It's said that good writer write a lot, and read even more. I've got the reading part down; between reddit, Flipboard, iBooks, Medium, tumblr, and Instapaper, I am reading during nearly any downtime. Where I am not optimal is the writing area.

Sure, I have this blog. I have a tumblr and a medium too, but there's something about the published longform post that seems to be intimidating, and this lead to not much getting written, and not often. I try, yes, but you can tell if you follow this blog that my posts aren't at consistent intervals. My tumblr, internetofme.tumblr.com is pretty active, but most of that isn't longform.

I'm sure part of the problem is that this isn't my main source of income, so it gets pushed to a lower priority, but I still really enjoy writing.

I want to be a better writer. I want to form better arguments, and I want to write more in general. I think it would be a good thing to write every day. That's where Day One comes in.

Day One is a journaling app that recently went free on iOS via the App Store. It emphasizes recording thoughts whenever they hit you, be it long or short form. There is also a version for Mac, so the app can be with you no matter what setting you're in. It supports Markdown syntax, so it simplifies writing for the internet. It also supports writing reminders, so as to encourage daily entries.

I hope this app will help me write. I often have an issue of forgetting brilliant writing topics when it comes time to actually write, so I hope that the short form thought recording abilities of this app will help me record everything I think about writing about. So far, in my days of usage, it has. I've even gone back and expanded on some of those ideas.

Maybe some of my entries in the app will end up as drafts for later posts, and maybe they won't. But I think it's beneficial to have a place for drafts to be stored and ideas to be fleshed out. It's worry-free writing. I will indicate which future posts arise from Day One with a "via Day One" at the end of said posts.

My plan is to use Day One's reminders feature to set up a time every day (or nearly every day) where all I do is write (on Day One, or on one of my blogging platforms). It'll be like my email hour, but for writing. We'll see what that yields.

via Day One