Introducing How We Are Different (HWAD)
Read. Write. Reflect. Grow.
Become a more disciplined reader and writer — become a better person.
How We Are Different (HWAD) is a journaling app available exclusively on the App Store based on Thom Kudla’s award-winning book How I Am Different. This app is an interactive reading and writing experience the likes of which you’ve never seen.
With this award-winning app, you will:
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Engage with the book and author in new and exciting ways.
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Become a more disciplined, dedicated, and thoughtful reader and writer.
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Learn more about yourself so that you can improve your life.
Start your journey today!
All you have to do is download How We Are Different (HWAD).
Everyone Should Read and Write
And they should read and write often.
For two years, award-winning author Thom Kudla wrote something creative every day. Some days it'd be poetry; other days it'd be fiction or creative nonfiction. Regardless of what type of writing he composed, in doing so every day he reflected on his life and the world around him. His idea was to see how he would change over the course of a year—in the second year, he responded to his writing from the prior year.
In completing this experiment, Thom became a more disciplined reader and writer, and he also grew as a person. After publishing this experiment as a book, Thom decided that he wanted to offer this same opportunity to enable development and growth for the world. He believes that everyone should read literature and write something reflective, profound, and creative regularly. That's part of the reason he had the vision for this app and helped to develop it. Thom challenges you to read and write deeply every day on your iPhone or iPad. Can you do it?
How We Are Different (HWAD) Features
An Interactive Reading and Writing Experience
How We Are Different (HWAD) is an ebook like no other. It doesn't just let you read; it lets you interact with the book in ways you never dreamed possible.
Calendar View
Using Calendar View, you can easily see today’s entry from Thom’s book for Year One and Year Two or navigate to a different day of the year. Your entries for that day will be shown too.
Multiple Index Views
The book is huge. Let’s help you read it. The app has Multiple Index Views, including:
Day-by-Day
Alphabetical by Genre
Alphabetical by Title
Alphabetical by Topic
Reading Roulette
Not sure what to read first? Choose Reading Roulette and let the app select a piece from the book at random with the shake of your device or the click of a button.
Mood Tracking
Record how you feel about what you just read or what you just wrote with specific moods and their emojis.
Journaling with Timer
Write something new. Be sure to give it a title too. The app will keep track of how much time you spend writing every day.
Writing Reminders
Don’t forget to write every day! The app will remind you.
Export Option
Want copies of what you’ve written so far? Export to Excel and email the entries to yourself.
Graphs and Charts
Measure your progress with the Stats feature. Toggle between percentages of the moods you feel while reading and writing, illustrated in a pie chart. Keep track of your total writing time on each day of the week with bar graphs. Choose the current week or select a date range.
Winner in the
Writing/Publishing Category
Awards
Silver Honoree
Winner of Two Gold Medals
(Anthologies and Writing/Publishing Categories)
Solo Medalist in the Writing/Publishing Category
Don't you want to see why this is such an award-winning app? Download it today and enjoy all of its features right away!
Testimonials
Read what our users are saying.
"Overall, the app is very useful to me, especially because now I am prompted to read, write, and track moods every day thanks to a reminder from the app. The Calendar View makes it easy to compare the progression of Thom as a writer for two years with your progression as a reader and writer. In summary, I highly recommend HWAD. It’s the best reading app—very user-friendly and useful for those who love reading and writing."
JP, Author at Review the Apps
"I loved this book as it is, and adding the app component with a social aspect that encourages reading, reflection, and quantitative tools to measure time spent writing and even mood tracking is so innovative. How We Are Different is a true level up!"
Allison, International Artist
"How We Are Different is a great app! It really helps me to get my thoughts and feelings for a day out in writing creatively. It leaves me feeling motivated and more confident."
Hilary, Administrator
"Thom Kudla is an amazing author who writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. His writings are brimming with truth, plus they’re so relatable. I recommend him to anyone who wants to read remarkable writing. The app makes reading Thom’s writing even more fun. The features I like are the mood tracking with stats, calendar view, and timed journaling. I like them because you get to keep track of how you’re reacting to Thom’s writing and then you can relate to his writing better by writing your own entries."
Gina, Certified Nursing Assistant
"This innovative, award-winning app based on How I Am Different by Thom Kudla records the author’s daily experience for one year and his response one year later, displaying his witty thoughts about the full range of human existence. The app lets users keep track of their moods while reading and writing. Overall, it's a creative journaling tool with many helpful features that enable people to develop new insight into — and understanding of — themselves, which has therapeutic value."
Ronald, Former Professor
"Great app! It was very easy to navigate, and very creative and innovative. I especially liked the reading roulette part, which was fun to do. Set the mood was a great addition, too. All in all, a wonderful experience!"
Mary, Former Teacher
Videos
Videos
TWIA: HOW I AM DIFFERENT by Thom Kudla
HWAD Promotional Video
App Preview from the App Store
Frequently Asked Questions
$2.99? That's a lot of money. I don't know if I want to spend that on an app. Why should I spend my hard-earned cash on this app?
This isn't just an app; it includes a book that, in its published form, was more than 750 pages in length. The book itself retails for $9.99 as an ebook and more than $20 as a hardcover book. If you ask us, this is a huge value to you since you get the book and access to the app's many additional features for only the cost of a special morning coffee at your favorite coffee shop. And don't worry about us trying to upsell you with in-app purchases! $2.99 is all you pay - and all you ever will pay. But keep in mind that this one-time purchasing fee is the only way the author sees any proceeds from the book, so help him out. He needs that money to continue writing books that you love to read!
I’ve seen other apps that serve similar purposes. What makes How We Are Different (HWAD) the best?
The journaling and mood tracking features of this app are comparable to — and sometimes better than — other apps on the market, but what truly sets How We Are Different (HWAD) apart from the competition is the author himself and the book itself. Thom Kudla's poems and aphorisms throughout the original award-winning book will help you get inspired in daily devotional fashion as you accept his challenge and try to read deeply and write creatively every day.
The app is asking me to create an account. I don't want to share my information. What gives?
Creating an account allows different users on the same phone to journal with the same app. This also enables easy password recovery. None of your private information will be shared with anyone. It is all stored locally.
How long did it take to write this book and develop this app?
The first draft of the original book was written in two years. Then it took an additional two years to revise, edit, and produce it. The app itself took about a year to develop, based on the author's original vision for the app. That means you're looking at five years of work here! Enjoy it!
Will there be an Android version of the HWAD app available anytime soon?
While there are no definitive plans to take the app to other platforms like Android, if the original app for Apple devices is commercially successful enough, then To a T Books will certainly develop the HWAD app for non-Apple devices. The HWAD app release for Apple devices was meant as a kind of pilot to see if it would be worth investing in additional platforms. So far the pilot has earned plenty of award recognition and positive feedback, but that hasn’t translated to enough sales to invest further at this time. However, we encourage you to spread the word about the app so that bringing it to other platforms becomes more feasible.
Press Releases
About the Author/Creator
Thom Kudla’s latest book, HOW I AM DIFFERENT, was named a finalist in the Poetry Category of the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The ebook version won multiple medals in the 2017 Global Ebook Awards. HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT (HWAD), an Apple app based on that book, recently won the 2019 IndieReader Discovery Award for Writing/Publishing. The HWAD app also earned two gold medals in the 2018 eLit Book Awards and was recognized by the IBPA as a Benjamin Franklin Digital Award Silver Honoree.
Thom’s books of poetry COMMENCEMENT and OUT OF CONTEXT won the 2017 IndieReader Discovery Award for Poetry. Thom's book WHAT MY BRAIN TOLD ME was selected as a finalist in the short story non-fiction category of the 2009 National Indie Excellence Awards. His writing has been anthologized in a number of books, including CHICAGO AFTER DARK and SILVER: AN ECLECTIC ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY & PROSE.
Thom was awarded a Master of Arts in Writing and Publishing from DePaul University. He earned a bachelor's from Indiana University, Bloomington, where he received a grant to write his first novel. To learn more about Thom's writing, please visit thomkudla.com.
Get In Touch
How We Are Different (HWAD) is a companion app to Thom Kudla's award-winning book How I Am Different. It was produced by To a T Books, an imprint of To a T Editorial Group. Feel free to reach out to us to learn more!
Wheaton, Illinois
224-257-5417
Copyright © 2016-2025 by Thom Kudla
How We Are Different (HWAD).