How I Currently Write

This post is about how I currently write blog posts.

The procedure has three steps: drafting, digitization and editing.

Drafting

In the drafting phase I do one of two things.

Either I take a walk and record a voice memo with my phone or my watch.

Or I sit down on a sofa in a cafe, or somewhere else, and write on my reMarkable e-ink tablet.

Whatever I feel like.

Digitization

After drafting, the writing has to become digital.

I transcribe the voice memos with superwhisper. If I used the reMarkable, I use their OCR to convert the handwriting into text.

Editing

Now the real editing starts.

Currently in Ghostty, with two panes: Neovim and a terminal. In the terminal I run a coding agent. I switch between reading and writing in Neovim and asking the agent for feedback.

The first thing I do is use my polish-text skill [1]. It strips transcription and OCR errors and adds a bit of structure, so the next steps are easier.

Then I read it and check it.

After that I use the proofread-post skill: the coding agent reviews the post and flags weak arguments [2]. I decide what I agree with and what I don't, edit the text, and go back and forth with the agent a couple of times. The skill is ripped off from Simon Willison's proofread prompt [3]. I used the exact prompt at the start and only slightly evolved from there.

Once I'm satisfied, I publish.

Notes

[1] Here's the polish-text skill.

[2] Here's the proofread-post skill.

[3] This is Simon's proofreader prompt.