Writing

I like writing in English as well as in programming languages. I’ve written well over two million words in my lifetime, though much of that is “for internal use only” in my various systems for keeping track of my life and developing thoughts. Some of the places I publish things:

• Grok TiddlyWiki, a complete textbook on the wiki/hypertext/notes software TiddlyWiki.
• Control-Alt-Backspace, a blog that collects ideas on regaining control in an increasingly complex world. This is about technology and practical advice for using it, but it’s also about design, human-computer interaction, and doing things by hand when it’s more appropriate. I post on most Mondays when I don’t have other major writing projects interfering.
• My Zettelkasten. A Zettelkasten is a kind of note-taking system focused around developing ideas and finding connections between unrelated ideas, goals it advances by avoiding chronological or hierarchical orderings and making you constantly come back to old notes. About two-thirds of my Zettelkasten is published on the web, both because it’s really handy to be able to send someone a link to details on what I think or know about a particular topic, and as a public service because having some publicly accessible Zettelkästen with various organizational philosophies and topics is extremely useful for new practitioners of the system.
• Random Thoughts, a commonplace book and collection of miscellanea. I’ve only actually written a portion of it (at least half the text is quotes from elsewhere), but it seems to fit on this list nevertheless.
• The Technical Geekery, my old website about computers and technology (I’ve been writing about technology since I was in junior high). I no longer add new content here, but it’s mostly not embarrassing and still contains a lot of information that may be interesting.