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Writing Sprint: a timer that doesn't interrupt you
Last updated September 10, 2026 · 5 min read
In one line: a timer that sits over your writing instead of interrupting it — pick a length, keep typing, and get told at the end how many words came out.
Where it is
The timer icon in the tab bar above the editor, in the same little cluster as split and reading mode. It only appears on the primary pane. On a phone it is in More → Writing Sprint.
The widget is not a modal. It floats over a corner of the window and everything underneath stays live — you type through it, and it survives switching files, switching books, even switching studios. Old Script Studio projects have the same one.
Setting one up
Two things, and one of them has a default:
- Duration — 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, or Custom for anything from 1 to 240.
- Start sprint.
It remembers whatever you picked last time, custom lengths included, so the second sprint is one click.
While it runs
What the widget shows
| Row | What it is |
|---|---|
| The clock | Time left, counting down |
| words | How many you have written since the sprint started |
| wpm | Those words divided by the minutes elapsed |
| Pause / End | Pause stops the clock and the counting; End finishes early and still gives you the result card |
The small dash in the corner shrinks the widget to a pill. Drag it anywhere you like — it stays where you put it, next time too.
The word count is the whole book's, not this file's. It reads the same total that feeds "today +N" — manuscript plus reference files. So a sprint spent moving between three chapters counts all three, and a sprint spent tidying a character sheet counts that too.
When it finishes
The widget opens into a result card: words, wpm, minutes. Then two buttons — Break 5 min, which starts a countdown of its own, and Sprint again, which goes straight back to the setup with the same length. You can skip the break.
Ending early gives you the same card. There is no failed sprint.
Where the runs are kept
Your stats page carries Sprints this week — how many runs, and how many minutes of focused writing they added up to.
Sprints live in this browser on this device. A reload or a crash won't lose the one you're in — it is worked out from timestamps, so it keeps counting down even if the tab was closed — but the history does not follow you to your phone, and it is not part of your account.
What it does not do
- It doesn't hide the interface. That's Zen mode, and the two work together.
- It doesn't change your daily goal or your streak. Those count words for the day however you wrote them; see What counts as a word.
- It doesn't stop you leaving. Wander off mid-sprint and the clock keeps running.
Related
- Docs: Zen mode
- Docs: Immersive mode on a phone
- Docs: What counts as a word
- Docs: Charts and the forecast
Open the app and do this with your own book. Free to start, no credit card.