[ { "id": 0, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 “Our conventional response to all media, namely that it is how they are used that counts, is the numb stance of the technological idiot. For the ‘content’ of a medium is like the juicy piece of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind.” — Marshall McLuhan\nWhether you’re interested in making your own containers for \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo; or in challenging the whole paradigm, the key is to create new ways of being human.\nRead more: What\u0026rsquo;s the future of creative work without human intent?\n#AmWriting #Creativity #Fediblog #MediaTheory\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-16 14:08:42 +1000", "date": "2:08 p.m. on May 16, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/16/our-conventional-response-to-all.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F16%2Four-conventional-response-to-all.html" }, { "id": 1, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@cogdog it’s interesting how our memories of books sometimes connect to the places we read them. My main memory of ZAMM is constantly wondering “what kind of bike was he riding?” because he never said. The book felt different when I found out. Chrome and black and dusty\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-16 07:39:18 +1000", "date": "7:39 p.m. on May 16, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/05/16/90259433.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/90259433" }, { "id": 2, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Memory isn\u0026rsquo;t a static recording but a constant act of reconstruction. Every time we revisit a note or a book, we are weaving together the original content with our current environment and past self.\n“We construct and reconstruct our memories every time we attempt to recall them.”\nSo how do we decide what\u0026rsquo;s worth preserving and what we must allow ourselves to forget? Explore the \u0026ldquo;differential allocation of attentional resources\u0026rdquo; in this look at the fallibility of memory.\nLink: writingslowly.com/2026/05/1\u0026hellip;\n#CognitiveScience #Philosophy #Memory\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-16 03:00:00 +1000", "date": "3:00 p.m. on May 16, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/16/memory-isnt-a-static-recording.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F16%2Fmemory-isnt-a-static-recording.html" }, { "id": 3, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Is note-making an \u0026ldquo;aide memoire\u0026rdquo; or a replacement for the source? To distill a book into notes on it, is to change our relationship with the original text. Beyond just storing facts we are building a library of our own interpretations. There\u0026rsquo;s a friction between preservation and occlusion in our digital workflows.\n\u0026ldquo;When you make notes you forget your reading and replace it with the future opportunity to read again not the original book but your own notes on it.\u0026rdquo;\nRead more: writingslowly.com/2026/05/1\u0026hellip;\n#Zettelkasten #PKM #NoteMaking\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-16 00:24:16 +1000", "date": "12:24 p.m. on May 16, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/16/is-notemaking-an-aide-memoire.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F16%2Fis-notemaking-an-aide-memoire.html" }, { "id": 4, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@davoh Glad to see you’re still posting shelfies. I imagine Abie Warburg might approve. It was said of his library: ‘Warburg had chosen and arranged the books like stones from a mosaic of which he had the pattern in his mind.’\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-16 00:22:43 +1000", "date": "12:22 p.m. on May 16, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/05/16/90231787.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/90231787" }, { "id": 5, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "There\u0026rsquo;s a unique magic in the physical bookshelf. It acts as a spatial memory palace where a spine or a colour can trigger a flood of recollection. \u0026lsquo;Remembering What you Read\u0026rsquo; looks at why reorganising a library feels like reorganising a mind, and what it really means to be \u0026ldquo;well-read\u0026rdquo; in this time of digital summaries and ephemeral content.\n\u0026ldquo;The book shelves are a kind of ‘memory palace’ for the books themselves. In fact this realisation is quite important to me.\u0026rdquo;\n#Bookstodon #HomeLibrary #ReadingLife\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-15 08:19:59 +1000", "date": "8:19 p.m. on May 15, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/15/theres-a-unique-magic-in.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F15%2Ftheres-a-unique-magic-in.html" }, { "id": 6, "type": "post", "title": "Remembering what you read", "text": "One of the chief uses of note-making is to help you to remember what you read.\nBut it\u0026rsquo;s not as simple as imagining your notes are just an \u0026lsquo;aide memoire\u0026rsquo;.\nWhen you make notes you forget your reading and replace it with the future opportunity to read again not the original book but your own notes on it. So making notes is inevitably a process of interpretation, which involves the occlusion of the original work, albeit in the name of preserving it.\nPsychologists, including Ciara Greene and Gillian Murphy, authors of Memory Lane: The perfectly imperfect ways we remember (Princeton UP, 2025) believe \u0026ldquo;we construct and reconstruct our memories every time we attempt to recall them\u0026rdquo;.\nSo when we re-read our notes, does that mean we\u0026rsquo;re reconstructing our memories of the book, or just the memories of our notes? These elements in time are all intertwined: the content of the book itself, the environment in which we read it in the first place, the environment of the place where the notes were made, the notes themselves, and the circumstances in which, later, perhaps much later, we recollect all these factors by re-reading the notes in a new context.\nAnd you do actually remember at least some of what you\u0026rsquo;ve read. Your reading, or a part of it anyway, sticks in your memory in ineffable ways. Without thinking about it, you have been engaging in what literary scholar Andrew Elfenbein calls \u0026rsquo;the differential allocation of attentional resources.\u0026rsquo; But how?\nThis cat has allocated his attentional resources, differentially.\nYesterday I spent a little while looking over the bookshelves in our house, reminding myself of some the books I\u0026rsquo;ve read and noticing what I haven\u0026rsquo;t read yet. It was an odd experience because what I remembered of each book varied widely.\nI remembered many of the titles, and seeing their spines was a prompt to remember their contents. A surprising number of books I\u0026rsquo;d forgotten I had ever read, but seeing them again enabled my memories of their contents to come flooding back. A few books I had no memory of having read, even though I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure I must have done. And a few more books I was convinced I had never actually owned and vaguely remember thinking I ought to buy a copy.\nI suspect the memory-aiding features of the bookshelf itself are qualitatively different from those of a plain list of the books in that bookshelf. The book shelves are a kind of \u0026lsquo;memory palace\u0026rsquo; for the books themselves. In fact this realisation is quite important to me. It might explain why I get frustrated when someone reorganises these books: they\u0026rsquo;re literally reorganising my memory.\nNow I\u0026rsquo;m minded to take photos of these shelves, so that as I dispose of my books (it\u0026rsquo;s a working library after all) I can at least look back on how they used to be.\nAll this got me wondering: what does it mean to be \u0026lsquo;well-read\u0026rsquo; when you can only partially remember what you\u0026rsquo;ve read?\nPerhaps being well-read is really only something that can emerge in your writing, not as something you carry around with you in your memory. Or is it about the way you weave your reading into your conversation? These days it seems as though being well-read might just be a mark of someone washed up from a previous era, before there were mobile phones and AI summaries of everything.\nScan your own shelves today. Is there a book staring back at you that you have no memory of reading? Or one where the spine alone brings the whole story back? I’d love to hear about the books that have stayed with you, or about the ones that vanished entirely.\nIf our notes eventually replace the books themselves, we are essentially building a library of our own interpretations. Does this feel like a loss of the original work to you, or a necessary step in making the ideas your own? How do you decide what is worth \u0026lsquo;preserving\u0026rsquo; in your notes, and what do you allow yourself to forget?\nIn an age of instant AI summaries, the slow act of reading and note-making feels almost counter-cultural. Do you find that digital tools change how you remember what you read? Or do you still find that the physical presence of a book, its size and colour, its place on a shelf, is what makes the memory stick? I\u0026rsquo;d like to know about your own \u0026lsquo;memory-aiding\u0026rsquo; systems in the comments.\nMeanwhile, here\u0026rsquo;s a podcast about what we remember, having first read:\nWhat we remember after reading, with Andrew Elfenbein | How To Read Podcast\nAnd here\u0026rsquo;s a podcast about the fallibility of memory, and why that might actually be a good thing:\nMemory Lane | Princeton UP Ideas Podcast\nI\u0026rsquo;ve written a lot on making notes, including:\nThree worthwhile modes of note-making (and one not-so-worthwhile).\nNotemaking helps you remember - and helps you forget.\nMaking notes will aid your short-term memory, even when you haven\u0026rsquo;t got one.\nHow to make the most of surprising yourself.\nThanks for reading! If you like this kind of thing, why not subscribe to the weekly email digest?\nAnd you can also buy my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters.\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-15 03:00:00 +1000", "date": "3:00 p.m. on May 15, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/15/remembering-what-you-read.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F15%2Fremembering-what-you-read.html" }, { "id": 7, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "ADHD: not straightforwardly a dysfunction.\n💬 \u0026ldquo;It’s best understood as an impulsive motivational drive for novel information\u0026rdquo;.\n\u0026ndash; Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Aeon.\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-12 23:14:07 +1000", "date": "11:14 p.m. on May 12, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/12/adhd-not-straightforwardly-a-dysfunction.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F12%2Fadhd-not-straightforwardly-a-dysfunction.html" }, { "id": 8, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 “We need to build digital worlds worth protecting.”\n— Dr Krista Fisher, on the real manosphere. Womens Agenda\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-12 20:30:45 +1000", "date": "8:30 p.m. on May 12, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/12/we-need-to-build-digital.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F12%2Fwe-need-to-build-digital.html" }, { "id": 9, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Tsundoku status alert.\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-12 09:01:07 +1000", "date": "9:01 p.m. on May 12, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/12/tsundoku-status-alert.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F12%2Ftsundoku-status-alert.html" }, { "id": 10, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@Mattiverse Welcome to micro.blog - looking forward to what you share.\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-11 18:35:54 +1000", "date": "6:35 p.m. on May 11, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/05/11/89913713.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/89913713" }, { "id": 11, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "My current mood is: Let me sleep, and only wake up after AI is done destroying everything worthwhile, so I can skip to whatever\u0026rsquo;s left without having to live through the intervening period of pointless turmoil.\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s the future of creative work without human intent?\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-11 08:00:00 +1000", "date": "8:00 p.m. on May 11, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/11/my-current-mood-is-let.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F11%2Fmy-current-mood-is-let.html" }, { "id": 12, "type": "post", "title": "What's the future of creative work without human intent?", "text": "Nicholas Carr has written about the prospects for creative work in an age of digital production.\nHe argues that the era where technology merely copies art has given way to one where AI generates it by stripping away human intent and replacing it with mathematical patterns. This results in a flood of \u0026ldquo;efficient\u0026rdquo; but hollow content, which forces creators into a relentless \u0026ldquo;dance marathon\u0026rdquo; to feed the digital platforms. He suggests that as machine-made \u0026ldquo;slop\u0026rdquo; becomes the norm, the true value of art will lie in its humanity. In other words the slow, intentional, and relatively inefficient activities that a computer can\u0026rsquo;t replicate will be recognised as worthwhile. They\u0026rsquo;ll literally be a measure of value.\nHe touches here on a couple of themes I\u0026rsquo;ve been considering too.\nThe first theme is what it means for everything to be turned into \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo;, and for a whole class of \u0026lsquo;content creators\u0026rsquo; to rise from nowhere, the way a gold rush would generate a legion of instant but mainly ersatz gold miners.\nCarr suggests the \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo; doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter compared with the \u0026lsquo;buckets\u0026rsquo; that contain it. As every MrBeast video attests to, it\u0026rsquo;s the form that matters now.\nMrBeast is the brand-name of a prominent American YouTuber who gained worldwide fame for his high-budget videos which feature elaborate challenges and massive financial giveaways. It\u0026rsquo;s a winning formula precisely because it\u0026rsquo;s a formula. And the formula of the show makes the content of any individual episode, though still necessary, oddly irrelevant.\nIf we\u0026rsquo;re not just making content what are we making?\nThat\u0026rsquo;s the question I\u0026rsquo;ve been pondering for a while now. Online platforms are in the container industry. They all provide containers for other peoples\u0026rsquo; stuff. And what do you call the contents of a container, if not ‘content’? This led me to wonder whether the way forward is a) to seize the means of containment and create our own \u0026lsquo;containers\u0026rsquo; or b) to deny the entire paradigm and do something else entirely.\nSo I wanted to know what comes after content?\nIt\u0026rsquo;s hard to imagine but I intend to try. At the moment the obvious answer to what comes next is \u0026lsquo;more containers\u0026rsquo;. As I write this, plenty of writers (including Nicholas Carr) have been moving to Substack because it seems to have some writerly buzz to it (aka \u0026lsquo;organic reach\u0026rsquo;). The quality of the material there is quite high, and the recommendation engine appears to be working, at least for some.\nBut attractive as it may seem, isn\u0026rsquo;t Substack really just the latest in a long line of platforms that seemed great then turned into mush? Blogger, Medium, and now Substack. here today, gone tomorrow. Buzzing along for now, but soon to be ensh_ttified by the venture capital money that feeds it. It\u0026rsquo;s been observed that the Substack business model is inherently unstable, so before too long the mush cycle will kick in and users will move onwards to the next shiny platform. If you don’t get this you should read John Gruber\u0026rsquo;s critique at Daring Fireball. What do I mean by an unstable business model? In brief, you can’t meet a billion dollar valuation by taking 10% of the proceeds of a bunch of bloggers. Therefore, adverts and lock-in will follow, as surely as night follows day.\nWhether you\u0026rsquo;re interested in making your own containers or in challenging the whole paradigm, the key is to create new ways of being human, not necessarily because that\u0026rsquo;s fantastic but because being human is what we\u0026rsquo;ve got.\nThe second theme Nicholas Carr raises in his article is what it means when the automation of this machine formalism becomes so pervasive it undercuts the professional and existential self-confidence of a whole generation. Carr sums it up this way:\n\u0026ldquo;In automated systems, human beings are placeholders for future machines.\u0026rdquo;\nWhich is a neat summary of the philosophy of German philosopher GĂŒnther Anders, whose ideas I\u0026rsquo;ve been reflecting on. In fact, fear of AI is nothing new.\nDecades ago Anders said:\n💬 “Our aim is always to create something that could dispense with our assistance and function perfectly without us. In other words, nothing less than appliances through whose functioning we make ourselves superfluous, eliminate ourselves, liquidate ourselves. It is of no consequence that we only ever approximately achieve this goal. What counts is this trend and its maxim, which is: “without us!\u0026quot;.” — GĂŒnther Anders, ‘The Term’.\nIn some respects this is the leitmotif of this entire Writing Slowly website - the observation that from now on, by most metrics, all humans are writing slowly, that in relation to the machines, we’re second best. Coming to terms with this ironic de-centering of the human is one of the great moral and cultural challenges of our time. It\u0026rsquo;s ironic because, as Anders pointed out, we are the creators of the technologies that now confound us, and so, as he also pointed out, it\u0026rsquo;s weird that they\u0026rsquo;re now leading us by the nose.\nOne possible way forward is to challenge the slippery use of \u0026ldquo;us\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;we\u0026rdquo;, as in the sentence you just read. It masks some important detail, especially the detail of who benefits and who pays for technological innovation. For example, as I write this, nameable individuals are directly profiting from the use of AI to identify targets for missile and drone strikes in Iran. This targeting is horrendously error prone, even on its own terms. I\u0026rsquo;m not profiting from the killing of schoolchildren and you may not be either. The victims of these attacks aren\u0026rsquo;t profiting either; they\u0026rsquo;re dying. Perhaps if there\u0026rsquo;s to be a ”we\u0026quot; in this context, it might be me, the victims of this automated violence, and you. Because when they\u0026rsquo;re blowing up children just because the algorithm told them to, you can be sure their code will be coming for you and me rather than for its owner. It\u0026rsquo;s nothing personal, it\u0026rsquo;s just business. It\u0026rsquo;s merely speeding up the kill chain.\nConversely, if it\u0026rsquo;s true that \u0026ldquo;we all benefit\u0026rdquo; from AI, then, as philosopher Rod Tidwell said, show me the money.\nWell, piece by small piece I\u0026rsquo;m addressing the question, What must I do now? My provisional answer to this question is that you\u0026rsquo;ve got to choose your own race and finish it.\nBut you might also notice that I\u0026rsquo;m doing my best here to form and maintain my own little container, a slightly eccentric bucket in which to mix my own ideas, which I\u0026rsquo;m still not calling content.\nThat got a bit heavy so here\u0026rsquo;s an adorable cat in a bucket, courtesy of marwool.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in the handy email format that never goes out of fashion.\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-10 21:59:50 +1000", "date": "9:59 p.m. on May 10, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/10/whats-the-future-of-creative.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F10%2Fwhats-the-future-of-creative.html" }, { "id": 13, "type": "post", "title": "Compare like with like", "text": "When critiquing my own work it\u0026rsquo;s tempting to compare it unfavourably with something good. But almost all early drafts need improvement.\nFor example, here\u0026rsquo;s the final version of a well-known voiceover:\nSpace, the final frontier.\nThese are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise Its five year mission\nTo explore strange new worlds\nTo seek out new life\nAnd new civilizations\nTo boldly go where no man has gone before.\nBut here\u0026rsquo;s an early draft of that famous start to Star trek. tl;dr it sucks too. [Neatorama.com]\nThe lesson? If your terrible draft lacks sparkle, it might just be because almost everyone\u0026rsquo;s does, at first. So if you can\u0026rsquo;t compare like with like, then don\u0026rsquo;t compare at all.\nUnless you really are planning to regulate commerce and so on.\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-04 20:42:46 +1000", "date": "8:42 p.m. on May 4, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/04/compare-like-with-like.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F04%2Fcompare-like-with-like.html" }, { "id": 14, "type": "post", "title": "‘Beginner's mind’ keeps you young — even in your 80s", "text": " Stewart Brand was on the Ezra Klein Show, talking about his new book Maintenance: Of Everything. He\u0026rsquo;s well into his eighties, and he said:\n\u0026ldquo;Looking into the things that you’re not good at, especially intellectually, is one way to stay young, because you’ve got a beginner’s mind.\u0026rdquo;\nWell now, it was Shunryu Suzuki, the Japanese monk who brought Zen to Northern California, who famously spoke of ‘beginner’s mind’. He said:\n“When we have no thought of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can learn something. The beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless
 The most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner’s mind. 
 This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner” \u0026ndash; Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginners Mind: Prologue.\nBrand\u0026rsquo;s mention of beginner\u0026rsquo;s mind isn\u0026rsquo;t the only Japanese concept he references. The cover of Maintenance: Of Everything alludes to kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery by means of gold lacquer. With kintsugi, instead of hiding the cracks, you honour them.\nYou can read the interview\u0026rsquo;s transcript, or just listen.\nMy source for this little nugget was Austin Kleon, who also has a new book out in September 2026: Don\u0026rsquo;t Call it Art.\nMeanwhile, I’ve written more about beginner’s mind, and why the greatest experts are serial beginners.\nIn Influence is everything I\u0026rsquo;ve mentioned Stewart Brand\u0026rsquo;s idea of \u0026lsquo;pace layering’.\n\u0026ldquo;Pace layers is an idea Stewart Brand first developed in the 1990s. Civilization, he argued, works as a set of nested layers, each moving at a different speed: fashion changes fastest, then commerce, then infrastructure, governance, culture, and finally nature, which changes slowest of all. The fast layers are where novelty happens, but the slow layers provide stability. Healthy societies need both.\nEach layer also requires its own kind of maintenance—and when any of them gets neglected, the whole system suffers.\u0026rdquo;\nAnd I’ve also reflected on Austin Kleon’s advice about Sharing what you know.\n—-\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in the classic email format that never gets old and never goes out of fashion.\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-04 17:21:18 +1000", "date": "5:21 p.m. on May 4, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/04/beginners-mind-keeps-you-young.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F04%2Fbeginners-mind-keeps-you-young.html" }, { "id": 15, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Notes about notebooks?\nUlkar Aghayeva writes about the history of laboratory notebooks.\nAghayeva, U. “A Brief History of Lab Notebooks.” Asimov Press (2026). DOI: 10.62211/52wg-76ye\nSource: Scott Nesbitt\u0026rsquo;s The Monday Kickoff - well worth subscribing to.\n#notetaking #notebooks #historyofscience\n", "dateiso": "2026-05-04 08:59:06 +1000", "date": "8:59 p.m. on May 4, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/05/04/notes-about-notebooks-ulkar-aghayeva.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F05%2F04%2Fnotes-about-notebooks-ulkar-aghayeva.html" }, { "id": 16, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@joeywingster.bsky.social that’s wonderful. Motion sickness would prevent me from writing like that unfortunately\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-30 09:13:02 +1000", "date": "9:13 p.m. on Apr 30, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/30/89278972.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/89278972" }, { "id": 17, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@ausrtho Yes, but I’d probably find your location quite exotic, trains or no trains\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-29 16:44:29 +1000", "date": "4:44 p.m. on Apr 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/29/89223455.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/89223455" }, { "id": 18, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@joeywingster.bsky.social you’re not writing while driving are you? I suppose dictation might work. But travel generally seems good for writing\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-29 16:42:32 +1000", "date": "4:42 p.m. on Apr 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/29/89223389.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/89223389" }, { "id": 19, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@lmika Should be easy to arrange!\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-29 08:33:53 +1000", "date": "8:33 p.m. on Apr 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/29/89203937.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/89203937" }, { "id": 20, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I find writing on the train works well. It helps that there’s a good view. Anyone else do this?\n#writing #notetaking #writingcommunity #photography\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-29 08:32:52 +1000", "date": "8:32 p.m. on Apr 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/29/i-find-writing-on-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F29%2Fi-find-writing-on-the.html" }, { "id": 21, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@lmika to settle all disputes, let’s just agree to call it libra pondo again\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-29 08:27:28 +1000", "date": "8:27 p.m. on Apr 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/29/89203735.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/89203735" }, { "id": 22, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Every Zen garden is unique, but recognizable patterns recur too.\nPerhaps it\u0026rsquo;s the patterns that enable the diversity.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-28 08:58:05 +1000", "date": "8:58 p.m. on Apr 28, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/28/every-zen-garden-is-unique.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F28%2Fevery-zen-garden-is-unique.html" }, { "id": 23, "type": "post", "title": "Holy mother of cheeses, the Internet is not made out of content", "text": " Holy mother of cheeses, the Internet is not made out of content.\n💬 “The Net is not content.\nThere is great content on the Internet. But holy mother of cheeses, the Internet is not made out of content.\nA teenager\u0026rsquo;s first poem, the blissful release of a long-kept secret, a fine sketch drawn by a palsied hand, a blog post in a regime that hates the sound of its people\u0026rsquo;s voices — none of these people sat down to write content.\nDid we use the word \u0026ldquo;content\u0026rdquo; without quotes? We feel so dirty.” — Doc Searles and David Weinberger, New Clues\nPlenty of my thoughts about writing, and writing for the Web, are really just paraphrases of something David Weinberger has already said with far greater eloquence and perspicacity.\n“Small pieces loosely joined”. — From fragments you can build a greater whole.\n“Everything is miscellaneous”. — What does it mean to write from the bottom up instead of from the top down?\n“The smartest person in the room is the room”. — The mastery of knowledge is an illusion.\n“The Internet is not made out of content”. — What comes after content?\nAnd what do you know? the author has a new book out in October 2026:\n📚 Beautiful Particulars: How AI’s attention to the smallest of differences is reshaping our biggest ideas.\nNo doubt Beautiful Particulars will also help reshape my brain, and maybe yours too.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if this article piqued your interest you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest, where you’ll find yourself in an exclusive club whose privileged members just get a weekly email.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-27 13:11:25 +1000", "date": "1:11 p.m. on Apr 27, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/27/holy-mother-of-cheeses-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F27%2Fholy-mother-of-cheeses-the.html" }, { "id": 24, "type": "post", "title": "The real science behind Project Hail Mary", "text": " Yes, there is some real science behind 📚 Project Hail Mary.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s an enjoyable and successful sci-fi novel and film, but the science fiction is frankly quite a bit more fiction than science.\nIt would hardly give away the plot of Project Hail Mary to mention that it has a lot to do with the microbial contamination of experimental research. I mean, that\u0026rsquo;s what the story is about \u0026ndash; in the same way Andy Weir\u0026rsquo;s previous novel, The Martian, was all about potato farming.\nIf this floats your spaceship (microbes I mean, not potatoes), you might enjoy a fascinating article about the real science of microbial contamination in experimental contexts. Apparently there\u0026rsquo;s a bacteriophage called Ί80 and it\u0026rsquo;s running amok.\nHow Ί80 infiltrates research labs.\nScary stuff! Perhaps someone will turn it into a movie.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-27 12:39:38 +1000", "date": "12:39 p.m. on Apr 27, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/27/the-real-science-behind-project.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F27%2Fthe-real-science-behind-project.html" }, { "id": 25, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@JigmeDatse to paraphrase Upton Sinclair,\nIt is difficult to get people to understand something, when their likes and subscribes depend upon them not understanding it.\nI’ve had a few thankless conversations like that.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-22 07:16:34 +1000", "date": "7:16 p.m. on Apr 22, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/22/88735699.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/88735699" }, { "id": 26, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@drwalt worse than ignored:\n\u0026gt; “Every journalist who is not too stupid or full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible” – Janet Malcolm.\nLouis Theroux quoted this in an interview with Patrick Raddon Keefe. But then not all writers are journalists\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-22 06:56:07 +1000", "date": "6:56 p.m. on Apr 22, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/22/88734512.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/88734512" }, { "id": 27, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 \u0026ldquo;For good or ill, a new generation, though raised in the lap of AI, will not be speaking or writing anything like the ‘intelligence’ that raised it.\u0026rdquo; - Notes on the artificial style of writing.\n#Zettelkasten #LLM #AIPhilosophy #Writing #Notemaking #AIWriting\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-22 05:00:00 +1000", "date": "5:00 p.m. on Apr 22, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/22/for-good-or-ill-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F22%2Ffor-good-or-ill-a.html" }, { "id": 28, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@drjlwells I see what you mean - the top level areas are defined, but they’re what you make them. Johnny Decimal seems a bit like PARA - they’re both ways of organising all your digital/written stuff, and your notes (Zettelkasten or whatever) can sit within that framework (or not).\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-21 09:26:58 +1000", "date": "9:26 p.m. on Apr 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/21/88670453.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/88670453" }, { "id": 29, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "You have your own peculiar and necessarily limited interests and instead of spreading the net too widely, maybe it\u0026rsquo;s worth keeping a bit focused on these. But how? Top level categories in my notes.\n#PKM #Zettelkasten #notemaking #Writing #WritingSlowly\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-21 03:00:00 +1000", "date": "3:00 p.m. on Apr 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/21/you-have-your-own-peculiar.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F21%2Fyou-have-your-own-peculiar.html" }, { "id": 30, "type": "post", "title": "Notes on the artificial style of writing", "text": "In which the artificial style of writing encounters the iron hand of fashion\nAI makes writing more bland, as reported by NBC News. This will accelerate the rate at which readers demand new forms of writing that AI can’t yet (or ever) achieve. There’s been plenty of talk about how AI caters to the economic requirement for efficiency (aka reduced labour costs), but there’s another very obvious economic requirement too: novelty.\nAI handles novelty of combination very well. Just try asking it for a story about a unicycling giraffe who learns quantum mechanics and escapes from a zoo in the Alpha Centuri star system — it won’t refuse you. That kind of combinatorial novelty it handles with aplomb. At no point will it tell you this is a bad idea. On the contrary, \u0026ldquo;You might consider how the unicycle itself acts as a metaphor for the observer effect,\u0026rdquo; says Google\u0026rsquo;s Gemini as it eggs me on. But it doesn’t produce novelty of expression. Despite the arguable novelty of this scenario, the adventures of a fugitive circus scientist space giraffe, the story, as written by AI, will still be, well, bland.\nCheaper, better and newer. Consumers crave novelty, which drives the endless parade of fashion, and the instant obsolescence of what only yesterday was highly desirable. In a sense, AI writing stands at the end of an era, the era that saw the kind of writing on which AI has been trained as up to date. For example, if a chat-bot wrote an article or a piece of advertising copy in the 150-year-old style of Charles Dickens, it would be quaint, but hardly useable. To achieve the effect it does, of being ‘as good as an average human writer’, it must mimic what’s considered the current writing style, and it does so blandly.\nNow the research shows that AI-generated prose isn’t just bland, it’s also distorted in several other ways, many of them, such as pronoun use, connected with style.\nHow LLMs distort our written language.\nBut fashions change, and the blandness of the AI style will accelerate the speed at which writing style fashions change. Just as we can’t take seriously today someone who writes like Charles Dickens (unless it’s deliberate pastiche), tomorrow we won’t be able to take seriously any writing produced in the style of a bot. And that means soon we won\u0026rsquo;t be able to take seriously any writing that\u0026rsquo;s written in our current style.\nYou might find this hard to accept, since in our lifetimes writing styles have tended to change quite slowly. Your style is different from that of your parents when they were your age, but only very slightly, and the gap between your style and that of your grandparents when they were your age is only slightly larger again. But try reading Shakespeare and you’ll see very clearly that over the space of just a few centuries writing style can change dramatically. Even though Shakespeare is definitely considered ‘modern English’, it doesn’t seem very modern when you’re trying to understand it.\nBut fashions change at varying speeds. We know this from observing clothing fashions and pop music, where there’s a ceaseless seasonal turmoil, but there are slower fashion cycles at work too. To give just one example, I’ve been surprised to observe how fashions in pet dog breeds have changed radically in my lifetime. Even into my 30s I assumed the dogs we had were the dogs we were always going to have. This assumption hasn’t aged at all well. It\u0026rsquo;s labradoodles everywhere now.\nMy prediction is that the arrival of large language models is going to speed up the fashion process in writing, so that a clear gap opens between the style AI can produce and the style that’s considered up to date by actual humans. Sure, bureaucracy will probably thrive on the bland style that AI has perfected, just as even now its ‘formal’ style seems slightly old fashioned. But the cutting edge of human communication will soon be leaving this era far behind.\nNow you might argue that this just isn\u0026rsquo;t how language works. You might observe that the kids, in each new generation, have their own ways of speaking and yet their slang and their idiom don\u0026rsquo;t quite take hold. Sure, some expressions break through to ubiquity, but on the whole, language change maintains its own pace, which is a little slower than the span of a generation. True, you can see in recordings of the long-lived Queen of England, that she changed her accent through the course of her life, but she didn\u0026rsquo;t do it quickly or dramatically.\nI accept that this is how it has been up till now, but my point is that the near future will be different. AI is going to speed up the rate of change, quite dramatically. By the time AI can write an article like the one you\u0026rsquo;re reading now \u0026ndash; an article I wrote by hand myself, but which you might not be completely confident I didn\u0026rsquo;t use AI for some or all of it \u0026ndash; by that time, which is surely coming soon, we\u0026rsquo;ll have to change our idiom quite radically if we want to speak and write like humans. Attempts to somehow certify human writing as such already verge on the farcical1. Ironically, the more convincingly AI learns to imitate us, the more urgently we\u0026rsquo;ll be making ourselves sound quite different.\nTrue, AI raises some important and controversial questions, such as \u0026lsquo;could a large language model be conscious?\u0026rsquo;, as philosopher David Chalmers has asked. But in an important sense, for the changes I\u0026rsquo;m predicting such questions don\u0026rsquo;t matter. The better and more competent AI becomes, the more pressing will be the urge for humans to behave differently.\nThe language the LLMs have been trained on, which is basically the language of our own generation, more or less, will not be used by those of us who, for whatever reason (but certainly by reason of the harsh imperatives of fashion) wish to demonstrate that we are human.\nFor good or ill, a new generation, though raised in the lap of AI will not be speaking or writing anything like the ‘intelligence’ that raised it.\nEven though modern English has only existed for a few centuries, and even though it\u0026rsquo;s already quite hard to understand Shakespeare, not to mention Chaucer, it remains very difficult to imagine our own language changing beyond our present ken. Yet this is what\u0026rsquo;s about to happen. Meanwhile, AI will be stuck in the past that its training data prepared it for. Human language will press onwards, as it always has done, but rather faster, as LLM training strains to keep up. In this sense, the rise of AI marks not the beginning of a new era but the end of an old one. What happens next might not really shock you, but it will leave algorithmically-generated text far behind.\nNow read: Influence is everything, in which I consider whether the finely-wrought \u0026lsquo;Mersey Beach\u0026rsquo; sound of the Lemon Twigs, an almost-pastiche of the \u0026lsquo;60\u0026rsquo;s, is deeply unfashionable and what that could even mean.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\nSee for example, Oscar Schwartz\u0026rsquo;s article, \u0026lsquo;My Certified Organic, Biodynamic, Wildcrafted, Cold-pressed, Unfiltered Novel\u0026rsquo; at The Paris End\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-21 03:00:00 +1000", "date": "3:00 p.m. on Apr 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/21/notes-on-the-artificial-style.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F21%2Fnotes-on-the-artificial-style.html" }, { "id": 31, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@billseitz everything about your site has been inspirational for my TiddlyWiki notebook. To cite just one inspiring post of many: Notice patterns and garden your own private wiki notebook. Thanks!\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-20 17:26:03 +1000", "date": "5:26 p.m. on Apr 20, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/20/88617879.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/88617879" }, { "id": 32, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@JigmeDatse it pains me when people just don’t want to see the Nazi bar. I know we can’t protest everything but still.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-20 17:17:08 +1000", "date": "5:17 p.m. on Apr 20, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/20/88617584.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/88617584" }, { "id": 33, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@drjlwells in what way is Johnny Decimal bottom-up? I’m not seeing that.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-20 17:16:04 +1000", "date": "5:16 p.m. on Apr 20, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/20/88617553.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/88617553" }, { "id": 34, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@thoughtshrapnel indeed!\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-19 23:01:01 +1000", "date": "11:01 p.m. on Apr 19, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/19/88571817.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/88571817" }, { "id": 35, "type": "post", "title": "Top level categories in my notes", "text": "What kind of top-level categories do you have for your notes?\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re doing knowledge management you might use or adapt Tiago Forte\u0026rsquo;s PARA system:\nProjects Activities Resources Archive Or you might consider using Bob Doto\u0026rsquo;s four-folder approach:\nIn-box Sleeping References Main Tame the chaos with just four folders for all your notes.\nProlific German sociologist Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s second collection of notes, his second Zettelkasten (ZKII) was arranged according to eleven top-level categories, based on subjects or themes associated with his singular major project, a theory of society.\nOrganisation theory Functionalism Decision theory Amt: office, post, job, duty Formal / informal order Sovereignty / State Isolated/individual terms, problems Economy Ad hoc notes Archaic societies High cultures In his lecture on Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten, researcher Johannes Schmidt of the Niklas Luhmann Archive at Bielefeld University observes that these headings are hardly comprehensive. Instead they strongly echo the progression of Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s scholarly interests over many years.\n“Looking at these you quickly see that this does not describe a certain body of knowledge to work through like in the first Zettelkasten. If you know a bit about the development of Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s theory you quickly recognize this as a historic record of research interests.”\nSchmidt claims the first five sections are an organised summary of Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s research interests in the 1960s, while the later categories are less organised and more ad hoc. But even in the supposedly more systematic sections, there is a marked unevenness to the amount of material. For example, section 21 of category 5. Formal/informal order is labelled \u0026lsquo;Functionalism\u0026rsquo;. This section contains between 15,000 and 16,000 notes out of 67,000 total. On marked contrast, there are other sections that are almost empty.\nSo should all Zettelkasten note-makers create a top level of categories under which to file their notes? And if so, what would it look like?\nIf you don\u0026rsquo;t know what you want to study and don\u0026rsquo;t have a clear thirty-year research program the way Luhmann did, you might consider throwing everything into the mix and using a comprehensive knowledge classification such as the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), first created by bibliographers Paul Otlet, Henri La Fontaine, and their collaborators (Wikipedia). This framework has ten top-level headings to encompass all of human knowledge.\nScience \u0026amp; knowledge, organization (with numerous related categories also contained in this section) Philosophy, Psychology Religion, Theology Social Sciences [currently vacant] Mathematics \u0026amp; Natural Science Applied Science, Medicine, Technology The Arts, Recreation, etc Language, Linguistics, Literature Geography, Biography, History. That\u0026rsquo;s all very well but the categories are pretty general and the chances are you won\u0026rsquo;t actually use most of them. Furthermore this approach may give you the misleading cue that your collection of notes, like an encyclopedia, is going to expand to rival Wikipedia or your national library.\nIt isn\u0026rsquo;t.\nYou have your own peculiar and necessarily limited interests and instead of spreading the net too widely, maybe its worth keeping a bit focused on these.\nI\u0026rsquo;m a fan of working from the bottom up, which means I don\u0026rsquo;t create the higher level elements until I\u0026rsquo;ve had a good go at creating the lower level elements. The idea here is that by writing fairly modest notes I gradually discover what categories I\u0026rsquo;m actually interested in. Instead of adopting a priori a theoretical classification system, I let the notes themselves tell me what they\u0026rsquo;re about and what they\u0026rsquo;re not about. By writing notes, then gradually clustering them around hub notes and structure notes the higher levels of organisation gradually emerge.\nFrom simpler elements more complex assemblies arise.\nThis approach is inspired by the work of W. Brian Arthur on the essential modularity of technology. All technology, he claims, is made from less complex components, which themselves are made from less complex components. My claim is that the same is true for written ideas. You start from the simplest components, letters, words and sentences, and combine them to form paragraphs, sections, chapters and eventually whole books. And the same may be true for the categories of your notes. You don\u0026rsquo;t have to start with clear categories if you don\u0026rsquo;t want to. Instead you can let them emerge gradually, so you don\u0026rsquo;t so much decide what you\u0026rsquo;re writing about as simply discover it.\nSo what does this actually look like? For some clear answers, keep reading:\nDoes the Zettelkasten have a top and bottom?\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\nReferences W. Brian Arthur,2009. The Nature of Technology: What it is and How it Evolves. The Free Press and Penguin Books.\nJohannes Schmidt, \u0026lsquo;Der Zettelkasten als ZweitgedĂ€chtnis Niklas Luhmanns\u0026rsquo;. The video of this lecture is on Youtube, while Roy Scholten has provided a rough English translation.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-19 22:50:18 +1000", "date": "10:50 p.m. on Apr 19, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/19/top-level-categories-in-my.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F19%2Ftop-level-categories-in-my.html" }, { "id": 36, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Simon Willison says:\n💬 \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m effectively using Substack as a lightweight way to allow people to subscribe to my blog via email.\u0026rdquo;\nI already do this easily via micro.blog and it\u0026rsquo;s a lot less convoluted. I guess he has complete control of the output though, provided he\u0026rsquo;s happy to tinker like this.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-19 17:59:10 +1000", "date": "5:59 p.m. on Apr 19, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/19/simon-willison-says-im-effectively.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F19%2Fsimon-willison-says-im-effectively.html" }, { "id": 37, "type": "post", "title": "Finished reading Trip to the Moon by John Yorke ", "text": " Trip to the Moon by John Yorke 📚 sets out the author\u0026rsquo;s deeply-considered views on the nature of story and goes further than his previous work on the same theme, Into the Woods.\nJohn Yorke is a highly experienced writer and producer for British TV, and here he presents invaluable insights into how stories really work, from the perspective of someone who absolutely knows what he\u0026rsquo;s talking about. I found the section on non-western story-forms very interesting, and though I wasn\u0026rsquo;t convinced by the claim that stories in all cultures are basically fueled by \u0026lsquo;some bastardization of the hero\u0026rsquo;s journey\u0026rsquo;, just hearing the argument made by a true expert was very helpful.\nMore convincing - and worrying - was the claim that effective storytellers \u0026lsquo;unshackle us from empirical observation by drugging us with rage or anger or pleasure.\u0026rsquo; Indeed, if this book has a single key theme, it might be that telling stories is a uniquely dangerous skill, whose seductive power we\u0026rsquo;d do well to understand much better than we do.\nThe insights of Trip to the Moon are profound, though a more rigorous edit would have served the work well. In places the text feels unbalanced. Crucial developments are often truncated in the main chapters only to resurface in the lengthy commentary at the back. Despite this imbalance, the author’s body of work remains vital for any aspiring writer. Start with Into the Woods before tackling this more fragmented sequel.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-19 17:53:40 +1000", "date": "5:53 p.m. on Apr 19, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/19/finished-reading-trip-to-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F19%2Ffinished-reading-trip-to-the.html" }, { "id": 38, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@mattypenny the famine did have an impact in Strabane, whose population declined from 7,000 to 4,000. A scheme to relieve overcrowded workhouses deported at least six girls from Strabane to Australia, including three in 1848. So yes, quite dark. Irish Famine Memorial\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-15 08:41:48 +1000", "date": "8:41 p.m. on Apr 15, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/15/88261897.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/88261897" }, { "id": 39, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@thoughtshrapnel\n\u0026gt; all your brain is doing is making links between things. Which is why I don’t have any problem in using LLMs as part of my workflow.\nWhat of the difference between how the brain makes links, with necessary economy, and how AI does it, profligately? How to triage what links matter?\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-13 22:49:53 +1000", "date": "10:49 p.m. on Apr 13, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/13/88159450.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/88159450" }, { "id": 40, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 The fight against the far-right is much more compelling to voters when it is framed in the practical opposition to corruption than the ideological opposition to populism. — Ian Dunt, Substack.\nA lesson from Hungary for the rest of us.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-13 22:42:01 +1000", "date": "10:42 p.m. on Apr 13, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/13/the-fight-against-the-farright.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F13%2Fthe-fight-against-the-farright.html" }, { "id": 41, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@bkryer I’m glad someone knows what this cat is thinking!\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-08 18:03:24 +1000", "date": "6:03 p.m. on Apr 8, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/08/87824031.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87824031" }, { "id": 42, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@drwalt\n\u0026gt; “a polished, erudite prose that had snap, sizzle, and complexity.”\nThat’s a standard worth celebrating.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-08 11:01:17 +1000", "date": "11:01 p.m. on Apr 8, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/08/87808205.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87808205" }, { "id": 43, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@bobdoto it’s back-and-forth for me too. My writing process oscillates between notes and drafts.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-08 09:17:59 +1000", "date": "9:17 p.m. on Apr 8, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/08/87803761.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87803761" }, { "id": 44, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@drwalt Isn’t it yes and no, no and yes? A car is like a horse \u0026amp; carriage except it isn’t. An ebook is like a book, but not. Blogging is like 17th century pamphleteering but different. Just talking in a cafe like Sartre might still be the very first step to forming ideas? What do you think?\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-08 09:13:57 +1000", "date": "9:13 p.m. on Apr 8, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/08/87803608.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87803608" }, { "id": 45, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@chrisfoley Exactly so. I wrote a detailed content calendar once - which I’ve never looked at since.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-08 09:07:53 +1000", "date": "9:07 p.m. on Apr 8, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/08/87803210.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87803210" }, { "id": 46, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@chadkoh I’ve been enjoying your cherry blossom photos – especially since here in Australia the Autumn has just arrived.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-06 13:13:47 +1000", "date": "1:13 p.m. on Apr 6, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/06/87674342.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87674342" }, { "id": 47, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Make YouTube videos and you\u0026rsquo;ll eventually be tempted to sit in a bath of ketchup or jump into a tiny pool with a goat \u0026ndash; but either would bring relief from the cat photos the rest of us seem compelled to post.\nHow do social media platforms trap users in networks they would rather leave? | UNSW\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-06 13:12:21 +1000", "date": "1:12 p.m. on Apr 6, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/06/make-youtube-videos-and-youll.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F06%2Fmake-youtube-videos-and-youll.html" }, { "id": 48, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@bobdoto most recently and surely most reflexively ever, Eric Zimmer’s book was written this way too: How a Little Becomes a Lot.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-06 10:38:29 +1000", "date": "10:38 p.m. on Apr 6, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/06/87667591.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87667591" }, { "id": 49, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@cliff538 watch the classic mint cake comedy sketch — Not the Nine O’Clock News series 3 episode 3 (starts 19:56). You won’t regret it. The Archive\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-06 10:32:05 +1000", "date": "10:32 p.m. on Apr 6, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/06/87667183.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87667183" }, { "id": 50, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "On Mastodon, Harold Jarche points to the renewed relevance of Harold Innis, the mid-20th century Canadian scholar who called out US media imperialism for what it was.\n💬 “We can only survive by taking persistent action at strategic points against American imperialism in all its attractive guises.”\nI’ve written about Innis’s lost notes but his warnings about the distorting power of the media are very appropriate now.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-06 09:07:23 +1000", "date": "9:07 p.m. on Apr 6, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/06/on-mastodon-harold-jarche-points.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F06%2Fon-mastodon-harold-jarche-points.html" }, { "id": 51, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m reading about the traditional Japanese porch, the engawa, seen here at the Shugakuin Imperial Villa.\nBut right now I\u0026rsquo;m sitting on the typically Australian version, the verandah, an idea the colonialists took from India.\nIn each case, inside and outside connect quite elegantly.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-05 16:21:00 +1000", "date": "4:21 p.m. on Apr 5, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/05/im-reading-about-the-traditional.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F05%2Fim-reading-about-the-traditional.html" }, { "id": 52, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Jorge Arango’s book, Duly Noted: Extend your mind through connected notes, has its own Flickr page, with a set of photos, images and screenshots — illustrations that inform the book’s text. I like this idea and am saving it here in case it’s useful in future — whether for me or for someone else.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-05 15:06:01 +1000", "date": "3:06 p.m. on Apr 5, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/05/jorge-arangos-book-duly-noted.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F05%2Fjorge-arangos-book-duly-noted.html" }, { "id": 53, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@chrisfoley I’m keen on Doctorow’s idea of finding ‘subjects of interest’ from the bottom up, by writing and publishing, rather than by determining them in advance. Has that been your experience?\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-05 14:23:47 +1000", "date": "2:23 p.m. on Apr 5, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/05/87623808.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87623808" }, { "id": 54, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@drwalt good example. The illusion of integrated thought is a problem, which is why I don’t publish absolutely everything just to see what sticks. Thoreau is an inspiration. He gradually honed his writing, so the ‘best’ version was in his books. For me, book writing and blogging are separate.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-05 12:57:38 +1000", "date": "12:57 p.m. on Apr 5, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/05/87621569.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87621569" }, { "id": 55, "type": "post", "title": "Thoughts on ‘The Memex Method’", "text": "Today I noticed that the ridiculously prolific author and tech activist Cory Doctorow is commissioned to publish a book in 2027 on “The Memex Method”, which he described in a post of that name back in 2021. The basic idea is that he publishes continually in public by means of many, many blog posts, then collates it into books.\n💬 “Traditionally, a writer identifies a subject of interest and researches it, then writes about it. In the (my) blogging method, the writer blogs about everything that seems interesting, until a subject gels out of all of those disparate, short pieces.”\nI mentioned this post back in 2023, when I suggested: to build something big, start with small fragments.\nMaybe Cory’s ‘Memex method’ was also in the back of my mind when I wrote my own version of the idea, Publish first, write later. This was a motto of the Argentinian writer Osvaldo Lamborghini, whose literary protĂ©gĂ©, CĂ©sar Aira, seems to have adopted with gusto. In his fiction Aira appears not to be overly bothered by questions of plot coherence, continuity editing, or finding the right publisher — yet he’s still been nominated several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature.\nDoctorow’s blog posts, well written as they are, tend to be stand-alone pieces, always part of a larger ongoing thought process, indicated by deep links to similar ideas. They’re kinetic. They feel as though they’re written by someone who, like Aira, is all-in on ‘the constant flight forward’.\nI’m deeply inspired by Doctorow’s process. It chimes with my claim that from fragments you can build a greater whole.\nIt also echoes and updates the approach of Henry Thoreau, who first jotted down field notes, then transferred them to his journal, and used these fragments to inform his many speeches and talks, which were then written up further into published essays and finally converted into the books, such as ‘Walden’, for which he’s now famous.\n💬 “Each thought that is welcomed and recorded is a nest egg – by the side of which more will be laid. Thoughts accidentally thrown together become a frame – in which more may be developed and exhibited.”\nThe advantage writers have now is that they can publish their nest-eggs directly, as they go. Perhaps this is what the likes of Thoreau and Emerson would have done, if only the technology had been available to them.\nBut Doctorow isn’t the only person who works like this. For example, Roy Peter Clark published a book by writing one blog post a week for fifty weeks. From tiny drops of writing, great rivers will flow.\nAnyway, I look forward to reading a whole book on the Memex Method, though I’m not holding my breath, since the author apparently has four other book-length projects to deliver beforehand. If the process works, perhaps he’ll manage it.\nNow read: Why not publish all your notes online?\n———\nCory Doctorow’s pace puts almost everyone to shame. All I’ve published is Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nStill, I keep on writing slowly, and if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-04 21:31:00 +1000", "date": "9:31 p.m. on Apr 4, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/04/thoughts-on-the-memex-method.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F04%2Fthoughts-on-the-memex-method.html" }, { "id": 56, "type": "post", "title": "Writing is still about thinking", "text": "According to author Larry McEnerney, writing is an essential part of a sophisticated thinking process. He says:\n💬 \u0026ldquo;So here\u0026rsquo;s what you\u0026rsquo;re doing, you are thinking about your world in very difficult ways. This is a terrifically good thing, and it\u0026rsquo;s the source of most of the value of your work. Now, you are also writing about that world, and this is where it starts, the problem starts arising. Unlike a journalist, almost surely you are using your writing process to help yourself think. In other words, the thinking that you\u0026rsquo;re doing is at such a level of complexity that you have to use writing to help yourself do your thinking.\u0026rdquo; - Larry McEnerney: The Craft of Writing Effectively | Youtube\nIn my own reading I\u0026rsquo;ve felt there\u0026rsquo;s a difference between published writing as useful information (e.g. \u0026lsquo;how to fix that annoying computer problem\u0026rsquo;) and published writing as the voice of a human grappling with complexity (\u0026lsquo;how I fixed my annoying computer problem \u0026lsquo;).\nIn the first instance I don\u0026rsquo;t care if the \u0026lsquo;author\u0026rsquo; is AI, so long as the suggested fix actually works. I don\u0026rsquo;t need evidence of a thought process; I just want to fix my computer. In the second instance, the central thing I\u0026rsquo;m looking for is evidence of human thought. And if the writing starts to smell of AI, I don\u0026rsquo;t bother even finishing it.\nBut even though the AI-written information articles always seem highly plausible, I\u0026rsquo;ve found the \u0026lsquo;information\u0026rsquo; contained to be highly untrustworthy. Sometimes it\u0026rsquo;s correct and helpful, other times it\u0026rsquo;s wildly off beam. That\u0026rsquo;s not exactly ideal. I noticed that at least one version of Microsoft Copilot says it\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;for entertainment only\u0026rsquo; - which makes it a bit worrying that they named it Copilot.\nSo whether I do need a human or don\u0026rsquo;t need a human, either way, AI prose isn\u0026rsquo;t really doing it for me.\nWell, here are some articles that consider the vexed question of whether AI text counts as writing, or just glorified Lorem Ipsum filler \u0026ndash; or worse:\nAlex Woods | Don\u0026rsquo;t let AI write for you. N. Cailie | I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era. Elizabeth Spiers | The Anti-Intellectualism of Silicon Valley Elites. \u0026ldquo;We can decide that we want to be human\u0026rdquo; | The Guardian. Less Wrong | Folie Ă  Machine: LLMs and Epistemic Capture. Manuel Morale\u0026rsquo;s two-step process for writing AI-free blog posts (an amusing response to an interesting discussion). I\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for artists and Fighters, which I wrote myself and I also took all the photos myself. If you\u0026rsquo;re interested in learning, teaching, art, fighting, or Japanese aesthetics and philosophy, you might just find this short book of relevance to you.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-03 16:15:50 +1000", "date": "4:15 p.m. on Apr 3, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/03/writing-is-still-about-thinking.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F03%2Fwriting-is-still-about-thinking.html" }, { "id": 57, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@eclecticpassions your entire website is fantastic - thanks for letting me know about it. This is a prime example of why the indieweb is so great\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-03 08:10:26 +1000", "date": "8:10 p.m. on Apr 3, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/03/87498165.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87498165" }, { "id": 58, "type": "post", "title": "Game of Likes", "text": "I was remembering that time when the MrBeast training manual was leaked and people thought it might offer some insights into how to win at YouTube. Well, it certainly gave some insights into MrBeast.\nHow to succeed in MrBeast Production | simonwillison.net\nThere was a part of the manual that made a clear argument in favour of \u0026lsquo;virality\u0026rsquo;:\nThis is what dictates what we do for videos. “I Spent 50 Hours In My Front Yard” is lame and you wouldn’t click it. But you would hypothetically click “I Spent 50 Hours In Ketchup”. Both are relatively similar in time/effort but the ketchup one is easily 100x more viral. An image of someone sitting in ketchup in a bathtub is exponentially more interesting than someone sitting in their front yard.\nThis is a great example of how people do things because they think they have agency but actually their environment largely conditions what they do. If you make videos for YouTube, sooner or later you\u0026rsquo;ll at least contemplate sitting in a bath of ketchup. That\u0026rsquo;s the logic of the medium controlling both what\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;interesting\u0026rsquo; (50 hours in ketchup) and what\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;rational\u0026rsquo; (filming it).\nThis little theory goes some way towards accounting for what happened to the likes of Russell Brand, the comedian turned influencer turned defendant, who seems to have pursued every attention-grabbing fashion under the sun, like a seagull checking out empty takeaway trays. It might also at least partly explain the creepy and often abusive behaviour of those \u0026lsquo;manosphere\u0026rsquo; influencers in Louis Theroux\u0026rsquo;s documentary on the tendency. One of them said \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m playing the game of life and I\u0026rsquo;m playing it very well\u0026rdquo;.\nThat \u0026ndash; or the game of likes is playing him and it\u0026rsquo;s playing him very well.\nBecause it\u0026rsquo;s not just the medium (YouTube) that determines the message (50 hours in ketchup): there\u0026rsquo;s also the audience. \u0026lsquo;An image of someone sitting in ketchup in a bathtub is ingfinitely more interesting\u0026hellip;\u0026rsquo; \u0026hellip;well, interesting to whom exactly? The implication of the MrBeast manual was that this question was so irrelevant as to remain beneath asking. Presumably the algorithm delivered views and the view count went up, up, up. But whose views?\nWhen you sit in a bath of ketchup for 50 hours you\u0026rsquo;ll attract the people who enjoy this kind of thing - the spectacle, the humiliation, the low-key shock value, (though presumably not especially the ketchup).\nBut is this the kind of attention or the kind of people you really want to attract? They just want ketchup, not you or anything else about you.\nUnless and until you sit in a bath of custard.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-02 22:23:49 +1000", "date": "10:23 p.m. on Apr 2, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/02/game-of-likes.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F02%2Fgame-of-likes.html" }, { "id": 59, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@eclecticpassions it is impressive and I can take exactly zero credit for a fabulous micro.blog plugin by Amit\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-02 22:08:52 +1000", "date": "10:08 p.m. on Apr 2, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/04/02/87460547.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87460547" }, { "id": 60, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The Writing Slowly stats page has been given a natty makeover. As a result I\u0026rsquo;ve learned it will take 18 hours to read this whole site. Good luck!\n#IndieWeb #SmallWeb #DataViz #SlowLiving\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-02 11:46:02 +1000", "date": "11:46 p.m. on Apr 2, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/02/the-writing-slowly-stats-page.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F02%2Fthe-writing-slowly-stats-page.html" }, { "id": 61, "type": "post", "title": "Beginner’s mind: Flea turns to the trumpet", "text": "Here’s another great example of ‘beginner\u0026rsquo;s mind’ in action.\nFlea, long famous as the amazing bass player in Red Hot Chili Peppers, has pivoted to jazz trumpet. As a kid he played trumpet with his stepfather, but he hadn’t played seriously in decades. That changed when he decided to make an album.\n💬 “I decided I’m gonna play trumpet every day for two years, and at the end of the two years, I’m gonna make a record. I don’t know how good I’m gonna be at the end of two years, but I know I’m going on a two-year-long stadium tour with the Chili Peppers and I can play in my hotel room, and that’s what I’m gonna do, and that’s what I did. I practised every day for two years, and went and made my record.”\nDid he know he’d be good enough after two years of daily trumpet playing? No, instead he used it as a forcing function. No matter what: put out the record.\n💬 “I got insecure that I wasn’t good enough. But it was more being moved to tears by how vulnerable it felt, like I’m baring my soul. I was prepared that it might not work, that it might suck. I was prepared to fail. But I read this thing by Neil Young where he goes, “I’ve made shitty records and I still put them out because failure is important.” When I read that by Neil Young, someone I admire so much, I was like, f\u0026ndash; yeah! If I fail, great. It’s beautiful to take a risk. If I fail, I f\u0026ndash;ing tried.”\nWell, by listening to his album, Honora, you can judge for yourself whether he failed (spoiler: he didn’t).\nA review of ‘Honora’ in the Sydney Morning Herald.\nNow read:\nThe greatest experts are serial beginners.\nWhat Herbie Hancock learned from Miles Davis.\nWhat Billy Strings learned from his father.\nFind the right teacher.\nImitating the greats?\nThe fundamental flaw in how we learn about expertise.\n—-\nThanks for reading. Did you know you can subscribe to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest?\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available right now.\n", "dateiso": "2026-04-01 08:33:27 +1100", "date": "8:33 p.m. on Apr 1, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/04/01/beginners-mind-flea-turns-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F04%2F01%2Fbeginners-mind-flea-turns-to.html" }, { "id": 62, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "AI is changing how we think. Many people now swap deep reading for building with agents. Is the Zettelkasten just a nostalgic relic of a Twentieth Century academic process? This article explores why \u0026ldquo;efficient\u0026rdquo; tech might actually fail our cognition.\n💬 It’s intriguing that despite incredible, relentless waves of innovation stretching right back at least to Gutenberg, the age-old question of how best to write and publish for an audience is still not completely settled.\nWill the last Zettelkasten practitioner please turn off the lights?\n#Zettelkasten #AI #PKM #Philosophy\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-30 09:12:14 +1100", "date": "9:12 p.m. on Mar 30, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/30/ai-is-changing-how-we.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F30%2Fai-is-changing-how-we.html" }, { "id": 63, "type": "post", "title": "Will the last Zettelkasten practitioner please turn off the lights?", "text": "In the olden days (approximately 2010) there was a mass exodus to social media from blogging. It was like the Rapture but with tweeting. And today there’s a new mass exodus to AI from
