Erik L. Arneson — Writer and Software Developer

Emacs as the Freelancer's Command Center

2026-04-10T00:00:00+00:00

Freelancing for small businesses and organizations leads to a position where you are juggling a number of projects for multiple clients. You need to keep track of a number of tasks ranging from software development to sending emails to project management. This is a lot easier when you have a system that can do a bunch of the work for you, which is why I use Emacs as my freelancer command center.

I would like to share some of the tools and workflows I use in Emacs to help me keep on top of multiple clients’ needs and expectations.

Organization with org-mode

It should be no surprise that at the center of my Emacs command center is org-mode. I have already written about it a lot. Every org-mode user seems to have their own way of keeping track of things, so please don’t take my organizational scheme as some kind of gospel. A couple of years ago, I wrote about how I handle to-do lists in org-mode, and I am still using that method for to-do keywords. However, file structure is also important. I have a number of core files.

`Freelance.org`

This top-level file contains all of my ongoing business tasks, such as tracking potential new clients, recurring tasks like website maintenance and checking my MainWP dashboard. I also have recurring tasks for invoicing, tracking expenses, and other important business things.

This file is also where I have my primary time tracking and reporting. Org-mode already supports this pretty nicely, I just use the built-in clocktable feature.

`Clients/*.org`

Clients that have large projects or ongoing business get their own file. This makes organization a lot easier. All tasks associated with a client and their various projects end up in these individual files. The important part is making sure that these files are included in the time-tracking clock table and your org-mode agenda, so you can see what is going on every week.

References and Linking

I have C-c l bound to org-store-link and use it all the time to link to various files, directories, URLs, and even emails. I can then use those links in my client notes, various tasks in my to-do list, and so on. This helps me keep my agenda organized even when my filesystem and browser bookmarks are a bit of a mess.

Email with mu4e

I have been reading and managing my email in Emacs for over 25 years. There have been a few breaks here and there where I have tried out other software or even web mail clients, but it has always been a headache. I return to Emacs! Long ago, I used VM (which seems to have taken on new life!), but currently I use mu4e.

This gives me a ton of power and flexibility when dealing with email. I have custom functions to help me compose and organize my email, and I can use org-store-link to keep track of individual emails from clients as they relate to agenda items. I even have a function to convert emails that I have written in Markdown into HTML email, and one that searches for questions in a client email to make sure I haven’t missed anything.

The ability to write custom code to both process and create email is extremely powerful and a great time saver.

Writing Code

I don’t know what else to say about this, I use Emacs for doing all of my software development. I make sure to use Eglot whenever there is a language server available, and I try to leverage all the fancy features offered by Emacs whenever possible. The vast majority of projects for clients are PHP (thanks WordPress), Go, JavaScript, and TypeScript.

Writing Words

Previously, I have shared quite a bit about writing in Emacs. I like to start everything in org-mode, but I also write quite a bit in Markdown. Emacs has become a powerful tool for writing. I use the Harper language server along with Eglot to check grammar and spelling.

Track All Changes with Magit

Version control is essential, a lesson I have learned over 30+ years of software development. While Git is not part of Emacs, the software I use to interface with Git is. Magit is a Git user interface that runs entirely in Emacs. I use it to track my writing, my source code, and even all of my org-mode files. Using version control is so essential that I have a weekly repeating agenda task reminding me to check all of my everyday files to make sure I have checked-in my changes for the week.

Thinking Music with EMMS

I like to have some soothing background music when I am programming, writing, or otherwise working on my computer. However, if that background music has lyrics, it can be really distracting. It is easy to make a playlist for various suitable SomaFM channels to load into EMMS (the Emacs Multimedia System) using the command M-x emms-play-playlist.

Try saving the following into playlist.el somewhere, and using it the next time you are writing:

 ;;; This is an EMMS playlist file Play it with M-x emms-play-playlist
 ((*track* (type . url) (name . "https://somafm.com/synphaera.pls"))
  (*track* (type . url) (name . "https://somafm.com/gsclassic.pls"))
  (*track* (type . url) (name . "https://somafm.com/sonicuniverse.pls"))
  (*track* (type . url) (name . "https://somafm.com/groovesalad.pls")))

And make sure to check out SomaFM’s selection to find some good background music that suits your tastes!

