It all started with a video...

Once upon a time on February 22, 2024, author D. Melhoff (that’s me) posted a video on TikTok explaining how to improve the rhythm of your writing.

Thousands of people saw it and wanted to know what tool I was using to highlight and analyze the text in the example.

But there was no tool.

It was editing trickery, and when people found out, they were disappointed.

So a challenge was issued.

If folks really wanted a tool to improve the rhythm of their writing, I promised I would build one—but only if the post got 1,000 likes.

Needless to say, the goal was swiftly smashed and, after several long nights alongside a software developer who’s nothing short of this application’s patron saint, Writhm was born.

What a home birth it was! By involving the community on every decision, from picking a name to choosing a logo (credit: @BenjamynR), a prototype emerged from the primordial soup of social media and the kindness of the aforementioned martyr of a developer.

Let’s be clear: we’re still in the early days here.

This is version 1.0. There are no integrations. No mobile-friendly versions, no multilingual support. It can’t save your progress. The sign-out functionality is shaky at best. And AI? Fuhgeddaboudit. Compared to ChatGPT, it’s as smart as my 18-month-old. Maybe less.

BUT if you like the idea of a tool that’s focused on improving the rhythm of your writing and not just grammar checking or word processing, we’d love to have you as part of the circus.

As a thank-you to early supporters, the first 1,000 people to sign-up to Writhm will get it 100% free. For everyone after that, it’s a one-time $10 that’ll go toward keeping the lights on, updates, dev costs, etc.

That’s it. No monthly subscription. No renewals. No annual payments.

It’s like the good-old days (too bad there’s not a physical box to go with it).

And down the road? Who knows. If it really takes off or people want more features than I could hope to put out on my own, I’m not ruling out a Kickstarter or something to supercharge this thing. But as like everything else with this project, it’ll be up to the community.

That’s it, that’s all. Thank you to everyone from the bottom of this horror author’s cold, shriveled heart. Now don’t forget to follow on TikTok and YouTube for regular updates, and we’ll see you around.

—D. Melhoff