“Keep simple things simple… and do more” A great quote from the org-mode website and here’s another: “Org: an Emacs Mode for Notes, Planning, and Authoring.”
I installed Emacs back in 2010 in my quest for an outliner to replace the aging but never equalled MaxThink for DOS. I also wanted a solid, powerful writing environment. I once used word processors for all my writing: Word, Open Office Writer, Lotus, Sprint (Borland) and I cut my teeth with WordStar back in the 1980s. None for me thanks. I’ll take a powerful, plain text editor any day. Writing with a Word Processor is like trying to run fast while wearing combat boots with the laces untied.
Plain text is a must. I’ve had too many bad experiences with proprietary file formats that change when you least expect it. Now I just lace up my org-modes and fly across the page. I use a single file to manage all my blog posts. I have a journal where each day (when I write something) is a top level headline. And I wrote and published my short story “An Emerald Ring” using a single org-mode file for all the drafts.
Still, I wanted more. And I finally figured out how to get more this weekend. Last week I talked about how I wrote a script in gedit (another good editor) that allowed me to parse ideas from a rough draft into a neat list at the end of the file. I spent hours trying to get Emacs to do the same thing. Org-capture (built into org-mode) did the trick for me once I worked out the details and it works better.
I can use that list to brainstorm and build an outline from the bottom up using org-mode. Then take that same outline (think chapters, scenes, sections) to build the format for an article, story or an entire book. And then write the damn thing using the same program — org-mode. And while I’m writing, I can play with characterization, plot, etc. in the same file!
Keeping simple things simple works right out of the box and I was up and running in no time. The do more part takes more time. Last week I said that until I find the perfect text editor for writers, I’d build my own any way I could. Org-mode is a damn good start.
I think I am an old dog on this one, I use Word for so much of my work that I have grown use to it, like a pair of old slippers or a fuzzy robe.
I have to say, I agree with valentinelogar…I use Word for just about everything, and I guess I’ve become used to it, warts and all.
Whatever I use, it sure beats the way i did it “back in the day” before I had a stable WYSIWIG word processor or editor of any kind. I wrote my Master’s thesis out LONG HAND and then typed it into ST Writer (the word processor I had for my Atari 520 ST); dealing with nearly 100 tables was a real pain.
I am in the hate Word camp. I do not like the unstable nature of it and the proprietary gradu is for the birds. I have never been desk rat dependent, so I cannot stand when the ONLY way to do something is WYSIWYG rat crap. Glad you found one to base your tweaks upon, without pulling your hair out.
Red.