Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#1

Post by DiggyJohnson » Thu, Feb 04, 2021, 9:56 PM UTC

I’m specifically looking for a tool a user shared on here that facilitated writing for content by scrolling up and disappearing text as new text was inputted. I believe it was a HTML/JSS only solution - a small personal project. I’ve done a lot of focused searches, but haven’t been able to find this comment.

That said, I love these sorts of projects. I know they’re a self-indulgence and often a distraction. I’m celebrating that for a moment, personally.

Please share your favorites writing tools, the smaller and more personal the better.

Re: Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#2

Post by DiggyJohnson » Thu, Feb 04, 2021, 9:56 PM UTC

To get the ball rolling: Hemingway Mode on anything.

Re: Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#3

Post by cl42 » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 12:42 AM UTC

I've been meaning to build a simple writing/research tool that is basically GitHub Markdown combined with two additional features:

1. A "tagging" component at the sentence level, so I can tag individual sentences. For example, the previous sentence could be tagged with {{feature-idea}}.

2. {{feature-idea}} A semantic search capability where I can see which other sentences in all of my documents are similar to the one I'm on or the one I'm interested in.

Why, you ask? I like to keep a daily journal of ideas based on the news, blog posts, etc. I read... Similar to Caesar's commentaries[1] because ideas and observations come daily and you don't want to forget them, especially if they are tied to global/current events.

Yes, this is basically a knowledge graph... And all the tools I see that do this really overcomplicated the entire process by actually building weird graph interfaces or mind maps (which I'm not a fan of).

If anyone knows of one like this, let me know!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar%27s_Commentaries

Re: Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#4

Post by throwaway888abc » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 12:46 AM UTC

for favorite tools, here you go:

https://typora.io/

https://ommwriter.com/

Re: Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#5

Post by paperwasp42 » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 12:51 AM UTC

A fun little writing app is called "Write or Die". It forces you to keep writing, or else your work is erased. Fantastic way to get a first draft written down on paper. The online version is free.

Re: Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#6

Post by h-1 » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 1:11 AM UTC

Paper of various types and sizes, a good writing surface, an assortment of quality writing utensils, a three-hole punch, three ring binder, reusable sticky tabs, ruler, razor blade, more tea and things to chew on than can run out.

Re: Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#7

Post by michaeleng » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 1:15 AM UTC

I guarantee you will be more productive at writing using the method of a single pen and a legal-sized yellowpad than you will at basically any other tool on the computer, even though that seems counterintuitive. Very few people have the discipline to not flip tabs.

Try it as an experiment.

Attempt to write one document on your computer and one document in another room without any electronics in that room. I guarantee that the latter will go faster. If you need a computer to look things up, maybe use a specific Chrome book or something that bans social media sites. Or, alternatively, use a text-based browser like Lynx.

Happy writing, and I hope some people try this experiment out.

Re: Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#8

Post by cac1 » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 1:19 AM UTC

I wrote Epiphany WorkFlow (Mac App Store) for my own use to help with the problem I have organizing and sustaining a well directed writing project. With ADHS, this is a big problem with me.

Re: Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#9

Post by DiggyJohnson » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 1:24 AM UTC

cl42 wrote: post #3

I've been meaning to build a simple writing/research tool that is basically GitHub Markdown combined with two additional features: 1. A "tagging" component at the sentence level, so I can tag individual sentences. For example, the previous sentence could be tagged with {{feature-idea}}. 2. {{feature-idea}} A semantic search capability where I can see which other sentences in all of my documents are similar to the one…

I have been getting much more into Freeplane, but notably with an appreciation for the two items you laid out here.

It’s an interesting approximation, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.

[0] https://www.freeplane.org/wiki/index.php/Home

Re: Show HN: Favorite writing / journaling tool? Half-finished projects welcome

#10

Post by issamehh » Fri, Feb 05, 2021, 1:35 AM UTC

michaeleng wrote: post #7

I guarantee you will be more productive at writing using the method of a single pen and a legal-sized yellowpad than you will at basically any other tool on the computer, even though that seems counterintuitive. Very few people have the discipline to not flip tabs. Try it as an experiment. Attempt to write one document on your computer and one document in another room without any electronics in that room. I guarantee…

Absolutely not. First of all I've only got the one room to work in so there is no way to get a room without electronics. The real issue for me is going to be the speed at which I can put down the words. Of course there will be times when I need to think, but if I'm writing it manually I will be sigificatly slower and prone to losing my thoughts