
Show HN: Ulysses–a writing tool I built to refocus when my mind is too loud - rpastuszak
https://ulysses.sonnet.io
======
Terretta
You're going to want to change the name.

[https://ulysses.app](https://ulysses.app)

 _Ulysses: The Ultimate Writing App for Mac, iPad and iPhone_

 _A pleasant, focused writing experience combined with effective document
management, fast syncing and flexible export options make Ulysses the first
choice for writers of all kinds._

Also, when naming a product, Google the name you're thinking of and the
category.

For example: _ulysses writing_

~~~
rpastuszak
Yeah, saw these comments first thing in the morning. Coming up with names as
we speak.

Suggestions are welcome.

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quickthrower2
Homer?

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rpastuszak
+1!

Ha, initially I thought this sounded too close to the previous name, but
actually it fits nicely: Homer was blind, whereas the input is slowly fading
out and only 3-4 lines are readable. Neat!

~~~
quickthrower2
Great. Bartholomew JoJo was my other suggestion :-)

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rpastuszak
Author here. I know the title sounds a bit cheesy, I built this to help myself
refocus as I've been dealing with a lot of stress and struggling with
depression.

The main goal of the app is to help you focus, organise your thoughts, find a
quiet space.

The UX is based on the conversations I've had with my friends and writers—it
will make it very hard for you to edit your text, but also prevent you from
being too self-conscious when writing.

Here's a post describing it in a bit more detail (3 min read):
[https://sonnet.io/posts/ulysses/](https://sonnet.io/posts/ulysses/)

The app works offline and does not track you in any way. I have no idea how
many people are using it. I'm happy to make the repo public if you're
interested.

I've been using it every day in the morning, for the past 5 months, still
clocking 800 words per day. If you knew me, you'd know that I get bored much
quicker than that, especialy when it comes to the results of my own work, so I
think there's some potential in terms of usefulness.

I submitted it several months ago, but based on the current content on HN, and
how most of my friends feel—it seems worth a bump.

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Terretta
You say, "The main goal of the app is to help you focus, organise your
thoughts, find a quiet space."

The well-known Ulysses app's home page slugs are:

\- Ulysses Helps You Focus on What You Want to Say

\- Ulysses Organizes All Your Projects in One Place

\- Ulysses Lets You Work Anywhere, Anytime

So, it's even the same three value props in the same order using the same
keywords. You sure you didn't absorb this at some point and play it back
later?

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rpastuszak
Wow thanks, I'd give you 10 upvotes if I could. Honestly I think these points
are fairly generic and not that surprising given the current discourse re
work-life balance. It's not a secret that writing can be therapeutic and the
usual problem statements revolve around: focus, structure, space.

> \- Ulysses Organizes All Your Projects in One Place

My focus is to help _you_ structure _your_ thoughts by writing in a manner
that's inherently unstructured or linear (literally a stream of
consciousness). I don't care about organising your projects or text.

The previous prototype would not even allow you to read your notes for 2-3
days. It'd take them hostage and send to your email.

> \- Ulysses Lets You Work Anywhere, Anytime > vs. "[...] find a quiet space."

I mean the mental space.

Although similar phrases are used, their meaning is vastly different.

The idea for the app came from:

\- the need to improve my writing fluency and fight anxiety \- I was inspired
by the writing process of a certain author/blogger: dim the screen so I can
barely see any text and focus on writing (I lost her/his name—if you now them,
please let me know) \- Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and the concept of flow,
burnout

I blame myself for not being creative enough wrt wording, but not for being
repetitive in terms of product. I takes 5s spent with each app to realise how
different they are. I didn't convey the problem I intend to solve well, so
this needs to be redone.

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ChristianGeek
Is this related to the iOS writing app by the same name?

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rpastuszak
Ha, not at all, I didn't know there was one!

Ulysses makes it easy to insert text, but hard/annoying to make edits, so what
you end up with is often a stream of consciousness—hence the name. Cheesy, I
know.

The entire app is a really stupid text area. In fact, I was amused to discover
how difficult removing certain features was.

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temporaryname
It's the same name as [https://ulysses.app](https://ulysses.app), which is a
very, very good app for writing long-form research articles, thesis etc. I
wrote my masters with it. May wish to reconsider the name if you are looking
for people to be able to find it.

Nice work, what you have though!

~~~
rpastuszak
Ouch, thanks for letting me know. I wrote it mainly for myself, didn't expect
more than 10 active users. I'll need to check how many people are actually
using it first.

The next closest meaningful name would be "Csíkszentmihályi", less catchy
though!