And the tools I have missed

There are undoubtedly Emacs tools that I have missed in this brief overview. I have been wracking my brain as I write, trying to see what I have forgotten or overlooked. Frankly, Emacs has become such a central part of the organization for my freelancing that there are probably many tools, packages, and processes that I use every day without thinking about it too much.

Emacs makes it possible for me to freelance for multiple clients and small businesses without losing my mind with organization and task management. The tools it provides allow me to stay on top of multiple projects, handle client relationships, and keep track of years worth of tasks, communications, and projects. Without it, I’d be sunk!

What Emacs tools are you using to manage your freelance business? I am always looking for ways to improve or streamline my process.

The featured image for this post comes from Agostino Ramelli’s Le diverse et artificiose machine (1588). Read more about it on the Public Domain Review.

Interviewed on "Prot Speaks"

2025-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

Well-known Emacs package creator Protesilaos Stavrou interviewed me for his video podcast series, “Prot Asks.” We talked about a wide variety of topics, from Emacs to podcasting to Portland to public transit. I thought it was a great time, and perhaps you will like it, too!

You can read and view the video on Prot’s website and blog, or you can go straight to YouTube, or you can watch it embedded here below.

Note that Prot is looking for people to talk to on this series! You can join in by signing up on his website.

P.S. In the video, I promised that I would do another Emacs Carnival blog post, and I will, I swear! It is in my org-mode to-do file.

Writing Experience (Emacs Carnival)

2025-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

This is my contribution to month two of Greg Newman’s Emacs Carnival. The topic this month is “Writing Experience,” which is perfect, since I write in Emacs all the time. In fact, I am writing this blog post in Emacs right now!

Emacs Writing History

I do not know how long I have been writing in Emacs, but I have documents written in LaTeX from the early 2000s that were definitely written in Emacs, and I know those weren’t the first. I guess what is interesting about my writing experience in Emacs is how it has developed over the years. Where I originally wrote everything in plain text or LaTeX, over time I moved to org-mode and Markdown.

Writing LaTeX in Emacs taught me to view documents and writing the same way I view source code. Since all of my writing was in text formats, I could easily use version control software to store archives full of text. I began by using Concurrent Versions System (CVS), but eventually moved to Git. I have a few Git repositories with writing, but my biggest dates back to 2009. Those early commits are all LaTeX and plain text files.

commit c64500897e2509bc3316d252cda10a9119384933
Author: Erik L. Arneson <pXXX@XXX.XXX>
Date:   Sat Dec 5 10:51:06 2009 -0800

    Initial import of an old repository.

The oldest org-mode file in my writing repository dates to December 27th, 2010, and is titled “Beer and Pizza.” The commit message indicates that I pulled some writing over from another repository in this commit, so obviously I had been writing with org-mode for quite a while. I know, for instance, that “Beer and Pizza” was an article that I wrote for an early incarnation of Southern Oregon Magazine, and my notes are dated back to February of that year.

Org-mode Is A Life-changer

You have probably read other people’s experience with writing in org-mode in Emacs, so instead of sharing an exhausting list of all the life-changing, writing-improving things that it has brought me, here are a few bits that I really love about it.

It is fantastic at organizing writing projects. From being able to shift around headings and blocks of text, to combining to-do lists with writing projects, to being able to create macros and include different files—all of these things make org-mode perfect for working on medium and large projects. I write everything from blog posts to podcast scripts to books in org-mode, and it helps me stay organized.

I do not have to write in Word or Google Docs. The export functions in org-mode do a great job creating Word files, ODT files, HTML files, and all kinds of formats. If org-mode’s export abilities aren’t good enough, it can also interface with pandoc to cover all the other cases! This means I get to use all of my familiar tools and processes when writing, and I don’t have to worry about awful word processing software!

