P.S. Noted's Notes: My Writing Process

And what I learned about writing from studying commonplace books

Wow! I was so overwhelmed by your response to Noted’s 1-year anniversary post. I’ve never shared so much of myself on the Internet, but you’ve made Substack such a warm, welcoming place. So, thank you, truly.

Let’s continue this week’s deep-dive into my notes with a look at my writing process and the notes I take for Noted.

When it comes to researching and writing posts for Noted, I use a strategy I learned from studying commonplace books— a system of gathering quotations, information, and images under topics. And, then, weaving that information together to form a new essay.

Before you dive in, I’d just like to say that although my process might look neat and tidy—it almost never feels that way—I don’t have it all figured out. But also: I don’t expect to. Knowledge is messy—so notes are messy. And I love that about the process.

I hope you find something of use in my methods!

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These post-scripts offer paid subscribers a deeper dive into the note-takers I cover in Noted’s regular posts (this week, it happens to be me). You can read my full post on my notebooks here. 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! For Noted’s 1-year anniversary, I’m offering 20% off.