# Writer Deck Part 2 - Software

This entry is part 2 of a series of posts about a machine that I'm building for the purposes of writing. The previous post here (opens new window) outlines how I got interested in the idea and what it is that I think I need from a writer deck. Today, I'll discuss the software and workflow I use right now for writing.

It might come as a bit of a shock to some of you looking at this polished site and the obvious care that went into its design, but I don't really care too much about formatting or layout. Granted, there are a few posts here with some components and there are times when I want more than just paragraphs on the page, but even then, I've front-loaded a lot of the work of the layout so that I can concentrate on the content.

The minimal need for any kind of layout, accompanied by the rendering library that this site uses made markdown (opens new window) a natural choice to write blog posts. It's all plain text and the symbols used for the small amount of markup I need are minimally intrusive. Using markdown for blog posts led me to start using it for all of my writing. One of the main benefits of this is the plain text because, guaranteed, any computer is going to be able to edit that. Another thing it has going for it is that 99.9% of it is just the words. I can also use source control for storing my files and tracking the changes. This comes back to me writing software for a living, and I trust something like Bitbucket a lot more than I trust Google Drive. Speaking of software, the symbols used for headings make it very easy to break my stories into chapters programmatically, in case I want to edit them.

# Text Editor

Between Bitbucket and Markdown, I have the backup and the format. If you've been following at home,it shouldn't be too much of a stretch that Vim is the text editor I use for writing. Yes, that makes me an uber-geek. I will acknowledge that. But the benefits outweigh the silent scorn of the community that I've made up in my head.

# Ubiquity

Vim is available for every major operating system. The controls can be a little bit to learn, but this is meant for first drafts, not complex structural edits with sections flying around here and there. And compared to the software that ships on commercial writer decks, Vim is ridiculously full of features.

# Light-weight

Vim, besides being available, can run performantly on any machine broadly available probably within the last fifteen years or more. Learning to use, and enjoy using Vim has made my writing workflow future-proof.

# Free and Open-Source

No hidden subscription model. No nagging for donations or license upgrades. No in-app purchases.

# For the Keyboard

Sure, I can use a mouse, a trackball, a trackpad, trackpoint, touchscreen, or tablet and pen. I don't like it, but I can. I don't have to when I use Vim.

# As Single-Purpose as I Want It To Be

There are really advanced things that a Vim power-user can do. I know some of them, in general around navigation and searching, but I've only scratched the surface. Thing is, I don't need to know more than I do in order to make good use of it.

# Operating System

Once again, in the category of unsurprising things, I use Linux as the main operating system when I write. I like to use the full-screen TTY mode for writing. It is reminiscent of writing in old DOS word processors, and is as distraction-free as you can get.

# Writer Deck

The notion of writing my own text editor to put on a simple Arduino has its attractions. I love starting things from scratch. The one problem is that I don't often finish things that I start from scratch, and while I can see something like a writer deck being a good project to tinker with from time to time, it's also something I would like to actually have and use. So, I have the hardware to build something custom, but in the mean time, I have a more simple, and more fully-featured (ironic, I know) writer deck that I can put together to use outside of the time-frame of learning Arduino development and futzing around with hand-wiring keyboards and whatnot.

Next time, I'll talk about the hardware that goes into the simple writer deck and maybe even have some photos of the assembled machine.

At any rate, that's it for now.

Liam