas!

And there you have it. I’m sure there are many more tools out there, so I’d love to know what tools you’ve found that help you focus on your writing.

For me, I like to get a mindmap of the idea done as soon as I can. I am somewhat paranoid about forgetting bits, and like to get as much juice out of an idea as I can straight away. Part of that is the assumption that if I have just had an idea, it is likely that I am in an idea-generating mood, if there is such a thing. So, I want to take advantage of it!

This is my current activity when I get an idea. Of course, I’m not always at a computer, or it’s not always convenient to open my mindmapping software. So, if there is another way of at least capturing the idea, I will do that. A note on a scrap piece of paper is even okay as long as I can do something with it later (such as type it up or mind-map it or some other electronic method of recording it). If it is quick to do, I might email it to myself for later.

Why the preoccupation with electronic stuff? Well I tend to loose bits of paper if they hang around for too long for a start. Copying and pasting is good on computers too. And, a notebook has no search, so if I want to find a note later, it’s easier on computer. But I know a lot of people prefer to take their initial notes on paper, especially in the initial idea-generating phase. This is usually for the same reason that I like using mind-mapping software – it’s easy, flows, and is much more freeform.

What do you do when you get a new idea? What methods of capture do you use? Or, do you ‘capture’ it at all? Maybe you prefer to dwell on an idea over time, and let it form before you write anything down? Please share below.

In the early stages of a project it feels really creative to get some ideas down and start shaping the thing that’s lurking in your mind. And it’s most joyous when it is as instant as possible. It allows me space to think, generate more ideas and importantly, not forget any! (How many times have you been writing a paragraph where an idea to include in the next paragraph comes to you, only for you to forget it by the time you’re ready to write it?)

One fantastic piece of software I use for this is Freemind. It is a mind mapping tool, and although it is not hugely sophisticated or feature rich, it is incredibly easy to use and quite flexible with the kinds of things you can include on your mind map. The software is designed around generating flow between your brain and the ‘page’. So everything is quick and easy to do and you almost never have to use the mouse – everything can be done through the keyboard. A lot of people may not like this concept, but you have to write if you’re taking notes, and constantly swapping between mouse and keyboard wastes time.

As well as adding long bits of text as nodes, you can add notes (if you want to write a couple of paragraphs for example), links to pages on the web, images, and links to other nodes (drawn as arrows on the page). You can also add little pictures to nodes to indicate what they are for, or format the text.

Another great thing about it is that it is written in Java, which means it can work on any operating system. And best of all – it is FREE!

Download it here, familiarise yourself with the keyboard shortcuts, and have a go. Let me know what you think in the comments section, and if you know of any other great software for writers, let everyone know!