--- title: Why I Write Using a Plain Text Editor | The Sales Blog description: I wrote my first book, The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, using a text editor called Ulysses. My second, as well. Here's why... image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/shutterstock_538897573.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! 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I wrote my second book, [The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the 10 Commitments That Drive Sales](http://bit.ly/2u1qKHT) using that very same app. To work with editors, I had to export the chapters into Microsoft Word, because that is the tool that editors use. Almost everything I write, outside of some very basic emails messages, is written in this plain text editor. All of the blog posts here over the last three or four years were written in plain text. I write in a text editor because there are no distractions. Even though there is markdown available to bold or underline or create headers, I never use any formatting while I am writing. There isn’t any reason to use formatting. When you are writing, the only things that matter are words, sentences, paragraphs, pages, and ideas. Everything else is superfluous. A text editor is different from a browser-based writing application, be it Google Docs or Microsoft Word 365. The browser opens up temptation. What’s in my email inbox? What’s on the social channels? With a text editor, you have a blank page and a blinking cursor—and nothing else. It serves a single task: it is a place for you to create using words. Writing in a text editor is more like writing using a typewriter. You bang on the keys, words appear, you love some of them, you hate others, you hit the delete key to remove what doesn’t work, retype the very same idea using different words, recognize that the new words still don’t capture the idea, and you back up and start over again. Once. Twice. Many times. There is something about the minimalist tool that is a text editor that allows the words to come more easily. There is a purity to the act of writing using the simplest of tools, having all of the options that constrain the writing removed or eliminated. It’s just you and your thoughts and your words, or the words that come through you from somewhere outside of you. If you haven’t written using a plan text editor, do give it a try. You may find that the words come more easily, and that they assemble themselves with a lot less effort. ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [2017](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2017) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on July 25, 2017 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. 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What we’re doing right now **is working**, even in this challenging economy. **Would you like some help?** [![Solve for Sales](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035) ### Join my Weekly Newsletter for Sales Tips Join 100,000+ sales professionals in my weekly newsletter and get my *Guide to Becoming a Sales Hustler* eBook for FREE! --- ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Anthony Iannarino" }, "dateModified" : "2021-09-17T2:38:17 PM", "datePublished" : "2017-07-25 21:57:44", "description" : "I wrote my first book, The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, using a text editor called Ulysses. My second, as well. 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