Richard Carter

Writing tagged: ‘Darwin book’

  • End of Draft One-and-a-half

    End of Draft One-and-a-half

    I have finally—FINALLY—completed the first draft of my Darwin book!

  • Officially buzzing

    Officially buzzing

    After a frustrating six months, progress on my book is emerging from the doldrums!

  • Charles Darwin’s note-making system

    Charles Darwin’s note-making system

    An exploration of how Darwin kept track of his various notes, enabling him to produce a huge body of work.

  • My unplanned archives

    My unplanned archives

    Collections of informally documented stuff have become my archives of sorts.

  • Converting my notes into a chapter

    Converting my notes into a chapter

    How I used my note-making system to research and write a chapter of my Darwin book.

  • Nature writing’s ill-defined, thriving ecosystem

    Nature writing’s ill-defined, thriving ecosystem

    There is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to whatever ‘nature writing’ is supposed to be these days. It might not all be to my personal taste, but such diversity has to be a good thing.

  • Fools and dilettantes

    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

    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!

    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.