Everything I need to write can happen in org-mode! I have several websites that are built entirely out of org-mode. When I need to create slides for a lecture, I do it in org-mode. When I write adventures for Dungeons & Dragons, I do it in org-mode. When I need to whip up a spreadsheet to handle my household budget, I do it in org-mode. When I need to write a formal letter, I do it in org-mode. Frankly, it is so expressive and flexible, that I don’t need to use other tools for writing. It’s all Emacs and org-mode.

Emacs Can Be Distraction-Free

I have a hotkey connected to writeroom-mode, which plonks me right into a full-screen, distraction-free writing mode. Easy as pie! This means that when I really need to get down to business and get a lot of writing done, I don’t need to switch to a new app, leave my familiar tools behind, or go through any extra trouble. It’s just right here, built in.

No Going Back

I’ve been writing with Emacs for decades. It is my comfortable writing spot. I honestly cannot see myself abandoning it for another writing tool, because it works for me. I just used a couple of commands to check my three biggest writing repositories, and I have approximately 630,000 words written in org-mode between them. That’s a commitment!

I am aware that there are a lot of people out there using Emacs for writing, so I am excited to see what others share. I’m very pleased with Greg Newman’s choice for this second writing topic.

Edit: I realized that what I was calling my second biggest writing repository was actually my third biggest. I updated some numbers to reflect another 130,000 words of writing I found.

Configuring Orgzly Interaction with Directory Local Variables

2025-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

I use Orgzly Revived on my phone to capture to-do items, tasks, writing ideas, and projects. Its files are then synced with an ownCloud server. Those same files are also constantly open in Emacs on my computer, which means there can be some gnarly issues with things getting out of sync. It took me a while to figure out a good way to manage this, and in this brief blog post, I would like to share my solution.

Setting up a remote storage system is outside the scope of this server. Orgzly Revived works well with Dropbox, ownCloud, and nextCloud, though support for the other two is nicer as it can support automatic syncing in more situations. The Orgzly Revived documentation has an excellent description of how that configuration works.

Note that to keep things simple, I keep my Orgzly Revived files and only those files in a directory on my remote server. On my computer, the location for these files is ~/org/orgzly/, which is how I shall refer to it later on.

Configuring Orgzly Revived Auto-sync

To configure the auto-sync capabilities in Orgzly Revived, go to the settings screen in the app and then navigate to Sync > Auto-sync. Ensure that the following options are toggled on:

Auto-sync
Note created
Note updated or deleted
App started or resumed

This ensures that Orgzly Revived is constantly checking your remote storage and both fetching and uploading changes.

Configuring Emacs and Org-mode

On my computer, I want any changes that Orgzly Revived has updated to be automatically loaded into Emacs. Since I always leave Emacs running, that means it needs to detect changes on the disk for those particular files. I use two different methods to do this. First, in my init file, I have the following piece of code:

(setq orgzly-directory (expand-file-name "~/org/orgzly/"))
(add-to-list 'revert-without-query (rx bol 
                                       (eval orgzly-directory) 
                                       (+ (not "/")) ".org" 
                                       eol))

This uses the rx macro to easily create a regular expression that matches any filename ending in ".org" in the directory containing Orgzly Revived files. You may need to play around with the regular expression to get the right match. By adding those files to revert-without-query, Emacs will not bug you with extra questions and confirmations when changes are detected. However, this only works when auto-revert-mode is enabled!

At first, I thought there may be a way to enable auto-revert-mode on a file-by-file basis, but quickly realized that this could cause too many problems with creating new files in the Orgzly Revived app. Eventually, I realized that the solution would be to make a .dir-locals.el file in ~/org/orgzly/. Open that file in Emacs, and stick the following in it.

((nil . ((eval . (auto-revert-mode 1)))))

That ensures that any file in that directory will have auto-revert-mode enabled.

Once you have done this, you can add task files or inbox files in ~/org/orgzly to your org-agenda-files variable, and they will show up in your agenda views as usual.

Hopefully these instructions work for you. Please let me know if you can see any improvements or problems with the way I have implemented this. Happy task tracking!

Examining To-Do Lists in Org-mode

2024-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

When you are self-employed, you need to be very well organized. There is never anybody looking over your shoulder, reminding you of everything on your to-do list. You don’t have a project manager reminding you of every step in your big projects. I use Org-mode in Emacs to manage all of my tasks, to-do lists, and projects.

Many people have already written about why Org-mode is a good choice for this, so I am not going to. I will just mention that many years ago, perhaps around 2007, I read Getting Things Done by David Allen and got inspired to implement something like it in Org-mode. The system has slowly evolved over the years, but it has also become unweildy.

For the past few years, I had been tagging my tasks with the states TODO, NEXT, and DONE, primarily. I had some extra states sitting around for things that got canceled or delegated, and at some point I added a WAITING tag for when I needed somebody else to finish something, first. But the problem was, the TODO items really piled up. They became uncomfortable to sort through.

Inspired by a blog post by Sacha Chua earlier this week, I cleaned up my to-do states. I added STARTED and SOMEDAY, then went through the big list of outstanding items and re-evaluated their proper states. SOMEDAY won in 80% of cases, which really cleaned up the list. Now I can begin my day with a custom agenda command that looks for just NEXT and STARTED tasks, so I know what is most important. And I can end my day looking at TODO tasks to see if any should be switched to NEXT.

Here is what my configuration looks like now. First, I configure org-todo-keywords to handle the various states that my to-do items need. I am hoping that someday I’ll pare this down, but for now, this works.

(setq org-todo-keywords 
      '((sequence "TODO(t)" "NEXT(n)" "STARTED(s!)" "WAITING(w@/!)" "|" "DONE(d!)")
        (sequence "SOMEDAY(o)" "|")
        (sequence "|" "DELEGATED(g@/!)" "CANCELLED(c!)")))

I then added a “daily driver” command to my agenda to let me see the most important tasks today. This would probably be a good place for add-to-list instead of setq, but it’s just an example!

(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
      '(("n" "Next tasks" ((todo "STARTED")
                           (todo "NEXT")))

Next, after Sacha suggested it in a post on Mastodon, I configured to-do items to automatically switch to the STARTED state when I clock-in to them.

(setq org-clock-in-switch-to-state "STARTED")

Finally, I have been playing around with configuring org-stuck-projects to be more useful. I tag all of my projects with a @project tag, and then have my to-do entries underneath them as keywords. I do not think that this works as intended yet. I don’t think I will be able to figure out the proper settings here until I have another stuck project; let’s hope that never happens, and I never need this report.

(setq org-stuck-projects '("+@project/-DONE-SOMEDAY"
                          ;; Keywords to identify non-stuck projects
                          ("TODO" "NEXT" "STARTED")
                          ;; Keywords to identify stuck projects.
                          ("WAITING")
                          ""))

The only lesson that I can really hope to share with you, dear reader, is that it is a good idea to examine your task management system regularly to fine-tune it to your needs. What I have noticed is that I can come up with great task management plans, but the implementation rarely survives contact with the real world.

If, upon reading this, you have questions or suggestions, especially for org-stuck-projects, I would love to hear about it in the comments, or on Mastodon. Thank you for reading!

Update: Org to DOCX with Citations

2023-06-20T00:00:00+00:00

Last year, I wrote about converting Org to DOCX with pandoc. Well, that particular method has needed some improvements. I needed to also support converting Markdown files, and more vitally, I needed to support the new-ish org-cite citation format.

The first thing I did was update to the latest version of Pandoc. Next, I had to learn how Pandoc’s citations work. Note that you have to enable the citations extension as well.

For citations to work, you need to have a Citation Style Language (CSL) file. Zotero comes with a ton of them, so check your Zotero installation for examples.

