Inkery.

You know why you're here.

If you know what you're looking for and don't need all the introduction, here it is. Inkery is now available on Google Play, with the Apple App Store coming soon!

If not, read on…

The realisation.

The rattling of keys hitting the ceramic octopus keyholder is still heavy in the air when I notice the post-it note left on the door: ‘Write YOUR novel’ past me scribbled in angry letters. It has been so long since the last word got written in my book I almost forgot when that was — maybe two months ago? Guilty feelings begin making me feel nauseous; I’ve been doing so much mindless writing today, writing for everyone else — all sorts of emails about policies, follow-ups, scheduling and celebrations, all sorts of planning docs and retrospective notes. No words about my world, my characters, what I wanted to share with my readers…

I lie down on my fluffy ochre couch. It’s been way too easy to get swept up by work, friends, eating, sleeping… anything other than working toward my first novel. Finding the time to sit down, empty my head and just write for hours has been… easy to discard and bury under more ‘urgent’ tasks because honestly… it’s terrifying. So much to commit and give all at once after a long day or before a long day… and committing to do this for weeks, months, maybe years before I can share it with anyone? No wonder I’ve been procrastinating like crazy.

Is there no better way to get started? No way to work towards this gargantuan, intimidating goal? Every author and their shoes recommends daily practice but how does one make it actually happen while having a full life outside of writing? Is there no way I can keep my motivation up throughout this journey?

The search.

I pick up my phone and search for writing groups — but I don’t have the time nor the energy to go in person and write. Searching for writing apps is just as fruitless given that all of them are either glorified text editors for your phone or publish-your-novel-for-9.99 sort of deals. The closest I’ve come to a community are the Discord servers, but there were not many incentives linked to keeping daily practice going or focusing on small achievable progress for chickens like me.

‘Ugh, there are tens of apps that teach people new languages from scratch in increments of 10 minutes a day, how hard can it be to apply the same idea for writers and build an encouraging community while they’re at it?’

What if I just… do it myself? How hard can building an app be anyway?

The (blurry) middle.

  • Clara is typing…
  • James & Monika joined the chat…
  • Few months of user chats, design & development pass…

The present.

Hope you’ve enjoyed peeking behind the overwhelm that concocted the idea of this app!

We are super excited to share with you the Beta version of Inkery.

We’ve created Inkery with one goal in mind: get people to write and keep writing. This is achieved by keeping internal and external motivation levels high throughout the process by building up confidence through:

Engaging in daily writing practice

Write an Inkling (a.k.a. short piece) every day to keep a streak going and receive personalised reminders to not forget to write.

Engaging with the community

Follow other authors and shelve your favourite Inklings to receive notifications of new writings by them and encourage them to keep writing.

Reading diverse pieces

Read other writers’ Inklings to experience new ways of writing outside of your direct sphere of interest.

(Coming soon) Timing your sprints

set time-based writing goals alone or with friends to motivate you to focus on writing for a set period of time.

You.

Inkery is now available to download on iOS and Android — it is all free as we are still in Beta!

So please please please do get in touch in case you find any bugs, see anything that looks or feels wrong, or have any ideas on how to make Inkery better — we are here to improve the experience for all of us and create an inclusive community that enjoys writing and reading each other’s stories. You can chat to us by: