The main purpose of my collection of notes, organised according to the Zettelkasten principle, is to help me complete writing projects, mainly small but sometimes large too.

I’m always jotting down thoughts and ideas to use in my ever-expanding blog empire. For example, for some time I’ve been making notes on ideas about data structures. Soon these notes will see the light of day as an article or two.

And I’m constantly working on larger projects which inch very slowly towards fruition. At the moment I’m working on a sequel of sorts to my book, [Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning](https://writingslowly.com/shuhari-book). And I’m also working on a memoir about a journey around Ireland with my father thirty years ago.

As I’ve written about, [my writing process oscillates between notes and drafts](https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/09/my-writing-process-oscillates-between.html), so really it’s quite hard to separate the Zettelkasten notes from the drafts. Together they constitute [a miniature working environment](https://writingslowly.com/2024/05/27/how-you-can.html) in which I think and write. Having said that, my writing system does keep them separate. The drafts are on a one-way journey to publication of some sort, whereas the notes are modular and can be used again in different contexts.

My aim is [to reconfigure networks of concepts to create new knowledge and insight](https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/03/i-found-a-way-to.html).

One area where I feel there’s scope to do things differently is in my reading. At the moment I seem to be reading more material than I’m making notes on. This feels a bit like a wasted opportunity. I need to be more systematic with my process here. Perhaps I can slow down my reading pace to let my notemaking keep up. I’m not one of those people who frets if I haven’t made 300 notes about a single book. I’m content with a dozen (provided it’s the right dozen, of course). But there’s a couple of books with nothing at all noted. I must make a time to correct this.

Read more:

[How to write an article from your notes](https://writingslowly.com/2024/09/18/how-to-write.html).

[Why not publish all your notes online?](https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/15/why-not-publish-all-your.html)

[I found a way to create order from my jumbled notes](https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/03/i-found-a-way-to.html)

Three worthwhile modes of note-making, and one not so worthwhile.