I have come up with something simple that works:

    ("X" "ChangeLog README" entry (file+datetree "./00_README.org") "* %?
\n   %U \n %f" :prepend t)

It looks like it will grow quickly into a long file, with four lines for
each entry.  For now, it's exactly what I needed.  Proof of my instinct
that 95% of the time, when I reach out for help, I almost immediately find
a solution on my own.

I apology for wasted space and time.

Alan Davis

On Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 11:06 AM Alan E. Davis <lngndvs@gmail.com> wrote:

> [I posted almost this exact message to emacs-help by mistake.]
>
> Many times I have envisioned having an org-mode function that works
> similarly to ChangeLog, to save notes as something like a 00_README.org
> file in-place, in any directory in which I am working.   Maybe my
> imagination has just escaped me, and something either already exists or is
> so trivial as to have escaped my notice.
>
> I almost laughed when I saw a ChangeLog exists for the latest org release,
> but then thought that ChangeLog is so perfect and ubiquitous as it should
> not be replaced.
>
> However, for my  plethora of little projects, scattered all over my home
> directory tree, it would be excellent to have a capture template to do this
> sort of thing, and store to any existing such file in the current
> directory, and be picked up readily by some simple keystroke.   As an
> example, I might be working on a graph of today's tides, in a new folder,
> and work away, and when all is said and done, make a note and add it to the
> 00_README.org file.  These would be convenient to find without digging
> through a lot of cruft  (and I have a lot of cruft).
>
> It seems ChangeLog may sometimes save to a directory a the head of a tree
> of directories, though I'm not sure.  Perhaps an option would enable this
> to be done for a limited number of levels.
>
> Certainly  something like this must have been implemented.  I think the
> main trick might be to use the current directory, and use many files with
> the same filename scattered around all over the place.
>
> I turn to the list out of a sense that I have already wasted enough time
> on trying to search for something of this nature.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Alan Davis
> --
> [Fill in the blanks]
>
> The use of corrupt manipulations and blatant rhetorical ploys ...---
> outright lying, flagwaving, personal attacks, setting up phony
> alternatives, misdirection, jargon-mongering, evading key issues, feigning
> disinterested objectivity, willful misunderstanding of other points of
> view---suggests that ... lacks both credibility and evidence.
>
>              ---- Edward Tufte (in context of making presentations)
>
>
>


-- 
[Fill in the blanks]

The use of corrupt manipulations and blatant rhetorical ploys ...---
outright lying, flagwaving, personal attacks, setting up phony
alternatives, misdirection, jargon-mongering, evading key issues, feigning
disinterested objectivity, willful misunderstanding of other points of
view---suggests that ... lacks both credibility and evidence.

             ---- Edward Tufte (in context of making presentations)