 well, everything.\nIt seems all anyone can talk about now, or even think about, is AI. Here’s some breathless reportage from the front line:\n💬 “I replaced Netflix with Claude Code. I lie in bed thinking about what I can spin up before I fall asleep, what can run while I’m unconscious. Reading a novel feels indulgent now. Watching a movie without a laptop open feels wasteful. This voice in my head that says “something could be running right now” just doesn’t shut off. I’m not even building a company. I’m just addicted to building my random ideas.” - Token Anxiety | nikunjk.com\nSo maybe many of the people who used to be interested in the Zettelkasten, an approach to maintaining a useful collection of notes, are now interested in AI agents. After all, just look at those efficiency gains!\nBut it seems to me that the Zettelkasten concept was always rather antiquated. After all, it looks quite a lot like the fetishization of an obsolete process for writing academic papers by hand, that ended in the late 1990s when its most visible proponent, sociologist Niklas Luhmann, passed away, just as digitization took over.\nLuhmann commented in one of his later notes: \u0026ldquo;Microprocessors have been announced, but are not really available yet\u0026rdquo; (ZKII: 9/8,2). But his career crossed over with that of the personal computer, and by the start of the Twenty-first Century everyone was using computers. The old card indexes and their index cards were thrown out wholesale.\nSo already, anyone interested in the Zettelkasten is surely more than a little nostalgic and in possession of a very niche interest. Meanwhile AI has parsed everything about the Zettelkasten approach, gleaned from a thousand AI-generated videos, and spits it out relentlessly in summary, so it seems there’s almost nothing left for humans to say on the matter.\nWhat Luhmann said of his own Zettelkasten suggests that there never really was anything much to see.\n\u0026ldquo;Ghost in the box? Spectators visit. They get to see everything, and nothing but that - like in a porn movie. And the disappointment is correspondingly high.\u0026rdquo; (ZKII: 9/8,3)\nThere\u0026rsquo;s nothing left to see and nothing left to say. Except, that is, for nearly everything.\nThe affordances of old practices, methodologies and technologies tend to be superseded without recognition of their value, so people hardly notice that the new tech doesn\u0026rsquo;t do exactly what the old tech did, and in some cases it does it worse, even while commanding more persuasive PR.\nTo give just a handful of examples: tangible cards arranged on a desk or in drawers make unexpected connections visible, whereas digital lists and files tend toward linear, filtered views that reduce the serendipity of chance encounters; meanwhile, the writing, sorting, and handling of cards can strengthen both memory and understanding, while typing and clicking offer much weaker embodied cues; and then paper cards remain readable for years or even decades without any need for software updates or file migrations, but proprietary formats and app or plug-in dependencies can render digital notes difficult to recover.\nI could go on, but I\u0026rsquo;m not trying to make an argument for why paper still beats electrons. That ship sailed a long time ago. My point is that the new tech doesn\u0026rsquo;t completely supersede the old tech; it\u0026rsquo;s just different. As media scholar Neil Postman reminded us, progress isn\u0026rsquo;t linear - it\u0026rsquo;s ecological. Every technological \u0026lsquo;improvement\u0026rsquo; changes the whole ecosystem, and not everywhere for the better.\nThat means we can still learn from the past and from past practices. A few people are still interested in the potential of old innovations, even when its no longer fashionable to have anything to do with them. I\u0026rsquo;ve ruminated previously on what happens when once fashionable ideas get left behind.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s intriguing that despite incredible, relentless waves of innovation stretching right back at least to Gutenberg, the age-old question of how best to write and publish for an audience is still not completely settled. There\u0026rsquo;s still something left to see, and quite a lot left to say.\nNow read: Use case for the Zettelkasten.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\nTranslations of Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten notes (i.e the few notes in his Zettelkasten that he wrote about his Zettelkasten) are to be found at Zettelkasten.de.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-29 21:32:00 +1000", "date": "9:32 p.m. on Mar 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/29/will-the-last-zettelkasten-practitioner.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F29%2Fwill-the-last-zettelkasten-practitioner.html" }, { "id": 64, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@nielsk and the real mural featured in How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, which is very meta and amused us no end\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-29 21:30:02 +1000", "date": "9:30 p.m. on Mar 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/29/87189361.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87189361" }, { "id": 65, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@amit This upgrade is fantastic! Thanks.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-29 22:18:49 +1100", "date": "10:18 p.m. on Mar 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/29/87188916.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87188916" }, { "id": 66, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@tibz Totally agree. Can’t stop listening to it.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-29 08:56:15 +1100", "date": "8:56 p.m. on Mar 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/29/87162063.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87162063" }, { "id": 67, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Updating this site to Hugo 0.158 has caused the Search function to break. Normal service will shortly resume. đŸ€ž\nAn update to the update: rolling back to Hugo 0.91 until plugins are updated. Search is back in action.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-28 11:28:02 +1100", "date": "11:28 p.m. on Mar 28, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/28/updating-this-site-to-hugo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F28%2Fupdating-this-site-to-hugo.html" }, { "id": 68, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@manton Thanks - my site loads way faster now. But it seems to have broken the Search Space plug-in.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-27 22:54:32 +1100", "date": "10:54 p.m. on Mar 27, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/27/87069414.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/87069414" }, { "id": 69, "type": "post", "title": "A mind like a skittish and unbroken horse", "text": " \u0026ldquo;Unless it is occupied with some governing object that restrains and disciplines it, the mind will scatter itself wildly across the vast field of imagination.\u0026rdquo; - Michel de Montaigne, “De l’oisivetĂ©â€ (Essais, Book I, ch. 8), first published 1580.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s important to work with the end in sight, says Venkatram Belvadi. He says he limits the projects he works on concurrently to only two. This is laudable, provided it can be done. I can\u0026rsquo;t do it, and neither, apparently, could the French essayist Montaigne.\nIn fact, Montaigne didn\u0026rsquo;t know to what end he was writing. He simply (or so he claimed) recorded his disordered thoughts.\n\u0026ldquo;[The mind] engenders within me so many extravagant chimeras and fantastical monsters—so disorderly and irrational, crowding upon one another—that, having leisure to observe their foolishness and grotesque strangeness, I have begun to keep a record of them, hoping that, if I live long enough, I may one day make my mind ashamed of itself.\u0026rdquo;\nIf you do know what you\u0026rsquo;re working on then Venkatram\u0026rsquo;s advice, no doubt, is very sound. He abandoned his Zettelkasten, his unhierarchical collection of notes, and replaced it with a series of folders. Meanwhile, I\u0026rsquo;m sticking with Montaigne and letting my mind wonder \u0026ldquo;like a skittish and unbroken horse\u0026rdquo;. To coral at least some of the prancing about, I\u0026rsquo;ve found my Zettelkasten to be quite effective. I wonder if I should add Montaigne to my deeply irresponsible list of writers with ADHD?\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-27 22:46:53 +1100", "date": "10:46 p.m. on Mar 27, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/27/a-mind-like-a-skittish.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F27%2Fa-mind-like-a-skittish.html" }, { "id": 70, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@fromjason ‘reducing’, not ‘eliminating’?\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-21 13:27:37 +1100", "date": "1:27 p.m. on Mar 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/21/86649157.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/86649157" }, { "id": 71, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@numericcitizen\n\u0026gt; “It’s hard to imagine the web without JavaScript, only as a collection of static, linked documents served by essentially passive file servers.”\nIsn’t client-side scripting the issue, not server-side? I’ve enjoyed using the Gemini Protocol via its Lagrange client (works with other simple protocols too e.g. Gopher). Maybe it’s too simple, but it’s also quite elegant. Excluding client-side scripting kills the benefits — but also some of the problems. Still, it’s hard to evangelise for these protocols. It’s like saying “Try this, it’s worse.” You either like it or you don’t.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-20 14:32:17 +1100", "date": "2:32 p.m. on Mar 20, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/20/86578698.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/86578698" }, { "id": 72, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "This video of Kurama-dera, a Buddhist temple outside Kyoto, is quite lovely. And the snowy scenery makes the place look completely different from when I visited it in late Summer.\nKottke.org\nSummer:\nWinter:\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-18 23:24:21 +1100", "date": "11:24 p.m. on Mar 18, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/18/this-video-of-kuramadera-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F18%2Fthis-video-of-kuramadera-a.html" }, { "id": 73, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· From time to time the world offers you an extraordinary, fleeting gift.\n#photography #clouds\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-18 05:00:00 +1100", "date": "5:00 p.m. on Mar 18, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/18/from-time-to-time-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F18%2Ffrom-time-to-time-the.html" }, { "id": 74, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@tinyroofnail Thanks - great Ruskin quotes!\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-17 07:48:48 +1100", "date": "7:48 p.m. on Mar 17, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/17/86339046.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/86339046" }, { "id": 75, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 \u0026ldquo;You don’t begin with the correct tool and work sensibly within its constraints until you organically graduate to a more capable one. That is not how obsession works. Obsession works by taking whatever is available and pressing on it until it either breaks or reveals something.\u0026rdquo; - Sam Henri-Gold\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-17 05:00:00 +1100", "date": "5:00 p.m. on Mar 17, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/17/you-dont-begin-with-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F17%2Fyou-dont-begin-with-the.html" }, { "id": 76, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Are you accumulating notes or actually creating something?\nSemyon Vengerov gathered two million filing cards but never finished his dictionaries. What lessons does this Russian scholar offer for modern personal knowledge management?\nwritingslowly.com\n#PKM #Zettelkasten #Writing #History #Notes\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-16 12:28:54 +1100", "date": "12:28 p.m. on Mar 16, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/16/are-you-accumulating-notes-or.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F16%2Fare-you-accumulating-notes-or.html" }, { "id": 77, "type": "post", "title": "Two Million Notes and No Dictionary: Learning from Semyon Vengerov's Cautionary Tale", "text": "Russian bibliographer Semyon Vengerov (1855-1920) spent his life accumulating two million filing cards, but he died before he finished the dictionaries and bibliographies he set out to create.\nHis definitive account of Russian books from 1788 to 1893 was supposed to extend to 25 volumes, of which he completed only three. His biographical dictionary of Russian writers included six volumes, but these only covered the first three letters of the Russian alphabet. He published four volumes of his Sources for a Dictionary of Russian Writers, without making any more headway on the dictionary itself.\nSo was he a visionary scholar or did he end up simply overwhelmed by the weight of his own ambition?\nAnd for anyone building a personal knowledge system today, for anyone doing their own research, for anyone making their own notes, his story raises an uncomfortable question: are we just accumulating notes, or are we actually creating something?\nHistorian Mark Gamsa summarizes it this way:\n\u0026ldquo;For some of his critics, Vengerov\u0026rsquo;s colossal undertaking ended in deserved failure. In this view, his story is at best a cautionary tale about a scholar overwhelmed by his material; at worst, it is one about a wrong choice of profession\u0026rdquo; (Gamsa 2016).\nLiterary scholar Angela Brintlinger is more specific about the problem:\n\u0026ldquo;Vengerov was unable to cull and organize the materials he gathered into true biographies. He was overwhelmed by the process and by the facts themselves. Vengerov\u0026rsquo;s approach to biography suffered from a very particular problem: wanting to include everything, he never finished anything\u0026rdquo; (Brintlinger 2018, 96).\nTo be sure, Vengerov died before he finished what he\u0026rsquo;d started. But having published prolifically and influenced a generation of Russian scholars, was he really a failure? Or does calling him one say more about the unrealistic scope of what he promised than about the value of what he actually achieved?\nWhat Are Notes For? If you find yourself writing notes and later discover that you now have rather a lot of them, there\u0026rsquo;s an underlying question which begs to be addressed, if not fully answered: what are they for?\nMany people write notes simply because the act of writing is a way of thinking. They might agree with physicist Richard Feynman that writing is thinking. At the very least, you can\u0026rsquo;t really write without thinking. The sociologist Niklas Luhmann made an even stronger claim: you cannot think without writing, at least not systematically. As he put it in a note lodged carefully in his Zettelkasten:\n\u0026ldquo;Behind the Zettelkasten technique stands the experience: You can\u0026rsquo;t think without writing - at least not in a sophisticated way, selective access to memory in demanding contexts. This also means: without marking differences, one cannot think.\u0026rdquo;\nFrom this perspective, notes, at least in the first instance, are complete in themselves; they are thinking made visible.\nVengerov went much further than this. He appreciated \u0026ldquo;the love of, or rather the passion for scholarly labour as such, almost independently of the results that follow from it\u0026rdquo; (Byford 2003:7). He understood you actually had to enjoy the task, moment by moment. He lionised the painstaking, meticulous scholarly work epitomised by the Benedictine monks of Western Europe:\n\u0026ldquo;The very process of work gives a true scholarly labourer a kind of pure psychological pleasure.\u0026rdquo; (Ibid.)\nWell I\u0026rsquo;ll admit I\u0026rsquo;ve experienced a little of this in writing here about a now obscure Nineteenth Century Russian bibliographer. I mean, what am I thinking? Many though, myself included, write notes because we want to produce, well, writing: blog posts, articles, video or audio scripts, books even. In short, we want a public outcome. And given this aspiration, there might be a frisson of anxiety about whether, like Vengerov, we\u0026rsquo;re just going to end up with two million notes and no dictionary.\nLessons from the Cautionary Tale So having encountered Vengerov\u0026rsquo;s extraordinary story, and taking it as a cautionary tale for note-making maximalists like me, here\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;m taking from it:\nUnder-promise and over-deliver Vengerov wrote and published a great deal and was very influential. He was a great success! The only problem, really, is that he didn\u0026rsquo;t finish the dauntingly massive projects he himself had set out in public to finish. This made it look as though he failed. But in reality, who could have succeeded at the gargantuan tasks he embarked upon? In 1899 a contemporary of Vengerov’s, V.F. Shishmarev, argued:\n“The love of learning compensates for all failures and all shortcomings that inevitably accompany the practical realization of any project.” (Byford 2003: 3).\nI’m not so sure. For me, it’s worth finishing things, perhaps by limiting their scope.\nVengerov\u0026rsquo;s approach (announcing a massive 25-volume project and then appearing to fail to deliver it) contrasts sharply with that of Linus Torvalds, the founder of the near-ubiquitous computer operating system Linux. Torvalds famously opened his project with great modesty, claiming in his initial 1991 announcement that it \u0026ldquo;won\u0026rsquo;t be big and professional\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks.\u0026rdquo;\nBy setting expectations low, every achievement became a triumph rather than a shortfall. Linux now powers everything from smartphones to supercomputers.\nThe lesson here isn\u0026rsquo;t that you should lack ambition. It\u0026rsquo;s that you might consider announcing smaller milestones, while still, privately, pursuing larger goals.\nBite off less than you can chew Take a step at a time, package it up, and call it a product. Then take another step.\nBent Flyvbjerg, the expert in mega-projects, claims the most successful large projects are completed by means of modularity. The Empire State Building, for example, was completed one storey at a time. A similar, relatively small process repeated over and over produces something bigger. Each floor was a complete unit; if construction had stopped at any point, there would have been a usable (if shorter) building.\nApplied to note-taking and writing, I take this to mean: publish the limited article before attempting the extensive book. Release the provisional blog post before promising the comprehensive guide. Each complete smaller work is both valuable in itself and a building block for something larger.\nWork collaboratively and delegate Perhaps Vengerov could have finished his huge projects if he\u0026rsquo;d assembled a team to help him. As a postgraduate student, I was tangentially involved in a large dictionary project, and it was very clear back then that a project of this nature requires a large number of participants. Very rarely is such a task a one-person show.\nIronically, Vengerov was highly influential with the next generation of scholars whom he had trained. Perhaps his greatest legacy was the influential Pushkin seminars, which he started in St Petersburg in 1906. The formalist school, many of whose members he had taught, owed a great deal to him. But his own projects seem to have lacked the kind of team effort that might perhaps have seen them to completion. He knew how to teach and inspire others, but it seems he couldn\u0026rsquo;t translate that into collaborative production on his own work. My conclusion is, if you can’t do without a team, you should at least attempt to assemble one. Or, you know, just get someone to help you.\nUse the data, don\u0026rsquo;t let the data use you Fortunately, Vengerov\u0026rsquo;s students emulated his scholarly meticulousness without getting bogged down in his precise method. As Brintlinger puts it:\n\u0026ldquo;Without the \u0026lsquo;data\u0026rsquo; preferred by their professor, the biographies produced by the students would have lacked precision and verisimilitude; however, at the same time, the students moved past Vengerov\u0026rsquo;s fact-bound research to try to draw connections and make judgements about the psychological reasoning behind the actions of historical individuals.\u0026rdquo; (Brintlinger 2018, 114).\nFor me, this is perhaps the most important lesson. Notes, research, and data are means to an end, not ends in themselves. Vengerov\u0026rsquo;s students understood that scholarship means doing something with the facts: analyzing, synthesizing, interpreting, and ultimately, publishing. The two million filing cards were only valuable if they led somewhere beyond themselves.\nA modest promise So was Vengerov a failure? That depends on what we measure. He didn\u0026rsquo;t complete his stated projects, true. But \u0026ldquo;having published prolifically, Vengerov nonetheless did not complete his life\u0026rsquo;s work. He did leave an archive containing about two million filing cards\u0026rdquo; (Gamsa 2016). Importantly for Russian literary scholarship, he left a generation of scholars who learned from both his successes and his struggles.\nThis is the point where I might be expected to reach a conclusion, so here\u0026rsquo;s my attempt at one: the perfect comprehensive work may never be finished, but imperfect, incremental contributions can still matter enormously. Breaking down the task and making modest promises: these options always remain open. Far better to have published three volumes than to have left twenty-five in perfect form in your head. Better to have published one real volume than three imaginary ones. And if you do have a huge project in mind, it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t hurt to inspire others who will continue the work, perhaps in ways you never imagined.\nYour two million notes might never become the definitive work you once envisioned. But they might become something else: something smaller, more focused, and actually useful. Or better yet, they might help you think clearly enough to create a series of smaller somethings, each complete in itself, each, like my little essay on Semyon Vengerov’s two million notes, a modest promise fulfilled.\n—-\nNow read:\nWhat to do when you\u0026rsquo;ve made some notes: start writing.\nInside Georges Didi-Huberman’s monumental note archive.\nLord Acton took too many notes, but that doesn’t mean you have to.\nLeibniz created a haystack of notes that wouldn’t fit in his Zettelschrank.\nThoughts are nest-eggs: Thoreau on Writing.\nReferences Brintlinger, Angela. \u0026ldquo;Lives and Facts: Biography in Russia in the 1920s.\u0026rdquo; The Slavonic and East European Review 96, no. 1 (2018): 94ñ€“116. www.jstor.org/stable/10\u0026hellip;\nByford, Andy. “S. A. Vengerov: The Identity of Literary Scholarship in Late Imperial Russia.” The Slavonic and East European Review 81, no. 1 (2003): 1–31. www.jstor.org/stable/42\u0026hellip;\nGamsa, Mark. \u0026ldquo;Two Million Filing Cards: The Empirical-Biographical Method of Semen Vengerov\u0026rdquo;, History of Humanities, vol. 1, no. 1 (March 2016), pp. 129ñ€“53. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.10\u0026hellip;\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.*\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-16 06:49:00 +1000", "date": "6:49 p.m. on Mar 16, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/16/two-million-notes-and-no.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F16%2Ftwo-million-notes-and-no.html" }, { "id": 78, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@uk-news.bsky.social And it’s only taken ten years to notice.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-14 16:52:50 +1100", "date": "4:52 p.m. on Mar 14, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/14/86175726.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/86175726" }, { "id": 79, "type": "post", "title": "Artists Books at the NSW State Library", "text": "I visited the State Library in Sydney recently, where I was inspired by an exhibition on artists\u0026rsquo; books, called Paper Universe: The Book as Art. It\u0026rsquo;s open till 3 May 2026 and is well worth seeing.\nThere were books on display too about how to make your own books, which I also found inspiring.\nAnd when I looked in on another exhibition about housing in Australia, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help noticing that the Sirius Building, a famous brutalist landmark in Sydney, looks an awful lot like a set of books lined up along a shelf. I\u0026rsquo;ve never heard anyone say that this was the architect\u0026rsquo;s intent, but you can judge for yourself.\nPhoto of the Sirius Building by Katherine Lu - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.p\u0026hellip;\nI guess I have made my own book: I\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd for all the Writing Slowly goodness you can sign up to the weekly digest.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-14 16:35:39 +1100", "date": "4:35 p.m. on Mar 14, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/14/artists-books-at-the-nsw.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F14%2Fartists-books-at-the-nsw.html" }, { "id": 80, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@cogdog well OK, but that’s a very impressive pile of bones you have there! This is giving me a lot of ideas\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-14 14:22:27 +1100", "date": "2:22 p.m. on Mar 14, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/14/86171377.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/86171377" }, { "id": 81, "type": "post", "title": "Why I wrote the book on Shuhari and what’s in it for you", "text": "Well, a book doesn\u0026rsquo;t just write itself, but why should I be the one to write it? What made me decide to write an introduction to the Japanese concept of Shuhari? There were several reasons and here are five of them.\nThe well is poisoned now with AI slop, but even years ago when I was looking online for information on Shu Ha Ri, there were plenty of mentions but it was all extremely shallow. There were hot takes from martial arts sites and almost clueless discussions about agile software development. True, they mentioned the concept but not where it had come from, or really any context. They were skimming the surface of a very deep pond. I wanted something more substantial and so I started researching.\nTo this day there is no accessible introduction to Shu Ha Ri, and nothing in print with credible references that you can follow up yourself if you want to. So I saw a gap that was begging to be filled.\nNo one else had done it. I mean I’m not the world’s greatest expert on Japanese culture, but no one else wrote the book on Shuhari. My first draft was written in 2015 and I gave the world another 10 years to write the book on Shuhari. No one did, so in July 2025 I published my own book myself. Ironically, another introduction to Shuhari was finally published, in Spanish, two months later.\nI had a bee in my bonnet, put there by the literature on learning. It’s heavily learner-focused, which is fine, but very often it misses out entirely any mention of the role of teaching, which is not fine. This seems plainly weird, and in my own small way I wanted to make a contribution to correcting this. Learners need teachers, and what’s more, the teachers need to be humans, not bots. I saw the Japanese concept of Shuhari as a way of emphasising this point, that learning and teaching are two sides of the same coin.\nFollowing on from this last point, I wanted to present a different approach to learning theory, one with is about social interaction, not just neuroscience. Understanding the brain is great, obviously, but learning and teaching takes place in an environment that extends well beyond the individual brain.\nSo anyway, I did the research, I read scores of books and articles, I took endless photographs (of which readers only get to see the best ones), I chased up obscure references, many in Japanese, with which I needed to gain at least a basic familiarity, and I visited Japan. Oh, and I wrote the book, designed the cover, and published it.\nThe result is Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, For Artists and Fighters. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful.\nOne reviewer said:\n”Simple in its structure, yet profound in the information it conveys, SHU HA RI is a must read for anyone wanting clarity on a tried and true approach to teaching and apprenticeship. A great resource for teachers, but also anyone interested in learning how to honor the teachings of precious masters while respectfully forging ahead.”\n—-\nNow read:\nJapanese Shu Ha Ri: Is it better than Western learning methods?\nThere’s a fundamental flaw in how we learn about expertise.\nMastering any skill the Japanese way.\nAnd of course, my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and FIghters.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-13 16:01:44 +1100", "date": "4:01 p.m. on Mar 13, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/13/why-i-wrote-the-book.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F13%2Fwhy-i-wrote-the-book.html" }, { "id": 82, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@writingslowly HT: John Philpin\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-13 13:06:06 +1100", "date": "1:06 p.m. on Mar 13, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/13/86094595.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/86094595" }, { "id": 83, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "ROOTS - Return Old Online Things to your own Site.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s what Lisa Charlotte Muth is doing at her website. And that\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;m doing with posts like Some urgent note-making questions find answers - bringing scattered material back together.\n#IndieWeb #PKM #Blogging #NoteTaking #DigitalSovereignty\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-13 12:57:06 +1100", "date": "12:57 p.m. on Mar 13, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/13/roots-return-old-online-things.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F13%2Froots-return-old-online-things.html" }, { "id": 84, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@richardcarter H’m. There’s not clearly a single ‘best’ solution for this.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-11 08:36:12 +1100", "date": "8:36 p.m. on Mar 11, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/11/85924872.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/85924872" }, { "id": 85, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@brandoncarey this is a very interesting process. I’m a piler not a filer. I try to give the pile just enough structure to be useful - the Zettelkasten concepts help. Like you, I feel the best ‘system’ is the one that works for me. But there’s always room for improvement!\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-11 08:34:47 +1100", "date": "8:34 p.m. on Mar 11, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/11/85924820.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/85924820" }, { "id": 86, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Podcast listening overtakes radio? The New Publishing Standard.\nCongratulations are due to Dave Winer for an amazing achievement. Micro.blog has a great discovery tool for interesting podcasts. RSS FTW!\nThe name might be archaic, but at least they didn\u0026rsquo;t call it downloadable radio.\n#podcasts #radio\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-11 08:23:41 +1100", "date": "8:23 p.m. on Mar 11, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/11/podcast-listening-overtakes-radio-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F11%2Fpodcast-listening-overtakes-radio-the.html" }, { "id": 87, "type": "post", "title": "Some urgent notemaking questions find answers", "text": "From time to time I attempt to answer questions about note-making on Reddit.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a tough job with few perks, but someone has to do it and for no obvious reason that person is me1. So here\u0026rsquo;s a fresh bunch of my recent comments, with a disclaimer that, field-tested as they are, they\u0026rsquo;re not guaranteed to make you rich, famous or even mildly handsome, even if that\u0026rsquo;s how it\u0026rsquo;s worked out for me. I guess life is unfair like that.\nAnyway, here goes.\nQuestion: Where does AI fit into your note taking? \u0026ldquo;I considered using AI to scan and auto link related ideas, but even this seems like robbing me of the chance to \u0026ldquo;think\u0026rdquo; as I examine possibly related ideas, so for now I am trying to be totally manual in the slip box. Anyone else tackling these questions? What successful strategies do you have for getting the thinking benefits while still getting the busy work benefits of AI?\u0026rdquo;\nMy Answer: The temptation to skip the thinking process is far from new.\nIn 1924 Sergey Povarnin, yes that ХДргДĐč ĐŸĐŸĐČĐ°Ń€ĐœĐžĐœ, Soviet author of How to Read Books for Self Education was warning of it:\n“There are readers who think that with such ‘card indexes’ they can replace their mind
 In short, a new ‘improvement’ in our culture. No need to work with the mind. Ready-to-wear boots, ready-to-wear pants, ‘ready-to-wear’ thoughts.”\nHe was OK with the card index itself; the problem was imagining you could use it to stop thinking.\nAnd for the last 17 years I could have outsourced my note-making to a service like Freelancer. But I didn’t even consider it back then, so why consider it now? It would be like hiring someone to go to the gym for me (which I admit I have contemplated).\nQuestion: Should I keep my Zettelkasten? \u0026ldquo;I have now essentially two systems of notes, and I\u0026rsquo;m not sure how to reconcile them. Should I rework these new notes back into my Zettelkasten and just focus on publishing that? Should I keep two systems of notes? Has anyone run into this issue before?\u0026rdquo;\nNB: A Zettelkasten is a box with paper slips in, a once-popular way for scholars and writers to make and keep their notes, and by extension it\u0026rsquo;s the name of a contemporary method for making digital notes too; but is there a Zettelkasten method?\nMy Answer: Just give everything a unique ID so you can link to it from anywhere.\nI’ve had this issue to some extent, but it was the Zettelkasten that freed up my writing. Before that I’d write sprawling stuff that was all over the place. This kind of writing felt like it was too digressive, so I’d try to focus — but this made me just clam up. Or I’d write a long piece but get bored part way through and drop it before finishing.\nThe Zettelkasten approach helped me focus without making me feel like I was writing the wrong things. Then I started stitching my various notes together to create longer pieces of work. Eventually the practice started freeing me up to write digressive pieces again, without feeling irrationally guilty about it. So now I have my structured Zettelkasten and a whole pile of longer pieces in various states of completion.\nMy ‘solution’ to this (though is it even a problem?) is to give each and every piece, however short or long, a unique ID.\nThat way I can always refer to any piece of writing, and always find it again.\nI’m inspired by Niklas Luhmann, who didn’t just write sociology notes, he also wrote many manuscripts in several drafts. Towards the end of his life he mainly worked on the manuscripts since he had a backlog of publishing to get through. Like him I’m ultimately more interested in publishing than in perfecting my notes system.\nQuestion: Highlighting for literature notes How do you highlight content? I\u0026rsquo;ve always tried progressive summarization, but I feel like I don\u0026rsquo;t have that much time.\nMy Answer: For me, highlighting is a shortcut to nowhere.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve found my highlights don\u0026rsquo;t get used for anything. My conclusion is that highlighting may look like useful work, but in practice it just isn’t.\nResulting rule of thumb: if it\u0026rsquo;s worth highlighting it\u0026rsquo;s worth writing a short note about it; and if it\u0026rsquo;s not worth writing a note, it\u0026rsquo;s not worth highlighting.\nWhat I do instead: write a note. If I read something and think “that\u0026rsquo;s interesting”, I make a note and force myself to record why I find it interesting. This seemingly slows me down, but then I don’t waste time creating unused highlights that looked interesting for reasons I didn’t record and have now forgotten.\nCaveat: while reading, I write literature notes that include bibliographic details, followed by a list of interesting points I notice, together with a page reference. I might write: “Opinionated summary of ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ - p.127.” I’d follow that with a reference to the note that expands on this. In practice, I don’t actually get round to writing a new note for every reference. Some never get followed up. The Zettelkasten approach is a way of triaging my thoughts, creating useful friction so I only follow up what really matters to me.\nQuestion: Should Mini Essays Be Kept Outside of the Main Notes Folder? I like writing mini essays to help me understand things better, but I’ve read that main/atomic notes should be short and focused on one idea. Should mini essays go in a separate folder, or can they live with my main notes?\nMy Answer: Your ‘mini-essay’ concept has been tried and tested for many decades and it works. Keep them with your notes so you can easily reference them and expand them.\nMaybe tag them ‘mini-essay’ so you can review them collectively in future.\nI’ve found - once my Zettelkasten got big enough - I tended to work by assembling clusters of atomic notes, rather than jumping straight to mini-essays. The Zettelkasten approach facilitates this ‘bottom-up’ method of writing.\nAndy Matuschak shows how he wrote a modular mini-essay made out of about 60 atomic notes. He redrafted it and turned it into a polished essay which he then published. The original mini-essay is called Enabling environments, games and the Primer. It’s clearly a work-in-progress, but it’s a lot more comprehensive than just a single atomic note. It’s an example of what he calls ‘evergreen notes’ in the sense that it grew from a seed into a larger plant (though I’m not actually sold on that metaphor, but still).\nI described the process in full, in an article which is itself assembled from modular components:\nHow to write an article from your notes.\nI certainly keep my ‘mini-essays, or ‘sub-assemblies’ or ‘intermediate packets’ or ‘alpha drafts’ or whatever, in my main collection of notes. This enables me to link to them and add future links to them. But one very important step is to ensure that where the writing is made up of smaller parts, the backlinks are clearly noted, so I’m not inadvertently self-plagiarising.\nTo me a mini-essay is just a structure note, but with the contents of the linked notes transcluded and then lightly edited together. You can certainly see this with Andy’s note, referenced above. Parts of that note are little more than hyperlinks connected together with connecting phrases. But the hard work is precisely in connecting disparate ideas by means of writing. This kind of stitching work doesn’t usually produce a publishable article straight off, but it does help with an early draft.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s all for now, but if you\u0026rsquo;re strangely hooked on this stuff (not your fault, and no one here is judging) you might now like to go even further with:\nI read the top ten Zettelkasten posts on Hacker News so you can do something more wholesome with your day\nFive links with worthwhile writing advice\nThe thing about advice is that people do what they want with it\nThe value of feedback depends on how you use it\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.. And for all the crunchy, fresh Writing Slowly goodness you can sign up to the weekly digest. It\u0026rsquo;s exactly like a bunch of radishes, but made out of email.\nWell, me and lots of other people.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-09 06:00:00 +1100", "date": "6:00 p.m. on Mar 9, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/09/some-urgent-notemaking-questions-find.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F09%2Fsome-urgent-notemaking-questions-find.html" }, { "id": 88, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The Digital Humanities Now website has come out of hibernation and kicked back into gear. OK, so it took me a whole year to notice this, but better late than never to spot a very interesting resource.\n#DigitalHumanities #AcademicWriting #AcademicResources #ResearchTools\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-08 18:26:31 +1100", "date": "6:26 p.m. on Mar 8, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/08/the-digital-humanities-now-website.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F08%2Fthe-digital-humanities-now-website.html" }, { "id": 89, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@llbbl Chord Compass is fun - thanks! I used to have a PDF that did a similar thing. It was a lot less interactive though, putting it mildly\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-07 18:53:06 +1100", "date": "6:53 p.m. on Mar 7, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/07/85693435.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/85693435" }, { "id": 90, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@kaa Furious and Furiouser\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-05 17:38:51 +1100", "date": "5:38 p.m. on Mar 5, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/05/85541295.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/85541295" }, { "id": 91, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@towittowoo thanks for this, and mainly for my future reference, here’s The Philosopher YouTube channel you mentioned. These signs often appear to me too. It’s strange but I enjoy going with the flow. Serendipitously, writer Bob Doto wrote recently about serendipity.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-05 16:11:19 +1100", "date": "4:11 p.m. on Mar 5, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/03/05/85538092.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/85538092" }, { "id": 92, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "AI isn’t making us obsolete: we already were, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Promethean shame in an age of technological change.\n#Philosophy #PrometheanShame #AI #FutureOfWork #ethics #GĂŒntherAnders\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-04 12:50:37 +1100", "date": "12:50 p.m. on Mar 4, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/04/ai-isnt-making-us-obsolete.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F04%2Fai-isnt-making-us-obsolete.html" }, { "id": 93, "type": "post", "title": "Fear of AI is nothing new: Promethean shame in a time of technological change", "text": "GĂŒnther Anders (1902-1992) is a 20th century philosopher for our time, which is fitting since he saw himself as uncomfortably ‘too early’ for his own.\nAlmost unheard of in the English-speaking world, he was at the centre of German philosophy before the rise of Hitler and the catastrophe of the Second World War. Student of Husserl, Heidegger, and later Tillich, he was a second cousin of Walter Benjamin, a friend of Berthold Brecht and was Hannah Arendt’s first husband. Given this pedigree I found it surprising he was (to me) so obscure. In post-war Germany he was a big deal. Now he’s back in fashion, thanks to the eery prescience of his masterwork, The Obsolescence of Man (vol. 1, 1956, vol.2, 1980) and its clear relevance to the current AI revolution.\nAnders coined the phrase ‘Promethean shame’, which is
\n
a kind of embarrassment at being human when faced with the apparently superior capabilities of our technology.\nIn the first instance this reveals itself as embarrassment at the high quality of manufactured goods compared with hand-crafted items, but it\u0026rsquo;s a corrosive shame: not merely shame at our comparative lack of skill, but more insidiously, shame that we ourselves were born, not manufactured.\n💬 “Our aim is always to create something that could dispense with our assistance and function perfectly without us. In other words, nothing less than appliances through whose functioning we make ourselves superfluous, eliminate ourselves, liquidate ourselves. It is of no consequence that we only ever approximately achieve this goal. What counts is this trend and its maxim, which is: \u0026ldquo;without us!\u0026quot;.” — GĂŒnther Anders, ‘The Term’.\nIn February 2026 Greg Knauss wrote a much-noticed blog post, entitled, Lose myself, about his feelings of obsolescence as a computer software engineer.\n“💬 What I am talking about is being replaced, about becoming expendable, about machines gaining the ability to adequately perform a very specific function that was previously the exclusive domain of skull meat.”\n“What I’m talking about is that nothing I do matters. That nothing I can do matters.”\nWith mass lay-offs in the tech industry, many people might have been feeling this sense of existential redundancy, but Manton Reece, also a long-time software creator, took a different view, perhaps the ‘glass half full’ approach, which may indicate that there’s a certain degree of subjectivity to Promethean shame. In Not faster, now possible he wrote:\n💬 “If all we see is the work we currently do being replaced and done better by robots, we’ll miss everything that will make software companies successful in the future — a thousand ideas that could improve people’s lives in small ways.”\nWhether you personally feel obsolete or not, and whether or not AI is coming after your own job, Anders’ thought is also relevant in terms of the apparent failure of the popular imagination in relation to AI’s future impacts.\nAnders’ wrote of ‘inverted utopians’. Whereas the original utopians were unable to create what they could imagine, modern humans are unable to imagine what they have created.\n💬 ‘We Are Inverted Utopians’: The basic dilemma of our age is that ‘we are smaller than ourselves’, incapable of mentally realizing the realities which we ourselves have produced. Therefore we might call ourselves ‘inverted Utopians’: while ordinary Utopians are unable to actually produce what they are able to visualize, we are unable to visualize what we are actually producing. (GĂŒnther Anders, 1962: 496)\nThis might sound strange until we consider the starry-eyed pronouncements of contemporary leaders of technological change. They promise their innovations will deliver extraordinary improvements in productivity and wealth but are unable to give any real details. This has been characterised as CEOs aspiring to be Thomas Edison while talking like P.T. Barnum. They imagine themselves to be innovative geniuses while their business model demands they treat their shareholders like suckers. But an encounter with Anders’ thought suggests this flummery may be more an inherent feature of technological change than a deliberate intention to deceive.\nAuthor and literature professor Alan Jacobs observes that there’s a massive gap in the public discourse about how AI is impacting the economy:\n💬 “I keep hearing AI advocates say that the universal deployment of AI will create a “productivity explosion” and “unprecedented wealth creation” and will “end poverty.” All I want to know is: How? How will the money made by the big AI companies end up in the pockets of the poor? I’m not even asking for a plausible scenario — I’d be happy to see any scenario at all, anything more than “THEN A MIRACLE OCCURS.””\nReading this I imagine how the CEO of OpenAI or Anthropic might respond. Perhaps by gaslighting us about how we should just be happy that everyone else is feeling really bullish. But having also read Anders, I feel perhaps these CEOs couldn’t imagine their own technology, even if they sincerely wanted to. Maybe the technology itself precludes such understanding.\nAnyway, I’ve written about this before, back in 2023, when I suggested that more than ever, embracing your humanity is the way forward. And, oh look! It still is.\nWhen I consider the crude Trumpian fixation on ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ I can’t help feeling that there’s a certain adolescent American narcissism about the need to avoid being seen to be a ‘loser’.\nIn the civilised world, this desperation may seem pathological. After all, from cradle to grave, each one of us will definitely experience periods of complete helplessness, where we are utterly dependent on the support of others. But in a society with few or broken social safety nets, it’s quite possible that a fear of ‘losing’ is hardwired into the population by means of a politics which names, targets and materially punishes ‘losers’ of all kinds. So it’s ironic that large language models (LLMs) and other AI technologies, which now seem to make everyone a loser, have been invented in this America and are being touted there as the brightest and best future.\nAs with all such promises, it\u0026rsquo;s worth asking \u0026lsquo;brightest and best for whom?\u0026rsquo; If the technology\u0026rsquo;s benefits flow upward, as they tend to, then the losers it creates will be many, and the imagining we need to do, of alternatives, of resistance, of what it means to be human, becomes a necessity rather than a luxury.\nAnd there’s a third sense in which Anders’ thought is relevant today. He argues that humans aren’t just technologically obsolete, in the sense that the tools and systems they invented have outclassed them. They’re also morally obsolete. Anders reached this viewpoint from having lived through the German population’s reception of Hitler, in which many quietly, even willingly, accepted their role as functionaries in a technocratic totalitarian system, and the Holocaust as a system of mass murder, and the atomic bomb as a technology of mass destruction. Having invented unimaginable power it was hard to imagine how to handle it. The atomic bomb was the clearest possible example of this moral deficit: having invented our own extinction it was now impossible, collectively, to turn it down. It was as though the morality required for the Twentieth Century was unavailable to those who lived there.\nGĂŒnther Anders has been called a philosopher of the apocalypse. But really he’s a philosopher of the day before the apocalypse, reminding his readers that it’s still not too late; that choices can still be made; that in spite of appearances we can still make them.\nReflecting on Anders’ philosophy, Indian educationalist Badruddin (2026) argues that what’s needed is “a transformative educational model that prioritizes ethical literacy, existential reflection, and critical engagement with technology
 a pedagogy that not only resists passive adaptation to technological systems, but also fosters autonomous, ethically grounded individuals.”\nThat’s laudable, but what kind of education can foster an ethical approach to the use of AI, beyond simply accepting the default settings and whatever our corporate overlords decide we must now use? I guess we’re going to find out.\nAnd while we’re working on this, it’s important to recognise that AI isn’t suddenly making us obsolete. As Anders reminds us, we already were. But this isn’t a counsel of despair; it’s a recognition of the enduring human condition. My range is me and though that might be tough it’s simply nothing to be ashamed of.\nFurther reading Anders, G. (1962) Theses for the Atomic Age. The Massachusetts Review 3(3): 493–505.\nBabich, B. (2022). GĂŒnther Anders’ Philosophy of Technology: From Phenomenology to Critical Theory. London: Bloomsbury.\nBadruddin. (2026). Harnessing Gunther GĂŒnther Anders’ Existential Insights for Educational Enrichment. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 99(1), 1–18. doi.org/10.1080/0\u0026hellip;\nBorowski, A. (2022). Philosopher of the Apocalypse. Aeon Magazine. https://aeon.co/essays/gunther-anders-a-forgotten-prophet-for-the-21st-century\nMĂŒller, C. J. (2016). Prometheanism: technology, digital culture and human obsolescence. (Critical Perspectives on Theory, Culture and Politics). Rowman \u0026amp; Littlefield.\nYou can hear a discussion on Anders with Nalah Ayad, Babette Babich and Chris MĂŒller on CBC.\n—-\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\n", "dateiso": "2026-03-02 17:00:00 +1100", "date": "5:00 p.m. on Mar 2, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/03/02/fear-of-ai-is-nothing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F03%2F02%2Ffear-of-ai-is-nothing.html" }, { "id": 94, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Guy Kawasaki says \u0026lsquo;move fast and break things\u0026rsquo; is a myth. True! But since he can\u0026rsquo;t quite escape its toxic allure, I\u0026rsquo;ll say it for him, loudly and proudly:\nMove slow and fix things. [guykawasaki.substack.com]\nShu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters is available now.\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-21 16:00:00 +1100", "date": "4:00 p.m. on Feb 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/02/21/guy-kawasaki-says-move-fast.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F02%2F21%2Fguy-kawasaki-says-move-fast.html" }, { "id": 95, "type": "post", "title": "What's the true path of excellence?", "text": "Brad Stuhlberg’s book The Path of Excellence is a great read and it offers what the subtitle promises:\n💬 A guide to true greatness and deep satisfaction in a chaotic world.\nBy now I’ve read many similar works and I’ve found there’s often something strangely missing. There’s usually heaps of good advice about acquiring expertise and wisdom, about learning and improving, and about following through; plenty too about commitment, discernment, patience and resilience. And these are all important factors if you want to attain excellence and some sort of mastery.\nWell, OK. But there’s almost no mention of the need to find a teacher, coach or mentor — and to work constructively with them. And in this particular case I find it slightly weird. After all, the author is himself a performance coach, so why not at least mention the great benefits of working with a coach?\nI see this as the most crucial aspect of learning, of trying to get better at something.\nLearning is social: we learn best from other people, directly. That’s a key reason I was driven to write my own book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning.\nReading all these American books on learning and improvement, I can\u0026rsquo;t help wondering if there isn\u0026rsquo;t a bias towards individualism at work here. Not that there\u0026rsquo;s anything wrong with individualism, but surely it isn\u0026rsquo;t the whole picture. Learning involves teachers. Is this claim so radical that it can\u0026rsquo;t be mentioned?\nWe don’t need to reinvent the wheel here. There’s a well-tested path and it’s clearly expressed in these three phases of the learning-teaching journey.\nSo sure, read another book about excellence. There are plenty to choose from.\nBut also, find the right teacher.\nNow read:\nWhat Billy Strings learned from his father\nWhat Herbie Hancock learned from Miles Davis\nThe greatest experts are serial beginners\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a flaw in how we learn about expertise\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-21 14:35:25 +1100", "date": "2:35 p.m. on Feb 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/02/21/whats-the-true-path-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F02%2F21%2Fwhats-the-true-path-of.html" }, { "id": 96, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Beginners and intermediate learners fear \u0026lsquo;making mistakes\u0026rsquo;; experts seldom do. Not because experts don\u0026rsquo;t make mistakes: they do. It\u0026rsquo;s just that experts know what to do next.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s Herbie Hancock telling what he learned from his mentor Miles Davis: Every mistake is an opportunity [openculture.com].\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-21 13:59:08 +1100", "date": "1:59 p.m. on Feb 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/02/21/beginners-and-intermediate-learners-fear.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F02%2F21%2Fbeginners-and-intermediate-learners-fear.html" }, { "id": 97, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 I want to be just like him.\nImitation is one of the most powerful and underrated stages of learning. Billy Strings\u0026rsquo; story of learning guitar by watching his dad is the clearest example I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen.\nwritingslowly.com/2026/02/2\u0026hellip;\n#Learning #Education #Music #ShuHaRi\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-20 10:20:47 +1100", "date": "10:20 p.m. on Feb 20, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/02/20/102047.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F02%2F20%2F102047.html" }, { "id": 98, "type": "post", "title": "\"I want to be just like him\"", "text": " \u0026ldquo;I want to be just like him.\u0026rdquo;\nIt\u0026rsquo;s difficult to overstate the importance of imitation as a crucial aspect of the learning journey. But it\u0026rsquo;s also hard to describe it in mere words.\nIn this deeply engaging YouTube interview with Rick Beato, virtuoso bluegrass guitarist Billy Strings recounts the way he learned his guitar skills early, at his father\u0026rsquo;s knee, by watching, by joining in. and by continually asking: \u0026ldquo;how does dad do it?\u0026rdquo;.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve never seen a clearer example of the role of the imitation stage of learning, and exactly how it works.\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nNow read: Find the right teacher.\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-20 10:00:57 +1100", "date": "10:00 p.m. on Feb 20, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/02/20/i-want-to-be-just.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F02%2F20%2Fi-want-to-be-just.html" }, { "id": 99, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@amerpie was Woody Guthrie’s “Deportees” ever more relevant than now? Here’s a poignant version sung by some friends of mine.\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-18 23:24:31 +1100", "date": "11:24 p.m. on Feb 18, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/02/18/84508364.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/84508364" }, { "id": 100, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@jbaty he doesn’t really have a sense of form and order. Well yes, that much is clear. Thanks Warren Ellis for making me look good.\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-17 22:15:39 +1100", "date": "10:15 p.m. on Feb 17, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/02/17/84433901.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/84433901" }, { "id": 101, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@manton A recent Ezra Klein interview touched on this issue. Cory Doctorow spoke of a Facebook pre-cancer support group whose personal details leaked. They sued Meta, but they’re still on Facebook due to the collective action problem. Seems they can’t leave because that would likely end the group.\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-12 10:59:41 +1100", "date": "10:59 p.m. on Feb 12, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/02/12/84085690.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/84085690" }, { "id": 102, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@comingupcharlie.bsky.social “seemed” is really working overtime there\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-09 22:27:43 +1100", "date": "10:27 p.m. on Feb 9, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/02/09/83959273.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/83959273" }, { "id": 103, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@Miraz equally great: the llamas saved the thief from disturbing the five bulls in the next field 😂\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-09 17:49:25 +1100", "date": "5:49 p.m. on Feb 9, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/02/09/83884307.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/83884307" }, { "id": 104, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 \u0026ldquo;If it takes three years, find the right teacher.\u0026rdquo;\nSometimes the best way to find the right teacher is to start doing the work. Begin your learning journey visibly, and mentors may find you - like the barn builder who attracted an expert just by working in his driveway. Read more: writingslowly.com/2026/02/0\u0026hellip;\nHow did you find your mentor?\n#Learning #Mentorship #Writing #Creativity #Action #shuhari\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-09 06:46:16 +1100", "date": "6:46 p.m. on Feb 9, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/02/09/if-it-takes-three-years.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F02%2F09%2Fif-it-takes-three-years.html" }, { "id": 105, "type": "post", "title": "Find the right teacher", "text": "There\u0026rsquo;s a Japanese saying that I included in my book):\nIf it takes three years, find the right teacher.\nBut sometimes, you just need to get started. Simon Sarris has a great story about this. He decided to build a barn by trial and error, with little previous barn-building experience. But because he was doing this near the road in front of his house, it attracted the attention of a regular passer-by who just happened to know, in detail, how to build barns.\n\u0026ldquo;Mike would have never stopped by if I was not working conspicuously in my driveway, every day, under a pop-up tent. But I was, and he became interested in my progress, and it happens that he has been timber framing since the 90’s. Had I waited for such a teacher—for he has now taught me a good deal—I would have never found him. But I chose to start, and he was drawn to my adventure. Only by virtue of starting the work was the intersection of our lives possible.\u0026rdquo; - Start With Creation - by Simon Sarris\nThe moral? If it takes three years, find the right teacher. But if you start your learning journey with action, the right teacher might just find you.\nSo now here\u0026rsquo;s a question: Who was the right teacher for you, and how did you find them, or alternatively how did they find you?\n(And yes, I have a story about a teacher who found me, but that\u0026rsquo;s a story for another time.)\nPhoto by Kazuhiro Yoshimura on Unsplash\nMeanwhile, my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, is out now. Please check it out.\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-09 03:00:00 +1100", "date": "3:00 p.m. on Feb 9, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/02/09/find-the-right-teacher.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F02%2F09%2Ffind-the-right-teacher.html" }, { "id": 106, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Discovery, aesthetics, and the art of self-publishing: my latest post explores Leonard Koren’s influence on my new book, Shu Ha Ri.\nwritingslowly.com/2026/02/0\u0026hellip;\n#WabiSabi #ShuHaRi #Japan #Aesthetics #WritingCommunity\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-08 12:00:37 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Feb 8, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/02/08/discovery-aesthetics-and-the-art.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F02%2F08%2Fdiscovery-aesthetics-and-the-art.html" }, { "id": 107, "type": "post", "title": "Leonard Koren on Life as an Aesthetic Experience", "text": "I’ve never been much of a bathing person. Perhaps that’s due to unpleasantly lingering memories of luke warm water in freezing cold bathrooms in the UK when I was a child. The bath was fine enough, but getting out would be a real test. Even bathing, as an adult, in natural hot springs on Orcas Island in the US Pacific Northwest didn’t really do it for me. That was a little ‘rustic’, and not in a good way.\nTrue, swimming here in Sydney where I live is fabulous, especially in the Summer, when the cool refreshment of the ocean waves is totally restorative. But bathing? Not so much. Until a few months ago, that is, when I visited Japan.\nI hadn’t really understood the national Japanese obsession with bathing, but once I realised there are natural hot water sources all over the place in this volcanic archipelago, and how culturally central they are, and how refined the Japanese have made the whole bathing experience, I was completely hooked. In fact, returning to Australia, it feels strangely hard to live without it. Happily, a new spa and sauna has just opened up in our little neighbourhood, where my partner is already enjoying her season ticket. Come the Autumn, or even sooner, I’ll surely be joining her.\nWhich brings me to Leonard Koren, the august founder in the 1970s of ‘Gourmet Bathing’ magazine. He tells that story in a podcast interview. What particularly drew me to the interview though, was his account of how he came to write what he’s best known for — his cult book Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers. This book, published in 1994, has pretty much inspired not one but two cottage industries: one that centres on the concept of wabi-sabi, which now counts literally dozens of books exploring every possible angle of the term; and a second cottage industry that revolves around the exploration of Japanese concepts other than wabi-sabi, of which there are also now dozens. Who among us has not now heard of ikigai (finding your purpose), kaizen (continuous improvement), mono no aware (beauty in impermanance), shoshin (beginner\u0026rsquo;s mind) and so on and so forth?\nTime Sensitive Podcast S11 E128 - 2 April 2025.Leonard Koren on Life as an Aesthetic Experience\nI learned a few things from this podcast.\nFirst, I learned that Leonard Koren had always intended to self-publish his book.\n“When I made the first book,\u0026quot; he said, \u0026ldquo;I thought it would be extremely niche
 I realized that I would have to publish it myself.”\nSecond, I was happy to hear him fully owning the little secret of Wabi-Sabi, that there\u0026rsquo;s no such thing.\n“Let me just be very clear: In Japanese there is no term wabi-sabi, OK? There’s an old word, ‘wabi’ and an old word ‘sabi’. If you look in the Japanese dictionary you won’t find wabi-sabi, period.”\nThird, I was very taken with Koren\u0026rsquo;s description of his creative life:\n”My life is essentially an aesthetic experience. Everything I know, everything I take in, every idea I have, comes to me through my senses. And then it’s processed.”\nWell, Koren’s book is, quite clearly, the direct inspiration for my own, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters.\nThey’re both short, just 100 pages.\nThey’re both direct, covering one concept and one concept only.\nThey’re both Artist’s books, including photography (mine has 20 photographs of Japanese gardens, which I took myself).\nThey’re both originally self-published, to enable a singular, perhaps eccentric vision to find full expression.\nThey’re both the first book on a Japanese concept that no one in Japan, or anywhere else, has written yet, at least not a long-form treatment.\nThey’re both at the leading edge of an emerging trend.\nWait! What? What emerging trend is this? Well, I waited 15 years for someone better qualified than me to write about the concept of Shu Ha Ri. No one did. At least, no one else wrote a clear, well-referenced, accessible introduction. Eventually I relented, wrote the book I wished already existed, and put it out there for readers to make their own judgement. But what do you know? Very shortly after I published my own introduction to the concept, another appeared, written by the partnership of Hector Garcia and Nobuo Suzuki. It\u0026rsquo;s in Spanish only for now, but the English version is published by Tuttle in August 2026, so perhaps soon there’ll be a Shu Ha Ri cottage industry. You heard it here first.\nOn my recent visit to Japan I walked past a gift shop in the small city of Matsumoto called ‘WabiXSabi’ (yes, in English), and it turns out there’s a whole chain of these stores across Japan. So maybe one day in the future someone will open a Shu Ha Ri shop, selling who-knows-what. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;ll be a footwear store. You heard that here first too.\nBut here\u0026rsquo;s word of warning to anyone thinking of trying this: Best not be selling anything fragile. Translated literally, Shu Ha Ri means ‘hold, break, leave’.\n—\nAs you might have gathered, I’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\n", "dateiso": "2026-02-07 16:58:06 +1100", "date": "4:58 p.m. on Feb 7, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/02/07/leonard-koren-on-life-as.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F02%2F07%2Fleonard-koren-on-life-as.html" }, { "id": 108, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Every interface is an argument about how you should feel. - Phantom Obligation | Terry Godier\nThis is my view of writing and note-making apps, but we can change them, to feel how we want, not how someone else wants us to.\nMake your notes a creative working environment.\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-29 22:06:21 +1100", "date": "10:06 p.m. on Jan 29, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/29/every-interface-is-an-argument.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F29%2Fevery-interface-is-an-argument.html" }, { "id": 109, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " A channel of the Katsura River at Arashiyama, Kyoto. Reviewing my photographs really makes me wish I was back in Japan.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\n#Japan #Kyoto #ShuHaRi #JapaneseCulture #JapaneseAesthetics #Photography\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-25 19:24:32 +1100", "date": "7:24 p.m. on Jan 25, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/25/a-channel-of-the-katsura.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F25%2Fa-channel-of-the-katsura.html" }, { "id": 110, "type": "post", "title": "The Toe of the Year and the Curious Case of John Donne's Missing Commonplace Book", "text": "Last month, while my sister was moving house, she discovered a box of papers she’d never seen before. Inside was a collection of documents, decades old, that our parents must have gathered and kept from our childhood. There in a carefully wrapped pile was a sheaf of my sister’s old school reports. And next to them was a set of poems I must have written way back when I was a primary school student.\nPerhaps you’ve had the experience of venturing into the attic or the basement and finding long-forgotten documents like these. But this chance rediscovery got me thinking about just how much has been lost to time.\nMostly we don’t bother archiving, and even when we do, there are later moments when we decide to spring-clean, rationalise, declutter, or tidy up.\nThese are all euphemisms for destroying the evidence.\nNot that we shouldn’t do it, but I couldn’t help wondering at the sheer immensity of what must have been lost to history in this way. Admittedly, my childhood poetry and my sister’s school reports aren’t entirely essential for the public record, but what about the other items that well-meaning tidiers have chucked out? Some proportion of them, surely, must have been priceless.\nWriting survives through luck and neglect Given all the destruction of the centuries, and even just the spring-cleaning, it\u0026rsquo;s amazing that so much of the past still remains available to us, especially through the writing of contemporaries.\nTo take just one famous example: Leonardo da Vinci’s notes were almost lost because he left them to his favourite student, whose son inherited them and neglected them in a mouldering attic. Despite — or perhaps because of — the neglect, the notes survived and so today we can still marvel at Leonardo\u0026rsquo;s quickness of thought, virtuosity of line, and genius of innovation.\nIt’s a big win for forgetting to clear out the attic.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re not quite so lucky with John Donne, the poet of the English Renaissance, whose name, for some reason, is pronounced ‘Dunn’. His poems survive, but his commonplace book is currently lost — though its trail is tantalizingly clear.\nAccording to Katherine Rundell\u0026rsquo;s lively biography Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, Donne gave it to his eldest son, who left it to Izaak Walton\u0026rsquo;s son in his will. That made sense because Walton was Donne’s friend and biographer. But Walton’s son in turn left all his books and papers to Salisbury Cathedral. And that’s where the trail goes cold.\nThe commonplace book is completely missing.\nPerhaps one day they’ll rediscover Donne’s commonplace book. If it\u0026rsquo;s ever found, Rundell says, it will cause ‘joyful chaos’ among the Donne community. On reading this I couldn’t decide which I loved more: the delightful concept of joyful chaos, or the endearing fact that there’s such a thing as the Donne community.\nDonne\u0026rsquo;s genius depended on gathering scraps The loss, for fans of the poet, is particularly frustrating because Donne wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be Donne without his commonplace book. He lived in what we might call the golden age of commonplacing. It was an era that nurtured his collector\u0026rsquo;s sensibility and his obsession with hoarding the quotations of others. As Samuel Johnson said disapprovingly, in Donne\u0026rsquo;s work \u0026ldquo;the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together.\u0026rdquo;\nBut this magpie tendency, as Rundell calls it, to gather and juxtapose, was hardly a flaw; it was central to his genius. Throughout his poetry, Rundell says, “one thought reaches out to another, across the barriers of tradition and ends up somewhere fresh and strange.”\nThough Donne himself coined the term ‘commonplacer’ (another fact I learned from Rundell’s biography), the practice itself was codified by Erasmus, the doyen of Dutch humanism. He instructed readers to create headings at the top of each page, such as beauty, friendship, faith, hope, the vices and virtues. Then, while reading, you\u0026rsquo;d note down anything striking: a story, a fable, a pithy remark, a clever turn of phrase. The result was both a form of scholarship and a map of your own obsessions. Donne\u0026rsquo;s book, says Rundell, surely included: angels, women, faith, stars, jealousy, gold, desire, dread, death.\nBut of course, we don’t know. We haven’t seen it.\nThe purpose of the commonplace book wasn\u0026rsquo;t mere collection. As Erasmus explained, whenever a witty occasion demanded, you\u0026rsquo;d have \u0026ldquo;ready to hand a supply of material for spoken or written composition.\u0026rdquo; But despite this, the commonplace book wasn\u0026rsquo;t really designed for regurgitation. It offered raw material for a combinatorial, plastic process; a process that was half evidence-building and half treasure-hunting.\nLike any intellectual pursuit, commonplacing created anxiety about doing it right. Even back then the market naturally monetised that worry, by selling ready-made commonplace books with the quotations already filled in. I find this amusing, but buying pre-compiled wisdom surely defeated the point. It’s the early equivalent of getting a chat bot to do your homework for you: easy but almost pointless.\nThe work itself is the point.\nSir Robert Southwell, President of the Royal Society, left some headings in his commonplace book forever blank (Academia and Tedium, tellingly), while others left him scribbling in increasingly tiny handwriting at the foot of the page, crossing out headings to make space. Each commonplace book is the unique record of the workings of a unique mind.\nDonne built palaces from unrelated bricks You can see the commonplace book\u0026rsquo;s influence throughout Donne\u0026rsquo;s poetry. In a single poem he might reference Aristotelian logic, Ptolemaic astronomy, Augustine\u0026rsquo;s discussion of beauty, and Pliny\u0026rsquo;s theory on poisonous snakes. In a poem about sexual inconstancy, he compares women to both foxes (apparently fairly normal for his day) and goats (apparently and understandably unusual).\nThe Twentieth Century poet T.S. Eliot understood what made this work. \u0026ldquo;When a poet\u0026rsquo;s mind is perfectly equipped for its work,\u0026rdquo; he wrote, \u0026ldquo;it is constantly amalgamating disparate experience.\u0026rdquo; For ordinary minds, experience remains chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. But for Donne, as Katherine Rundell observes,\n“apparently unrelated scraps from the world were always forming wholes. Commonplacing was a way to assess material for those new connections: bricks made ready for the unruly palaces he would build.”\nDonne himself was alert to the danger of mindless compilation. In his poem \u0026ldquo;Satire 2,\u0026rdquo; he mocked writers who merely copied others\u0026rsquo; words and regurgitated them as their own: like someone who eats your food and then claims the resulting waste as their supposedly better creation. Harsh, but memorable. And yes, the analogy certainly did make me think of ChatGPT and its copyright-denying siblings.\nBut he is worst, who (beggarly) doth chaw Others\u0026rsquo; wits\u0026rsquo; fruits, and in his ravenous maw\nRankly digested, doth those things out spew, As his own things; and they are his own, \u0026rsquo;tis true, For if one eat my meat, though it be known\nThe meat was mine, th\u0026rsquo; excrement is his own.\nWhat lessons emerge from a book we’ve never seen? First, you can\u0026rsquo;t simply jam together random quotations and expect to produce thoughtful prose. Johnson accused Donne of yoking heterogeneous ideas together by violence, yet Eliot saw that Donne\u0026rsquo;s “perfectly equipped poet\u0026rsquo;s mind” achieved something remarkable. The rest of us may need to work harder to overcome the illusion of integrated thought and produce the real thing.\nSecond, commonplacing risks collecting other people\u0026rsquo;s words without fully digesting them. Apparently there’s a German word for the kind of writing this can produce: Zitatsalat, ‘citation salad’. There are other methods — the Zettelkasten system, for instance, which I prefer — that encourage reflection and connection-making from the outset. I’ve taken a minimal approach to making notes, with just these affordances.\nThird, it\u0026rsquo;s important to publish, not least because unpublished notes often end up lost. Leonardo da Vinci’s notes barely survived. Donne\u0026rsquo;s commonplace book is long gone (though I encourage you to check down the back of your sofa just in case). A scholar of the philosopher Charles Peirce recently told me that after Peirce left his voluminous papers to a university library, they reused them as scrap paper. Happily, someone realized the error before too much damage was done. And to cap it all, my own poem about the toe of the year nearly didn’t make it. And these days, when you\u0026rsquo;re gone someone will eventually press \u0026ldquo;delete.\u0026rdquo; Better to get your words out there while you can.\nA short postscript:\nIndeed, this very article was almost the victim of delayed publication. I wrote this, mostly, three months ago. Then my iPad’s note-writing app developed a mysterious glitch which made the app and all its notes unusable. Only the happy fact that I’d backed everything up ensured my words would be saved from the digital wreckage. Otherwise, oh the horror, as with Donne’s Commonplace book, you wouldn’t be reading this right now.\n—\nFurther reading:\nRundell, Katherine. Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne. New York City: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022. ( see especially pages 36-39, the source of most of the quotes here )\nLeonardo da Vinci’s notes\nOvercome the illusion of integrated thought\nA minimal approach to writing notes\nGet your words out there by publishing first\n—\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-25 16:34:34 +1100", "date": "4:34 p.m. on Jan 25, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/25/the-toe-of-the-year.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F25%2Fthe-toe-of-the-year.html" }, { "id": 111, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@billseitz @bobdoto your guess is spot on: it’s the Zettelkasten subreddit, where I’m known as u/atomic notes. Haven’t got into substack.\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-22 12:11:35 +1100", "date": "12:11 p.m. on Jan 22, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/01/22/82580968.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/82580968" }, { "id": 112, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@AndySylvester @chrisaldrich yes, when? The suspense is bad for my nerves\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-22 12:06:10 +1100", "date": "12:06 p.m. on Jan 22, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/01/22/82580757.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/82580757" }, { "id": 113, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@marick A submarine? A subeditor? A sandwich? No, @bobdoto is referring to the Zettelkasten subreddit, where I’m known as u/atomic notes\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-22 12:03:17 +1100", "date": "12:03 p.m. on Jan 22, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/01/22/82580617.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/82580617" }, { "id": 114, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@davoh thanks - your ‘shelfie’ has inspired me.\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-21 22:25:23 +1100", "date": "10:25 p.m. on Jan 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/01/21/82527962.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/82527962" }, { "id": 115, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@markobremer thanks! I’m happy you’ve found it helpful\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-21 22:21:28 +1100", "date": "10:21 p.m. on Jan 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/01/21/82527726.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/82527726" }, { "id": 116, "type": "post", "title": "Why your note-making tools don’t quite work the way you want them to - and what to do about it", "text": "Every so often I stumble upon a really clear articulation of a concept that makes sense of something I’ve been feeling but didn’t previously have a word for. I knew there was something there but I didn’t have the language to express it.\nOne of the most interesting articles I\u0026rsquo;ve come across recently is Artificial memory and orienting infinity by Kei Kreutler.\nIn this particular case the concept illuminated is the subtle, niggling tension between what I want to use my digital writing tools for and what they actually do. My writing tools, and possibly yours too, nearly do what I want, but not quite. What’s that about? Well, on reading this article, the tension became a whole lot clearer.\nKei’s article attempts to makes sense of memory in pair of dimensional scales: latent-living and taxonomic-associational.\nLatent Memory\nRefers to knowledge stored but not actively used.\nExists in archives, databases, or written records.\nIt is inactive until accessed or brought into practice.\nLiving Memory\nKnowledge that is actively transmitted and practised.\nMaintained through oral traditions, rituals, and cultural engagement.\nKeeps information dynamic and relevant in everyday life.\nTaxonomic Memory\nOrganises knowledge into structured, hierarchical categories.\nExamples: Encyclopaedias, scientific classifications.\nEmphasises order and standardisation for clarity and retrieval.\nAssociational Memory\nLinks ideas through relationships, stories, or spatial metaphors.\nExamples: Songlines, memory boards, or thematic connections.\nEncourages flexible navigation and creative associations.\nThese four modes describe the different ways societies and individuals store, organise, and activate knowledge, ranging from static archives to dynamic cultural practices and from rigid hierarchies to fluid networks.\nA summary of the framework described in Kei Kreutler’s article.\nI’ve found this framework really illuminating. In particular the taxonomy highlights for me the point that our tools and methods lead to different outcomes. We shouldn’t expect latent, taxonomic memory devices (archives and catalogues) to perform the same functions and achieve the same outcomes as living, associational memory devices (lore-in-action).\nIt\u0026rsquo;s well worth reading the whole article. This four-fold framework clarifies the tension I often feel between my note-making intentions and my note-making tools. Whereas the standard tools tend towards latent, taxonomic memory, I\u0026rsquo;m far more interested in living, associational memory. And until now I didn’t quite have the right words to express this.\nWell, this theory is all very well but how does it play out in the real world? Here\u0026rsquo;s a very practical example of what living, associational memory might look like in practice. The philosopher David O\u0026rsquo;Hara uses his bookshelves as a teaching device. As he discusses philosophy with his students he pulls the relevant books from his shelves, to create a pile of a dozen or more texts that he calls a ‘shelfie’.\nStored in the bookcase these books are latent memory, but this memory is activated by the discussion; it comes alive. Left on the shelves the books are ordered in some form of standard order (by subject or alphabetically, or whatever), but as they get pulled off the shelves to illustrate the discussion they become ordered by association. Then the hour is up and the little pile is re-shelved.\nEvery so often, my partner insists on reorganising our bookshelves in our living room. Apparently we have too many books, which is obviously not possible. Anyway this shuffling of the stacks drives me unreasonably crazy, makes me feel like I’ve undergone a lobotomy - and now, finally, I understand why: my extended mind has been messed up. My living, associational memory is undone, I’m being assailed by entropy.\nSo what’s the practical relevance of all this? Open up your note-making tool, whether that\u0026rsquo;s Obsidian, Notion, Apple Notes, a text editor, a collection of notecards, or a physical notebook, and ask yourself: is this designed for latent/taxonomic memory or living/associational memory?\nI bet no one’s ever suggested that to you before, so how can you tell? You can look at how it wants you to organise things. Does it push you toward folders and tags, and hierarchies? Does it emphasise search and retrieval? That\u0026rsquo;s taxonomic thinking. Or does it encourage links, and serendipitous discovery, and bringing ideas into conversation with each other? That\u0026rsquo;s associational.\nThen look at what it encourages you to do with your notes. Is it easy to transmit your precious knowledge (I’m guessing it’s precious), to share it, to get it out of your note-system to interact with the world? That’s heading in the direction of living memory. Or does it encourage you to store your knowledge away, to archive it rather than pass it round or create something with it. That’s oriented towards latent memory.\nNone of these dimensions are wrong in themselves, but knowing which type of memory your tool is optimised for helps explain that nagging tension I was feeling. You might be trying to use a filing cabinet like a conversation partner, or vice versa.\nThe question isn\u0026rsquo;t \u0026ldquo;which tool is best?\u0026rdquo; but \u0026ldquo;does this tool match what I\u0026rsquo;m actually trying to do?\u0026rdquo;\n—\u0026ndash;\nSome further reading:\nNotemaking helps you remember - and helps you forget\nIn this post I explore the dual nature of memory and forgetting through note-making and discuss how my notes become \u0026ldquo;conversation partners\u0026rdquo; with my future self - because I’ve forgotten what my past self thought. But I also consider that selective forgetting may have some advantages.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t throw away your old notes\nThough I didn’t know it at the time, this post is directly relevant to living vs. latent memory, because it’s about the Zettelkasten as a \u0026ldquo;conversation partner between my old self and my current self\u0026rdquo; and it considers how to create the right conditions for serendipity and associational connections.\nMy favourite tool is this notebook I made\nThis is about how I modified TiddlyWiki to suit me better. I wanted a rhizomatic tool for writing, and since I couldn’t find one I really liked, I adapted one for my own purposes. You might not need to invent your own tools, I said, but each of us gathers uniquely the unique contents of our own toolbox. And yes, when I grow up I want to be an aphorist.\nHow to write a better note without melting your brain\nThis is a practical guide to writing a note that might actually reach its potential. I also discuss Tim Ingold\u0026rsquo;s contrast between \u0026ldquo;textilic\u0026rdquo; (weaving) vs. \u0026ldquo;architectonic\u0026rdquo; (architecture) modes of creation, which I’m pretty sure is relevant to associational vs. taxonomic thinking.\nWhat to do when you’ve made some notes: Write something\nThis post is all about the latent/living dimension, because here I’m suggesting that the point of making notes is to make something else with them, probably for others to read. Yes, it turns out I am quite opinionated about what I want to achieve with my tools. And if you click this link you’ll see a picture of me hard at work in my study overlooking the Sydney Opera House. That has to be worthwhile.\n—\u0026ndash;\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-21 17:40:47 +1100", "date": "5:40 p.m. on Jan 21, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/21/why-your-notemaking-tools-dont.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F21%2Fwhy-your-notemaking-tools-dont.html" }, { "id": 117, "type": "post", "title": "The Spiral of Mastery: Why the Greatest Experts Are Serial Beginners", "text": "The greatest experts aren’t afraid of starting again Apparently, my tennis is rusty Here in Australia the Christmas holidays take place in mid-summer, and my family spent a few days at a house with a tennis court. It was an amazing opportunity, for which we were hardly prepared. I hadn\u0026rsquo;t played in years. One family member had barely held a racquet before. But we all shared the same problem: our serves were terrible. The ball hit the net, or it veered wildly off court. The serve seemed like some monolithic, unreachable skill you either had or you didn\u0026rsquo;t.\nThe view from the court — that was amazing, but the tennis, to say the least, wasn\u0026rsquo;t flowing.\nThat was until someone suggested we break it down: grip, swing, ball toss, contact. We stopped trying to play and started drilling. Within a short while, the court was alive with movement and we were laughing instead of frowning with effort. Our natural talent hadn\u0026rsquo;t changed; it was just that our willingness to break the seemingly impossible into achievable parts made it somehow seem doable. And after a short while, it actually was doable. We were delivering serves that made it over the net, that you could also imagine returning.\nThis experience was a reminder that expertise is hardly ever about making a single massive effort to achieve something that seems impossible. You don’t get good at tennis all at once. Playing the game well is really a whole portfolio of tiny pieces of expertise you have to master one by one and piece together smoothly before you can reach actual proficiency. And even when you get there, that’s not the end. There’s always something, some element of your play, you can improve. Is mastery a destination to reach and then enjoy forever? No. It’s more like a spiral that requires us to return to the beginning again and again of a long series of micro-skills.\nExperts Get Stuck Because They Stop Looking But you can reach a point where it’s hard to see how to improve, or if it’s even worth it. For creative practitioners, there may come a moment when the work loses its spark. You\u0026rsquo;re competent, maybe even accomplished, but something vital has drained away and it feels like you\u0026rsquo;ve reached the plateau of your expertise. You can\u0026rsquo;t see what to improve because you\u0026rsquo;ve stopped looking. So you repeat what works because it works. Meanwhile, beneath the surface, your joy is slowly curdling into staleness.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a cultural dimension to this trap. Experts aren\u0026rsquo;t supposed to feel like beginners. So we stay on this plateau, defending our position rather than climbing higher. The writer Ernest Hemingway understood this. Despite his Nobel Prize and decades of acclaim, he insisted: \u0026ldquo;We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.\u0026rdquo; He wrote to a friend of his that “dopes would say you’ve mastered it”, but he continually felt like an apprentice.\nHow Do You Actually Get Better? In their book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool show that expertise is built through deliberate practice: the systematic isolation and refinement of specific sub-skills.\nTake that tennis serve we all struggled with on holiday. Total proficiency is really just a messy stack of mastered micro-movements. You have the grip and the swing mechanics, but also the ball toss, the contact point, and the tactical intent. A player gains expertise not by playing endless matches but by drilling these elements until they\u0026rsquo;re second-nature. For writers, the equivalent sub-skills are less obvious but they still exist. It might come down to the rhythm of dialogue or the way a transition sentence functions, or to opening hooks, sensory detail, and the painful art of compression. Drilling these exercises might feel artificial because to an extent it is. But the artificiality is exactly what creates the conditions for focused improvement.\nI found the map of learning: Shu Ha Ri The traditional Japanese framework, Shu Ha Ri, maps this growth as a recurring cycle, a sort of beautiful, never-ending loop that keeps things interesting no matter how far advanced you become. In the Shu phase, you just dive into the work. It’s this foundational, deeply immersive period of copying a master’s handwriting or holding a racquet in that specific, stiff posture that eventually starts to feel like it\u0026rsquo;s natural (please don\u0026rsquo;t challenge me on this — as I say, I still can\u0026rsquo;t actually play tennis). Early on you\u0026rsquo;re essentially acting as a mirror, reflecting something great until it sticks.\nEventually, you move into Ha, the breakout phase. This is where the tinkering starts. It\u0026rsquo;s the time when you really start to play. You begin questioning the rules and adjusting your grip, or just messing around with sentence rhythm to see where the tradition ends and your own unique voice begins to shine through.\nThen there’s Ri. In this Zen-like space, the rules have been digested so deeply they just
 click. The skill happens through you rather than by you, which is a pretty incredible feeling when you finally hit that flow. I certainly haven\u0026rsquo;t reached this level with tennis, but I have had such moments while playing squash. It\u0026rsquo;s not so much that you\u0026rsquo;re playing the game as that the game is now playing you. But the best part is when the top of that mountain reveals a much bigger, sun-drenched one hiding right behind it. You’re invited back into Shu. The master becomes a student again, starting over with a fresh sense of humility and a genuine, open-eyed curiosity for what’s next. The danger is that as an accomplished expert it all gets so serious that you might forget you can go back to the start, you can still play, you can have fun.\nYou can pivot from expert back to beginner If you look, you can sometimes see this same recursive loop even at the top of the pop charts. Here\u0026rsquo;s a well-known example: Taylor Swift during the pandemic. She’d spent a decade building her massive, glitter-cannon \u0026ldquo;pop industrial complex.\u0026rdquo; Then, suddenly, she retreats. She ends up in a flannel shirt, recording folklore in a bedroom, where she\u0026rsquo;s obsessing again over the fragile mechanics of acoustic storytelling like she’s still a teenager. She had to junk the \u0026ldquo;superstar\u0026rdquo; persona if she was going to rediscover the songwriter underneath.\nBut it isn\u0026rsquo;t always about these polished pivots from glossy stars. There\u0026rsquo;s also Dick Fosbury at the 1968 Olympics. Before he showed up in Mexico City every \u0026ldquo;expert\u0026rdquo; high jumper on the planet was using the barrel-roll technique. This was basically a face-down belly-roll over the bar that everyone agreed was the limit of human potential. They\u0026rsquo;d already reached the end of what a scissor jump could achieve and now the barrel-roll was pretty much the rule.\nThen Fosbury turns up and decides to jump over the bar head-first and backward instead.\nIt looked absurd. Here was this gangly young engineering student with mismatched running shoes, who looked like a camel on two legs, as the papers said at the time.\nDuring his Shu phase of figuring it out, he was probably hitting the bar with his neck, landing on his head, and looking like a total amateur while everyone else was doing the proper barrel-roll technique. He had to be willing to look like a flop on the world stage just to prove that the experts\u0026rsquo; way of jumping was actually just a false ceiling that he could break through. If you watch the old footage, you can see way he has to psych himself up, then the hesitation in his run-up. There\u0026rsquo;s an electric, shaky moment where he has to choose to trust this new, unproven movement over the mastery he was supposed to have.\nBackwards and head-first? It turned out not to be a flop at all. Instead he\u0026rsquo;d perfected the world-beating Fosbury Flop which almost everyone has used or adapted ever since. But this wasn\u0026rsquo;t magic. The reality is they\u0026rsquo;d only recently introduced deep foam mats for a safe landing. You can see this progression in a youtube video called Men\u0026rsquo;s high jump through the years! Fosbury saw this as an opportunity to become a beginner again, to try something new, and he took it, and it worked.\nHigh jumper Dick Fosbury clearing the bar during 1968 Olympic trials at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons\nThen, going back to pop, there’s the singer PJ Harvey. By 2007, she could play a rock guitar better than almost anyone alive. So, naturally, she decided to stop. She sat down at a piano, an instrument she barely understood, and forced herself to write the album White Chalk. If you listen to that record, you can hear the ghost of the beginner in it; there’s a kind of haunting, shaky tension, perhaps because her fingers don\u0026rsquo;t quite know where to go.\nIn an interview she said, \u0026ldquo;the great thing about learning a new instrument from scratch is that it [\u0026hellip;] liberates your imagination.\u0026rdquo; But I suspect she became a novice on purpose because she knew the \u0026ldquo;expert\u0026rdquo; version of herself was running out of things to say. And that\u0026rsquo;s not all. During the White Chalk tour she started performing on autoharp, another instrument she hadn\u0026rsquo;t perviously been known for.\nYou can see both instruments on this Youtube video from the time. PJ Harvey - KCRW 2007\nPJ Harvey performing live at the Royal Festival Hall in London, United Kingdom on September 27, 2007. Ella Mullins, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons\nBeginner\u0026rsquo;s Mind Shunryu Suzuki, the Japanese monk who brought Zen to Northern California, noted that \u0026ldquo;in the beginner\u0026rsquo;s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert\u0026rsquo;s there are few.\u0026rdquo; It’s an interesting way of looking at the world.\nExecution requires certainty, the \u0026lsquo;few possibilities\u0026rsquo; of the expert. But learning thrives on an open-ended sense of wonder, the \u0026lsquo;many possibilities\u0026rsquo; of the beginner. Shoshin (Beginner\u0026rsquo;s Mind) is really just an intentional suspension of ego. It means looking at a weak sub-skill with total openness, gently setting aside that heavy, defensive armour of past achievement we all carry around. In the real world, this looks like a novelist with multiple published books happily sweating over a basic copywork drill. It’s an established painter returning to the simple magic of primary color-mixing, or a senior developer diving into a new language with the same enthusiasm they felt as a total novice. It\u0026rsquo;s Taylor Swift going back to basics; it\u0026rsquo;s Polly Harvey learning a new instrument live on stage; it\u0026rsquo;s Dick Fosbury attempting entirely the wrong kind of jump.\n“When we have no thought of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can learn something. The beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless
 The most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner’s mind. 
 This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner” - Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginners Mind: Prologue.\nThis openness is how you get the spark back. The plateau can sometimes dim the spark that made you pursue this path in the first place, but you can always find it again. To counter that staleness, you just move back into the learning zone. You embrace the risk of failing, a risk which is really just a part of the adventure, and you adopt that open, beginner’s gaze.\nWhere Do You Start? Our tennis serves were still inconsistent after that Christmas holiday experiment. Our footwork was a joke. Actually I don\u0026rsquo;t think we even had anything you could properly call footwork. But still, the court felt alive. Breaking the skill down into its basic components was the thing that killed the frustration and let the joy back in.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re not sure where to start with improving your writing, try this: Look at your last five finished pieces. What do they all avoid? What scenes do you consistently skip or rush through? That avoidance is a signal that this area can use some work. It might be action scenes or emotional confrontation. That’s your sub-skill.\nRight now, pick one sub-skill you\u0026rsquo;ve been avoiding. Not your whole practice. One component. Dialogue attribution. The first sentence of a scene. If you\u0026rsquo;re an artist, maybe it\u0026rsquo;s colour mixing. Then set a timer for 15 minutes and drill only that. Don\u0026rsquo;t worry about the \u0026ldquo;big picture.\u0026rdquo;\nJust wade, waist-deep into the spiral of continuous learning and let the flow take you.\nFurther Reading: Peak by Anders Ericsson (the science of deliberate practice). Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (on creative courage). I wanted to dislike this but actually I loved it. Zen Mind, Beginner\u0026rsquo;s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki (the original text on shoshin). A Life in Zen (an article about Shunryu Suzuki). Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters (my own exploration of this framework ", "dateiso": "2026-01-18 22:56:07 +1100", "date": "10:56 p.m. on Jan 18, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/18/the-spiral-of-mastery-why.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F18%2Fthe-spiral-of-mastery-why.html" }, { "id": 118, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "2025 marked 250 years since the birth of author Jane Austen. In 2026 she still has something important to teach us: “Feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes”.\n—-\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now in paperback and ebook.\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-17 17:31:51 +1100", "date": "5:31 p.m. on Jan 17, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/17/marked-years-since-the-birth.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F17%2Fmarked-years-since-the-birth.html" }, { "id": 119, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@lua Hi, I’ve lowered the price for the ebook in Brazil and sent you a private message\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-15 22:50:23 +1100", "date": "10:50 p.m. on Jan 15, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/01/15/82107661.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/82107661" }, { "id": 120, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@nielsk I’m not a fan of Kindle Unlimited. My book is published on Amazon as a way to distribute both ebook and paperback in multiple countries with wide reach. I intend to publish beyond Amazon though. BookVault looks interesting. Is it worth it? To avoid Amazon lock-in, yes.\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-13 16:41:35 +1100", "date": "4:41 p.m. on Jan 13, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/01/13/81939636.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/81939636" }, { "id": 121, "type": "reply", "title": "", "text": "@chrisaldrich that’s a great active use for a filing cabinet drawers that you. Also, weren’t those two and four drawer wooden card index cabinets designed to sit on a desktop for active use?\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-08 20:03:06 +1100", "date": "8:03 p.m. on Jan 8, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/replies/2026/01/08/81601957.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/writingslowly/81601957" }, { "id": 122, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Looking back at 2025: a year of writing slowly but thinking with curiosity. đŸ–‹ïž\nFrom the note-making of Roland Barthes and Leibniz to reflections on AI and Japanese learning methods, here is a full archive of last year\u0026rsquo;s posts: Link\n#Writing #Zettelkasten #PKM #AI #Learning #Blog #2025 #Shuhari\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-06 09:25:30 +1100", "date": "9:25 p.m. on Jan 6, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/06/looking-back-at-a-year.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F06%2Flooking-back-at-a-year.html" }, { "id": 123, "type": "post", "title": "The posts of 2025", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m much better at writing new stuff than consolidating the old, but it\u0026rsquo;s time to review what\u0026rsquo;s been posted here during 2025. Short posts excluded, it\u0026rsquo;s quite a lot, considering I\u0026rsquo;m Writing Slowly.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s also a list of the posts of 2024 and the posts of 2023 too.\nAnd don’t forget to check out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. To get the latest posts straight to your in-box, subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email newsletter.\nPeople Roland Barthes on the purpose of writing notes\nThe Dance of Joyful Knowledge: Inside Georges Didi-Huberman\u0026rsquo;s Monumental Note Archive\nLord Acton took too many notes, but that doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean you have to\nLeibniz created a haystack of notes that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t fit in his Zettelschrank\nWhat Tim Berners-Lee Has to Teach About Effective Notes\nDaniel Wisser’s notecards as art and archive\nA search for meaning in the palace of lost memories: Thoughts on Piranesi, a novel by Susanna Clarke\nWhat I Learned from Bob Doto about Making Effective Notes and Writing a Book\nI’m unqualified to diagnose the following writers with ADHD but I’ll do it anyway\nMastering Any Skill, the Japanese Way. A review of Analysis of Shu Ha Ri in Karate-Do: When a Martial Art Becomes a Fine Art by Hermann Bayer, Ph.D.\nWriting and Making notes Maybe you can create coherent writing from a pile of notes after all\nSemantic line breaks are a feature of Markdown, not a bug\nCreate a note system that indexes itself\nPublishing Slowly. An article about my first book launch of the year.\nMy writing process oscillates between notes and drafts\nRoland Barthes on the purpose of writing notes\nThe Dance of Joyful Knowledge: Inside Georges Didi-Huberman\u0026rsquo;s Monumental Note Archive\nLord Acton took too many notes, but that doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean you have to\nTame the chaos with just foour folders for all your notes\nFive solutions to link rot in my personal note collection\nWhy not publish all your notes online?\nFrom tiny drops of writing, great rivers will flow\nI found a way to create order from my jumbled ideas\nLeibniz created a haystack of notes that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t fit in his Zettelschrank\nWhat Tim Berners-Lee Has to Teach About Effective Notes\nDaniel Wisser’s notecards as art and archive\nWhat I\u0026rsquo;ve learned from non-linear narratives\nA search for meaning in the palace of lost memories: Thoughts on Piranesi, a novel by Susanna Clarke\nWhat I Learned from Bob Doto about Making Effective Notes and Writing a Book\nWhat to do when you\u0026rsquo;ve made some notes: Start writing\nDon\u0026rsquo;t throw away your old notes\nDon\u0026rsquo;t let your note-making system infect you with Archive Fever I’m unqualified to diagnose the following writers with ADHD but I’ll do it anyway\nI designed a book in three and a half hours\nIf there\u0026rsquo;s more than one way of seeing, there\u0026rsquo;s more than one way of organising\nWatch in awe as a fleeting thought becomes a lasting note\nPlenty of ways to write online\nOpen, free and poetic. The Web is 34 years old!\nIs there a Zettelkasten method?\nUse case for the Zettelkasten. Why use a Zettelkasten? Why indeed?\nBack to the Information City? How knowledge visualisation shapes the journey\nZettelkasten podcast episodes\nKeeping a diary is a way of living\nPublishing means no more hiding. Publishing my book, I had the strange feeling of having crossed an invisible but very powerful threshold.\nCreate your own mental models\nWhy niche blogs and Small Rooms still win - even in the age of technofeudalism\nImitating the greats? Imitation can be a very effective form of learning, but it’s worth considering who to imitate, and how.\nTrying to write slowly in 2025\nThe Unity of Pen and Sword: Understanding Bunbu Ichi\nLearning The future of the humanities is wide open\nInfluence is everything: novelty its flimsy dress. What happens when once fashionable ideas get left behind?\nI designed a book in three and a half hours\nMastering Any Skill, the Japanese Way. A review of Analysis of Shu Ha Ri in Karate-Do: When a Martial Art Becomes a Fine Art by Hermann Bayer, Ph.D.\nBack to the Information City? How knowledge visualisation shapes the journey\nCurious about Hypercuriosity\nCreate your own mental models\nImitating the greats? Imitation can be a very effective form of learning, but it’s worth considering who to imitate, and how.\nWhat does it mean to transcend the rules?\nKeeping a diary is a way of living\nJapanese Shu Ha Ri: Is it Better Than Western Learning Methods?\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a fundamental flaw in how we learn about expertise\nShu Ha Ri and the philosophy of interior design\nThe Unity of Pen and Sword: Understanding Bunbu Ichi\nAI What comes after content?\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a great time to be writing the future\nTo understand the future of AI, look to the past\nLeibniz created a haystack of notes that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t fit in his Zettelschrank\nHot takes on our future with AI\nProvocative words about learning, teaching, AI, and the timely value of history\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a fundamental flaw in how we learn about expertise\nOther The Sydney I know isn’t like what they’re showing on the news\nJapanese paper films. Yes, in the 1930s the Japanese made a whole bunch of short movies using rolls of paper instead of celluloid.\n\u0026mdash; Check out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. And you can also subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email newsletter.\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-06 09:04:00 +1100", "date": "9:04 p.m. on Jan 6, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/06/the-posts-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F06%2Fthe-posts-of.html" }, { "id": 124, "type": "post", "title": "Fact checking the good news ", "text": "I expect 2026 to be a better year than 2025, not through some kind of magic but because millions of people like you and me are working hard to make it so. Since I posted a link to a round-up of the under-reported good news from 2025 someone said \u0026lsquo;some of this was definitely written with ai, so might be worth fact checking 😂\u0026rsquo;.\nI was a bit disappointed, since I wanted the good news to be true, and since I have to admit this could easily make me susceptible to getting taken in by unreliable slop. Well, life\u0026rsquo;s too short to check all the facts, even if someone is wrong on the Internet (obligatory xkcd link), and that famous cartoon of the guy trying to fix it is actually an accurate drawing of me1. But I thought I should at least do a quick audit. And what did this reveal?\nJaguars in Mexico up by 30%? Yes! According to Reuters.\nChina\u0026rsquo;s carbon emissions have been flat or falling for 18 months? Yes! According to Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, as reported in carbonbrief.org.\nIn May alone China installed 230 million solar panels, or nearly 100 per second? Yes! According to Foreign Policy.\nSpecies extintion rates have declined over the last century? Yes! According to “Unpacking the extinction crisis: rates, patterns and causes of recent extinctions in plants and animals” by Kristen E. Saban and John J. Wiens, 15 October 2025, Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.1717.\nDeaths from air pollution have dropped by 21% in a decade? Per 100,000 population, yes! According to IHME, Global Burden of Disease and reported by ourworldindata.org.\nOK, that\u0026rsquo;s enough for now. These all check out and if you want to check more, try this: Pick one piece of good news that matters to you and spend 5 minutes or less verifying it with a primary source.\nLook, you obviously don\u0026rsquo;t need me to tell you it\u0026rsquo;s not all good news. In South America the jaguars are still struggling etc. etc. But that\u0026rsquo;s not what the original article is claiming. The point is, people can and do act together to change things for the good and it actually works, even if the media mainly just reports endless disasters and crises.\nThis is not naive optimism, it\u0026rsquo;s a way of imagining a difficult future and working hard to make it reality. Resorting to inaction through despair would be a big media-induced mistake.\nOh, by the way, 26 years ago there was war in Kosovo. Now it\u0026rsquo;s the third safest country in the world (YouTube). As I said this kind of under-reported news isn\u0026rsquo;t magic; it\u0026rsquo;s people working together tirelessly to make change real.\n\u0026ldquo;Come my friends,\u0026rdquo; said the poet Tennyson ages ago, \u0026ldquo;\u0026lsquo;Tis not too late to seek a newer world\u0026rdquo;.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s how I\u0026rsquo;m beginning 2026 and I invite you to join me.\nWant to find your own reliable good news? Start with established sources like Our World in Data, which visualizes peer-reviewed research, or follow science journalists at major outlets who link to primary sources. When you see a claim, check if it cites specific studies or data with DOI links. And try reading the original sources for yourself. Academic research can be hard to read but it gets easier with practice. I like The Conversation for readable research summaries.\nChoose one issue that resonates with you—whether it\u0026rsquo;s public health, wildlife conservation, clean energy, air quality or something else — and find one organization working on it. Sign up for their newsletter, make a small donation, or volunteer an hour. Go in person to a local event. You don\u0026rsquo;t need to doom-scroll the bad news in 2026; instead you can add your small effort to the millions already making the good news happen.\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now in paperback and ebook.\nOn the Internet no one knows you\u0026rsquo;re a stick figure.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-02 18:58:01 +1100", "date": "6:58 p.m. on Jan 2, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/02/fact-checking-the-good-news.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F02%2Ffact-checking-the-good-news.html" }, { "id": 125, "type": "post", "title": "The right kind of optimism in 2026", "text": "Happy New Year! May the next 12 months bring you peace and joy and blessing.\nHere are a handful of hopeful articles to get your 2026 started on a positive note. I especially recommend the first one which I found deeply inspiring.\nAll the news the media missed in 2025 fixthenews.com (via Miraz Jordan.)\n\u0026ldquo;The right kind of optimism is disciplined. It begins with the premise that action changes outcomes, then organizes institutions, incentives, and narratives to make that premise true.\u0026rdquo; mongabay.com.\nThe Sydney I know isn\u0026rsquo;t like what they\u0026rsquo;re showing on the news writingslowly.com.\n", "dateiso": "2026-01-01 09:36:14 +1100", "date": "9:36 p.m. on Jan 1, 2026", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2026/01/01/the-right-kind-of-optimism.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2026%2F01%2F01%2Fthe-right-kind-of-optimism.html" }, { "id": 126, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " \u0026ldquo;Bun without bu means authority withers, while bu without bun means the people remain in fear and distant.\u0026rdquo; —Fujiwara Shigenori, 1254.\nMedieval Japan understood that true mastery requires balance. My latest article explores bunbu ichi and why \u0026ldquo;artists and fighters\u0026rdquo; belong together.\nRead more: The unity of pen and sword: understanding bunbu ichi\n#Bunbu #JapanesePhilosophy #Shuhari #SamuraiCulture #MedievalJapan #ArtAndWar #LifelongLearning #CulturalHistory #Mastery\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-30 08:06:54 +1100", "date": "8:06 p.m. on Dec 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/30/bun-without-bu-means-authority.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F30%2Fbun-without-bu-means-authority.html" }, { "id": 127, "type": "post", "title": "The Unity of Pen and Sword: Understanding Bunbu Ichi", "text": "My recent book is subtitled \u0026ldquo;The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters\u0026rdquo;. But why artists and fighters, and why mention them together?\nIn medieval Japan, warriors weren\u0026rsquo;t really expected to choose between intellectual pursuits and martial prowess. Instead they were required to master both. This philosophy is captured in the concept of bunbu ichi (文歊䞀), which literally means \u0026ldquo;the civil and the martial are one.\u0026rdquo;\nThe principle emerged from bunbu nidƍ (文歊äșŒé“), the \u0026ldquo;two paths of writing and warring.\u0026rdquo; This phrase emphasized that true excellence required competence in both literary arts and combat. Like much in Japanese culture it originated in China, but the Japanese made it thoroughly their own. By the early Muromachi period (1336-1573), it had evolved into a foundational concept in Japanese political thought, as scholar Pier Carlo Tommasi notes in his 2018 research.\nThe warrior-ruler who embodied both scholarly learning and military skill became the cultural ideal. According to historian G. Cameron Hurst, by the mid-fourteenth century, bunbu ryƍdƍ (æ–‡æ­ŠäžĄé“) thinking was firmly established in Japan, with this dual-talented warrior as the model leader.\nScholars like Oleg Benesch and Thomas Conlan have explored how this paradigm shaped Japanese identity and warrior culture. Their research reveals that the civil-martial unity wasn\u0026rsquo;t static but evolved alongside Japan\u0026rsquo;s political landscape, particularly during the medieval period when warrior classes consolidated power.\nThis wasn\u0026rsquo;t particularly about producing well-rounded individuals though. The integration of literary and martial disciplines was part of a sophisticated understanding of governance and power. Warriors who could compose poetry, practice calligraphy, and engage with classical texts were seen as more legitimate rulers than those who relied solely on force.\n\u0026ldquo;from the time of the sages of the past, they have followed the path of bun to the left and bu to the right, for bun without bu is such that authority withers, while bu without bun means that the people are in fear, and remain distant. Instead, bun and bu belong together so as to allow for virtue to spread.\u0026rdquo; - Fujiwara Shigenori, 1254 (quoted in Conlan, 2011:88).\nBesides, as the Warring States period (1467-1603) ended and Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868), the role of the warrior classes transformed dramatically, from fighting large-scale military campaigns to serving primarily as administrators of the unified state. This shift made the bunbu ideal a practical necessity. To fulfill their new roles in peacetime society, warriors now needed literacy, administrative skills, and cultural refinement as much as they needed martial prowess.\nI wrote my book Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters with this concept in mind. The juxtaposition of fighters and artists may sound strange to Western readers, but it\u0026rsquo;s fairly well understood in Japan, and it\u0026rsquo;s a duality echoed in Ruth Benedict\u0026rsquo;s classic anthropological study The Chrysanthemum and the Sword.\nThe legacy of bunbu ichi continues to influence Japanese culture today. It serves as a reminder that strength without wisdom is incomplete, just as scholarship without the courage to act remains unfulfilled. True mastery, according to this ancient wisdom, requires a delicate balance.\nMy book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, is available now. Please check it out.\nReferences Benesch, Oleg. Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.\nBenesch, Oleg. \u0026ldquo;National Consciousness and the Evolution of the Civil/Military Binary in East Asia.\u0026rdquo; Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies 8, no. 1 (2011): 129–71.\nBenedict, Ruth. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1946.\nConlan, Thomas. \u0026ldquo;The Two Paths of Writing and Warring in Medieval Japan.\u0026rdquo; Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies 8, no. 1 (2011): 85–127.\nHurst, G. Cameron. \u0026ldquo;The Warrior as Ideal for a New Age.\u0026rdquo; In The Origins of Japan\u0026rsquo;s Medieval World, edited by Jeffrey Mass, 209–233. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.\nTommasi, Pier Carlo. \u0026ldquo;The Bunbu Paradigm Reconsidered: Warrior Literacy and Symbolic Violence in Late Medieval Japan.\u0026rdquo; Proceedings of the Association for Japanese Literary Studies 19 (January 2020). doi.org/10.26812/\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-28 14:54:44 +1100", "date": "2:54 p.m. on Dec 28, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/28/the-unity-of-pen-and.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F28%2Fthe-unity-of-pen-and.html" }, { "id": 128, "type": "post", "title": "I've written a book and here are the details!", "text": "Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters Master the art of true learning in any field The journey from novice to expert follows a timeless path, known in Japan as Shu Ha Ri. Inspired by the wisdom of Japan\u0026rsquo;s martial and artistic disciplines, this book will help you to:\nUnderstand how learning works in any skill or subject Find confidence and direction in your own learning journey Transform the way you think about gaining and sharing expertise In an era dominated by digital learning and AI, we\u0026rsquo;ve lost sight of a fundamental truth: true learning is a deeply human and social act. Technology offers resources, but it can never replace the nuanced transmission of knowledge between a committed teacher and a keen student.\nShu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning highlights the dynamic partnership between student and teacher. It demonstrates that true expertise is a continuous cycle of learning, adapting, and passing on wisdom. To learn is to connect with past generations and bravely guide the next.\nWhether you\u0026rsquo;re learning a craft, sport, or skill, or teaching one, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning will help you move beyond mere competence to achieve true excellence. If you\u0026rsquo;re ready for a more effective, human-centered path to mastering any skill, \u0026ldquo;Shu Ha Ri\u0026rdquo; is your essential guide.\n柈 ç Ž 雱 Shu Ha Ri, the powerful concept from the traditional Japanese arts, provides an enduring framework for understanding the distinctly human journey of learning. Although it originated in Japan, it’s a set of ideas that go beyond cultural boundaries. This deceptively simple phrase, of just three short syllables, is key to passing on knowledge from one generation to the next, yet without stifling innovation and change.\nShu Ha Ri can be translated, quite simply, as ‘hold-break-leave’, a phrase which captures the evolving stages of learning:\n柈 Shu (Hold): At first the students meticulously imitate their teacher, grasping the fundamentals through close observation and practice. The teacher provides essential guidance in a protective environment, ensuring that students build a solid foundation right from the start of their learning journey.\nç Ž Ha (Break): The students begin to experiment and develop their own style. Meanwhile, the teacher encourages exploration and independent thinking, helping students move beyond their frustrations to refine their skills and discover their unique flair.\n雱 Ri (Leave): The students transcend the teacher’s teachings, ultimately to emerge as experts themselves. The focus shifts from copying to creating. Students are now capable of not only applying their knowledge but also contributing to the field themselves, potentially even becoming teachers to future generations.\nBut proficiency isn’t the end of this journey. The path of learning is far from linear. It’s a cycle. True experts return again and again to their ‘beginner’s mind,’ the root of their quest for excellence.\năăźé“ă«ć…„ă‚‰ă‚“ăšæ€ă†ćżƒă“ăæˆ‘èș«ăȘăŒă‚‰ăźćž«ćŒ ăȘりけれ\n(Sono michi ni iran to omou kokoro koso waga mi nagara no shishƍ narikere)\nTo have the mind to enter this path\nis, indeed, to have an inherent teacher.\n— RikyĆ«, Hundred Verses, 1\nTo read Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning for Artists and Fighters, simply order the book (ebook or paperback) on Amazon, wherever you live.\nHere are a few links to get you started:\nUnited States Australia UK Canada Japan (English language edition) There\u0026rsquo;s a growing library of articles and practical discussion about Shu Ha Ri and how to implement it in both learning and teaching.\nYou can also subscribe to the weekly email digest. ", "dateiso": "2025-12-21 22:37:59 +1100", "date": "10:37 p.m. on Dec 21, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/21/ive-written-a-book-and.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F21%2Five-written-a-book-and.html" }, { "id": 129, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 \u0026ldquo;I’m not posting memes and ‘hot takes’. No goats were surprised by amateur divers in the making of this article. I’m trying to provide thoughtful, eccentric observations for thoughtful (not at all eccentric) readers, so context is everything.\u0026rdquo;\nWhy niche blogs and small rooms still win\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-21 22:36:53 +1100", "date": "10:36 p.m. on Dec 21, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/21/im-not-posting-memes-and.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F21%2Fim-not-posting-memes-and.html" }, { "id": 130, "type": "post", "title": "The Sydney I know isn’t like what they’re showing on the news", "text": "Tragically my home city has been in the international news for all the wrong reasons and we’re all feeling traumatised and shocked and heartbroken.\nWhat about you?\nYou only know what you see in the media, like the photo below. So beyond the Harbour and the Opera House, perhaps you don’t know what Sydney is actually like.\nI thought I\u0026rsquo;d show you a snapshot of what it\u0026rsquo;s really like where I live, on Bidjigal land, the unceded territory of the Eora Nation.\nThe terrible attack at Bondi Beach has affected everyone personally and highlighted how we’re all interconnected. For example, one of the victims of the shooting played soccer for our local team. He was French and had lived in Sydney for three years. The team he played for was founded in the 1960s by Macedonian Australians.\nA Jewish French Australian resident who played football for a Sydney team with a Macedonian heritage. This is a microcosm of the plural nature of this city. Everyone is something and something else too.\nWe belong to Australia and also have deep connections to the wider world.\nIn fact fewer than 20% of residents here in our local area have two parents who were born in Australia. And we’re stronger because of our tremendous diversity. Despite the actions of a tiny minority, Sydney is a fantastically successful multicultural city where we enjoy and celebrate the fact that our neighbours are truly diverse. In my suburb, just South of the centre, I live happily beside people who come from 179 different countries and speak many, many different languages. More than half of us speak a language other than English:\nChinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) Greek Arabic Spanish Nepali Macedonian Indonesian Portuguese Bengali Italian And that\u0026rsquo;s just the top ten.\nLet me take you for a short walk around the neighbourhood. Our immediate neighbours come from China, Japan, Argentina, Lebanon and Australia. Across the road from our place, but behind the houses is our local primary school, which on Saturdays holds language classes for the local Macedonian community. A few doors down from our front gate, our nearest place of worship is a Chinese Christian church that holds services in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s just across from our nearest cafe, popular with the local Muslim community and also so insta-famous for its extravagant desserts that people come from all over the world just to try them. It\u0026rsquo;s next door but one to an Islamic education centre, for after-school religious instruction. And just down the end of the street is one of Sydney\u0026rsquo;s best baclava patisseries, run by Lebanese Christians. Turn right and you\u0026rsquo;ll reach a Shi\u0026rsquo;ite mosque that\u0026rsquo;s right next door to a Greek Orthodox church. To get there you pass the Greek Orthodox bookshop and two Nepalese restaurants. On the other side of the road is another Chinese-speaking Church which is across the railway tracks from the local Macedonian Orthodox church. This is just down a short lane from our local Catholic parish church which regularly holds masses in Italian, Urdu and Filipino as well as English. On a nearby corner is an Islamic masjid surrounded by several fine Bangladeshi, Filipino and Thai restaurants.\nMeanwhile, on our main pedestrian shopping street I regularly get to choose whether to buy my groceries from an excellent Nepalese store or from a Lebanese or Chinese store, also excellent. I love having this choice. Then there’s a Vietnamese bakery, the kind that’s distinctively Australian. And a couple of places to buy fresh Macedonian burek - a more localised speciality, since you can’t get this everywhere in Sydney. There’s also a small Cantonese diner that I swear smells exactly like my memories of Hong Kong. And in this place with its tall shady plane trees, festivals are celebrated - Muslim, Christian and Hindu - and also completely secular, with jazz and other popular music. The lighting and seating has recently been improved and in the evenings people from many different cultures sit here side by side and in small groups, just to watch the world go by and enjoy the cool night air.\nBy the way, this is nothing special. Our suburb isn’t even particularly known for being multi-cultural. It’s just a typical part of Sydney. Travel a little South or North and it’s more noticeably Chinese, further West and it’s more obviously Lebanese. But every community in Sydney has an incredible mixture of people from an improbably wide range of places.\nThat means it’s not all sweetness and light. We’re all different and we all hold different opinions. Our council held a fractious meeting about whether to impose sanctions against Israel due to its actions in Gaza. On both sides the debate was heated and painful emotions were expressed. Yet somehow tempers remained intact and the forthright exchange was civil and reasoned throughout. It was an amazing if uncomfortable demonstration of respect for democracy in action.\nI’m trying to say that the attack at Bondi Beach doesn’t represent what Sydney is like in any sense. The Sydney I know is safe and welcoming to people of all faiths and origins.\nAccording to Forbes the gun homicide rate in Australia is 62 times lower than in the United States.\nWe live in multicultural communities that are generally happy and relaxed. Our differences make us interesting and they make Sydney vibrant, as well as just beautiful. Inevitably there is friction when people from all around the world find themselves living on the same street and even in the same apartment block, and when their countries of origin or heritage are in conflict with one another. But we are forbearing with one another because we’re determined to make it work.\nYes, more than ever, it’s clear we have to work at this. The actions of a couple of extremists won’t stop us from caring about our neighbours and our neighbourhoods. The truth is the very opposite. People who try to divide us with hate won’t win.\nI have no doubt that the events at Bondi will make us even more determined, because whichever way you look at it, and no matter who tries to deny it with lies and distortions, diversity is now and always will be the only reality.\n—-\nSee also: The dream is diversity.\nMeanwhile, please feel free to copy and distribute my manifesto:\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-16 22:14:41 +1100", "date": "10:14 p.m. on Dec 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/16/the-sydney-i-know-isnt.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F16%2Fthe-sydney-i-know-isnt.html" }, { "id": 131, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "12 days of Winter Wonder Photo Challenge by Micro.blog: Dec 15 - Frost đŸ“·\nWe don’t have frost here so this is the best I could do. Also, it’s not Winter in Australia. Just saying.\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-16 20:44:10 +1100", "date": "8:44 p.m. on Dec 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/16/days-of-winter-wonder-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F16%2Fdays-of-winter-wonder-photo.html" }, { "id": 132, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬\u0026quot;The term “breaking the mold” is common, but without having learned anything from others, one cannot depart from or break away from anything.” - Prof. Shigeru Ushida.\n#shuhari #education #lifelonglearning\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-14 12:13:03 +1100", "date": "12:13 p.m. on Dec 14, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/14/the-term-breaking-the-mold.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F14%2Fthe-term-breaking-the-mold.html" }, { "id": 133, "type": "post", "title": "Shu Ha Ri and the philosophy of interior design", "text": "The late interior designer Professor Shigeru Uchida discusses the importance of Shu Ha Ri for design:\n💬 “The current education system lacks “Shu.” There’s a total absence of the attitude to observe, study, and learn from others. The term “breaking the mold” is common, but without having learned anything from others, one cannot depart from or break away from anything.”\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now in paperback and ebook.\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-13 14:31:14 +1100", "date": "2:31 p.m. on Dec 13, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/13/shu-ha-ri-and-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F13%2Fshu-ha-ri-and-the.html" }, { "id": 134, "type": "post", "title": "Trying to write slowly in 2025", "text": "Before I really got going with the Zettelkasten approach to making notes (and with micro.blog) I was publishing only a handful of posts here each year.\nBut then my productivity exploded.\nIn 2023 I published 202 posts here, and this post equals that count for 2025, even though the year isn’t done yet.\nIn 2025 I also edited a collection of essays and published my own book.\nSo I’m quite happy with the year’s output. And thank you for reading along with me, I really appreciate it.\nBut don’t worry, in 2026 I’ll still be trying to write slowly.\nThis little book would make a great present for the artist, fighter, learner, teacher, or straight-up Japan-lover in your life. Just saying.\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-11 18:53:31 +1100", "date": "6:53 p.m. on Dec 11, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/11/trying-to-write-slowly-in.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F11%2Ftrying-to-write-slowly-in.html" }, { "id": 135, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Towards sunset, beneath Fushimi Inari Taisha, the city of Kyoto is laid out like a silver plate.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\n#Kyoto #FushimiInariTaisha #Japan #SunsetView #JapanTravel #JapanPhotography #VisitJapan #ShuHaRi #JapaneseCulture\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-11 17:56:42 +1100", "date": "5:56 p.m. on Dec 11, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/11/towards-sunset-beneath-fushimi-inari.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F11%2Ftowards-sunset-beneath-fushimi-inari.html" }, { "id": 136, "type": "post", "title": "Imitating the greats?", "text": "Imitation can be a very effective form of learning, but it’s worth considering who to imitate, and how.\nWriters often seek to imitate the greats, but it interesting how far the star of some supposedly timeless writers can fade. Here’s William Zinsser, the well-read author of ‘Writing to learn’, on how he did it.\n“Writing is learned by imitation. I learned to write mainly by reading writers who were doing the kind of writing I wanted to do and by trying to figure out how they did it. S. J. Perelman told me that when he was starting out he could have been arrested for imitating Ring Lardner. Woody Allen could have been arrested for imitating S. J. Perelman. And who hasn’t tried to imitate Woody Allen? Students often feel guilty about modeling their writing on someone else’s writing. They think it’s unethical—which is commendable. Or they’re afraid they’ll lose their own identity. The point, however, is that we eventually move beyond our models; we take what we need and then we shed those skins and become who we are supposed to become.”\nSo who are these people I’ve never heard of, I wondered, who could all have been arrested for imitating one another? I mean, they couldn’t, could they? It’s not actually illegal, is it? Or did Zinsser mean plagiarism?\nIt turns out that Ring Lardner was an American sports journalist and satirist whose work was greatly admired by many of the major authors who were his contemporaries. In his high school newspaper Ernest Hemingway used the pen name, ‘Ring Lardner Jr’. Lardner became a friend of F. Scott Fitzgerald and he inspired the writing of John O’Hara (another great writer whose name is seldom heard these days). In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger gave Lardner a backhanded compliment by having his protagonist, Holden Caulfield, name Lardner as his second favourite author. So for Hemingway at least the juvenile imitation seems to have extended to impersonation.\nClearly I need to read some Ring Lardner.\nS.J.Perelman was a humourist, writing especially for the New Yorker. He was admired by T.S. Eliot, Somerset Maugham, Garrison Keillor, Frank Muir, and Woody Allen. Another writer I’ve never heard of, who seems to have been inspirational. But then
\n“Who hasn’t tried to imitate Woody Allen?” Is a question I’ll leave hanging in the wind.\nAuthor and academic Adam Roberts has an interesting post about Jonathan Buckley’s novel, One Boat (2025), which appears to use Laurence Durrell’s adjectives as a model for how one of his own characters might over-write their diary. Durrell is an author whose star has certainly faded, even though he was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature. And his style is certainly not admired these days. As Roberts says,\n“giving his narrator these Durrellisms: the point of this adjectival affectation, or addiction, is to characterize her as someone groping, somewhat desperately, for expression, or the impossibility thereof”\nWell, whether this is a deliberate imitation in order to show a diarist whose purple prose, like Durrell’s gallops away from them, or whether, as Adam’s seems to suspect, it isn’t, whether Buckley was doing something very clever and ‘meta’ with his character’s imitation, or whether he was just getting away with it, all the same, the novel was long listed for the Booker Prize.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\n", "dateiso": "2025-12-01 08:26:57 +1100", "date": "8:26 p.m. on Dec 1, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/12/01/imitating-the-greats.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F12%2F01%2Fimitating-the-greats.html" }, { "id": 137, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 \"When they email or text me about a post it feels like applause from a dark corner of a large, empty theater where I rehearse.\"\nhttps://daniel.industries/2025/11/22/why-write-online/\n/cc @writingslowly\ndealingwith https://indieweb.social/users/dealingwith/statuses/115596160677512931 ", "dateiso": "2025-11-24 22:47:22 +1100", "date": "10:47 p.m. on Nov 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/24/when-they-email-or-text.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F24%2Fwhen-they-email-or-text.html" }, { "id": 138, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Daniel kindly replied to my meandering questions about writing online, which circled the theme of \u0026lsquo;what\u0026rsquo;s the point?\u0026rsquo;\nHis blog is a commonplace book, written first for himself. He says blogs got hit hard by social media. I called it the Rapture. There\u0026rsquo;s only us left!\nBut not quite. You\u0026rsquo;re here too.\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-24 21:41:10 +1100", "date": "9:41 p.m. on Nov 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/24/daniel-kindly-replied-to-my.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F24%2Fdaniel-kindly-replied-to-my.html" }, { "id": 139, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 \u0026ldquo;You cannot transcend a craft you have not yet learned.\u0026rdquo;\nhachyderm.io/@macf00ba\u0026hellip;\n#shuhari #LifelongLearning\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-24 18:35:19 +1100", "date": "6:35 p.m. on Nov 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/24/you-cannot-transcend-a-craft.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F24%2Fyou-cannot-transcend-a-craft.html" }, { "id": 140, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "🎬 Paper Films! In the 1930s, Japanese films were made on fragile paper rolls. Nearly lost forever, researchers have digitized and preserved this unique history! Learn more: Japanese Paper Films.\n#PaperFilm #FilmHistory #JapaneseFilm #LostMedia #JapaneseFilmFestival #JapaneseHistory\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-23 20:55:25 +1100", "date": "8:55 p.m. on Nov 23, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/23/paper-films-in-the-s.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F23%2Fpaper-films-in-the-s.html" }, { "id": 141, "type": "post", "title": "Japanese paper films", "text": "Japanese paper films! What?\nYes, in the 1930s the Japanese made a whole bunch of short movies using rolls of paper instead of celluloid.\nWith the aid of a bright light and some clever mirrors this actually worked. But the technology never really took off and these paper movie reels, originally made for showing at home, were basically forgotten. Worse, the paper was fragile and highly susceptible to disintegration.\nGame over for paper films?\nNot quite.\nResearchers eventually realised what a treasure trove this is, if only it could be rescued. They worked out a way of restoring, or rather preserving, and digitising the remaining movies and now, amazingly, it\u0026rsquo;s possible to view them in all their preserved (not restored) quirkiness.\nI was lucky enough to be able to experience these paper films in a presentation to a packed house at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. There was live music too, which was exquisite, and really complemented the films that didn\u0026rsquo;t have an original \u0026lsquo;78 record soundtrack, which was the majority.\nThe presenter was Professor Eric Faden, who has devoted an impressive amount of time and effort to ensure these unique cultural artifacts weren\u0026rsquo;t lost to decay. They\u0026rsquo;re now a showpiece of the 2025 Japanese Film Festival and a valuable element of Japanese and international film history.\nNow, through the magic of the Internet, you can see many of the recovered paper films for yourself, on the project\u0026rsquo;s Bluesky account.\nAnd here\u0026rsquo;s a news story from Japanese TV (English language).\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-23 20:39:35 +1100", "date": "8:39 p.m. on Nov 23, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/23/japanese-paper-films.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F23%2Fjapanese-paper-films.html" }, { "id": 142, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "“Each person possesses a mind with powers that are
