Writing ideas? Still flowing. Published articles? Not many. In fact, I’ve been writing so little that writing feels like a paranormal activity, or coming very close to inactivity. My logic? Too much friction to writing. So I went on a quest to reduce this friction. Here are the results.

1. Get an iPad

Ok. This is really an indulgence. I didn’t get an iPad to write. But it has turned out to be a fantastic writing machine. It’s light enough to be able to bring it anywhere. It’s heavy enough to be a full fledge writing machine. The instant on, the full keyboard, the silent tapping on the virtual keyboard – all makes iPad an ideal partner in writing… It is also an ideal partner for facebook, twitter, tumblr, internet surfing… which brings me to my next tip.

2. Get rid of cable TV

I’m pretty sure a lot of people have tried avoiding black holes like facebook and TV. Somehow, when we are near these black holes, time seemed irrelevant. And when we are far from them, time never seemed enough. See, time hasn’t changed for billions of years. Our activities change our perception of time. So to give myself more time, I changed one of my activities. I got rid of cable TV. I do hope I will be able to get rid of TV permanently, but I think that getting rid of cable TV is a major step forward.

3. Get the right tools for the job

There are numerous writing applications out there. From the beast-type application which even throws in the kitchen sink even if you didn’t ask for it (eg Microsoft Word) to the simple text only software which has very little of what you need, or maybe it has what you need most and doesn’t have what you need least (TextEdit or Notepad for my Windows brethren).

After searching and deciding on what’s out there vs what I need, I finally settled on Simplenote. Simplenote is a text only application. It syncs across my Mac, my iPhone, and my iPad. And it is stable. It has very little bells and whistles. What it does? It lets me focus on words while it makes my words available anywhere, anytime.

I do use some other peripheral applications like Writer, MarkdownNote and Notational Velocity. Yes, I want to focus on writing, so why use all these other fringe apps? Why not have one app to rule them all?

4. Get the power of “one thing well”

This is a mindset. For a very long time, I love the idea of something that has multiple functions. I love the Swiss Army Knife. I love Transformers. I just don’t get why would someone pay for something that can only do one thing.

I get it now. I get it why having something that can only do one thing helps to get that thing done. It’s about distractions, or the lack of distractions. A knife can only cut. If my purpose is to cut an apple, I would use a knife. A Swiss army knife would get the job done plus a lot of other jobs. I might end up doing other jobs before getting to eat my apple.

My choice of application is also with that mindset. A pen and paper would actually help. But I prefer typing, because that is faster for me. I write slow. I type fast.

5. Get writing

And finally, and the more obvious one – get writing. Just start. If your purpose is to write, that is what you should do, regardless of the tools. My workflow now has been reduced to this:

1. Turn on iPad
2. Open Writer
3. Write

What is yours? Has it got more than 3 steps? If so, you still have too much friction. Get it down to 3.

1. Get paper
2. Get pen
3. Write