Writer Unblock

A few years ago I wrote The Most Dangerous Writing App. It&#x27;s been acquired since, but the open-source version still has a &quot;hardcore mode&quot; very similar to this, where you only see the last letter you typed: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maebert.github.io&#x2F;themostdangerouswritingapp&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;maebert.github.io&#x2F;themostdangerouswritingapp&#x2F;</a>

The irony about these &quot;distraction free writing&quot; projects is that I&#x27;d bet the majority of them are created by people procrastinating when they could be writing.

I&#x27;ve made a project that incentivize people to write every day by planting a tree on their behalf for every day they write a certain word count. I made it because I think too many apps try to keep writers writing by punishing them, and I want to try positive reinforcement instead. Unfortunately I don&#x27;t think that works.<p>Writer&#x27;s block is a real thing. As least it seems to me like one. There&#x27;s no trick to bypass it every time. It&#x27;s like fighting common cold: it&#x27;s painful, but it will pass eventually.<p>You will continue to write if you haven&#x27;t given up by the time inspiration strikes. It&#x27;s a test of persistence, really.

Sometimes, you just need to put down your thoughts with out the fear of someone looking at what you are writing, or with out your editor bugging you about all the typos you are making or with your eyes closed and give control to your fingers to put down what thoughts run in your head.<p>Can do away with the internet too, if a data url can be crafted with this html and bookmarked.<p>Happy unstucking!

My personal favorite writing unblocker isn&#x27;t a piece of software - it&#x27;s cannabis use. Writer&#x27;s block is arguably technically a form of anxiety - so yes it is possible (speaking from personal experience) to be prescribed medical marijuana for writer&#x27;s block. Of course, YMMV depending on what state you&#x27;re in.

It&#x27;s a white content-editable &lt;p&gt;, for anyone trying to figure it out.

Why don&#x27;t use pen and paper

I rarely see halfway decent “Show HN” style posts, people seem to prefer amateur hour stuff in that category instead. Why?<p>Recently we had the uninspired Pickle Rick “terminal” someone made in four minutes and then an allegedly multiplayer game called Space Frigates. It was astonishing to see people upvote and praise Space Frigates one after the other despite it being broken, full of bugs, and completely unplayable. To test my theory I posted a link to microgravity.io which is an actual polished and working browser multiplayer space game created by two bored teenagers, objectively much more inspiring content because if kids can do that then just imagine what you can do if you put in the effort? Yet it only received 3 upvotes while Space Frigates received 180.<p>Is this because people can relate more emotionally to someone who makes depressingly little progress on a side project? Or is the first step more exciting to witness than the end result? Or what?