Writing on iOS and Mac

So, I do a lot of writing on the go. For my short form writing needs, I rely on Drafts. It’s a great app, with an intuitive interface, no clutter and, best of all, the offers the ability to perform actions on notes once they are written.

They actions are be anything, from as simple as creating a PDF or posting a blog post, to as complex as using JavaScript to parse a note and extract calendar and todo items from it and then place them into the appropriate app.

It is my go to app on both my Mac and my iOS devices when I want to write short pieces of text. For longer pieces of text, I use Ulysses. It is here that I do my serious writing.

I write my blog posts here, and the two books I’m currently writing also live in this application. It’s a perfect fit for longform writing — it allows you to divide your writing into sheets which can be glued together to create a larger writing project.

Personally, I use the sheets to represent chapters and glue them to create a book, or use use the sheets if I want to write a single essay or a blog post. One of the best features of Ulysses is its ability to synchronize across all my devices, so I can start writing on my iPhone while I’m on the go and then continue on my Mac when I get home.

The only negative about this solution, so far, is that sometimes I get a message thatUlysses is “downloading” my sheets and it remains stuck on that. So far, the workarounds that have worked for me are opening the app on all my devices so that sync get initiated, and, failing that, writing a new sheet in the app so that it forces sync to start. So far this has solved the problem, but it would be nice if Ulysses fixes the issue for good, it is sometimes disconcerting to see all the work you have down disappear and appear as “downloading” indefinitely.