 always unique. — CĂ©sar Aira.\nIn an age of ‘thinking’ machines, what is the feat that only you could have carried out?\n#WritingCommunity #UniqueVoice #AIandWriting #Blogging\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-21 03:02:00 +1100", "date": "3:02 p.m. on Nov 21, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/21/each-person-possesses-a-mind.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F21%2Feach-person-possesses-a-mind.html" }, { "id": 143, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 \u0026ldquo;The way we organise our online lives bleeds into the way we organise the rest of our social interactions. If it’s just assumed without question that the online space is a fiefdom, then democracy everywhere is undermined.\u0026rdquo;\nWhy niche blogs and small rooms still win\n#DigitalLife #Blogging #OnlineCommunity #SmallWeb #Fediverse #Decentralization\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-20 05:00:00 +1100", "date": "5:00 p.m. on Nov 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/20/the-way-we-organise-our.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F20%2Fthe-way-we-organise-our.html" }, { "id": 144, "type": "post", "title": "What is the feat that only you could have carried out?", "text": " 💬 “Each person possesses a mind with powers that are, whether great or small, always unique, powers that belong to them alone. This renders them capable of carrying out a feat, whether grandiose or banal, that only they could have carried out.” ― CĂ©sar Aira, The Literary Conference\nI love Aira\u0026rsquo;s work, and his unique writing method, the constant flight forward, which belongs to him alone.\nI’ve previously claimed that more than ever, embracing your humanity is the way forward.\nThat’s partly because there’s plenty we can’t beat machines at doing, so we might as well lean into not being machines. But also, as Aira observes, each human is a unique creation, with something unique to offer the world.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-18 22:03:23 +1100", "date": "10:03 p.m. on Nov 18, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/18/what-is-the-feat-that.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F18%2Fwhat-is-the-feat-that.html" }, { "id": 145, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Remembering Tea Master Sen Genshitsu (1923-2025), who spread peace through sipping.\nHis philosophy is quoted on page 53 of my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning: writingslowly.com/shuhari-b\u0026hellip;\n#SenGenshitsu #Chado #Peace #ShuHaRi #UNESCO\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-18 21:57:19 +1100", "date": "9:57 p.m. on Nov 18, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/18/remembering-tea-master-sen-genshitsu.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F18%2Fremembering-tea-master-sen-genshitsu.html" }, { "id": 146, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 \u0026ldquo;By jumping off your roof into a paddling pool with a goat in it you’ve probably enjoyed millions of views. You’ve probably gone totally viral. But the thing is
 I don’t want to be a serf on someone else’s plantation.\u0026rdquo;\nWhy niche blogs and small rooms still win\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-18 03:00:00 +1100", "date": "3:00 p.m. on Nov 18, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/18/by-jumping-off-your-roof.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F18%2Fby-jumping-off-your-roof.html" }, { "id": 147, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 Everyone has principles, don’t they, until the moment they see the phrase, “MySQL wasn’t configured properly”?\nWhy niche blogs and small rooms still win\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-17 03:00:00 +1100", "date": "3:00 p.m. on Nov 17, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/17/everyone-has-principles-dont-they.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F17%2Feveryone-has-principles-dont-they.html" }, { "id": 148, "type": "post", "title": "Why niche blogs and Small Rooms still win - even in the age of technofeudalism", "text": "Views? I\u0026rsquo;ve had a few Blogging is about creative expression, but as Tom Critchlow observes, it\u0026rsquo;s also about finding the others. I love blogging, and I have a personal blog that I love writing on. I guess you already know that, right? But I have to admit it, the Internet doesn’t treat blogs particularly well. The issue is that there’s no discovery flywheel for a blog. Google search is unlikely to make you visible, so you have to do all the work yourself of promoting it to potential readers. And as everyone knows, attention is a scarce resource these days. In contrast, social media thrives on showing people what you\u0026rsquo;ve made and algorithmically fine-tuning this to reach as many of the right people as possible.\nI don’t love social media. In fact I do my best to avoid it. But I don’t mind forum sites so much, where the moderation keeps things at least a little civil.\nWell, happily, my blog does have readers, a few at least.\nTo monitor reading figures, I use a very basic analytics service which respects users\u0026rsquo; privacy.\nI could see from the dashboard that by June 2024 my site was getting about 1,200 views in a month. That\u0026rsquo;s amazing - thank you, to all of you, especially the keen ones right at the front taking notes! You\u0026rsquo;ll do well in the test later.\n.\nThis is what a thousand people look like, though they\u0026rsquo;re not always as keen as this lot.\nBy July 2025 the count had risen to 6,000 views a month, where it now hovers. This may seem like a small number compared with how many times Beyonce\u0026rsquo;s been listened to, but it also compares very well with the number of people I can shout to across a crowded bar.\nNow the most viewed individual post in June 2024 gained 216 views. It\u0026rsquo;s a more select crowd, but a crowd all the same! (Thanks for cheering, by the way).\nA crowd of 250 people is still a crowd.\nAnd a year later it was still gaining 64 views per month. Here\u0026rsquo;s the thing though. The same post with 216 views on my website reached considerably more readers on Reddit. It had 3,200 views there, which is about fifteen times more eyeballs! And a year later it had doubled that count.\nAnd one of my more popular posts on Reddit has had 14,000 views, which, amazingly, is more views than this tennis match had!1\nThis tennis match had 10,000 viewers - almost as many as my crappy post on Reddit\nBut that\u0026rsquo;s not the very most popular post of mine on Reddit. That would be this more recent one, with 71,000 views, a lot like this exciting football match:\nThese audience size images, by the way, come from Visualizing crowd sizes.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s ironic that my most viewed piece of writing is a single sentence long and it contains a very obvious spelling mistake.\nNow to me this looks like a very big stadium. Top sports teams and pop stars would be happy with those numbers. But if you’ve posted stuff on the big platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Xitter (I\u0026rsquo;m told the X is pronounced \u0026lsquo;Sh\u0026rsquo;), you’re probably already laughing at these ‘tiny’ numbers. By jumping off your roof into a paddling pool with a goat in it you’ve probably enjoyed millions of views. You\u0026rsquo;ve probably gone totally viral. You\u0026rsquo;re probably a certified influencer too. But the thing is
\nI don\u0026rsquo;t want to be a serf on someone else\u0026rsquo;s plantation I can\u0026rsquo;t stand technofeudalism, in which a few billionaires own the platforms and we\u0026rsquo;re just sharecroppers in their extractive systems. Unhappily, as economist Yanis Varoufakis observes in his book, Technofeudalism, it\u0026rsquo;s the state of the world these days.\nI\u0026rsquo;m never going to jump off my roof into this paddling pool, not even for views. Not even for likes.\nI want a different world (I know, right?), in which data portability and interoperability are the norm, so that if I want to switch platforms I can take my \u0026lsquo;connections\u0026rsquo; with me. As Professor Sinan Aral, author of Hype Machine, has imagined, “consumers would own their identities and could freely switch from one network to another.” This wouldn\u0026rsquo;t just be good for me, it would be good for the whole ecosystem, since it would give the neo-feudal platform overlords an incentive to provide a better service than that of their competitors. The Three-legged Stool is just one vision of how this could work in practice.\nMeanwhile, I support services that already support interoperability. My blog is hosted by Micro.blog, which encourages me to syndicate it to other places, including Mastodon and BlueSky, which also support (some) interoperability. I\u0026rsquo;m anticipating the arrival of the Pluriverse by building it, one blog post at a time.\nOn the other hand, there\u0026rsquo;s a certain logic to performing where the audience is. When I was a kid I used to practice my music in public by busking. And I always busked where the crowds were, not down an empty back alley where no one was listening. My parents disapproved, until I told them how much I was earning.\nIf you believe your work is worth reading, then you probably also believe it\u0026rsquo;s worth getting it read by more than one person.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a bit of a contradiction. Even progressive organisations like New Public, which exist \u0026rsquo;to reimagine social media\u0026rsquo; nevertheless use extractive venture-capital platforms like Substack, which allegedly profits from hosting Nazis. This seems a far cry from New Public\u0026rsquo;s mission of \u0026lsquo;building digital public spaces that connect people, embrace pluralism, and build community\u0026rsquo;.\nSo these large systems that promise to promote your kind, helpful informative posts, also promote hate-speech and genocide.\nBut what\u0026rsquo;s the alternative? Shout into the void?\nActually, Molly White, with more than 20,000 subscribers, wasn\u0026rsquo;t happy with Substack, and she decided she didn\u0026rsquo;t want any platform dependence at all, so she rolled her own, and gave detailed instructions for anyone who might want to do the same.\nUnfortunately, this isn’t simple. It’s not terribly difficult, but the bar is just high enough that it’s obvious that most people won’t bother. I mean, everyone has principles, don’t they, until the moment they see the phrase, “MySQL wasn\u0026rsquo;t configured properly”?\nI’m not going to help out the haters, but I wouldn’t mind getting a few views, but also I’m not a tech wizard.\nIt’s a dilemma.\nSo where online are the people who might find my writing worthwhile? I might have some good reasons to prefer my blog over social media, but that doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean my audience does. Let\u0026rsquo;s say I\u0026rsquo;m writing a post about getting more readers. If I want to help people with this post, I need to think a bit about who it\u0026rsquo;s for and where these people usually go to get their information.\nOn reflection, it seems the obscure niche subjects I like writing about are well-suited to online \u0026lsquo;small rooms\u0026rsquo; like subreddits, forums and discord groups, rather than \u0026lsquo;big rooms\u0026rsquo; like Facebook and TikTok, where \u0026lsquo;context collapse\u0026rsquo; is the norm.2\nThat\u0026rsquo;s because I\u0026rsquo;m not posting memes and \u0026lsquo;hot takes\u0026rsquo;. No goats were surprised by amateur divers in the making of this article. I\u0026rsquo;m trying to provide thoughtful, eccentric observations for thoughtful (not at all eccentric) readers, so context is everything. This means my interim solution is to post first on my blog, then syndicate where I can, then cross post to small rooms, manually when necessary. It’s a work in progress, but I do seem to be making a little progress.\nMy book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters is available right now and it\u0026rsquo;s selling fine, even though it\u0026rsquo;s a niche subject and I\u0026rsquo;m a marketing team of one.\nA second reason I\u0026rsquo;m keen on my own website is that it\u0026rsquo;s a way of keeping a record of the canonical version of my online writing. The big platforms can just disappear overnight, taking everything with them as they go. Disappearance is also part of business as usual for social media. For example, Pew Research found that in 2023, 1-in-5 (20%) English language tweets had become inaccessible just three months after posting on Twitter (now X). I\u0026rsquo;d prefer to have some control over the longevity of my work. That\u0026rsquo;s why syndication is a good plan. Unfortunately, many of the big platforms don\u0026rsquo;t support it at all. The only way to syndicate is by hand, by copying and pasting. It\u0026rsquo;s feasible (I do this occasionally with Reddit), but not very efficient.\nThis matters because the way we organise our online lives bleeds into the way we organise the rest of our social interactions. If it’s just assumed without question that the online space is a fiefdom, then democracy everywhere is undermined.\nFor wise words on this subject, read Governable Spaces, by Nathan Schneider.\nOK, so I know what I\u0026rsquo;m doing here (at least in one sense of that phrase), but what about what you should do? One piece of advice I do have is to notice how many people actually are reading, listening to or watching your stuff. Really notice. It might be a room-full, or a stadium-full. Every one of your readers, listeners or viewers has spent precious time and effort to engage with your thoughts, and whether or not it pays your bills, that\u0026rsquo;s amazing and worth pausing a moment to appreciate.\nSo here\u0026rsquo;s the point where we pause for a moment to appreciate the wonder that anyone at all is noticing our stuff.\nWow.\nBut unfortunately that\u0026rsquo;s all the advice I can give right now. Yes, I\u0026rsquo;d like to think niche blogs and Small Rooms still win, but that surely depends on how you define \u0026lsquo;winning\u0026rsquo;. I\u0026rsquo;m probably doing it all wrong. AI is rapidly transforming the whole landscape of discoverability. Organic search is less and less viable when AI summaries are everywhere. Perhaps, as some are prophesying, the humble hyperlink is dead.\nSo rather than tell you how to reach your readers (as if!), I have a question for you: how do you reach your readers already, right now, and how do you expect to in a near future dominated by lots of AI hype and quite a bit of AI reality?\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s changing for you? Are you pumping up the paddling pool right now in preparation for a pivot to YouTube and massive fame? Would you still write if you had a single reader? And do you appreciate the readers you do have?\nOh, it turns out I have quite a few questions.\nFor still more questions and precious few answers, subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email digest.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s naive to trust Reddit\u0026rsquo;s figures, but that\u0026rsquo;s what they say, and you can\u0026rsquo;t do your own analytics. Well, I can\u0026rsquo;t anyway.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nI\u0026rsquo;m borrowing a taxonomy of social media that includes big rooms, small rooms and many rooms.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-16 23:08:29 +1100", "date": "11:08 p.m. on Nov 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/16/why-niche-blogs-and-small.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F16%2Fwhy-niche-blogs-and-small.html" }, { "id": 149, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Hey @manton now that micro.blog is getting very serious about video, perhaps there should be a video emoji on the discovery list. I\u0026rsquo;d love to be able to find more easily the videos micro.blog users will be making!\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-13 20:34:42 +1100", "date": "8:34 p.m. on Nov 13, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/13/hey-manton-now-that-microblog.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F13%2Fhey-manton-now-that-microblog.html" }, { "id": 150, "type": "post", "title": "There's a fundamental flaw in how we learn about expertise", "text": "Learn Spanish in eight days? Learn to ski in a weekend? Finish a novel in a month? Design a book in three and a half hours? (OK, that last one was me - long story).\nEveryone\u0026rsquo;s looking for shortcuts, but the way we approach learning fundamentally shapes how deeply we can master a skill.\nIn the West, we\u0026rsquo;ve mostly embraced a linear progression; we\u0026rsquo;re all supposed to move methodically from theoretical understanding to practical application. First you learn in school and college, and only later do they let you loose in the real world. This approach has served us well in academic institutions and technical training programs.\nBut there exists an alternative philosophy that challenges this conventional wisdom: I\u0026rsquo;m referring to the Japanese concept of Shu Ha Ri.\nWestern learning models are characteristically linear; they often begin with cognitive frameworks before advancing to hands-on practice. Students typically start with rules, theories, and simplified components before attempting the full complexity of their chosen discipline.\nIn contrast, Shu Ha Ri represents a cyclical process that moves through three distinct phases: Shu (imitation), Ha (frustration), and Ri (detachment or transcendence). Rather than moving from simple to complex, this ancient framework begins with complete immersion in the master\u0026rsquo;s way.\nI propose instead that while Western models serve their purpose in structured, academic environments, the Shu Ha Ri approach offers a superior framework for achieving true mastery.\nThis is particularly true in practical skills that demand intuitive understanding rather than merely intellectual comprehension. What\u0026rsquo;s more, Shu Ha Ri is a reminder that expertise isn\u0026rsquo;t truly linear anyway. The real experts continue to learn, and they\u0026rsquo;re always willing to accept they are still \u0026lsquo;beginners\u0026rsquo; in a constantly changing world.\nFor any complex skill, the more you know the more you realise you don\u0026rsquo;t know.\nA linear approach to learning makes sense but it\u0026rsquo;s not the only approach It\u0026rsquo;s true that Western educatonal psychology has produced several influential models that support linear skill acquisition.\nFitts \u0026amp; Posner\u0026rsquo;s Three-Stage Model of learning describes a clear progression beginning with the Cognitive stage, where learners consciously think through each movement whilst developing basic understanding. This advances to the Associative stage, characterised by refinement and error reduction as movements become more fluid. Finally, learners reach the Autonomous stage, where skills become largely unconscious. Adams\u0026rsquo;s Two-Stage Model offers a simpler linear progression from the Verbal-Motor stage to the Motor stage, where performance becomes increasingly automatic. Perhaps most influential is Scaffolding and Fading, an approach rooted in Lev Vygotsky\u0026rsquo;s theory of the \u0026lsquo;zone of proximal development\u0026rsquo;. This approach deliberately simplifies complex skills into manageable components, and the teacher provides extensive support initially before gradually removing assistance. These models, and others like them, share a common thread: they assume that effective learning requires moving from simple, understood components toward complex, integrated performance.\nClearly there\u0026rsquo;s a lot of truth to this view.\nBut it\u0026rsquo;s not the only way of looking at things.\nShu Ha Ri is superior for mastery These Western models excel at creating competent practitioners, but they may inadvertently limit the development of true mastery.\nBy prioritising theoretical understanding and simplified components, these approaches can create barriers to the deep, intuitive knowledge that characterises genuine expertise.\nSo what should we be doing instead?\n1. Embrace the \u0026ldquo;Whole\u0026rdquo; over the \u0026ldquo;Simplified\u0026rdquo; Western scaffolding deliberately fragments skills into digestible pieces. A violin student might spend a long time on bow hold or scales before attempting a simple melody, or a chef might practice knife cuts in isolation before approaching actual recipes. Culinary schools may dedicate days, or even weeks, solely to practicing various knife cuts (brunoise, julienne, etc.) to achieve consistency and speed before they are used in actual recipes.\nThis reductionist approach, though logical enough, can hinder or even prevent learners from experiencing the skill\u0026rsquo;s true essence.\nThe Shu Ha Ri model takes a radically different approach.\nIn the Shu stage, students engage immediately with the complete, unsimplified form. A student of the Japanese tea ceremony doesn\u0026rsquo;t begin with simplified movements or theoretical principles; they observe and attempt to replicate the real ritual from their very first lesson. The ritual is scaled: the student will start with the most basic, fundamental, and shortest temae (like hira-denae or a simplified usucha preparation). The master will hold back more complex tools and procedures, and will reserve advanced philosophical lessons for later in the training. While the \u0026lsquo;complete ritual\u0026rsquo; is the simplest version the master has to offer, nevertheless the experience is holistic from day one, even if the content is strategically simplified.\nThis immersion in the \u0026ldquo;whole\u0026rdquo; allows learners to absorb subtle relationships between components that might be lost in a fragmented approach.\n2. Prefer Imitation to Cognition Western educational models often place considerable emphasis on cognitive understanding before physical practice.\nShu Ha Ri fundamentally inverts this priority. The Shu stage prioritises imitation and embodied practice while deliberately minimising cognitive load.\nStudents are encouraged to copy their master\u0026rsquo;s movements, timing, and approach without initially concerning themselves with underlying principles. This allows for \u0026ldquo;embodied cognition\u0026rdquo; to develop naturally through physical practice rather than intellectual analysis.\nThis difference becomes particularly apparent in disciplines that require split-second decision-making or subtle physical adjustments, as in martial arts.\nBut it also applies in contemplative skills such as shodo (calligraphy), ikebana (flower arranging) or, as mentioned already, the Tea Ceremony.\nAn artist learning through traditional Western methods might spend considerable time studying color theory and linear perspective before picking up a brush. The Shu Ha Ri approach would complement this with extensive observation and assisted practice, to allow the trainee to develop a practical understanding of line weight, shadow behavior, and subtle material texture that cannot be fully captured in textbooks.\n3. Recognise Cyclical Refinement, not Finite Progression Western models typically imply completion.\nEventually you graduate, which supposedly means you\u0026rsquo;ve reached a final \u0026ldquo;autonomous\u0026rdquo; stage where learning essentially concludes. Off you go!\nThe Shu Ha Ri model presents a fundamentally different philosophy. Rather than linear progression toward completion, it describes a cyclical journey of continuous refinement.\nAfter achieving mastery, practitioners commonly return to foundational practices (Shu) with deeper understanding, uncovering subtleties previously invisible to them.\nA master calligrapher might return to basic brush strokes after decades of practice, finding new depths in movements they\u0026rsquo;ve performed thousands of times.\nThis cyclical nature suggests that true mastery isn\u0026rsquo;t really a destination but rather an ongoing process of deepening understanding.\nSorry: it takes more than a weekend Western learning models possess considerable strengths, particularly in academic settings where clear progression markers are essential.\nThey prove invaluable for complex technical skills where safety and precision demand systematic understanding. Medical training, engineering education, and scientific research obviously all benefit from structured, theoretical foundations.\nThat said, when our goal extends beyond competency to genuine mastery, particularly in practical skills that require intuitive understanding or creative expression, the Shu Ha Ri model, I believe, offers a more complete framework.\nThe traditional Japanese approach recognises that true mastery involves more than accumulated knowledge or perfected technique. It encompasses a quality of understanding that emerges through sustained practice, through cyclical refinement, and through a deep immersion in complete forms rather than in fragmented components.\nTrue, linear models can efficiently create capable practitioners. But the cyclical, holistic, and imitation-based philosophy of Shu Ha Ri nurtures the lifelong pursuit of true mastery.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re obsessed these days with speed and with rapid skill acquisition: Speak Spanish in a weekend! Learn to ski in ten days! Finish your novel in just eight!\nGood luck with that.\nMeanwhile, the ancient wisdom of Shu Ha Ri reminds us that the deepest forms of human expertise can\u0026rsquo;t be rushed or simplified. Instead, they must be lived, embodied, and continually refined, through patient, cyclical practice.\nIn a future article I\u0026rsquo;ll offer some practical takeaways for your own learning journey. Meanwhile, you might like to check out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, which is available right now.\nReferences Adams, J. A. (1971). A closed-loop theory of motor learning. Journal of Motor Behavior, 3(2), 111-150. Fitts, P. M., \u0026amp; Posner, M. I. (1967). Human performance. Brooks/Cole. Hammerness, K., Darling-Hammond, L., \u0026amp; Bransford, J. (2005). How teachers learn and develop. In L. Darling-Hammond \u0026amp; J. Bransford (Eds.), Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do (pp. 358-389). Jossey-Bass. Hoffman, S. (2009). Introduction to kinesiology: Studying physical activity (3rd ed.). Human Kinetics. Kato, T. (2012). The traditional Japanese learning model: Shu-Ha-Ri. In M. Nakamura \u0026amp; T. Yamamoto (Eds.), Cultural approaches to skill acquisition (pp. 67-89). Tokyo Academic Press. Magill, R. A., \u0026amp; Anderson, D. I. (2017). Motor learning and control: Concepts and applications (11th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. Schmidt, R. A., \u0026amp; Lee, T. D. (2019). Motor learning and performance: From principles to application (6th ed.). Human Kinetics. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press. Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., \u0026amp; Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17 (2), 89-100. Image credit: Photo by Nathalie SPEHNER on Unsplash\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-07 12:00:00 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Nov 7, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/07/theres-a-fundamental-flaw-in.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F07%2Ftheres-a-fundamental-flaw-in.html" }, { "id": 151, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· From the top of the castle the town seemed to have been poured into its valley, where it flowed gently.\nMy book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, is out now. Please check it out.\n#Matsumoto #Photography #JapanCulture #ShuHaRi #Learning #Nonfiction #JapanTravel\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-06 21:02:02 +1100", "date": "9:02 p.m. on Nov 6, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/06/from-the-top-of-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F06%2Ffrom-the-top-of-the.html" }, { "id": 152, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 “How convincing does the illusion of understanding have to be before you stop calling it an illusion?”\nThat\u0026rsquo;s the question James Somers asks in The New Yorker.\nMy answer: Fail to see the illusion and you\u0026rsquo;ll fail to understand AI. Jules Verne could have told us AI is not a person\nThe case that AI is thinking | New Yorker. No, it isn’t.\n#AI #Tech #Consciousness #JulesVerne #Philosophy\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-05 22:12:34 +1100", "date": "10:12 p.m. on Nov 5, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/05/how-convincing-does-the-illusion.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F05%2Fhow-convincing-does-the-illusion.html" }, { "id": 153, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "To truly learn a language, you don\u0026rsquo;t need computers, you need human interaction. Time to get serious! Where to Go to Get Serious About Learning a Language | WIRED\n—I\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters.\n#LanguageLearning #ShuHaRi #WIRED #Polyglot\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-04 22:48:23 +1100", "date": "10:48 p.m. on Nov 4, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/04/to-truly-learn-a-language.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F04%2Fto-truly-learn-a-language.html" }, { "id": 154, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "A clear and accessible introduction to Japanese philosophy, in a podcast with Takeshi Morisato.\nPhilosophy Bites episode 388\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\n#JapanesePhilosophy #Podcast #ShuHaRi #Japan #Learning #TakeshiMorisato\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-03 16:43:45 +1100", "date": "4:43 p.m. on Nov 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/03/a-clear-and-accessible-introduction.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F03%2Fa-clear-and-accessible-introduction.html" }, { "id": 155, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "AI is not helping the learning process\n💬 \u0026ldquo;When teachers rely on commonly used artificial intelligence chatbots to devise lesson plans, it does not result in more engaging, immersive or effective learning experiences compared with existing techniques\u0026rdquo;\nAI-generated lesson plans fall short on inspiring students and promoting critical thinking | The Conversation\nSee also:\nCivic Education in the Age of AI: Should We Trust AI-Generated Lesson Plans? | CITE Journal\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nImage credit: unsplash\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-03 07:56:02 +1100", "date": "7:56 p.m. on Nov 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/03/ai-is-not-helping-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F03%2Fai-is-not-helping-the.html" }, { "id": 156, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "What\u0026rsquo;s your most valuable note?\n@eleanorkonik@pkm.social asked:\n\u0026ldquo;Any examples where a tiny note became unexpectedly valuable?\u0026rdquo;\nHere\u0026rsquo;s my reply.\nIn 2018 I wrote a note describing how I\u0026rsquo;d like to visit Japan and learn more about the concept of Shu Ha Ri.\nBetter late than never I did visit Japan, and I ended up writing the book on Shu Ha Ri.\nThere was a lot of value in that one short note.\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-03 07:32:19 +1100", "date": "7:32 p.m. on Nov 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/03/whats-your-most-valuable-note.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F03%2Fwhats-your-most-valuable-note.html" }, { "id": 157, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "To truly understand, you must take things apart and build them back up. My cousin did it with cars, I do it with ideas in my #Zettelkasten and I did it with the concept of #ShuHaRi in my book.\nCreate your own mental models: it\u0026rsquo;s a high-agency, active process!\n#learning #deeplearning #PKM #notetaking\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-02 16:46:35 +1100", "date": "4:46 p.m. on Nov 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/02/to-truly-understand-you-must.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F02%2Fto-truly-understand-you-must.html" }, { "id": 158, "type": "post", "title": "Create your own mental models", "text": "When he was still in high school my cousin took to pulling old cars apart, completely, then putting them back together. This was a real learning experience, and the beginning of an entire career working with motor vehicles. François Chollet, author of Deep Learning with Python, said:\n💬 To really understand a concept, you have to \u0026ldquo;invent\u0026rdquo; it yourself in some capacity. Understanding doesn\u0026rsquo;t come from passive content consumption. It is always self-built. It is an active, high-agency, self-directed process of creating and debugging your own mental models. - as quoted by Simon Willison.\nThis is what I\u0026rsquo;m doing with my collection of working notes, my Zettelkasten. I disassemble ideas and concepts, de-contextualise them, and reassemble them into new arrangements under quite different circumstances. From fragments you can build a greater whole.\nSometimes \u0026lsquo;invention\u0026rsquo; is mashing together two or more existing ideas in new and unexpected ways. But sometimes it\u0026rsquo;s simply rebuilding an existing idea from the ground up, to create something previously unimaginable.\nI wrote my book about the Japanese concept of learning, Shu Ha Ri, because in the fifteen years since I first encountered this concept, no one else had written a clear introduction. It\u0026rsquo;s quite literally the book I wanted to read for myself. Well, I certainly didn\u0026rsquo;t invent the idea, but in writing the definitive introduction I\u0026rsquo;ve certainly taken it apart, examined it from every angle, worked out how to explain it to others, and put it back together.\nOn Friday I received a nice text from a martial arts instructor, who\u0026rsquo;d been handed the book by someone else:\n💬 I absolutely loved it. First time in a long time I immediately reread a book.\nAnd so I hope you\u0026rsquo;ll enjoy giving the book a test drive too.\nPhoto by Geoff Charles, 1962. National Library of Wales. Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / The National Library of Wales on Unsplash\nCheck out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. And you can also subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email newsletter.\n", "dateiso": "2025-11-02 16:26:33 +1100", "date": "4:26 p.m. on Nov 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/11/02/create-your-own-mental-models.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F11%2F02%2Fcreate-your-own-mental-models.html" }, { "id": 159, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.\n— Terry Pratchett\nNick https://thisness.one/2025/10/30/coming-back-to-where-you.html ", "dateiso": "2025-10-31 17:30:26 +1100", "date": "5:30 p.m. on Oct 31, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/10/31/coming-back-to-where-you.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F10%2F31%2Fcoming-back-to-where-you.html" }, { "id": 160, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Outside Matsumoto Castle it was raining gently.\nMy book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, is out now. Please check it out.\n#MatsumotoCastle #Photography #JapanCulture #ShuHaRi #Learning #MartialArts #Nonfiction #JapanTravel\n", "dateiso": "2025-10-29 17:40:43 +1100", "date": "5:40 p.m. on Oct 29, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/10/29/outside-matsumoto-castle-it-was.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F10%2F29%2Foutside-matsumoto-castle-it-was.html" }, { "id": 161, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸŽ” You\u0026rsquo;ve got to have a dream. #RetroTech #VinylVibes\n", "dateiso": "2025-10-22 21:33:12 +1100", "date": "9:33 p.m. on Oct 22, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/10/22/youve-got-to-have-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F10%2F22%2Fyouve-got-to-have-a.html" }, { "id": 162, "type": "post", "title": "Provocative words about learning, teaching, AI, and the timely value of history", "text": "Do you like links? Here\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;ve come across on the Web lately: provocative words about learning, teaching, AI, and the timely value of history.\n💬 “What A.I. can’t do is feel the shape of silence after someone says something so honest we forget we’re here to learn. What it can’t do is pause mid-sentence because it remembered the smell of its father’s old chair. What it can’t do is sit in a room full of people who are trying—and failing—to make sense of something that maybe can’t be made sense of. That’s the job of teaching.” — Sean Cho A. on teaching college during the rise of AI The Rumpus.\n💬 \u0026ldquo;When human inquiry and creativity are offloaded to anthropomorphic AI bots, there is a risk of devaluing critical thinking while promoting cognitive offloading. If we turn the intellectual development of the next generation over to opaque, probabilistic engines trained on a slurry of scraped content, with little transparency and even less accountability, we are not enhancing education; we are commodifying it, corporatizing it, and replacing pedagogy with productivity.\u0026rdquo; — Courtney C. Radsch, We should all be Luddites ‱ Brookings.\n💬 \u0026ldquo;While the school says its students test in the top 1% on standardized assessments, AI models have been met with skepticism by educators who say they\u0026rsquo;re unproven.\u0026rdquo; — The $40,000 a year school where AI shapes every lesson, without teachers. CBS News. Wikipedia: Alpha School. I\u0026rsquo;ll revisit this in a few years to see just how hard it crashed (or not).\n💬 \u0026ldquo;As our lives become more enmeshed with technological devices, services, and processes, I think that awareness is something which we the technology-wielding should strive for if we want to build a properly humane and empathic world.\u0026rdquo; — Matthew Lyon, The Fourth Quadrant of Knowledge ‱ lyonheart.\n💬 \u0026ldquo;Knowledge of history and awareness of history can allow us to see patterns, make connections, and identify incipient problems. It can give us a language and a set of references which allows us to step back, broaden our view, and see things and sometimes warn ourselves and others when necessary.\u0026rdquo; — Timothy Snyder on Stalin and Stephen Miller.\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.. And for all the crunchy, fresh Writing Slowly goodness you can sign up to the weekly digest. It\u0026rsquo;s exactly like a bunch of radishes, but made out of email.\n", "dateiso": "2025-10-11 10:40:34 +1100", "date": "10:40 p.m. on Oct 11, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/10/11/provocative-words-about-learning-teaching.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F10%2F11%2Fprovocative-words-about-learning-teaching.html" }, { "id": 163, "type": "post", "title": "Publishing means no more hiding", "text": " Revelation must be terrible, knowing you can never hide your voice again. \u0026ndash; David Whyte\nPublishing my book, I had the strange feeling of having crossed an invisible but very powerful threshold.\nIt was while signing copies at a small and very supportive gathering, that it dawned on me that the thoughts that used to be just in my head are now public and exposed to the world \u0026ndash; and since I\u0026rsquo;ve lodged this work in every State Library in Australia, they\u0026rsquo;ll never again be totally private.\nI had thought I just wanted to publish my words, to release my book into the wild, as it were, to allow it to find its readers.\nSo it never occurred that I might have been benefiting in some way from the obscurity of the drafting process.\nNot that I want to hide my voice \u0026ndash; far from it.\nNor that I\u0026rsquo;m expecting a million readers. Again, far from it.\nBut the knowledge that I now have one unique reader \u0026ndash; you \u0026ndash; with whom my words will perhaps connect whether I bid them or not, well that changes things somehow.\nAnd it\u0026rsquo;s certainly a revelation to realise there\u0026rsquo;s no going back.\nMy book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, is out now. Please check it out.\n", "dateiso": "2025-10-09 22:15:04 +1100", "date": "10:15 p.m. on Oct 9, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/10/09/publishing-means-no-more-hiding.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F10%2F09%2Fpublishing-means-no-more-hiding.html" }, { "id": 164, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I fell down a rabbit hole writing about Hypercuriosity! đŸ€Ż Inspired by Anne-Laure Le Cunff\u0026rsquo;s work.\nRead how being curious about everything defines my process: https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/30/curious-about-hypercuriosity.html\n#Hypercuriosity #Curiosity #ADHD #Writingslowly\n", "dateiso": "2025-10-02 00:00:00 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Oct 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/10/01/i-fell-down-a-rabbit.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F10%2F01%2Fi-fell-down-a-rabbit.html" }, { "id": 165, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Having written about the need to create your own writing environment, I found this post showing the writing spaces of 12 Booker Prize nominees quite illuminating. Each one seems like a small but mighty theatre stage (HT: kottke.org).\n#WritingCommunity #AmWriting #WritersLife #WritingTips\n", "dateiso": "2025-10-01 09:32:10 +1100", "date": "9:32 p.m. on Oct 1, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/10/01/having-written-about-the-need.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F10%2F01%2Fhaving-written-about-the-need.html" }, { "id": 166, "type": "post", "title": "Curious about Hypercuriosity ", "text": "One reason I make notes and write is that I\u0026rsquo;m curious about everything.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve written previously about how to be interested in everything. And I\u0026rsquo;ve also written about busybodies, hunters and dancers - three different styles of curiosity.\nIt was the \u0026lsquo;dancer\u0026rsquo; style of curiosity that resonated most with me:\n“This type of curiosity is described as a dance in which disparate concepts, typically conceived of as unrelated, are briefly linked in unique ways as the curious individual leaps and bounds across traditionally siloed areas of knowledge. Such brief linking fosters the generation or creation of new experiences, ideas, and thoughts.”\nSo I was interested to see that Anne-Laure Le Cunff, author of Tiny Experiments and founder of Ness Labs, Has been exploring what she calls \u0026lsquo;hypercuriosity\u0026rsquo;, which may be associated with ADHD.\nWell, I guess I\u0026rsquo;m the living proof. I set out this evening to write about my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning for Artists and Fighters but I ended up writing about something completely different instead: hypercuriosity.\nCome to think of it, that\u0026rsquo;s how the book got written in the first place, by pursuing my curiosity. And come to think of it, that\u0026rsquo;s how I do practically everything.\nIn writing the book I was particularly attracted by the value placed on the Japanese concept of shoshin (戝濃), \u0026lsquo;beginner\u0026rsquo;s mind\u0026rsquo; - a quality often downplayed in Western contexts, where experts are supposed to already know everything.\nI\u0026rsquo;m more interested in not knowing - and then going to great lengths to find out.\nLinks:\nBrar, G. (2024, November 14). The hypercuriosity theory of ADHD: An interview with Anne-Laure Le Cunff. Evolution and Psychiatry (Substack).\nGupta, S. (2025, September 16). People with ADHD may have an underappreciated advantage: Hypercuriosity. Science News.\nLe Cunff, A. (2024). Distractability and impulsivity in ADHD as an evolutionary mismatch of high trait curiosity. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 10, 282.\nLe Cunff, A. (2025, July 15). When curiosity doesn’t fit the world we’ve built: How do we design a world that supports hypercurious minds? Ness Labs.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re curious to catch the latest Writing Slowly action, please subscribe to the weekly email digest. All the posts, delivered straight to your in-box.\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-30 23:51:28 +1100", "date": "11:51 p.m. on Sep 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/30/curious-about-hypercuriosity.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F30%2Fcurious-about-hypercuriosity.html" }, { "id": 167, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Author Craig Mod seems to be following me. I saw his picture in Kyoto Station. Now he\u0026rsquo;s doing a 200km walk in the Kiso valley, where I walked just a few days ago. Follow his latest pop-up newsletter Between Two Mountains for a unique view of Japan.\n#KisoValley #Japan #Walking #Travel #SlowTravel\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-29 23:22:25 +1100", "date": "11:22 p.m. on Sep 29, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/29/author-craig-mod-seems-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F29%2Fauthor-craig-mod-seems-to.html" }, { "id": 168, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Western learning aims for \u0026lsquo;completion,\u0026rsquo; \u0026lsquo;graduation\u0026rsquo; - an end-point. But Shu Ha Ri is cyclical. True mastery means returning to the basics (Shu) with new depth. It\u0026rsquo;s a lifelong process of refining and understanding anew. Never stop being a beginner.\n#LifelongLearning #ShuHaRi #SkillAcquisition\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-29 09:41:24 +1100", "date": "9:41 p.m. on Sep 29, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/29/western-learning-aims-for-completion.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F29%2Fwestern-learning-aims-for-completion.html" }, { "id": 169, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "📚Tsundoku emergency temporarily averted.\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-29 09:23:08 +1100", "date": "9:23 p.m. on Sep 29, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/29/tsundoku-emergency-temporarily-averted.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F29%2Ftsundoku-emergency-temporarily-averted.html" }, { "id": 170, "type": "post", "title": "Japanese Shu Ha Ri: Is it Better Than Western Learning Methods?", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nThe way we approach learning fundamentally shapes how deeply we can master a skill. In the West, we\u0026rsquo;ve largely embraced linear progression. We move methodically from theoretical understanding to practical application. And the dominant image of learning is that of a ladder or a pyramid which the learner climbs step by step to reach the top. Yet there exists an alternative philosophy that challenges this conventional wisdom. It\u0026rsquo;s the Japanese concept of Shu Ha Ri. It\u0026rsquo;s not better, perhaps, but I\u0026rsquo;ve found it different in interesting and fruitful ways. Interesting enough to write a short introduction to the concept, since no one else had done so.\nWestern learning models, certainly those I grew up with, characteristically begin with cognitive frameworks before advancing to hands-on practice. Students typically start with rules and theories before attempting simplified components. Only then do they attempt the full complexity of their chosen discipline. In contrast, Shu Ha Ri represents a cyclical process. It moves through three distinct phases:\nShu (imitation), Ha (innovation), and Ri (detachment or transcendence). This isn\u0026rsquo;t so much a ladder, a one-way journey, as a circle, or better, a repeated spiral, in which experts don\u0026rsquo;t stop learning but return to the basics and understand them anew.\nWhile Western models serve their purpose in structured environments, the Shu Ha Ri approach offers crucial insights for achieving true mastery, particularly in disciplines that demand intuitive understanding rather than merely intellectual comprehension.\nHow Western Linear Learning Actually Works Western psychology has produced several influential models that support linear skill acquisition.\nFitts \u0026amp; Posner\u0026rsquo;s Three-Stage Model describes progression from the Cognitive stage, where learners consciously think through each movement. It then moves to the Associative stage of refinement and error reduction. Finally, it reaches the Autonomous stage where skills become largely unconscious.\nAdams\u0026rsquo;s Two-Stage Model offers a simpler linear progression from the Verbal-Motor stage to the Motor stage, where performance becomes increasingly automatic.\nThe Dreyfus model proposes that learners progress through five levels: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert.\nPerhaps most influential is Scaffolding and Fading, rooted in Lev Vygotsky\u0026rsquo;s theory of the proximal zone of development. This approach deliberately simplifies complex skills into manageable components, with teachers providing extensive initial support before gradually removing assistance.\nAll these models assume that effective learning requires moving from simple, understood components toward complex, integrated performance. Obviously this isn\u0026rsquo;t wrong. But this linear progression may inadvertently create barriers to the deep, intuitive knowledge that characterizes genuine expertise.\nWhy Shu Ha Ri Creates Deeper Mastery Western models excel at creating competent practitioners, but they may limit the development of true mastery. By prioritizing theoretical understanding and simplified components, these approaches can prevent learners from accessing the profound depths that Shu Ha Ri makes possible.\nAn important aspect of learning risks being overlooked - the way in which students often learn best from observing and imitating practitioners in action. As psychologist Albert Bandura observed, learning is fundamentally a social activity.\nDoes Starting With the \u0026ldquo;Whole\u0026rdquo; Beat the \u0026ldquo;Simplified\u0026rdquo;? Western scaffolding deliberately fragments skills into digestible pieces. A violin student might spend considerable time on bow hold before attempting a simple melody, or a chef might practice knife cuts in isolation before approaching actual recipes. Yet this reductionist approach, though logical, can prevent learners from experiencing the skill\u0026rsquo;s true essence.\nShu Ha Ri takes a radically different approach. In the Shu stage, students engage immediately with the complete, unsimplified form. Recently I visited the Japanese city of Matsumoto, which is where music educator Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998) lived and worked. I remembered first encountering the Suzuki method of music education years previously, and marveling at how very young children were encouraged to play complete pieces of music and to be immersed in musical culture from a very young age. A student of the Japanese tea ceremony doesn\u0026rsquo;t begin with broken-down movements or theoretical principles. They observe and attempt to replicate an entire ritual (known as temae), albeit simplified, from their very first lesson. And this immersion in the \u0026ldquo;whole\u0026rdquo; allows learners to absorb subtle relationships between components that might be lost in fragmented approaches.\nWhy Imitation Surpasses Cognition Western educational models place considerable emphasis on cognitive understanding before physical practice. Shu Ha Ri fundamentally inverts this priority. The Shu stage prioritizes imitation and embodied practice while deliberately minimizing cognitive load.\nThis is somewhat consistent with Albert Bandura\u0026rsquo;s presentation of observational learning, and the idea that we learn best not in isolation, but socially, by observing and imitating effective practitioners.\nStudents are encouraged to copy their master\u0026rsquo;s movements and timing without initially concerning themselves with underlying principles. And this allows \u0026ldquo;embodied cognition\u0026rdquo; to develop naturally through physical practice rather than intellectual analysis.\nA jazz musician learning through traditional Western methods might spend considerable time studying music theory and chord progressions before improvising. But the Shu Ha Ri approach would emphasize extensive listening and playing along with masters. This allows the musician to develop intuitive understanding of rhythm and phrasing, along with harmonic relationships and timing that cannot be fully captured in theory books. This was in fact very close to the approach of Clark Terry (1920-2015), legendary jazz trumpeter and educator, who proposed:\n\u0026ldquo;imitation, assimilation, and then innovation\u0026rdquo;.\nCan Learning Be Cyclical Rather Than Linear? Western models typically imply completion. They suggest reaching a final \u0026ldquo;autonomous\u0026rdquo; stage where learning essentially concludes. Newly minted experts risk being led to believe they have somehow finished their education. Perhaps we have to keep talking about \u0026rsquo;lifelong learning\u0026rsquo; because otherwise we might forget to do it. But Shu Ha Ri presents a fundamentally different philosophy. Rather than linear progression toward completion, it describes a cyclical journey of continuous refinement.\nAfter achieving mastery (Ri), practitioners commonly return to foundational practices (Shu) with deeper understanding. They uncover subtleties previously invisible to them. So a master calligrapher might return to basic brush strokes after decades of practice. By returning to their \u0026lsquo;beginner\u0026rsquo;s mind\u0026rsquo; they may find new and previously unrecognised depths in movements they\u0026rsquo;ve performed thousands of times. This cyclical concept suggests that true mastery isn\u0026rsquo;t a destination. It\u0026rsquo;s an ongoing process of deepening understanding.\nWhich Path Actually Leads to Mastery? Western learning models possess considerable strengths, particularly in academic settings where clear progression markers are essential. These models prove invaluable for complex technical skills where safety and precision demand systematic understanding. Medical training, engineering education, and scientific research all benefit from structured, theoretical foundations.\nHowever, when our goal extends beyond competency to genuine mastery, Shu Ha Ri offers a complimentary framework. This is particularly true in disciplines requiring intuitive understanding or creative expression. And the traditional Japanese approach recognizes that true mastery involves more than accumulated knowledge or perfected technique.\nShu Ha Ri encompasses a quality of understanding that emerges through sustained practice and cyclical refinement. It prioritizes deep immersion in complete forms and wholeness over fragmented components. Linear models efficiently create capable practitioners. But the cyclical and holistic philosophy of Shu Ha Ri nurtures the lifelong pursuit of true mastery. Its imitation-based approach and emphasis on complete forms creates deeper understanding than fragmented learning.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re increasingly focused on rapid skill acquisition and short cuts to expertise. Yet this ancient wisdom reminds us that the deepest forms of human expertise can\u0026rsquo;t be rushed or simplified. They must be lived, embodied, and continually refined through patient, cyclical practice.\nRead more in Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters.\nAnd did you know you can sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest?\nReferences Adams, J. A. (1971). A closed-loop theory of motor learning. Journal of Motor Behavior, 3(2), 111-150.\nBandura, A. (1962). Social Learning through Imitation. University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln, NE.\nBradić, S., Kariya, C., Callan, M., \u0026amp; Jones, L. (2023). Universality and applicability of shu-ha-ri concept through comparison in everyday life, education, judo and kata in judo. The Arts and Sciences of Judo (ASJ) Vol. 03 No. 02.\nDreyfus S, Dreyfus H. (1980). A five stage model of the mental activities involved in directed skill acquisition. California University Berkeley Operations Research Center. Accessed at www.dtic.mil/dtic/inde\u0026hellip;\nFitts, P. M., \u0026amp; Posner, M. I. (1967). Human performance. Brooks/Cole.\nFreimann, R. (nd) An Interview with Clark Terry. banddirector.com. Accessed at https://banddirector.com/interviews/an-interview-with-clark-terry-by-rachel-freiman/\nHammerness, K., Darling-Hammond, L., \u0026amp; Bransford, J. (2005). How teachers learn and develop. In L. Darling-Hammond \u0026amp; J. Bransford (Eds.), Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do (pp. 358-389). Jossey-Bass.\nMagill, R. A., \u0026amp; Anderson, D. I. (2017). Motor learning and control: Concepts and applications (11th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.\nPeña A. (2010). The Dreyfus model of clinical problem-solving skills acquisition: a critical perspective. Medical education online, 15, 10.3402/meo.v15i0.4846. Accessed at doi.org/10.3402/m\u0026hellip;.\nVygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.\nWood, D., Bruner, J. S., \u0026amp; Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17(2), 89-100.\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-29 00:48:24 +1100", "date": "12:48 p.m. on Sep 29, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/28/japanese-shu-ha-ri-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F28%2Fjapanese-shu-ha-ri-is.html" }, { "id": 171, "type": "post", "title": "Keeping a diary is a way of living", "text": " “A diary is not only a text: it is a behaviour, a way of life, of which the text is a by-product\u0026quot; - French theorist Philipe Lejeune. Source: Arts \u0026amp; Ideas Podcast.\nExactly so. I have a journalling habit, which fuels my Zettelkasten, (my collection of linked notes), which in turn fuels my writing. This in turn affects my life, which I journal about. It\u0026rsquo;s a virtuous circle.\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. And did you know you can sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest?\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-28 16:49:25 +1100", "date": "4:49 p.m. on Sep 28, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/28/keeping-a-diary-is-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F28%2Fkeeping-a-diary-is-a.html" }, { "id": 172, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Magpie swooping season has been busy. But on this morning\u0026rsquo;s bike ride the magpies I saw were busy chasing a noisy miner (not a mynah). Then just when I thought I\u0026rsquo;d escaped, I was swooped - by a mob of ebullient rainbow lorikeets, high on their supply of bottlebrush nectar.\n#birdlife #bikelife #swoopingseason\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-27 11:45:28 +1100", "date": "11:45 p.m. on Sep 27, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/27/magpie-swooping-season-has-been.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F27%2Fmagpie-swooping-season-has-been.html" }, { "id": 173, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I’ve been deep into writing about learning and the art of taking notes. That\u0026rsquo;s why I love it that Steven Johnson keeps returning to the same theme: The Blank Page Revolution. How paper changed the way we think.\n#zettelkasten #note-taking #PKM #WritingLife #ThinkingOnPaper #HistoryOfIdeas\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-26 22:18:49 +1100", "date": "10:18 p.m. on Sep 26, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/26/ive-been-deep-into-writing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F26%2Five-been-deep-into-writing.html" }, { "id": 174, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "My uncle and both my grandfathers were dedicated anti-fascists. That\u0026rsquo;s why I get to be here today, reminding you that they won.\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-25 19:58:23 +1100", "date": "7:58 p.m. on Sep 25, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/25/my-uncle-and-both-my.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F25%2Fmy-uncle-and-both-my.html" }, { "id": 175, "type": "post", "title": "Zettelkasten podcast episodes", "text": "Here are a couple of podcast interviews where the Zettelkasten approach to making notes is discussed in detail. Enjoy!\nWilliam Wadsworth (Exam Study Expert) interviews Sonke Ahrens, author of How to Take Smart Notes. Apple Podcasts.\nSönke Ahrens on Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s writing process:\n\u0026ldquo;The main part of the writing process happened in this in-between space most people, I believe, neglect. They write notes, they read, they polish their manuscripts, but I think few people understand the importance of taking proper notes and organising them in a way that a manuscript, an argument, a chapter can evolve out of that.\u0026rdquo;\nJackson Dahl (Dialectic) interviews Billy Oppenheimer, Ryan Holiday\u0026rsquo;s research assistant, on staying attuned for clues. Apple Podcasts.\n\u0026ldquo;I adopted/adapted Ryan Holiday\u0026rsquo;s notecard system, which he learned from Robert Greene. And it\u0026rsquo;s just literally boxes of 4x6 notecards. I\u0026rsquo;ve never seen Robert\u0026rsquo;s actual cards, but I have seen Ryan\u0026rsquo;s. His are filled with shorthands: a maybe a phrase, a word, or a single sentence that conveys a story from some book. They are little reminders capturing the broad strokes of something. You notate it with the book and page number so you can go back and find the specific details.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Niklas Luhmann also has another great idea about making notes for an ignorant stranger\u0026hellip; Because that\u0026rsquo;s what you are when you come back to it. We think, \u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s no way I\u0026rsquo;m going to forget this story.\u0026rdquo; You come back to it, and it\u0026rsquo;s highlighted and underlined. You\u0026rsquo;re like, \u0026ldquo;What was I loving about this?\u0026rdquo; I try to make the note cards for an ignorant stranger. You should be able to pick one up and have enough context to make out what this thing is. And so in a similar way, in the margins of books, I try to do that for myself.\u0026rdquo;\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-24 09:35:45 +1100", "date": "9:35 p.m. on Sep 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/24/zettelkasten-podcast-episodes.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F24%2Fzettelkasten-podcast-episodes.html" }, { "id": 176, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "If AI can\u0026rsquo;t do simple anagrams, how is it meant to fix the economy and make our jobs obsolete? (Admittedly, my job doesn\u0026rsquo;t involve solving anagrams - I\u0026rsquo;m not that senior - but still).\n#anagrams #AIfail #AI\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-22 19:01:45 +1100", "date": "7:01 p.m. on Sep 22, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/22/if-ai-cant-do-simple.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F22%2Fif-ai-cant-do-simple.html" }, { "id": 177, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Some books I read before visiting Japan.\n#reading #Japantravel #shuhari\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-21 16:29:48 +1100", "date": "4:29 p.m. on Sep 21, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/21/some-books-i-read-before.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F21%2Fsome-books-i-read-before.html" }, { "id": 178, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Western learning is linear; mastery is cyclical. A new article will show exactly why the Japanese concept of Shu Ha Ri offers a more effective path to true expertise than conventional Western methods. Is it time to unlearn how we learn?\n#ShuHaRi #Learning #Mastery\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-21 16:24:26 +1100", "date": "4:24 p.m. on Sep 21, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/21/western-learning-is-linear-mastery.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F21%2Fwestern-learning-is-linear-mastery.html" }, { "id": 179, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "An atomic note isn’t just about ideas; it’s about time. Start smaller, stop sooner, and your notes become easier to reuse and connect. ✍ Post here: The shortest writing session that could possibly work.\n#NoteTaking #KnowledgeWork #zettelkasten #writingtips\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-16 22:04:51 +1100", "date": "10:04 p.m. on Sep 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/16/an-atomic-note-isnt-just.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F16%2Fan-atomic-note-isnt-just.html" }, { "id": 180, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "On a single small island in Shugaku-in, the imperial pleasure garden, Autumn has arrived.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\n#japantravel #Kyoto #KyotoJapan #shuhari #Japanesegardens\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-16 18:30:05 +1100", "date": "6:30 p.m. on Sep 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/16/on-a-single-small-island.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F16%2Fon-a-single-small-island.html" }, { "id": 181, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Kyoto is a unique mix of ancient and modern. From this angle Japan\u0026rsquo;s tallest wooden pagoda GojĆ«notƍ, rebuilt 1643, has a great fire escape.\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\n#japantravel #Kyoto #KyotoJapan #shuhari #streetphotography\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-13 13:43:41 +1100", "date": "1:43 p.m. on Sep 13, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/13/kyoto-is-a-unique-mix.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F13%2Fkyoto-is-a-unique-mix.html" }, { "id": 182, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Craig Mod\u0026rsquo;s newsletter Ridgeline features a wry account of a fashion photoshoot in a pizza toast cafĂ© for the Uniqlo clothing wear in-house magazine. In search of good coffee at Kyoto Station I stumbled upon the very article at the front of the little Uniqlo store there.\nNow you\u0026rsquo;re probably wondering whether they let him keep the sweater. That\u0026rsquo;s what they call a cliff-hanger, though admittedly it\u0026rsquo;s a small cliff.\nAnd if you\u0026rsquo;re wondering where to get ok coffee at the station, it\u0026rsquo;s Caffe Ciao Presso. I\u0026rsquo;m telling you this, Internet friends, so you can correct me, but not if you like Americano (I\u0026rsquo;m from Sydney after all).\nShu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters is available now.\n#japantravel #Kyoto #coffee #shuhari\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-13 12:59:58 +1100", "date": "12:59 p.m. on Sep 13, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/13/craig-mods-newsletter-ridgeline-features.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F13%2Fcraig-mods-newsletter-ridgeline-features.html" }, { "id": 183, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬“slow-cooked projects made just for fun.” - New Public\nThat pretty much sums up this website.\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-13 00:06:57 +1100", "date": "12:06 p.m. on Sep 13, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/12/slowcooked-projects-made-just-for.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F12%2Fslowcooked-projects-made-just-for.html" }, { "id": 184, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "An ordinary street scene in Kyoto can have a unique atmosphere.\nShu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters is available now.\n#streetphotography #kyotojapan #shuhari\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-12 22:52:08 +1100", "date": "10:52 p.m. on Sep 12, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/12/an-ordinary-street-scene-in.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F12%2Fan-ordinary-street-scene-in.html" }, { "id": 185, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The hills just to the North of Kyoto, from Kurama-dera temple. There\u0026rsquo;s a cool breeze up here, seemingly far removed from the sweltering city.\nShu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters is available now.\n", "dateiso": "2025-09-10 16:18:24 +1100", "date": "4:18 p.m. on Sep 10, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/09/10/the-hills-just-to-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F09%2F10%2Fthe-hills-just-to-the.html" }, { "id": 186, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m excited to be heading to Japan for some research. But just realised I\u0026rsquo;ve spent more time learning Japanese history than the Japanese language. Oops.\n#shuhari #JapanTravel #writingslowly #amwriting\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-31 15:01:06 +1100", "date": "3:01 p.m. on Aug 31, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/31/im-excited-to-be-heading.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F31%2Fim-excited-to-be-heading.html" }, { "id": 187, "type": "post", "title": "Back to the Information City? How knowledge visualisation shapes the journey", "text": "I was intrigued by Mark Bernstein\u0026rsquo;s1 co-authored article revisiting the concept of the city as a visual metaphor for information in the era of hypertext.\nIntrigued, because I\u0026rsquo;m not convinced the city makes things clearer. In fact the first thing that came into my mind was Steven Marcus\u0026rsquo;s claim from way back that urban dwellers experience a particular kind of estrangement. They sense that \u0026ldquo;the city is unintelligible and illegible\u0026rdquo;. This appears in a collection of essays on the Victorian city, in an essay titled \u0026lsquo;Reading the Illegible.\u0026rsquo; (1973:257).\nThis idea - that the city can\u0026rsquo;t be read - put me in mind of Jonathan Raban\u0026rsquo;s proto-postmodernist book Soft City (1974), where he contrasts the book with the city, the legible with the illegible.\n\u0026ldquo;The city and the book are opposed forms: to force the city\u0026rsquo;s spread, contingency, and aimless motion into the tight progression of a narrative is to risk a total falsehood. There is no single point of view from which we can grasp the city as a whole. That indeed is the distinction between the city and the small town. A good working definition of metropolitan life would center on its intrinsic illegibility. (p. 219)\nAs it happens, it seems that the article authors\u0026rsquo; conclusion is that the Information city is not a particularly promising metaphor to guide the navigation of complex information structures:\n\u0026ldquo;It seems clear that the Information City is better suited to constructive than to exploratory hypertext.\u0026rdquo;\nThis ties in nicely with my take on anthropologist Tim Ingold\u0026rsquo;s view that creativity is more about \u0026lsquo;itineration\u0026rsquo; (wayfinding) than \u0026lsquo;iteration\u0026rsquo; (making an object).\nWould it be possible, then, somehow to depict the wayfinding process in and of itself without in advance also reifying the landscape? I\u0026rsquo;m imagining a walk through an unfamiliar place, which through repetition gradually becomes familiar, and may be rendered yet more familiar by establishing idiosyncratic markers, the way Ariadne\u0026rsquo;s thread guided Theseus through the Minotaur\u0026rsquo;s labyrinth.\n*[Image source]: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons.* The authors say of their attempted information visualisation:\n\u0026ldquo;The Information City may be superb for some and intolerable for those who might prefer to work in a Piranesi dungeon.