Writng-Keeping versions straight

Posted by JBfromBrainStormWFO
Jul 8, 2011 at 10:54 PM

In my experience, you need to HAVE version control, but you don’t want to actually USE it. That’s a last resort; it’s very opaque and clumsy.

Wikis and wordpress blogs both have version control, as well as auto datestamping, categories and tags.

I use a unique workflow for my writing. For me it has solved the whole problem of worrying about conflicting versions… whether from modifying the wrong version of a file, or from just generating new thoughts that must be somehow integrated.

It’s part of an overall system which I describe in this rough draft here: http://brainstormsw.com/outliner/lkjlkj-2-3-2-2/

BrainStormWFO doesn’t play much role in my longform writing, except to manage tasks associated with it, or if I need to exceed the limits of my working or long-term memory.

Basically, it involves 3 tiers:
3. Brain-dumps to a T3 blog
2. Focused blog posts to a T2 blog, organized by category
1. An integrated wiki

Separating your writing into tiers according to how finished and polished it is helps tremendously to remove a lot of the early conflicts and friction involved when you’re first brainstorming about a topic, and also later when you’re adding new material to a topic that already has finished writing.

I also have a detailed procedure for reconciling conflicts while writing the final version in the wiki, which is described in the post I linked to.

Just skip down to the T3 section: http://brainstormsw.com/outliner/lkjlkj-2-3-2-2/