<h1>My Writing Environment As a Software Engineer</h1>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>TL;DR: <em>Get a good text editor, and get good at using it.
Keep a notepad by your side.
Find a quiet place to write.</em></strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Writing is one of life's greater joys.
It's a mental workout that often brings me a level of clarity that is hard to find elsewhere.
I have never sat down to write for an extended period of time without coming away with a greater understanding of myself and the universe.</p>
<p>I imagine that sounds pretty cheesy.</p>
<p>I just want to impress upon you the importance writing has had in my life.
As with anything this important, I have an instinctual urge to optimize it.
As software engineers, isn't that part of our modus operandi?
To spend an unnecessary amount of time optimizing things?</p>
<p>Well, that's exactly what I've done.
Over the years, I've spend a unruly amount of time tweaking and changing the tools I use to write.
I'd love to talk about 'em.</p>
<h2>Neovim</h2>
<p>In the past few years, Neovim has the talk of the town.
Its ancestor, <code>vi</code> was borne from the observation that most writing is re-writing, and thus it includes a vast array of specific tools for editing text, rather than writing it.
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/neovim/"><code>r/neovim</code></a> has swelled to more than 110 thousand weekly visitors and thousands of plugins and LSPs to choose from.</p>
<p>Unless you choose a pre-built distro like <a href="https://www.lazyvim.org/">LazyVim</a>, Neovim does very little out of the box.
It is through relentless customization that it becomes something truly powerful.
Beside the various keybindings in my config, the important plugins and tools that I use are:</p>
<h3><a href="https://writewithharper.com">Harper</a></h3>
<p>As I'm the chief maintainer, this one should be of no surprise.
Don't worry, I won't give you the marketing spiel.
I'll simply say that Harper is a grammar checker that happens to work exceptionally well in Neovim.</p>
<h3><a href="https://github.com/folke/zen-mode.nvim">Zen Mode</a></h3>
<img src="/images/zen_mode.png" alt="Zen Mode: Activated">
<p>Plain Neovim organizes each file to cover the maximum amount of space on-screen.
Practically, this means most of my text ends up on the left side, which can hurt my neck.
Zen mode restricts the width of the file and centers it on the screen.</p>
<h3><a href="./the_simplest_neovim_markdown_setup">Tatum</a></h3>
<img src="/images/tatum_screenshot.webp" alt="A screenshot of Tatum at work">
<p>Tatum is a small tool I wrote in a few hours that lets me live-preview my Markdown as HTML.
I won't repeat myself.
If you're curious about Tatum, check out my <a href="./the_simplest_neovim_markdown_setup">previous blog post.</a></p>
<h3>More Details</h3>
<p>If you're thirsty for <em>all</em> the details of my Neovim setup, take a quick look at the configuration code on <a href="https://github.com/elijah-potter/dots/tree/master/nvim">GitHub</a>.</p>
<h2>ReMarkable 2</h2>
<p>A few years ago, while I was still in school, I splurged and purchased a used Remarkable 2.
Even now, there is rarely a day that goes by where I don't use it.
Sure, everything it does could be easily approximated by paper.
On the other hand, the thin device saves my back whenever I have to travel and there's a certain joy that comes from using an e-ink device like this.</p>
<img src="/images/remarkable.jpeg" alt="A Recent Brainstorming Session on the ReMarkable">
<p>I mostly use it to read digital books and blog posts, but it's also come in handy for getting around writer's block.
Being forced to slow down and use my hand to write, rather than a keyboard, is quite helpful in some inexplicable way.</p>
<h2>A Quiet Space</h2>
<p>More important than any text editor, at least for me, is a quiet space.</p>
<p>As I said before, writing can take real cognitive effort.
A space with distracting noise can make it unnecessarily hard to get words on paper.
I've found local libraries or co-working spaces to be great places for quiet authorship.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, do not listen to music with words in it.
Even if it <em>feels</em> more productive, I retroactively find that it makes me less so.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>There's probably some more important points I'm leaving out, but I definitely believe I've hit the big three.
For me, the most important parts of a good writing environment, as a software engineer, are my text editor, a notepad, and a quiet space.</p>

Writing is one of life's greater joys. It's a mental workout that often brings me a level of clarity that is hard to find elsewhere.

