From Neovim to Emacs: How a Writer Rebuilt His Workflow (ft. Theena)

Theena Kumaragurunathan is a multidisciplinary artist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He is the author of the national award winning novel 'First Utterance', and the director of 'Pala'. He is an advocate for FOSS technology.

Link to the video:

https://youtu.be/5W0bcoFkvLY

What's the best way to support me?

https://linkarzu.com/about/#youre-a-fraud-why-do-you-ask-for-money-isnt-youtube-ads-enough

Timeline:

00:00:00 - Who is Theena

00:03:30 - In pandemic vim journey started

00:04:20 - Switch from rich text to plain text

00:05:28 - Theenas novel First Utterance

00:07:30 - working on 2nd book, science fiction

00:07:53 - First Utterance on amazon

00:09:25 - Theenas videos in neovimconf

00:10:28 - Status of youtube channel

00:10:55 - What is LaTeX

00:12:00 - LaTeX art director publish process

00:15:30 - How to set up a LaTeX document

00:17:50 - Switch between different typographies

00:22:00 - Why not Microsoft Word, but LaTeX

00:24:25 - LaTeX and a trilingual novel

00:28:15 - Can LaTeX replace word

00:30:10 - Markdown and multiple fonts

00:31:30 - Can LaTeX replace word as a writer

00:32:40 - Send to editor and publish process

00:35:10 - Org mode love affair

00:37:25 - From neovim to emacs

00:38:38 - Zettelkasten method, snake oil

00:43:15 - Zettelkasten with vimwiki in Neovim

00:44:28 - Neovide mentioned

00:47:20 - Zettelkasten to go back in time

00:52:40 - Zettelkasten in org-roam

00:53:31 - org-roam graph view

00:54:40 - Aaron Sorkin screenwriting

00:58:18 - Why not org to write the book

01:01:55 - Images in org and latex

01:03:40 - Thoughts on Markdown

01:06:53 - Theena try to move me away from md

01:08:24 - Thoughts on Obsidian

01:09:45 - Emacs for writers, Neal Stephenson

01:12:43 - Thoughts on Lisp

01:15:35 - Still using Neovim for LaTeX

01:16:15 - Do you migrate old notes to new tools

01:19:40 - Git for a writer

01:21:45 - Emacs screenplay writing

01:22:45 - What are Neovim users gonna say

01:23:35 - Why Neovim for LaTeX

01:25:35 - Emacs app or in the terminal

01:26:07 - Emacs to view PDFs and EPUBs

01:26:50 - Emacs vs Neovide in smoothness

01:28:00 - Emacs vs Neovim in smoothness

01:29:35 - Coming back home daddy

01:30:00 - Thoughts on vim motions

01:33:00 - Thoughts on Harper

01:34:00 - Partner thoughts on programmer hat

01:35:50 - What's happening with oviwrite

01:37:00 - What's a writer doing maitaining a repo

01:38:00 - Why play with the tools too much

01:41:25 - Do the tools give you super powers

01:43:30 - Explaining vim motions to your partner

01:45:35 - Why not stop with vim

01:48:25 - Calling other writers, monkeys

01:50:50 - Hours spent configuring stuff

01:53:30 - Emacs kickstarter for neovim users

01:54:20 - LazyGit for emacs magit

01:57:00 - Started converting other users as well

02:00:45 - OVIWrite passing the flag

02:01:45 - OS of choice, macos

02:04:05 - yabai, skhd, JankyBorders, raycast

02:06:54 - First OS, macos

02:08:55 - Thoughts on Windows

02:11:00 - Terminal emulator, kitty

02:11:57 - Single or multiple monitors

02:13:00 - Keyboard

02:14:55 - macOS app kindaVim

02:15:51 - Partners get excited with keyboards

02:20:45 - Pala movie, where to find it, Mubi

02:23:45 - Favorite movies

02:25:30 - Favorite music bands

02:26:45 - Favorite books