My Writing Nook review

My Writing Nook is such a simple tool that it is easy to discount it as a one trick pony that could never compete with the more sophisticated multi-use services currently available. The simplicity is what makes My Writing Nook such a great tool to use though and this is why I have been using it every day for the past few week without fail.

It is a simplified writing environment that is accessed via www.mywritingnook.com and which is completely free. All you do is tap the icon to create a new document and away you go- you start typing and that’s about all you need to know to get started. The documents will be named from the first few words that you type and they are placed in alphabetical order in the right-hand column. Tapping one icon will remove that list to give you a completely clean writing area and you can email the finished document or save it to your desktop for reviewing later. There is a live word count which is hidden in the bottom right-hand corner and coloured icons next to each file which you can customise- this is the only form of organisation available.

It runs on Google’s Cloud setup and does sound rather dull doesn’t it? But, throw in an iPhone, iPad and Android app and the concept becomes interesting. You write whenever you want to and it syncs between multiple devices with the tap of an icon. The scope for this is immediately apparent because you have access to everything you are working on all of the time no matter what device you use. For example, you could write a couple of paragraphs on your iPhone when you are on a train and continue when you are back at your work computer. When at home you can continue on another computer and so the process continues.

It may sound just like Google Docs and it is in essence, but with the absence of lots of formatting options, complex file naming and tweaking and a clutter free environment that lets the words shine through. In my tests almost all mobile browsers work with the service as well so you don’t need a dedicated app to use it on your smartphone. It is one of a growing band of services that recognise that simplicity is the way forward and it works about as well as I could possibly hope for. Brilliant.

Click the image above to download the iPhone / iPad app.