<p>Writing is one of life's greater joys. It's a mental workout that often brings me a level of clarity that is hard to find elsewhere.</p>

My Writing Environment as a Software Engineer

<h1>Why I Talk to Myself</h1>
<img src="/images/bike_sidewalk.webp" alt="My bike broke down. Luckily, I had my camera">
<p>Each week I sit down and reflect on what I've learned. I think about which of my efforts have helped the Harper endeavor, and which have harmed it. It's not easy, but I think it's one of the best habits I've built. More accurately, it's one of the best habits <a href="https://ma.tt">Matt</a> has encouraged me to build.</p>
<p>When I really think about it, I'm reminded of the original <a href="https://blog.afterthedeadline.com/">After the Deadline blog</a>, which coincidentally also had a category called "Talking to Myself". I wonder if Raphael Mudge (AtD's author) had a similar motivation.</p>
<p>I talk to myself to find the weaknesses in Harper's mission and focus my attention on what matters. It is an efficient way to get from <a href="https://ma.tt/2025/05/sharing-levels/">layer one to layer five</a>. It can help get other maintainers on the same page and build a body of knowledge that can be linked to from anywhere.</p>
<p>Not worrying about keeping information locked-down is one of the more beautiful parts of working in public. Open source code would be nothing without similarly open source knowledge. I talk to myself <em>online</em> so my users can understand my intentions.</p>
<p>In many senses, we are not unlike moths. We are drawn to the lights of distraction, hype, and procrastination. For me, setting up checkpoints to stop and reflect has been an effective deterrent from these lights. In fact, I think each minute for which I stop and think has paid itself back three times over in time savings. If I can better allocate my time and energy, I can avoid doing redundant work pursuing pointless goals.</p>
<h2>Bonus Points</h2>
<p>A <a href="./markov_chains_are_the_original_language_models">few</a> of my <a href="./local-first_software_is_easier_to_scale">articles</a> have become popular on sites like Hacker News and Reddit. We've gotten quite a few Harper installations from links on these articles. I would never rely on this kind of blogging as a source of advertising, but it is nice to see it help spread the word.</p>

It's not easy, but I think it's one of the best habits I've ever built.

<p>It's not easy, but I think it's one of the best habits I've ever built.</p>

Why I Talk to Myself

<h1>Hacker News, sans AI</h1>
<p>I like Hacker News, but I do not love that so much of it has turned into discussion of a single topic: AI. So, I have created my own version.
A version of Hacker News, without AI.</p>
<p><a href="/hnsansai">HNSansAI</a> pulls from the official Hacker News API, looks through the content of each article, and discards any that mention a term related to "AI". That includes stuff like:</p>
<ul>
<li>"OpenAI"</li>
<li>"Anthropic"</li>
<li>"Copilot"</li>
<li>"LLM"</li>
<li>…and many more.</li>
</ul>

I like HackerNews, but I don't love that so much of it has turned into discussion of a single topic: AI. This is a version of HackerNews, filtered to remove any article focusing on __AI__. Refreshes about every ten minutes.

<p>I like HackerNews, but I don't love that so much of it has turned into discussion of a single topic: AI. This is a version of HackerNews, filtered to remove any article focusing on <strong>AI</strong>. Refreshes about every ten minutes.</p>

Hacker News sans AI

<h1>Harper in the News</h1>
<p>The biggest complaint about Harper is that the quality of grammar checking still needs some work.
I've got an exciting new project I'm preparing to discuss later this week (hopefully) in that area.
It should be a step-function improvement over our previous methods for creating new rules.</p>
<p>In the meantime, I've collected some recent sightings of Harper in the wild:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://obsidian.rocks/resource-harper/">Obsidian Rocks</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.wearefounders.uk/the-grammar-checker-that-actually-gets-developers-meet-harper/">We Are Founders</a></li>
<li><a href="https://itsfoss.com/harper-grammar-checker/">It's FOSS</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.xda-developers.com/ditched-grammarly-for-this-amazing-open-source-alternative/">XDA Developers</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.maketecheasier.com/harper-vs-grammarly/">Make Tech Easier</a></li>
</ul>

I've got some exciting new work I'm preparing to discuss later this week (hopefully). In the meantime, I've collected some recent sightings of Harper in the wild.

<p>I've got some exciting new work I'm preparing to discuss later this week (hopefully). In the meantime, I've collected some recent sightings of Harper in the wild.</p>

Elijah Potter

Harper in the News

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Other Stuff

My Writing Environment as a Software Engineer

Why I Talk to Myself

Hacker News sans AI