2024-09-24
I just today read the [OBTF blog post](https://mikegrindle.com/posts/obtf) about writing all notes in one big text file (OBTF). I sort of see where he is coming from that it is probably a good system, but I think combining multiple interests there won't work for me.
Firstly, I want to publish my wvs. For this, I already have a script (wv) set up that can do all what I need: it can open a file, let me edit it, find the next file to edit automatically (so if I write just `wv`, it will just find the next entry to write and open that) and it can also provide some rudimentary statistics: the `stats` subcommand will provide me a count of entries, the total wordcount among all entries and the average wordcount per entry. The `ls` subcommand will list all entry titles alongside the date they were written, the wordcount, and the title. The `per-day` subcommand finds the amount of entries I've written for each day and sorts according to the days I've written the most; the `per-month` subcommand gets the total number of entries written each month. I also have `ls-html` which gets the output of ls formatted in HTML for substitution into the index file (makeshift solution).
Then also, I have the blog/, poetry/, prose/, and wr/ sections which are used for their respective purposes. I need to figure out exactly where to put these; I think, because they are integrated with the website, at least blog/, poetry/, and prose/ should be just in the src/ folder for the website and can be generated into the website HTML from there. But, what of wr/? this is longer form writing, e.g. if I write any stories or the like. The thing is, I would probably want to work on them in a separate location, and then transfer them over. So where can I work on them?
I have on my laptop currently two places. I also have the two notepads (physical) that are used for writing; the diary is used to give a brief account of the day, where the second (I did call this a journal, but it is really a scratchpad) is used for any notes, or writing, or anything, that will probably then be brought elsewhere or for when I just need to get words down. I probably should add a third, a journal, for longer form writing that is personal and not appropriate for wv, but I think for now combining the scratchpad and the journal works.
On the laptop is the $HOME/wr directory, with the `wr` script that helps with this. I kind of just use wr as a sort of general notes directory, not for structured writing. For instance, for olea (which I have not progressed as I would like) I have a subdirectory wr/olea/research for all my research, but then the final essay is stored not under wr, but under dev/. This holds git repositories of things I would work on, sometimes programming but also writing. (I don't really have much I'm working on at the moment, if I am honest - I have sort of lost track of all the projects I began and never finished - the main programming I am doing is `neo` which is scripts for the website and for the computer generally). But where would I keep things?
Perhaps I should, on the computer, centralise all sporadic writing under wr, or perhaps to better align the names, put all proper writing under $HOME/wr (aligned with $WEBSITE/src/wr - I would assume I can transfer from $HOME/wr to $WEBSITE/src/wr as aspects are completed and ready for upload to the website) and then put all sporadic writing under say, sporadic with a script `spr` for this. Maybe better.
The problem with splitting out like this is there is no central place, like there is with OBTF. So, let me consider a dichotomy of "working" and "final", alongside the precursor to "final", "draft". Then, writing is split into several types. wv is inherently final; there is no draft phase as it is written all at once (save for 0073) even if that is over the course of several hours. So, wv only needs and only has one location: $WEBSITE/src/wv. Same with the blog that only has one location: $WEBSITE/src/blog. Poetry and prose can both be worked on either on the computer or on paper. If on the computer, then I need to select a good place for them: wr/ would not be it then, because I'll save this for later. They can be worked on under $HOME/sporadic or the scratchpad, and then when finished transferred from there to $WEBSITE/src/prose or $WEBSITE/src/poetry. As for wr/, this is longer form writing. The website should contain finished articles; when in draft or working I suppose they would go under $HOME/wr, and any associated notes could go under a subdirectory called "drafts" or "research" etc.
As a further example, olea/ would be a project that counts as writing. As such the writing aspect would go under wr/olea; the finished article would go under $WEBSITE/wr/olea when published. The notes supporting it would go under wr/olea/research or wr/olea/drafts etc.
As a result, what does the dev/ directory do? It would be used for code, not writing, simply.
I also need to deal with deciding on the distinction between dev/ and git/, or just merging them, but that's for another day.
I think this makes sense. I don't think one big note makes sense for my use case as I write some bits on paper, etc. and want to keep wildly different concerns separate. But I do need to tidy up a little and have a better organisation.
I guess I just need to get to work now tidying up...
But generally, I feel as if I'm approaching a decent system. For instance, with e-mail, I am at currently inbox-one (as I've one email there to remind me to do a something soon) which is quite nice. I'm also keeping up decently (but behind because there is a backlog as I add new RSS feeds) with my RSS reading. It's nice to feel organised!
Ok, have a good one.