One of the most effective ways to write something with a predictable outcome is to outline it first. I export from LibreOffice to PDF, or I just take the publisher's final PDF, whenever possible. Ditto for things that are not web-based, but the process is less tedious. I make a PDF copy of every web-based article I write using the finished, published article and attach it to my bibliography in Zotero.An in-progress directory is version-controlled with Git and also copied to a flash drive that I store in a fireproof case at least once a week.My works in progress are stored in a Writing directory, which is organized into subdirectories based on what the writing is (for example, Writing/DistroWatch/Fedora 32 Review or Writing//Summer Reading List).Writing is done either in LibreOffice for academic stuff, where I need to include citations, or gedit when I write Markdown (for articles and the like).Research gets organized in Zotero, where I keep full-text copies of the PDFs and websites I need to reference.It varies slightly depending upon what and for whom I am writing. When writing for, I often write in CommonMark for its simplicity, but for text I have to maintain, I keep the source in DocBook. I maintain a custom stylesheet in XSL along with custom Makefiles to transform my DocBook source into plain text, HTML, EPUB, and PDF. When interfacing with book editors, who still predominantly rely on a DOC-based workflow, I have to convert to DOC/DOCX (using Pandoc) and then work in LibreOffice to reconcile their notes. Using Termux on Android, I can get a full terminal and still have access to Vim and Mercurial with all my command-line toys. When writing away from the desk (which doesn't happen much these days), I write on my phone with a Bluetooth keyboard. I use Wdiff for seeing word-level differences between versions. I've used Git before for writing, but Mercurial just tastes better to me for creative work. vimrc lives there).įor version control, I use Mercurial. Writing happens in Vim, with a handful of plugins (e.g., my base. I keep myself tied to the terminal when writing. Write, iterate, git commit, and back up to GitLab.Īlternatively, when I want to keep everything in a cloud-based solution, I keep my work in HackMD or Etherpad. I keep a folder on my laptop called writing, and I keep articles in progress in GitLab. I use VSCodium (or VS Code) with an amazing extension that gives shortcuts for Markdown behaviors. For instance, an ODT file is actually just a ZIP file containing XML documents and metadata. Word processors are popular, too, because they enable authors to keep all their work in one file. Text editors are popular choices, though, probably in part because of their relative minimalism and also due to the separation between style and content. Then again, works a lot with Markdown during preproduction, so there could be some bias. As you might expect, we got different answers from everyone who answered. We asked some of our correspondents how they get their thoughts into comprehensible words and what open source tools they prefer while doing so. Likewise, I wonder whether people who started out writing on a typewriter process their thoughts differently, even on a modern word processor, or whether their workflow has changed and adapted because of these new tools. I can hardly imagine writing before computers and their ability to instantly edit and rearrange the words I've typed onto a screen. Writing is one of the primary ways we communicate, and it's endlessly fascinating to see the different ways writers work.
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