In the updated fish shell function below, you will want to update both refdoc and csldoc to point to your reference DOCX file and your CSL file, respectively.

function org2docx --description 'Generate a DOCX file using a custom reference document'
    set -l refdoc "$PATH_TO_REFERENCE_DOCX"
    set -l csldoc "$PATH_TO_CSL"
    set -l fromfmt (string match -r '(?:org|md)$' $argv)
    set -l base (basename -s .$fromfmt $argv)

    echo Generating $base.docx ...

    pandoc --from "$fromfmt"+citations \
        --citeproc --csl $csldoc \
        --reference-doc $refdoc -o $base.docx $argv
end

And there you have it! Now you can convert both Org files and Markdown files to DOCX. And I am sorry that you have to use DOCX!

An Org-mode to DOCX Pipeline

2022-10-26T00:00:00+00:00

Freelance writers need to deliver documents in the format requested by clients. However, frequently the requested format is not the writer’s preferred working format. I like to write in Org Mode, but many clients prefer delivery in Microsoft Word’s DOCX format.

This is how I generate DOCX files for my clients.

What is Org Mode?

Org Mode is an Emacs package for writing and working with Org files. Org files are highly structured plain text files that may appear to be a text outline, but can do so much more. Org Mode is incredibly versatile, and can be used to track projects, manage schedules, write outlines, and even create documents.

Choosing between Org Export and Pandoc

Org Export runs inside Emacs and is capable of converting Org files to a variety of other formats. While it is very powerful, it also has its idiosyncrasies. For instance, when converting Org files to DOCX files, it uses its own style names such as “Org Title” and “Org Heading 1”.

A second option for converting Org files to DOCX files is Pandoc. Pandoc prides itself on being the Swiss army knife of document format conversion. It handles an impressive variety of document formats and handles a dizzying collection of configuration options.

Since the DOCX files that I create need to be shared with other writers, editors, and reviewers, I need to make sure that they are easy to work with. This influenced my decision. Since Pandoc uses more standard style names, I decided to use it for Org conversion.

Setting up Pandoc

To use Pandoc to generate nice looking DOCX files, you will need to configure a template document. The recommended method for doing this is to generate a default template using Pandoc, and then edit it in Word. I used LibreOffice Writer for this, and it worked just fine.

Install the latest Pandoc using these instructions.

Run the following command to generate reference.docx

pandoc -o custom-reference.docx --print-default-data-file reference.docx

Open reference.docx in your word processor and edit the styles so they meet your needs.

Converting from Org to DOCX

One option for running the conversion is to take advantage of the ox-pandoc package for Emacs. If you will always be using the same configuration for your exports, this is a great option.

However, I need to use a number of different configurations for converting documents, so I tend to run Pandoc from the command line. Recent versions of ox-pandoc support passing options via Org headers, but I still haven’t bothered to set that up. It should be very easy to template this using Yasnippet, though.

I use a custom fish shell function that looks like this:

function org2docx --description 'Generate a DOCX file using a custom reference document'
    set -l refdoc "$PATH_TO_REFERENCE_DOCX"
    set -l base (basename -s .org $argv)
    echo Generating $base.docx ...
    pandoc --reference-doc $refdoc -o $base.docx $argv
end

From my fish shell command line, I can then just run org2docx whatever.org to generate whatever.docx.

I have not found a level of automation that makes my converted DOCX files completely perfect, unfortunately. After conversion, I always open the new file in my word processor to make final tweaks and fixes.

Have fun converting files!

The method I’ve outline in this blog post is straightforward and fits my needs. There are definitely improvements to be made, such as using templates to pass the proper options to Pandoc. Switching to ox-pandoc would mean one fewer reason to leave Emacs, after all.

In recent years, more and more clients are asking for files to be delivered via Google Docs. So far, I have yet to find a good conversion pipeline to get Org files into Google Docs easily. My method right now takes too many manual steps. That’s a problem I would love to solve.

Do you have a conversion pipeline for documents that works for you? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Yasnippet and Emacs for Writing

2022-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

As a freelance writer, I need to be ready to deliver high quality copy in a timely fashion. My editor of choice for writing is Emacs. I have found that Yasnippet templates have streamlined my writing process.

