Writing timer
Ten minutes a day, and in a month you have a notebook. Nobody reads it but you.
Today's commitment
Saved in this browserStart with
What did you get wrong this week, and what did it teach you?
Or pick a kind of prompt
Works right now, no account
- A distraction-free page, a prompt if you want one, and a clock you chose. Minutes decide when you are done — words are counted, never demanded.
- Three shelves of prompts: reflection, gratitude and freewrites. Or a blank page.
- The clock pauses itself when you step away, and comes back to the remainder of today’s commitment.
- What you write stays in this browser. Nothing is sent anywhere until you decide to keep it.
With a free account
- Entries saved to a private journal you can reopen on any device — and the page you wrote here comes with you.
- A fourth kind of prompt, written from whatever you studied that day.
- File an entry under a topic you are learning, if it belongs there.
- Minutes count toward the Life Card’s Writing stat and earn XP once a day.
Free is free forever. No credit card.
How the writing timer works
- Pick how many minutes you will write today. Minutes decide when you are done; words are counted and never demanded.
- Take a prompt from one of three shelves — reflection, gratitude or a freewrite — or start with a blank page. There are 90 prompts to shuffle through.
- Write on a distraction-free page while the clock runs. It pauses itself when you step away and comes back to the remainder of today’s commitment.
- When the clock runs out, the day is done. Your page is kept in this browser, and you can continue it tomorrow.
- Create a free account when you want to keep the entries: the page you wrote here comes with you into a private journal.
Questions
Is the writing timer free, and do I need an account?
It is free and needs no account. The page, the prompts and the clock all run in your browser, and what you write stays there until you decide to keep it. A free account adds a private journal you can reopen on any device, a fourth kind of prompt written from whatever you studied that day, and minutes that count toward a Writing stat on your Life Card.
Is there a word count goal?
No, and there never will be. You commit to a number of minutes, and the countdown decides when the day is done. Your words are counted and reported back to you, never demanded, because forty words of honest thinking on a bad day is not a failed session.
What kind of prompts are there?
Three shelves: reflection prompts that ask what actually happened today and what you made of it, gratitude prompts, and freewrites that give you a first line and get out of the way. Shuffle until one lands, or ignore them and start with a blank page. Members get a fourth shelf, a study recap written from what they learned that day.
Where does my writing go?
Nowhere, until you say so. What you write is kept in this browser as one draft, for 30 days, and nothing is sent to a server. Starting a new page replaces the draft, and the desk tells you so before it does. If you create a free account, the desk offers to keep the page you wrote here as your first journal entry.
Can anyone read what I write?
No. Without an account the page exists only in your browser. With one, entries are saved to a private journal that nothing on MugUp shows to anyone — no sharing, no feed, no scoring. The study recap prompt is written from what you studied that day, not from what you wrote.
Why a timer for writing?
Because the hard part of journaling is starting, and "write for ten minutes" is a far easier instruction than "write something good". The clock lowers the stakes: you are not producing a page, you are spending ten minutes, and the page is a by-product. Do it daily and in a month you have a notebook.
More free tools from MugUp
- Pomodoro timerA full-screen focus timer over a living night scene, with ambient sound and breaks you name before you take them.
- Reading timerRead a PDF or text file from your computer with a clock beside the page. The file never leaves your device.
- Speaking practiceA prompt, a short clock to think, a longer one to talk, and your browser’s transcript afterwards.