I am a writer; or at least I pretend to be one. But for all my efforts at writing, the most that I do is reading. Some say, that you need to be an avid reader to come even remotely close to being a writer. That said, writing is not a 9 to 5 business routine that needs to be respected and bowed to at every turn. Far from it. Writing is a feeling that overwhelms you and begs you to take to your smartphone, laptop, PC, tablets, or even to few blank sheets and pencil at odd hours.
Being a person with interest in history and computers, I thought of shoehorning those sources of stimuli into earning my livelihood. Thus far, that task has been onerous at best; and a source of frustration and of many arguments with friends and family at worst. Notwithstanding my struggles, a fate that many aspiring writers probably share as well, writing is a channel that acts as an opiod analgesic.
Writing, if you like, can be both a release and a profession. It demands interest and a soul to begin with. It also requires a distraction-free environment for the most part.
Think of a normal daily routine. You could be in a public transport riding choc-a-bloc with fellow travellers steaming inside a packed compartment with little room for your own elbow. Or you could be in your own personal transport immersed in your thoughts trying to negotiate rush hour traffic. Whatever be the environment you may find yourself in, it does not take much for any interesting thought to kick in.
At this point, the urge is to jot down one's thoughts as quickly and as effortlessly as possible. And the tools to do so? Certainly not a piece of pen and paper, for you would be hard-pressed to hold those implements rock steady while on the move. Your best bet would then be the smartphone residing in your pocket. Or an iPad if you are seated, with the steering of the vehicle you are in controlled by someone not hit with the same impulse as yours at that precise moment.
At this point, the urge is to jot down one's thoughts as quickly and as effortlessly as possible. And the tools to do so? Certainly not a piece of pen and paper, for you would be hard-pressed to hold those implements rock steady while on the move. Your best bet would then be the smartphone residing in your pocket. Or an iPad if you are seated, with the steering of the vehicle you are in controlled by someone not hit with the same impulse as yours at that precise moment.
It is at this juncture when you begin to tap in the words you begin to realize the value of screen space. Word processors do not offer distraction-free writing space. On the contrary, menu icons and title bars hog a noticeable portion of the space. Formatting woes fill in your senses while you write. All very acutely distracting.
What you need is simple plain interface with minimalistic approach in terms of visibility, but at the same time loaded on features. Enter the Markdown syntax and iA Writer for Android and iOS.
The iA Writer is offered for Android, iPad, iPhone, Mac and Windows platforms as on date. Thoughtfully crafted, the simplicity of the software makes it attractive for writers who are light-fingered and need thoughts to be inscribed in black and white as quickly as humanly possible.
And yet with its Markdown syntax support, it is as feature-rich as most writers would like without the often unused options that are offered by word processing apps.
Priced at ₹ 699.00, the iPad version is competitively priced compared to competing cloud models offered by similar apps. The Android version is free.
While the iA Writer (Android) allows opening and saving of files on Dropbox and on Google Gloud, the iPad version considerably extends the range to include iCloud and OneDrive.
What all this means is that you and I no longer have to fret over maintaining more than one cloud account if we can help it. Many rely on either Dropbox or OneDrive for storing their documents online. And indeed this does make sense in an age where devices are swapped and can be exchanged or sold within a couple of years or less.
With the feature that the iA Writer for iPad now offers, connecting to OneDrive can be a lot easier than ever before.
For writers who are on the move, or who need less of distraction at every possible turn, the combination of iA Writer’s text support with cloud storage accessibility and support for prominent brands does look promising.
In case you would like to leave comments or feedback, please feel free to do so by sending an email. I am almost always constantly available and do respond as quickly as possible.
Let me know your questions, if any, that you would like me to help you out with.
What all this means is that you and I no longer have to fret over maintaining more than one cloud account if we can help it. Many rely on either Dropbox or OneDrive for storing their documents online. And indeed this does make sense in an age where devices are swapped and can be exchanged or sold within a couple of years or less.
With the feature that the iA Writer for iPad now offers, connecting to OneDrive can be a lot easier than ever before.
For writers who are on the move, or who need less of distraction at every possible turn, the combination of iA Writer’s text support with cloud storage accessibility and support for prominent brands does look promising.
In case you would like to leave comments or feedback, please feel free to do so by sending an email. I am almost always constantly available and do respond as quickly as possible.
Let me know your questions, if any, that you would like me to help you out with.
