8 tips for writing sprints

Sprinting: Writing in short bursts of high-focused time.

Sprinting is one of the BEST ways to dramatically increase your writing speed and production. It’s a skill that I’ve been trying to improve and I recently did a live session with bestselling author Kaydence Snow where Kaydence shared her 8 tips for sprinting. I encourage you to watch the video class (below), it’s full of helpful information that goes far below this short and quick set of tips.

8 tips for sprinting for novelists

1. Set your intentions for this sprint session. What will you accomplish?

2. Remove all distractions. Turn off internet and phone and FOCUS.

3. Give yourself permission to suck

4. Ground yourself. Take a moment to be quiet and emotionally sink into your writing space.

5. Sit down and write.

6. Set goals that work for you and are attainable.

7. Get a sprint buddy or join in on group sprints.

8. Reward yourself when you stick to the sprint.

In the video chat, we discuss OhWrite - a free sprinting website where you can connect with other novelists and sprint together! It’s a fantastic tool for accountability and encouragement. I have a room there where you can sprint with other Alessandra Torre Inkers - click here to sign up for OhWrite and here to join our private sprint room.

I hope you enjoy the video (it includes a tour of OhWrite at the end!):

Keep reading for a full transcript of our conversation. If you’d like to see more of these live chats, join 15,000 other authors in our Inkers Facebook group >> https://www.facebook.com/groups/torreink/

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Alessandra: All right. We are live. Hey guys. Hey, Inkers I'm Alessandra Torre. I'm here with Kaydence Snow, and we are going to be talking all about sprinting for the next 20 to 30 minutes. So this is our first official Inkers live. I'm really excited by this. We're going to start doing live chats in the group once a month, maybe more often with an expert and today this is our experts. So, I'll pass the mic and let you introduce yourself Kaydence. And tell them a little bit about, about your books in your sprinting history.

Kaydence: So, I am a romance author. I write paranormal fantasy and contemporary. I'm, you know, a little bit all over the place. I just follow where the ideas go. And I've had several best-sellers on Amazon and I have kind of from the start of my writing journey, have always been looking for kind of new tools and things to make the process and the business of being an author kind of as easy as it possibly it can be and sprinting is definitely one of those things that I learned and got addicted to very quickly. So, I'm excited to tell you a bit more about it.

Alessandra: So can you just tell us quickly what your pub rate is? How many books do you write a year and is this your full-time job, or do you write on the side?

Kaydence: So, this is my full-time job. I feel very blessed that I was able to make enough to justify quitting my day job quite early on. My first book kind of did way, way better than I ever anticipated it to. And, you know, for a while I was convinced that Amazon was showing me, you know, someone else's figures by accident. But yes, I do this full time. I aim for four to five books a year. This past year that has not happened because 2020 was just horrible, and I had some personal things going on as well. And I just was forced to slow down and focus on my health and my mental health and that's okay. But I do kind of aim for four to five and who knows maybe one day it'll be even more

Alessandra: Perfect. Okay. Just so you all watching, I would love to be a sprinter. It's my goal in life is to sprint and I'm getting better at it. But one of the things that I think is really going to help me is a tool we're going to talk about at the end of this and one Kaydence has been involved in. But you have eight tips to help you sprint and understand sprinting. So first, can you just give us a definition? Someone has no idea what sprinting is, what is sprinting?

Kaydence: So sprinting is, I mean, the word itself kind of gives you a bit of an idea. It's basically setting a timer and you just write. You just go and you write for a set amount of time, no distractions, no checking Facebook, you just get words down. And it kind of, this whole idea of you can't edit a blank page is really kind of relevant to the whole thing around sprinting because it's really just get the words down and then you can finesse them. So it's about just getting that word count up, you know, maybe working through a plot point that you're stuck on. It's just right. Just getting words down,

Alessandra: Vomits it all out there on the page.

Kaydence: Yes.

Alessandra: I love it. And we are going to be taking questions. So feel free to chime in, guys that are watching. Okay, so let's dive into your tips.