What is Yasnippet?
Installing Yasnippet
Markdown and Jekyll
- Bonus Snippets
Org Mode Templates
- org2blog and Podcast Show Notes
- More Bonus Snippets
Writing Faster is Writing Smarter

What is Yasnippet?

As a templating system for Emacs, Yasnippet is well known by programmers. It can quickly expand function definitions, control structures, and other templates into blocks of source code. Source code is just text.

Since most of my writing originates in text format, templates are great for speeding up document creation and avoiding common errors and omissions.

Installing Yasnippet

With use-package, you can get started quickly with Yasnippet by including the following in your Emacs init file.

(use-package yasnippet
  :ensure t
  :config
  (yas-global-mode 1))

(use-package yasnippet-snippets
  :ensure t
  :after yasnippet)

For more detailed installation instructions, check the Yasnippet documentation.

Markdown and Jekyll

This blog is primarily written in Markdown for Jekyll, which means that each file needs a YAML block at the top with specific information. I have a template that looks like this:

# -*- mode: snippet -*-
# name: blogtop
# key: blogtop
# --
---
title: ${1:Title}
author: "Erik L. Arneson"
layout: post
permalink: `(format-time-string "/%Y/%m/")`$2
comments: ${3:$$(yas-choose-value '("true" "false"))}
tags:
    - $4
---

$0
<!--more-->

Not only does this template save me from needing to remember the format of the YAML block, but it ensures that frequently forgetten items are included, such as the permalink setting and the  tag.

Bonus Snippets

The official snippet collection contains a bunch of extra Markdown templates. Check them out here.

Org Mode Templates

My Org Mode files are more complex. Many writing clients expect deliveries in Microsoft Word files, but I also frequently find myself needing to produce OpenDocument files, HTML, and even Markdown. The headers for these files need to support all of these options.

I use the following template to support all of the Org Mode configuration and options I require.

# -*- mode: snippet -*-
# name: header
# key: header
# --
#+TITLE: $1
#+LANGUAGE: ${2:en}
#+AUTHOR: ${3:$$(yas/choose-value '("Erik L. Arneson" "Some Other Name"))}
#+EMAIL: ${4:$$(yas/choose-value '("list-of-email-addresses"))}${5:
#+DESCRIPTION: $6}${7:
#+KEYWORDS: $8}
#+OPTIONS: num:nil toc:nil
#+ODT_STYLES_FILE: ${9:$$(yas/choose-value '("list-of-template-files"))}
#+bibliography: /path/to/MyLibrary.bib
#+cite_export: csl ${10:$$(yas/choose-value '("chicago-fullnote-bibliography.csl" "modern-language-association.csl" "apa.csl"))}
#+WWG: ${11:$$(yas/choose-value '("0" "250" "500" "1000"))}

$0

org2blog and Podcast Show Notes

I also use Org Mode to publish to WordPress websites using org2blog. For one of these websites, I write show notes for podcast episodes. I use a template that looks like this.

# -*- mode: snippet -*-
# name: podcast
# key: podcast
# --
* $1
  :PROPERTIES:
  :POST_TAGS: $2
  :BLOG:      arnemancy
  :CATEGORY:  Podcast
  :POST_DATE: `(format-time-string "[%Y-%m-%d %a %H:%M]" nil nil)`
  :END:

$0

** Links

** Credits

#+begin_export html
Support me on Patreon: <a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy">https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy</a><br>
#+end_export

This template reminds me of important items I need to include in all show notes, like links, credits, and a Patreon link.

More Bonus Snippets

The official snippet collection also contains a bunch of Org Mode snippets. Here is the whole list. Since Org Mode contains so many complicated structures like source blocks and optional keywords, these are great time savers. There are also snippets for supporting org-reveal.

Writing Faster is Writing Smarter

Don’t let your tools get in the way of your writing. Frequently, Emacs is portrayed as cumbersome and filled with obscure keybindings and weird commands. However, I have found that it is an excellent tool for writing. Yasnippet templates let me get started on new documents quickly without fretting over different syntaxes for configuration.

And Yasnippet is just one of the tools I use when writing with Emacs. I will discuss more of these tools in the future.