I’m a Sucker for Productivity Tools but Only this One Thing Ever Worked

Software from the 1990s promised to revolutionize how we write, but only this one thing actually ever works for any creative writing

Van Gogh’s The Bedroom is in the public domain. Image courtesy of Chicago Institute of Art

I once saw a review of a piece of software that promised to revolutionize the way people write. Its power lay in the ability to open up multiple, independent windows allowing you to skip between several writing projects. I thought it would suddenly make me super-productive, possibly prolific, writing stories, articles, and novels as fast as I could type, and all in parallel with each other.

This was thirty years ago, when the concept of using “multiple windows” on the screen was fairly novel. There was a steady stream of tools coming out, and old DOS tools being reborn for the Mac or Windows. Somehow, this tool stood out from the crowd. Except It was a total crock of crapola.

If anything, the multiple writing windows were a distraction. I was confused about how to use it. I felt like a fool for not knowing how to take advantage of the tool.

Productivity plummeted.

I couldn’t even get my money back.

But I think of this fool’s folly often, which helps remind me of the one thing that…