\u0026rdquo;\nMy view is that despite the efforts of UI creators, we don\u0026rsquo;t really have a choice in this matter. We are already living in Piranesi\u0026rsquo;s dungeon, in which meaning is lost and found and lost again, and where forgetting is as important as remembering.\nThat said, I\u0026rsquo;m as wary of the dream of information legibility as I am of the dream of urban legibility. The metaphor that works for me is of an immense and unknown forest, the deep forest of accumulated knowledge. Though travelers may have no sense of the ultimate extent of the forest, and even if there is no thread, they can make one as they explore. They may still provide a report, like a travel journal:\n\u0026ldquo;Here is the route I took, and here are the landmarks I discovered on the way.\u0026rdquo;.\nThis deep subjectivity allows for a limited form of objectivity:\n\u0026ldquo;with my report in hand you too can follow this path through the trees.\u0026rdquo;.\n*[Image source: Hasui Kawase], Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.* References:\nBernstein, Mark, Silas Hooper, and Mark Anderson. \u0026ldquo;Back to the Information City.\u0026rdquo; Paper presented at HT 2025: 36th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media, Chicago, IL, September 15–18, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1145/3720553.3746664.\nDyos, H. J., and Michael Wolff. The Victorian City: Images and Realities. Vol. 1. London: Routledge \u0026amp; Kegan Paul, 1973.\nIngold, Tim. \u0026ldquo;The Textility of Making.\u0026rdquo; Cambridge Journal of Economics 34 (2010): 91–102. https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bep042.\nRaban, Jonathan. Soft City: The Art of Cosmopolitan Living. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1974.\nHe\u0026rsquo;s the creator of the Tinderbox notemaking app.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-24 21:00:00 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Aug 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/24/back-to-the-information-city.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F24%2Fback-to-the-information-city.html" }, { "id": 188, "type": "post", "title": "Use case for the Zettelkasten", "text": "Why use a Zettelkasten? Why indeed? Geeky online legend Gwern was rather negative:\nMost people simply have no need for lots of half-formed ideas, random lists of research papers, and so on. This is what people always miss about “Zettelkasten”: are you writing a book? Are you a historian or Teutonic scholar like Niklas Luhmann? Do you publish a dozen papers a year? Are you the 1% of the 1%? No? Then why do you think you need a Zettelkasten?\nHe argued that tools for thought don\u0026rsquo;t actually aid thought and that the obviously useful alternative is \u0026lsquo;systems that think for the user instead\u0026rsquo;.\nWait, what? Systems that think for the user?? I disagree with this very strongly. Sure, it\u0026rsquo;s true that as they stand, \u0026rsquo;tools for thought\u0026rsquo; are no substitute for humans putting in the effort. But I don\u0026rsquo;t see that as a valid criticism.\nThe human effort is the part that matters. The effort of thought is actually a feature not a bug. Human thought is preferable to AI computation not because it\u0026rsquo;s more efficient (although it very often is) but because it\u0026rsquo;s more human, and humans warm to the activity of other humans.\nFor instance, in early 2025 a Lithuanian explorer attempted to cross the Pacific Ocean in a one-man rowing boat. He made it to within 740km of the Australian coast, when he was assailed by a cyclone and prevented from sleeping for several days straight. In extremis he finally set off his SOS beacon and the Australian navy came to rescue him, despite the 16-metre-high swells they had to brave. The adventurer only just made it out alive. Returned from the dead, back on shore and reunited with this wife in a photogenic moment he sank to his knees as she embraced him.\nNow this was all very interesting, despite the fact that the very ocean water that was trying to capsize him routinely crosses vast distances with no problem. No one cares about the brine, no one feels for its plight and the media never report on its travails. Did you ever see a headline like this:\n\u0026ldquo;Alone and exhausted, a desperate ocean wave makes it gratefully to shore\u0026rdquo;?\nNo you didn\u0026rsquo;t. That was a rhetorical question. Human interest stories work because it\u0026rsquo;s humans that we\u0026rsquo;re interested in.\n*Won't someone think of the poor wave?* Improbably, this wasn\u0026rsquo;t the only Lithuanian paddler to survive a run-in with Australian waters in recent years. The previous year a Lithuanian kayaker slipped into some rapids on Tasmania\u0026rsquo;s Franklin River, where he was jammed between rocks and pinned down by a flow of 13 tonnes of water per second. Again, he was the subject of a daring and extreme rescue. Meanwhile, no one thought twice about how the water felt.\nAnd no one cares either when it\u0026rsquo;s AI that\u0026rsquo;s supposedly doing the \u0026rsquo;thinking\u0026rsquo;. It\u0026rsquo;s inanimate. But they do care quite a lot about a solitary Lithuanian in mortal danger. And so on. I\u0026rsquo;ve never visited the Franklin River, which this photograph I took in New Zealand clearly illustrates.\nGetting back on track, the thought that goes into making notes matters, quite simply because thought just does matter. Conversely, when \u0026lsquo;systems think for the user\u0026rsquo;, well, whatever that is, it\u0026rsquo;s not thought.\nBut beyond this, I can\u0026rsquo;t help wondering why we need to justify at all a practice so basic as simply making notes and linking them. My half-formed thoughts might not be as good as Gwern\u0026rsquo;s (OK, they definitely aren\u0026rsquo;t), but at least they\u0026rsquo;re my half-formed thoughts.\nIn a co-authored conference paper, Mark Bernstein, creator of the Tinderbox app, makes what ought to be an obvious point:\n\u0026ldquo;It may frequently be the case that we ourselves do not know the ultimate uses of our notes, yet still find note-taking rewarding.\u0026rdquo; - Bernstein et al., 2025, Back to the Information City\nReflecting on Gwern\u0026rsquo;s dismissal of the Zettelkasten approach, I\u0026rsquo;m reminded of self-help guru Oliver Burkeman, who had a different criticism to offer. He said he had tried a Zettelkasten but found it too organised. That got me wondering, how much mess is just enough?\nFor what it\u0026rsquo;s worth, I\u0026rsquo;ve found the Zettelkasten approach very practical and quite productive, despite my not being particularly organised. Here\u0026rsquo;s a book it helped me write and publish: Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters.\nAnd of course, my Zettelkasten is helping me to carry on Writing Slowly. You can follow the frenetic action with the weekly digest - a blog magically transformed into an email. Amazing!\nSee also: From tiny drops of writing great rivers will flow.\nReference:\nBernstein, Mark, Silas Hooper, and Mark Anderson. ‘Back to the Information City’. Paper presented at HT 2025: 36th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media, September 15–18, 2025, Chicago, IL, USA. 2025. Preprint PDF.\n#Zettelkasten #PKMS #notetaking #toolsforthought #Lithuanian #HT2025\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-24 19:17:22 +1100", "date": "7:17 p.m. on Aug 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/24/use-case-for-the-zettelkasten.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F24%2Fuse-case-for-the-zettelkasten.html" }, { "id": 189, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "After launching my book on the Japanese concept of Shu Ha Ri I’m visiting Japan itself soon to research another concept that’s become a minor obsession.\nI’m particularly interested in traditional Japanese gardens and in traditional crafts, so where should go? If you know Japan, what tips have you got to share?\n#Japan #shuhari #Japantravel #Japanesegardens\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-20 08:40:26 +1100", "date": "8:40 p.m. on Aug 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/20/after-launching-my-book-on.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F20%2Fafter-launching-my-book-on.html" }, { "id": 190, "type": "post", "title": "What does it mean to transcend the rules?", "text": "The Karate Path\nA martial arts dedication performed by Japanese karate practitioner Kiyou Shimizu at Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto.\nThis former world champion has retired from competitive karate, and is finding new ways to express her mastery of the discipline.\nWatching this dedication reminded me of some words of the kabuke actor Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII:\n\u0026ldquo;You break the mold because there is a mold, and if there is no mold, you have no form.\u0026rdquo;1\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. It\u0026rsquo;s a short and accessible introduction to the concept, available now.\nAnd if you liked this article, why not subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email digest?\n#Shuhari #martialarts #karate #kyoto #kiyomizudera\nSource: Japanese Wikipedia entry for Shu Ha Ri.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-17 01:13:32 +1100", "date": "1:13 p.m. on Aug 17, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/17/what-does-it-mean-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F17%2Fwhat-does-it-mean-to.html" }, { "id": 191, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " \u0026ldquo;The creative life is not linear. It’s not a straight line from point A to point B. It’s more like a loop, or a spiral, in which you keep coming back to a new starting point after every project. No matter how successful you get, no matter what level of achievement you reach, you will never really “arrive.”\u0026rdquo; - Austin Kleon, Keep Going.\nIs this daunting, or reassuring?\n#shuhari #learning\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-15 09:40:32 +1100", "date": "9:40 p.m. on Aug 15, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/15/the-creative-life-isnotlinear-its.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F15%2Fthe-creative-life-isnotlinear-its.html" }, { "id": 192, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "While reviewing Analysis of Shu Ha Ri in Karate-Do: When a Martial Art Becomes a Fine Art by Hermann Bayer, I discovered this amazing BBC documentary from 1983 about karate in Okinawa. It\u0026rsquo;s a real classic! The Way of the Warrior: Karate, the Way of the Empty Hand.\n#karate #okinawa #shuhari\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-12 00:00:00 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Aug 12, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/11/while-reviewing-analysis-of-shu.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F11%2Fwhile-reviewing-analysis-of-shu.html" }, { "id": 193, "type": "post", "title": "Is there a Zettelkasten method?", "text": "Quite a few people write and speak about the Zettelkasten, a simple way of maintaining a note making system, but is there really any such thing? An online forum comment drew my attention, since it captured something I’ve been thinking about for a while:\n“I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a method. The very adjective is a mistake. What exists are a few very general guidelines, essentially revolving around the idea of atomic notes and some form of connection between them. I am not saying this as a criticism of the method or anyone. I have been using “the method” since 2020 and appreciate zettelkasten.de. But there is no method. There is not much to write about “the method” as if it were something beyond those two guidelines.” - u/Magnifico99 on Reddit.\nHere are my thoughts and I’d like to know what you think.\nThere’s no single method, but many “I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a method
 What exists are a few very general guidelines
 But there is no method.” - u/Magnifico99 on Reddit.\nI really agree with this. There is no single ‘method’. Instead there’s a seemingly obsolete practice of writing notes on small slips of paper and arranging them so they can be found again. Then there’s the digital version of this, which differs from how most note-making apps expect their users to do things.\n\u0026ldquo;What exists are a few very general guidelines, essentially revolving around the idea of atomic notes and some form of connection between them.\u0026rdquo; - u/Magnifico99 on Reddit.\nWell, yes, that\u0026rsquo;s pretty much it. At any rate, there\u0026rsquo;s not all that much more to it than that. And I appreciate a minimal approach to making notes.\nIt’s not a method, but an ‘approach’ I usually employ the phrase Zettelkasten approach. That’s because there clearly isn’t just a single Zettelkasten method. The German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, unwitting patron saint of contemporary Zettelkasten discussions, kept two different ZettelkĂ€sten, and everyone else who ever made notes on cards also did it a bit differently from everyone who was doing something similar. I’ve read several 19th and 20th century manuals on writing and note writing - and they all prescribe slightly different approaches, which are all a bit different both from how Luhmann did it and from how most people do it now.\nWe can experiment with writing notes But this fuzzy definition isn’t a weakness, it’s a strength. It means the field is wide open for us to experiment and to discover and share what works for us, each of us, guided, but not constrained, by a handful of simple principles.\nI see the Zettelkasten in the context of what science historian Hans-Jörg Rheinberger calls “epistemic things” (1997). By discussing the Zettelkasten, we’re actually engaging in the process of creating it 1. Conversely, if ever the conversation stops, that’s when the concept is over. As the Russian literary theorist Mikhael Bakhtin (1986) said,\n“If an answer does not give rise to a new question from itself, it falls out of the dialogue”.\nBut isn’t it a waste of time? \u0026ldquo;For a few years now, I have not been able to read anything about Zettelkasten on the internet without clearly feeling that I am wasting my time or indulging in some form of entertainment.\u0026rdquo;- u/Magnifico99 on Reddit.\nDespite writing quite a lot here about note-making (sorry to waste your time, dear reader), I agree with this view too. Since the basic guidelines are simple, there’s only so much to be said about them before confusion ensues.\nIn particular, I’m frustrated by a ballooning of idiosyncratic vocabulary. For example, ‘evergreen notes’? This is kind of helpful, though it seems to be conflating note-making with journalism. For journalists an evergreen article is one you can write at any time of the year and publish later, since it won’t get old. It’s what the newspapers publish when all the journalists are on holiday around Christmas and New Year.\nAndy Matuschak reuses this concept for his evergreen notes, to describe something slightly different: a note that stays fresh because it can always be added to. I don\u0026rsquo;t usually add to my notes. Instead I resolve this differently - not by editing and updating my notes, but by writing new, linked notes, so I can clearly see the evolution of my thought over time.I’m also a little frustrated by the proliferation of supposed note types. What’s the difference between a ’fleeting note’ and a ‘permanent note’?\nThese concepts are like training wheels on a bicycle. They’re useful until you don’t need them, but as with training wheels, there’s a possibility they may impede learning, for some people. I’m even more frustrated with all those YouTube videos and AI-generated articles purporting to come from helpful experts but actually just regurgitating the previous videos and SEO fodder.\nIt seems like everyone who ever heard of the Zettelkasten approach has also made a YouTube video or ten about it. And if you look at the chat bot marketplaces you’ll see that there’s an explosion of AI Zettelkasten ‘helpers’ that all offer various half-baked schemes for writing all your notes for you. I counted more than 50 before I gave up. It all seems to add up to nothing but a pile of pointlessness.\nSo where’s the silver lining? In two words: community and practice. Low-key community, that is, and real-life practice.\nLow-key community Low-key community is one silver lining to all this rumination. There’s a loose assortment of people (on Reddit/zettelkasten, zettelkasten.de, maybe the Obsidian forums and personal knowledge management (PKM) forums somewhere — and even some readers of this very website) who are interested in better writing and clearer thinking. We are using the Zettelkasten approach as a social object, around which to gather and work on.\nThese people don’t necessarily agree with one another. In fact disagreeing is one key hallmark of a ‘discourse coalition’ (Hajer, 2009), where everyone who talks about the same thing gets to mean something different by it, then argues over the definitions 2. Although this may sound obtuse, it’s actually quite productive. That’s because it’s in the nature of objects of knowledge to be unfinished or unattained - maybe perpetually.\nobjects of knowledge in many fields have material instantiations, but they must simultaneously be conceived of as unfolding structures of absences: as things that continually ‘explode’ and ‘mutate’ into something else, and that are as much defined by what they are not (but will, at some point, have become) than by what they are. - Cetina (2001: 182).\nNot that, but this. Not quite agreeing on the contours of the Zettelkasten approach is evidence that it\u0026rsquo;s worthwhile (at least for us) to continue to explore the concept. The more you look into it, the more you see.\n“objects of knowledge appear to have the capacity to unfold indefinitely. They are more like open drawers filled with folders extending indefinitely into the depth of a dark closet.” - Bennet (2005). Chat GPT made this great image, but for now your job putting handles on drawers appears quite safe.\nReal-life practice The other silver lining, the main one really, is real-life practice. Writing is and remains an ‘organizational technology’ for thinking (Eddy, 2023). By writing notes, and experimenting with doing it better (whatever better means), people are gradually improving their skills at writing and thinking productively and meaningfully.\nUntil the hype settles down, AI is revolutionising our understanding of the significance of literacy, but the need to organise our thoughts effectively will probably increase, not decrease. Making notes, whatever the ‘method’ or ‘approach’, will continue to have a place in the intellectual toolkit.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s my view and I\u0026rsquo;m sticking to it until you convince me otherwise. I\u0026rsquo;ve found the Zettelkasten approach to making notes very helpful and I know others have too.\nNow read:\nDon\u0026rsquo;t let your note-making system infect you with Archive Fever.\nWhat to do when you\u0026rsquo;ve made some notes.\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. It\u0026rsquo;s a short and accessible introduction to the concept, available now.\nAnd if you liked this article, why not subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email digest?\nReferences Bakhtin, M. M. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays. University of Texas Press.\nBennett, T. (2005), ‘Civic Laboratories: Museums, Cultural Objecthood and the Governance of the Social’, Cultural Studies, 19(5): 521-547. Preprint PDF\nCetina, Karin Knorr (2001). Objectual practice. Ch.12 in The practice turn in contemporary theory. Ed. Theodore R. Schatzki. London: Routledge, 17-18. P. 182\nEddy, Matthew (2023). Media \u0026amp; the Mind : Art, Science, and Notebooks as Paper Machines, 1700-1830. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.\nHajer, Maarten A. (2009). Authoritative Governance: Policy-Making in the Age of Mediatization. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.\nHajer, Maartin (2024). Teaching discourse and dramaturgy. Ch. 20 in St. Denny, Emily, and Philippe Zittoun, eds. Handbook of Teaching Public Policy. Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Publishing.\nRheinberger, Hans-Jörg (1997). Toward a history of epistemic things: Synthesising proteins in the test tube. Stanford: Stanford University Press.\nRheinberger argues that scientific research is driven by the investigation of \u0026ldquo;epistemic things\u0026rdquo;—entities or phenomena that are not yet fully known or understood. These \u0026ldquo;things\u0026rdquo; emerge within \u0026ldquo;experimental systems,\u0026rdquo; which are the material and conceptual arrangements of research. Rheinberger claims these systems don\u0026rsquo;t just reveal pre-existing objects but actively shape and bring forth these epistemic things through the ongoing process of experimentation. In this way the unknown plays a key role in scientific discovery.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n“A discourse coalition is a set of actors that, via their activities in particular practices, shares and reproduces a particular construction of reality (cf. Hajer 2009). Note that actors within a particular discourse coalition do not necessarily agree with each other on matters of substance; yet they share a language to express their concerns and fight their fights. Hence, they will also search for solutions within the confines of the reality that that particular discourse allows one to express.” (Hajer 2004:300).\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-11 00:14:50 +1100", "date": "12:14 p.m. on Aug 11, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/10/is-there-a-zettelkasten-method.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F10%2Fis-there-a-zettelkasten-method.html" }, { "id": 194, "type": "post", "title": "Mastering Any Skill, the Japanese Way", "text": "📚 A review of Analysis of Shu Ha Ri in Karate-Do: When a Martial Art Becomes a Fine Art by Hermann Bayer, Ph.D.\nMost people believe that mastery of a skill comes from practicing harder and longer. ‘10,000 hours of deliberate practice’ has achieved a level of imperative unwarranted by the actual evidence (Epstein, 2021). Yet countless learners, whether in business, the arts, or sport, hit a plateau they can’t break through. The problem isn’t effort. It’s that they’re missing a hidden progression that separates the true experts from the merely experienced.\nFor centuries, Japanese masters have understood this journey. It has three distinct phases, Shu, Ha, Ri, and each demands a different mindset and approach. Skip one, and your growth stalls. Get them right, and you move beyond imitation into competence and ultimately mastery. Unlike many Western theories of learning, it\u0026rsquo;s not a linear set of stages to be climbed like the rungs of a ladder: instead it\u0026rsquo;s a cycle, a spiral of increasing competence where the earliest phase is never forgotten.\nHermann Bayer’s Analysis of Shu Ha Ri in Karate-Do is one of the clearest and most extensive explanations of this progression I’ve encountered. While his examples come from Okinawan karate, his real subject is the universal process of moving from novice to master, potentially in any discipline.\nBayer brings to his writing both deep scholarship and decades of martial arts expertise. This shows, but the book remains reasonably accessible for general readers. He unpacks philosophical ideas without jargon, showing exactly how they play out in practice. One of his most important clarifications is effectively a major theme of the book: Shu Ha Ri is not an Okinawan tradition. Despite its frequent modern association with karate, Bayer shows that the concept comes from Japanese fine arts, especially from the tea ceremony, and only entered karate after karate\u0026rsquo;s fairly recent introduction to mainland Japan, in 1922. This detail is more than just historical trivia; it changes how you see the concept. Shu Ha Ri is not tied to a single fighting style, and certainly not to karate. It’s potentially a transferable blueprint for mastering any complex skill.\nAlthough Shu Ha Ri has wide applicability and has been adopted in many different disciplines, Bayer does focus heavily on karate, and on its Okinawan origins. This is the author\u0026rsquo;s specialist field. He is, after all the author of the two-volume Analysis of Genuine Karate, which explores Okinawa as the cradle of true karate. So readers curious about Shu Ha Ri, but with limited interest in karate and Okinawan history may wish for more examples from other disciplines. But the underlying framework is so universal that the author\u0026rsquo;s examples still work. You don’t need to know a kata from a kumite to apply what you learn.\nIf you are a practitioner of Karate, I suspect after reading this book you\u0026rsquo;ll never see it in quite the same way. But what makes the concept of Shu Ha Ri valuable beyond martial arts is its potential application to any field where performance and creativity matter. For instance, writers might see how to move from imitating their influences to developing a unique voice. Leaders might understand when to enforce process and when to encourage innovation. Artists, athletes, and entrepreneurs might recognise the moment to step beyond rules without losing their foundation.\nIf you care about personal growth and continuous improvement, or want a proven roadmap to mastery, this book will give you both the theory and the practical insight to get there. By the time you finish it, you won’t just understand Shu Ha Ri, you’ll be inspired to integrate this learning philosophy into your own life. And in case you were tempted, you will never again confuse Shu Ha Ri with the historical traditions of Okinawan karate.\nDetails Analysis of Shu Ha Ri in Karate-Do: When a Martial Art Becomes a Fine Art by Hermann Bayer, Ph.D. (June 2025, ISBN: 9781594399954)\nPurchase directly from the publisher, YMAA.\nResources A video interview with the author. A summary of the argument, adapted from the introduction: The Surprising New Significance of Shu Ha Ri in Postwar Karatedo. A 1983 BBC documentary about Okinawan karate: The Way of the Warrior: Karate, the Way of the Empty Hand. This is extraordinary and a real classic! (mentioned in a footnote on p.97). I\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. It\u0026rsquo;s a short and accessible introduction to the concept, available now.\nAnd if you enjoyed this review, you may like to subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-10 16:11:02 +1100", "date": "4:11 p.m. on Aug 10, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/10/mastering-any-skill-the-japanese.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F10%2Fmastering-any-skill-the-japanese.html" }, { "id": 195, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " \u0026ldquo;You get what the algorithm gives you. This is both a meagre blessing and a wicked curse.\u0026rdquo; - writingslowly.com\n#indieweb #blogging\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-08 01:14:41 +1100", "date": "1:14 p.m. on Aug 8, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/08/you-get-what-the-algorithm.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F08%2Fyou-get-what-the-algorithm.html" }, { "id": 196, "type": "post", "title": "Open, free and poetic", "text": "The Web is 34 years old! Following on from Plenty of ways to write online, here are some really practical resources to help you create your own presence online :\nKeeping the Web free, open and poetic.\nOld hands will probably find a few useful tips here too.\nOh, and here\u0026rsquo;s another great big list of useful personal website stuff. Actually, I\u0026rsquo;m making a note of this for my own \u0026lsquo;going down the rabbit-hole\u0026rsquo; purposes:\nResources List for the Personal Web\nIt’s also easier than ever to publish a book. Check out mine: Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. And to stay connected, subscribe to the weekly email digest.\n*Image source: Public Domain, Wikimedia.\n#indieweb #webwriting #worldwideweb #blogging\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-07 00:08:37 +1100", "date": "12:08 p.m. on Aug 7, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/06/open-free-and-poetic.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F06%2Fopen-free-and-poetic.html" }, { "id": 197, "type": "post", "title": "Plenty of ways to write online", "text": "It\u0026rsquo;s now easier than ever to write online if you wish to. Here\u0026rsquo;s a list of more than 40 blogging platforms. Many are free or have a self-hosting option, and you can pretty much choose your own adventure here, so why not get going?\nManuel’s list of blog platforms\nNow, some say writing on your own website is a wasted opportunity, because hardly anyone will read it. A better way, they say, is social media. That’s simply because the social media algorithms bring good writing to the surface to present it to far more pairs of eyeballs.\nOK. The big problem with this advice is that the main platforms are capricious. They change their rules all the time, they lock you in, then boot people off for no reason, while still enabling trolls. They destroy databases with no warning; they promote genocide and fascism while claiming they\u0026rsquo;re not publishers so owe no responsibility, and they generally behave on a spectrum between exploitative and sociopathic.\nYou get what the algorithm gives you. This is both a meagre blessing and a wicked curse.\nMy partial solution is to publish on my own site while syndicating elsewhere. I keep the \u0026lsquo;canonical\u0026rsquo; version here on my own website, while publicising it in as many other online locations as I wish. This is a little more work, but gives me control without total invisibility. And some of the syndication can be automated, through RSS and APIs.\nPOSSE: Reclaiming social media in a fragmented world|Molly White\nBut there\u0026rsquo;s also another side to the equation. How small exactly is a \u0026lsquo;small\u0026rsquo; audience? My blog has a few views. If I was doing live events I\u0026rsquo;d be truly delighted with the numbers! And since you\u0026rsquo;re reading this, now seems like a good time to thank you personally. Yes, thanks for reading!\nSocial media is a river. Your post there might get a lot of eyeballs but it’s very quickly lost in the ceaseless flow. In contrast, a blog post like this one is smaller and slower, but more enduring. If you’re reading this from the future, thank you for proving this point!\nAnd anyway, to get a message across, millions of readers aren\u0026rsquo;t necessary for most people. Ryan Holiday\u0026rsquo;s Daily Stoic email has a million readers, and Mr Beast has about 300 million followers on YouTube. Well, good for them. But does it really matter to the rest of us?\nIn his post, Hope for the Web, James says:\n\u0026ldquo;Every personal website is a glimmer of hope, a metaphorical star in the sky that shows how wonderful the web can be.\u0026rdquo;\nThat\u0026rsquo;s right! And writing online is a conversation with yourself too, a conversation you might not otherwise have. the Danish philosopher SĂžren Kierkegaard might have agreed. If he was around now I bet he\u0026rsquo;d be publishing a personal website.\n\u0026ldquo;Metaphorically speaking, a person\u0026rsquo;s ideas must be the building he lives in - otherwise there is something terribly wrong\u0026rdquo;. SĂžren Kierkegaard, introduction to Provocations\nThe opportunity is yours and the time is now, to write for many, to write for a few, to write for yourself. So what are your Provocations?\nIt’s also easier than ever to publish a book. Check out mine: Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for artists and Fighters. And to stay connected, subscribe to the weekly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-06 09:32:57 +1100", "date": "9:32 p.m. on Aug 6, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/06/plenty-of-ways-to-write.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F06%2Fplenty-of-ways-to-write.html" }, { "id": 198, "type": "post", "title": "Watch in awe as a fleeting thought becomes a lasting note", "text": "I’ve been asked a great question about my writing process:\nCurious to know, is this post, and other short ones like it, basically repurposed main notes from your zettelkasten? And, if so, care to show an example of “before and after?”\nTldr; No.\nTo be honest, this question put me on the spot. I often write posts on the run, and the post in question was no exception. I couldn’t think where the quote at the top of the post had come from. It isn’t in my Zettelkasten, my collection of working notes. But then I also keep a big swipe file of tasty quotes (collector’s fallacy is real!)
 and when I looked, it wasn’t in there either.\nBut then I remembered: I have several writing projects on the go at one time, and I’d been reading through an old manuscript that I haven’t touched for some time. As I did so, this particular quote stood out for me. It inspired a new thought and so the writing of this short post was effectively me writing a new Zettelkasten post on the fly. How so?\nSee what I did here? First, I recorded the quote that attracted me, giving the full reference so it can be re-found later. I was inspired by the idea that our supposedly singular vision is actually two separate processes, rods and cones, working in unison. Next, I made this my own by recording my own reflection: even more striking, we have two separate eyes, yet still see only one image. Third, I added a meaningful title: If there\u0026rsquo;s more than one way of seeing, there\u0026rsquo;s more than one way of organising. This small point about how vision works could be a metaphor for social and political organisation - that’s what I started to think. What may look like one unified effort is very often the combined result of many adjacent processes working together to create the effect of unified action. And if this is the case, then there’s surely more than one way of doing it. I didn’t elaborate, since, as I said, I wrote this on the run. But what’s implied by the post’s title gives me a jumping off point for future notes (like this one). The bit where you say: So what? Maybe I’m overstating things, but then maybe this short post is a model of how I approach writing notes in my Zettelkasten:\nFirst, it shows that you can write a fleeting note anywhere - even on your website if you like (don’t tell me you haven’t got one - it’s the hottest new trend, I’ve heard). And it’s just one idea, which means it’s the shortest writing session that could possibly be useful. So I’ve now transferred this post to my Zettelkasten, where it will combine and recombine for future use. Second it shows how from fragments you can build a greater whole. That’s how I usually write posts, especially the longer ones. But even just a single quote plus a single thought, as here, can add up to a simple post. Next, it shows how it’s valuable to add something of your own, rather than just collecting random quotes without commentary. Remember: nothing says “I didn’t think this through for myself” like a direct quote. Fourth, it demonstrates the value of a strong title. In this case, the title is doing a lot of the lifting, since
 Fifth, I posted this online before I’d even finished the note, which means it exemplifies the maxim, publish first, write later. Now what the post failed to demonstrate is the great value of links to other ideas. After all, a linked note is a happy note. So to atone for this gross omission, I’m doing it now. And just look at all those links!\nMake the most of your note This whole exercise, of working and reworking notes, is strongly inspired by a great line in Bob Doto’s book, A System for Writing:\n“The note you just made has yet to realize its potential.”\nI just love this saying. And I’ve written in more detail about this exact process, in How to write a better note without melting your brain. In that article I go through a worked example of how to turn a crappy note into a useful note. But unlike me you’ve probably never written a crappy note, so don’t bother reading it.\n——\nThanks for reading this crappy note. You might like to sign up to the weekly email digest, for all the week’s Writing Slowly fragments, presented in a (slightly) greater whole.\nAnd look out for my new book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters.\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-04 09:00:00 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Aug 4, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/04/watch-in-awe-as-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F04%2Fwatch-in-awe-as-a.html" }, { "id": 199, "type": "post", "title": "Hot takes on our future with AI", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Writers. Of this little book, let\u0026rsquo;s just say it\u0026rsquo;s quite keen on humans.\nMeanwhile, here are eight hot takes on the latest problems, questions and opportunities AI is giving us. It was going to be just three, but the hot takes are coming thick and fast right now. If only there was a technology that could just summarise everything so we don\u0026rsquo;t have to read it. Until then
\nEconomist Maximilian Kasy says AI has already seized The Means of Prediction, but it\u0026rsquo;s not be too late to do something about it (published October 2025). The sycophants will inherit the earth, or The machine began to waffle, by John Naughton. AI can\u0026rsquo;t break it, because higher education is already broken. Timothy Burke reflects on a painful diagnsis by T.J. Kalaitzidis. See also Joshua Kim\u0026rsquo;s Three Questions for Brown’s TJ Kalaitzidis. GenAI is \u0026ldquo;a tool powerful enough to explode many of our inherited pedagogies. That may not be a bad thing. From the ashes, we can build something more profound, more equitable: and more aligned with the realities of thinking and doing in the world.\u0026rdquo; - TJ Kalaitzidis How generative AI fixes what higher education broke Scholars are asking: What good is writing? According to Aaron Benanav, AI just makes work worse. AI is the new dumb waiter, says Douglas Rushkoff in conversation with Andrew Keen. Dror Peleg says AI is too busy to take our jobs. Also in conversation with Andrew Keen. And do I have my very own hot takes on AI? Well yes, as it happens, I do.\nGaslit by machinery that calls itself a person. It\u0026rsquo;s worse than a beehive in a raincoat. Jules Verne could have told us the Internet is not a real person. After more than a century, why do we keep falling for La Stilla Syndrome? Embracing your humanity is the way forward. It\u0026rsquo;s what we\u0026rsquo;ve got so we might as well lean into it. It\u0026rsquo;s a great time to be writing the future. Enough with the pessimism: let\u0026rsquo;s get to work! What comes after content? We\u0026rsquo;re finding new ways to create, and we always were. Soon we\u0026rsquo;ll all be writing the books we want to read. You pump your own gas, so why not write your own books? (Yes, it\u0026rsquo;s a provocation). Despite AI the Internet is still personal. A little love letter to writing online for fun and no profit. To understand the future of AI, look to the past. Look, they have this thing called history and we can learn from it. Another way we might change our speech and writing to subvert our digital overlords. I just want ChattyG to give me some fancy wordplay. Is that too much to ask? (Yes, it is). Thanks for reading. Why not check out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. And if you like this website, you can always sign up to the weekly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2025-08-03 23:00:00 +1100", "date": "11:00 p.m. on Aug 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/08/03/hot-takes-on-our-future.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F08%2F03%2Fhot-takes-on-our-future.html" }, { "id": 200, "type": "post", "title": "If there's more than one way of seeing, there's more than one way of organising", "text": " 💬 “Our eyes are built for two perspectives. During the daytime we rely on our cone cells, which depend on lots of light and let us see details. At night the cone cells become useless and we depend on rod cells, which are much more sensitive. The rod cells in our eyes are connected together to detect stray light; as a result they don’t register ïŹne details. If we want to see something in bright light, we focus the image on the center of our retina (the fovea), where the cone cells are tightly packed. To see something at night, we must look off to the side of it, because staring directly at it will focus the object on the useless cone cells in the fovea. The way we see in bright light differs from the way we see in shadows. Neither is the ‘‘right’’ way. We need both.” - Gary Klein (2009) Streetlights and Shadows. Searching for the Keys to Adaptive Decision-making. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.\nOn reflection, more can be said along these lines. Another way of looking at this \u0026lsquo;double perspective\u0026rsquo; of human vision is to note that it constantly depends on some kind of accommodation between our two eyes working simultaneously and in concert.\nSo although vision is actually several processes taking place at once, we insist on perceiving it as one unified process. We can\u0026rsquo;t help it. We\u0026rsquo;re made to synthesize. But that doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean it is one process.\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-24 23:24:13 +1100", "date": "11:24 p.m. on Jul 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/24/if-theres-more-than-one.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F24%2Fif-theres-more-than-one.html" }, { "id": 201, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The cat is characteristically ecstatic to see that the proofs of the new book have arrived. Not long now before it\u0026rsquo;s published!\nUpdate: I did it. Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters is now available. I hope you enjoy it!\n#amwriting #booklaunch #comingsoon #nonfiction\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-22 23:00:36 +1100", "date": "11:00 p.m. on Jul 22, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/22/the-cat-is-characteristically-ecstatic.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F22%2Fthe-cat-is-characteristically-ecstatic.html" }, { "id": 202, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 On Notebooks and Thinking Better Thoughts\nOnce we\u0026rsquo;ve let our thoughts mature for a while, we\u0026rsquo;ll want to produce something for other people to look at, an artifact.\nExactly so.\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-22 17:40:00 +1100", "date": "5:40 p.m. on Jul 22, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/22/on-notebooks-and-thinking-better.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F22%2Fon-notebooks-and-thinking-better.html" }, { "id": 203, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "As Alan Jacobs says, reading more books and reading books more - they\u0026rsquo;re not the same thing.\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-21 23:42:42 +1100", "date": "11:42 p.m. on Jul 21, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/21/as-alan-jacobs-says-reading.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F21%2Fas-alan-jacobs-says-reading.html" }, { "id": 204, "type": "post", "title": "I designed a book in three and a half hours", "text": "A while ago, well, quite a long while ago, I designed a book in three and a half hours. Fun, yes, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t very publishable.\nNow, years later, I\u0026rsquo;ve finally got round to updating and redesigning the whole thing.\nYes, I\u0026rsquo;m still writing slowly but I\u0026rsquo;m excited to say it will soon be available for sale - so watch this space for more information.\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-20 23:50:58 +1100", "date": "11:50 p.m. on Jul 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/20/i-designed-a-book-in.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F20%2Fi-designed-a-book-in.html" }, { "id": 205, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Thinking about Joanna Macy today. In memoriam. I was very influenced by her insistence on both the necessary grief and the vital hope.\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-20 17:53:15 +1100", "date": "5:53 p.m. on Jul 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/20/thinking-about-joanna-macy-today.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F20%2Fthinking-about-joanna-macy-today.html" }, { "id": 206, "type": "post", "title": "I’m unqualified to diagnose the following writers with ADHD but I’ll do it anyway", "text": "Yes indeed: confidently diagnosing deceased note-making writers with ADHD, while in possession of no medical qualifications myself, is a temptation I simply cannot resist.\nFor example I have wondered about:\nLeonardo da Vinci, whose notes were \u0026ldquo;a collection without order\u0026rdquo;;\nLeibniz, who created a haystack of notes (oh, and calculus);\nAby Warburg, who suffered from VerknĂŒpfungszwang - the compulsion to find connections; and\nHermann Berger, a Swiss author who wrote a novel about a Zettelkssten (two actually) but didn\u0026rsquo;t publish it. Then there\u0026rsquo;s cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, who invented a whole new methodology for his Arcades Project, which he didn\u0026rsquo;t finish. Wikipedia. He\u0026rsquo;s certainly a candidate for unqualified posthumous ADHD diagnosis.\nAs I said, it\u0026rsquo;s interesting, but for now I\u0026rsquo;ll stop there. —-\nThis post started life as a comment on Reddit. If you’d like more from me, but in a weekly email, why not subscribe right now?\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-16 23:16:49 +1100", "date": "11:16 p.m. on Jul 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/16/im-unqualified-to-diagnose-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F16%2Fim-unqualified-to-diagnose-the.html" }, { "id": 207, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 \u0026ldquo;The things that make us different, in the right context are superpowers. You know, Saul Steinberg said the thing that we respond to in any work of art is the struggle of the artist against his or her limitations.\u0026rdquo;\nAustin Kleon, interview on The Echoes Podcast, 10 June 2025. This makes me feel like there\u0026rsquo;s an awful lot of wrong context lying about. I guess we all need to find a place where we can thrive, or else make it ourselves.\nThe original quote is from Kurt Vonnegut\u0026rsquo;s recollection of a conversation with Saul Steinberg.\n#creativity #writerslife #deepthoughts #inspiration\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-10 19:11:13 +1100", "date": "7:11 p.m. on Jul 10, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/10/the-things-that-make-us.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F10%2Fthe-things-that-make-us.html" }, { "id": 208, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Less than keen on having a \u0026lsquo;second brain\u0026rsquo;:\n\u0026ldquo;I only have one brain, and it’s internal, thankfully. But I’m still very happy with the idea of the ‘extended mind’. My brain remains firmly in my skull, but it nevertheless uses the environment in many different ways to extend its capabilities.\u0026rdquo;\n- The mastery of knowledge is an illusion\nI saw this poster on the street but it\u0026rsquo;s originally from Cyberpunk Videozine vol.1 (1999).\n#pkm #notetaking #zettelkasten\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-07 18:54:29 +1100", "date": "6:54 p.m. on Jul 7, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/07/less-than-keen-on-having.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F07%2Fless-than-keen-on-having.html" }, { "id": 209, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 Most attempts at providing computerised tools for writers have thrown out the affordances that previous analogue systems offered, almost without noticing their loss. - writingslowly.com on Ted Nelson’s evolutionary list file.\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-02 23:24:54 +1100", "date": "11:24 p.m. on Jul 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/02/most-attempts-at-providing-computerised.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F02%2Fmost-attempts-at-providing-computerised.html" }, { "id": 210, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " “Sometimes it’s just nice to know there are other people out there quietly thinking things through.” - writingslowly.com\n", "dateiso": "2025-07-01 14:05:38 +1100", "date": "2:05 p.m. on Jul 1, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/07/01/sometimes-its-just-nice-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F07%2F01%2Fsometimes-its-just-nice-to.html" }, { "id": 211, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·Photo challenge day 30: solitude.\n💬\u0026quot;I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.\u0026quot; - Rudyard Kipling.\nAnd there\u0026rsquo;s more solitude.\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-30 12:00:00 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Jun 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/30/photo-challenge-day-solitude-i.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F30%2Fphoto-challenge-day-solitude-i.html" }, { "id": 212, "type": "post", "title": "Don't let your note-making system infect you with Archive Fever ", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;ve previously written about a notional archival illness, VerknĂŒpfungszwang - the compulsion to find connections. This was first described a century ago, only half-jokingly, by art historian and note-making obsessive Aby Warburg.\nMore recently, in his 1994 lecture Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression, literary theorist Jacques Derrida diagnosed a different but equally peculiar modern ailment: an insatiable drive to archive.\nThis was more than just a scholarly tendency to hoard footnotes or to lovingly alphabetise newspaper clippings. Derrida’s mal d’archive was more deeply affecting than that.\nAccording to the controversial French academic it was a fever, a pathology. A yearning to capture and preserve everything, paired paradoxically with an anxiety that you will never preserve enough. At its heart, Derrida\u0026rsquo;s archive fever is about the tension between memory and forgetting, order and chaos, permanence and loss.\nThinking about this reminded me not only of my recent survey of \u0026lsquo;Lord Acton syndrome\u0026rsquo;, the condition of taking so many notes that the publishing is delayed until it\u0026rsquo;s too late, but also of my recent article about the famous German mathematician Leibniz, who though he was a polymath and a genius struggled to keep up with his thoughts and ended up with what he himself called \u0026lsquo;a haystack of notes\u0026rsquo;.\nThe archive, Derrida reminds us, is never neutral. To preserve is to select; to keep is also, quietly, to discard. The archive is shaped not only by what it includes, but by what it omits. And the very tools we use to preserve memory - folders, tags, digital systems, pens, paper, cloud storage - are themselves implicated in this tension. We may believe we are building a sturdy house of knowledge, when in fact we are just rearranging the flimsy strands of a collapsing haystack.\nEnter the Zettelkasten.\nAt first glance, the Zettelkasten (German for “slip box”) appears to be one answer to archival chaos: a nimble, flexible note-taking system pioneered by sociologist Niklas Luhmann.\nThe idea is deceptively simple. You write brief notes, one idea per note, each on its own card or slip of paper (or, more often now, its own digital file), and you link them together. Over time, your note network grows into a kind of self-generating \u0026lsquo;machine for thinking\u0026rsquo;. Luhmann reportedly wrote over seventy books this way, which seems either inspiring or slightly oppressive. Even if your publishing aspirations are more modest than those of Luhmann, the Zettelkasten remains a minimal approach to making notes, with just enough structure to be useful.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a way of creating useful order from jumbled ideas.\nIt’s a seductive promise: to extend the capabilities of the mind by means of a simple and enduring technology. And unlike your original mind, this extension offers to be tidy, hyperlinked, and searchable. What could possibly go wrong?\nPlenty, as it turns out.\nFor all its elegance, the Zettelkasten user may be particularly susceptible to archive fever. After all, it invites a certain meticulousness. Depending on how you\u0026rsquo;ve arranged your collection of notes, there might be backlinks to curate, IDs to assign, tags to standardise, structures to develop. And perhaps the more notes you take, the more you feel you must keep taking, in case a gap in your thinking opens up like a sinkhole beneath your carefully ordered index. You tell yourself it’s all in the service of writing. But where’s the actual writing? You look around and all you have is notes. (Ok, I\u0026rsquo;m talking about me. I\u0026rsquo;m the problem, it\u0026rsquo;s me.)\nWorse still, the Zettelkasten risks becoming a kind of theatre in which the archivist plays all the roles. You are author, librarian, critic, and (if you\u0026rsquo;re honest) museum tour guide. The notes become exhibits in your own little Wunderkammer, endlessly polished and cross-referenced, but seldom visited by readers, unless you count yourself.\nThis is not knowledge in motion, but knowledge in preservation. Formaldehyde, rather than fermentation.\nYes, like artist Georges Didi-Huberman or writer Daniel Wisser, you certainly can make an art exhibit of your notes, but even for these exhibitionists that\u0026rsquo;s not their main use.\nDerrida might have smiled (or smirked) at the spectacle: an entire digital architecture built in the name of writing, which gradually replaces the writing itself. This sounds a bit like one of those endlessly self-referential short stories by Borges.\nOr perhaps it\u0026rsquo;s the fulfillment of Walter Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s prophetic vision of writers turning their notes into books, only for readers to turn them straight back into notes again. Archive fever, indeed.\nSo what’s to be done? Must we abandon the organised note-making system (Zettelkasten or not) and return to the chaos of loose Post-its, abandoned notetaking apps, and half-remembered thoughts?\nNot necessarily. For those looking for the right steps to keep their note-taking healthy, productive, and only mildly feverish, a few gentle suggestions follow this frankly metaphorical photo I took of some stepping stones :\nHow to stop your note-making from sickening you with Archive Fever 1. Write to use, not to keep.\nThe Zettelkasten is a tool for thinking, not a vault for dead thoughts. Each note should be a stepping stone toward something else, whether a paragraph, an article, or a question. If you find yourself taking notes for their own sake, pause. Ask: “What will I do with this?” Maybe you really do want to just make notes and nothing else, but you can at least do so consciously. Paradoxically perhaps, if you don\u0026rsquo;t yet know what you\u0026rsquo;ll do with your notes, it may be worth writing notes on that.\n2. Avoid false completion.\nThe temptation to keep refining your note structure, re-tagging old notes, or tweaking your metadata can feel productive. It isn’t. It’s admin cosplay. So set limits. Let some chaos in. Perfect order is the enemy of output. Work out for yourself how much mess is just enough.\n3. Be a writer, not an archivist.\nIt’s easy to become the librarian of your own private Alexandria. But unless you’re planning to give guided tours, your job is not to curate but to communicate. Make sure that the balance of time falls on writing with your notes, not merely writing about your notes. Admittedly you\u0026rsquo;re reading an article by someone who seems to write a suspiciously large number of articles about writing. But I promise you, I am actually writing too. My writing process oscillates between notes and drafts. And if you stick around you\u0026rsquo;ll be seeing some more writing here that isn\u0026rsquo;t just about writing. Amazing! Update: I wrote a book! Even more amazing!\n4. Don’t fear forgetting.\nOne of the drivers of archive fever is the fear that if you don’t write it down, it will be lost forever. But forgetting is part of thinking. Not every spark is worth kindling. Not every thought needs to be remembered. Let some go. The limited time you have to make notes is a useful constraint. With practice you\u0026rsquo;ll begin to hone in on what really matters to you and leave the rest alone.\n5. Periodically burn it down.\nNo, don\u0026rsquo;t burn it down. That\u0026rsquo;s extreme. Actually, don\u0026rsquo;t throw away your old notes (unless you really want to, I mean I\u0026rsquo;m not the note police). But do consider pruning your Zettelkasten now and then. Archive fever feeds on accumulation. Keep the compost rich, not cluttered. If you haven’t looked at a note in two years and can’t remember why you wrote it, trust that you’ll survive without it. Especially with a digital note collection, you can archive a lot so it\u0026rsquo;s there when you want it, but safely out of the way the rest of the time.\nTo archive is human. But to resist getting infected with archive fever simply takes a few straightforward precautions.\nSo by all means, maintain your notemaking system, whether you call it a Zettelkasten or any other name. Cultivate it. Nurture it. Just don’t confuse it for the writing itself. Notes are like breadcrumbs: useful only if they lead you somewhere. Otherwise, you’re just feeding the birds. I think that\u0026rsquo;s what I was getting at with the photo of the stepping stones, since unsurprisingly I have never photographed a trail of breadcrumbs. Though coincidentally I did photograph some rainbow lorikeets being fed today:Ok, so what to do when you\u0026rsquo;ve made some notes? Make something with them. Start writing.\nNow it\u0026rsquo;s true, some people might say, No, no, you can and should write notes for their own sake, because writing notes helps you think and is therefore worthwhile in its own right.\nRespectfully, I am not one of those people. For me at least my notes are only as useful as what I do with them.\u0026mdash;Thanks for reading! Why not check out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters?\nAnd to keep up to date, subscribe to the weekly email digest.\nReference:\nJacques Derrida, \u0026lsquo;Archive Fever. A Freudian Impression.\u0026rsquo;Diacritics 25/2 (Summer), trans. Eric Prenowitz. 1995, 9-63. Originally from \u0026lsquo;Le concept d\u0026rsquo;archive: une impression freudienne\u0026rsquo;, at Memory: the question of archives conference, June 5, 1994. London.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-30 01:15:09 +1100", "date": "1:15 p.m. on Jun 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/30/dont-let-your-notemaking-system.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F30%2Fdont-let-your-notemaking-system.html" }, { "id": 213, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 26: bridge.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve used this as a metaphor for writing, but it\u0026rsquo;s also a real bridge, of which #Sydney has many more than the famous one across the harbour. The image shows the causeway to Bare Island, at the mouth of Kamay, Botany Bay.\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-28 15:38:34 +1100", "date": "3:38 p.m. on Jun 28, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/28/photo-challenge-day-bridge-ive.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F28%2Fphoto-challenge-day-bridge-ive.html" }, { "id": 214, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 29: winding.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s well worth taking a look inside White Bay Power Station in #Sydney - as previously seen on day 7 and day 5. Oh, and day 23 last year.\nSee the whole #mbjune photogrid.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-28 15:19:37 +1100", "date": "3:19 p.m. on Jun 28, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/28/photo-challenge-day-winding-its.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F28%2Fphoto-challenge-day-winding-its.html" }, { "id": 215, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 28: ephemeral. A reminder that our leaders don\u0026rsquo;t last forever, or even for as long as they\u0026rsquo;d like to. I spotted this election button on the very last day the Leura toy museum was open, in the Blue Mountains, just West of #Sydney.\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-27 23:17:53 +1100", "date": "11:17 p.m. on Jun 27, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/27/photo-challenge-day-ephemeral-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F27%2Fphoto-challenge-day-ephemeral-a.html" }, { "id": 216, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 27: collective. Rainbow lorikeets are among the most commonly seen #birds in #Sydney.\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-26 21:34:35 +1100", "date": "9:34 p.m. on Jun 26, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/26/photo-challenge-day-collective-rainbow.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F26%2Fphoto-challenge-day-collective-rainbow.html" }, { "id": 217, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬\u0026quot;In these unprecedented times, it\u0026rsquo;s more important than ever to find better ways to care for and love our neighbors,\u0026quot; - Mon RovĂźa.\nSee also: Who says to care is to disobey?\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-25 17:40:48 +1100", "date": "5:40 p.m. on Jun 25, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/25/in-these-unprecedented-times-its.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F25%2Fin-these-unprecedented-times-its.html" }, { "id": 218, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 25: decay.\nMy worm farm is amazing! By turning waste into compost these little wrigglers perfom a kind of magic.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s also a metaphor for my writing process. I don\u0026rsquo;t worry if the input is rotten. The output will be quite different.\nSee also: No writing is wasted\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-25 09:00:00 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Jun 25, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/25/photo-challenge-day-decay-my.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F25%2Fphoto-challenge-day-decay-my.html" }, { "id": 219, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 24: bloom.\nThe bougainvillea does get a bit unruly, but it\u0026rsquo;s probably worth it. #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-24 09:00:00 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Jun 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/24/photo-challenge-day-bloom-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F24%2Fphoto-challenge-day-bloom-the.html" }, { "id": 220, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 23: fracture.\nA crack in reality at the Edogawa Japanese Garden, north of #Sydney\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-23 21:57:20 +1100", "date": "9:57 p.m. on Jun 23, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/23/photo-challenge-day-fracture-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F23%2Fphoto-challenge-day-fracture-a.html" }, { "id": 221, "type": "post", "title": "Don’t throw away your old notes", "text": "Do you have so many ideas that they overwhelm you?\nDo you make brilliant notes then wonder how you\u0026rsquo;re ever going to keep up with the extra work they seem to entail?\nDid you ever read a book, take notes, then get excited about all the new possibilities you\u0026rsquo;ve discovered, only to end up feeling oppressed by the masses of half-finished thoughts you\u0026rsquo;ve started to entertain?\nHas your pile of notes made you wonder about doing some idea \u0026lsquo;spring-cleaning\u0026rsquo;?\nHave you started to consider: perhaps I should delete some of this? Maybe I could just start fresh?\nTech writer Scott Nesbitt has. In a post entitled Dealing with your ideas he suggested a plan. Addressing those who just can\u0026rsquo;t let go of their ideas, he said:\n\u0026ldquo;ask yourself these questions when confronted with your ideas:\nWill you be able to devote time to those ideas in the near future? By near future, I mean the next two to four weeks. Are there markets for those ideas? Can you fully develop the ideas into something tangible? If your answer to any of those questions is no then send the idea into the trash bin.\u0026rdquo;\nThis approach, I must admit, is quite tempting. It reminds me of an interview in which Paul McCartney said he forgot dozens of tunes he and John Lennon came up with.\n“We didn’t have tape recorders. Now you can do it on your phone. So you would have to form the thing, have it all finished, remember it all, go in pretty quickly and record it. Now, because you can get things down on a device, I’ve got millions of things I want to record and do.”\nHe said this was probably for the best, though, since the only tunes they could remember for long enough to get down in the recording studio were the very best, most memorable ones.\nThe Beatles recording in 1966. Public domain\nPerhaps we\u0026rsquo;re recording too much these days. If you make your own notes, your ideas will gradually pile up. \u0026ldquo;Millions of things\u0026rdquo; might begin to feel a bit much. You might think of culling the least useful ideas. But is this approach best for your Zettelkasten or any other note-making system?\nI think not. Don\u0026rsquo;t throw away your old notes says Bob Doto, author of A System for Writing. He argues you should keep your notes and add new notes that comment on them.\n\u0026ldquo;Instead of erasure, we want to create possibility. We want to create the conditions for serendipity and insight to take place. To echo Jakob Greenfeld, we want to create enough surface area for luck to have a place to land. We want to create the conditions where opportunities for writing are always at the ready.\nI agree fully with Bob Doto here. Some of my most worthwhile notes are the ones where I\u0026rsquo;ve gone back and instead of throwing out an old idea, I\u0026rsquo;ve argued with it, revising the original note not by erasing it but by writing a new one. Instead of deleting the old thoughts I create for myself a commentary, a secular midrash.\nThe Babylonian Talmud. Notice how the commentary around the edges is considerably wordier than the original text in the centre, which it interprets without erasing. Public domain.\nIn this way my Zettelkasten becomes a conversation partner between my old self and my current self, between the past and the present. And that trail of back and forth discussion becomes a resource for my future self. If I threw out my notes I\u0026rsquo;d be losing that wonderful resource.\nSo I respectfully disagree with the idea of throwing out old ideas. Besides my Zettelkasten I have old notebooks going back years - right back to the age of 13. Every so often I revisit them to get back in touch with the person I used to be, who seems so different from, yet so familiar to my present self. This isn\u0026rsquo;t just nostalgia. I use this material as a resource, a source of inspiration and a prompt for disputation. I see my Zettelkasten, similarly, as a permanent companion.\nWhat’s more, reading my old notes, most of which I have forgotten, is a fruitful and creative source of surprise. My past self surprises my present self, which leads to new insights and new directions.\nIsn’t forgetting just as important as remembering? I guess there’s some kind of basic tension between keeping things and getting rid of them. (I’ve read Lewis Hyde’s wonderful book, A Primer on Forgetting). Many systems handle this very well - my worm farm, for example. It doesn’t destroy the unused veggies, it transforms them into something new. But written records tend to stick around rather than decompose elegantly. My view is that notemaking helps you remember