Kaydence: Perfect. So the first step tip is set your intentions. So, I know the kind of brief description I just gave sounded a little bit hectic and a little bit, you know quickly beat the clock. But before you go into the sprint, it's important to have a little bit of a think about what you want to get out of it. So, are you trying to just hit a big word count goal for the day? Are you trying to, you know, like I said, work through a plot point that is feeling a bit sticky? Are you having a little bit of lack of motivation and you just need to get your brain into that kind of mind frame of writing again? Have a think about what it is that you're wanting to achieve before you even start because otherwise, you will open the app or the, the page or whatever, and you'll just sit there staring at it. And the timer will start and you'll go, "Oh, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing." So kind of have to think about what your goals are just for that sprint, just for that short period of time what do you want to achieve. Have a think about it before you go in.

Alessandra: And how long are your sprints normally?

Kaydence: My sprints... so it depends what I'm trying to achieve, so what are my intentions. If I haven't written in a while, so maybe I've had a release and I've been focusing on marketing and doing a bunch of edits, all these being life things going on. And it's been, you know, like a week or two or however long that I haven't actually written anything. I'll do shorter sprints just to get my mind back in that groove of writing, of thinking in that way of doing words, you know, constantly, because I'm sure you all know that like, the more you write, the more you write, because it just becomes more natural. So if it's something like that, then I try to aim for like 15 minutes sprints because it feels less overwhelming, kind of sitting down and going, "Right, I haven't written in a month, but let's do 2000 words." It's like, oh God, I can't it's too much. But 15 minutes is 15 minutes, like everyone's got 15 minutes at some point in the day, it just feels more manageable. Usually, when I'm in the groove and I'm working on a project and trying to get words down, I do 20 to 25 minutes sprints. I find that that's kind of the sweet spot before I start to fade a bit and I need a break, but everyone is different. That's the key thing here. Different lengths and approaches are going to work for different people.

Alessandra: And a really great book if you guys haven't read it, it's 2K to 10K. One thing that she said, which was really helpful to me is like you just said, every author is different. And for some of us, it takes 15 or 20 minutes just for us to really immerse into the story and start writing. So, you might not be a 15 minute sprinter because right when you're starting to get into it, if the timer goes off and you get up and you stretch and you go do something else and then you're starting again, so yeah, so try different links.

Kaydence: Yep, definitely.

Kaydence: Number two is removed distractions. I know this might seem like a no-brainer. And again, different people work in different ways. Like I need to silence to write, I need music to plot because it inspires me, but I need dead silence to write. Some people like to have music while they're writing. So, whatever a no distractions environment means for you; create that environment. You know, close your email app, close your messages app, put your phone in another room if you have to. It's just for 15 minutes or 20 minutes or 25 minutes; whatever it is, it can wait. Shut the door and put a sign on it saying, "Writing time, go up," you know, like whatever it is that you need to do, just create an environment where you will be able to focus 100% on the screen and what you've put your intentions to.

Alessandra: Perfect. Yeah. I actually unplugged my router because I don't have any self-control and turning off my wifi doesn't work because I'll just turn it back on. So yeah, I put my phone on airplane mode and I unplugged my router.

Kaydence: Social media is the worst, yeah. And there's even programs out there that you can get that kind of lock you out of certain programs or certain websites for a specific amount of time so that there are other tools that you can use if you're weak like me.

Alessandra: All right, perfect. What's number three?

Kaydence: Number three is give yourself permission to suck. I know that again, as writers, most of us have probably heard this advice. You know, first drafts suck, like they're kind of crap. The magic happens in the editing and as you refine, and so sprinting is not about creating an amazing story and making sure that your pros is beautiful and your pacing is fantastic. Sprinting is about getting the words down on the page, get the story down, get something that you can work with and something that you can edit and make into something magical. Like, everyone's first drafts are kind of terrible. You know, half the time I'm convinced that, like my last drafts are terrible too, but that's neither here or there. But it's basically, just turn off your inner editor when you go into the sprint, just don't go back and fix errors. Don't question word choice. Don't, you know, if you forget a side character’s name, just put a placeholder and keep going. The idea is momentum.

Alessandra: I love that. All right, so you don't fix typos or anything, you just go?

Kaydence: My first draft is such a mess. I don't go back and fix typos. If I write a sentence and I realize it's an error, I don't even delete it. I just write the sentence that's going to replace it that's going to make sense. I literally do not use the backspace button. I just go. And it can be something that's difficult to get used to at the start, especially if you're someone that writes a bit slower and likes to kind of think about it a little bit more. But once you get used to it and you push through that initial kind of instinct to edit as you go, it's incredibly freeing because ultimately, what I've found is that going back and editing all those little things, takes way less time than doing it while I'm writing.

Alessandra: That makes sense. And for me, I actually close my eyes when I write because if I see that typo or, I mean, certain things I just got it. But I also, I mean, most of us are pretty adept to typing, you know, because we type so much, but I'll close my eyes and all this type of way and it freaks my family out. They're like what is she doing.

Kaydence: I never learn to touch type so I can't do that, but the positive is that I have to look down at the keyboard.

Alessandra: That's awesome. That is a positive. All right, perfect. So that is step number three, a lot of people really liked that step, so, perfect. All right, number four.

Kaydence: Okay, number four is ground yourself. So this is probably the quickest thing to do during the process. And it's literally, once you've set your intention and decided what you want to work on, you've removed all distractions. You've given yourself permission to suck. You're just going to say what vomits out onto the page. Just take a minute to just take a deep breath, close your eyes and just feel yourself kind of sink into what it is that you're about to give your energy to. I know it sounds a little bit hippy, but it's a psychological thing too. It's it's really just, you know, just letting yourself really sit in the thing that you're about to focus on. Maybe... often what I do in this moment is I think about the scene that I'm about to work on. I kind of visualize it in my head or I think about the first sentence that I want to write. And then, once I've got a sentence to write, it's easier to let my fingers keep going once that first sentence is down.

Alessandra: I like that. I've never heard that before. So yeah, so just take a minute, take a deep breath, close your eyes and ground yourself. I love it. Sherry says, "Will there be a transcript for this?" Great question, Sherry. Sure, yes, there will be. I will get you guys a transcript. I'm going to put all of this on a blog post on my website, so I'll add a transcript. Absolutely.

Kaydence: So, tip five is write. And again, this is without repeating all the steps we've already done, this is the part where however long you've decided to set your sprint at, you write. And when we're talking about no distractions; that means no distractions. If you do happen to hear your phone go off, don't let it register. You keep your focus on the screen; you don't ask your husband if he's calling out what's for dinner, you ignore that. You ignore everything, unless something is burning down or bleeding, you focus on the screen and write. You write words, that's it. And again, it doesn't need to be overwhelming. It doesn't need to be, oh, well I have to ignore everything and everyone for an entire day, week, whatever. No, do you have 10 minutes to spare in a day? Do you have 15 minutes? You know, some people like to do a 15 minutes sprint at the top of every hour. And then the other 45 minutes is spent talking to your husband, go putting out the fire or whatever. So again, it's what works for you. Everyone is different in terms of length and the way they approach it and your environment, but like the key thing is write. Like, this is really what all the steps come down to step five is you have to write, you have to actually sit down and do the thing.

Alessandra: I love that, yeah. Otherwise, all of the breathing and the distraction removal is useless.

Kaydence: Yeah, exactly.

Alessandra: Perfect. All right, so write is number five.

Kaydence: Five.

Alessandra: All right, perfect. Tip six.

Kaydence: Tip six is set goals that work for you. And this again comes back to the fact that everybody's different. Everybody has a different writing style. Everybody has a different approach. Everybody deals with their creativity in a different way. And so, not everyone is going to go into word sprints, wanting to write 6,000 words a day, or wanting to finish a book in two weeks. If those are your goals, fantastic, this is great for you. But if those are not your goals, this is still great for you because I mean, sometimes I will aim for, you know, like today I want to write 3000 words and that will be my goal with sprints. Some days, like I said, if I haven't written in a while, my goal will be just to, you know, do one sprint a day or two sprints a day for 15 minutes just to get my brain back in the habit of writing daily. You know, sometimes the word count thing for me feels like it's too much pressure, so my goal will be to get to the end of a chapter. So figure out what goals motivate you to get those words down and how you want to approach kind of getting to the next step. Obviously, everyone's goal is to finish the book, finished the article, finished the whatever it is that you're working on, but for that day, what is your goal? Like, break it down. For that sprint, what is your goal? And like you said earlier, Alessandra, some people take 15 minutes just to get into the groove of it and that's okay. Maybe your goal for that first sprint, for that first 15 minute sprint is just to start. That's totally fine. So, don't try to fit yourself into a box of what other people are doing, figure out what works for you and roll with it.

Alessandra: And this is really important because for a lot of you listening, at least I feel this way is I feel a lot of pressure and competition with other authors because I hear like, "Oh, I knocked out, you know, I'm doing 15 minute sprints, and I wrote 700 words." And I'm looking at my, like 125 words and I feel really bummed about it, you know, but I got to be proud and happy of my 125 words. Don't get caught up in... like, I love this tip, you know, set goals that work for you because we all write at different paces and maybe my 125 words is brilliant, so that's how I have to think about it. Just be happy and be forgiving of yourself in your own process.

Kaydence: Yeah, exactly.

Alessandra: Mel had a question; he said "Are there any additional tips or outlines... tips for pantsers or plantser who have thin outlines?" So first of all, do you outline, are you a pantser?

Kaydence: So, I do a bit of both. I have written, like my very first book was completely pantsed. I literally just wrote scenes as they came into my head and then hated my life when it came to the first round of edits and I had to fit it all into a coherent story. And then I have written books where I kind of plot it out chapter by chapter, very roughly what happens in each chapter. I am not the kind of plotter that can figure out what happens scene by scene in each chapter and who says what and then go in and... I can't do that. I kind of need to let myself fall into the story, but I guess I am a bit of a plantser in that sense, but it depends on the project. Some projects I need to just go into it and see where it goes to figure out what it is, and some, I kind of get more of an idea of an outline, so it varies. But if you are someone who plants and plots a little bit more, this is definitely something you can still use. 

Because again, it comes down to making it work for you and what your process is and what your approaches. Even if you're someone who plots a lot and write big outlines; there's ways to do this. So you can say, you know, my goal for today is to write to this chapter that you've outlined and you know what's going to happen. And so, you put your notes on the side of the screen and you go into the program and same thing, working 25 minute blocks, referencing your document, but just keep writing. So again, make it work for you. You can a hundred percent do this. It's about more than anything, sprinting is about a specific amount of focused time on what it is that you're doing. So it may be a little bit more polished than if you were like a total pantser who just goes in and just... but it's still, you know, giving that focus for a specific amount of time to what it is you're working on.

Alessandra: Yeah. And I think my opinion, and this is coming from a pantser mentality is, and I think what Mel was asking it would be great if I sat down and knew exactly what I was about to write, but normally I don't. So normally, I am kind of winging it. And that oftentimes during the writing process is when I have to stop and I have to think and I feel almost like I can't do that when I'm sprinting. Like, I need to be writing something, you know, like this is my time and I'm supposed to be step four in it and writing or step five or whatever the writing step was. So when you ground yourself, do you kind of figure out at that point what you're about to write or sometimes you just see what comes out?

Kaydence: Yeah. So I can see how it would be intimidating for pantsers as well. Like again, just tailor it to what works for you. So if you're someone who goes in with absolutely no idea of what the scene is or what you're going to write, like, what's that process for you usually, how do you then start? And then, all you're really doing is taking the way that you start and putting it into this framework of sprinting where you just focus for 25 minutes straight, 20 minutes, or however long it is that you want to set it for, you focus fully on that thing. And of course, like, ideally, you want to just keep going for the whole, whatever the timeframe is. But if it's not working and jibberish is coming out, it's okay to stop. You don't have to, you know, there's no one standing behind you with a whip. If you get halfway through a sprint and you feel like the scene is not going anywhere; stop, reset, have a think about it, start again. But you know, just do whatever works for you. This is a tool it's not something to punish you and make you feel bad for doing things that other people don't do.

Alessandra: There are some tools out there where it starts deleting your words if you don't write it; have you seen this? It's like a sprint...

Kaydence: I have seen this and that is too intense for me.

Alessandra: I think its Write or Die or something. I don't know. That freaks, yeah, I don't even... someone told me about it like it was the greatest thing ever. And I was like, I'm not going near that thing because that's stressful.

Kaydence: I have enough anxiety in my life, I do.

Alessandra: Exactly. All right, perfect. I have no idea what number we're on.

Kaydence: I think we're up to number seven.

Alessandra: All right. Go for it.

Kaydence: Now, the last one is all about setting goals. The next one is about finding a way to reach those goals. So, it's get a writing buddy, so this is a little bit about accountability. And again, different things work for different people. Some people might have one other person that they're really close with and they write together, their writing schedules match up so they're on at the same time. And this is something that the tool we're going to show you in a minute is fantastic for, but it's that sense of accountability. And you check in with each other and you ask each other how you're going and you know, how do you feel about your progress today? And it's just feeling like you have a little bit of support and, you know, this can be really lonely, this job. And so, having someone, or even a group of someone, for some people, it works to be in a group of writers who'll get together and do it at the same time. Again, your levels of kind of social interaction are going to vary and that's okay, but having someone that you can be accountable to that you can check in with I find really helps to motivate as well as to keep you on track.

Alessandra: Yeah, if you've got a 7:00 AM appointment with someone to sprint together, it's a little different than when you're lying in bed all cozy.

Kaydence: Exactly.

Alessandra: Yeah, I'll just write in the afternoon, yeah, I think I'll... And Sherry said, "Where can I find a writing buddy who is at my level?" So the great news is they don't really need to be at your level, it can just be any author who is wanting to be productive in their novel and sprint, so that's the beauty. And again, I'm really excited just in a couple of minutes; we're going to talk about a tool, and Sherry that will be a great place for you to find other buddies.

Kaydence: Yeah.

Alessandra: All right. Last but not least.

Kaydence: Last but not least is reward yourself. So, this is really about acknowledging what you have achieved, going back to the goal setting and the accountability. And even if you've gotten to the end of the day, and you've only written 150 words; that's 150 words more than what you had at the start of the day. It's about acknowledging the things that you have achieved and how far you have gotten; maybe that means running a bath for yourself at the end of the day if you hit your goal or, you know, having a glass of wine or having your favorite takeout; whatever it is, just take a minute. Even if it's not anything tangible, just take a minute to just appreciate the fact that you are actively working towards something that is important to you because that's awesome. Like, anyone that writes is bad-ass as far as I'm concerned because it's so fricking hard and we put so much of ourselves into it. So the fact that you are even making an effort and trying... good on you, acknowledge it.

Alessandra: I like it. Even if it's something small, like, I'm going to let myself go back to sleep, or I like the chocolate, so perfect. Okay, so that was Kaydence's eight tips. And I want to move into talking a little bit about overwrites. So if you are a sprinter, I know for me, one of the struggles I have with sprinting is I want accountability. So what I normally do is I go on Facebook and I'm like, "Hey, does anyone want to do a sprint? I'm going to be doing 15 minutes sprints or whatever." And then somebody responds. And then, what it means is at the end of every time you sprint, you're like, we'll start top the hour. Every time I sprint, I have to then go back on Facebook.

Kaydence: Am I still live? Can you guys still hear me or have we both dropped out? Okay, while we went for Alessandra, I might have a quick look through the comments and see if there's any question I can answer. So, there's no name on this comment, but it says, "I wish there was a writer's Guild close by. The nearest one is over two hours away." Yes, you know, meeting with and speaking to other writers in person is fantastic and really fun and can be really good for writers; it's kind affirming. But in terms of sprints and writing with others, it's really not necessary. You can find people to write with online. All the people that I spoke with other than, one, I'm not even in my country. So, Oh, I think Alessandra might be back. It's not a race, I guess. No, it's not. Again, what works for you. For some people, it is a race and they like to go into sprinting rooms together and set a timer and they see who can write more words and competitive people; that works really well. I'm not a big fan of it. I just like having the companionship and the accountability with other people I'm writing with. I think, okay. Oh, there we go, the screen is shared. Okay, I'm just going to double check.

Alessandra: Can you hear me?

Kaydence: Oh, yes.

Alessandra: I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened with the internet.

Kaydence: That's okay. I was wondering if I was still live. I think I was, but I just tried to answer a few questions from the comments while we're waiting.

Alessandra: Okay, you're awesome. Thank you. I was saying I hate jumping on and off Facebook because it distracts me every time. So I was really excited to find out about Ohwrite, if you want to tell them a little bit about Ohwrite.

Kaydence: Yeah, so there was a comment that just came through from Sherry and she said, "I just set a timer on my phone and writing words" and yes, fantastic. That is basically the principle of it is set a timer and do the thing. But if you want a kind of little way to write with other people and a way to kind of track your time in an easy way, there is this tool called Ohwrite. So when I started sprinting, when I kind of discovered it and started writing with other authors, there are other programs that do this which shall remain nameless, and my friends we were getting increasingly frustrated with particular one because it kind of kept glitching and dropping out and that kind of thing. So I got frustrated, and I was venting to my husband who is a software engineer, and one thing led to another and I made him build me my own sprinting program. And then I shared it with a couple of friends and they all loved it, so then we started sharing it everywhere. And now there's, I don't know, the last time I checked, it was like several thousand people on the website using it to sprint and write words, so it's fantastic. But this is Ohwrite, and this is the Inkers room on Ohwrite which we will share with you so that you can have a look and everyone in this group can write together if they want to at particular times, but this is basically the idea behind writing sprints. So you have a screen, you have a timer and you have your writing buddies here. The timer is the universal one, the default is set to 25 minutes on and then a five minute break, but you can also set your own timer to choose how long you want to sprint for, right up to 55 minutes, whatever works for you; start the sprint and then all you do is write.

Alessandra: And so just to clarify they created a room just for us, for Alessandra Torre Inker, so the link is in the chat, the top comment section of this post or of this video. So you can click there, you can join the group and then whenever you come online, if any Inkers are online, there'll be showing up on the right side, and you guys can spirit together. So this is great if you don't have any friends and you want to create writing buddies and chances are, you're going to see the same people online at the same time if you sprint a similar time every day.

Kaydence: Yep. So I can see, you know, this is obviously me in the sprinting room there, this is recorded that I've written eight words that I just typed out here. And then I can see that Alessandra is in the room with me. She hasn't started yet. She's obviously still setting her intentions or maybe she's grounding herself. But once she starts writing, I'll be able to see what her progress is as well. So I'll be able to say how many words she's written, but I will never be able to see what she's actually writing. So, there's no kind of issues around privacy or, you know, being awkward about sharing what it is that you're writing. It's really just, the only thing I see is her words and her progress. Oh, she jumped to 57. I think you copy pasted.

Alessandra: I totally copy paste.

Kaydence: But yes, as more people come in, they will show up here inside and you can see everyone you're sprinting with. And the thing I love about Ohwrite is that it's customizable, so you can have that universal timer. So if you all want to sprint together and say, let's say, you know how far we can get in 25 minutes. You set the universal timer, and it doesn't matter where you are in the world, it'll reset at half past. Whatever time it is for you, it will reset half past for everyone and you all go at the same time. But if you just want to write with someone and just keep track and you kind of coming in and out during the day, you can set your own timer. I can set my time for 15 minute sprints because I've got errands to run and I'll be in and out. And I can still check in and see how all the sand was doing and I can even message her in the chat and see how her productivity is going. And we can sort of check in with each other there, but it's very discreet so it doesn't make a noise, so it's not going to be distracting while you sprint. And if it's distracting to you to see other people's word counts going up, if you're one of those people, that's like, "How has she not stopped? She's done like 300 words in 10 minutes, I don't understand," and that's distracting for you; you can also click this little button and it gets rid of that. So while you focus on your words, you can get rid of that distraction. And then once you're done with your sprint, you can check in with your friends and see how far they've gotten. Alessandra has replied, you wrote a thousand words. That's fantastic.

Alessandra: I'm very, very productive. Oh look, Mel just joined. Hey Mel. So, our room is starting to fill up. Someone asked “can you save what you write?” Great question. I hope so.

Kaydence: So whatever I write in here, if I then go... so you can go into this little section here, which will show you the other rooms that you're in. I'm not going to click on it because some of the ones that have been added to have rude words, so check it out for yourself. It's really easy to navigate. That's one of the things...

Alessandra: How do you save your work?

Kaydence: So basically, if I've written in here and then I've switched to another room, my work follows me. If I'm then done writing for the day, I literally do a highlight copy and then paste. So it comes up with this little pop-up, which tells you how to match the formatting to what's in your document. There's also this little clipboard here, which allows you to copy writing to clipboard. I just do select all and copy because it's just a shortcut that I'm used to over years, but you can certainly just click this little button, does the same thing, and then you copy it over into whatever document it is that you're tracking. And yeah, this is where you can share the room. You copy the link, you send it to your friends in an email, in a message, in wherever. You've got some basic formatting...

Alessandra: Let's say that maybe somebody doesn't want to be in our room, and they want to create a room with just them and their three closest friends. So they can just build... anybody can build a room at any time and invite people to it, and is it secret or can you see other rooms or how does that work?

Kaydence: Absolutely. So the only... I am someone who has a room that I don't tell anyone else about. So sometimes I want to sprint, but I just want to write alone, and so I'll go into that room and do my sprints. The only people who see a particular room are the people you share it with. And so, say I've created this room, I go and share it, I send the link to a bunch of people; we can now all see that room. So if those people leave the room and then come back onto Ohwrite and go into the rooms section, that room will come up as one of their options. But you can create as many rooms as you want, and the only people who will see them are the people that you share them with. And of course, if those people then share them with other people and send the link, then they will have access a well.

Alessandra: And just to clarify to everyone watching; this program is completely free. There's no charge, there's no ads popping up as you're working or anything like that. This is just a free resource that is fantastic. I love how clean and polished it is. It's distraction-free. As soon as I saw this, I was like, man, I got to tell the Inkers about this. I'm really excited about it.

Kaydence: I mean, that was the main thing. One of the main things when John was building it, is that I wanted to make sure that it was distraction free because that's the whole point of doing sprints. So yeah, it's completely free to sign up. There's no paid tier. There's no, like everything that you say you get for free once you've signed up. And yeah, no distractions because that was my main thing. Like, how irritating would it be if you halfway through a scene, and you're really vibing and then an ad pops up, so none of that. This was created by a writer and her husband for other writers.

Alessandra: And now your screen is black, but mine's all white. Can you change the color?

Kaydence: Yeah, absolutely. So I've got mine on night mode. It's just a little bit easier on my eyes, but you can a hundred percent change it to... now I don't know where the setting is, but you can change it to a regular...

Alessandra: So, what is stats? You can see your stats?

Kaydence: Yes. So stats is and I haven't written in a very long time because I've been dealing with some stuff, but basically yes, stats tells you how many words you've written in the last seven days. So I did 495 the other day, so last 14 days, last month, and last 12 months, and you can track how much you've written during whatever period.

Alessandra: I like that. That's an accountability thing too.

Kaydence: Yes.

Alessandra: I can write it down like in my calendar somewhere, but...

Kaydence: And it lets you see your progress and it, you know, back to step eight, you know, celebrating your wins and rewarding yourself for what you have achieved, just to feel like this is a nice feel-good thing.

Alessandra: John is getting mad props. Everybody really likes it. "Give John a hug, good job."

Kaydence: He gets lots of hugs and price.

Alessandra: Awesome. Well, does anybody have any questions about Ohwrite or about sprinting? I did see... we're out of time. So I did see a question about just writing in general, but we are at a time, so I'm going to have to cut us off. But if you are interested, go sign up, again, it's free. I put the link in the information section of this post. It's also in the comments a lot of guys put it here. So, I hope to see you guys in the room and sprinting, and this is definitely going to be on my to-do list every day because I need to I need to get back to it. So, thank you so much for joining us today, and thank you for everyone joining our first Inkers Live. Thank you for rolling with the punches, with my tech issues, and thank you for not leaving the room Kaydence because I was terrified that you would leave. Thank you all, I promise next Inkers Live will be a little smoother on the tech end, but it's been great to have you guys I'll get the transcript up and I'll get this video up for anyone who wants to watch the replay.

Kaydence: Now, once you let me in, in some way you're stuck with me,

Alessandra: That's good. I'm glad you rolled with the punches. So, thank you guys. I appreciate it. And we'll see you on the next Inkers Live.

Kaydence: Thank you for having me.