PKM Toolkit: Writing in Ulysses

PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) Toolkit is a series featuring the tools I use to create 24 Letters and manage my daily life. You can read the first entry here for more insight.

Since starting this blog, I’ve developed a habit of trying to write daily. My tool of choice is Ulysses, a writing app available on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. I really enjoy working with it, and here are a few reasons I use it to get writing done.

The Interface Gets Out of the Way

Ulysses is beautifully minimal, with navigational elements discreetly tucked away. Visual priority is always given to the most important thing, the text. The Editor Focus Mode pulls what little lives on the screen from view, like the small navigation elements, showing only the current text being written. Any goals for the document live in the upper right corner.

Organizing Documents is Easy

My document management system in Ulysses is straightforward. I have four groups that organize the writing content for 24 Letters and one new one for the 24 Newsletter. Ulysses uses the term groups in the same way that some applications use folders. They are:

Ideation:

This group was created reactively out of need more than planning. Despite my efforts to put ideas into Craft, they’ve found themselves in Ulysses too. This is where I put those wayward ideas that didn’t make it to the extensive list in Craft. I know this needs work. I don’t want the beginnings of ideas to get lost or to live in too many places.

Drafts:

Active writing lives here, and I spend the most time working in this group.

Ready for Review:

Ready for Review is material that is almost there. However, it may need some editing or hasn’t quite found its location in the posting schedule yet.

Sometimes, documents bounce from here back into Drafts because they need more work, or I’ve decided that a shift in tone or focus is needed.

Published:

Just as it sounds, documents in this group are live or scheduled to go live. In addition, there are sub-groups within Published that mirror the different sections of the live site, including regular features like Weekly Quotes, PKM Toolkit, and Finding Focus, as well as more general content items.

The 24 Newsletter:

This is the newest group for the monthly newsletter. I haven’t built the sub-groups out yet. However, I anticipate it mirroring the formatting of the main site. Speaking of the newsletter, have you subscribed yet?

Customizing Themes is Easy and Powerful

Ulysses offers a ton of customization visually, with several editor themes available in the app and many more on their website. My favorite, and the one I have been using for some time on all my devices, is Yosemite. Export styles are also highly customizable, although I have not changed those settings.

I write in Dark Mode all the time. For final edits, I export into PDF Expert and look at the document with the more traditional white background and black text. This perspective shift puts me in editor mode and helps me find errors more easily. Next, the text goes to Grammarly, and any changes are updated to the Ulysses document and then scheduled for publication.

Easy Formatting with Markdown XL


Markdown XL is a markup language based on Markdown. Markdown was created as a lightweight framework for formatting text. Before Ulysses, my experience with Markdown was limited. Now, I can’t imagine writing without it. It takes very little time to understand the syntax and once learned, it allows for more focus on the writing and requires less time switching back and forth from the mouse to the keyboard.

The Dashboard Shares Useful Information

The Dashboard provides basic information about the document currently being edited. It lives on the right side of the app and, like the library on the left side, is collapsible.

Word Count and Writing Goals:

I’ve started experimenting with this feature, primarily out of curiosity. I’m not writing for a newspaper or under contract, so I don’t think this matters much.

Reading Time:

The Reading Time feature is insightful in a similar way. Through experience, I’m getting faster at writing posts. I have spent many hours on something that might take someone 3 minutes to read. Yet, I still put appropriate thought, time, and effort into everything I do. I am learning to listen less to the voice of resistance (and insecurity) than I did when I first started.

Outline:

For longer documents, the Outline is beneficial. It creates a hierarchy of sections based on the heading formatting used and can be used to navigate from section to section. I like to look at this for posts with many sections and use it as a gauge to see if the writing flow makes sense.

The Words tell their Story

Having a writing app that works on all of my devices is the only way for me to succeed at writing. I get some time in my studio most mornings before the day begins, but the rest of the day is primarily spent doing any writing in short bursts on my iPad or iPhone.

Ulysses has the form and function to let me write successfully. It automatically backs up the library locally, syncs well via iCloud, is lightweight and customizable, functionally meets my needs, and makes the process more enjoyable. Ulysses started in 2003, and the polish is built in but never flashy. The developers understand the essential aspect of their app, getting out of the way of the words and stories people are trying to tell.