Re: [emacs-humanities] How do you keep engaged with your writings?

[Gary Klimowicz]

On Jan 30, 2021, at 21:07, Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@gmail.com> wrote:

> Gary Klimowicz <gak@pobox.com> writes:
> 
>> I'm starting to wish I had a Luhmann-style indexing system for the reference 
>> material. I don't want these docs to clog up my list of my own notes. But I 
>> wish I had a handle more permanent than a file's directory and name to refer 
>> to them by.
> 
> I personally keep my references as org headings. Because org has a
> feature to attach files to a heading, I do not need to worry about where
> the file is located while I can find the associated heading.

That makes a lot of sense. I haven't used org attachments before, but that may 
be the right way to pull reference materials in as I really need them, as 
opposed to my current PDF library. The references get "curated" into the 
project as I make use of them.

>> I might really want deft and zetteldeft to allow me to have multiple such 
>> node lists available simultaneously.
> 
> I am not familiar with deft/zetteldeft, but can't you just have two
> directories - one with notes and one with references? Then, deft can
> search in one or other directory according to your choice.

Yes, and that was what I was doing for a while. But the switching cost between 
the two sets of directories was high. The PDF library has some 500+ folders and 
3000+ PDFs (covering many more topics than what I need for my planned research 
project). It's more like the "stacks" in a library where important, but 
seldom-used books are kept.

I'm leaning toward something that forces me to curate the collection, for my 
own sanity.

Thank you, Ihor.