Nod your head if this is a familiar situation: you’ve got an essay and you just can’t write it.
It doesn’t matter how many ‘study’ playlists you make or how many times you close Facebook, it’s just not happening. Whether it’s a Word doc that’s sitting feebly blank or a Google drive doc that’s miserably word-free, there appears to be no writing tool in the world that will actually let you get your essay done.
And this is where Exeposé Lifestyle can step in and help out. Somehow, while procrastinating wildly, we managed to stumble across an online tool that not only is going to save our academic lives, but yours too.
Meet www.writeordie.com
- Image credit: Dr Wicked
TIP: If the web app isn’t working for you, delete “oldandbusted.” from the URL in the address bar.
Created by a mysterious ‘Dr. Wicked’ as an ingenious way to force writers to write, it offers various punishments if writers do not achieve certain word counts or even if they stop typing at all.
There are three levels as explained on the website itself:
- Gentle Mode: A certain amount of time after you stop writing, a box will pop up, gently reminding you to continue writing.
- Normal Mode: If you persistently avoid writing, you will be played a most unpleasant sound. The sound will stop if and only if you continue to write.
- Kamikaze Mode: Keep Writing or Your Work Will Unwrite Itself
You set yourself a word goal, a time goal, what the consequences will be and a grace period for when you stop writing.
Once your ‘grace period’ is up, the screen around the text tool slowly turns a deep red that, for whatever psychological reason you can cook up, works as a surprisingly effective warning. If you’re on a stricter mode, awful music will blare which makes you even keener to get back to typing.
Terrifyingly, Write or Die only gives you one chance to ‘pause’. Woe betide the student who gulps down too much Red Bull or really has to get another round of toast from the kitchen – you’re stuck there.
The timer and word count meter at the bottom of the text box are particularly satisfying additions. Instead of constantly having to snatch ever more depressing glances at your watch, you can’t escape seeing how much time you are spending.
Warning: do remember to copy and paste any work you get done into a Word or Google Drive doc as it won’t save it for you!
For those that don’t mind paying for essay productivity, there is a desktop version that offers a wider range of warning options, interfaces and stats. It is also has a great option to ‘battle’ with a friend in a Word War, cutting out the usual obnoxious comparing of word counts and channelling your desire to one-up your friends into speed-writing the best essay ever.
So, go on then – what are you doing still reading this? You’ve got an essay to write!
Olivia Luder, Online Editor
Are you struggling to write your essay? Did writeordie.com help? Let Exeposé Lifestyle know on Facebook and twitter, or in a comment below.
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