Writing Ecosystem

As I said in the main Toolbox section - You have to write good. 

Writing is the first format of manifesting your best ideas. And the process of writing is the process of creating great ideas and prepare them to a presentable format. 

This is a 3 phase process.

1. You want to get into an inspired state where your best ideas can reveal themselves. This is the Idealization Phase. There are tools to help you in this.
2. Then you have to write your outline or first draft. This is the Writing Phase.
3. Then you have to edit it (perfect it really) - into a presentable format. This is the Editing Phase.

Presenting depends on the medium. Audio & video you record, cut & render, written you simply design & publish.

Idealization

Depending on how your mind clicks, you can choose between two types of a thinker tool.

A.) list based, or
B.) a visual, free-floating whiteboard.

There are several options on both, I recommend Logseq and Miro.

Logseq

Logseq is an infinite list with the functionality to connect bullets as a reference. You can zoom into each to focus, and then mark them with #tags or [[reference links]] to connect them.

It is organized as a daily journal. Each day you get a new sheet. So on Monday, you work on a new draft, you simply name it, tag it and then with pressing tab you can jump inwards. Every nested level can be closed.

Cleanness opens you mind. Lets you focus on your thoughts. 

You can write short bullets then expand, or sentences you then edit. You can reorganize freely, and that is important.

I also use Loq as a low-profile task/progress management tool as well as to take notes learning.

Why this, and not something else?

I am recommending Logseq because

• Immediate use. It doesn't take "any figuring out how-to time" to be able to start using it effectively. Daily journal >> adding bullets + tag them
• Everything is saved locally in a markdown file. It’s yours.
• it’s free, unlike some similar alternatives
• it has a desktop version, keeping you away from browser distractions
• it’s a clean white sheath, yet it is surprising easy to find past notes by using #tags and [[reference links]]

What else did I test?

• I used Workflowy for years, but after a while it was hard to find past notes
• tested Dynalist, which is the same as Workflowy with minimal benefits
• Taskade, that I found slow to work with and easy to over-organize
• Obsidian that is not list based
• Roam research that is almost identical to Logseq but paid and expensive
• Tana that is like a merge of Notion, Airtable and Logseq ... and the fast learning curve and owned data is gone

Miro

Miro (Realtimeboards) is a huge digital whiteboard to visualize your ideas.
The reason I love it is because of the little sticky cards, that I use for free-form brainstorming.

It's great for igniting your mind and idealize anything from business concepts to content ideas to sales copy angles. 

You can also use it for visually explain your ideas, using diagrams, charts, icons. You can even wireframe pages, saving swipes and then puzzle them together as a website concept.

These thinker tools can help to get the best out of your brilliance.

You will want to start your first draft right after thinking up the concept.

Draft

A professional writing process has three distinctive phases after the initial idealization: Draft » Edit » Make it look pretty.

You need to create the First-Draft in an inspired state of mind. Without editing. 

Then you refine and perfect this raw-draft, clearing the clutter, making sure it is on point and easy to read.

Then you add visual elements, highlights, and prettyness fitting the medium you use. 

Most Dangerous writing app

Until you become more proficient in writing, I recommend using a forced writer tool for the initial draft. MD is exactly that.

You set the time frame (3-5 min), and then start writing. The blurred mode is even better, the key is to keep yourself from editing.

The goal of this is not to create a world-class final work, but to use writing to get into the flow of writing.

Drafting is a creative phase, that needs you in a certain state of mind. Editing is a technical phase, where you go back and forth in your exsisting text. Don’t mix the two or you will risk sinking into a creative-block.

If you make an error, just go on retyping the word. If the sentence goes nowhere, press enter and start over.

After the end of the session in MD

1. you will have at least a few usable paragraphs
2. you will be in the zone - writing will be easy, your mind will focus on the subject and will be giving you great ideas
3. Now you can copy-paste into your designated writing tool, which is

iA Writer

I came across iA long ago in its early days, and I honestly didn't understand the hype. Plain text saved to txt. 

But then years later as Scrivener started to bother me on the formatting, as I came back to it. 

iA Writer is fantastic. It just inspires the best out of you. It is clean with fast #tag based organization so you don't have to pull things into folders. 

