
Show HN: Anyword.cc – A simple exercise to get you unstuck - patrickz
https://www.anyword.cc
======
latexr
The post took 30 paragraphs (most are a single sentence) to get to the point,
which is to recommend the Morning Pages exercise. It can be summarised as[1]
“filling three sides of paper with words, stream of consciousness-style, first
thing every day”.

They go on to say you “can do all your writing anytime, anywhere on this
website, as long as you have a computer and access to internet”, that their
metric is 750 words instead of 3 pages, and they require an account to use the
service. I don’t see why you wouldn’t just do it in any semi-competent text
editor, without needing an internet connection or another online account.

Finally, they end by suggesting the “don’t break the chain” productivity
method[2], saying “it is inspired by a productivity trick invented by Jerry
Seinfeld. You can google it for more detail”. If you google it, you might be
quick to find out from the horse’s mouth that’s a common misconception, as
Seinfeld did not create the system[3].

[1]:
[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/03/morning...](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/oct/03/morning-
pages-change-your-life-oliver-burkeman)

[2]: [https://lifehacker.com/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-
secret-2...](https://lifehacker.com/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-
secret-281626)

[3]:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ujvrg/jerry_seinfeld...](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ujvrg/jerry_seinfeld_here_i_will_give_you_an_answer/ceiugt5/)

~~~
patrickz
Hi, thank you for the comment. For "I don’t see why you wouldn’t just do it in
any semi-competent text editor", I have explanation. I used to write with
Pages (text editor) with my MacBook. After doing it for almost half year, I
found that it is quite inconvenient. First, it is not private since my wife
will use my computer so she mights see those files contains my private
thoughts. This makes me unable to let go of myself while I am writing.
Secondly, after saving hundreds of files, I found it is hard to navigate and
review the journals I've written in the past. Of cause, there is something
called Evernote, but there's no word counter. Then I realized I need something
better, or at least suitable for my need, so I built this app. I don't know if
anyone will use, but I know I will use it everyday myself. Haha.

~~~
boaticus
Did you look at Draft or Notion? I’d encourage you to give them a look (if
only to see what your competitors look like)

To the points you mentioned above (word counter, privacy, etc)…

I do a similar exercise, but using Draft
([https://draftin.com](https://draftin.com)). Draft has a word counter, and is
private.

Another option I’ve been exploring for this type of exercise is Notion
(notion.so). The nice thing about Notion is it can replace Evernote, Draft,
and Trello for me, is private, and works on desktop (native), web, and mobile
(native). You can also create a calendar view where you can see your progress
building your Seinfeld chain of consecutive days of writing.

Anyway…

Congrats on launching! Now the real work begins. :)

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tracer4201
I’m on mobile, and from what I could tell, this is all online - i.e. no
desktop client.

If I sign up for this service and use it, where is my data stored? How safe is
it? What will you do with all this deeply personal information? Do you plan to
monetize it somehow?

Again - this is deeply personal information. I applaud your effort, but
personally I would never use this, given the information on the website. I
would also advise my friends and family to steer clear. Do you plan to
monetize off the personal information? Is it fully encrypted in storage and
transit? It would certainly help if you called out this information. Maybe you
do - I just don’t see it on mobile.

~~~
patrickz
Thanks for the thoughts. No I won't monetize off any of the personal
information., and I will never do that. And I am not Facebook, I am just an
ordinary guy who try to build a tiny tool that I can use myself to improve my
life. Again, as I said, I am not Facebook, so there's no social networking or
any real identity required for the users. You only identity is the username
that you make up. If you really concern about it, you can also use a new email
address and so on. And yes, I used the best practices I can learn to secure
the site with Django framework and https and so on.

------
jpxw
UI seems pretty broken on mobile (no comment on the actual idea as I wasn’t
able to read it properly)

~~~
patrickz
It is not designed for the mobile. So please use your laptop. haha.

