Don't Look Back
Write now, edit later.
Don't Look Back is a writing utility that helps you write more by preventing you from using the delete key. Seems silly, right? Your head is full of great ideas, but it's too easy to edit yourself before you've got a single complete thought written down. With Don't Look Back you are freed from the tyranny of deletion and encouraged to explore every thought and follow every stream of consciousness, with your successes and failures on screen in all their glory, and then return later to edit them.
It already works with your favorite word processor, text editor, and screenwriting software.
I write all the time. When I sit down to empty all the ideas from my head to the screen, I often find myself editing before writing a complete thought. And I hate that. It makes writing harder when I second guess myself before I give myself a chance. The solution is to vomit a draft out first. Then deal with precision and refinement later. I get more work of higher quality done this way.
Here's what's going to happen the first time you run Don't Look Back. You're going to start working on your screenplay and make a mistake - "That's not how porcupine is spelled!" And you're going to try to fix it, but you won't be able to. Take a moment here and accept this. Let it be and move on with what you actually wanted to write. Here's what's going to happen the fifth time you run Don't Look Back. You're going to barrel through twenty ideas for Act II, spelling porcupine ten different ways, and end up with more pages than ever before. Then you're going to take a break and make some coffee. Not the instant stuff, you're going to bust out the good beans. When you come back you're going to enjoy the many brilliant ideas you came up with that you never expected you'd come up with.
It doesn't matter if you spell words wrong, write a stupid opening sentence, or don't know where you're going with that new character yet. Get it out of your head first and massage it into shape later. There's a place for your delete key, but only after you've dumped all your ideas onto the screen. If you don't believe me, here are a few people way smarter than me talking about writing.
I wrote all this with Don't Look Back open - it started dense, messy, and full of glorious mistakes and ideas. But that's ok.
If you're a screenwriter, author, copywriter, songwriter, or other creative thinker who just wants to brainstorm your great ideas, Don't Look Back is perfect for you. If you're a programmer, nuclear physicist, or drunken late night ex-girlfriend instant messenger, maybe you want to hold on to that delete key, right?
Tell me how Don't Look Back changed the way you work: