Writing can be hard if you're not in the mood. Great writing apps can make it easier, especially those which allow you to create a distraction-free writing environment. I've explored many of these apps over the years; these three are currently my favorites.
I've scored the apps out of a possible 5; my opinion, based on how I write, your mileage will vary.
1. Byword (Mac, iOS)
Distraction-free score - 5.
Byword is an excellent all-in-one distraction-free writing environment with an added benefit: one-click publishing to Evernote, as well as to WordPress, Tumblr and Scriptogram blogs.
Please be aware that blog publishing requires the Premium version; it's an in-app purchase which enables Premium on all your devices.
That said, I rarely use the blog publishing option to publish directly to a blog. Byword gives you a choice of RTF and Markdown formats. I write in Markdown, then "publish" to Evernote.
If I'm writing a blog post, I copy the HTML to the clipboard so that I can paste it into WordPress. Once the text is in the WordPress editor, I SEO the post via the Yoast plugin. I've found that if I don't add the meta data immediately, I procrastinate on doing it later.
2. Write.app (Web, free)
Write.app
Distraction-free score - 4.
I like Write.app. It's available anywhere, on any browser, and has mobile apps for iOS and Android. You can write anything you like with Write.app, from simple notes, which are stored in note books for you on the Web, to full-length novels. Everything's encrypted, so your notes stay private. You can make any note public, and can download your writing as a text file at any time.
If you click the full-screen icon, you'll just see your text in a browser window, distraction-free.
Why the 4/5 score? I like to see a word count as I write, and this isn't available in Write.app.
3. ZenPen (Web, free)
ZenPen
Distraction-free score - 5.
ZenPen is fun to use. It's just a browser window. Delete the placeholder text - it's a Help file - and write away. You can export to Markdown, HTML, and plain text. If you want to format, or add Markdown syntax, just highlight some text, and select from the options which pop up.
I was tempted to drop ZenPen's score to 4 because of the lack of a word count. There's a target word count, which you can enter, but which does nothing to let you know you've reached your word count goal. Maybe I missed something?
ZenPen's gorgeous, uses Markdown, and you can use it in any browser; it gets 5 from me. :-)
Give these three writing apps a try if you're feeling uninspired and need to write anyway. One of them may become your favorite.