Hello, iA
As a longtime iA Writer user (since 2017), my writing career and the use of your amazing app has overlapped almost in its entirety.
Almost.
My first novel was completed in September of 2017 shortly before finding iA Writer. Since then, I've completed over fifty short stories and a few dozen novellas,. iA Writer has been my constant companion ever since the glory of finishing that very first story.
Given that I finished that first novel shortly before finding iA Writer, I can't say the app is entirely the tool that has allowed me to find that level of productivity.
But it is without question the app that has informed and enhanced my productivity, allowing me to continue writing during the cracks of life.
iA Writer has long been the go-to app for when I'm away from my computer (though I actually just revived an old laptop from eight years ago and the first prompt that popped up was one asking whether I wanted to actviate my iA license following my trial on Windows!).
On my iPhone, I have probably tapped out at least 250,000 words using just thumbs since buying the subscription back in 2017. In one instance, I “penned” a few thousand word climax to a novella while a passenger on a road trip. And have squeezed in more words than I could count during takeoff or landing of a flight, after being made to put away my laptop.
As an experiment this year, I turned an old, slow dinosaur of an iPad into a typewriter — albeit a syncable, able-to-edit-my-writing typewriter (really, the best kind of typewriter, I think).
Given the iPad was too slow to easily browse the internet or utilize most other apps, it was more or less the perfect single purpose device. And I got to two-finger-peck at the iPad’s virtual keyboard the way I did when I was a kid on my dad's old typewriter!
If not for the aftermath of tingling, sensitive fingers for a day or two afterwards (I can be an aggressive typer and that particular story was a tense thriller), I would have likely continued doing that for a little longer, enjoying the added focus to an already focused app.
On the computer, I sync into the very same .txt files, though I use a terminal version of Vim, the elderly text editor (the Vim motions are much to efficient for me to give them up entirely, I'm afraid). But fear not. Even in Vim, I use the open sourced iA Writer font files to keep it as consistent with iA Writer as possible!
I appreciate all the hard work you all have put into the making of this fantastic app. You've contributed a great deal to my writing life over the years.
The story is linked below.
A Fading Sun is a story that falls into my Thrillers with ❤ category — smart suspense stories for a stupid good time that showcase the conflicts within the human heart and the desperate ways people are forced to fight for love.
You know, the stuff that makes fiction so powerful.
This story in particular is lean, relentless, and solitary. A grieving widow finds herself trapped in nature. Short on outdoors experience and facing increasingly dangerous weather, she must rely on the painful memories of her husband for any hope of surviving the night.
I hope you enjoy it.
Wishing you a healthy and productive 2026!