Sunday, January 10, 2010

Sensory Writing


I've just tried out an application for writers which is different from any other software I've used before. Delightful is the word I would use to describe Ommwriter. You get a snow white screen or snow scene with a barely defined field for writing and a column of small black control buttons to the right, both useful and easy to tune out. There are no toolbars or words on the page to distract you. The background sounds, if you choose to have one, are magical - tiny bell-like wind chimes, waves lapping on the shore, gongs echoing, birds singing, crickets chirping, a brook running, mostly sounds from nature. The keyboard produces little noises as you type, like a ping pong, water dripping, faint clicking noises, enough to make you aware of progress. If you select the italic script, it flows like ink onto the page. The novelty at first is a little distracting, but I could very easily get lost in this world and tune out the rest. I'd highly recommend using headphones for stereo effect. You'll need Mac OS 10.5.0 or higher. Oh, and it's free. No PC version is available yet. http://www.ommwriter.com/en/

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