[HN Gopher] Show HN: Nowrite.fun - If you stop typing, your text...
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       Show HN: Nowrite.fun - If you stop typing, your text disappears
        
       Hey HN,  I built a small experimental writing tool called
       nowrite.fun.  The concept is brutally simple: You set a timer (e.g.
       5 minutes), start writing -- and if you stop typing, your text
       vanishes. No drafts, no recovery, no forgiveness.  Inspired by apps
       like Write or Die, but rebuilt from scratch with a lightweight
       stack: Deno + TypeScript, XState, anime.js, and canvas-confetti.
       Hosted on Deno Deploy.  It's a tool for short, focused writing
       sprints -- a tweet, a blog paragraph, a newsletter blurb. Keep
       typing - you win. Hesitate - it's gone.  It's minimal, a bit
       stressful, and surprisingly motivating.  I also posted it on
       Product Hunt to see if this kind of weird, borderline masochistic
       UX resonates with anyone: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/no-
       write If you find it fun or useful, I'd really appreciate an
       upvote!  Would love your thoughts, feature ideas, or performance
       roasts.  Try it here: https://nowrite.fun
        
       Author : vseplet
       Score  : 14 points
       Date   : 2025-04-23 19:36 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (nowrite.fun)
 (TXT) w3m dump (nowrite.fun)
        
       | codazoda wrote:
       | I've seen similar tools before. This seems like it fades out a
       | bit too quickly.
        
         | vseplet wrote:
         | I think I can increase time
        
         | smartmic wrote:
         | Like this one? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41819800
        
       | layman51 wrote:
       | I haven't tried it yet but it is an interesting idea for an app.
       | My initial thoughts are: if I have something that seems to be
       | important or significant that I wrote down near the start of my
       | note, I would probably type gibberish or nonsense if I wanted to
       | prevent it from being erased. Is there some way to ameliorate
       | this situation where I would end up padding the note with fluff?
       | My guess is to just make the timer shorter. Or maybe have some
       | "checkpoint" for a longer timer.
       | 
       | Also, when it comes to handwriting, is there a way to support
       | this input? I'll say that a lot of left-handed writers have the
       | opposite issue when writing with ink on paper. If they write too
       | fast, most of them will end up smudging what they just wrote.
       | This is not an issue on electronic writing devices of course.
        
         | freedomben wrote:
         | Same, and I could also see myself compulsively using Ctrl+A
         | Ctrl+C to get it on my clipboard just in case. I already do
         | this in webforms (like on HN) because of so many years of
         | losing my text.
         | 
         | I like this idea but I think it would be great if the text went
         | into a recycle bin instead of fully gone. At least for me that
         | would still accomplish the desired result, but I wouldn't live
         | in fear of losing some important point because I took too long
         | proofreading or something.
        
           | vseplet wrote:
           | Thanks for the feedback, I'll think about how to implement
           | this beautifully in the near future!
        
         | vseplet wrote:
         | Maybe I didn't understand you, but on the sides of the timer
         | there are buttons + and -, you can choose a time convenient for
         | you
        
       | skeptrune wrote:
       | Beyond writer's block, this helped me lock in. I often take long
       | thinking pauses and get lost in mental rabbit holes, which wastes
       | time and reduces my productivity.
       | 
       | I would appreciate a version with slightly lower risk. As it
       | stands, I don't think I could use this current version for
       | anything beyond your intended use case of short, paragraph-long
       | blurbs.
        
         | vseplet wrote:
         | Thank you very much for the feedback! I think that all people
         | are different and the time of going into darkness should be
         | adjustable
        
       | vseplet wrote:
       | I've increased the time before failure -- now writing will be a
       | bit easier, and losing a bit harder.
       | 
       | Huge thanks for all your feedback!
        
       | purplecats wrote:
       | kind of off putting to have to wait and go through all the
       | dialogue screens when you just want to start typing
        
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       (page generated 2025-04-23 23:01 UTC)