This Simple, Free App Will Triple Your Available Writing Time

It was there all along, but you haven’t been using it

Have you ever driven past the same scenery daily — maybe for a decade — then one day something new catches your eye? There’s this one tiny detail you never noticed before. One small ‘visual fact’ you discover that was always there, but never grabbed your attention.

This is the way I felt when I started using my phone to write.

I wrote my first (and only published thus far) novel entirely on my phone.

I didn’t write this way to be macho, or prove a point. I wrote on my phone because that was the tool I had in the time available. And hot-damn did I find a lot more time to write.

I don’t write on my phone all the time — not when I have access to a real keyboard. But when I’m busy, traveling, or stuck doing something I don’t wanna, the phone is a writer’s best friend.

When you only write with a keyboard you must carve specific writing time from your day. Maybe that time is six hours. Maybe it’s six minutes.

Conversely, when you train yourself to steal your writing time back from those who take it, you can triple your daily output without scheduling one extra second to write.

Places to steal your time back:

• When stuck in traffic
• On the train or plane
• In line at the supermarket
• Waiting for an appointment
• During a time-sucking, useless, mandatory meeting at work
• Waiting for jury duty
• While waiting for your food to be served at a restaurant
• In a park, while pausing from your walk
• While in the ‘little room’ doing your ‘paperwork’
• During the Super Bowl

There are hundreds of these stolen moments throughout the day. And you can take them back as an opportunity for writing time.

Will writing on your phone be cumbersome and uncomfortable?

Yep, at first.

And focus-switching between your environment and your writing creates a heavy cognitive load that you won’t get if you were writing in peace, at a desk.

But not all of us have the luxury of six uninterrupted writing hours per day. The phone changes everything for busy writers.

And the free app?

Use Google Docs.

I used to use Scrivenir all the time. Scrivenir is a fantastic app, but it doesn’t save as effortlessly as Docs. Google Docs live-saves everything to the cloud, across all your devices. You can write on your phone, and pick-up at your desktop ten minutes later.

Docs is free.

Docs is robust.

You can download a Google Doc into a pdf or a Word doc if you wish.

The file format in Google Drive (with its variety of color-coded folders) keeps all your writing tidy.

I build all my courses in Docs.

write a lot in Docs. If you want to ‘go mobile’ you need a cross-platform app. Writing on your notes app won’t cut it if you want to be a serious mobile writer.

Give phone-writing a try. And when you’re ready to share your work with the world, don’t forget to start building your email list before you need one.

When you’re ready to start your email list I’ve got something for you…

I built a free email masterclass for you (my link, away from Medium). I hand-crafted the whole thing, by hand… with my hands. It took me a couple months to build the first version (many revisions since). I call this masterclass the Tribe 1K.

Now is a great time to start (or grow) your email list.

I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 (or your next 1,000) readers without spending a hot nickel on ads. Past Tribe 1K students include New York Times bestselling authors (yep, the ones you see in the bookstore), high-caliber professors, attorneys, international CEOs, doctors, parents, scientists, artists, weirdos… and regular folks too — like you and me.

Your email list will help you build freedom through your creative work.

If you want to grow your creative business you need email before you lose that valuable reader’s attention. A social media account isn’t enough. Start your list before you need one. Once you need a list it’s almost too late.

Guarantee your seat before I start to charge an enrollment fee.

We’re waiting for you.

My Tribe 1K Email Masterclass is a $97 value (with all the templates and checklists included). Enroll today.

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed email marketing expert for writers and creators, August helps indie writers and creators gain freedom through their best work. The core of August’s process is your email list (offsite link). When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August hangs-out with his beautiful wife and handsome son, carries a pocket knife, and shaves his head with a safety razor.