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I find the combination of using emacs daily with handwriting his books bizarre. I'm sure it's that he separates the two activities, but it's funny to go "OK, I'

I find the combination of using emacs daily with handwriting his books bizarre. I'm sure it's that he separates the two activities, but it's funny to go "OK, I'm going to abandon the super optimized text editor I'm using to go write text for my job."

lelandfe 4y ago
People are funny. I have an awesome to-do tracking setup, with everything I need bound to global hotkeys. Yet I still find myself reaching for my legal notepad to scrawl out rough ideas.
- vorpalhex 4y ago
  Yup, same here. I have the best note taking and task management apps money can buy (imo) but I still use dot grid legal pads for many things. I find I use the two sets of tools very differently, despite seeming redundant on the surface.
ploum 4y ago
I’m myself a writer, geek and my hobby is developing free software. I do every text/blog post in Neovim, including emails with Neomutt. I do everything in console. Using the bépo layout (which is dvorak for French). I write my books, my journal and my zettelkasten with an Azerty mechanical typewriter. I think I do really understand his philosophy…
- nerpderp82 4y ago
  Is it a version of the Knuth airgap? Single tasking with few distractions?
  - kbenson 4y ago
    There could be many things working at once. Constraints often yield surprising benefits through innovation or forcing things to be distilled to the core important bits. In Stephenson's case, if he happens to record core info and not necessarily the full sentence he will write, which he can then finagle the right structure and prose for later, maybe that allows for better flow. If that's indeed what he's doing, it might be like writing pseudo-code and then going back and translating it into the programming language medium of choice. The benefit of writing in a journal is that it's probably easier to do on a sunny day at the beach in the sand than it would be on a laptop or tablet. Also maybe seeing old ideas crossed out on paper helps later when looking back over it to get you into the same headspace. Sometimes we over-optimize for aspect of a task (such as getting ideas down quick) in a way that's detrimental to the process itself when we step back and look at the whole.
    - ploum 4y ago
      All of that. And the simple fact I posted the previous comment is the proof I’m procrastinating my next chapter ;-)
  - robbintt 4y ago
    what is the knuth airgap?
    - techdragon 4y ago
      Donald Knuth, Turing Award winner, author of the The Art of Computer Programming, original author of the TeX computer typesetting system, and many other impressive works. Is well known for not using email. https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html I suspect this is what they are talk about.
s1artibartfast 4y ago
Interesting that you find it bizarre when he clearly states his rationale. The intention is to put mechanical constraints on throughput and make it take longer. It seems like a matter of picking the right tool for the job.
- boomboomsubban 4y ago
  I can understand the rationale and still find it bizarre. I'm not criticizing his process, it's odd and unexpected to me.
  - s1artibartfast 4y ago
    Thats fair. I guess I just know a lot of people who use analog or less technological methods for process/quality reasons, so it is less strange to me.
consumer451 4y ago
I understand what you are getting at, but I find it more inspiring than bizarre. I am inspired by the fact that this man is able to use the correct tool for the particular job. I am also inspired by the self-awareness required to make such a call.
enneff 4y ago
From previous interviews I have seen him say his process for writing those books was to hand write them for the first draft and then transcribe them into emacs as part of the editing process. Seems pretty sensible to me; get the thoughts on the page without an easy way to fuss over the exact prose, and then labour over the exact structure and phrasing later.
kerpotgh 4y ago
I use a notepad to take notes. It offers degrees of freedom that nothing else can compare to including an iPad with a stylus. A text editor is extremely limiting.

lelandfe 4y ago

People are funny. I have an awesome to-do tracking setup, with everything I need bound to global hotkeys. Yet I still find myself reaching for my legal notepad to scrawl out rough ideas.

vorpalhex 4y ago
Yup, same here. I have the best note taking and task management apps money can buy (imo) but I still use dot grid legal pads for many things. I find I use the two sets of tools very differently, despite seeming redundant on the surface.

ploum 4y ago

I’m myself a writer, geek and my hobby is developing free software. I do every text/blog post in Neovim, including emails with Neomutt. I do everything in console. Using the bépo layout (which is dvorak for French). I write my books, my journal and my zettelkasten with an Azerty mechanical typewriter. I think I do really understand his philosophy…

nerpderp82 4y ago
Is it a version of the Knuth airgap? Single tasking with few distractions?
- kbenson 4y ago
  There could be many things working at once. Constraints often yield surprising benefits through innovation or forcing things to be distilled to the core important bits. In Stephenson's case, if he happens to record core info and not necessarily the full sentence he will write, which he can then finagle the right structure and prose for later, maybe that allows for better flow. If that's indeed what he's doing, it might be like writing pseudo-code and then going back and translating it into the programming language medium of choice. The benefit of writing in a journal is that it's probably easier to do on a sunny day at the beach in the sand than it would be on a laptop or tablet. Also maybe seeing old ideas crossed out on paper helps later when looking back over it to get you into the same headspace. Sometimes we over-optimize for aspect of a task (such as getting ideas down quick) in a way that's detrimental to the process itself when we step back and look at the whole.
  - ploum 4y ago
    All of that. And the simple fact I posted the previous comment is the proof I’m procrastinating my next chapter ;-)
- robbintt 4y ago
  what is the knuth airgap?
  - techdragon 4y ago
    Donald Knuth, Turing Award winner, author of the The Art of Computer Programming, original author of the TeX computer typesetting system, and many other impressive works. Is well known for not using email. https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/email.html I suspect this is what they are talk about.

s1artibartfast 4y ago

Interesting that you find it bizarre when he clearly states his rationale. The intention is to put mechanical constraints on throughput and make it take longer. It seems like a matter of picking the right tool for the job.

boomboomsubban 4y ago
I can understand the rationale and still find it bizarre. I'm not criticizing his process, it's odd and unexpected to me.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  Thats fair. I guess I just know a lot of people who use analog or less technological methods for process/quality reasons, so it is less strange to me.

consumer451 4y ago

I understand what you are getting at, but I find it more inspiring than bizarre. I am inspired by the fact that this man is able to use the correct tool for the particular job. I am also inspired by the self-awareness required to make such a call.

enneff 4y ago

From previous interviews I have seen him say his process for writing those books was to hand write them for the first draft and then transcribe them into emacs as part of the editing process. Seems pretty sensible to me; get the thoughts on the page without an easy way to fuss over the exact prose, and then labour over the exact structure and phrasing later.

kerpotgh 4y ago

I use a notepad to take notes. It offers degrees of freedom that nothing else can compare to including an iPad with a stylus. A text editor is extremely limiting.