From 8c4d592bf9b46911f11434373a45025453fa1991 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Camden Dixie O'Brien <cdo@wip.sh>
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2022 12:24:36 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Add custom journal stuff

---
 config.org | 83 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 83 insertions(+)

diff --git a/config.org b/config.org
index 1bc6cee..e02b23b 100644
--- a/config.org
+++ b/config.org
@@ -1394,3 +1394,86 @@
    #+begin_src emacs-lisp
      (global-set-key (kbd "C-~") 'flip-region-case)
    #+end_src
+
+** Journal Files
+   Sometimes I like to make a todo list for a day if I've a lot to do,
+   or write a little bit about a day if it's been particularly
+   eventful. In both of these cases, it would be nice to just be able
+   to hit a particular keybinding and have the right buffer pop up. I
+   was using =org-roam='s daily notes feature for this, but I ended up
+   getting annoyed with =org-roam= (too many features for my taste
+   lol).
+
+   The convention I'm going for is for is having a particular
+   directory for these journal entries and then give each file a name
+   like "2022-10-30.org". With that in mind, there are two obvious
+   variables to define:
+
+   #+begin_src emacs-lisp
+     (defvar journal-directory
+       "~/Documents/org/journal"
+       "Directory to store journal entries in.")
+
+     (defvar journal-filename-format
+       "%F"
+       "Date format to use for journal entries' filenames (not including
+     the \".org\" extension)")
+   #+end_src
+
+   I can't be bothered to handle [[help:journal-directory][journal-directory]] not existing in the
+   main code, so I'm just going to make sure it exists here:
+
+   #+begin_src emacs-lisp
+     (unless (file-directory-p journal-directory)
+       (make-directory journal-directory))
+   #+end_src
+
+   The next step is to define a function to determine the filename for
+   today's journal entry. This is fairly straightforward, using
+   [[help:format-time-string][format-time-string]] to get the current date in the right format,
+   then sticking that together with the directory, extension, etc.
+
+   #+begin_src emacs-lisp
+     (defun journal-entry-filename ()
+       "Returns the filename for today's journal entry."
+       (let ((date-string (format-time-string journal-filename-format)))
+         (concat journal-directory "/" date-string ".org")))
+   #+end_src
+
+   If the journal entry doesn't exist yet, I want it to be populated
+   with the long-form date as the title:
+
+   #+begin_src emacs-lisp
+     (defvar journal-title-date-format
+       "%A, %-e %B %+4Y"
+       "The date format to use for journal entries' titles.")
+
+     (defun insert-default-journal-entry-contents ()
+       "Insert the default journal entry contents (currently this is
+     just today's long-form date as a title) into the current buffer."
+       (insert "#+TITLE: "
+               (format-time-string journal-title-date-format)
+               "\n\n"))
+   #+end_src
+
+   We can now make a function to open today's journal entry fairly
+   trivially using [[help:find-file][find-file]], and the above utilities. It should be
+   interactive, as this is what we'll be calling in the key binding.
+
+   #+begin_src emacs-lisp
+     (defun open-journal-entry ()
+       "Opens today's journal entry, populating it with the default
+     contents if it does not already exist."
+       (interactive)
+       (let* ((filename (journal-entry-filename))
+              (new-entry (not (file-exists-p filename))))
+         (find-file filename)
+         (when new-entry
+           (insert-default-journal-entry-contents))))
+   #+end_src
+
+   Finally, [[help:open-journal-entry][open-journal-entry]] can be bound to a key:
+
+   #+begin_src emacs-lisp
+     (global-set-key (kbd "C-c t") 'open-journal-entry)
+   #+end_src