Writing Inbox in iA Writer

Inbox workflow from Ploum:

I simply have an “inbox” folder where there are drafts in gemtext format. They could linger there for months or years. Sometimes, they are published one hour after starting them. There’s no rule.

I’ve been greatly influenced by Cory Doctorow and his memex method. In my inbox, I keep a “today.gmi” file in which I write small reflections and links to interesting articles. When the file is bigger than 1000 words, I try to give it a direction, I reorder the nuggets and publish it without thinking too much about it.

As a consequence, my blog is a mix of focused posts that took a long time to write, focused posts that were written in a whim and posts containing random thoughts and links. I let you try to guess in which category is a given post.

I like the ideas of this post. Having an inbox where my posts are drafted, then publish them directly. I should have a better system for using iA Writer in my everyday blogging, not just longer posts and the Zettelkasten-type notes.

I basically have a Bike outline named “Decoding”, which is used as daily notes and I can publish things directly from there. iA Writer is more for post drafts, or general ideas. I should maybe use it to draft stuff there. If something emerges, then maybe create a project for it in my Writings folder.

So this is the order of my idea flow:

  1. Bike outline for short posts and ramblings
  2. Drafts for ideas when I’m away from the computer
    • Or I want to add a new idea to my threads in iA Writer
  3. Use iA Writer to write or nurture these draft posts
  4. Create a new Writings project if it needs longer form writing
  5. Publish the posts from iA Writer depending on the location

I should just have one place, which is the #Drafting tag to use it as a writing inbox.

I really like how Andy Matuschak 2024-08-19_16-24-andy-matuschak uses the writing inbox concept. It is a list of ideas which should be worked on, then formed into something final.

I should have some form of flow with any material which is enters my life somehow, I work on it, shape it, then I have a final artifact 2.8.4 which can be used as a product that I’m sharing with someone (or me).

So when I’m working on something, I should ask that how this will be finalized?