P.S. Three Ways I Organize Quotations

And a few things I learned along the way.

Of course, Noted’s readers are amazing note-takers! I loved reading your comments to Monday’s post on how we organize quotations—it’s a goldmine of brilliant ideas for storing and organizing information.

As of today (Wednesday), here are the poll results:

I’ve summarized what I learned from your comments in this post’s “Notes on Our Notes” at the end.

Additionally, I learned that your tastes match mine, which is not all that surprising. I tend to write most often about authors (I am a literary scholar, after all), followed by artists and musicians. But if you voted for the last three options, don’t worry! I’ve got a few politicians, innovators, and scientists in mind for this year. You’ll still get lots of variety!

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In gratitude for all of your comments on Monday, I’m keeping this P.S. free.

In general, post-scripts offer paid subscribers a deeper dive into the note-takers I cover in Noted’s regular posts. If you look forward to reading Noted, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You’ll get additional weekly content, and you’ll help keep this newsletter going!

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Noted’s one-year anniversary is coming up in a few weeks! In celebration, I’ll share some of my notes and note-taking strategies. Unsurprisingly, I’ve got quite a lot of notes! So, here’s a little preview: three of my favorite methods for storing quotations.

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1) Research Quotes

When I imagine my ideal reading situation it looks like this: a hot mug of tea, a paper book, a pen,

¹

and a home-made notebook. For the most part, this is what I do when researching note-takers for a Noted post.

I organize these notebooks by the person I’m researching. And then, I’ll write out each book title and author, followed by quotations and notes alongside page numbers.

From Noted’s early days, here are my notes for the Houdini post:

Written with Uniball Signo

Here’s a tip I learned from the eminent biographer, Richard Holmes. He developed a “two-sided notebook concept.” He writes quotes and facts on one side of a notebook and then writes his original ideas on the other side. He explains:

There should be a distinct, conscious divide between the objective and the subjective sides of the project.

²

This is my version of Holmes’s technique: I include my reflections on the left-hand side. Quotations, with page numbers, are on the right-hand side.

My notes on Woolf’s Notebooks

I’ll spend more time on my process for Noted’s 1-year anniversary post in a few weeks!

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2) Quotes from Leisure Reading: First Lines

I have a thing about first lines of books. It’s usually what gets me invested. For me, it’s the most important line. There’s so much information packed into the first sentence (or, sometimes, sentences): it sets the reader’s expectations for what comes next, it establishes a tone, it invites us into the book’s world. As a way to keep track of the books I read, I collect first lines in a dedicated notebook:

I’ve kept collections of quotations my entire life. When I have time for leisure reading, I use a commonplace book to capture my favorite quotes.

I’ve always wanted to have a tidy, well-indexed process, but that’s just not me. I’ve tried keeping an alphabetic index. I’ve tried using Locke’s index. I found it way too difficult.

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3) Digital Reading Quotes

I’ve given up on trying to index my paper-notebooks. For me, the time-to-value ratio just never works out. Part of the reason I say that, though, is because I often transfer quotes to digital platforms. And those platforms are searchable. Most of them also have nifty tagging features. I’ve just started to experiment with tagging in Apple Notes—which is where I keep all my favorite quotes from Substack.

These quotes come from

Subtle Maneuvers

,

Feed the Monster

,

Weirdo Poetry

and

Adjacent Possible

.

You can explore more of Apple Notes’s organizational features here.

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Notes on Our Notes

• There isn’t a single correct way to record quotations. Do whatever works for you.

• The tricky part isn’t necessarily writing out quotations, but re-visiting them in order to use them. Some readers suggested going back through old notebooks with a highlighter (thanks,

  Sheila Moeschen
  ) or “harvesting” old notes into a notebook (thanks,
  Mark Dykeman
  ).

• Find a way to differentiate your ideas from your quotes. I use the left-hand page for my ideas and record quotes on the right-hand page. Some readers (like

  Ratika Deshpande
  ) use different colors.

• Play around with digital indexing. All our new software has this feature. Once you figure it out, it’s a whole lot easier than a pen-and-paper index.

• Disorder is often a function of creativity. If you’re “an agent of chaos” like

  Bekka Palmer
  , you’re in good company.

Of course, this list is incomplete. What else did you learn? Let us know in the comments!

1. I discovered this pen while teaching in Korea during graduate school. (Korea’s home to my favorite stationary stores!) I still have a preference for the Uni-ball Signo, but, recently, some of our fellow Substackers have gotten me hooked on fountain pens—thanks

Jenovia

and

Nishant Jain

!

2. Holmes, Richard. This Long Pursuit: Reflections of a Romantic Biographer. Pantheon Books, 2017.