Three writing apps I use every day

There are so many writing apps these days. It can be hard to know where to start.

Apart from really, you just need to pick one and write. If you have a blank page and something to tippy-type with, you're pretty much golden. I mean come on – just write. Right? Sorry.

Being some sort of techno-writer-twit, I've made it my recent life's work to download and try every writing app I can get my hands on. And I don't for it for me. I do it for you. So I can make lists like this.

Some writing apps are great. Some are terrible. But here are the three that I use on a daily basis to get things done. Why not one app to rule them all? Because I find it very useful to compartmentalise three things: work, notes, fiction.


1. Google Docs

Since going freelance, I've been both amazed and somewhat fortunate to find that almost all of my clients use Google Docs.

Apparently some folk folk think Docs is too limited. Well, unless you're some sort of macro master or totally into labelling everything you own, I don't think it's limited at all.

There are three reasons – all the threes this week – why I use Google Docs for almost all of my copywriting and client work.

  • It's easy to share with other people. As a freelance writer, I will typically work remotely, which means it's important to be able to give and receive feedback inside a document. I've not yet found an app better than Google Docs for this.
  • It's simple to use. For many, many years the only writing app anyone used was Microsoft Word. And Word is fine, but it is also bloated and packed with bells and whistles that most of us will never ring or toot upon. Google Docs launched streamlined and has stayed that way.
  • Keyboard shortcuts = writing ninja. As with any app, once you learn the keyboard shortcuts in Google Docs and they become second nature, you can take any document and have it formatted all nice in no time at all. Headings, comments, outline. Super quick.

For ages, one of the big problems I had with Google Docs was not being able to quickly turn a document into HTML or Markdown. I'd work with a client on a blog post, for example, then have to practically rebuild it in WordPress.

Then I discovered this Google Docs plugin and did an eternal happy dance.


2. Bear

It took me a while to get used to it, but Bear is now where I write all of my quick notes, reference material and the occasional blog post. Basically, it’s where all the bits and pieces go. Project ideas. HEX codes for clients. Occasional shopping lists.

If something needs writing and I want to a) jot it down quickly, b) keep it to myself, and c) find it again easily, then into Bear it goes.

Have another three reasons:

  • Handy tagging system. For me, it’s exactly the right balance for keeping notes organised. I don’t need a full folder structure for my quick scribbles and things to remember. But I do need to find them again. Tags allow me to do just that without feeling like there’s some unspoken system I need to adhere to.
  • Export to Markdown and HTML. Again, for me, any notes app needs to export to Markdown and HTML. Bear does both and allows me to write things like client web copy and podcast show notes that I can easily publish to the web. There are apps that do this better (like Byword) but all features combined it's Bear I like best.
  • Super fast and reliable sync. Not features, but two very important things to look out for if you want to add notes quickly. Bear opens in a flash, I’ve never had it crash on me, and the sync between devices almost never fails. And even when it does fail, it gives you a copy of the two conflicting versions and makes it clear what’s happened.

There was once a time when barely a month would pass without the launch of a new note taking app for iOS. I’ve just about tried them all and Bear is the one that I’ve stuck with and used the longest. Also – it looks quite nice.


3. Ulysses

Last but not least, we have the wonderful Ulysses.

This is currently where I write my fiction, which means I'm perhaps being a little liberal with my use of the phrase 'every day' in the title. But it's an incredible writing app that I can heartily recommend to just about anyone.

Here are three reasons why.

  • Everything in its right place. This is the big one for me. If you’ve ever written a full-length book, you’ll know how many drafts it takes to get to the end. Then you have to work with an agent. And then an editor. It gets pretty messy. With Ulysses, you can organise all of your documents or ‘texts’ inside the app. It’s absolutely bloody marvellous.
  • Word counts, notes and attachments. Same goes for all your research and the admin side of writing a book. Rather than keep all that stuff in a separate folder somewhere on your computer, you can attach files and notes to specific texts within Ulysses. You can also add a word count target to a text and watch it change colour as you get ever nearer to that arbitrary magic number.
  • Perfect sync between devices. All of this would be for naught if it didn’t sync properly. But it does. So thank goodness. We’ve all read horror stories of authors losing entire books to bad file management and dastardly sync issues. I’ve had no such problems with Ulysses – its iCloud sync has been rock solid for me.

To be honest, if you had to pick one app to do all the stuff I’ve listed here, you could choose Ulysses and be a very happy writer. But if you’re like me and prefer to keep things a little more separate, or if you need to collaborate on documents, then I can heartily recommend this three-app setup.

What about you?

Got any exciting app recommendations or special ways of working that I might like to know about? Feel free to hit reply and let me know or share it with the world and tag me in on Twitter.


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