Word progress Widgets

          I hope you are not tired of my “let’s play” attitude. It seems everyone in my life at one time or another tells me to “Grow up!” at some point. Personally, I think it’s a last cause. If I haven’t lost my penchant for playing around by now, at almost 50, I don’t think I ever will. LOL Besides, it keeps me young. There is a quote I love. “You don’t stop playing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop playing.” So I will try to hang onto this “let’s play” mindset as long as I can. Feel free to join me if you want. Or roll your eyes at me if you don’t.

          Can you tell I’m still on the distractions topic? I’m supposed to talk to you about using internet resources to get work done, but I can’t help myself. I’ve found some neat “toys” and I keep getting lured from my writing. And back again.

          You know that little progress meter that you get on your NaNoWriMo page? The one that turns purple when you reach 50,000 words? I’ve found some others! Actually, Kitty found them. If you go to the About page, you will see Kitty has a word progress meter below her bio. (Hope you weren’t planning on talking about this, Kitty!) Isn’t it cute? I love the cartoon. And did you know it can be changed to reflect your mood? If you don’t like the cutesy one, there is a plain bar. You can find them both at Writertopia.

          “All well and good, but you have to write something to ‘meter’,” you say? Hmmmm. I do seem to be having a problem with that lately. Or I did. Until someone reminded me of Dr. Wicked’s site. http://lab.drwicked.com/ Go to his writing lab. His Write or Die program jumpstarted my writing back to where I wanted it and beyond. I wrote 2000 words almost effortlessly the first day I used it this month. (Did the same last November when I first discovered the site.) I can set it to blink gently to remind me to write or, if I need a more strident reminder, to make loud noises when I stop writing. The blinking red reminds me when I’m getting lost in my mind and not writing. (Although occasionally that blinking red actually pulls me out of the fantasy world where I’m unraveling a knotty plot or world issue. That’s when I get out of Write or Die and go back to Word. It’s also when I realized I’ve stomp that writer’s block to dust. Ha! )

          Here’s a Twitter article I found that has a few more options for word progress meters.

          I love these little gadgety type things. I’m not sure they actually make me write more or better, but they make the process fun. And that’s important to me. Now it’s of to . . . work or play? Both!