Hey there! Welcome to Quill Loop — or as I like to call it, the thing I built so I could avoid writing my own book.

Quill Loop started as a passion project. I wanted a piece of software that could remind me to write, keep me accountable, and celebrate my wins. The initial inception was a plain text box with a word counter underneath. I know it sounds simple, but don't discount the power of gamification.

Eventually, I wanted more. Character tracking so I could remember Amaryll's eye colour, location tracking so I could remember the name of the tavern, and note keeping so I could remember that idea I had at 2 am. Quill Loop grew organically, shaped entirely by my own whims and needs.

At some point, I started realizing it was actually pretty functional. Sure, it was stark white, and you couldn't really write in it, but it had friends, reminders, trophies, and basically everything you needed short of a text editor. I figured people would write in Google Docs and track everything else in Quill Loop.

It stayed that way for about a year while I finished my first manuscript. But once I was done, I realized I wanted something better. What Google Docs and MS Word didn't have was any meaningful connection to your story world. Sure, you could write in them — but then you had piles of notes in separate docs, darlings cut and pasted somewhere, sticky notes on your monitor.

I had always wanted something that integrated all of that. So I built it. I skinned the whole software in a dark theme, built the Quill Editor and put it front and centre, and added the ability to tag your characters and locations directly in your prose. Suddenly, your whole universe was at your fingertips — hover over Amaryll, and there were her stats, hover over a location and see its parent town.

Other features followed: chapters, importing, exporting, texting in notes on the go, and reminders from your own characters. All of it is living on a staging server, just waiting to see the world.

I had cold feet through all of this. Much like handing your manuscript to your first beta reader, I was scared to death of what people would actually think of the software I'd spent the better part of a year building. But a good friend had been playing with it the whole time — he'd used the old version and dug into the new one — and one night he finally flat-out badgered me to launch.

So I did.

It wasn't totally smooth. There were bugs and bumps. But for the first time, I had the writing software I had dreamed of when I sat down to write my manuscript.

Quill Loop has always been a passion project by a coder turned author who just wanted the perfect tool to write in. It is just the right amount of prickly to push you past your procrastination (is that why you're here right now instead of writing?) That's Quill, by the way, our resident hedgehog and the spirit of this whole thing. Prickly on the outside, rooting for you on the inside. He, and the whole Quill Loop team will be right alongside you, shamelessly calling you out and also showering you with praise for a job well done!

If you're looking for something that will be equal parts cheerleader and also courteous enough to get the hell out of your way so you can write, I hope you'll give it a try.

And as a small Canadian project built by a solo dev — if you have ideas or feature requests, drop me a line. I genuinely love feedback. And when you sign up, we'll already be friends. 😉

So if you're ready to finish that manuscript, hit sign up. The only thing you stand to lose is the writer's block.

With love, Quill & Jeff, founder of Quill Loop