I love Google Docs but I know what you mean about it getting too large. I use Gmail drafts to jot down quick ideas and find it convenient. These days I also use Medium drafts - that is convenient too, until the page disappears sometimes and that's irritating.

Another thing that works for me is good old pen and paper. I have a five-subject notebook at my desk where I scribble/doodle/write ideas and sometimes whole posts. And oh! Google Keep is great when I am away from the notebook but have my phone with me. It syncs across devices and I love it.

Finally, there's the MS Word doc - which I use for work anyway so it is easy to simply open a new doc and write.

I agree with Dennett - your meticulousness in analyzing this is amazing.