From time to time, I contemplate how I publish. This is in part because I am something of a platform junkie, but also because I like 'the elegance of a refined workflow'. A euphemism which should be read as: corporate IT is bloating applications and driving development in the direction of a subscription-based, privacy nightmare.
This has seen me ponder things such as:
- why are MS Word documents so large?
- Why do I spend so much time formatting documents in the draft phase? Why do I keep task switching when I should be writing?
- Why do some applications use proprietary formats?
- Why does adding a reference to a large document take so long?
Many of these questions have been answered by a look at the tools I use, and brings me to the focus of today's musing: the technology and process of how I write. For regular readers of this blog, you may think I've written about this before. But that article was focused on physical elements of the writing process. A good desk and chair, decent monitor, and quality keyboard.
These physical elements matter. I recall an interview with the late, great Peter Ustinov in which he talked about character acting. The interviewer asked why he manifested mannerisms, such as stooping or holding his arm in a particular way, when he was only mimicking a voice. His answer was that to get the vocal reproduction just right, he needed to physically reshape his mouth. Thus other physical elements—such as how he stood—impacted this process.
While on a less impressive scale, my writing process is similar. Having a mechanical keyboard on which to type, comfortable sitting position, large screen and app windows in their preferred place, all affects my writing process. This relentless determination to refine how I write has seen me recently look at changing my workflow.
From Word to Writer
My first step was to migrate from MS Word to Libre Writer. This immediately yielded results as the application felt that bit less bloated. For those of a tin foil hat disposition there is also the knowledge that Microsoft can potential scoop up every word you type and check them against a central database. Returning from that excursion, Libre Writer also sports an interface which, and you may scoff at this, made the words on the screen seem clearer and ideas flow more easily. The migration from EndNote to Zotero also helped as EndNote's proprietary software and subscription model was locking my future production into their ecosystem. I had tried Mendeley, but the way the app 'vanishes' every time I add a reference was distracting. Particularly if I need to double check a reference, as I am locked out of the Mendeley interface until I close the add reference dialogue.