Jenny Diski reviews a wave of new apps that force you into productivity. Write or Die, set to "kamikaze mode", starts deleting words you have written if you don't type for more than 45 seconds:
If you think you’ve got writers’ block after 45 seconds of not writing, you don’t need an app, you need someone gently to tell you that you should consider the possibility that writing is not just about writing, it’s also (and maybe mainly) about the space in between the writing, when nothing seems to be happening, or random stuff is having an incoherent party inside your head. … So is there a geek out there to make a new app for very slow people like me that actually prevents you from writing (forcing on you kittens, Twitter, solitaire, online shopping, hypnotic daydream brain-altering beats, lunch, sex, the Mail online) until you absolutely have to?
A commenter answers:
Fortunately, enterprising geeks have devised such a tool, preventing very slow people myself and yourself from actually writing, forcing on you kittens, Twitter, solitaire, online shopping, hypnotic daydream brain-altering beats, lunch, sex, and the Mail online, until you absolutely have to write. It’s called the Internet.
The Dish 