8 super powerful tools I use to write every day

If you're having a writer's block right now, and you insist on trying hard to think of that perfect first word by just looking at that blank screen and blinking cursor, you're doing a disservice to your craftsmanship.

I've been in that place once. I had promised myself not to leave my laptop screen until I discovered the first word. In effect, I didn't write a single thing and abandoned that blank page altogether. What's happened there was not only that I gave up, but I also let my ideas die.

I remember a quote from The Letters of Ernest Hemingway Volume 2. Hemingway discovered that "there is nothing to writing. All you do is sit at a typewriter and bleed." The way I saw it, what he was trying to say was that writing is not a hundred percent talent, or something that is given or an innate thing.

It's an on-going competence to hone and nourish for the rest of one's life. If you claim that you have a "talent for writing" but you never really write, there's nothing you can really say.

However, I've seen several of my writing students and fellows back in college; they never claimed that they had the talent, as far as they knew. But they persisted on pouring their thoughts onto a white paper and turning them into letters, then to words, then to phrases, to sentences, to paragraphs... to writing. Good writings. Great ones.

But others just don't know how to write. They don't know how to start, to be exact. Yes, they have ideas, wild ideas. But they don't know what to do with it. They are just clueless about how to get that precious baby born.

I've learned then that everybody has got their ways of translating their ideas into words; their manner or approach to elaborating complex thoughts. I've got my ways to write, but that didn't fall from the sky.

The benefits of writing tools

To me, writing is like getting undressed. The order of my undressing can be different from that of someone else's. Which one should I take off first? My jeans or my top? Let's say I'm unbuttoning my shirt, which direction should I unbutton from? Up, bottom, center?

Although there is no conventional method of getting undressed, no rules, for example, about whether to undress clothes before getting to sleep or not undress at all whatsoever, it can be a habit when done unconsciously. And it's liberating to identify the approach that I'm so accustomed to, that it becomes my signature of how I write.

One of the ways that I did to decide my writing approach is through a personality test. I took a test from Gallup's Strengthsfinder and couldn't be more grateful. The test shows that one of my greatest strength is Intelligence. What's more interesting is that the test recommends a list of things to do after to maximize my potential.

I was not very surprised by the list because I had done a few of them back then. One was to "leverage a system to assist with moving thoughts, ideas, and tasks." That time, my favorite tool was my voice recorder on my smartphone. I recorded my thoughts for an outline of a short story or just a random idea that I can write later. It proved quite effective, and I became a relatively good manager of my thoughts.

In general, I find that having a dedicated set of tools to write makes me a more efficient person. I know very well that my brain can't contain too much information for a relatively short period, and I've proven this myself. I've seen a difference when I put my thoughts outside my brain and inside it. Isn't it a beautiful thing to have our knowledge transferred and sheltered in someplace else, that we don't have to contain our brain with too much information?

Keeping a set of tools to write helps me not to lose track so easily. To keep my path on the direction it should go. And to understand that I can't rely on myself when it comes to stashing too many ideas at once. Having writing tools help me perform less and reap more. Minimum effort, maximum impact.

8 super powerful tools I use to write every day

So here are 8 super powerful tools I use every single day to write, both for work and for personal purposes. I'm giving you a real-world case of how I use each tool and what their superpowers are. So, the next time you're running out of tools and you have no clue of what to write on the next sentence, you know where you have to go for the alternatives. In a nutshell:

1. Word Counter
2. Portent SERP Preview
3. Portent Title Maker
4. Merriam-Webster Dictionary
5. Rhyme Zone
6. KBBI Online
7. Stormboard
8. Notebook and pen

Did you find your tool on the list? Now let's break them down.

1. Word Counter

This one is almost always present on my browsing tabs. I use this tool to measure the number of words and characters of any crucial element of my writing such as headline, subheadline, meta title, and meta descriptions. It's super effective whenever I'm writing for blog articles, websites, landing pages, or UX buttons.

Recently, I used Counter to measure the number of words for my short story. The maximum number should not exceed 1,500 words. Although I can use the Ctrl + Shift + C shortcut on Google Docs, Word Counter has something that other tools don't. It can tell you the reading level, whether there's any phrase that is too complex or uses too many compound sentences. And it does wonders for the effectiveness of my short story.