 and it also helps you forget.\nI very much approve of Luhmann’s concept of the Zettelkasten as a ‘septic tank’ or ‘settling pond’. But I also appreciate the challenge that what really matters is not the notes but the uses to which they are put.\nBut what to do with old fleeting notes that are just hanging around? Well yes, it is an issue. Scott Nesbitt’s article, the one that got me thinking about this, has a clear answer (for him):\n“Get rid of those ideas. Stuffing them away like a squirrel hoarding nuts for winter isn\u0026rsquo;t going to do any good. It won\u0026rsquo;t get you any closer to making those ideas a reality. You\u0026rsquo;ll just increase your digital or paper clutter. Older ideas will be buried under newer ones.”\nPersonally, I just don’t bother. Not only are my old ideas not in the way (they’re just parked, and probably fermenting), but also, it’s sometimes useful to be able to uncover them. I have a tag for my notes, “archive” (see Tiago Forte’s PARA system). If there’s something I’m really not using any more, it goes in that bucket. Then I forget about it. But if I’m ever searching for something related, it will still resurface.\nI find it more of a problem to lose stuff than to have it hanging around, but that may not be true for everyone. An American journalist once interviewed the great and prolific French novelist Jules Verne. Verne said he had 13,000 notes on fiches, paper slips. But he also said he destroyed all his old notes so he wouldn’t accidentally repeat himself in his newest novel.\nAnd I’m not going to argue with Jules Verne.\nI should also add that I have certainly destroyed or lost plenty of “fleeting” notes of all kinds. Actually, I don’t care about them at all. Only when a note makes it to my Zettelkasten do I start to love it :)\nWhat about you?\nWere you ever tempted to throw out your old ideas? Are you happy to have reduced the load, or do you miss them now they\u0026rsquo;re gone?\nThis article is based on my previous post on the Zettelkasten subreddit, entitled What should you do if you have too many ideas to process? ", "dateiso": "2025-06-23 09:00:00 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Jun 23, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/23/dont-throw-away-your-old.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F23%2Fdont-throw-away-your-old.html" }, { "id": 222, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 Back in 2018 I said \u0026ldquo;the next Web will be fit for humans\u0026rdquo;.\nAnd how did that little prediction go? Well, I\u0026rsquo;ve updated my original post with some reflections.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-22 23:37:00 +1100", "date": "11:37 p.m. on Jun 22, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/22/back-in-i-said-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F22%2Fback-in-i-said-the.html" }, { "id": 223, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 22: hometown.\nThe view from Yerroulbine (Balls Head) on our mid-winter walk in #Sydney yesterday. From this angle Me-mel (Goat Island) seems impossibly close to the CBD.\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-22 17:50:54 +1100", "date": "5:50 p.m. on Jun 22, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/22/photo-challenge-day-hometown-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F22%2Fphoto-challenge-day-hometown-the.html" }, { "id": 224, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 21: silhouette.\nBlack swans in #Sydney. #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-21 13:42:44 +1100", "date": "1:42 p.m. on Jun 21, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/21/photo-challenge-day-silhouette-black.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F21%2Fphoto-challenge-day-silhouette-black.html" }, { "id": 225, "type": "post", "title": "How Walter Breuggemann shaped me", "text": " \u0026lsquo;Among the early responses to Brueggemann’s death Thursday (June 5) at 92, the most often repeated phrase is “he shaped me.”\u0026rsquo; - Michael DeLashmutt, \u0026lsquo;Grief and hope: The theological legacy of Walter Brueggemann\u0026rsquo;. Religion News 5 June 2025.\n\u0026ldquo;He shaped me.\u0026rdquo; Well, in a small but significant way that\u0026rsquo;s been my experience too. I\u0026rsquo;m not exactly conventionally religious, but something the theologian and biblical scholar Walter Breuggemann wrote forty years ago really struck me and has guided the way I\u0026rsquo;ve raised my children.\nJust a few days after Breuggemann died, I rediscovered the following quote in an old journal:\n\u0026ldquo;Walter Bruggeman (sic) (1985) suggests that as members of families, caring adults \u0026lsquo;practice a peculiar vocation,\u0026rsquo; the creation of a \u0026lsquo;communal network of memory and hope in which individual members may locate themselves and discern their identities\u0026rsquo; (p.8). It is within such contexts that the spirit of our youngest children is nurtured and occasions of transcendence take place.\u0026rdquo; - Barbara Kimes Myers, Young Children and Spirituality. New York and London: Routledge: 1997, p.17, quoting Breuggemann, W. (1985) The family as world maker. Journal for Preachers, 7.\nI still really appreciate that phrase:\n\u0026lsquo;a communal network of memory and hope in which individual members may locate themselves and discern their identities\u0026rsquo;.\nIt speaks to more than just the family, but I had to start somewhere.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-20 15:56:55 +1100", "date": "3:56 p.m. on Jun 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/20/how-walter-breuggemann-shaped-me.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F20%2Fhow-walter-breuggemann-shaped-me.html" }, { "id": 226, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 20: gather.\nSix seagulls gather on a sandstone rock at La Perouse, #Sydney.\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-20 15:33:04 +1100", "date": "3:33 p.m. on Jun 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/20/photo-challenge-day-gather-six.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F20%2Fphoto-challenge-day-gather-six.html" }, { "id": 227, "type": "post", "title": "What to do when you've made some notes: Start writing", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;ve previously suggested \u0026ldquo;just make notes\u0026rdquo;, and perhaps by now you have created plenty of notes. Fantastic! You can congratulate yourself. You are making progress. Even a small pile of notes is much more useful than a big pile of nothing.\n\u0026ldquo;But what now?\u0026rdquo; you say. \u0026ldquo;What am I supposed to do with all these notes? I mean, it just looks like a random pile.\u0026rdquo;\nFulgence Tapir was overcome by his notes but you don\u0026rsquo;t have to be.\nThe next step: produce something from your notes.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t worry about organisation, indexing, keeping track. It\u0026rsquo;s literally impossible. There\u0026rsquo;s too much to know. The noble quest for perfect notes is a digression. There is no league table of note-makers. There are no note-making prizes. German sociologist Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s notes were said to be \u0026ldquo;chaotic\u0026rdquo;, yet he published prolifically. Notes may have been the method, but the aim was writing for publication.\nWhat comes next, then? Don\u0026rsquo;t wait until your notes are correctly sorted, perfectly aligned with the Dewey Decimal System or with the cycles of the moon. No, this is what comes next: a single finished product.\nThe way to move forward is to make a completed product from the notes you have to hand. It can be small. Perhaps it had better be small. What are big things made of if not smaller things?\nThe Internet is great for this because it\u0026rsquo;s very friendly towards short texts of all kinds. Social media posts and threads, blog posts, \u0026rsquo;listicles\u0026rsquo;, YouTube or podcast scripts, email newsletters, short stories on fan sites. They\u0026rsquo;re all quite short and you can write one fairly quickly when you have your notes beside you.\nStrange as it may seem, doing a PhD is also great for this, even though it takes years, because there are plenty of mini-projects along the way. For example:\nliterature review (5,000 words), project proposal (\u0026lt;10,000 words), conference or workshop paper outlining your work program and progress (2-3,000 words), article in The Conversation, or similar general-public facing site (1,000 words), draft chapter for your supervisor\u0026rsquo;s review (2-4,000 words). The list goes on. And if you\u0026rsquo;re not pursuing a PhD, you can make a list that\u0026rsquo;s relevant to you. Every large project can be broken down into smaller, achievable parts. Just make something, and like a stairway to heaven, the way forward will appear.\n\u0026ldquo;Ah, but I can\u0026rsquo;t make anything,\u0026rdquo; you say, \u0026ldquo;I can\u0026rsquo;t find the right notes.\u0026rdquo;\nJust join one note to another, then do it again. Build a short, finished piece of writing the way you would build a Lego model: one block and then another block, until it\u0026rsquo;s done. Follow the links in the notes if you like. They form a trail of breadcrumbs through the forest, to relieve you of having to remember where you were going. And that\u0026rsquo;s how you write a whole article really, or even a whole thesis or a whole book. It\u0026rsquo;s always just one piece and then another piece until it\u0026rsquo;s done.\n\u0026ldquo;Oh, but this is just an unreadable mashup of random, disconnected thoughts\u0026rdquo;, you say.\nYes, exactly that. This is what is known to experienced insiders as a first draft. And the first draft is supposed to be the worst draft. After that, things just get better.\nSo here is the process in a nutshell: get it done, then get it good. Write a first draft, then write a second, edited draft. Rest assured, the second draft will be better. And so on.\nA word of warning: don\u0026rsquo;t mistake a note for a finished piece of writing. A note is the shortest meaningful piece of information, or the shortest viable writing session. If it works well that\u0026rsquo;s because it links to other notes. When you write for any kind of publication you always need to be aware of the context of your writing. And it\u0026rsquo;s rarely if ever suitable just to dump a note or two into it. Editing is an unavoidable, essential, and essentially creative step.\nWell there you have it, and now you have left the sheltered county of notes and entered the big, wide realm of writing. Enjoy the journey and good luck!\nA completely accurate image of my writing process, accurately captured by the latest advances in AI.\nYou can read some more on my writing process, which oscillates between notes and drafts.\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. It\u0026rsquo;s a short and accessible introduction to the concept, available now.\nAnd if you liked this article, why not subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email digest?\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-20 10:00:00 +1100", "date": "10:00 p.m. on Jun 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/20/what-to-do-when-youve.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F20%2Fwhat-to-do-when-youve.html" }, { "id": 228, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 19: equal.\n💬 \u0026ldquo;I exist in a fractally connected, self-organized universe where everything relates dynamically to everything else\u0026rdquo; - Jeremy Lent, The Web of Meaning.\nYes, we all do.\n#mbjune #zettelkasten\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-19 11:56:48 +1100", "date": "11:56 p.m. on Jun 19, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/19/photo-challenge-day-equal-i.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F19%2Fphoto-challenge-day-equal-i.html" }, { "id": 229, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Bob Doto is the author of \u0026lsquo;A System for Writing\u0026rsquo;.\nFrom reading to note-making to finished draft, his approach connects it all.\nI watched his discussion with historian Dan Allosso and took notes so you don’t have to.\n#WritingCommunity #NoteTaking #PKM #Zettelkasten #BookWriting #SlowWriting\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-18 18:57:11 +1100", "date": "6:57 p.m. on Jun 18, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/18/bob-doto-is-the-author.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F18%2Fbob-doto-is-the-author.html" }, { "id": 230, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 18: texture.\nFurry or spiky? Spotted on a boardwalk in the Royal National Park near #Sydney - as featured in day 2.\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-18 09:22:11 +1100", "date": "9:22 p.m. on Jun 18, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/18/photo-challenge-day-texture-furry.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F18%2Fphoto-challenge-day-texture-furry.html" }, { "id": 231, "type": "post", "title": "What I Learned from Bob Doto about Making Effective Notes and Writing a Book", "text": "Historian Dan Allosso hosted a reading group a while back (time flies) to discuss Bob Doto\u0026rsquo;s excellent Zettelkasten primer, A System for Writing.\nSee the video.\nAll of these live online events seem to take place in the middle of the night here in Sydney. Since I value my sleep, I don\u0026rsquo;t attend at 3am. But I\u0026rsquo;m still paying attention, and happily Dan posted the discussion online. About half-way through (58 minutes), the author himself appeared and I found the discussion very helpful. So here are my notes on what I managed to pick up from the conversation (even though I was cheerfully distracted by Eric\u0026rsquo;s cat).\n*We're asleep when you're awake, look!* In a nutshell: the discussion included Bob Doto\u0026rsquo;s advice on effective note-taking and book writing. He emphasised a flexible and iterative approach. Atomic notes form the foundation, and they fuel a self-informing process where notes spark further investigation. The writing process itself is iterative; it involves \u0026ldquo;bricolage,\u0026rdquo;1 to transform notes through heavy editing and reorganisation into a coherent whole. Key to successful book writing is clear audience definition and a commitment to extensive revision, along with a focus on accessible structure rather than solely on indexing. Finally, the system\u0026rsquo;s effectiveness relies on integrating the various stages (reading, note-taking, and writing) into a continuous, cyclical process, where the value of experimentation and adaptation, including judicious use of AI tools, is recognised.\nNote-making Approach Use declarative statements as note titles to clearly indicate the content Think of atomic notes as quotes (whether from others or yourself) Allow the system to be somewhat flexible rather than overly rigid Let the note-taking process be self-informing - one note can heighten interest in a topic and lead to more connections Writing Process Don\u0026rsquo;t just cut and paste notes - transform them through heavy editing Start by getting ideas on the page rather than trying to write perfectly from the beginning Build writing through \u0026ldquo;bricolage\u0026rdquo; - assembling pieces and then crafting them into a coherent whole Fill gaps between ideas with connecting material as needed Be prepared to spend significant time editing and reorganizing Don\u0026rsquo;t be afraid to repurpose your own writing from other contexts (e.g., comments, essays) Book Writing Insights Clear audience definition is crucial but challenging Expect to spend months doing intensive editing (Doto mentioned \u0026ldquo;10-hour days\u0026rdquo;, to which I say: Doto don\u0026rsquo;t be a hero) Be prepared to print chapters repeatedly and heavily revise them Focus on making the content accessible through good structure rather than relying on an index Consider making a detailed table of contents to help readers navigate. Be willing to \u0026ldquo;muscle through\u0026rdquo; difficult sections - there\u0026rsquo;s no shortcut System Integration Allow the Zettelkasten system to become more fluid over time (i.e. become less rigid in following the \u0026lsquo;rules\u0026rsquo;) Different parts of the process (reading, note-taking, writing) should inform each other Don\u0026rsquo;t get too caught up in (note) definitions; focus on functionality and value Embrace the cyclical nature of the process - notes inspire interest which leads to more notes Practical Tips Start in the middle and build outward when writing Use your notes as building blocks but be prepared to heavily modify them Trust your instincts about when something needs more explanation or connection Be willing to revise extensively to maintain consistent tone and flow Consider using AI tools (like ChatGPT) selectively when stuck, but always rework the output What I learned from this discussion Bob\u0026rsquo;s emphasis on flexibility might offer genuine relief to some people. A lot of the online chat about personal knowledge management and so on seems to radiate a certain anxiousness about getting it right and avoiding mistakes. The system described here though isn\u0026rsquo;t about perfection. It adapts to your pre-existing schedule, your quirky (or dependable) thinking patterns, and your particular brand of chaos, whatever that may be. Notes can sit dormant for months before suddenly becoming relevant. Writing happens in fragments, and that\u0026rsquo;s fine because they\u0026rsquo;ll be assembled later into something coherent.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been said the best systems bend without breaking, and my writing system is pretty bendy and not very breaky. The real insight I gained from reviewing this discussion was about trusting the process enough to let it be imperfect. The key is to trust that consistent engagement with ideas, however scattered, eventually yields something worthwhile. Well that has in fact been my own experience so it\u0026rsquo;s nice to see it confirmed.\nIt was also a reminder to stay asleep at three in the morning.\nFor more details of this system for writing, you might want to check out Bob Doto\u0026rsquo;s book of that name, A System for Writing, which I\u0026rsquo;ve previously reviewed.\nI have more to say about this. Much more.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-18 09:00:00 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Jun 18, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/18/what-i-learned-from-bob.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F18%2Fwhat-i-learned-from-bob.html" }, { "id": 232, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 17: warmth.\nWe saw a curious warning at this year\u0026rsquo;s Vivid, the big winter festival of light in #Sydney. #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-18 08:48:04 +1100", "date": "8:48 p.m. on Jun 18, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/17/photo-challenge-day-warmth-we.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F17%2Fphoto-challenge-day-warmth-we.html" }, { "id": 233, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 16: blur. A smoking ceremony at Prince Alfred Park, #Sydney. #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-16 13:33:19 +1100", "date": "1:33 p.m. on Jun 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/16/photo-challenge-day-blur-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F16%2Fphoto-challenge-day-blur-a.html" }, { "id": 234, "type": "post", "title": "Influence is everything: novelty its flimsy dress", "text": "What happens when once fashionable ideas get left behind?\nI\u0026rsquo;ve often felt the culture moves on too fast, leaving so much on the table in terms of untapped potential. This is certainly true for pop music. Fashions come and go so fast that they leave great concepts stranded in time. You could write a great glam rock song in 2023, but you would have needed at all costs to avoid staying stuck in 1973. The trick is to avoid descending from homage into mere pastiche.\nThe Nemesis guide to being early described the fashion cycle as an endless process in which:\n\u0026ldquo;each new thing is supplanted by another new thing, and no linear pattern emerges. Things very rarely reach the plateau of productivity, more often falling straight to Hades through the trough of disillusionment. No one seems to follow up on the hyped project of yesterday.\u0026rdquo;\nTHE NEMESIS GUIDE TO BEING EARLY nemesisglobal.substack.com\nnemesisglobal.substack.com https://nemesisglobal.substack.com/p/the-nemesis-guide-to-being-early But it\u0026rsquo;s worse than that. It\u0026rsquo;s not just that, mysteriously, no one merely seems to follow up. It feels like they\u0026rsquo;re not allowed to.\nViewed from this perspective, it struck me that the fear of appearing unfashionable is strangely overdetermined in the culture. The Nemesis article compared it to arriving late, as opposed to being early. Oh, the horror! But it\u0026rsquo;s more serious than that. It\u0026rsquo;s a genuine, almost palpable, fear - a kind of internalized, psychological self-policing. Whatever you do, don\u0026rsquo;t be unfashionable.\nBut what does it really amount to? Whose interests could it possibly serve for us to frighten ourselves into not touching the sacred grave goods of fashions past?\nThe starting point may be the fear that the market will exclude you and your glam rock hit, that it will be a commercial failure. But the fear runs much deeper than that. What could I have to lose just by listening to such an artifact? The unfashionable carries its own peculiar contamination.\nIf you liked the Lemon Twigs 2023 album Everything Harmony, and that\u0026rsquo;s a very big if, you might also like Spilt Milk by Jellyfish and Third Eye by Redd Kross. And if you specifically liked the Lemon Twigs track What you were doing, you might also like pretty much anything by Teenage Fanclub, which is an obvious influence.\nThe Lemon Twigs don\u0026rsquo;t so much show their influences as trumpet them from the roof tops. And you might see this festival of \u0026lsquo;Mersey Beach\u0026rsquo; homage as hopelessly nostalgic and twee, because what matters, as the Modernists said, is to make it new.\nBut if you do listen to Spilt Milk by Jellyfish (especially \u0026lsquo;Joining a Fan Club\u0026rsquo;) you\u0026rsquo;ll notice that it really sounds a lot like Queen, who clearly influenced it, and also a lot like the Ben Folds Five, whom, in turn, it clearly influenced.1\nIt turns out that influence is everything. Novelty is its flimsy dress.\nPerhaps the cultural proscription against appearing unfashionable is a sleight of hand, a way of masking a deeper reality, that almost nothing is new, nothing is original, everything has antecedents. The Lemon Twigs, arguably, get away with it because they\u0026rsquo;re making a unique selling point out of unfashionable homage. We already know what kind of unfashionable homage we like and it\u0026rsquo;s tribute bands. The Lemon Twigs are unique because their music isn\u0026rsquo;t just unfashionable, it\u0026rsquo;s almost offensively so. In the Spotify era, why listen to them when the entire Beach Boys catalogue is already instantly available? They\u0026rsquo;re not paying enough tribute.\nBut then again, they\u0026rsquo;re not just copying the past. They\u0026rsquo;re re-examining it, reverse engineering it. It\u0026rsquo;s as though, from their resolutely analogue studio in a digital era, they\u0026rsquo;re making the music that might have been made if only the fashion cycle hadn\u0026rsquo;t consigned all its components into the oblivion of unfashion. It takes a new generation to follow up on the hyped project of yesterday, to uncover what endures. Image: Pace layering, by Stewart Brand. There\u0026rsquo;s something to be said for taking a longer look at moments in fashion than the fashion itself ever allowed. In an article entitled Pace Layering: How Complex Systems Learn and Keep Learning, Stewart Brand claimed:\n\u0026ldquo;The job of fashion and art is to be froth—quick, irrelevant, engaging, self-preoccupied, and cruel. Try this! No, no, try this!\u0026rdquo;\nWell, I\u0026rsquo;m not so sure. You can enjoy the froth, but unlike art it\u0026rsquo;s hardly nourishing.\nFashion isn\u0026rsquo;t only froth, though. It\u0026rsquo;s an ideology. It\u0026rsquo;s evidence of faith in infinite potential. Potential, mind, not actuality. That\u0026rsquo;s the meaning of the scream of the overwhelmed teenager at the Beatles concert, to be abandoned the moment there\u0026rsquo;s a whiff of reality, or simply the moment the moment has passed.\nThe task of excavation is to identify the actual (but long abandoned) potential behind the over-hyped promise of infinity.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve written here about the hype cycle of pop music, but it also applies to the hype cycle of your own field of endeavour, whatever it may be. By excavating past fashions, you too might uncover some overlooked nuggets of gold in the supposed dross of the past2.\nNow read: Notes on the artificial style of writing, In which the artificial style of writing encounters the iron hand of fashion.\nThanks for reading this far. If you liked it, try the weekly email digest.\non another listen, that Jellyfish album feels like a classic, out of time.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nAlthough there\u0026rsquo;s still \u0026lsquo;I left my shoes at home\u0026rsquo; by Swedish mop-tops Tages? I mean, really?\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-15 22:17:24 +1000", "date": "10:17 p.m. on Jun 15, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/15/influence-is-everything-novelty-its.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F15%2Finfluence-is-everything-novelty-its.html" }, { "id": 235, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling by Henry Lien 📚\nA \u0026lsquo;how-to\u0026rsquo; book on kishotenketsu, a Japanese storytelling concept that\u0026rsquo;s an alternative to \u0026rsquo;the hero\u0026rsquo;s quest\u0026rsquo;. Like many such books, it\u0026rsquo;s worth reading just for the summaries of example stories.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-15 18:01:07 +1100", "date": "6:01 p.m. on Jun 15, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/15/finished-reading-spring-summer-asteroid.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F15%2Ffinished-reading-spring-summer-asteroid.html" }, { "id": 236, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬\u0026quot;When you’re writing, you’re trying to find out something which you don’t know. The whole language of writing for me is finding out what you don’t want to know, what you don’t want to find out. But something forces you to anyway.\u0026quot; - James Baldwin. Paris Review, The Art of Fiction No. 78. no. 91, 1984.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-15 13:34:24 +1100", "date": "1:34 p.m. on Jun 15, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/15/when-youre-writing-youre-trying.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F15%2Fwhen-youre-writing-youre-trying.html" }, { "id": 237, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 15: tie. This is how the tugboat from day 9 was secured to the wharf at Pyrmont, #Sydney. #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-15 12:51:57 +1100", "date": "12:51 p.m. on Jun 15, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/15/photo-challenge-day-tie-this.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F15%2Fphoto-challenge-day-tie-this.html" }, { "id": 238, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Photo challenge, day 14: twilight at the mouth of Deerubbin, the Hawkesbury River #mbjune #Sydney\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-14 23:15:02 +1100", "date": "11:15 p.m. on Jun 14, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/14/photo-challenge-day-twilight-at.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F14%2Fphoto-challenge-day-twilight-at.html" }, { "id": 239, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 13: pathway. Calna Creek, just north of #Sydney. #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-13 23:49:24 +1100", "date": "11:49 p.m. on Jun 13, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/13/photo-challenge-day-pathway-calna.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F13%2Fphoto-challenge-day-pathway-calna.html" }, { "id": 240, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 12: hidden.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s easy to watch the annual \u0026lsquo;humpback highway\u0026rsquo; whale migration at Malabar Headland in #Sydney - so you might easily miss this guy, who is looking the other way.\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-12 14:18:24 +1100", "date": "2:18 p.m. on Jun 12, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/12/photo-challenge-day-hidden-its.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F12%2Fphoto-challenge-day-hidden-its.html" }, { "id": 241, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Worth repeating and re-repeating:\n\u0026ldquo;the evidence shows that regularising migration is a positive-sum game, in economic, social and security terms.\u0026rdquo;\nThe Migration Question | 2025\nA definitive study of a hotly debated phenomenon: migration into Europe and America, its socioeconomic impacts, and the eternal policy efforts to stop the inevitable.\nFayaz S Alibhai https://fayaz.micro.blog/2025/06/10/the-migration-question-a-definitive.html\r#migration\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-11 18:04:49 +1100", "date": "6:04 p.m. on Jun 11, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/11/worth-repeating-and-rerepeating-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F11%2Fworth-repeating-and-rerepeating-the.html" }, { "id": 242, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 11: brick.\n#Sydney has more than one Japanese garden, but only one is owned by geese.\n#mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-11 09:33:57 +1100", "date": "9:33 p.m. on Jun 11, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/11/photo-challenge-day-brick-sydney.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F11%2Fphoto-challenge-day-brick-sydney.html" }, { "id": 243, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge, day 10: rail.\nOf the many wonderful exhibits at the NSW Rail Museum, this little railbus is one of my favourites. Though small, it still gets a Wikipedia entry.\n#mbjune #Sydney #railwayheritage\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-10 18:11:40 +1100", "date": "6:11 p.m. on Jun 10, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/10/photo-challenge-day-rail-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F10%2Fphoto-challenge-day-rail-of.html" }, { "id": 244, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 9: wood. There\u0026rsquo;s a truly massive amount of timber in the old wharves around Sydney Harbour. #mbjune #Sydney.\nSee the whole photogrid.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-09 19:49:30 +1100", "date": "7:49 p.m. on Jun 9, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/09/day-wood-theres-a-truly.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F09%2Fday-wood-theres-a-truly.html" }, { "id": 245, "type": "post", "title": "A search for meaning in the palace of lost memories: Thoughts on Piranesi, a novel by Susanna Clarke", "text": "English author Susanna Clarke, published her second novel, Piranesi (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing), back in 2020, just as many of us were languishing in COVID lock-down.\nAnd while, happily, the lock-down days are behind us, the impact of this intriguing, melancholy, and poignant tale has remained in my mind.\nPiranesi, the protagonist, tells his own story, as though in a journal, though he\u0026rsquo;s not convinced he really is called Piranesi and as we shall see, he strongly distrusts his own writing. Piranesi, if that even is his name, inhabits a strange and eerily beautiful place which he calls the House. It\u0026rsquo;s an enormous, partly ruined building, devoid of human inhabitants but containing a few wild sea-birds and hundreds of huge statues which fill its endless empty, capriciously tide-swept halls. Piranesi has no memory or even concept of any other world, even though he occasionally receives a solitary visitor, whom he names The Other, a man he sees as a friend, but whom readers surely suspect may well be Piranesi\u0026rsquo;s jailer.\nThe House, of which Piranesi, sees himself as \u0026rsquo;the beloved child\u0026rsquo; is a kind of accidentally or collectively created memory palace (Wikipedia), full of signifiers but lacking signification - perhaps like a whole culture. Piranesi has formed his own deeply reverential meaning out of this place, even as the memory of his real home, London, has faded into oblivion. He writes:\n\u0026ldquo;Batter-Sea is not a word
 [i]t has no referent. There is nothing in the World corresponding to that combination of sounds. (p.23)”\nThis novel operates at three levels at least:\nFirst of all it\u0026rsquo;s a very timely meditation on abusive, narcissistic power and its antidote. Among the various characters there are two opposing world-views. There are those who see the world as merely to be used, of instrumental value only; and those who recognise an intrinsic value, and therefore cherish it. The author herself elaborated on this contrast in a newspaper interview:\n“the divide is between people who see the world for what they can use it for, and the idea that the world is important because it is not human, it’s something we might be part of a community with, rather than just a resource. That is something that Piranesi grasps intuitively – that was very important, something I wanted to say.” (Interview with Susanna Clarke, 12 September 2020.)\nAt a second level, you could perhaps see the novel as a study of the loss of the Renaissance memory palace in European culture - \u0026ldquo;a careful exploration of the many different ways of passing on, storing, or communicating knowledge,\u0026rdquo; as one reviewer put it (Martin 2020). We have almost forgotten just how important the memory was in the days before the printing press, and we have certainly lost touch with the many ways this was a different world from our own.\nThirdly, the novel is an extended allegory of the author\u0026rsquo;s own years confined to home due to a debilitating experience of chronic fatigue syndrome (see The Guardian\u0026rsquo;s interview with the author, 12 September 2020) - and by extension a timely allegory of the universal COVID lockdown experience of 2020-21.\nIn the same interview, Susannah Clarke said:\n“I was aware that I was a person cut off from the world, bound in one place by illness. Piranesi considers himself very free, but he’s cut off from the rest of humanity.” (Interview with Clarke 12 September 2020).\nThe Roman writer Cicero famously referred to a Greek legend which told of the prodigious memory of Simonides of Ceos (ca. 556-468 B.C.), who left a banqueting hall shortly before a fatal roof collapse, then was able to remember the identities and locations of all the dead banqueters.\nHe said:\nSimonides \u0026ldquo;inferred that persons desiring to train this faculty must select places and form mental images of the things they wish to remember and store these images in the places so that the order of the places will preserve the order of things, and the images of the things will denote the things themselves, and we shall employ the places and images respectively as a wax-writing tablet and the letters written on it.” (Boorstin, 1984)\nQuintillian (AD 35-92), another Roman writer, described his own method of the memory palace in similar terms:\n“Think of a large building and walk through its numerous rooms remembering all the ornaments and furnishings in your imagination. Then give each idea to be remembered an image, and as you go through the building again, deposit each image in this order in your imagination. For example, if you mentally deposit a spear in the living room, an anchor in the dining room, you will later recall that you are first to speak of war, then of the navy, etc. The system still works!” (Boorstin, 1984)\nImage: The House, as \u0026lsquo;imagined\u0026rsquo; by ChatGPT.\nThe last major iteration of the memory palace method, prior to the printing revolution, was that of Peter of Ravenna\u0026rsquo;s Phoenix, sive Artificiosa Memoria (\u0026lsquo;The Phoenix, or Constructed Memory\u0026rsquo;, Venice, 1491). The author recommended imagining an empty church, then placing memory images in loci or places which were every five or six feet apart. In this way, the author claimed, he had placed 100,000 memory loci, even as a young man, and many more subsequently.\nFor Piranesi, the memory palace is a real, completely physical place. the House is real, but its referents are entirely obscure. If it meant something once, the meaning has been entirely lost. Piranesi loves the statue of the Faun \u0026lsquo;above all others\u0026rsquo; he tells us, but has no idea why. It is left to the reader to recognise the pathos of the implied connection with C.S. Lewis\u0026rsquo;s fantasy world of Narnia, where a faun turned to stone is a key plot point. Perhaps this is a hint that the House is an external representation of Piranesi’s own memory. He has forgotten nearly everything, yet the loci of his missing memories remain.\nIn fact, for Piranesi, all memory systems other than the House itself are highly suspect. He distrusts the chalk writing he finds on the paving stones, and attempts to erase it. Later he realises his confidence in his own journals is entirely misplaced. He is his own \u0026lsquo;unreliable narrator\u0026rsquo;.\nThe problem of correspondence causes him anguish. He writes:\n\u0026ldquo;I had a strong urge to fling the Journal away from me. The words on the page – (in my own writing!) – looked like words, but at the same time I knew they were meaningless. It was nonsense, gibberish! What meaning could words such as ‘Birmingham’ and ‘Perugia’ possibly have? None. There is nothing in the World that corresponds to them.\u0026rdquo;\nThis raises a wider question of how any kind of memory aid can really substitute for wisdom. In Plato\u0026rsquo;s Phaedrus, Socrates tells of how the god Thamus, king of Egypt, rebuked Thoth, the god who invented writing:\n\u0026ldquo;This discovery of yours will create forgetfulness in the learners\u0026rsquo; souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.\u0026rdquo; (quoted in Boorstin, 1984: 110)\nWhile Piranesi can\u0026rsquo;t rely on his written words, and while he has no real idea what the statues in the halls are supposed to represent, he nevertheless inhabits a rich world of the imagination. Having forgotten the real world, Piranesi invents the referents for his secondary world. And by means of this imaginative faculty his fundamental humanity persists. Though Piranesi has forgotten his real existence as Matthew Rose Sorensen, and though all his writing is suspect, his faith in life remains and through it alone he retains his sanity:\n\u0026ldquo;You are the Beloved Child of the House. Be comforted. And I am comforted.\u0026rdquo;\nHis consoling self-image is starkly at odds with the persona given him by the Other, the malevolent antagonist, who names him Piranesi, presumably alluding to the 17th Century Italian artist who etched a series of monumental imaginary prison scenes, Le Carceri d\u0026rsquo;Invenzione.\n\u0026ldquo;I am Piranesi. But I knew that I did not really believe this. Piranesi is not my name. (I am almost certain that Piranesi is not my name.)\u0026rdquo;\nAs in \u0026lsquo;The House of Asterion\u0026rsquo;, a short story by Borges which the author thought she had forgotten, the reader, alongside the protagonist, must \u0026ldquo;penetrate to the identity of the prisoner and thus to the meaning of the story\u0026rdquo; (Redekop, 1980: 96).\nOn his eventual, eventful return to the everyday world, Matthew Rose Sorensen manages to maintain his connection to this intuitive sense of human dignity which the House enabled him to activate. Passing an elderly stranger in a park, he recognises him from one of the enigmatic statues in the House:\n\u0026ldquo;He is shown as a king with a little model of a walled city in one hand while the other hand he raises in blessing. I wanted to seize hold of him and say to him: In another world you are a king, noble and good! I have seen it! But I hesitated a moment too long and he disappeared into the crowd.\u0026rdquo;\nThe novel concludes as it begins, with an affirmation that the beauty and kindness we seek in the world - any possible world - is exactly as much or little as we can find for ourselves.\nThe ending of the novel alludes to Plato\u0026rsquo;s parable of the cave. Having visited the upper world and observed at first hand the direct light of the sun, the former prisoner tries in vain to enlighten his fellow inmates who remain within the cave, misunderstanding the nature of the shadows they dimly observe. Which is the real world? Matthew Rose Sorensen sees paper lanterns hanging like fragile stars, \u0026ldquo;spheres of vivid orange that blew and trembled in the snow and the thin wind\u0026rdquo;. He concludes:\n“The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.\u0026rdquo;\nOn finishing the book I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help seeing the world I inhabit in a completely new light: viewed in this way the world is indeed a great memory palace created by our forbears, and around which we wander, only half cognizant of the significance of what we encounter. As the Italian author Roberto Callasso put it,\n“We live in a warehouse of casts that have lost their moulds,” - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony (1988).\nOur only option then is to try to create new meaning and hope from the broken, forgotten references that lie all around.\nTo those unable to recognise kindness and beauty where they are, perhaps every place and every possible world retains the nightmarish cast of the visions of the artist Piranesi\u0026rsquo;s labyrinthine prisons.\nBut to those who persistently pay attention with reverence, who continue to see and to name, despite everything, the world will respond by offering in return a difficult gift of freedom.\nReferences\nBoorstin, Daniel J. \u0026ldquo;The Lost Arts of Memory.\u0026rdquo; The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 8, no. 2 (1984): 104-13. doi:10.2307/40256753. Adapted from Boorstin, Daniel Joseph., Luce, Clare Boothe. The discoverers. New York: Random House, 1983.\nSusanna Clarke: ‘I was cut off from the world, bound in one place by illness’ The Guardian\nMartin, Elyse, 2020. Beloved Child of the House: Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi and the Renaissance Memory Palace - Tor.com\nRedekop, Ernest H. \u0026ldquo;Labyrinths in Time and Space.\u0026rdquo; Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 13, no. 3/4 (1980): 95-113.\nSavas, Aysegul. “The Celestial Memory Palace.” The Paris Review, 7 Dec. 2018, www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/12/07/the-celestial-memory-palace/\nVerardi, D. (2022). Memory in the Renaissance, Art of. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14169-5_445\nPiranesi image (Public Domain), https://piranesi.dl.itc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/item/8012\nHere\u0026rsquo;s another version of the ChatGPT image.\nThanks for reading this far. If you\u0026rsquo;ve enjoyed it, do consider subscribing to the weekly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-09 19:35:06 +1100", "date": "7:35 p.m. on Jun 9, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/09/a-search-for-meaning-in.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F09%2Fa-search-for-meaning-in.html" }, { "id": 246, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Photo challenge day 8: travel. Most of the photos this month are of #Sydney, but given today\u0026rsquo;s theme, this was taken as far from Sydney as it\u0026rsquo;s possible to get. #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-09 08:15:47 +1100", "date": "8:15 p.m. on Jun 9, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/09/photo-challenge-day-travel-most.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F09%2Fphoto-challenge-day-travel-most.html" }, { "id": 247, "type": "post", "title": "Who says you have to choose between yourself and others? The case for intelligent generosity", "text": " “The cultivation of soil and cultivation of spirit are connatural, and not merely analogical, activities. What holds true for the soil—that you must give it more than you take away—also holds true for nations, institutions, marriage, friendship, education, in short for human culture as a whole, which comes into being and maintains itself in time only as long as its cultivators overgive of themselves.” - Karel Čapek The Gardener’s Year (1929), quoted in [#Baladur:2016].\nHaven\u0026rsquo;t you sometimes been there yourself? Overgiving: caught between the exhausting virtue of putting everyone else first and the nagging guilt of looking after your own interests. Doesn\u0026rsquo;t it feel like being stuck in a no-man\u0026rsquo;s land somewhere between sainthood and selfishness? Yet neither of these seem particularly sustainable for those of us who aren\u0026rsquo;t planning on either extreme, whether of martyrdom or a career in investment banking.\nThe conventional wisdom presents us with a stark choice: be selfless (and risk becoming a doormat, a “loser”) or be selfish (and risk becoming an insufferable “winner”). But surely this binary thinking is precisely the problem. What if there\u0026rsquo;s a third way that doesn\u0026rsquo;t require us to choose between depleting ourselves and disappointing others?\nImage by Josef Čapek, public domain.\nEscape the tyranny of false choices For too long, we\u0026rsquo;ve been told that the opposite of selfishness is selflessness, a kind of noble self-denial that sounds admirable in theory but proves more than tricky in practice. After all, if you\u0026rsquo;re constantly giving without taking, who exactly is minding the shop that is your own well-being? It\u0026rsquo;s a bit like trying to pour from an empty jug; you carry on pouring even after there\u0026rsquo;s simply nothing left to give.\nThis might leave us see-sawing between guilt-ridden self-sacrifice and defensive self-preservation, never quite finding our balance. We start with the best intentions, determined to be generous and kind, but gradually find ourselves overextended, resentful, and secretly wondering if perhaps the cynics were right all along: maybe \u0026ldquo;looking after number one\u0026rdquo; really is the only sensible approach.\nMeet the four tribes Adam Grant\u0026rsquo;s book Give and Take, published in 2014 [#Grant:2014], suggests a missing piece of this puzzle. Bill Gates once observed that there are “two great forces of human nature: self-interest and caring for others.” [#Gates:2008] Fair enough (not quite sure how monopolistic billionaires fit in here), but Grant points out that if we take this seriously, we shouldn\u0026rsquo;t have just two categories of people; instead we should consider four.\nObserve the possibilities:\nSome people care deeply about others but little about themselves (these people are the traditional \u0026ldquo;selfless\u0026rdquo; types). Others care primarily about themselves with little regard for others (they\u0026rsquo;re the classic \u0026ldquo;selfish\u0026rdquo; bunch) But what about those who don\u0026rsquo;t seem particularly bothered about anyone, including themselves? Grant calls these rather sad specimens \u0026ldquo;apathetic.\u0026rdquo; Finally there are those who manage to care both about their own interests and the interests of others. These people, Grant suggests, deserve their own category entirely. He calls them “otherish”. This is a term that might not go viral any time soon, and since 2014 it has pretty much gone nowhere. But at least it captures something both more sustainable and more sophisticated than simple selflessness.\nWhy intelligent altruism works This isn\u0026rsquo;t entirely new thinking, of course. The economist Herbert Simon made a similar distinction between what he called “unintelligent altruists” (those martyrs who only look out for others) and “intelligent altruists” (who have the good sense to look after themselves as well). As Simon rather dryly observed,\n“The intelligent altruists, though less altruistic than the unintelligent altruists, will be fitter than both unintelligent altruists and selfish individuals.” [#Simon:1993]\nNice work Herbert, you came so close to creating a tongue-twister for geeky ethicists.\nAt this point, it\u0026rsquo;s surely inevitable that I\u0026rsquo;m going to mention the airline safety demonstration that tells you to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others. They tell you this because you\u0026rsquo;ll be fairly useless to everyone if you pass out from lack of oxygen. Intelligent altruism recognises that sustainability matters, that you can\u0026rsquo;t help others effectively if you\u0026rsquo;ve run yourself out of breath and into the ground.\nHerbert Simon isn\u0026rsquo;t the only precursor here. Martin Luther King Jr. framed a similar idea when he spoke of the choice between “creative altruism” and “destructive selfishness” [#King:2008]. Note that King\u0026rsquo;s alternative to destructive selfishness wasn\u0026rsquo;t self-denial; it was creative altruism, an approach that recognises both the moral imperative to care for others and the practical necessity of doing so in a way that doesn\u0026rsquo;t destroy the caring person in the process.\nHow do we navigate a universe of others? Perhaps the most compelling argument for becoming “otherish” (or whatever more catchy term you prefer to use) comes from a rather obvious observation that we somehow manage to forget: as John Andrew Holmes (an American journalist and aphorist) pointed out,\n“the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others.” [#Holmes:1927]\nWhen it\u0026rsquo;s put like that, learning to navigate relationships with others while maintaining your own well-being stops being just a nice-to-have social skill and becomes something rather more essential.\nIn his meditation on gardening, quoted at the top of this piece, the Czech writer Karel Čapek noted that the injunction ”you must give it more than you take away” applies not just to soil, but to “nations, institutions, marriage, friendship, education, in short for human culture as a whole.” But notice that Čapek didn\u0026rsquo;t suggest we should give everything - just a bit more than we take. This is a sustainable approach to generosity that recognises both the importance of giving and the reality of our own needs.\nSustainable generosity is an art worth learning Being otherish, then (no, I still can\u0026rsquo;t think of a better term), isn\u0026rsquo;t about finding some perfect balance between self and others. It\u0026rsquo;s about recognising that the two aren\u0026rsquo;t actually in opposition. When we take care of ourselves thoughtfully, we\u0026rsquo;re better equipped to take care of others. When we help others effectively, we often discover that our own lives become richer and more meaningful in the process.\nThis is more than clever accounting or strategic kindness; it\u0026rsquo;s about understanding that human flourishing is fundamentally interconnected. Since we\u0026rsquo;re all “composed of others,” learning to be intelligently, creatively, sustainably generous is practically essential. Giving, sometimes even overgiving, in Čapek\u0026rsquo;s terms; but not over-overgiving. That\u0026rsquo;s the habit that makes the difference.\nBut don\u0026rsquo;t we already know all this? I hear you ask. Isn\u0026rsquo;t this old news by now? Well, I wish it was but I\u0026rsquo;m thinking about “intelligent altruism” at a time when political leaders are strongly promoting the exact opposite: flat out dumb selfishness as a supreme virtue. I\u0026rsquo;m totally over it, and almost any alternative would be better than the supremely stupid road of narcissistic self-destruction they\u0026rsquo;re trying to lead us down. So do we need to choose between being good to ourselves and being good to others? No. We just need to forget being good and start getting on with being a little less foolish.\nReferences [#Baladur:2016]: Baladur, Tulika. Review of Gardens. An Essay on the Human Condition, by Robert Pogue Harrison (2008), in On Art and Aesthetics website, https://onartandaesthetics.com/2016/10/01/gardens-an-essay-on-the-human-condition/.\n[#Gates:2008]: Gates, Bill. “A New Approach to Capitalism in the 21st Century”. World Economic Forum 2008. Davos, Switzerland. \u0026lt; news.microsoft.com/2008/01/2\u0026hellip; \u0026gt; Jan. 24, 2008.\n[#Grant:2014]: Grant, Adam. Give and Take. How helping others drives our success. London: Phoenix, 2014.\n[#Holmes:1927]: Holmes, John Andrew. Wisdom in Small Doses. Lincoln, NE: The University Publishing Company.\n[#King:2008]: King, Coretta Scott. The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Newmarket Press. Quoted in [#Grant:2014], p.31.\n[#Simon:1993]: Simon, Herbert. ‘Altruism and Economics’. American Economic Review 83.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-08 18:03:22 +1100", "date": "6:03 p.m. on Jun 8, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/08/who-says-you-have-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F08%2Fwho-says-you-have-to.html" }, { "id": 248, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· micro.blog photo challenge day 7: switch. #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-07 22:45:12 +1100", "date": "10:45 p.m. on Jun 7, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/07/microblog-photo-challenge-day-switch.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F07%2Fmicroblog-photo-challenge-day-switch.html" }, { "id": 249, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "This is what nuclear \u0026lsquo;decommissioning\u0026rsquo; looks like: a debacle. #nuclearindustry\n\u0026ldquo;The NDA expects the clean-up of the Sellafield site to go on until 2125 and cost ÂŁ136 billion ($184 billion), an estimate which has increased nearly 19 percent since March 2019.\u0026rdquo;\nwww.theregister.com/2025/06/0\u0026hellip;\nHT: Glyn Moody, Mastodon\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-07 22:36:35 +1100", "date": "10:36 p.m. on Jun 7, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/07/this-is-what-nuclear-decommissioning.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F07%2Fthis-is-what-nuclear-decommissioning.html" }, { "id": 250, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 6: contrast #mbjune #Sydney.\nSee the whole photogrid.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-06 23:01:39 +1100", "date": "11:01 p.m. on Jun 6, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/06/day-contrast-mbjune-sydney-see.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F06%2Fday-contrast-mbjune-sydney-see.html" }, { "id": 251, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 5: reflection #mbjune #Sydney.\nSee the whole photogrid.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-05 23:40:36 +1100", "date": "11:40 p.m. on Jun 5, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/05/day-reflection-mbjune-sydney-see.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F05%2Fday-reflection-mbjune-sydney-see.html" }, { "id": 252, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· photo challenge day 4: nostalgia. Can you tell what these are? #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-04 19:21:31 +1100", "date": "7:21 p.m. on Jun 4, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/04/photo-challenge-day-nostalgia-can.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F04%2Fphoto-challenge-day-nostalgia-can.html" }, { "id": 253, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 “There’s a left-field way of thinking about the world that doesn’t follow the straight path. The route forward doesn’t have to lead in one true direction but potentially many.”\nNon-linear narratives inspire non-linear notes.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-03 18:05:49 +1100", "date": "6:05 p.m. on Jun 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/03/theres-a-leftfield-way-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F03%2Ftheres-a-leftfield-way-of.html" }, { "id": 254, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 3: shadow #mbjune.\n💬 “My work grows from the duel between the isolated individual and the shared awareness of the group.” - Louise Bourgeois, 1954.\nSee the whole photogrid.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-03 14:34:16 +1100", "date": "2:34 p.m. on Jun 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/03/day-shadow-mbjune-my-work.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F03%2Fday-shadow-mbjune-my-work.html" }, { "id": 255, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 2: curve #mbjune.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-02 13:23:15 +1100", "date": "1:23 p.m. on Jun 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/02/day-curve-mbjune.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F02%2Fday-curve-mbjune.html" }, { "id": 256, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: This Is Happiness by Niall Williams 📚\nA shaggy dog story in the best possible sense. I re-read several passages to try to work out how the author achieved his almost magical prose. Friends who read it said they felt not much happened. I felt not much happened, miraculously.\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-02 00:40:42 +1100", "date": "12:40 p.m. on Jun 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/01/finished-reading-this-is-happiness.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F01%2Ffinished-reading-this-is-happiness.html" }, { "id": 257, "type": "post", "title": "What I've learned from non-linear narratives", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m a sucker for non-linear narratives. You might argue this is due to my formative education at exactly the time postmodernist authors such as Italo Calvino were cooking up new forms of literature in which the straight path through the plot was deconstructed and turned on its head. Well, maybe. But truthfully a more formative influence for a teenage boy was the \u0026lsquo;Fighting Fantasy\u0026rsquo; series of books starting with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, which came out in 1982, the year I turned fourteen. Depending on which course of action the reader as protagonist chose, the next page wasn\u0026rsquo;t the next page at all. You would flip forwards and backwards to seemingly arbitrary page numbers, charting a unique course through the game-like story.\nSo as my reading tastes matured, I wasn\u0026rsquo;t at all awed by such texts as Vladimir Nabokov\u0026rsquo;s Pale Fire, where the commentary and footnotes are as important as the long poem that forms the main text itself. I didn\u0026rsquo;t balk at Cortazar\u0026rsquo;s Hopscotch, where there are at least three different paths through a story that bounces between \u0026rsquo;this side\u0026rsquo; and \u0026rsquo;the other side\u0026rsquo;, Argentina and Paris.\nAnd I wasn\u0026rsquo;t concerned that Milorad Pavić\u0026rsquo;s Dictionary of the Khazars seems to have no plot and looks a lot like a series of encyclopaedia entries. As Pavić said of it:\n\u0026ldquo;each reader will put together the book for himself [sic], as in a game of dominoes or cards, and, as with a mirror, he will get out of this dictionary as much as he puts into it\u0026rdquo;.\n(Image source: Robert E. Horne, Mapping Hypertext (1989). Archive.)\nThen there was Raymond Queneau\u0026rsquo;s hypertext A Story as you Like It, which allowed the reader to express a preference after almost every sentence. (Source).\nAnd Tom Phillips\u0026rsquo;s \u0026rsquo;treated Victorian novel\u0026rsquo; A Humument didn\u0026rsquo;t upset me either. Instead I found it both puzzling and enchanting.\n(Image source: humument.com )\nThere are plenty more such novels, and I\u0026rsquo;ve enjoyed all those I\u0026rsquo;ve read. Italo Calvino\u0026rsquo;s If on a Winter\u0026rsquo;s Night a Traveller remains one of my very favourite novels, and showed me what it was possible for a novel to be.\nThe only one of these oblique narratives I\u0026rsquo;ve found truly daunting is Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. Since the famously dense novel ends mid-sentence, and since that sentence is the start of the book\u0026rsquo;s first sentence, it feels eerily as though I\u0026rsquo;m still reading it.\nWhat I\u0026rsquo;ve learned from all these narratives is that there\u0026rsquo;s a left-field way of thinking about the world that doesn\u0026rsquo;t follow the straight path. The route forward doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to lead in one true direction but potentially many. And my reading makes me want to pay my respects to the potentiality inherent in the multiplicity of avenues in front of me in real life.\nThese narratives point not only to different ways of telling stories, often uncomfortable but always intriguing, but also to different ways of learning. As the collection of essays, New Directions In Rhizomatic Learning (2023) suggests,\n\u0026ldquo;Knowledge transfer is no longer a fixed process. Rhizomatic learning posits that learning is a continuous, dynamic process, making connections, using multiple paths, without beginnings, and ending in a nomadic style.\u0026rdquo;\nNew Directions in Rhizomatic Learning: From Poststructural Thinking to Nomadic Pedagogy. United Kingdom: Taylor \u0026amp; Francis, 2023. But how does all this relate to my own writing practice, I hear you ask.\nWell this multiplicity of possible ways forward is one of the great strengths of my habit of making atomic, linked notes. My network of notes is a rhizome not a tree.\nWith my atomic, linked notes, I\u0026rsquo;m not constrained to follow a single line of thought. Like those Fighting Fantasy books of my youth or Pavić\u0026rsquo;s dictionary, my notes allow me to jump between ideas and create new paths through existing knowledge. Each time I review my collection, I discover different routes and unexpected insights—just as each reader of Dictionary of the Khazars constructs their own unique experience.\nThis rhizomatic approach to knowledge isn\u0026rsquo;t just a quirk of my reading preferences or a holdover from teenage adventures in Firetop Mountain. It\u0026rsquo;s a fundamental way of engaging with the world—acknowledging that meaning spreads like mycelial roots in all dimensions rather than flowing in one direction. My notes aren\u0026rsquo;t just for information storage; they\u0026rsquo;re a little bit like a living organism where ideas connect and transform in patterns I couldn\u0026rsquo;t have predicted when first writing them. True, they\u0026rsquo;re not alive, but they are a little lively.\nOne of the greatest benefits of this approach is that I never need to decide early on what the final structure will be. Unlike the standard writing process—where you select a subject, create an outline, and then struggle to fill it—my work grows organically. The structure emerges gradually through connections rather than being imposed from the beginning. I can explore multiple narrative routes before making final decisions about arrangement.\nWriting this way is far more enjoyable than the old way. Since I\u0026rsquo;m only ever focusing on one note at a time, the process feels effortless in comparison. Writer\u0026rsquo;s block doesn\u0026rsquo;t really happen. Rather than labouring to assemble my thoughts according to some predetermined plan, I watch my work grow almost autonomously through connections that reveal themselves. It\u0026rsquo;s a little bit like completing a jigsaw puzzle without being bound by the picture on the box—I can arrange the pieces how I like to create something I never knew was possible.\nOK, so maybe this merely explains my impatience with jigsaw puzzles. I admit it\u0026rsquo;s not a perfect analogy.\nThat said, perhaps this is why I\u0026rsquo;ve always been drawn to those experimental narratives—they weren\u0026rsquo;t breaking rules so much as revealing that the straight line was only ever one possibility. Faced with potentially infinite branching paths, I find that the most interesting stories emerge from the bottom up, when I wander away from the planned route to create unexpected alternatives. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know what I was writing about when I started making the notes that eventually formed this little reflection. But now I do.\nPlease subscribe to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. There\u0026rsquo;s not much in it because I\u0026rsquo;m still writing slowly. But hey, free email!\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-02 00:05:24 +1100", "date": "12:05 p.m. on Jun 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/01/what-ive-learned-from-nonlinear.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F01%2Fwhat-ive-learned-from-nonlinear.html" }, { "id": 258, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· A very special tree. Can you guess why it’s lit up? #mbjune\n", "dateiso": "2025-06-01 23:32:48 +1100", "date": "11:32 p.m. on Jun 1, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/06/01/a-very-special-tree-can.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F06%2F01%2Fa-very-special-tree-can.html" }, { "id": 259, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "When did you first hear about making notes the Zettelkasten way?\n#pkm #zettelkasten #notetaking\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-28 22:29:40 +1100", "date": "10:29 p.m. on May 28, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/28/when-did-you-first-hear.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F28%2Fwhen-did-you-first-hear.html" }, { "id": 260, "type": "post", "title": "Daniel Wisser’s notecards as art and archive", "text": "The Austrian author Daniel Wisser has a small exhibition in Vienna: Unter dem Fußboden – eine Zettelkasteninstallation.\n60 index cards with sketches of stories will be on display in a note box (Zettelkasten) in the foyer of the Literaturhaus Wien, starting 27 May 2025.\nMore details.\nI like the idea of an artist’s or writer’s notes as an art form in themselves. And I love that compound word, Zettelkasteninstallation.\nSee also: Inside Georges Didi-Huberman’s monumental note archive.\n—-\nPerhaps you’d like to get the Writing Slowly weekly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-26 13:57:40 +1100", "date": "1:57 p.m. on May 26, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/23/unter-dem-fuboden-eine-zettelkasteninstallation.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F23%2Funter-dem-fuboden-eine-zettelkasteninstallation.html" }, { "id": 261, "type": "post", "title": "What Tim Berners-Lee Has to Teach About Effective Notes", "text": "I stumbled across Tim Berners-Lee\u0026rsquo;s 1995 talk on \u0026ldquo;Hypertext and Our Collective Destiny\u0026rdquo; last month, and while it hasn\u0026rsquo;t exactly transformed how I think about writing notes, it has certainly confirmed the direction I\u0026rsquo;ve already been working slowly towards.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a lot of discussion online about the best systems and apps for taking notes, and poeple keep devising new ones almost every day, but this is missing something revolutionary that\u0026rsquo;s hiding in plain sight. The inventor of the World Wide Web wasn\u0026rsquo;t just solving how computers share information—he was creating a blueprint for how our minds should work.\nThis got me reflecting how I\u0026rsquo;ve been looking to create/adapt/bodge together a method for writing that suits the strange way I think, rather than just accepting someone else\u0026rsquo;s off-the-shelf offering, however flashy. My own bespoke creative working environment.\nSo, according to Berners-Lee, how should our minds work?\nCategorical Thinking Is a Trap Traditional note-taking systems lock us into categories that limit rather than liberate our thinking. This is exactly the problem that Vannevar Bush, one of Berners-Lee\u0026rsquo;s intellectual heroes, identified decades ago. In Berners-Lee\u0026rsquo;s words:\n\u0026ldquo;The problem Bush was addressing, or the problem of the individual researcher, was one of system topology. The poor person has successively narrowed and narrowed his or her field of interest in order to cope with the information overload, and soon is connected only to things of very local interest.\u0026rdquo;\nIn the past I\u0026rsquo;ve certainly experienced this. Notes tucked away in separate categories create knowledge silos. According to Berners-Lee the uncomfortable truth is that these systems fail us when we need them most:\n\u0026ldquo;The topology clearly doesn\u0026rsquo;t work, because there is no path for the transfer of knowledge from one discipline and the next.\u0026rdquo;\nEvery category we create essentially generates another silo — isolated and cut off from the cross-pollination that creates genuine insight.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve previously written about Gottfried Leibniz, one of the last great polymaths, who was able to make innovations in several different fields partly because he didn\u0026rsquo;t keep his wide-ranging thought in neat compartments, but in thousands of pages of unruly notes which he had no compunction to cut up and rearrarange. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to imagine what a person like this would have been able to do with the World Wide Web.\nThe Web Structure Liberates Knowledge Berners-Lee offered a solution that applies perfectly to personal notes:\n\u0026ldquo;In providing a system for manipulating this sort of information, the hope would be to allow a pool of information to develop which could grow and evolve with the organisation and the projects it describes.\u0026rdquo;\nHis revolutionary insight?\n\u0026ldquo;For this to be possible, the method of storage must not place its own restraints on the information. This is why a \u0026lsquo;web\u0026rsquo; of notes with links (like references) between them is far more useful than a fixed hierarchical system.\u0026rdquo;\nTraditional note-taking is like navigating with only predetermined routes. Web-structured notes give you the entire network, plus spontaneous shortcuts you never knew existed.\nKeywords Restrict Natural Connections Even our keywords and tagging systems can be too restrictive. In his 2006 paper on \u0026ldquo;Linked data - Design issues\u0026rdquo;), Berners-Lee warns about conceptual centralisation:\n\u0026ldquo;If we make a knowledge representation system which requires anyone who uses the concept of \u0026lsquo;automobile\u0026rsquo; to use the term \u0026lsquo;www.kr.org/stds/indu\u0026hellip; then we restrict the set of uses of the system to those for whom this particular formulation of what an automobile is works.\u0026rdquo;\nThis seemingly technical point has deep implications for me as I\u0026rsquo;m writing and organising my notes. When I force myself to use rigid terminology or standardised keywords, I\u0026rsquo;m limiting the very connections my mind naturally wants to make. I\u0026rsquo;m not totally against using keywords, but Berners-Lee appears to be sounding a warning that has made me think a little more reflectively about what they entail.\nPhoto by Valeria Hutter at Unsplash.\nConnected Notes Mirror Your Mind (OK, my mind) The future of note-taking, in my humble opinion, isn\u0026rsquo;t about better folders or fancier apps, nor is it about succumbing to AI to write it all for us — it\u0026rsquo;s about reimagining how ideas connect. Taking a little bit of inspiration from Berners-Lee here\u0026rsquo;s what works for me:\nCreate notes that link directly to related thoughts, regardless of category Use and even create my own language, rather than forcing standardised terms Allow connections to form organically, mirroring how my mind actually works ( I mean, I think that\u0026rsquo;s how my mind works) Focus on relationships between ideas, not so much on their classification I\u0026rsquo;m trying to make it so my notes aren\u0026rsquo;t just a neat archive of what I\u0026rsquo;ve learned. Instead I want them be a dynamic reflection of how my thoughts work, so my writing process stays generative rather than restrictive. And my mind doesn\u0026rsquo;t work in folders and subfolders. It works in connections and associations that span domains and categories. The rhizome not the tree.\nI expect there are people whose minds really do work in categories and who prefer to keep their notes in clear and fairly rigid folders. That might well work for someone else, but it\u0026rsquo;s not the only way to do things, and I found it interesting that the founder of the World Wide Web didn\u0026rsquo;t especially admire this approach.\nAnd it might not just be about how my individual mind works. Perhaps it\u0026rsquo;s about how the world works too. Maybe the World Wide Web has been successful in part because it facilitates the expression of the web-wide world. One of the things I\u0026rsquo;ve appreciated from re-reading Berners-Lee is his vision of a Web that rather than constraining us, helps us to network both knowledge and people.\n“The web is more a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for a social effect—to help people work together—and not as a technical toy. The ultimate goal of the Web is to support and improve our weblike existence in the world.”— Tim Berners-Lee, Weaving the Web\nThanks for reading this far! Did you know you can subscribe to the weekly email digest?\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-18 23:22:18 +1100", "date": "11:22 p.m. on May 18, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/18/what-tim-bernerslee-has-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F18%2Fwhat-tim-bernerslee-has-to.html" }, { "id": 262, "type": "post", "title": "How I learned to make useful notes the Zettelkasten way", "text": "I encountered Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s sociological work in 1990 but only came across his Zettelkasten approach in 2007, thanks to historian Manfred Kuehn\u0026rsquo;s wonderful but sadly defunct blog Taking Note Now.\nI gradually converted my existing personal wiki from then on, at first emulating Kuehn\u0026rsquo;s use of Connected Text an also sadly defunct app. So that\u0026rsquo;s 17 years and counting.\nIt has taken ages to get to a system that works well for me, but I think I\u0026rsquo;ve got there now. đŸ€ž\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-17 19:53:13 +1100", "date": "7:53 p.m. on May 17, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/17/how-i-learned-to-make.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F17%2Fhow-i-learned-to-make.html" }, { "id": 263, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " \u0026ldquo;The rapid passage of time is a complete antimeaning machine. Doesn’t life absolutely require tactical slowing down if a person, even a smart, serious, concerned one, is to find the time and space to make meaning?\u0026rdquo; - Eric Maisel\nTactical slowing down is great, but then writing slowly is a whole strategy.\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-14 19:50:30 +1100", "date": "7:50 p.m. on May 14, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/14/the-rapid-passage-of-time.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F14%2Fthe-rapid-passage-of-time.html" }, { "id": 264, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " \u0026ldquo;No writing is wasted. Did you know that sourdough from San Francisco is leavened partly by a bacteria called lactobacillus sanfrancisensis? It is native to the soil there, and does not do well elsewhere. But any kitchen can become an ecosystem. If you bake a lot, your kitchen will become a happy home to wild yeasts, and all your bread will taste better. Even a failed loaf is not wasted. Likewise, cheese makers wash the dairy floor with whey. Tomato gardeners compost with rotten tomatoes. No writing is wasted: the words you can\u0026rsquo;t put in your book can be used to wash the floor, to live in the soil, to lurk around in the air. They will make the next words better. \u0026quot;\nErin Bow, Anti-advice for writers\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-11 23:16:47 +1100", "date": "11:16 p.m. on May 11, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/11/no-writing-is-wasted-did.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F11%2Fno-writing-is-wasted-did.html" }, { "id": 265, "type": "post", "title": "Leibniz created a haystack of notes that wouldn't fit in his Zettelschrank", "text": "Gottfried Willhelm Leibniz (1646-1717), that complex polymath who (probably) invented calculus, used to write down all his thoughts then cut up the pieces and attempt to rearrange them. He once admitted this had resulted in \u0026ldquo;one big chaos\u0026rdquo;.\nLeibniz said he had so many thoughts in a single hour that it took him more than a day to write them all down.\n“Sometimes in the morning, in the hour that I spend still lying in bed, so many thoughts come to me that I need the whole morning, indeed sometimes the whole day or even longer, to set them down clearly in writing.”1\nThese are just a couple of the intriguing facts I learned from reading Michael Kempe\u0026rsquo;s excellent biography, The Best of All Possible Worlds. A Life of Leibniz in Seven Pivotal Days (Pushkin Press).\nImage source: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek—NiedersĂ€chsiche Landesbibliothek.\nThough he wrote and cut up and rearranged mountains of notes, he didn\u0026rsquo;t publish much in his lifetime.\n\u0026ldquo;I wrote countless things about countless things,\u0026rdquo; he wrote to the Swiss mathematician Jakob Bernoulli in 1697, \u0026ldquo;but only published a few about few.\u0026rdquo; And he told the Hamburg lawyer Vincent Placcius: \u0026ldquo;If you only know me from my publications, you don\u0026rsquo;t know me.\u0026rdquo; 2\nAll this sounds quite dismal, but on the other hand Leibniz was a genius in several disciplines, who left behind \u0026ldquo;one of the largest literary legacies of any scholar in world history\u0026rdquo; (Kempe).\nFurthermore, Markus Krajewski, scholar of media history, claims \u0026ldquo;any history of ‘assisted thinking’ with artificial intelligences finds a worthy starting point in Leibniz.\u0026rdquo;\nPerhaps then his seemingly disorganised notes were just part of the genius.\nKrajewski\u0026rsquo;s recent chapter \u0026ldquo;Intellectual Furniture: Elements of a Deep History of Artificial Intelligence.\u0026rdquo; sets Leibniz\u0026rsquo;s endeavours in the context of an intellectual history that stretches from the specialised furniture Leibniz acquired to arrange his notes, via the dawn of the computer age, all the way to the recent rise of artificial intelligence. Heady stuff!