Draft Announcements: Hemingway Mode, Word/Google Docs Support, Kindle Export, and more.
Some new things in Draft I think you’ll like:
- Hemingway Mode
- Word/Google Docs support
- Export to your Kindle
- Hourly report
- Daily quota
- iDoneThis
- This Week in Google
Hemingway Mode #
The best advice about creativity I’ve ever received is: “Write drunk; edit sober” - often attributed to Ernest Hemingway. I don’t take the advice literally. But it points to the fact that writing and editing are two very different functions. One shouldn’t pollute the other. It’s difficult to write if you’re in an editing mindset and removing more words than you’re putting on the page.
So I’ve added Hemingway Mode to help.
To turn it on, when writing a document, use the keyboard shortcut SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+RightArrow.
Draft will turn off your ability to delete anything in your document. You can only write at the end of what you’ve already written. You can’t go back; only forward. To return to normal mode, use the same shortcut to turn Hemingway Mode off.
It’s helpful in creating that rough first draft.
Word/Google Docs Support #
Word/Google docs is still part of many workflows. This might help. You can now Import/Export to and from Word and Google Docs.
Use the Export/Import buttons and pick “Word(.docx) or Google Docs” (.doc is supported too even though the extension isn’t mentioned in the menu).
It supports many of the basics and more, including images. Any images you have in your Word/Google doc will be converted to ones hosted by Draft.
Note: These Word/Google type docs won’t auto-sync back to their cloud location. Since the conversion process could lose some formatting, I don’t want Draft to overwrite something in a way you don’t expect.
Export to your Kindle #
One of the techniques I use to write better is to grab a document I’m working on and walk around with it, speaking it aloud, as if I were giving a speech to an audience. Talking through the document, as well as getting out of my chair, helps my brain find ways to write what it is I’m trying to say.
To do this, I’d print my document or send a PDF to my Kindle, but Kindles don’t deal with the PDF format well enough.
So I’ve created the ability for you to export your Draft document as a .mobi file that your Kindle can read beautifully. You can download the .mobi file to your Desktop or send it via email - even right to your Kindle.
Hourly report #
Many writers want to increase their productivity. One piece of advice is to find the time of day when you’re already the most productive, and base more writing sessions around that time. If you’re most productive at 8am, try to stop wasting your time writing at 6pm. If you can, try to reschedule your days so you have more time to write early in the morning.
I’ve added a report to Draft to help you find those productive hours.
Based on your previous writing sessions in Draft, you can see when you’re producing the most. In my report, it looks like I’m doing my best at 9pm. I might want to experiment with the wee hours of the morning still, but my best bet might be to move more of my writing sessions after dinner at 8-10PM at night.
Daily Quota #
Another piece of advice to help get writing projects done, whether it’s your book or just more consistent blogging, is to stick to a daily schedule. Tim Ferriss encourages a daily quota of 500 words. Draft has had a daily word count report for a month now and it got an upgrade.
You can now set your own Daily Quota from Draft’s Reports page.
You can also have Draft send you a Fitbit-like email each day, reminding you if you still need to reach your daily writing quota and how many days in a row you’ve met your goal. There’s nothing like knowing you have a streak going to help keep you motivated. Don’t break the chain.
iDoneThis Support #
iDoneThis is an easy utility for managing teams. Members get an email each day to record what they’ve gotten done.
Draft now supports iDoneThis as a place to publish (Settings > Places to Publish). If managing content on your team is important, this is a great way of keeping your team informed on the status of those documents.
This Week in Google #
I’ve been an admirer of Leo Laporte and Gina Trapani for awhile. And last week, on a show they do together called “This Week in Google”, Leo and Gina demoed Draft to their audience. It’s at the end of the show at about the 2:05:00 mark. It’s a thrill watching this thing I made to help get edits from my wife grow into an important tool used by thousands and thousands of people, including those who’ve done such a great job influencing me.
This is amazing.
Leo
I can’t thank everyone enough for giving Draft a chance at becoming a utility they rely on daily.
I hope you are having an awesome week. If you need any help, great places to reach me:
https://twitter.com/natekontny
Or the official Draft Twitter account: