Write or Die...and other cool writer things

I've been trying to figure out some ways to keep myself more motivated to write lately, as I tend to get distracted, which leads to procrastination and not getting anything done. The outlining and worldbuilding parts of writing are way too much fun for me, so I usually do those if I don't want to write. I found a couple things that help with that, and also a cute little progress widget for my blog (look to the right hand column and you'll see it...what was I saying about getting distracted?).

Write or Die

This is an online service provided by "Dr Wicked". It does not save your work, so you need to be sure to copy/paste it into a word document before exiting the page. You can set it to several different modes: gentle, normal, kamikaze and electric shock. You can also set the grace period to forgiving, strict and evil. There's a place to put your word goal and how long you'd like to work on your writing. 

On the site, it says the point of the different "modes" are to "instill the fear of not-writing in the writer". If you're using the "gentle" mode, a pop-up will remind you to keep writing if you stop. In normal mode, an annoying sound will play if you stop writing for a specific period of time. It only stops when you start writing again. Kamikaze mode is described as this: keep writing or your work will unwrite itself. I'm too scared to figure out what the electric shock mode does. 

The nice thing about this is that it's free--you don't have to buy it to use these features. I used it today for the first time and will definitely be using it again in the future. 

Zen Writer

Also free, this application blocks out all distractions when you write. It's full-screen and doesn't have the numerous formatting features Word or other word processors do. You can set the background to different images you find inspiring, turn on your music and write. The time is shown on the bottom in a color that almost blends in. This application does save your work, but I always save it in Word as well. 

I used this for NaNoWriMo last year and it helped me tremendously. 

Novel Progress Widget: The Little Bean Guy

My (short) list wouldn't be complete without a cute widget to add to your blog. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find this one. You can set his mood (very frustrated, ready to shoot the computer, shocked, sleeping, watching TV, calm, writing novel and happy) and also set your word count. The number of pages in his stack rises as you update your word count. This has the word goal automatically set at 50,000. 

What are some things you like to use for writing? What do you do to keep yourself from getting distracted? Post in the comments and let me know. :)