(Originally written in https://kenzan100.substack.com/)
Hello! Let me share an app I’ve created, for drafting articles with ease.
I’m calling for alpha testers, who’d like to give this app a try. If you’re interested, please contact me via this Google Form.
First. On the difficulty of writing long, quality sentences.
Usually, I have many fragmented thoughts in my head; some are potentially good, some are probably bad that doesn’t lead anywhere :)
The problem, is I don’t know which one is which.
For me, the only way to tell between these two, is to “put it out there” for others to read. Only when I write them with the audience in mind, I can test the texts to its potential.
Now, the question becomes how to cross that chasm. I need some amount of momentum and continuity to keep crossing the chasm. Make it “good enough” for others to at least make sense of what I’m trying to say.
There’s a sharp “cliff” between the random thoughts that only exist in my head, and the carefully crafted sentences that convey the points of these ideas.
Why it is difficult to form an article
When I think about this, I think about a journey any thought takes. From a rough, raw idea that’s in your brain, into a sequence of sentences that forms a logic:
Let’s dissect this into the three stages of content transformation.
First, the thoughts are born in your mind, and they resemble a structure of a graph network. Thoughts, ideas, and concepts have some “links” in between, but their significance might not be apparent at this stage.
Then, with the right “saturation” of these graph nodes and links, some of them will start to form into a set of “outlines”.
Finally, some parts of the outlines will be extracted into a series of sentences tailored for the audience; the version you think is good enough to put it out there.
Unsurprisingly, there’re already apps that fit each stage of this journey:
- Roam Research, Obsidian
- Dynalist, Workflowly
- Words-like software
There’re even some apps that cover the multiple (or all) stages of this journey: Notion, Markdown editors, or even a suite of Google Documents/Spreadsheets might do it.
Many failed attempts to complete the journey of words transformation
I have a track record of trying out as many note-taking apps I could do. When I look at my past creation in each one of these apps, I see many failed attempts of forming a consistent habit.
Most of the time, I leave these tools with some unfinished thoughts, unable to push them to cross the line of publishing them. Why did these texts not make it out there?
Many failed attempts that I don’t feel like adding more
I see two reasons (out of potentially many) here.
- Most of the tools are promising too much, becoming too powerful, too complicated.
- Consequently, they’ll force you the mindset of “organizing the past texts” before you can start writing new ones.
Even as simple as Apple native note app, I would feel compelled to look at what I’ve written in the past, when starting the app.
I want something, that doesn’t force me into thinking “I have to organize these texts”. I do want to find them “eventually” when the time is right. But that shouldn’t be the first action I need to take in the platform.
In Japanese, this reminds me of a concept called “発酵” (fermentation process). You could translate it as “sleep on the ideas”. You want to forget them, let them stay where they are, how they are. Unless you actively seek for them to come back to it.
I’m making a tool exactly for that. A simple, intuitive tool to make you do the following two things very well.
A blank inbox to start writing random texts. It’s your dumping ground of anything that comes across your brain.
Carefully crafted set of UX to edit, organize, and grow them sometime later.
If the tool can do these two things extremely well, I believe that’s all what I need to cross that chasm. I can finally start publishing my thoughts into the wild. And maybe more importantly, I can finally be ease with my writing, fully knowing that some will never see the light. and That’s OK.
I’ve turned this process into an app (iOS, Android, and the Web app)
First, every screen starts with a blank slate of a text box.
First Screen of the App
The basic idea here is that your past sentences should never be the distraction of the texts you’re about to produce. Taking advantage of this “blank slate everytime”, you’re safe to start dumping what’s fresh in your mind.
After that, you’re taken into an editing screen, that you can extend the text with “pluses” and “reorder handles”.
Editing Screen with “+” and “reorder handles”
The process of turning the random thoughts to the outlining, requires a carefully selected set of tools to assist you in the journey.
This is the part I’m actively developing right now. This is where you come in! Each month, I add many features, talk to the alpha testers, then discard some.
What I’m aiming, is to create a “sharp knife for texts editing”; it should have a few set of Editing UX that’s just enough to form the structure of your article. Fast and intuitive.
Eventually, some texts will find its aim; a meaningful structure that delivers the points it wants to make.
Publish it to anywhere you’d like
From there, it’s totally up to you. I only publish maybe one out of ten articles (posts) I create in this app.
That’s perfectly ok for me. Every word I’ve dumped in this playground must have had its purpose at the time of writing. Maybe it will in the future, too.
Some of them, will make it to some blogging platforms I use; Medium, Dev.to, or maybe your own hosted blog sites.
The app is totally unopinionated on how you’ll use the drafts in the end
Would you like to give this app a try?
I’m currently in the process of recruiting early testers, to give me feedback on the direction of the app. If you’d like to try this out, please fill out the following simple form to say hi!
I’ve had some success inviting alpha testers from Japanese audience. Now, I’d like to receive more feedback worldwide.
No matter what, let’s keep writing! Your words are worth sharing.
Happy Writing!
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