dotfiles/modules/writing.org

Writing

I am using Org mode¹ extensively throughout my writing. Most of the improvements are done in the Core module, but all of the management, encryption, synchronization, and organization of all of my writing happens here.

Improvements

Real time checking and one-shot methods to check and correct common spelling and grammatical errors.

Spelling

Configure InteractiveSpell² as a backend with FlySpell³ for real time checking and highlighting.

(use-package ispell
  :after org
  :custom (ispell-dictionary dotfiles/lang))

Toggle highlighting within buffers with SPC t s.

(dotfiles/leader
  "ts" '(flyspell-buffer :which-key "Spelling"))

Grammar

I use Writegood⁴ to find common writing problems such as cliches and poor wording. Grammarly for the peons!

(use-package writegood-mode
  :after org
  :config (writegood-mode))

Toggle Writegood mode with SPC t w.

(dotfiles/leader
  "tw" '(writegood-mode :which-key "Grammar"))

Knowledge base

Download and install Org roam⁵, a plain text knowledge management system for Emacs built on top of Org mode¹.

• Notes can be arbitrarily referenced

• Contexts created by linking topics and notes

• Install dependencies on Debian/Ubuntu systems

• Configure custom keybindings for roam behind SPC r

  • Find with f

  • Insert with i

  • Buffer with b

  • Capture with c

(use-package org-roam
  :hook (after-init . org-roam-mode)
  :custom (org-roam-directory org-directory)
          (org-roam-capture-templates '())
          (org-roam-dailies-capture-templates '())
  :config (dotfiles/leader "r"  '(:ignore t :which-key "Roam")
                           "ri" '(org-roam-insert :which-key "Insert")
                           "rf" '(org-roam-find-file :which-key "Find")
                           "rc" '(org-roam-capture :which-key "Capture")
                           "rb" '(org-roam-buffer-toggle-display :which-key "Buffer")))

File slugs

The default behaviour of org-roam when creating a title slug is to replace any non alpha numerical (whitespace) to _. I wanted to change this to use _ and have done so here in my own definition. The only substantial difference from the original definition is the character used.

• Define a new title-to-slug function

• Override org-roam-title-to-slug-function

(with-eval-after-load 'org-roam
  (require 'cl-lib)
  (defun dotfiles/title-to-slug (title)
    "Convert TITLE to a filename-suitable slug."
    (cl-flet* ((nonspacing-mark-p (char)
                                  (eq 'Mn (get-char-code-property char 'general-category)))
               (strip-nonspacing-marks (s)
                                       (apply #'string (seq-remove #'nonspacing-mark-p
                                                                   (ucs-normalize-NFD-string s))))
               (cl-replace (title pair)
                           (replace-regexp-in-string (car pair) (cdr pair) title)))
      (let* ((pairs `(("[^[:alnum:][:digit:]]" . "-") ;; Convert anything not alphanumeric.
                      ("--*" . "-")                   ;; Remove sequential dashes.
                      ("^-" . "")                     ;; Remove starting dashes.
                      ("-$" . "")))                   ;; Remove ending dashes.
             (slug (-reduce-from #'cl-replace (strip-nonspacing-marks title) pairs)))
        (downcase slug))))
  (setq org-roam-title-to-slug-function #'dotfiles/title-to-slug))

Web visualizer

Including the extension Org roam server⁶ will run a web application that visualizes the Org roam⁵ database. Available whenever the editor is running at https://localhost:8080. The image at the top of this page is an example of the application running.

(use-package org-roam-server
  :hook (org-roam-mode . org-roam-server-mode))

Daily note taking

Use the daily note feature of Org roam⁵ to capture daily notes. Create the default capture template with some preconfigured headers.

(with-eval-after-load 'org-roam
  (add-to-list 'org-roam-dailies-capture-templates
    '("d" "Default" entry (function org-roam-capture--get-point)
             "* %?"
             :file-name "docs/daily/%<%Y-%m-%d>"
             :head
"
,#+TITLE: %<%Y-%m-%d>
,#+AUTHOR: Christopher James Hayward

,#+OPTIONS: num:nil toc:nil todo:nil tasks:nil tags:nil
,#+OPTIONS: skip:nil author:nil email:nil creator:nil timestamp:nil
")))

Place keybindings behind SPC r d.

• Date with d

• Today with t

• Tomorrow with m

• Yesterday with y

(dotfiles/leader
  "rd" '(:ignore t :which-key "Dailies")
  "rdd" '(org-roam-dailies-find-date :which-key "Date")
  "rdt" '(org-roam-dailies-find-today :which-key "Today")
  "rdm" '(org-roam-dailies-find-tomorrow :which-key "Tomorrow")
  "rdy" '(org-roam-dailies-find-yesterday :which-key "Yesterday"))

Capture templates

• Capture template for generic documents

(with-eval-after-load 'org-roam
  (add-to-list 'org-roam-capture-templates
    '("d" "Default" entry (function org-roam-capture--get-point)
          "%?"
          :file-name "docs/${slug}"
          :unnarrowed t
          :head 
"
,#+TITLE: ${title}
,#+AUTHOR: Christopher James Hayward
,#+EMAIL: chris@chrishayward.xyz
")))

Custom capture template for courses.

• Capture a new buffer with SPC r c c

(with-eval-after-load 'org-roam
  (add-to-list 'org-roam-capture-templates
    '("c" "Course" plain (function org-roam-capture--get-point)
          "%?"
          :file-name "docs/courses/${slug}"
          :unnarrowed t
          :head
"
,#+TITLE: ${title}
,#+SUBTITLE:
,#+AUTHOR: Christopher James Hayward
,#+EMAIL: chris@chrishayward.xyz

,#+OPTIONS: num:nil toc:nil todo:nil tasks:nil tags:nil
,#+OPTIONS: skip:nil author:nil email:nil creator:nil timestamp:nil
")))

Agenda integration

More capture templates for Org roam⁵ are defined here in the context of specific domains and topics.

• Configure agenda sources

(setq org-agenda-files '("~/.emacs.d/" 
                         "~/.emacs.d/docs/"
                         "~/.emacs.d/docs/courses/"
                         "~/.emacs.d/docs/daily/"
                         "~/.emacs.d/docs/notes/"
                         "~/.emacs.d/docs/posts/"
                         "~/.emacs.d/docs/slides/"
                         "~/.emacs.d/hosts/"
                         "~/.emacs.d/modules/"))

• Open an agenda buffer with SPC a

(dotfiles/leader
  "a" '(org-agenda :which-key "Agenda"))

Resources

---

¹

https://orgmode.org

²

https://emacswiki.org/emacs/InteractiveSpell

³

https://emacswiki.org/emacs/FlySpell

⁴

https://github.com/bnbeckwith/writegood-mode

⁵

https://github.com/org-roam/org-roam

⁶

https://github.com/org-roam/org-roam-server