You just write. I also use the some of the colored syntax and style check.

iA has a single fee per device, but it well worth the price. 

Calmly writer

For a free alternative, Calmly centers around a super clean writing interface. It opens in your browser, ready for you to start writing without the need to twiddle with anything.

If you don't like the pressure to write on that MD puts on you, you can use Calmly for this phase instead. (just resist the temptation to edit)

What else I tested

Well, pretty much everything out there. I don’t recommend word editors. Too much unnecessary distractions. If you need lighweight publishing design, use Canva.

Of the pro writers I worked on in the past:

Scrivener, Ulysses, AI writer, Write!, Archive, Gingko, Essay app +  bunch of others I already forget the name of.

*I used Scrivener for the longest, and it is a good, highly customizable tool. The problem is, it is WYSIWYG, and pasting any text will appear in odd sizes and fonts. I prefer markdown for drafting. For editing, it lacks per line reorganization, that Notion has.

But before that I want to mention another drafting aid:

ChatGPT 4.0

The world changed dramatically since the release of the latest 4th editon of ChatGPT and I cannot not include it in the list.

GPT is a workflow efficiency tool, giving you refinement and alternative variations to work with. But I'd be cautious of relying it too much, like so many people do. 

It is tempting to have it craft your outline then your draft so polished you can publish it right away. Even better, automate the whole thing so you you can sip Margaritas while it builds your empire. 

The problem is depth. Both yours and of the text. The more you use it the more YOU will become less unique, less deep. Writing is thinking. 

Don't give that away.

GPT allows you to accelerate the process after the ideation. You paste your prompt and the outline to get a few first draft variations that you can compare to yours.

It can come very handy if you have burning deadlines for client copies.

But it shallow, rephrasing cliches already said a 1000 times. GPT won't - cannot create cutting-edge genius content that your mind can.

To be fair, 4.0 can write pretty good sales copy if you give clear direction on the formula (AIDA, PAS, Before-After etc.) and the style you want to mimic.

I mainly use it to

• improve the native English vibe of my copy (if English is your second language, this is handy)
• help me get going in noisy environments, or when I'm tired, sick or unfocused
• craft short form sales piece variations (ads, CTAs, benefit lists)
• save time on writing non-critical business emails and replies
• give me inspiration - usable sentences, clips, phrases - this often speeds up the work.
• and I'm now using it more and more as a research tool

These alone worth the cost ($20/mo) especially if you are a freelancer.

Before GPT became so capable and accessible, I used Jasper for a while. I don't recommend paying for it though, nor to any other AI copywriter alternative. GPT4 is more capable and flexible, consting less. Most of these are using the GPT engine anyway. 

Fair warning - what you don't do will get weaker. If you 'delegate' too much to an AI tool, not only your work will become less, but you yourself.

Edit

Notion

I switched my editing phase to Notion for a while ago for two important reasons.

When you edit you want to be able to rewrite sentence variations and freely restructure. Sometime it is just reorganizing your sentence, or merely finding a better expression. Sometime you realize it fits better a paragraph up. You want to be able to do all this without copy-paste or undo.

You don't want to rewrite the actual sentence because sometime you realize the original fits the whole better. You want to try out variations.

Essay.app brought this concept to life, yet the workflow there is quite restrictive and I didn't like the UI.

In Notion every line is a free floating element that you can move around duplicate pressing cmd + d. 

Then you delete the less good.

It supports toggles, heads, page inserts (for research) as well as a lightweight Airtable like database insert. The benefit in that is that you can organize your copies in that database, mark the progress, create a project manager tool of it

with each line being a document itself.

Neat.

The interface is reasonably clean, you can collapse the side. Great for writing, or for general business and content management as you like it.

I also use it to share client work in a stylish manner.

Signing up to Notion is a no-brainer. You'll likely use the free or the smallest tier + the AI magic ($20/mo combined)

Design

Depending on your medium, you may just need to set headers and fonts or do a more serious publishing and layout design.

I use primarily Canva for the latter, or design directly on site in Thrive Architect for landings, or in the specific email tool. 

For videos I usually just create bullets and headings right in the editor. 

I write more about this here.