Some people claim seeing your old notes and annotations when you return to a favourite book enhances the experience. I beg to differ.
#AmWriting
Some pieces I wrote about (and during) the writing process.
Keeping sources and ideas separate
In which I am astonished by a reminder of how I used to work.
Officially buzzing
After a frustrating six months, progress on my book is emerging from the doldrums!
My makeshift desks
In which I unwittingly mimic my hero with the aid of an old chopping board.
My notes ‘tagsonomy’
An overly nerdish description of the taxonomy I use to classify my various notes.
Sitting on a rock with a brew, gazing out to sea
There are important elements of writing that feel like skiving.
My unplanned archives
Collections of informally documented stuff have become my archives of sorts.
Converting my notes into a chapter
How I used my note-making system to research and write a chapter of my Darwin book.
Fools and dilettantes
How the problems I’ve been encountering lately are a sign (I hope) that my book is starting to come together.
No going back
How was I ever able to organise my thoughts without ‘atomising’ them—breaking them down into smaller and smaller discrete notes—and then linking them together?
Everything I needed was already in my notes!
I’ve known it from the start, but this new way of making notes is perfect for the way I tend to work. It’s what I’ve been looking for all these years.
New facts emerge
On the unavoidably provisional nature of essay collections.