https://escapewindow.com/tags/tools/ Recent content in tools on Escape(Window) Hugo -- gohugo.io en Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2026-04-12-chawan/ Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2026-04-12-chawan/ SSH browser For whatever reasons, I’m back to SSHing into my laptop via Tailscale for some quick hacking. Between neovim and tmux, it almost feels like I’m hacking locally. This has historically provided a single challenge: my Hugo web server only works on localhost and I can’t be bothered to spend the time to fix it, so I’ve been pushing blog changes without testing. Then I started adding test coverage to markdown-novel-tools. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2026-04-02-ish/ Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2026-04-02-ish/ iPhone writing environment Tl;dr: I think I have a way to write and edit my book via terminal and vim on my iPhone. The problem and various failed solutions My ergonomic desk setup has been, and will be for the next number of months, unavailable for Reasons. To adjust for this, I picked up a pair of XReal Ones. They work well with various devices, whether I’m working, consuming content, or gaming, and I can sit, stand, or recline with no issues. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-06-30-june-in-writing/ Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-06-30-june-in-writing/ Manuscript progress This month I tried to keep my manuscript read-only to avoid diverging too far from my developmental editor’s draft. Instead, I’ve been brainstorming future books. I’m surfacing changes to make in book 1 to set up future books, plus it’s fun to think about future storylines. I’m pretty far behind in transcribing these handwritten pages to my wiki, but I’m catching up slowly. Also, I got beta reader feedback! https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-05-31-may-in-writing/ Sat, 31 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-05-31-may-in-writing/ Manuscript progress I had named my end-of-April milestone 4.0b1; I needed to do a read-through to catch any issues before completing the fourth draft. I finished that read-through in May, but the changes were extensive: a number of chapter and scene reorders, with a number of major scene rewrites. I retroactively renamed 4.0b1 to 4.0, and labeled my latest changes the fifth draft. I submitted the fifth draft to my beta reader and developmental editor [! https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-04-30-april-in-writing/ Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-04-30-april-in-writing/ Fourth Draft progress I finished the fourth draft’s initial manuscript pass, where I updated the scenes with my notes and rewrites from my third draft read…I think having a hard deadline made me way more productive than anything else. I don’t yet consider the fourth draft finished, but I’ll finish by the end of May :) Developmental Edit I made a serious push to find a developmental editor in April, especially since they tend to be booked out a number of months. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-03-31-march-in-writing/ Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-03-31-march-in-writing/ Fourth Draft progress I’m over the worst of my jet lag from my trip to Japan. I still woke up at 2am this morning, but I’ve been up and productive, so I’ll take it. I’ve finished reading the book. And I started the fourth draft. I’m going to try to finish this draft pass by the end of April, though that may be optimistic. More details below. Reading my book I focused too much on line- and paragraph-level issues, editing as I go, when all of the advice said to read the book at a high level. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-02-28-february-in-writing/ Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-02-28-february-in-writing/ Third Draft and Beyond It was a good February. I finished my initial 3rd draft manuscript edit pass on the 23rd, likely the first time I completed a milestone before my soft deadline. I had thought the 3rd Point of View would take the longest, because I had massively altered its outline and arc, but it turns out I had already addressed most of those changes in draft 2.5. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-01-31-january-in-writing/ Fri, 31 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2025-01-31-january-in-writing/ Third Draft The 2nd POV continues. At the beginning of the month, I was going slowly; I had hit the section of Act Two that I had heavily refactored, so I was largely writing scenes from scratch. I finally caught up to the parts that had largely stayed the same, and I sped up significantly. And then, as of the past week or so, I’ve slowed back down: I’m hitting Act 3 and the climactic scenes, which always slow me down. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2024-08-31-august-in-writing/ Sat, 31 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2024-08-31-august-in-writing/ Finished Draft 2.5 A little over halfway through the month, I completed draft 2.5! Which I was pretty happy about. On to Draft 3 I updated my scripts: I added epub support to my conversion script. I added a script to parse all the Questions, Promises, Reveals, and Goals out of my outline, so I can: spread out the dissemination of information, and ensure I don’t unintentionally leave any questions unanswered. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2024-05-28-raspberry-pi/ Tue, 28 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2024-05-28-raspberry-pi/ iPad Workarounds I’ve written before how I love the iPad form factor, but how it lacks in basic functionality. I’m not alone in this. I agree with many of the gripes, and many of the calls to mix the functionality of macOS and iPadOS, but my largest pain point is the lack of a fully functioning terminal. I’ve largely solved this by SSHing from my iPad, into my Mac (at home) over Tailscale. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2024-02-29-february-in-writing/ Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2024-02-29-february-in-writing/ I’m back My github activity shows I’m out of my December/January productivity slump :) One outline to rule them all In February I combined all of my small single-arc plot tables into one massive table spanning the entire book. While this was challenging, I now find the story exploding in my mind, a non-stop chain reaction of ideas. I can see the book in its entirety at a high level, and I can dig down to subtle details. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2024-01-31-january-in-writing/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2024-01-31-january-in-writing/ Fixing all the arcs In January, I continued drilling down into each of the arcs’ beats and structure, moving between index cards, spreadsheets, markdown tables, and good old bullet points. (Switching between these media also served as a way for me to review my previous work and ideas, often sparking ideas on how to fix or improve the old structures and scene ideas.) A number of the old Draft 2. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2023-12-31-complex-plotting/ Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2023-12-31-complex-plotting/ (December in Writing) My third POV is re-outlined in broad strokes, and I’m working on drilling down into the scene level. It does feel like the story and characters are coming back alive for me. However, most of December has been a struggle in writing productivity and focus. I have been improving my tools and outlines, so I’ll focus this blog post on those. GoodNotes 5 and templates I had purchased GoodNotes 5 for my iPad some time ago. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2023-09-30-lazyvim/ Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2023-09-30-lazyvim/ Obsidian and obsidian.nvim I’ve spent most of my software career editing text in vi or its successors, vim or neovim. Not only do I feel comfortable in vim, but I find myself missing its functionality when I use other editors. While I generally enjoy using obsidian’s UI, I still reach for vim when I want to refactor or perform complex operations. My .vimrc has gotten quite crufty over the years, but it’s worked for me, so I haven’t bothered fixing it up. https://escapewindow.com/blog/2023-08-18-convert.py/ Fri, 18 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://escapewindow.com/blog/2023-08-18-convert.py/ I’ve started thinking about the book as a whole again. I’m rewriting the elevator pitch / logline / controlling idea first, so I can easily tell if a scene doesn’t fit before I write it. I have this long laundry list of fixes in Things that I need to get to. A new map that fits the story. Non-placeholder names. A stronger sense of progression. I plan on re-outlining the book before diving into the second draft.