Superpower: It can count the number of sentences, paragraphs, reading time, and speaking time.

2. Portent SERP Preview

In Moka, I wrote blog articles in Hubspot, which in itself is a great tool to manage content on a large scale. The goal is to perform best in terms of SEO, so one way to ensure that our articles get to the first search page in Google is to simply look good. Portent SERP is effective to make that happen. I use it to preview the content before it gets published. And it has saved me a lot of back-and-forth revisions once the article is up.

Whether you're running a personal blog, commercial blog, company blog, Portent SERP provides you the "after" look even you haven't seen the "before." And you don't want your content to look ugly, right? What's more, you can see how coherent your title and your subtitle are. Even you can even check whether your content's customized link goes well with the whole elements. Once you've previewed all, you will know what keywords you should have focused on in the first place, and what words you should include the next time you're posting another content.

Superpower: Portent SERP has a "Bolded Keyword" feature, meaning it recognizes the focus keywords you've put on your original content and emphasizes them on the preview. If anything goes wrong, this enables you to either reposition the keyword or perhaps remove it whatsoever.

3. Portent Title Maker

Feeling burned out or can't think of any headline that speaks to your narrative? If your clueless brain is Hogwarts, then Portent Title Maker is Professor Dumbledore. Decide the idea even if it never seems to visit your mind. Simply enter the subject or a word you're thinking of, and it will automatically generate the most creative titles ever. It's effective when you don't know what to write at all. The four-part title is carefully worded and well-researched, so you only have to find the references and develop your creativity from there.

I use this tool mainly for topic cluster projects. Let's say Moka is running a campaign that should entail a series of blog articles. The first thing I needed to do was to think of one specific focus keyword and think of ten or fifteen peripheral keywords. Whenever I met a dead-end, this tool was my savior.

Superpower: It doesn't only generate titles for you. But also gives you recommendations what you should do with that title to your overall content marketing strategy. Plus plus.

4. Merriam-Webster

If you're a loyal fan of Oxford Dictionaries, you probably shouldn't miss this part. I have preferred Webster to its older, more famous brother. (Because Oxford is not free now!) Apart from that, the greatest perk of Webster is the "history" feature, where the system saves all the looked-up words and treats them as "history," so you can always trace them back. I also love the derivatives and its elaboration. It offers me a broader insight into how the word was first used and how it came to life.

Beside for dictionary, I use Webster for thesaurus. The best part is not that it gives a list of many other words, but also recommends which word I should use based on its level of commonality. This helps me choose whether to use this suggested word or to not change the original word at all.

Superpower: Antonyms, check. Synonyms, check. Blog article for a deeper understanding of the word? Hm, if you haven't scrolled that far, give it a try. It's a wondrous place to nourish your inner literati.

5. Rhyme Zone

Woohoo! My most favorite tool of all time. As the website's copy suggests, it enables you to "find rhymes, synonyms, adjectives, and more." If you love to make poetries, using two-syllable words, three, four, this one's the perfect place to go. Simply enter the word on the search box and choose which rhyme you wish to see. Whether it's near rhymes, descriptive words, homophones, or word in Shakespeare, feel free to explore. You might be surprised by words that you never thought would be related to it.

For personal purposes, I use this to write poems and haikus. For work, I use it for one-two punch copywriting, mostly for an event's name, SEM copies, or a headline on advertorial pages.

Superpower: If you write a word on the search box, followed by a question mark, it gives you a list of synonyms that are most commonly used by the native speakers. No need to guess no more.

6. KBBI Online

There's nothing more resourceful than a classic dictionary, right? Until today, I haven't found any other Indonesian dictionaries as complete as KBBI. I mean, has anyone? Its unabridged list of word choices and derivatives in Indonesian is just a golden treasure for my mother language. It sometimes acts like Google autocorrect search, where it returns the assumed result if your search terms are not identified. If you spell a word wrong, it gives you back the assumed word with the correct spelling.

