Writing tagged: ‘Darwin book’
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End of Draft One-and-a-half
I have finally—FINALLY—completed the first draft of my Darwin book!
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Rich Text newsletter No. 32: ‘Gannets’ nostrils’
gannets • goitres • chestnut blights • gold in glass • Holy Roman Empire • barnacles • magnetism • aliens • wood-wide web • Mark Cocker • thoughts on writing • Ronald Blythe • and more…
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Officially buzzing
After a frustrating six months, progress on my book is emerging from the doldrums!
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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.
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My unplanned archives
Collections of informally documented stuff have become my archives of sorts.
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Converting my notes into a chapter
How I used my note-making system to research and write a chapter of my Darwin book.
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Newsletter No. 28: ‘Breaking my golden rule’
Thoughts on nature writing · Richard Feynman · Vikings! · Bronze Age diets · recovered daguerreotypes · transit of Phobos · Alice Roberts · Cal Flyn
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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.
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Fools and dilettantes
How the problems I’ve been encountering lately are a sign (I hope) that my book is starting to come together.
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Newsletter No. 26: ‘Slits for pupils’
Research triage · filing your nuggets · pupil shapes · Amy Liptrot · moths and bats · critical reading · early medieval history · Tim Dee · book reviews
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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?
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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.