Spring showers bring May...writing sprints?
Freewrite
NaNoWriMo is dead. Long live NaNoWriMo. Freewrite, the maker of distraction-free e-ink writing devices, has embraced the spirit of the somewhat infamous month-long writing sprint with its own twist.
50K May urges you to sit down and commit 50,000 words to a new writing project by the end of the month. For those that have been in the online writing community for a while, the stakes feel similar to the recently departed November writing competition.
“A lot of people are feeling the hole that NaNoWriMo left in the writing community,” says Annie Cosby, Freewrite Senior Marketing Manager. “Writing is generally a solitary activity, so any way we can bring writers together and help them cheer each other on is a win in our book. I guess, at the end of the day, we’re just trying to make writing fun again.”
But why now? As Freewrite mentions in their press release, a writing competition in November is inconvenient, what with holidays and end of the year stress looming. So Freewrite made the wise decision to move their writing competition to earlier in the year. It’s a smart choice, especially if you want to engage and encourage fresh talent. School is winding down and nascent writers (often college students who suddenly find themselves with an abundance of time) can dedicate themselves to writing a "scant" 1613 words per day.
And while all those words might not equate to a print-ready manuscript, you’ll have the bones of a story, told in your own, unique voice. Sadly, that’s becoming a rare thing. Genuine creativity is fleeting when anyone can write a prompt into a browser and get back 1,000 words with no real cognitive work.
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Conceiving a world on your own, populating it with tales that keep you entertained is a kind of magic. Learning how to translate the images in your head into something that others can read and follow along with is a skill that has to be honed over time. For the rest of the month, Freewrite is asking that you put in the reps and develop that skill.
When I went to college nearly 35 years ago, I was given the choice of a personal computer or a word processor. Being an English major, I scoffed at the computer. Why did I need a multitasker like that when all I really needed was a luxurious three-line LCD screen and the ability to "print out" my drafts via the typewriter it was integrated into?
It was, of course, a ridiculous choice. Even by the end of my first four years of college, going to school without a computer was unheard of.
But stepping into an “old school” word processor, there’s something freeing about having to relentlessly move forward, only having as much of the story as you can keep in your head as it scrolls away out of sight. Scrolling back and reworking, while technically possible with a Freewrite device, is logistically difficult, requiring a lot of extraneous key presses (the combination of which I can never seem to remember). That kind of annoyance tax helps me maintain my focus on the words in front of me and what's coming next.
If you're so inclined, Freewrite has a variety of devices.
Freewrite
While you don't have to have a Freewrite device, they really do help to get into a focused state of writing. Freewrite rewrote the software base for their Traveler and Smart Typewriter devices last year, and now there's practically zero lag when typing, even for fast typists like myself. The new software also vastly improves battery life and sets the company up with a modern codebase so they can continue to improve responsiveness and features.
And I can’t emphasize this enough, writing on a purpose-built device comes with zero distractions. There aren’t even the common “in context” writing distractors like spelling and grammatical errors notifications. Brains are easily distracted. When you can't just open another tab, it's a powerful tool.
Then there's the fact that you can only see so much of your story at one time. All of Freewrite's devices, while rather dialed in to distraction-free writing, are somewhat limited by small screens. Some, like the Alpha, only display three lines of text at a time. Which is great when you're writing in a flow state, but less great when you're trying to compose something that hangs together as a complete document.
Then again, getting to the end of the line is the point. Even if you just type "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy" 5,000 times, you'll technically make it to the end. Though you might want to talk to a mental health professional.
Sprinter welcome message
Freewrite
What's nice is that you don't have to use a Freewrite device to participate. While it does make it easier, because your word count is automatically tallied when you write on your Freewrite device and uploaded to Postbox, you can also use Sprinter, the company's browser-based app, to write as well. Whatever you write in Sprinter updates your 50K May leaderboard in real time.
If you haven't checked out Sprinter, it's a great, free way to dip your toe into distraction-free writing. Unlike something like Google Docs or Word, there's no underlining of errors, no push to use AI to "improve tone." It's just you and your words. It sports convenient goal-focused functionality, whether you want to write for a period of time, a number of words, or, if you're chaotic, a number of characters.
So what happens if you don't finish your draft? What I love about Freewrite's approach towards the challenge is that there's no shame for those who don't finish. "Progress is progress."
Freewrite is keeping the energy up throughout the month with writing sprints and a leaderboard. Everything that you sync with Postbox counts towards your word count.
So what do you get for getting to the end of the line? While having a fifty thousand-word draft is its own reward (though editing it is not), Freewrite has given vague hints at "prizes" that will be announced after May 31. I asked Annie Cosby what the company might have in store for participants and she mentioned there would be virtual badges and discount codes, as well as giveaways of Freewrite accessories and swag each week throughout the month.
You can learn more about 50K May and sign up on the Freewrite website. If you want to get a Freewrite device to help you lock in, you can check them out from the home page.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I'm already five thousand words behind and have some catching up to do. See you on the leaderboards!
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