However, please be reminded that it's not the KBBI from Kemendikbud, as it requires you to make an account; otherwise, it won't provide you a full result of your queries. It's the one with kbbi.web domain, with the red-book logo. I use KBBI online mostly for translating purposes, to make sense of the word better. Alternatively, I choose Sederet, which is also a great resource for translating English to Indonesian or vice versa.

Superpower: it has "the most popular search today" feature on the bottom of every query result. So you will never miss a thing of what people are saying.

7. Stormboard

Imagine you had to organize a brainstorming session this afternoon--after office hours--but you're just too lazy to lead or attend it. The only thing that clung to your mind was: Bed, bed, bed. But it had to be discussed and couldn't be postponed any longer. So, what you should do? Do it online, for God's sake! Thanks to Stormboard, now I can lead a brainstorming session at the comfort of my bed.

Simply create an account, decide the name of your board, choose personal or team, and pick a template. It provides a helpful set of templates based on your preferred frameworks: Lean, Agile, Kaizen, or General. It also divides the template based on specific purposes: Work, Education, or Personal. Its simple use of creating sticky notes by drag-and-drop will make your work just... flow.

Superpower: You can connect with up to 5 people (for Personal account) and chat with them while working. If you're using Team account, change the number to 15 to 20. No face-to-face meetings needed. Brainstorm sesh? Nailed it.

8. Notebook and pen

Finally, there's nothing like a blank physical paper and a pen on my hand. It's part of my childhood to pour down my thoughts involving movements of my hands. I've appreciated the idea of journaling as it helps me narrate my stories and what I've been through within deep contemplation.

That's why I'm still doing it even though digital typewriting is quite unbearable in 2019. I never realized the power of writing with a pen until college. One of the great professors there criticized the students who relied on their laptop to take notes during classes. He said that there's nothing you can remember when your hands clacking on the keyboard while listening to crucial information.

That's why I always keep a physical note (small book) and digital note (Evernote) at hand. I use the former to keep important words I just learned or visualize my abstract thoughts. Then I use the latter to save insights from online sources that I can paste directly.

Superpower: The information you write down with a pen sticks longer in your brain than when you with keyboards.

Other "tools" I use

If you're already familiar with the tools above, good for you.

But for me, I've always had alternate tools when I still can't get my thoughts flowing. These additionals are not necessarily tools that help me craft my wording, but it certainly helps me to get more focused and achieve my daily goals in writing.

1. Nature sounds

My biggest problem when it comes to writing is I often get distracted by lyrical songs. So, I only listen to them during breaks. And my go-to noise background is either the sound of chirping birds, a creek, or pouring rain.

Some of the most popular apps out there are Noisli, Online Noise, and MyNoise.net. I love the first two because I can customize the sounds I want to hear. If you prefer something ready-made, you MyNoise is a perfect choice.

2. Timers

Time plays an important role when it comes to writing. Before I start writing any word, I always set 20 minutes and promise myself to only focus on one thing. When the timer stops, I can identify how many words I write and calculate the number of words I should have written. This calculation is effective to determine if I should focus more or I should remove any distractions during the period.

Therefore, I set a different set of timers depending on how much focus I should put into work. I divided it into four main parts: Short Break (5 mins), Long Break (10 mins), Working (20 mins), and Serious Working (40 mins). And once I've clicked Start, I can't go back. The bomb is ticking. And it's about to detonate even before I realize.

In conclusion

Writers have their own way to define their craftsmanship. A friend of mine had to smoke first before sitting down for hours and type. Another had to sip an espresso before putting on his glasses and bleed. The actress Emma Thompson even had to "look parts of her own body that [she hasn't] seen in a long time."

For them, the cigarettes, the coffee cup, and the eyes are their tools to help them jot words down. It helps them to make sense of the words in their head more vividly. For me, these 8 (or 10, I must say) tools are part of my writing and creative process. Because I don't smoke and I don't really like coffee, I just had to find out what works best for me.

Let me summarize the 8 super powerful tools I use to write every day:

Lastly, referring back to Hemingway's quote on the opening, maybe it's true that what writers should do is "sit and bleed." But, in my book, it's not just those two. It's to "sit, have a tool, and bleed."

Sorry, Hemingway.

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You can find an exactly identical post on my Medium.