\nIn Hanover Leibniz kept a special cabinet for his notes, where he hung up the notes he had cut up in various combinations. This was his Zettelschrank, modelled on Thomas Harrison\u0026rsquo;s scrinium litteratum. After his death Johann Friedrich Blumenbach inspected this contraption and called it \u0026ldquo;the most fearsome and cumbersome machine that one could imagine\u0026rdquo;3. Well, I don\u0026rsquo;t know about that. Perhaps he didn\u0026rsquo;t have a particularly strong imagination.\nImage source: Krajewski, p.186\nThis sense of being almost overwhelmed by information is really the prehistory of the situation we\u0026rsquo;re in now, where not only is there \u0026rsquo;too much to know\u0026rsquo;4, but AI is making more and more of it every second. Our information machines aren\u0026rsquo;t so much helping us to get the chaos under control as simply creating more and more chaos, faster than we can comprehend it, much less organise it.\nYes, we\u0026rsquo;re drowning in data, but it may be comforting to know that this is nothing new, and that despite the mounds of \u0026lsquo;stuff to know about\u0026rsquo;, some remarkable breakthroughs were still possible, and may be still. In 2013 Stephen Wolfram visited the Leibniz archives in an attempt to understand how Leibniz had achieved so much so early - and how he had also missed so much of what we now take for granted in the computational perspective on science.\nWith the utmost presumption, I\u0026rsquo;ve previously claimed that Leonardo, that other great polymath, might have benefited from a more coherent approach to making notes than his zibaldone. Dare I make the same claim for Leibniz?\nOh look, I just did.\nIf you like this kind of thing (and who wouldn\u0026rsquo;t?) why not subscribe to the weekly digest?\nReferences Kempe, Michael. The Best of All Possible Worlds. A Life of Leibniz in Seven Pivotal Days. Translated by Marshall Yarbrough. London: Pushkin Press. 2025.\nWSJ review. New Yorker review. Krajewski, Markus. \u0026ldquo;Intellectual Furniture: Elements of a Deep History of Artificial Intelligence.\u0026rdquo; Chapter 8 in Bajohr, Hannes, ed. Thinking with AI: Machine Learning the Humanities. First edition. London: Open Humanities Press, 2025. PDF.\n\u0026lsquo;Leibniz, LLull and the computational imagination\u0026rsquo; Public Domain Review.\nvon Rauchhaupt, Ulf. \u0026ldquo;Leibniz’ Manuskripte: Schönschrift war nicht seine Sache\u0026rdquo;. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2016.\nWolfram, Stephen (2013), \u0026ldquo;Dropping In on Gottfried Leibniz,\u0026rdquo; Stephen Wolfram Writings.\nLeibniz, [no date], LH 41, 10 Bl. 2: “il me vient quelques fois tant de pensĂ©es le matin dans une heure, pendant que je suis encor au lit, que j’ay besois d’employer toute la matinĂ©e et par fois toute la journĂ©e et au de lĂ , pour les mettre distinctement par ecrit.” Cited in Eduard Bodemann, Die Leibniz-Handschriften der Königlichen Öffentlichen Bibliothek zu Hannover 1895 (Hanover: Hahn, 1895), 338. Quoted in Kempe, 2025, ch 1.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nloosely translated from Ulf von Rauchhaupt\u0026rsquo;s article, \u0026ldquo;Leibniz\u0026rsquo;s manuscripts: fair handwriting wasn\u0026rsquo;t his thing\u0026rdquo;.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nquoted in Krajewski, p.188.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nAnn Blair\u0026rsquo;s memorable phrase: Blair, Ann. Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age. New Haven London: Yale University Press, 2010.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-10 21:32:19 +1100", "date": "9:32 p.m. on May 10, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/10/leibniz-created-a-haystack-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F10%2Fleibniz-created-a-haystack-of.html" }, { "id": 266, "type": "post", "title": "Sinister Zettelkasten?", "text": "The annual Sydney Film Festival just released its 2025 program, which includes Jodie Foster\u0026rsquo;s new movie, Vie privĂ©e.\nThe marketing shot makes the index file look mysterious and slightly sinister. There\u0026rsquo;s bound to be some secrets within.\nChris Aldrich has noticed the index card boxes (ZettelkĂ€sten, perhaps) in the background to the 2005 movie Wedding Crashers. As a result I\u0026rsquo;ve been particularly alert for index cards in movies. Can\u0026rsquo;t help myself.\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-07 20:03:02 +1100", "date": "8:03 p.m. on May 7, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/07/sinister-zettelkasten.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F07%2Fsinister-zettelkasten.html" }, { "id": 267, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "“You only come to know these things in hindsight – when you look back and see the precarious chain of events, happenstance, and good fortune that led to wherever you are now. Before you reach that point, you have no way of predicting which idea will make a difference and which will die on the vine. That’s why you record them all. No matter how random, how small, how half-baked, how unfinished it may be; if you have a thought, record it right away.” ― Antony Johnston, The Organised Writer.\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-05 00:06:45 +1100", "date": "12:06 p.m. on May 5, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/04/you-only-come-to-know.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F04%2Fyou-only-come-to-know.html" }, { "id": 268, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "From a single idea to many, and from networks of linked ideas to reconfigured networks of knowledge. I found a way to create order from my jumbled ideas.\n#zettelkasten #writing #learning #pkm #notetaking #writingprocess #learningstrategies\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-03 15:08:38 +1100", "date": "3:08 p.m. on May 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/03/from-a-single-idea-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F03%2Ffrom-a-single-idea-to.html" }, { "id": 269, "type": "post", "title": "I found a way to create order from my jumbled ideas", "text": "From a single idea to many, to networks of linked ideas to reconfigured networks of knowledge.\nThis is a model of how students learn, devised by educational psychologist John B. Biggs and presented in his co-authored book, Teaching for quality learning at university: what the student does.\nThe key concept here, ‘structure of observed learning outcomes’ (SOLO), is summarised quite well in Wikipedia.\n(Image source: Biggs and Tang, 2011: 91.)\nTo me this diagram clearly relates to the process of writing and developing short, clear notes.\nFrom a single note to many, to networks of linked notes, to reconfigured networks of knowledge.\nThe first, prestructural stage, though, isn\u0026rsquo;t simply empty in my experience. Instead I begin from a whole heap of ideas and thoughts jumbled together like pick-up sticks.\nImage source: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File\u0026hellip;\nThe problem is it’s too easy to stay in this prestructural stage, where thoughts and ideas are plenty, but they’re a jumbled mess. That’s because even when we make notes, our notes remain either poorly organised, or else well-organised, but set up according to some pre-established schema that hinders further conceptual development.\nThis metaphor of straightening and sorting a convoluted mess is also key for computer programming. For example, it\u0026rsquo;s evident on the cover of a well-known book, A Philosophy of Software Design, by John K. Ousterhout.\nThe first stage proper, the unistructural stage, in my estimation, relates to the capacity to create an atomic note, that is, a note that identifies, isolates and deals with just one thought, idea or concept. This is the key move, and the reason I like to refer to \u0026lsquo;atomic notes\u0026rsquo; as the leading idea.\nThe second, multistructural stage refers to the ability to do this repeatedly, reliably, and systemically.\nAccording to Biggs and Tang, these early stages involve increasing the quantity of knowledge. In my adaptation, this simply means making more atomic notes.\nThe third, relational stage involves the process of making meaningful links, which is at the heart of the Zettelkasten methodology, and is also crucial for wikis.\nThe fourth, extended abstract stage relates to the ability to reconfigure networks of concepts to create new knowledge and insight.\nAccording to Biggs and Tang, these stages move beyond the quantitive acquisition of knowledge and towards the qualitative:\n“This distinction between knowing more and restructuring parallels two major curriculum aims: to increase knowledge (quantitative: unistructural becoming increasingly multistructural); and to deepen understanding (qualitative: relational, then extended abstract). Teaching and assessment that focus only on the quantitative aspects of learning will miss the more important higher level aspects. Quantitative, Level 1, theories of teaching and learning address the first aim only, increasing knowledge.” (Biggs and Tang, 2011: 90)\nThis is how I move: from jumbled thoughts to clearer single notes, from single notes to many, from many to meaningful links, and then—if I keep going—to something new.\nThe SOLO taxonomy shows why this progression matters. It’s not just about gaining more knowledge, but about transforming it. Make modular notes, link them, and let new insights emerge. This isn’t just a way for me to remember what I’ve learned—it’s a way to learn what I didn’t know I knew.\nAnd if it still feels like pick-up-sticks in your head, don’t worry, there’s time—the game is just beginning.\nNow read: Atomic notes and the unit record principle.\nReference:\nBiggs, J and Tang, C. (2011): Teaching for Quality Learning at University, (4th Edition. McGraw-Hill and Open University Press, Maidenhead). ISBN: 78-0-33-524275-7. PDF\n—-\nDon’t forget to subscribe to the weekly email digests.\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-03 09:55:28 +1100", "date": "9:55 p.m. on May 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/03/i-found-a-way-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F03%2Fi-found-a-way-to.html" }, { "id": 270, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " “It is surprising how much one can produce in a year, whether of buns or books or pots or pictures, if one works hard and professionally for three and a half hours every day for 330 days. That was why, despite her disabilities, Virginia was able to produce so very much.\u0026quot;—Leonard Woolf. Source.\nMy take: Choose your own race and finish it. The image is an example of how AI already looks unfashionable.\n", "dateiso": "2025-05-03 00:07:01 +1100", "date": "12:07 p.m. on May 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/05/02/it-is-surprising-how-much.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F05%2F02%2Fit-is-surprising-how-much.html" }, { "id": 271, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 \u0026ldquo;Live right up to the last breath and stay positive about the world, your family and the environment you live in.\u0026rdquo; - Mike Peters, The Alarm.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-30 00:35:32 +1100", "date": "12:35 p.m. on Apr 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/29/live-right-up-to-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F29%2Flive-right-up-to-the.html" }, { "id": 272, "type": "post", "title": "From tiny drops of writing, great rivers will flow", "text": " In his book, 📖 Writing Tools, veteran journalist Roy Peter Clark teaches that writers should break long projects into parts. In fact, that\u0026rsquo;s how he wrote his book. It started life as a year-long series of online posts, one per week, until finally he\u0026rsquo;d written fifty of them (I guess he took a couple of weeks off 😁).\nIt\u0026rsquo;s an obvious piece of advice that\u0026rsquo;s surprisingly hard to remember. Conversely it\u0026rsquo;s easy to feel daunted by big projects, forgetting that they are always made out of smaller pieces.\nMy working philosophy of creativity is that from fragments you can build a greater whole.\nOne small part joins up with another and another until soon, like rain, a trickle grows to become a flood. Clark says:\nTiny drops of writing become puddles that become rivulets that become streams that become deep ponds.\nThis is why I make short notes and join them together to create longer pieces of writing. I\u0026rsquo;m daunted by the larger task but not at all daunted by the quiet joy of writing one short note followed by another, and another.\nThis is what I call the shortest writing session that could possibly be useful.\nIt may be short, but it\u0026rsquo;s endlessly repeatable. And the results can be quite impressive.\nClark also mentions that he sometimes asks his new writing students to indicate how many of them have run a marathon. Usually only a couple have, but when he asks how many think they could do it, if they were given a much longer period, nearly everyone raises their hands.\nThis reminded me of the rather lovely short film about the Australian farmer who ran his own marathon, one piece at a time. In this case he did just one mile every hour until the whole distance was run. And he did a whole lot of other work too. Improbably, this guy\u0026rsquo;s name is Beau Miles.\nOK, that\u0026rsquo;s great and all, but how exactly do you do it, one drop at a time?\nHere\u0026rsquo;s my take on how to write an article from your notes.\nAnd here\u0026rsquo;s a book this process helped me write and publish: Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters.\nThanks for reading. Never miss a thing by subscribing to the weekly Writing Slowly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-26 23:22:12 +1100", "date": "11:22 p.m. on Apr 26, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/26/from-tiny-drops-of-writing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F26%2Ffrom-tiny-drops-of-writing.html" }, { "id": 273, "type": "post", "title": "Education will defeat autocracy", "text": "The painful and wrenching demise of entire academic departments opens up opportunities for a more radical understanding and practice of higher education, beyond and despite the confines of university funding.\nIn France, for example, there\u0026rsquo;s Le CollĂšge international de philosophie, co-founded by philosopher Jacques Derrida, and Le UniversitĂ© populaire de Caen, founded by Michel Onfray, another maverick philosopher.\nIn the US, meanwhile, there\u0026rsquo;s Vital Thought, and The Reading Room, sponsored by Pluto Press, in the UK.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve suggested the future of the humanities is wide open. But in these times it\u0026rsquo;s much more political than that:\nNow Karen Attiah says Columbia Canceled My Course on Race and Media. I\u0026rsquo;m Going to Teach It Anyway.\nYou might want to support her summer school: Race, Media, and International Affairs 101.\nAs she says:\nThey can cancel us all they want, but we will create community and share knowledge anyway!\nWillful ignorance, of the kind supported by the extremists running the US Government, has a fatal flaw.\nCan you guess what it is?\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-26 21:29:14 +1100", "date": "9:29 p.m. on Apr 26, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/26/education-will-defeat-autocracy.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F26%2Feducation-will-defeat-autocracy.html" }, { "id": 274, "type": "post", "title": "Have you ever read a book by mistake?", "text": "Revisiting a backup file of my old notes reminded me of the time I was reading what I assumed to be a novel by Ruth Ozeki, but it turned out to be a novel by Cynthia Ozick, published in 1987, called The Messiah of Stockholm.\nAnyone could have made that mistake, I submit.\nAt least, anyone who, like me, failed to read the cover properly.\nAnd every single page with the author’s name in the footer.\nIn any case I loved the book, even though it wasn’t written by Ruth Ozeki, which I didn’t realise at the time.\nIt’s about a man who believes he is the son of the Jewish writer Bruno Schultz, who was murdered by Nazis and his magnum opus, The Messiah lost. Although it’s (fairly) clear he can’t really be the great writer’s son, a bookseller, Mrs Eklund, goes along with the man’s story. They strike up a relationship in which she \u0026lsquo;believes\u0026rsquo; his paternity claims while he believes, or at least doesn’t question, her repeated claim that her husband, Dr Eklund is inside the flat above the shop.\nIs he? Is he really?\nAnd then Adela turns up, claiming to be the daughter of Bruno Schultz, carrying with her the manuscript of the lost book. Are they going to \u0026lsquo;believe\u0026rsquo; this too?\nSo in a way it was appropriate that I should have mistaken Ozick for Ozeki. Displaced identity was the theme. I did wonder, though, why the Ozeki writing style about which I had read was not much in evidence in the novel actually in front of me.\nSo there is still the genuine Ozeki to be read. Let’s hope I don’t pick up by mistake a novel by Julie Otsuka. Unless that too proves to be excellent, in which case I’ll be happy.\nOver to you. Have you ever read a book by mistake? And was it an unforeseen calamity, or an unexpected joy?\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-24 20:32:27 +1100", "date": "8:32 p.m. on Apr 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/24/have-you-ever-read-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F24%2Fhave-you-ever-read-a.html" }, { "id": 275, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: The White Ship by Charles Spencer 📚\nI knew very little about the rival sons of William the Conquerer, but have now learned some amazing stuff about the Norman dynasty that claimed England. The image of their armies arrayed on the sands beneath Mont Saint Michel is rather vivid.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-23 00:28:19 +1100", "date": "12:28 p.m. on Apr 23, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/22/finished-reading-the-white-ship.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F22%2Ffinished-reading-the-white-ship.html" }, { "id": 276, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Writing notes is much more than just writing notes. Done right, it\u0026rsquo;s a way of working with ideas:\nI’m organising my notes right now and stumbled over this quote:\nYou’re not building a note-taking system, but rather a way to capture, explore, and generate ideas.\rby Jorge Arango on page 181 Duly Noted\nChris Verbree https://vmac.ch/posts/2025-04-21-i-m-organising-my-notes-right-1745220311/ ", "dateiso": "2025-04-22 00:13:21 +1100", "date": "12:13 p.m. on Apr 22, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/21/writing-notes-is-much-more.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F21%2Fwriting-notes-is-much-more.html" }, { "id": 277, "type": "post", "title": "The future of the humanities is wide open", "text": "The humanities are shipwrecked The university humanities are an ongoing shipwreck.\nAccording to Zena Hitz, \u0026ldquo;the life of the mind is dying or dead in conventional institutions.\u0026rdquo; (Quoted in William Deresiewicz\u0026rsquo;s article, Deep reading will save your soul ).\nAnd as John Halbrooks observes, \u0026ldquo;Our university administration clearly sees humanities faculty as a (barely) necessary annoyance, as is the case in most public universities these days. It is all about STEM fields and professional schools and grant money, especially as state appropriations for higher education have shrunk. The only values are economic. \u0026quot;\nImage source: Jules Verne, Dick Sand: A Captain at Fifteen. Illustration by Henri Meyer Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons\nMeanwhile, Alan Jacobs commented on how the liberal arts seem to be thriving beyond the universities, just as those institutions continue to shrink their own involvement. He quotes a WSJ book review that mentions the Catherine Project and the Lyceum Movement in the US.\nJacobs observes that a prospective student might find it hard to justify spending many thousands of dollars on a traditional arts degree when so much of the same or similar material is available outside that framework. As a professor at a liberal arts college, he offers a cautious welcome, two cheers perhaps, to the growth of the arts beyond the academy.\nAlso of note is the French phenomenon of radical philosophers establishing learning contexts beyond the university.\nFor example, there\u0026rsquo;s Le CollĂšge international de philosophie, co-founded by Jacques Derrida. And there\u0026rsquo;s Le UniversitĂ© populaire de Caen, founded by Michel Onfray.\nIn the US there is Vital Thought, and in the UK The Reading Room, sponsored by Pluto Press. And older experiments such as the venerable and once vibrant Chautauqa movement still exist.\nThe outlook might be poor in the US, but in Australia applications to arts subjects have gone up, and this increase in applications is despite a massive rise in fees.\nI find it unfortunate, sad even, that so much of the discussion about education has revolved around money. William Deresiewicz quotes a student, Matthew Strother, who says, \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s hard to build your soul when everyone around you is trying to sell theirs\u0026rdquo;.\nWhether it\u0026rsquo;s the price of the course of study, or the potential return on investment in the form of a well-paid job, or the creation of a compliant worker, why is it all about money and not about human flourishing?\nWell, one obvious answer would be that these days it simply is all about the money.\nCracking capitalism at the edge of the academy Yet a quite different answer to this question appears in the form of sociologist John Holloway\u0026rsquo;s concept of \u0026lsquo;cracking capitalism\u0026rsquo; by abandoning our subservience to \u0026lsquo;abstract labour\u0026rsquo;:\n\u0026ldquo;The real determinant of society is hidden behind the state and the economy: it is the way in which our everyday activity is organised, the subordination of our doing to the dictates of abstract labour, that is, of value, money, profit. It is this abstraction which is, after all, the very existence of the state. If we want to change society, we must stop the subordination of our activity to abstract labour, do something else.\u0026rdquo;\nAnd this doesn\u0026rsquo;t sound quite so radical when you consider that we\u0026rsquo;re already doing something else, at least for some of the time.\nWe allocate a significant portion of our lives to activities that place financial considerations firmly in the background rather than the foreground, to pursuits which, in brute economic terms might be, well, uneconomic. We do all sorts of things for which there\u0026rsquo;s little financial justification.\nImmense resources go into the sporting life in all its forms, for example, and in return it provides health, meaning and community. No one says: \u0026ldquo;we\u0026rsquo;re promoting youth sports so children will be fit for the modern workplace\u0026rdquo;. But if that’s so, why are they promoting youth sports? No one really asks. They just go ahead and promote sports. The sports club exists in order to promote sports, not the other way around.\nAs Latin scholar Justin Stover said in 2017, when he claimed that there is no case for the humanities, \u0026ldquo;Golfers do not need to justify the rationale for hitting little white balls to their golf clubs\u0026rdquo;. Instrumentalist rationality is nowhere to be seen. Or else it\u0026rsquo;s the inverse of university rationality. The golf club exists to enable the playing of golf, in a way that the university does not now exist to enable learning (learning, like golf, is a ‘social object’ with multiple benefits).\nSo why not approach the arts and humanities like this too?\nNo, seriously, why not?\nMaybe it\u0026rsquo;s a category error. Holloway assumes his readers might not like a subservience to \u0026lsquo;abstract labour\u0026rsquo;, but perhaps the leadership of universities does actually want exactly this subservience. Stover claims that without the humanities, the university simply won\u0026rsquo;t be a university, but perhaps by now the very definition of the term has been transformed. In the old days the cynics used to say that Harvard was large investment fund with a university attached. But the real situation is far worse than that. As neo-liberalism metastasised further into financialisaton, the universities, like every other institution, changed their purpose, became mechanisms whose primary purpose is to establish relations of debt.\nYou may come away with a degree. You may as a result become more employable in the job market than you otherwise might have been. But these are not certainties. There is however one certainty: you will leave university with a substantial debt, a student loan which will follow you into your distant future like a hound of hell.\nThis matters because it turns institutions that only exist as universities provided they include the study of the humanities, as Justin Stover claimed, into institutions that only exist as universities provided they can encumber their customers with a significant long-term loan.\nThe cyberneticist Stafford Beer coined the unwieldy acronym POSIWID , meaning that the purpose of a system is what it does. And in that spirit we can observe that the purpose of higher education is to create student loans. In fact, since many don’t graduate, it creates many more student loans that it creates graduates.\nIronically, the advocates of qualitative evaluation by means of quantitative analysis, those whose \u0026lsquo;only values are economic\u0026rsquo;, will probably deny that this particular quantitative analysis has any relevance. The loans are obviously just a side-effect of the main purpose of the university, they will claim. Yet this is exactly the kind of evasion that Stafford Beer intended to highlight. They would say this, because they got the bulk of the cash.\nNow what would it look like if higher education didn\u0026rsquo;t intrinsically entail higher debt?\nAmong several examples John Holloway gives of the ordinariness of resistance to abstract labour are the following:\n\u0026ldquo;the university professor in Athens who creates a seminar outside the university framework for the promotion of critical thought\u0026rdquo;. \u0026ldquo;the university teacher in Leeds who uses the space that still exists in some universities to set up a course on activism and social change\u0026rdquo;. What we do in our leisure time is usually understood as being without economic value (or is extractive, as in watching TV adverts). Leisure is time when workers are not being productive. But maybe there\u0026rsquo;s a different kind of productivity going on here, following a different logic.\nIn the world of value, money, profit, Celine Nguyen has some valuable thoughts on research as a leisure activity, a concept she got from Karly W. John Holloway sees \u0026lsquo;cracking\u0026rsquo; as \u0026ldquo;the perfectly ordinary creation of a space or moment in which we assert a different type of doing\u0026rdquo;. What kinds of different? Whether or not you want to change the world, the serious leisure perspective is a framework of analysis that might be useful here. Sure, it\u0026rsquo;s leisure, but it\u0026rsquo;s far from trivial.\n*Image Source: researchoutreach.org/wp-conten\u0026hellip;\nLeisure is a serious business This perspective charts the continuum of activities and approaches that ranges across a spectrum from the entirely casual to the entirely professional. There\u0026rsquo;s a lot to be understood about the wide regions between these two poles. Recognising the breadth of the field might help clarify the nature of the shifts that are taking place in our time.\nStarting with casual leisure, we have passive entertainment such as reading, and active entertainment, such as writing. These are casual because there\u0026rsquo;s no particular expectation of any skills development or improvement.\nSerious leisure, on the other hand, is predicated on taking it seriously (there\u0026rsquo;s a clue in the name), with a measure of dedication - serious time and effort spent to improve one\u0026rsquo;s skills and capabilities. Hobbyists and amateurs are both serious about their enthusiasms. The hobbyist differs from the amateur in that the former has no particular relationship with the professional end of the spectrum, whereas the amateur might well have such a connection. For example, the hobbyist might just pursue the activity alongside other hobbyists, while the amateur might also take part in classes and workshops led by professionals.\nBeyond the amateur pursuit of serious leisure, the devotee engages in quasi-professional activities. For example, the amateur historian might research and write about local history, but the devotee might also publish it and present talks on the subject, in a manner similar to that of the professional historian. You can probably see that the line between the serious leisure devotee and the professional is not in fact very rigid.\nAnother way of describing this is that at the professional end of the spectrum, professional work blends into devotee work. Vocational activities might be seen as a kind of commitment to devote one\u0026rsquo;s working life to very serious leisure. Indeed, there are many professionals who would readily admit that they would willingly do their work even if they weren\u0026rsquo;t paid for it. What they do is serious, whether it\u0026rsquo;s called leisure or work, or anything else.\nI want to emphasize here the long continuum from casual leisure, through serious leisure, all the way to professional activity and work. Each step along this continuum requires its own institutional context with varying degrees of recognition and membership, and different kinds of gateways and barriers to entry.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s amazing, at least to me, how walled off from the rest of the world the academy has become. So much of the institutional structure seems deliberately set up to break any sense of the continuum I\u0026rsquo;ve been describing between casual, serious and professional. The world of sports would collapse if it behaved like this. So would the music industry, the art world, and many other areas of human endeavour where excellence is valued. The outreach, extension and continuing education efforts of universities, at least in the British and Australian context of which I\u0026rsquo;m aware, seem a pale shadow of what they surely would be, if only serious leisure was taken seriously.\nLooking at the Cinderella-like existence of many university extension programmes, it\u0026rsquo;s almost as though the pursuit of academic interests for leisure purposes is perceived as a threat to the institution, or an annoyance at best, rather than an opportunity, as though the academic experts are in some kind of competition with the devotees, the amateurs the hobbyists and even with the casual dabblers. Why should this be? Where does this sense of threat come from?\nPerhaps employment precarity in an era of rampant casualisation comes into play here. As a senior academic once told me: \u0026ldquo;The gap between tenured professor and casual taxi-driver is surprisingly small.\u0026rdquo;\nAnd perhaps status anxiety has something to do with it too. Viewed as a hierarchy with tenured professors at or near the top, casual lecturers near the bottom, just above the undergraduates, and the massed ranks of the leisure enthusiasts so low down as to be beneath consideration, the structure of the higher education sector begins to make sense.\nWith whole arts and humanities departments facing the axe, or already uprooted, the anxiety makes sense too. It must be hard to enjoy the view from the top of the tree when the entire forest is being clear-felled around you.\nThen there is the matter of boundary transactions. Eliel Cohen (2021) documents how educational institutions \u0026ldquo;must engage in boundary transactions in order to maintain their unique position and identity\u0026rdquo;, but at the same time, these transactions risk undermining academic boundaries.\nThe remedy for this is hopeful, but it requires a radical reappraisal of the relationship between the top and bottom of the hierarchy. In fact, it requires the difficult recognition that it\u0026rsquo;s not a hierarchy at all: it\u0026rsquo;s an ecology.\nImage source: Dick Sand: A Captain at Fifteen by Henri Meyer Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons\nTowards a healthy academic ecosystem In a healthy ecosystem, diversity enables cycles of growth, flourishing, decline and regrowth to persist through time.\nSimilarly, in a thriving educational ecosystem, there is a healthy mutuality between the experts and the amateurs, between professionals and dabblers, that has been largely lost, but that stands a chance of growing back again. Once the largest trees have been felled, the weeds move in to protect the ground. That\u0026rsquo;s how I see the proliferation of history podcasts and YouTube channels at exactly the same time the history and literature departments are being pulped. The twilight of the Humanities at a university level has nothing to do with the burgeoning level of interest in the humanities among the general public.\nI mentioned John Halbrooks and his gloomy view of the humanities. He might be gloomy but he\u0026rsquo;s not sitting around waiting for the axe to fall. Instead, he\u0026rsquo;s doing his part in re-connecting the academy and the general public, refurnishing the public intellect. His Substack newsletter, Personal Canon Formation, relates closely to an undergraduate course he\u0026rsquo;s teaching - on writing newsletters. He\u0026rsquo;s teaching humanities students to connect to a wider world that is interested and enthused by the humanities, and he\u0026rsquo;s leading by example.\nSo if you’ve read this far and are still thinking it’s all very well ignoring the money, pretending we\u0026rsquo;re changing the world by reading critical theory or Nineteenth Century novels, but that will just end in bankruptcy, here’s some news for you: The Chinese education sector is rapidly shifting towards what it calls the ‘silver economy’.\nThe silver economy involves seniors, a fast-growing sector of the population. In fact over the next decade about 300 million Chinese people will enter the retirement phase of their lives. With this huge demographic shift in mind it seems reasonable to predict massive financial benefits for education-providers who diversify, or else switch entirely to the older end of the market. This will be a difficult shift for the higher education sector in the English-speaking world, because the emphasis for many centuries has been so firmly placed on younger students. After all, each year there\u0026rsquo;s a new crop (of future debtors)!\nBut since, as we\u0026rsquo;ve heard, \u0026ldquo;the only values are economic\u0026rdquo;, and since higher education exists not to challenge the logic of capital but faithfully to reproduce it, I fully expect education providers sooner or later just to follow the money.\n—-\nDid you know you can subscribe to a weekly email digest of all the Writing Slowly posts?\n—-\nReferences Cohen, Eliel (2021). \u0026ldquo;The boundary lens: theorising academic activity\u0026rdquo;. The University and its Boundaries: Thriving or Surviving in the 21st Century 1st Edition. New York, New York: Routledge. pp. 14–41. ISBN 978-0367562984.\nAlan Jacobs, we need to spend a lot of time imagining the humanities without the university.\nZettelkasten Forum discussion on self-improvement.\nSerious leisure: What constitutes optimal leisure?.\nWilliam Deresiewicz, Deep Reading will save your soul.\nFurther reading Zina Hitz, Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life (2020) Jeffrey Bilbo (ed) et al. The Liberating Arts. Why We Need Liberal Arts Education. Plough Publishing House, 2023. ISBN: 9781636080673\nMichael D. Smith, 2023. The Abundant University. Remaking Higher Education for a Digital World. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262048552 P.xxii. A podcast interview with Michael D. Smith [New Books Network] (https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-abundant-university)\nDirks, Nicholas B. City of Intellect: The Uses and Abuses of the University. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, (2023). ISBN: 9781009394444 P. 296.\nSee also: Detweiler, Richard A. The Evidence Liberal Arts Needs: Lives of Consequence, Inquiry, and Accomplishment. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2021.\nHayot, Eric. 2021. Humanist Reason. A History. An Argument. A Plan. Columbia University Press. ISBN: 9780231197854\nA podcast interview with Eric Hayot New Books Network Merrifield, Andy. 2018. The Amateur: The Pleasures of Doing What You Love. First paperback edition. London New York: Verso. ISBN: 9781786631077\nRybczynski, Witold. Waiting for the Weekend. United Kingdom: Penguin Books, 1992. Reimagining Higher Education in the United States McKinsey\nDAOs as University Replacements: A Thought Experiment. Kassen Qian\nColleges Are Dying, Long Live Higher Education. How the death of institutions shouldn’t mean the demise of personal development. Matt Klein and Robert Cain\nThe Catherine Project. Zina Hitz. Plough, May 23, 2022.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-20 23:58:47 +1100", "date": "11:58 p.m. on Apr 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/20/the-future-of-the-humanities.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F20%2Fthe-future-of-the-humanities.html" }, { "id": 278, "type": "post", "title": "To understand the future of AI, look to the past", "text": "The more sci-fi the AI scene grows, the more I find myself looking to the past in order to understand the moment we\u0026rsquo;re in right now.\nThe present feels weightless, as though established verities have become untethered from the earth and are already floating off into the upper air. But reviewing the past it’s clear we\u0026rsquo;ve done all this before, several times. It’s clear that this weightless feeling is an illusion caused by hype and a lifetime of drinking deeply from the heady propaganda of progress.\nHere for example is nineteenth century author Victor Hugo, breathlessly eulogizing the ethereality of the printed book over the stolid weight of architecture:\n“In its printed form, thought is more imperishable than ever; it is volatile, irresistible, indestructible. It is mingled with the air. In the days of architecture it made a mountain of itself, and took powerful possession of a century and a place. Now it converts itself into a flock of birds, scatters itself to the four winds, and occupies all points of air and space at once.” — Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris\nHugo called the book “human thought, stripping off one form and donning another” - isn’t this a wonderful summary of the emotional, visceral responses to the arrival of human-like AI conversation?\nAnd just as Victor Hugo\u0026rsquo;s words combine a grain of truth with a shovel-full of hyperbole, so does our reception of AI. OK, yes it’s amazing. Soon enough though it will seem ordinary, and perhaps even unfashionable.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-20 22:35:18 +1100", "date": "10:35 p.m. on Apr 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/20/to-understand-the-future-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F20%2Fto-understand-the-future-of.html" }, { "id": 279, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "By rejecting the terms of Trump\u0026rsquo;s authoritarian bullying, Harvard University may forego $2.3 billion in funding. But they\u0026rsquo;ll lose much more if they, and we, don\u0026rsquo;t continue to stand up to it. The stakes, conveniently, are written on the university shield.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s time to concede nothing.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-15 18:45:54 +1100", "date": "6:45 p.m. on Apr 15, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/15/by-rejecting-the-terms-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F15%2Fby-rejecting-the-terms-of.html" }, { "id": 280, "type": "post", "title": "Why not publish all your notes online?", "text": "I saw a large collection of public notes and it got me thinking about publishing my own notes. Why not publish them all online?\nIn his intriguing Zettelkasten, machine learning engineer Edwin Wenink has made 899 of his private notes public. (Writing Slowly)\nI’ve been creating Zettelkasten-style notes for several years now, mostly to support the process of writing longer, more complete pieces. So my notes really aren’t intended for public consumption. Even though I\u0026rsquo;m keen on making my notes as clear, concise and modular as I can, still, many of them are rough, inconsistent, and probably incomprehensible to anyone unlucky enough to find themselves reading them. All the same, I can’t help feeling drawn to the idea of publishing them anyway.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s because I like the idea of “working with the garage door up” (as Andy Matuschak puts it), and I absolutely love poking around other people’s public note collections — their digital gardens, personal wikis, and half-formed archives. Some of them are beautiful and inspiring, full of loose threads and glimpses of thinking in motion. Others are baffling, and that’s part of their strange charm. They remind me of visiting craft villages in the 1980s where the potters, the artists and the metal-workers would occupy little studios in the converted stables of the old country house (in the UK, obviously!), and you could stand there watching them doing their thing. It was craftwork-as-performance, I suppose.\nBut should I do it myself? What are the upsides and downsides of putting everything — the messy, partial, and half-baked — out in the open, for casual visitors to gawk at?\nHere are some reflections I’ve pulled together on the pros (+) and cons (-), mostly from a recent Reddit thread that helped me to concentrate my scattered thoughts and focus my ambivalence. I asked, \u0026lsquo;why not publish all your notes online?\u0026rsquo; - and received some very interesting replies. 1. (+) Publishing makes writing feel more real — and more rewarding For some people, making their notes public adds a bit of \u0026lsquo;shine\u0026rsquo; — a small psychological nudge. If it’s out there, it feels more complete, more real, maybe somehow more legitimate. That can be motivating. Even if no one’s reading these public notes, the simple act of publishing gives a sense of purpose to the work.\nPublishing-before-polishing might also help in pushing back against perfectionism — especially if you grew up with punishingly high writing standards or have internalised the idea that writing only counts if it’s finished, or polished, or part of something “serious.” Publishing unedited notes becomes a tiny act of kindness to yourself: this is where I’m at, and that’s enough. Dave Winer once said blogging is just \u0026ldquo;the unedited voice of a person\u0026rdquo;, or as Jana says, \u0026ldquo;just a person, putting out what they want\u0026rdquo;. And now that I think about it, that\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;m doing right now. Well then, maybe the next step is just to publish the whole lot.\n2. (-) But it might make you second-guess everything If your Zettelkasten, your collection of notes, is truly for thinking — not presenting — then it will inevitably include contradictions, changes of mind, odd tangents, and things that just don’t make sense outside your own head. And let\u0026rsquo;s face it, a lot of things don\u0026rsquo;t make sense outside my own head.\nOne person put it bluntly: “The Zettelkasten isn’t a place for refined thoughts. Mine is messy, gross, tangled, and full of opinions I might not want others to see.”\nThis reminded me of how sociologist Niklas Luhmann, he of the massive Zettelkasten, likened his notes to a septic tank. Now a septic tank may be useful, but it\u0026rsquo;s not a part of the house you\u0026rsquo;d usually show to guests.\nAnd that’s exactly true for your notes, surely. The moment you imagine someone else looking over your shoulder, your writing starts to shift. You start trying to make the sludge less sludgy. You edit more. You second-guess your phrasing. You may even worry about being misunderstood, judged, or taken out of context. Maybe that\u0026rsquo;s the down-side of \u0026lsquo;shiny\u0026rsquo;. This kind of self-censorship, if it happens, risks getting in the way of the very thinking process — largely private and interior, says I — that the Zettelkasten is meant to support.\n3. (-) Not everything belongs online There’s also the question of privacy. A few people mentioned that their note collections include sensitive material — references to clients, personal memories, login details (eek!). It’s easy to blur the lines when everything’s in one system. You might start writing something private and only later realise it shouldn’t have been there.\nYou can, of course, separate public and private notes. Soren Bjornstad does this very clearly: what’s visible online, he says, is just one layer of a larger, mostly private system. That approach makes a lot of sense — but presumably it’s also a bit more work. The truth is, I\u0026rsquo;d almost certainly get this wrong. A single \u0026lsquo;public\u0026rsquo; tag placed in error and all my deepest secrets would surely be revealed. The horror! (OK, no one would care, but still.)\n4. (-) Other people might not find your notes useful — or even legible My individual notes aren’t articles. They’re often fragments, sentence-stubs, or even diagrams, that mainly make sense in a wider web of meaning. A lot of the meaning resides in the links. Even when shared, they’re not necessarily built for outside readers.\nOne commenter was blunt: “Publishing notes in their native form must be the lowest energy effort I’ve seen so far.” Another said: “Unfinished thoughts online are pointless — no one but yourself would understand them.”\nThat may be true. But I think it depends on the format, the tone, and the audience. One person commented that they\u0026rsquo;ve seen and enjoyed notes that feel more like blog posts: short reflections that are personal but still intelligible. When someone’s writing with just a hint of awareness that others might be reading — even if the writing is still in note form — it changes the texture, and for the reader at least, this may be for the better.\n5. (+) But sometimes a note is all you need For others, sharing notes is about being part of an ongoing conversation. You don’t need to write a whole article every time you want to contribute something (looks like I do, because I\u0026rsquo;m fatally verbose, so sue me). A link to a note — if it’s relevant, coherent, and on-topic — can do the job. Especially in professional communities, it can be a way of saying, “I’ve thought a bit about this — now here’s where I’m at.” In this sense, public notes are a lot like social media posts. You\u0026rsquo;re happy to put them out there as a means of \u0026lsquo;finding the others\u0026rsquo;, but you don\u0026rsquo;t necessarily want them to be held up as your best work ever.\nWhen your notes are already in reasonably good shape, and already feeding into talks, posts, and projects, publishing them just makes sense. They don’t need to be perfect — just coherent enough to be useful. And perhaps that’s the threshold that matters most.\n6. (-) It’s not always easy to find the good ones One reason I don’t always browse other people’s notes is simply that they’re hard to find — especially in niche areas. If someone’s notes intersect with something I care about, it can be a real delight to find them. But discovering those little gems usually takes time, context, or whatever the internet equivalent is for word-of-mouth.\nBring back webrings, someone said. I agree - at least with the sentiment. We definitely need new ways of unearthing this stuff. Personally I\u0026rsquo;m still keen on RSS as a kind of glue for the indieweb (I know it has issues but I just like it).\n7. (+) Still, I’m always on the look-out Even if I know I won’t “get” much of it, I can’t resist looking. I love the aesthetics of notes — the eccentric emoji-coding, the fiesta of links, the mad web-design skillz, the rhythm of someone else’s thought process made quirkily visible.\nNote system aesthetics. What a niche to be in love with!\nSometimes I\u0026rsquo;m inspired, sometimes my curiosity is piqued. And sometimes it’s just nice to know there are other people out there quietly thinking things through.\n8. (+) Public notes are a useful staging post So this is where I’ve ended up: thinking of public notes not as polished end-products, but as sitting somewhere between private scraps and finished writing.\nThat’s the principle of the digital garden — you publish early, and let your saplings grow in public. Notes start as “seeds”, then grow into “shoots”, and eventually into “trees”. Some fall by the wayside. Some are pruned. Some sprout surprising branches. And by this time, the metaphor has worn a bit thin.\nIn his excellent collection of public notes Bill Seitz describes this as “tending your inner and outer gardens” — maintaining both a private system (where you’re free to be messy), and a public-facing one (where ideas get air, attention, and refinement). I quite like this approach.\nIn fact, it\u0026rsquo;s already what I do — at least loosely. My private notes feed into slightly more polished pieces: blog posts, public notes, odd fragments I toss online (I have an ineptitude for Mastodon and BlueSky). Some of those get reshaped later into longer essays or more structured arguments. Some don’t. But publishing early makes the next stage easier — and the stages after that more likely.\nThoreau and Emerson, those legendary nineteenth century American writers, wrote in their journals, gave public lectures, edited those talks into essays, and then eventually collected and revised them again for publication. Multiple iterations. A rhythm of emergence.\nMaybe the 21st-century equivalent looks something like this:\nfleeting notes / rough journal entries → Zettelkasten main notes → public notes → blog posts / podcasts / videos → essays / articles → ebooks → physical books (and back to the start - it\u0026rsquo;s a cycle) Of course, not every idea travels the full distance. But the opportunity is there. And each stage helps shape the next.\nSo, should I publish all my notes online? No, I don’t think so — it\u0026rsquo;s just not for me.\nI like the rhythm of keeping the first iterations private, then working them into something a bit more coherent and longer, like this post you’re reading now. That\u0026rsquo;s what feels right for the present.\nThe image that for me best sums up this process of making short notes to create longer pieces of writing is that of my little worm farm. All sorts of scraps get dumped in at the top. And mostly unseen, the worms turn everything into nourishing compost. writingslowly.com\nWriting Slowly https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/31/when-it-comes.html But I’ll keep reading the note collections other people publish. And rest assured, writing slowly and selectively, I’ll keep sharing little bits of my own.\nSome public ZettelkĂ€sten worth exploring If you\u0026rsquo;re curious to see how others do it — and what kinds of forms a public Zettelkasten might take — here are a few that I keep coming back to (tbh this list is mostly for my own reference but you might also be curious):\nPublic ZettelkĂ€sten and Digital Gardens Andy Matuschak’s Notes\nA semi-public digital notebook, full of interlinked thoughts on memory, learning, and tools for thought. These are really mini-blog posts, surely with at least one eye to the reader.\nSoren Bjornstad’s Zettelkasten\nA thoughtfully maintained collection of Zettelkasten-inspired notes, with strong links and clear explanations. This is based on TiddlyWiki, which I also use, and I\u0026rsquo;m full of admiration for this tricked-out iteration (mine\u0026rsquo;s a bit more basic). But it\u0026rsquo;s not a Zettelkasten, since Soren says his collection of notes has outgrown that term.\nJon M Sterling’s Mathematical Zettelkasten\nDense, precise, and full of logical clarity — a beautiful, inspiring example of a Zettelkasten in a formal discipline. And I\u0026rsquo;ve written about it previously at A forest of evergreen notes.\nMaggie Appleton’s Notes\nDesigner, anthropologist, and digital gardener — her \u0026lsquo;digital garden\u0026rsquo; is playful, exploratory, well-organised and yes, impeccably designed.\nBinny\u0026rsquo;s Digital Zen Garden\nThis is a creative take on the digital garden format — a bit philosophical, a bit experimental, and Binny wrote a book, Zettelkasten and the Art of Knowledge Management, so that\u0026rsquo;s cool.\nA Working Library by Mandy Brown\nNot strictly a Zettelkasten, but a really elegant example of thought-in-process, evolving across essays and notes. I wish my site was as nice as this. Sigh.\nBarns Worth Burning OK, so this one\u0026rsquo;s not really a Zettlkasten either. It\u0026rsquo;s more like a pot-pourri of interesting fragments. Jun\u0026rsquo;ichirƍ Tanizaki? Certainly. In other words, I like it a lot.\nNikita Voloboev’s Wiki\nAnother sprawling and highly structured knowledge base, grounded in personal note-taking practice. I mean sprawlng as in \u0026ldquo;I approve\u0026rdquo;.\nZac Burry’s Garden\nYet again more of a digital garden, but still grounded in Zettelkasten principles: atomic notes, dense links, no blog-post polish.\nAnagora\nI don\u0026rsquo;t really understand this group site (if it even is that?) but it looks interesting.\nNagitimi85\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a nice public notes collection that\u0026rsquo;s just getting going - published using Obsidian and Quartz.\nCurated Lists and Directories Maggie Appleton’s Digital Gardeners Index\nA growing collection of personal wikis, gardens, and knowledge work experiments.\nLyz-code’s Best of Digital Gardens\nA curated list of noteworthy digital gardens, tools, and workflows.\nAwesome Digital Gardens\nAnother great index for diving into the many styles and structures people are exploring.\nIf you’ve got others to add, please let me know. And since you\u0026rsquo;ve read this far you might even like to subscribe to my weekly email digest - all the posts in one handy package.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-15 09:33:53 +1100", "date": "9:33 p.m. on Apr 15, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/15/why-not-publish-all-your.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F15%2Fwhy-not-publish-all-your.html" }, { "id": 281, "type": "post", "title": "Time to concede nothing", "text": "I find Alan Jacobs’ writing unfailingly “good to think with”, and that’s certainly true of a recent post pondering the relationship between Christianity and humanism in an anti-human age.\nHe looks to the Christian intellectuals of the mid-twentieth century. Meanwhile I look further back, to Erasmus and especially to his protĂ©gĂ© Sebastian Castellio. In the throes of the Reformation they saw barbarity on all sides yet did not succumb to it. They saw war but preached peace, suffered from absolutism and argued for moderation.\nBut they still lost.\nPolarisation and intolerance ravaged and divided Europe for centuries.\nThe difficulty with charting a course through the coarseness of the present age is that we’re looking for winners to back, when all the time some of the most precious values - civility, honesty, curiosity, care, consideration - quite obviously aren’t going to win by the force of the better argument alone. It seems unlikely that they could ever prevail at all.\nOn the other hand, in the longer run, the legacy of Erasmus, Castellio and their ilk did prevail. When violence and repression eventually gave way to exhaustion and disillusionment, their legacy was an attractive alternative to endless antagonism.\nPeople only love strife when they haven’t experienced all that much of it. Hatred energises, but it also kills its hosts. Eventually the sponsors of emnity realise they’re going to have to account for the paucity of their gains.\nHumanists, religious and otherwise, need to persevere, and stand firm now more than ever (while the strife is only just warming up). Conceding to an easy despair just at the start of these barbarous times is premature. The despots are desperate for an ever-present crisis, are addicted to maintaining a state of permanent “emergency”. We’re in it for the long haul. Our values will literally outlive them.\nErasmus’s motto remains timely: concedo nulli - I concede to no one.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-15 00:18:04 +1100", "date": "12:18 p.m. on Apr 15, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/14/time-to-concede-nothing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F14%2Ftime-to-concede-nothing.html" }, { "id": 282, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Why in #Australia are there at least 50 private health insurance options (!) but only two major supermarket options, only two main telecom providers, and pretty much a single major hardware chain? It’s well past time for some serious #antimonopoly action.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-14 23:08:44 +1100", "date": "11:08 p.m. on Apr 14, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/14/why-in-australia-are-there.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F14%2Fwhy-in-australia-are-there.html" }, { "id": 283, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "In his intriguing Zettelkasten, machine learning engineer Edwin Wenink has made 899 of his private notes public edwinwenink.xyz.\nThese notes are a constant work in progress and not necessarily intended for your reading. Nevertheless, I submit them to your \u0026ldquo;voyeurism.\u0026rdquo;\n(HT: Annie)\nAnd previously, Andy Matuschak has recommended working with the garage door up.\nBut where\u0026rsquo;s the limit?\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-11 17:25:51 +1100", "date": "5:25 p.m. on Apr 11, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/11/in-his-intriguing-zettelkasten-edwin.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F11%2Fin-his-intriguing-zettelkasten-edwin.html" }, { "id": 284, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Some sound advice from a less crazy time (two whole months ago): Write it Down | dansinker.com\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-10 13:36:31 +1100", "date": "1:36 p.m. on Apr 10, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/10/some-sound-advice-from-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F10%2Fsome-sound-advice-from-a.html" }, { "id": 285, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Some say that due to AI, \u0026ldquo;the vast majority of human beauty that will exist has already been created\u0026rdquo;. I\u0026rsquo;m pointing out the opposite:\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a great time to be writing the future.\nWhy? Well, by nature humans innovate. Humans equipped with AI?\nThey just innovate harder.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-02 12:23:12 +1100", "date": "12:23 p.m. on Apr 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/02/some-say-that-due-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F02%2Fsome-say-that-due-to.html" }, { "id": 286, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Legendary computer game Myst started life as an interconnected network of cards in the equally legendary app HyperCard. To be precise, 1,355 cards in 6 HyperCard stacks.\nNow, through graph analysis the last secrets of that network are finally being \u0026lsquo;deMystified\u0026rsquo;.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-02 12:10:00 +1100", "date": "12:10 p.m. on Apr 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/02/legendary-computer-game-myst-started.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F02%2Flegendary-computer-game-myst-started.html" }, { "id": 287, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " So many, many books I really want to read. Here are just a couple on this towering tsundoku pile:\nThe Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time by Keith Houston 📚\nThe Best of all Possible Worlds by Michael Kempe\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-01 17:38:30 +1100", "date": "5:38 p.m. on Apr 1, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/01/so-many-many-books-i.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F01%2Fso-many-many-books-i.html" }, { "id": 288, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "An interesting Zettelkasten discussion.\nmalikalimoekhamedov.substack.com/p/bob-dot\u0026hellip;\nSee also: my review of A System for Writing.\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-01 12:00:27 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Apr 1, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/01/120027.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F01%2F120027.html" }, { "id": 289, "type": "post", "title": "It's a great time to be writing the future ", "text": "Writers are worrying about AI taking their livelihoods. But unless you were already writing like a robot, that\u0026rsquo;s not how it works.\nNow is a truly fantastic time to be writing. The future is absolutely wide open for the first time in a more than a century. That\u0026rsquo;s because the idiom of the whole culture is transforming and it\u0026rsquo;s up to us to change it.\nJust as no one these days writes like Jane Austen, or Thomas Hardy or Louisa May Alcott, in ten years time, no one will be writing the way we do now. Large language models (LLMs) have taken our entire idiom and trashed it. And that\u0026rsquo;s a good thing. Our prose, and therefore the prose of AI, sounds like it\u0026rsquo;s still living in the Twentieth Century. But it\u0026rsquo;s well past time for radically new ways of speaking, writing and therefore being.\nThe key driver is simply fashion. What seems amazingly cutting-edge today will rapidly go stale. AI prose (which imitates our older siblings) is about to taste like last week\u0026rsquo;s dinner.\nBut we\u0026rsquo;re not just dreaming of what comes after content - it\u0026rsquo;s also time to seize the means of containment.\nSince AI is now providing all the \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo; the container industry can ever handle (i.e. all the content platforms without exception), we\u0026rsquo;re now free to make new human-shaped places beyond its reach.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re inventing both what AI can\u0026rsquo;t say, and where it can\u0026rsquo;t say it, so let\u0026rsquo;s go!\n", "dateiso": "2025-04-01 07:57:37 +1100", "date": "7:57 p.m. on Apr 1, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/04/01/its-a-great-time-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F04%2F01%2Fits-a-great-time-to.html" }, { "id": 290, "type": "post", "title": "Five solutions to link rot in my personal note collection", "text": "Have you noticed that the problem of link rot on the Web is very real? Just writing a link to a separate page, without comment or annotation, assumes permanence and depends on that link persisting through time. But links don’t really work that way. They become obsolete far faster than feels comfortable. Because I didn’t like to acknowledge this, I now have a whole heap of old notes consisting of little more than broken links. Here are five possible solutions to this problem. Which ones make sense to you?\n1. Write notes in your own words It would have been better if my notes said what the link is about, and what interests me about it. Since realising the extent of this problem, and recognising that link rot is so prevalent, I try these days to be more careful in describing for myself the content or salient aspects of each source as and when I record the link.\nAction: when referring to a web resource, summarise it just well enough that if and when it disappears, my reference to it will still make sense and be useful.\n2. Refer to the Internet Archive Apparently, many articles on Wikipedia now have broken links. That’s annoying, to say the least. One potential remedy might be to link directly to the archived version of the source on The Internet Archive, or maybe another archive site like archive.is\nAction: where I doubt the longevity of the source, also link to the Internet Archive’s version.\nUnfortunately online archive sites are themselves quite brittle and they’re vulnerable to hostile actions like being sued for breach of copyright, or even just running out of funding. Dependence on a single small charity as the memory keeper of the entire Web obviously creates a potential point of failure and sets us up for a big problem if and when the archive site itself disappears with a 401 error or worse.\n3. Create your own personal archive A heavy-duty solution would be to create my own archive of websites I\u0026rsquo;ve referred to. Bookmarking services such as Pinboard enable this. So does micro.blog, which is a kind of Swiss Army Knife of the indie-web. These services don’t just store the link to a web page. They also create and store a snapshot of the page. But these services store the archival data in the cloud, which may present a problem in some circumstances. And both the services I’ve mentioned are tiny one-person enterprises which suffer from the risk of that one person shutting up shop. On the other hand, individuals have a greater longevity than massive corporations, ironically, and I’m writing this in the year after Google shut down Google Podcasts without any consultation.\nAlternatively, self-archiving on your own computer is possible by using an application such as archive box. A reference application such as Zotero, whose primary function is to manage academic references, can also create a personal archive of pdf articles and other sources. I use this and find it very helpful. It also enables saving and cataloguing of web page snapshots.\nAction: Consider subscribing to a bookmarking service, or even using an app like archivebox. Check out the archiving features of Zotero that I’m not already familiar with.\nWith an archive of all the sources you’ve ever referred to, there’s no danger of link rot in your own references. But this just defers the problem one level further from you. It hasn’t gone away. All the articles and sources you archive are still susceptible to their own link rot. You can only realistically archive a couple of levels of hyperlinks before the task is too massive to handle.\n4. Don’t worry, be happy Another more philosophical ‘solution’ to the problem of link rot would be to stop worrying and accept that everything changes. Going slightly further, one could recognise that forgetting is an essential aspect of remembering, and that memory systems also need a mechanism for forgetting information. The Internet’s main forgetting system is for addresses to change or disappear without notice. This is inelegant and has unfortunate side effects, yet it works, I suppose. If I imagined the Internet to be a stable repository of collective knowledge, I simply imagined it wrongly. I thought we were building a new Pyramid of Cheops, but our blueprints were those of the Tower of Babel. It turns out the Web is no more permanent than a dog breed. It’s the river you don’t step into twice. If we think we’re gazing up at the night sky we’re fooling ourselves. The web isn\u0026rsquo;t the night sky, it\u0026rsquo;s just a cave wall studded with fireflies. And so on. I told you this was philosophical.\nMore generally, human knowledge isn’t really like gold bars in a bank vault, which you can store indefinitely and retrieve when you like. Culture, of which the Web is one aspect, is a machine for remembering, yet it also fabricates and forgets. How this happens remains a mystery. By attempting to memorialise himself for his achievements, King Ozymandius became a byword for failure. The art historian Aby Warburg saw Memosyne, the Greek goddess of memory, as a sphinx holding a riddle. What does culture forget and what does it remember? And how does it do it?\nAction: Err, none? Radical acceptance of impermanence? Just go with the flow?\n5. Sow and then reap The term ‘link rot’ has stuck because the organic process it implies seems nearer to the reality. Perhaps a better model of human knowledge would be that it’s like seeds in a seed bank. A seed bank can last a long time, provided you plant the seeds each season to grow new seeds to store over winter. This metaphor suggests that knowledge persists not through storage but through use. And this thought brings me right back around to my first solution to link rot: make notes in my own words. By writing my own version of the knowledge I\u0026rsquo;ve found, I\u0026rsquo;m passing it on to the next reader, who might just choose to do the same.\nAction: Don\u0026rsquo;t try to store knowledge. Share, teach, discuss. Pass it on.\nNone of these solutions are perfect, or even workable. Nevertheless, just because the Internet forgot some information doesn’t mean I have to forget it too.\nI wonder if there are any other solutions to this problem of the Web degrading over time. Please let me know.\nNow read: Notemaking helps you remember - and helps you forget too\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-30 23:10:20 +1100", "date": "11:10 p.m. on Mar 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/30/five-solutions-to-link-rot.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F30%2Ffive-solutions-to-link-rot.html" }, { "id": 291, "type": "post", "title": "Tame the chaos with just four folders for all your notes", "text": "Bob Doto\u0026rsquo;s book A System for Writing (my review) suggests setting up a Zettelkasten (a flexible collection of notes) with a small handful of folders.\nThese folders aren\u0026rsquo;t merely places to put notes, though. They suggest a specific workflow - a system for writing.\nIn-box\nSleeping\nReferences\nMain\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a very brief summary of the process:\nThe In-box Put your fleeting notes in the in-box so you know where they all are.\nMake a regular time to process them into more permanent, polished main notes and move them to that folder.\nThe Sleeping folder The \u0026lsquo;sleeping\u0026rsquo; folder is a kind of in-box overflow. It\u0026rsquo;s for notes you just never seem to get round to processing. Put them in the sleeping folder and they\u0026rsquo;ll still be there when you finally feel like working on them (or you can just let sleeping notes lie). This keeps the In-box relatively small so you don\u0026rsquo;t get overwhelmed with unprocessed notes. Everyone has more thoughts than they can handle and probably makes more notes than they can handle too. It\u0026rsquo;s not a big problem - you just work on what you feel like working on and leave the rest. With this system you\u0026rsquo;ll at least be able to pick up where you left off.\nThe Reference folder The reference folder is for reference notes. Let\u0026rsquo;s say you watched a movie and you want to make notes on it. Create a reference note with the name and all the details of the movie, then any notes you make can link to the reference note. This way you\u0026rsquo;ll never lose track of where a thought or idea or quote or image came from. You\u0026rsquo;ll have the details in the reference folder.\nThe Main folder Main notes are a bit more polished than fleeting notes. They have a single clear idea, a title, a few links, and a unique ID.\nTaming the chaos That\u0026rsquo;s it.\nOh, and plenty of people think you need category folders or tags, like subject sections in a library. I admit this is a dominant way of thinking about knowledge. What else would you do, other than put it in categories? But this way of thinking is pretty much contrary to the spirit of the Zettelkasten. Sociologist Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten was fertile because it broke down the established categories in sociology and re-constructed a major theory of society from the ground up. And art Historian Aby Warburg organised his Zettelkasten, a library and a whole institute against preconceived categories in his discipline.\nYes, chaos reigns, in a sense - but it\u0026rsquo;s structured, rhizomatic chaos.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-30 22:46:54 +1100", "date": "10:46 p.m. on Mar 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/30/tame-the-chaos-with-just.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F30%2Ftame-the-chaos-with-just.html" }, { "id": 292, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Can you make too many notes? This guy did. #zettelkasten #notetaking #pkm\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-25 07:42:49 +1100", "date": "7:42 p.m. on Mar 25, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/25/can-you-make-too-many.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F25%2Fcan-you-make-too-many.html" }, { "id": 293, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 This is a quiet space\u0026hellip;\nMoving to Sydney offered cheap train travel compared with Europe. \u0026ldquo;Never mind arriving,\u0026rdquo; I would say, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s great value just for the view.\u0026rdquo;\nLooks like they\u0026rsquo;ve finally worked out the real value proposition.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-25 07:09:41 +1100", "date": "7:09 p.m. on Mar 25, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/25/this-is-a-quiet-space.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F25%2Fthis-is-a-quiet-space.html" }, { "id": 294, "type": "post", "title": "Lord Acton took too many notes, but that doesn't mean you have to", "text": "It\u0026rsquo;s intriguing to discover a prolific author with a working collection of 148,000 notes, but it begs the question: can you make too many notes?