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My quotes file recently reached 1MB of plain text, 160,257 words. I started this file 17 years ago! This is enough to fill three average sized novels! One da

My quotes file recently reached 1MB of plain text, 160,257 words. I started this file 17 years ago! This is enough to fill three average sized novels! One day... I might have a go at weaving a narrative through it.

jkeuhlen 8y ago
What do you mean by quotes file?
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  It’s a text file where I’ve copy and pasted paragraphs and comments I’ve found interesting from books and online, and a few of my own thoughts. Each entry is preceded by the date the entry was made, and followed by a reference to the source. Because I’ve used some of the material multiple times I’m vaguely aware of the overall structure, and I use it as a bit of a knowledge-base. As an example I’ll probably pop this comment in there later, so some of the materiel is mundane. Some of it seemed profound in the context of my life at the time, but might make less sense years later out of context. I’ve only ever deleted a handful of entries in that 17 years. I guess parts of it are a bit like a diary too, but I’ve never been very good at intentionally keeping a diary.
  - malodyets 8y ago
    Once upon a time they called it a commonplace book
    - mr_overalls 8y ago
      Pretty interesting that the roots of Evernote begin in Early Modern Europe. I've been doing this for years (on paper, no less) without knowing that it had a name. Edit: Here's an article that gave me some good ideas about different things to do with my book. https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book/ https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/how-and-why-...
      - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
        I didn’t understand what the parent was trying to say until I read your comment. Commomplace book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book
    - bookofjoe 8y ago
      I did the same sort of thing, but with quotes on paper. I took 30 years worth, organized them, and published the results as a book.
Diederich 8y ago
Link please. (:
vira28 8y ago
recently came across http://jrnl.sh/ http://jrnl.sh/
- read_if_gay_ 8y ago
  Vimwiki [1] is probably also worth a mention because it has a neat diary feature as well. Jrnl appears to have more diary specific features, but Vimwiki also worked well so far for my (probably rather basic) needs. [1]: https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki

jkeuhlen 8y ago

What do you mean by quotes file?

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
It’s a text file where I’ve copy and pasted paragraphs and comments I’ve found interesting from books and online, and a few of my own thoughts. Each entry is preceded by the date the entry was made, and followed by a reference to the source. Because I’ve used some of the material multiple times I’m vaguely aware of the overall structure, and I use it as a bit of a knowledge-base. As an example I’ll probably pop this comment in there later, so some of the materiel is mundane. Some of it seemed profound in the context of my life at the time, but might make less sense years later out of context. I’ve only ever deleted a handful of entries in that 17 years. I guess parts of it are a bit like a diary too, but I’ve never been very good at intentionally keeping a diary.
- malodyets 8y ago
  Once upon a time they called it a commonplace book
  - mr_overalls 8y ago
    Pretty interesting that the roots of Evernote begin in Early Modern Europe. I've been doing this for years (on paper, no less) without knowing that it had a name. Edit: Here's an article that gave me some good ideas about different things to do with my book. https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book/ https://thoughtcatalog.com/ryan-holiday/2013/08/how-and-why-...
    - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
      I didn’t understand what the parent was trying to say until I read your comment. Commomplace book - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book
  - bookofjoe 8y ago
    I did the same sort of thing, but with quotes on paper. I took 30 years worth, organized them, and published the results as a book.

Diederich 8y ago

Link please. (:

vira28 8y ago

recently came across http://jrnl.sh/ http://jrnl.sh/

read_if_gay_ 8y ago
Vimwiki [1] is probably also worth a mention because it has a neat diary feature as well. Jrnl appears to have more diary specific features, but Vimwiki also worked well so far for my (probably rather basic) needs. [1]: https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki