Link Dropping: 750words.com

What’s that? I promised more iPad talk?

Nonsense!

We’ll be covering the concept of ‘daily pages’ today, wherein a lucky sort like you hammers out 750 words every single day for the next forever. You don’t have to go that long, realistically, but you’d be all the better writer for it, as the running theory right now suggests – wait for it – the best way to improve your writing is to write.

Revolutionary, I’m sure. But skip through the jump here and see how signing up for a (free!) account with 750words.com benefits people of every stripe, especially those who don’t claim to do this kind of thing for a living.

The premise, as always, is simple. After signing up for an account, you’re presented a blank page and blinking cursor. The goal is to write 750 words about absolutely anything. You’ll win points for doing so, and even little medals for doing it consecutively, not to mention the accomplished feeling of sticking to the program for a month without skipping any days.

After you finish, you’re presented with several slick little stats and graphics created by the automatic text analysis the website does in the background. Don’t worry, no one besides you will ever read what you write, but it’s interesting to see what the computer picks up on, especially when it tells you that the concept of death has popped up into your writing more so than any other topic (guilty!).

All of this is presented in a clean, accessible interface, the kind of clever web design that makes it almost enjoyable to sit down and hammer out the words every day. And if you’re feeling competitive, you can sign up for the May Monthly Challenge, where you aim to write every single day of the month without fail. What happens if you skip? Your name goes up on the infamous Wall of Shame, destined to stay there until you successfully complete another monthly challenge.

It’s an entertaining concept, all around, and even a little game-like, which helps add another layer of fun to the proceedings. Being one of those snobby writer types, I absolutely dig the concept, especially since I can go back to all of my old entries and see how much daily writing has improved my form. I’m not joking when I say that it strengths your writing style, especially when the stats point out how often you use certain words or certain grammatical structures.

Give it a shot! Even if you’re not a writer type, there’s plenty of fun to be had in having online daily diary of sorts, and 750words.com’s sleek accessibility makes the process infinitely appealing for anyone willing to give it a chance.

I’m two weeks in to the April Monthly Challenge! Wish me luck!

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No Comments on "Link Dropping: 750words.com"

  1. Abigail
    18/04/2010 at 12:17 pm Permalink

    I’m so doing this. I cannot WAIT to see what kind of depressing stats my grouchy writing will produce.

    Perhaps we should both do the May Monthly Challenge and see who shows up on the Wall of Shame first. 10 bucks says it’s me, and that it’ll happen riiiiight about the time I’m supposed to defend for my master’s degree. Bluhh.

  2. Matt
    19/04/2010 at 7:35 pm Permalink

    Oh, I’m totally in. I’ve made it some twenty days so far in April, so May should be (despite graduation, and moving, and my life collapsing in on itself) a breeze! 🙂

    You’re on!

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