Mentor Monday: Write or Die!!!

Putting the PROD in PRODuctivity

I've just discovered Write or Die. The website is just what a procrastinator like me needs. It's designed to put the fear of not writing into the writer who may have the best intentions, but not the best self-discipline. The site is diabolically brilliant. Set your word goal. Set a time limit. Choose your grace period. Write or suffer the dire consequences. I'll let Dr. Wicked, the site's proprietor, explain:

The idea is to instill in the would-be writer with a fear of not writing. We do this by employing principles taught in Introduction to Psychology. Anyone remember Operant Conditioning and Negative Reinforcement?

Negative Reinforcement "strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior."

Consequences:

• 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.

I tried it out myself, and yes, some of sounds are truly annoying -- think Rick Astly here. (And if thinking about Rick Astly isn't annoying enough, you can think about whether or not he's really dead or if it's just another fake celebrity death report.)

On the other hand, Banana Phone is catchy little tune which may or may not keep me writing.

Save your text into your own word processor before leaving the site!

Good luck!