\nI mean, surely there comes a point where your note-making gets in the way of the outcomes you\u0026rsquo;re looking for, and the endless writing of notes starts to defeat its very purpose.\nWell, maybe. Here\u0026rsquo;s a little cautionary tale from the Nineteenth Century, a time when both empire and facial hair were unrestrained by decency.\nJohn Dalberg-Acton (1834-1902) was a significant British political figure of the Victorian era. Did he have one of those massive walrus mustaches that they all seemed to go in for back then? Well sort of, but he also had the type of beard that make it look like its owner has just swallowed a beaver, so frankly it\u0026rsquo;s hard to tell.\nHe was also an important historian who nevertheless published very little in his lifetime. The consensus seems to be that he took too many notes. Acton\u0026rsquo;s Encyclopedia Britannica (11th Edn) entry reads in part:\n\u0026ldquo;Lord Acton has left too little completed original work to rank among the great historians; his very learning seems to have stood in his way; he knew too much and his literary conscience was too acute for him to write easily, and his copiousness of information overloads his literary style. But he was one of the most deeply learned men of his time, and he will certainly be remembered for his influence on others.\u0026rdquo;\nBy the way, it\u0026rsquo;s topical to talk about Lord Acton. He has indeed been remembered, but chiefly for his prescient aphorisms:\n\u0026ldquo;Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.\u0026rdquo;\nNo prizes for guessing which Scofflaw-in-Chief this is a reminder of. Too many notes? Sad! But I digress.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s not all. Here\u0026rsquo;s Keith Thomas in an entertaining London Review of Books piece.\n\u0026ldquo;It is possible to take too many notes; the task of sorting, filing and assimilating them can take for ever, so that nothing gets written. The awful warning is Lord Acton, whose enormous learning never resulted in the great work the world expected of him. An unforgettable description of Acton’s Shropshire study after his death in 1902 was given by Sir Charles Oman. There were shelves and shelves of books, many of them with penciled notes in the margin. ‘There were pigeonholed desks and cabinets with literally thousands of compartments into each of which were sorted little white slips with references to some particular topic, so drawn up (so far as I could see) that no one but the compiler could easily make out the drift.’ And there were piles of unopened parcels of books, which kept arriving, even after his death. ‘For years apparently he had been endeavouring to keep up with everything that had been written, and to work their results into his vast thesis.’ ‘I never saw a sight,’ Oman writes, ‘that more impressed on me the vanity of human life and learning.’’\nAccording to Oman, in his book, On the Writing of History (1939), Lord Acton left behind only one good book, some lectures, and several essays scattered in hard-to-find journals. He also created a plan for a large history project that others would write after his death, but not in the way he had intended.\nIn 1998 the historian Timothy Messer-Kruse drew entirely the wrong conclusion from all this. He seemed to point the blame for Lord Acton\u0026rsquo;s little problem on the fact that all he had to work with was compartments full of paper notes:\n\u0026ldquo;What may have been accomplished had Acton possessed more than a row of dusty pigeon-holes to store his notes and musings?\u0026rdquo;\nWould perhaps a computer have helped him out, by any chance? Yes indeed:\n\u0026ldquo;The advances in computing and communication technologies over the past thirty years have laid the material basis for overcoming the Lord Acton syndrome that continues to plague the historical profession. It is now possible for the Lord Actons of today to share an unlimited number of their notes, ideas, and annotations with the entire world of interested scholars with minimal cost. Paperless publishing through the Internet theoretically offers the means for transcending a centuries-old model of historical scholarship and breaking down the barriers between academic and amateur historians.\u0026rdquo;\nWell, we\u0026rsquo;ve had another 27 years of the digital era since then, and it\u0026rsquo;s probably safe to say that while there\u0026rsquo;s certainly a \u0026lsquo;Lord Acton Syndrome\u0026rsquo;, the cure is not more computers.\nIf anything, the situation is even worse now, made so by the massive expansion of available information. Imagine what Acton would have done with all the many terabytes of historical data that\u0026rsquo;s now available at the click of a button.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s right: he\u0026rsquo;d have made notes on it.\nIn fact, Charles Oman had already understood the poor man\u0026rsquo;s real problem much earlier.\nOman saw that this limited output from such a capable scholar happened because Lord Acton tried to master everything before finishing anything. Apparently he had a great book in mind, but gathering all the necessary information became overwhelming for one person.\nThe lesson, for Oman at least, is clear:\n\u0026ldquo;In short the ideal complete and perfect book that is never written may be the enemy of the good book that might have been written. Ars longa, vita brevis— one must remember the fleeting years, or one\u0026rsquo;s magnum opus may never take shape, if one is too meticulous in polishing it up to supreme excellence.\u0026rdquo;\nBeing too focused on perfection might mean our greatest work (or indeed any work) never materializes at all.\nSo take look in the mirror. Are you a walrus? Have you swallowed a beaver? No? Then you don\u0026rsquo;t need to copy Lord Acton\u0026rsquo;s note-taking excesses either. Make some notes, sure, but please don\u0026rsquo;t \u0026lsquo;do an Acton\u0026rsquo; and die before you make something from them.\nFootnote: Oman complained about the seemingly hopeless diversity of Lord Acton\u0026rsquo;s interests, as evidenced from the wide range of his notes - from pets, to stepmothers to totems. Well, I\u0026rsquo;m not convinced this is a problem in itself. In the right hands it might even be an advantage. The real problem was that Acton doesn\u0026rsquo;t seem to have developed a system for writing, beyond the publication of his lectures.\n\u0026ldquo;There were pigeon-holed desks and cabinets with literally thousands of compartments, into each of which were sorted little white slips with references to some particular topic, so drawn up (so far as I could see) that no one but the compiler could easily make out the drift of the section. I turned over one or two from curiosity—one was on early instances of a sympathetic feeling for animals, from Ulysses\u0026rsquo; old dog in Homer downward. Another seemed to be devoted to a collection of hard words about stepmothers in all national literatures, a third seemed to be about tribal totems.\u0026rdquo; See also: The mastery of knowledge is an illusion\nAcknowledgement Ched Spellman posted about Lord Acton\u0026rsquo;s problem 15 years ago. Now I\u0026rsquo;m just commenting on Spellman\u0026rsquo;s commentary on Thomas\u0026rsquo;s commentary on Oman\u0026rsquo;s commentary. Yes, this is the Internet. What did you expect?\nReferences Hugh Chisolm (1910) \u0026lsquo;Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg\u0026rsquo;, in Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition. Vol 1, pp. 159ff. Internet Archive.\nTimothy Messer-Kruse (1998) \u0026lsquo;Scholarly publication in the electronic age\u0026rsquo;, in Dennis A. Trinkle. Writing, Teaching and Researching History in the Electronic Age: Historians and Computers. London: Routledge. p. 41.\nCharles Oman (1939), On the Writing of History. 1st Edition, London: Routledge. doi.org/10.4324/9\u0026hellip;\nKeith Thomas (2010), \u0026lsquo;Diary: Working Methods\u0026rsquo;. London Review of Books. Vol. 32 No. 11 · 10 June 2010. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v32/n11/keith-thomas/diary\nCongratulations! Since you\u0026rsquo;ve made it right to the bottom of this page, you might also like to subscribe to the weekly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-24 22:55:04 +1100", "date": "10:55 p.m. on Mar 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/24/lord-acton-took-too-many.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F24%2Flord-acton-took-too-many.html" }, { "id": 295, "type": "post", "title": "The Dance of Joyful Knowledge: Inside Georges Didi-Huberman's Monumental Note Archive", "text": "People sometimes ask, \u0026ldquo;who these days uses Zettelkasten-style hand-written notes to produce significant work?\u0026rdquo; There are literally thousands of examples from before the digital age (Leonardo for example), but what of today? Isn\u0026rsquo;t this kind of thing pretty much obsolete?\nNo, it\u0026rsquo;s not obsolete. I\u0026rsquo;m happy to say the practice is still very effective.\nGeorges Didi-Huberman (Wikipedia) is a prolific French art historian and philosopher who has written more than sixty books.\nHe works in and beyond the tradition of cultural luminaries such as Aby Warburg and Walter Benjamin, so it\u0026rsquo;s no surprise that like them he keeps his own massive collection of working notes.\nHow many? Well, a recent exhibition was based on \u0026ldquo;his immense working file, begun in 1971, comprising more than 148,000 notes\u0026rdquo; (\u0026ldquo;son immense fichier de travail, commencĂ© dĂšs 1971, composĂ© de plus de 148 000 fiches\u0026rdquo;).\nAnd his process?\n\u0026ldquo;To summarize, I would say that the first work is slow, modest, obsessive: it is the creation and accumulation of cards in confrontation or dialogue with certain texts or certain images. The second is fast, exhilarating, joyful, made of discoveries: it is the reassembly of the cards, like a successful card game, on a vast table where the layout of the cards allows one to visualize a large number of them synoptically and to see unexpected constellations emerge. The third work must be rhythmic or musical: it is the writing itself, the handwriting on the entire blank sheet.\nAs soon as there was a box, there were other boxes and other boxes still. The file is a tool for memorization, a technical prosthesis for thought that allows one to forget many cumbersome, even paralyzing, things. But we must know how to put an end to obsessive activity and the love of repetition, in order to open ourselves more radically to the advent of differences, to the dance of joyful knowledge.\u0026rdquo; (Source pdf)\nThe exhibition took place at the IMEC archive (l’Institut MĂ©moires de l’édition contemporaine) in Normandy, France. This is the same archive that holds more than 12,000 of the note cards of writer and philosopher Roland Barthes.\nI\u0026rsquo;d have loved to visit the exhibition, since this is basically cat-nip for me. Here\u0026rsquo;s part of the introduction:\n\u0026ldquo;Step into Georges Didi-Huberman\u0026rsquo;s studio! A philosopher and art historian, he meticulously collects fragments of texts, photographs, and images of all kinds. As a craftsman of thought, he assembles them to create visual and textual constellations to capture our reality. Imec invites you to explore this unique \u0026ldquo;dialogue machine\u0026rdquo; and enter the heart of a tirelessly repeated writing process: looking at images, collecting fragments of thought, and telling the world through the montage of ideas.\u0026rdquo; (Source)\nWell, we might have missed the exhibition, but we can still watch a presentation on YouTube (perhaps with English subtitles).\nAnd we can watch some of the short videos presented in the exhibition itself.\nAnd finally, yes, there is a book of the exhibition.\nThis vast constellation of 148,000 notes shows that the art of creative note-making is alive and well. And this is not just an archive but a philosophy of thinking and writing. Didi-Huberman\u0026rsquo;s three-stage creative rhythm: patient collection, exhilarating reassembly, and musical composition, shows how fragments, properly arranged, may reveal unexpected truths. His practice is a reminder that notes exist not necessarily as endpoints, but as invitations to a dance.\nFor a weekly email digest of all the posts here, you may subscribe.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-20 00:21:34 +1100", "date": "12:21 p.m. on Mar 20, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/20/the-dance-of-joyful-knowledge.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F20%2Fthe-dance-of-joyful-knowledge.html" }, { "id": 296, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The article that struck Will like a bolt of lightning:\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s the purpose of making notes?\nImage: Sayre Gomez at the Art Gallery of NSW.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-19 21:43:48 +1100", "date": "9:43 p.m. on Mar 19, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/19/the-article-that-struck-will.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F19%2Fthe-article-that-struck-will.html" }, { "id": 297, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "TIL of a philosopher and prolific author who maintains at the heart of their working practice a collection of more than 148,000 notes. It\u0026rsquo;s a fascinating story, catnip for #zettelkasten fans, and you\u0026rsquo;ll be reading it here very soon.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-19 18:57:11 +1100", "date": "6:57 p.m. on Mar 19, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/19/til-of-a-philosopher-and.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F19%2Ftil-of-a-philosopher-and.html" }, { "id": 298, "type": "post", "title": "Roland Barthes on the purpose of making notes", "text": "When making notes on some reading it\u0026rsquo;s very tempting to try to capture everything, to squeeze every last drop of insight from a book, a lecture, a fleeting thought. It’s easy to get lost in the process, mistaking note-taking for the real work. But I\u0026rsquo;ve been reflecting on something French philosopher Roland Barthes understood: notes aren’t about hoarding knowledge or building a perfect archive. They’re about getting to the real point—writing. In this piece, I consider Barthes\u0026rsquo; perspective, alongside a couple of other thinkers who, like me, see note-making not as an end in itself, but as a way to get some words onto the page.\nThe writing comes first Faced with a large, weighty source, it\u0026rsquo;s a temptation to try to make notes on the entire contents of the book or video in front of you. FOMO, fear of missing something out, is a driving force here. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to summarize a long work, and it can be tempting to make lots and lots of notes. If this feels like the monumental task, that\u0026rsquo;s because it is.\nBut unless you are literally writing an encyclopedia, your collection of notes is not an encyclopedia. It would be pointless and impossible to make exhaustive notes on a complex work such as a hefty book of philosophy. There\u0026rsquo;s no point trying to extract every piece of knowledge from a long book, like a juicer squeezing the last drop of juice from an orange.\nSummary and paraphrase are your friends here, sure, but it\u0026rsquo;s also worth considering the fundamental purpose of making your notes.\nFrench philosopher Roland Barthes, who used index cards (\u0026lsquo;fiches\u0026rsquo;) extensively, recognised this. He understood that the purpose of scholarly notes is not: - to understand everything, - to remember everything, or - to record everything. No, the purpose of one\u0026rsquo;s notes, he held, is to start writing.\nBarthes wasn\u0026rsquo;t creating a knowledge bank. He was writing.\nHe used his notes, sometimes several times over, as prompts, inspiration, and cues for his written and published output.\n“D’origine Ă©rudite, la fiche devient le coin vengeur que le dĂ©sir insĂšre dans la loi compacte du travail. Principe poĂ©tique: ce carrĂ© savant ira dans le tableau de l’écriture, non dans celui du savoir.”\n\u0026ldquo;From its scholarly origins, the note (fiche) becomes the vengeful wedge that desire inserts into the compact law of work. Poetic principle: this learned square will go into the table of writing, not into that of knowledge.\u0026rdquo;\nQuoted in Krapp, p.12 n.31, citing Rowan Wilken, “The Card Index as Creativity Machine,” Culture Machine 11 (2010), 7–30. PDF.\nOK, this is certainly an enigmatic aphorism!! \u0026ldquo;Vengeful wedge\u0026rdquo;? What does it mean? Well, I read it to mean that for Barthes, writing a note (\u0026ldquo;ce carrĂ© savant\u0026rdquo;) was less about knowledge for its own sake (\u0026ldquo;le tableau du savoir\u0026rdquo;) and more about the writing process (\u0026ldquo;le tableau de l’écriture\u0026rdquo;) it facilitated. In other words, he wasn\u0026rsquo;t making his notes primarily to know more, but first and foremost, to write.\nSociologist C. Wright Mills acknowledged a similar point in his influential essay \u0026lsquo;On Intellectual Craftsmanship\u0026rsquo;. He claimed that when working in and on their files, scholars are already writing.\n\u0026ldquo;in practice you never \u0026lsquo;start working on a project\u0026rsquo;; you are already \u0026lsquo;working,\u0026rsquo; either in a personal vein, in the files, in taking notes after browsing, or in guided endeavors. Following this way of living and working, you will always have many topics that you want to work out further. After you decide on some \u0026lsquo;release,\u0026rsquo; you will try to use your entire file, your browsing in libraries, your conversation, your selections of people—all for this topic or theme. You are trying to build a little world containing all the key elements which enter into the work at hand, to put each in its place in a systematic way, continually to readjust this framework around developments in each part of it. Merely to live in such a constructed world is to know what is needed: ideas, facts, ideas, figures, ideas.\u0026rdquo; - C. Wright Mills, 1959. The Sociological Imagination. New York, Oxford University Press. p.223f.\nI take Mills to be saying something similar to Barthes here. In their different ways they were both observing that writing is primary. Mills fully recognizes that making notes obviously is a good or even essential means to understand your source material. But the key phrase here is:\n\u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;decide on some release\u0026rdquo;.\nThat is to say, develop a concept of your intended output before you start reading a book. That way, your interests will fruitfully guide your reading and note-making. You can\u0026rsquo;t make notes on everything but you certainly can make notes on something.1 So it\u0026rsquo;s useful to choose mindfully what that something is going to be.\nWork on fundamental problems One way of doing this is to use your note system to explore your enduring concerns, those issues and questions you find yourself returning to over and over. Mathematician Richard Hamming recommended keeping a list of fundamental problems. He said:\n“Most great people also have 10 to 20 problems they regard as basic and of great importance, and which they currently do not know how to solve. They keep them in their mind, hoping to get a clue as to how to solve them. When a clue does appear they generally drop other things and get to work immediately on the important problem. Therefore they tend to come in first, and the others who come in later are soon forgotten.\u0026quot; You and Your Research. A talk by Richard W. Hamming — Bellcore, 7 March 1986.\nA framework for extensive and intensive reading Extensive reading benefits greatly from having a focus like this. You read widely, only really concerning yourself with the problem (or problems) you bring to the text with you. This provides a framework for your note making and it renders the task manageable. Your list of key problems guides your note-making and helps clarify what really matters to you.\nBut what about intensive reading? This is where you stop skimming and study a single text deeply. An example would be the study of a religious text for spiritual purposes. In this case, it really does make sense to create exhaustive notes. You may even spend a lifetime doing so. In such an instance you might regard this particular text as one of your basic concerns, a question you keep returning to, over an extended period. Many people have found this approach helpful: rather than reading the book in the light of their concerns, they understand their concerns in the light of the book. Religious texts such as the Bible, the Koran or the Buddhist Sutras, are obvious candidates for intensive reading and note making, but there are secular possibilities too.\nIntensive reading is alive and well. Several academic disciplines share the tradition of the group seminar, in which a seminal work is studied and debated intensively. However, it may still be fruitful to keep a few personal or professional priorities in mind, the better to focus the study.\nMy notes are about as useful as what I do with them Over time I\u0026rsquo;ve reluctantly discovered that my notes are only as useful as what I do with them. Sure, they help me remember things, and to keep going where I left off. They are the space where I do my thinking — but crucially, provided I do it right, they help me write.\nBarthes, Mills, and Hamming all point toward the same idea: I can’t just collect notes, I have to use them2. So I try to let them nudge me toward deeper questions, toward projects that matter. I might be reading widely or I might be diving deep into a single text. Either way, the real challenge is knowing when to stop gathering and start using my notes to shape something of my own.\nWhy not subscribe to the weekly email digest? If you want to, that is. And maybe you do.\nEven if you have no intention of writing anything public and you have no \u0026lsquo;release\u0026rsquo; in mind I\u0026rsquo;d still suggest it may be helpful to find some kind of lens through which to view your reading, some means of focusing your concerns. Your notes may reveal this focus to you gradually, as you write them.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nOK, I can just collect notes. Who\u0026rsquo;s going to stop me?\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-10 07:00:00 +1100", "date": "7:00 p.m. on Mar 10, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/10/roland-barthes-on-the-purpose.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F10%2Froland-barthes-on-the-purpose.html" }, { "id": 299, "type": "post", "title": "My writing process oscillates between notes and drafts", "text": "Writing, at least for me, seems to be a messy, back-and-forth kind of thing. It\u0026rsquo;s a seemingly never-ending loop of laying ideas down, arranging them in some kind of order, and then wrangling them into something that vaguely resembles coherence.\nIt would be nice to imagine that writing is just a matter of sticking a bunch of pre-existing notes together like a jigsaw puzzle, but that’s just wishful thinking. In reality, it’s more like a collage created with scissors and glue. It’s scrappy, iterative, and sometimes frustrating, but ultimately rewarding.\nHere, I’m laying out my personal writing workflow, some thoughts on drafting (and redrafting, and re-redrafting), and how I juggle note-making with actually getting words onto the page.\nA basic writing workflow My basic writing workflow is:\nrough notes and annotations (written anywhere, including my journal) -\u0026gt; main notes (Zettelkasten) -\u0026gt; structure notes (working towards outlines) -\u0026gt; early drafts -\u0026gt; edited drafts -\u0026gt; final drafts -\u0026gt; final final drafts LOL published work A key venue for my rough (fleeting) notes is my daily journal. Keeping a diary is a way of living. I write freely about anything and everything, then I excerpt interesting stuff into a proper note (aka a main note). Or instead I might just move straight to creating a new note. There’s no rule about which comes first, as long as I capture it.\nWriting involves drafting and re-drafting It’s not very realistic to imagine producing completed work simply by mashing together the contents of my notes, nor to create finished writing just from a pile of notes. That’s an attractive but hollow illusion. All the same, my notes certainly help the drafting process tremendously. Old writing manuals recommend creating an outline then drafting an essay. For me that would be a disaster. Where would I get the outline from? My notes allow me to work from the bottom up instead of from the top down.\nIt’s tempting to make light of the amount of work the drafting and redrafting takes, but for me it remains a substantial part of the writing process. The Zettelkasten offers a massive head start because it means I always have material to work with and because it’s a workshop in which to play with the structure and order of my ideas. It also allows me to continuously develop my unfinished thoughts. My notes are a creative working environment.\nWhat to do with new thoughts while writing I use my Zettelkasten notes to construct and inform drafts, but during the drafting process a new thought might come to me, or I’ll notice an idea that I need to add to or expand.\nBy this time though, I’m already well into the drafting and editing, so I don\u0026rsquo;t usually go back to create more notes. Perhaps I should, but that would interrupt the flow of the editing work. The exception is when I realise I need to leave the draft and do some more involved thinking/writing. I’ll usually do this by means of my Zettelkasten.\nThe consolation to not making more notes is that if I’ve actually finished a piece of writing, I can always cite that as a source in a future note, should the occasion arise. This has been a bit of a process of trial and error. Make too few notes to start with, and my drafting process feels under-fed.\nThere’s no ideal number of notes It takes quite a lot of notes before I’m happily drafting a piece of writing. But I’m not really sure what the ideal number of notes would be to create a certain length of finished work, and I suspect there isn’t really a definitive way to know that.\nThat said, I heard an interview with Charles Duhigg (author of Supercommunicators), where he mentioned that while writing a book he makes 200-300 notes on index cards prior to writing each chapter. (Link - 32 minutes onwards).\nThat may seem like a lot, but each of these notes may contain just a few words.\nMeanwhile, for each book he reads, author Robert Greene writes very approximately ten notes:\n“After going through several dozen books, I might have three hundred cards, and from those cards I see patterns and themes that coalesce into hardcore chapters. I can then thumb through the cards and move them around at will. For many reasons I find this an incredible way to shape a book.” (Source).\nAs for me, there isn’t a set number of notes but approximately a dozen per book would be fine. Of course, an especially interesting or relevant source would merit considerably more.\nWhen to stop writing notes and start writing drafts So when does the note-making stop and the drafting start? Again, I’m not sure there\u0026rsquo;s a definitive answer to this question. Start too early and I don\u0026rsquo;t have enough material. Start too late and I\u0026rsquo;ve gathered far more material than I can use. Perhaps the \u0026lsquo;Goldilocks’ moment — when there are just enough notes to make a worthwhile first draft — becomes clearer with experience. Further, I find that starting a draft makes it easier to see what my writing is missing, so the note-making and the drafting overlap in time to a significant extent.\nTowards the end of his career, the sociologist Niklas Luhmann, godfather of the Zettelkasten approach, increasingly worked on the many unfinished manuscripts he had started, rather than on creating lots of new Zettelkasten notes. His Zettelkasten had been so productive that it had helped him write far more manuscripts than he had time to publish. Several of these have been edited and published after his death, and I understand there might be more still to come, since the gigantic task of digitising his archive isn\u0026rsquo;t due for completion till 2030. There’s more information (in German) on Luhmann’s process at The Luhmann Archive. Apparently he inserted typewritten pages into his manuscripts in a manner similar to the way he inserted notes into his Zettelkasten.\nAt the end of the day, my writing process isn’t about jotting down thoughts. It’s about playing with my ideas, reworking them, and eventually, after plenty of trial and error, shaping them into something worth reading. My Zettelkasten system helps keep the whole chaotic process from completely derailing, but the real magic (or struggle, depending on the day) happens in the drafts. There’s no cut-and-dried answer to when to stop taking notes and start writing. Start too soon and I’m flailing, too late and I’m drowning in material. Over time, though, I\u0026rsquo;ve gradually developed a feel for the back-and-forth of it.\nMaybe writing is less about finding the perfect method and more about learning to live with the imperfections of the process. Or maybe that\u0026rsquo;s just me.\nHow do you work? Please let me know.\nNow read:\nWhat to do with your notes: start writing.\nHow to write an article from your notes: an example.\nArtwork by Louise Bourgeois. I saw this at an exhibiton of her work at the Art Gallery of NSW.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;d like a weekly digest of Writing Slowly posts sent to you by email, it\u0026rsquo;s easy to subscribe.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, available now.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-09 22:41:42 +1100", "date": "10:41 p.m. on Mar 9, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/09/my-writing-process-oscillates-between.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F09%2Fmy-writing-process-oscillates-between.html" }, { "id": 300, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m always comparing my sloppy first drafts with other people\u0026rsquo;s heavily-edited published work. So it\u0026rsquo;s no wonder I\u0026rsquo;m down on my own stuff; this is a completely unfair contest of my own making.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s why I\u0026rsquo;ve found Dan Harmon\u0026rsquo;s advice enduringly helpful:\n💬 Switch from team “I will one day write something good” to team “I have no choice but to write a piece of shit.”\nIn other words, \u0026lsquo;perfect\u0026rsquo; is for editing, not for writing.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-07 13:03:37 +1100", "date": "1:03 p.m. on Mar 7, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/07/im-always-comparing-my-sloppy.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F07%2Fim-always-comparing-my-sloppy.html" }, { "id": 301, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;ve been asking what comes after content?. Here\u0026rsquo;s one possibility, dreamed up by Burnout from Humans.\nMore at The Wild Chatbot. HT: Rowenwhite.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-05 13:27:27 +1100", "date": "1:27 p.m. on Mar 5, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/05/ive-been-asking-what-comes.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F05%2Five-been-asking-what-comes.html" }, { "id": 302, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Nothing is immune from the law of fashion: what looks cutting edge today will date very quickly. Before long, AI-generated \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo; will be what you won’t be seen dead wearing. So what comes after content?\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-05 12:53:00 +1100", "date": "12:53 p.m. on Mar 5, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/05/nothing-is-immune-from-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F05%2Fnothing-is-immune-from-the.html" }, { "id": 303, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 This quote from Thus Spoke Zarathustra seemed to land for me.\nkim e landwehr https://kimlosey.me/2025/02/18/115810.html ", "dateiso": "2025-03-05 12:37:10 +1100", "date": "12:37 p.m. on Mar 5, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/05/this-quote-from-this-spoke.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F05%2Fthis-quote-from-this-spoke.html" }, { "id": 304, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬“I had in my mind to write three books about the world as it was, using concepts and images almost like characters. But I ended up making a long detour.” — Italian author, Roberto Calasso. (Source).\n\u0026ldquo;Long detour\u0026rdquo; is an apt summary of a writing life, and fitting inspiration for my latest project.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-04 07:52:23 +1100", "date": "7:52 p.m. on Mar 4, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/04/i-had-in-my-mind.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F04%2Fi-had-in-my-mind.html" }, { "id": 305, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Ironically, I just saw this message from 2013 on the same day I heard Microsoft has announced it\u0026rsquo;s retiring Skype.\nI guess my superpower is Late Adoption.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-03 18:14:01 +1100", "date": "6:14 p.m. on Mar 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/03/ironically-i-just-saw-this.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F03%2Fironically-i-just-saw-this.html" }, { "id": 306, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· It\u0026rsquo;s always amazing to be reminded we\u0026rsquo;re living on the surface of an exquisite marble. Thanks Firefly! (Also a comforting reminder we can just visit the moon - beautiful in a different way: ravaged and bleak.)\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-03 17:46:17 +1100", "date": "5:46 p.m. on Mar 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/03/its-always-amazing-to-be.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F03%2Fits-always-amazing-to-be.html" }, { "id": 307, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "A nice little book launch today for our anthology. Destinations \u0026amp; Detours. I guess it was also the launch of Detour Editions 😁.\nIt was great to see this many people and to have some deep conversations.\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-02 22:48:14 +1100", "date": "10:48 p.m. on Mar 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/02/a-nice-little-book-launch.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F02%2Fa-nice-little-book-launch.html" }, { "id": 308, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬“If something happened that struck me, I would write a note — sometimes just on a little scrap of paper — and would slip these pieces of paper into a folder\u0026hellip; Especially if I got stuck, I would take another piece of paper and say, ‘You’re stuck on this damn paper, so write about why you got stuck.’” — Peter Elbow, author of Writing with Power, 1935-2025.\n(HT: Chris Aldridge)\n", "dateiso": "2025-03-02 18:23:49 +1100", "date": "6:23 p.m. on Mar 2, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/03/02/if-something-happened-that-struck.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F03%2F02%2Fif-something-happened-that-struck.html" }, { "id": 309, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "”Just as no one can be Charles Dickens these days, very soon, no one will be able to market anything that looks like what AI could produce.”\nWhat comes after content?\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-24 02:08:44 +1100", "date": "2:08 p.m. on Feb 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/24/just-as-no-one-can.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F24%2Fjust-as-no-one-can.html" }, { "id": 310, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;ve found writing on Wordpress a bit of a chore. Plenty of features when all I wanted to do was post a little article. These days micro.blog suits me very well. If you use Wordpress but would enjoy a simpler editing interface here are two newish options:\nWordland PootleWriter HT: John Jonston\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-24 01:03:26 +1100", "date": "1:03 p.m. on Feb 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/24/ive-found-writing-on-wordpress.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F24%2Five-found-writing-on-wordpress.html" }, { "id": 311, "type": "post", "title": "What comes after content?", "text": "A few weeks ago I happened to win a voucher for the mainstream cinema chain in Sydney where I live.\nI checked what was showing, and as a result didn\u0026rsquo;t even bother claiming the voucher. The kind of \u0026rsquo;top\u0026rsquo; movies on offer are really not what I could imagine enjoying. Even if I did enjoy Marvel superhero movies, I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine wanting to see 45 of them (Wikipedia).\nThe decline of cinema is a bit sad, because I\u0026rsquo;ve loved going to the movies ever since the days when my aunt took me to see The Jungle Book, and since my dad took himself (and me) to the first Star Wars movie, and since even before that, my grandmother accidentally took me to see a war movie called Zeppelin. We were the only two people in the darkened village hall, but still, the sight of burning airships dropping from the sky was quite the deal for a seven-year-old.\nI thought of this experience while reading an article by Justine Bateman entitled Hollywood is dead. It\u0026rsquo;s a shame to announce this death, and her take is a little overly-nostalgic. I mean, Hollywood was always a ruthless money-making monster. All the same, her prognosis seems accurate enough.\nBut what killed it, I hear you ask. The author\u0026rsquo;s opinion is that \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo; killed Hollywood. And yes, I\u0026rsquo;ve been negative about \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo; myself. If we\u0026rsquo;re not making content what are we making?\nAccording to Justine Bateman, not only has \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo; dominated Hollywod, now the production of \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo; is being automated by AI in a creative death-spiral. In short the movies are turning to slop and as a result, the AI Grim Reaper is now knocking on Hollywood\u0026rsquo;s door.\nBut there\u0026rsquo;s light at the end of the tunnel, she says. People are soon going to reject the AI \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo; slop bucket and look for something else: something that\u0026rsquo;s better because it\u0026rsquo;s more human. Bateman predicts:\n\u0026ldquo;filmmakers will have to differentiate their work from that which AI can easily imitate. That means they will make unique, raw, and creatively daring work.\u0026rdquo;\nNot only that, but audiences will rebel against AI in their wider lives and certainly reject it in the movies: \u0026ldquo;They will want something real, raw, and obviously human.\u0026rdquo;\nIf she\u0026rsquo;s right (and that\u0026rsquo;s a big \u0026lsquo;if\u0026rsquo;) this means that what we\u0026rsquo;re moving towards is something completely new and different. We\u0026rsquo;ve been wrong about AI. AI isn\u0026rsquo;t the start of a new era but rather the final scene of the old era. And it\u0026rsquo;s not only movies, there\u0026rsquo;s books and music too.\nSo what lies just beyond?\n\u0026ldquo;the birth of the most incredible creative genres we’ve ever known. It will be new to us in the way jazz or rock and roll were new at the time, or French new wave films were back then. However, this will not be a return to anything from the past, but be something entirely new. Just The New.\u0026rdquo;\nI\u0026rsquo;m mentioning all this because I think the argument also stands for writing generally.\nI believe we\u0026rsquo;re on the cusp of a seismic change in the culture every bit as significant as the shift around 1910 when it was suddenly impossible to be a Victorian any more1. Just as no one can be Charles Dickens these days, very soon, no one will be able to market anything that looks like what AI could produce. Sure, we\u0026rsquo;ll make use of AI tools in the background, but readers, listeners and viewers won\u0026rsquo;t accept what AI offers unless it has first passed through the distinctively human creative imagination.\nUltimately this is just the iron hand of fashion. What looks cutting edge today will date very quickly, so that before long AI will be what you won\u0026rsquo;t be seen dead wearing.\nThings are going to be very different. And I agree with Justine Bateman when I say: more than ever, embracing our humanity is the way forward.\nHer three-word manifesto, \u0026ldquo;Just The New\u0026rdquo;, has clear echos of the poet Ezra Pound\u0026rsquo;s late-to-the-party summary of the modernist movement, \u0026ldquo;Make it new\u0026rdquo;. Ironically we\u0026rsquo;ve been here before, in 1928, nearly a century ago. But then Pound was hardly being original. He was paraphrasing an old Chinese text from the 12th century.\nNovelty is like that: everything\u0026rsquo;s new, but it\u0026rsquo;s made from the old pieces we find lying around us.\nWhat comes after content isn\u0026rsquo;t really new at all. It\u0026rsquo;s the oldest thing we know: our desire to connect with another person\u0026rsquo;s imagination. When we get tired of supposedly \u0026lsquo;perfect\u0026rsquo; AI creations, we\u0026rsquo;ll go back to loving the beautiful mistakes that make human art special. And this will happen sooner than we may expect.\nThe future belongs to artists and writers who remember what makes us human - our messiness, our feelings, our strange ideas. In a world over-run by AI, being truly human might be a competitive advantage or it might not, but it\u0026rsquo;s what we\u0026rsquo;ve got.\nReferences:\nMichael North, 2013. Novelty. A History of the New. University of Chicago Press.\nStansky, Peter, 1997. On or about December 1910: Early Bloomsbury and Its Intimate World. Studies in Cultural History. Cambridge, Mass. London: Harvard University Press.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t forget to subscribe to the weekly email digest. It\u0026rsquo;s exactly like an exclusive club to which you\u0026rsquo;re exclusively invited.\nBut you still just get a weekly email, sorry.\nas Virginia Woolf famously claimed, about 15 years later\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-24 00:32:17 +1100", "date": "12:32 p.m. on Feb 24, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/24/what-comes-after-content.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F24%2Fwhat-comes-after-content.html" }, { "id": 312, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The Lost Medieval Library Found in a Romanian Church medievalists.net\nmedievalists.net https://www.medievalists.net/2024/11/lost-medieval-library-found-romanian-church/ Old news, but new to me. I\u0026rsquo;d love to find a lost medieval library in a tower somewhere, but I might be on the wrong continent for that kind of discovery.\nHT: @glynmoody@mastodon.social\nImage: Ropemaker\u0026rsquo;s Tower, Mediaș, Romania (Source. CCby SA4.0)\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-23 23:40:44 +1100", "date": "11:40 p.m. on Feb 23, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/23/the-lost-medieval-library-found.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F23%2Fthe-lost-medieval-library-found.html" }, { "id": 313, "type": "post", "title": "My notes were full but my heart was empty. Doug Toft travels beyond progressive summarization", "text": "Doug Toft explores his journey to making better notes on his reading. He found trying to summarize what he\u0026rsquo;d just read was heavy work. And Tiago Forte\u0026rsquo;s approach of \u0026lsquo;progressive summarization\u0026rsquo; wasn\u0026rsquo;t really helping him.\nPerhaps there\u0026rsquo;s a better way. He quotes Peter Elbow\u0026rsquo;s great book, Writing With Power. The author says:\n\u0026ldquo;If you want to digest and remember what you are reading, try writing about it instead of taking notes\u0026hellip; Perfectly organized notes that cover everything are beautiful, but they live on paper, not in your mind.\u0026rdquo;\nElsewhere (maybe I\u0026rsquo;ll find where) I\u0026rsquo;ve written about how a good way to summarize or paraphrase, to \u0026lsquo;write in your own words\u0026rsquo;, is to imagine discussing your reading with a friend. You might say: \u0026ldquo;I read this great book. It was all about\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;.\nWe can easily do this kind of summary in everyday social life, so why not try it with our notes?\nImage: Detail of a relief from Ostia showing writers at desks. (Source)\nIf you want to read the Writing Slowly weekly digest, you know what to do:\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-21 23:55:13 +1100", "date": "11:55 p.m. on Feb 21, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/21/my-notes-were-full-but.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F21%2Fmy-notes-were-full-but.html" }, { "id": 314, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Well the book arrived this morning. Now I really am publishing slowly!\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-21 20:01:38 +1100", "date": "8:01 p.m. on Feb 21, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/21/well-the-book-arrived-this.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F21%2Fwell-the-book-arrived-this.html" }, { "id": 315, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Finished reading: Nothing Left to Fear from Hell by Alan Warner. 📚\nThis was so piteously moving. The lost cause, the delusional hopes, the petty snobbery, the misplaced loyalties, the few quiet voices of reason, and oh, that startling, poignant ending. The Young Pretender like you never knew.\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-17 21:57:03 +1100", "date": "9:57 p.m. on Feb 17, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/17/finished-reading-nothing-left-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F17%2Ffinished-reading-nothing-left-to.html" }, { "id": 316, "type": "post", "title": "Publishing slowly", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m writing so slowly that you might be wondering if I\u0026rsquo;m ever going to get anything published.\nWell wonder no more. I\u0026rsquo;m happy to say extracts of my memoir, \u0026lsquo;The Green Island Notebook\u0026rsquo; are published in the anthology Destinations \u0026amp; Detours: New Australian Writing.\nPublished by Detour Editions, the collection launches here in Sydney on Sunday 2nd March 2025, and if you happen to be in the vicinity, I\u0026rsquo;d be delighted to meet you in person.\nBook Launch 2pm, Sunday 2nd March, at Randwick Literary Institute, 60 Clovelly Road, Randwick NSW\nWatch out too for news of how you can get your hands on a copy, wherever in the world you find yourself.\nAnd this isn\u0026rsquo;t the only news on the publishing front. I\u0026rsquo;ll be sharing details of some further publishing adventures very soon.\nBut don\u0026rsquo;t worry, whatever happens, I\u0026rsquo;ll still be writing slowly.\nUpdate: Oh look, I wrote another book: Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters.\nRandwick Literary Institute, the venue for our book launch, celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2025. Here it is in 1957, and it hasn\u0026rsquo;t changed much since then:\nSubscribe to the Writing Slowly weekly digest (unsubscribe any time):\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-17 06:00:00 +1100", "date": "6:00 p.m. on Feb 17, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/17/publishing-slowly.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F17%2Fpublishing-slowly.html" }, { "id": 317, "type": "post", "title": "To care is to disobey", "text": "Currently reading: Pirate Care by Valeria Graziano 📚\nThese days, being kind to the wrong people could land you in jail. What\u0026rsquo;s up with that?\nI\u0026rsquo;ve written about how two-word phrases are a great way of getting your message across. Now here\u0026rsquo;s one that really intrigued me: Pirate Care.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s the title of a new book from Pluto Press, and as soon as you hear it you get an idea of what its about:\naround the world, caring for others has been criminalised by shameless lawmakers in defiance, people are doing it anyway; care is a political practice of solidarity (that\u0026rsquo;s why the right tries to attack it) we need to challenge another, sinister two-word phrase: organised abandonment. As politicians ramp up their twisted theatre of cruelty to grotesque levels, care from the bottom up is ever more urgent. Because those wrong people who don\u0026rsquo;t deserve to be cared for? Next year, or even next month, that\u0026rsquo;ll be you.\nRead the book from Pluto Press, listen to an interview with the authors and commons activist David Bollier, and check out the syllabus and project that the book grew out of.\nOr just put on your pirate hat and take action.\n📖 Graziano, V., M. Mars and T. Medak. Pirate Care: Acts Against the Criminalization of Solidarity. Vagabonds Series, v. 7. London: Pluto Press, 2025. ISBN: 9780745349800\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-16 23:12:06 +1100", "date": "11:12 p.m. on Feb 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/16/to-care-is-to-disobey.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F16%2Fto-care-is-to-disobey.html" }, { "id": 318, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;ve found Natalie Goldberg\u0026rsquo;s writing prompts to be especially helpful. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s the pleasure of a deck of cards I can shuffle and deal.\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-16 11:36:56 +1100", "date": "11:36 p.m. on Feb 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/16/ive-found-natalie-goldbergs-writing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F16%2Five-found-natalie-goldbergs-writing.html" }, { "id": 319, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "A great strength of youth is to be able to say, with naive but powerful conviction: \u0026ldquo;How hard could it be?\u0026rdquo;\nI wrote comics as a child and as a teenager I wrote poetry and plays. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t hard, I just did it.\nWhat did you achieve then that you doubt now?\nIt\u0026rsquo;s worth leaning into that.\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-16 08:35:43 +1100", "date": "8:35 p.m. on Feb 16, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/16/a-great-strength-of-youth.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F16%2Fa-great-strength-of-youth.html" }, { "id": 320, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 “We live in a warehouse of casts that have lost their moulds,” - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony (1988).\nMaking meaning where there is none?\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-12 19:18:09 +1100", "date": "7:18 p.m. on Feb 12, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/12/we-live-in-a-warehouse.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F12%2Fwe-live-in-a-warehouse.html" }, { "id": 321, "type": "post", "title": "Making meaning where there is none ", "text": " 💬 “We live in a warehouse of casts that have lost their moulds,” - Roberto Calasso, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony (1988).\nThis quote, from the author, editor and translator Roberto Calasso, reminds me of the mysterious novel Piranesi by Susannah Clarke.\nThe huge ‘House’ in which Piranesi, the main character, finds himself is filled with giant statues of no known provenance. It is quite literally a warehouse of casts.\nBecause he is familiar with the statue of a gardener, he believes, he understands what a garden would be. The statues point enigmatically to a reality beyond his experience - or at least beyond his memory. Piranesi makes meaning where there otherwise is none.\nAnd so do we.\nMore:\nRoberto Calasso\u0026rsquo;s obituary\nSusannah Clarke discusses her novel Piranesi on BBC Radio.\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-12 18:26:53 +1100", "date": "6:26 p.m. on Feb 12, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/12/making-meaning-where-there-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F12%2Fmaking-meaning-where-there-is.html" }, { "id": 322, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "A photo of a toy train set from @manton brought back a fond memory: The first time I ever used eBay I was clueless and accidentally won three auctions. The result was enough wooden tracks to cross the whole continent.\nMy kids were delighted. Now In their mid-twenties, they still have some of that haul.\nOld trains.\nManton Reece https://www.manton.org/2025/02/06/old-trains.html\r", "dateiso": "2025-02-07 09:54:46 +1100", "date": "9:54 p.m. on Feb 7, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/07/a-photo-of-a-toy.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F07%2Fa-photo-of-a-toy.html" }, { "id": 323, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Diversity is the only reality!\n", "dateiso": "2025-02-03 22:33:42 +1100", "date": "10:33 p.m. on Feb 3, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/02/03/diversity-is-the-only-reality.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F02%2F03%2Fdiversity-is-the-only-reality.html" }, { "id": 324, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Currently reading: Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit 📚\nI like walking because it is slow, and I suspect that the mind, like the feet, works at about three miles an hour. If this is so, then modern life is moving faster than the speed of thought, or thoughtfulness.\n-Rebecca Solnit; Wanderlust: A History of Walking\nTom Loughlin https://therivertao.micro.blog/2025/01/29/currently-reading-wanderlust-by-rebecca.html ", "dateiso": "2025-01-30 22:36:47 +1100", "date": "10:36 p.m. on Jan 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/30/currently-reading-wanderlust-by-rebecca.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F30%2Fcurrently-reading-wanderlust-by-rebecca.html" }, { "id": 325, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Useful Australian software? You\u0026rsquo;re probably thinking of Canva or Atlassian. And who even knows WiFi is Australian? But my favourite Aussie tool by far is Sublime Text, also made\u0026hellip; here in Sydney.\nI use it to write my #zettelkasten notes.\nJames Doyle is a fan too: ohdoylerules.com, and there\u0026rsquo;s a great discussion on Hacker News.\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-30 08:36:52 +1100", "date": "8:36 p.m. on Jan 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/30/useful-australian-software-youre-probably.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F30%2Fuseful-australian-software-youre-probably.html" }, { "id": 326, "type": "post", "title": "Torches against pitchforks", "text": "There\u0026rsquo;s a great Dave Coverly cartoon of a worried king looking down from the battlements of his castle at an angry crowd massed just below. His relaxed advisor says, \u0026ldquo;Oh, you don\u0026rsquo;t need to fight them - you just need to convince the pitchfork people that the torch people want to take away their pitchforks.\u0026rdquo;\nWhile the people who always use the correct words in just the right tone use up their wrath on the people who sometimes, in their estimation, don\u0026rsquo;t quite manage to, the real evil stays focused on growing stronger each day.\nPS. a lot of conflict online could be addressed with a simple phone call. Yes, we still have that.\nPPS. Did I say torches against pitchforks? Maybe I meant OMG.lol against micro.blog\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-30 08:22:56 +1100", "date": "8:22 p.m. on Jan 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/30/torches-against-pitchforks.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F30%2Ftorches-against-pitchforks.html" }, { "id": 327, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " \u0026ldquo;Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.\u0026rdquo; - Anne Herbert, The Next Whole Earth Catalog (1980), p 331.\nIndeed, what\u0026rsquo;s more punk than the public library? Flaming Hydra ", "dateiso": "2025-01-30 07:55:20 +1100", "date": "7:55 p.m. on Jan 30, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/30/libraries-will-get-you-through.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F30%2Flibraries-will-get-you-through.html" }, { "id": 328, "type": "post", "title": "Create a note system that indexes itself", "text": "While studying the cataloguing and indexing systems of the early Twentieth Century I noticed that the index box was originally supposed to be a key to the records held elsewhere. In other words it was like a library catalogue.\nThe library catalogue doesn\u0026rsquo;t exist for its own sake. Rather, it\u0026rsquo;s the key to finding something else - the books stored on the library shelves. From the late 19th Century onwards, any bureaucratic organisation typically stored its records in filing cabinets (Robertson, 2021), usually numbered consecutively (numerus currens) as they arrived or were created. Then alongside these records the index box contained a parallel catalogue entry for each item (Byles, 1911).\nWithout a comprehensive index, it would be very hard to find anything in the records. Sure, you could find something at random, provided you didn\u0026rsquo;t care what it was, but without the index, finding a specific item would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. If the records system used running numbers it would be easy to find the most recent documents, and the longest-held, since these would be located at the end and beginning of the records, respectively. But finding anything in between these points, without an index, would be extremely time-consuming.\nAs I read about this approach to record-keeping, I realised that Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s system of personal academic notes, his Zettelkasten, displayed some similar features to this, as well as some crucial differences.\nLuhmann was a German sociologist who famously published a massive academic output by relying on his large collection of handwritten notes, his Zettelkasten (note-box). His Zettelkasten was similar to the standard filing system in that it was a box of numbered index cards. But it differed in two important places.\nFirst, on the whole, there were no other records. The index box simply referred to itself. The records and the index of the records were the same thing. (There were of course references to external academic sources, but I mean that Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten didn\u0026rsquo;t refer to a separate location where he kept his notes such as a set of notebooks or another separate filing cabinet; rather, his notes were the records, and his records were the notes.)\nSecondly, the numbering system wasn\u0026rsquo;t exactly consecutive (numerus currens), it was instead associative. In other words, the notes weren\u0026rsquo;t placed strictly in order of writing, but were arranged instead according to how their contents related to other notes. He started consecutively but then branched off by adding letters and numbers to the notation. For example, he would add a note that related to note 9 by creating note 9a, and so on (this is a slight simplification, but basically sound).\nThese two features, (\u0026lsquo;records=index=records\u0026rsquo; and \u0026lsquo;associative-not-consecutive-numbering\u0026rsquo;) taken together, meant that Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten was effectively almost self-indexing. It was an index of itself, and there was hardly any other indexing work, other than adding cards in relevant locations, with a suitable ID number.\nTrue, Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s second Zettelkasten did also have a keyword index, but this index of 3,200 keywords was quite limited relative to the large number of notes (67,000) it supposedly indexed. And this index didn\u0026rsquo;t reference every instance of his keywords. On the contrary, it didn\u0026rsquo;t need to be exhaustive because by means of their ID numbers the notes were arranged in long chains so Luhmann could jump from one relevant note to another, without needing to keep referring back to an index.\nAccording to Luhmann scholar Johannes Schmidt (2018: 58):\n\u0026ldquo;the file’s keyword index makes no claim to providing a complete list of all cards in the collection that refer to a specific term. Rather, Luhmann typically listed only one to four places where the term could be found in the file, the idea being that all other relevant entries in the collection could be quickly identified via the internal system of references described above.\u0026rdquo;\nI really like the idea of a self-indexing system, and it somehow felt familiar, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t think where I\u0026rsquo;d heard of this idea before.\nThen I realised it\u0026rsquo;s been staring me in the face this whole time. One of my chief long-term inspirations is Christopher Alexander\u0026rsquo;s A Pattern Language (1977), which was also a key influence for Ward Cunningham, creator of the first ever wiki, the Portland Pattern Repository.\nA Pattern Language has enjoyed a cult following and has been identified as \u0026ldquo;one of the most widely read architectural treatises ever published\u0026rdquo; (Dawes and Ostwald, 2020), though not without criticism (Dawes and Ostwald, 2017). Anyway, here\u0026rsquo;s what the preface of that book said about the concept of a pattern language:\n\u0026ldquo;A pattern language has the structure of a network. [
] The sequence of patterns is both a summary of the language, and at the same time, an index to the patterns.\u0026rdquo; — \u0026lsquo;Summary of the language\u0026rsquo; p. xviii https://patternlanguage.cc/\nIt\u0026rsquo;s interesting to compare and contrast these two examples of a pre-Web, analogue hypertext. Both demonstrate significant elements of this self-indexing aspect. What Christopher Alexander said about his pattern language can also be seen in Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten. The sequence, whether of patterns or of notes, is both a summary and at the same time an index of itself.\nWhat I take from all this is the reminder that I don\u0026rsquo;t need to work too hard at indexing, provided my notes include a few links to other relevant notes.\nIf every note had just one link, then all the notes would be connected. In contrast, though, a note with no links (an \u0026lsquo;orphan\u0026rsquo;), will be very hard to find again, except via a full-text search. So I need just enough indexing to be useful, and no more. As Luhmann himself said:\n“The decision where to place what in the file can involve a great deal of randomness as long as I add references linking the other options” (Luhmann, 1987, p. 143, quoted in Schmidt, 58)\nWell, now it\u0026rsquo;s time for a confession: my own collection of notes has no keyword index at all.\nBut I wonder how much of a keyword index would be useful for my own collection of notes. My feeling is that there\u0026rsquo;s little point in creating a separate keyword index for two main reasons, as folllows.\nFirst, In the digital age we have at our fingertips something Luhmann never had: a full-text search capability. This means that any time I want to find all my notes containing a particular word, I can easily find them almost instantly. No need for an index just to find notes.\nSecond, it\u0026rsquo;s useful and efficient to do all my work on my notes in my notes. This means documenting my searches. Let\u0026rsquo;s say I want to find all my notes relating to a particular word, as in the case above. Rather than just doing the search, I also document it by creating a new note, perhaps named after the keyword I\u0026rsquo;m searching. The point is that there was a reason I wanted to do this particular search, and If I don\u0026rsquo;t document it, that particular information is forever lost. In contrast, by documenting my search I create a new note which may prove useful in future and which also acts as a kind of hub for future searches relating to this particular keyword.\nThis is similar, at least in spirit, to Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;hub notes\u0026rsquo; which Schmidt identifies:\n\u0026ldquo;The cards containing a collection of references are furthermore of interest because they represent so-called “hubs”, i.e., cards that function as nodes that feature an above-average number of links to other cards so that these few cards provide access points to extensive parts of the file.\u0026rdquo; (Schmidt, 58)\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a brief but useful section on hub notes in Chapter 6 of Bob Doto\u0026rsquo;s book, A System for Writing, which clearly shows how these differ from structure notes. I found this distinction subtle but helpful.\nSince I haven\u0026rsquo;t even got one, I\u0026rsquo;m not sure about giving advice on indexing, but if I was sure, I\u0026rsquo;d say this:\nMake a keyword index if it pleases you to do so, especially where the keyword doesn\u0026rsquo;t otherwise appear in your note. But observe over time how much use you gain from your index. The concepts of \u0026lsquo;self-indexing records\u0026rsquo; and \u0026lsquo;working on your notes in your notes\u0026rsquo; may provide new insights into the value of your index-work.\nReferences Alexander, Christopher. A pattern language: towns, buildings, construction. Oxford university press, 2018.\nByles, R.B. 1911. The card index system; its principles, uses, operation, and component parts. London, Sir I. Pitman \u0026amp; Sons, Ltd.\nDawes, Michael J., and Michael J. Ostwald. \u0026ldquo;The mathematical structure of Alexander’s A Pattern Language: An analysis of the role of invariant patterns.\u0026rdquo; Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science 47, no. 1 (2020): 7-24.\nDawes, Michael J., and Michael J. Ostwald. \u0026ldquo;Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language: analysing, mapping and classifying the critical response.\u0026rdquo; City, Territory and Architecture 4, no. 1 (2017): 17.\nDoto, Bob. A System for Writing. New Old Traditions, 2024.\nLuhmann, N. Biographie, AttitĂŒden, Zettelkasten. In N. Luhmann, Archimedes und wir. Interviews, edited by D. Baecker \u0026amp; G. Stanitzek (pp. 125–155). Berlin: Merve, 1987.\nRobertson, Craig. The filing cabinet: A vertical history of information. U of Minnesota Press, 2021.\nSchmidt, Johannes FK. \u0026ldquo;Niklas Luhmann’s Card Index: The Fabrication of Serendipity.\u0026rdquo; Sociologica 12, no. 1 (2018). Reprinted as Ch 10 in Practicing Sociology: Tacit Knowledge for the Social Scientific Craft, pp. 101-115. Columbia University Press, 2024.\nStay in the Writing Slowly loop and never miss a thing (unless I forgot to press \u0026lsquo;publish\u0026rsquo;, in which case, yeah, you might miss a thing). Anyway:\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-28 17:20:50 +1100", "date": "5:20 p.m. on Jan 28, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/28/create-a-note-system-that.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F28%2Fcreate-a-note-system-that.html" }, { "id": 329, "type": "post", "title": "Semantic line breaks are a feature of Markdown, not a bug", "text": "My writing process often begins with Markdown, a simple syntax for publication on the web.\nI love Markdown, but one thing has always bugged me. It\u0026rsquo;s a quirk of Markdown that simple line breaks are ignored, so that multi-line text in the source document becomes one long paragraph in the rendered html output. In other words, simply pressing Enter doesn\u0026rsquo;t result in a \u0026lt;br /\u0026gt; linebreak. Here\u0026rsquo;s what I mean. You can see the difference between the original Markdown text and the output rendered in html:\nThis is a sentence. Now I\u0026rsquo;ve started a new line, but I simply pressed \u0026rsquo;enter\u0026rsquo;. Look, I did it again. In the Markdown original, this shows up as separate sentences. But in the processed html it\u0026rsquo;s all one long paragraph. Yes, one long paragraph, which you\u0026rsquo;re reading right now. So is this a bug or a feature? Is it a feature or a bug?\nI added two spaces to the previous line to start a new paragraph.\nA blank line has a more pronounced effect.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve previously found this behaviour a bit annoying, but today I learned about semantic line breaks via sembr.org and it has completely changed the way I see line breaks working.\nFrom now on I\u0026rsquo;ll just write every sentence on its own line, and then choose where I want the paragraphs to break, simply by ending the line with two spaces.\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s the benefit?\nThis way I get to clarify my thoughts by limiting each sentence or clause to a single vertical line, while Markdown makes the paragraph formatting prettier for my readers.\nAs the semantic line break specification suggests,\nBy inserting line breaks at semantic boundaries, writers, editors, and other collaborators can make source text easier to work with, without affecting how it’s seen by readers.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not sure the creators of Markdown intended this1, but it\u0026rsquo;s how it works, and I can now take advantage of it. It used to bug me, but from now on it\u0026rsquo;s a feature.\nThis is an example of something simple that might be obvious to you, but which I didn\u0026rsquo;t understand till now. Do you have any other examples of similar obvious things that others may have overlooked? Or things you have overlooked that others find obvious? If so,I\u0026rsquo;d love to hear about them.\nThanks for reading. I\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. It\u0026rsquo;s a short and accessible introduction to the concept, available now. And if you liked this article, why not subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email digest?\nthe spec just says: \u0026ldquo;Yes, this takes a tad more effort to create a \u0026lt;br /\u0026gt;, but a simplistic “every line break is a \u0026lt;br /\u0026gt;” rule wouldn’t work for Markdown. \u0026quot;\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-13 10:30:00 +1100", "date": "10:30 p.m. on Jan 13, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/13/semantic-line-breaks-are-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F13%2Fsemantic-line-breaks-are-a.html" }, { "id": 330, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 \u0026ldquo;It was mainly a matter of transcribing and rearranging my notes\u0026hellip; My notes were like plans for a bridge. Writing the book was like building that bridge.\u0026rdquo; - John Gregory Dunne, The Studio, 1968.\nMaybe you can create coherent writing from a pile of notes after all. writingslowly.com\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-13 08:00:00 +1100", "date": "8:00 p.m. on Jan 13, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/13/it-was-mainly-a-matter.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F13%2Fit-was-mainly-a-matter.html" }, { "id": 331, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬“Read Montaigne, read him slowly, carefully! He will calm you . . . Read him from one end to the other, and, when you have finished, try again . . . But do not read, as children read, for fun, or as the ambitious read, to instruct you. No. Read to live.” - Gustave Flaubert\nJust what is \u0026lsquo;close reading\u0026rsquo;, anyway? writingslowly.com\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-12 22:00:13 +1100", "date": "10:00 p.m. on Jan 12, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/12/read-montaigne-read-him-slowly.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F12%2Fread-montaigne-read-him-slowly.html" }, { "id": 332, "type": "post", "title": "Maybe you can create coherent writing from a pile of notes after all", "text": "\u0026ldquo;My notes were like plans for a bridge\u0026rdquo;.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve argued that you can\u0026rsquo;t create good writing just by mashing your notes together and hoping for the best. That\u0026rsquo;s the illusion of connected thought, I\u0026rsquo;ve said, because you can\u0026rsquo;t create coherent writing just from a pile of notes.\nWell, maybe I was wrong.\nPerhaps a strong or experienced writer can do exactly that. Here\u0026rsquo;s John Gregory Dunne, the journalist husband of Joan Didion, in the Foreword to his 1968 book on Hollywood, The Studio:\nI imagine he wasn\u0026rsquo;t just a good writer, though.\nSurely he was first a very good note-maker.\nI\u0026rsquo;d like to hear about people\u0026rsquo;s experiences, good and bad, of using their notes to create longer pieces of writing. Was it like building a bridge, or perhaps like building a bridge out of jelly?\nHT: Alan Jacobs, who draws a different but very valid lesson from the anecdote.\nStay in the Writing Slowly loop and never miss a thing (unless you don\u0026rsquo;t get round to opening your emails, in which case, yeah, you might miss a thing. Anyway:\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-12 19:42:07 +1100", "date": "7:42 p.m. on Jan 12, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/12/maybe-you-can-create-coherent.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F12%2Fmaybe-you-can-create-coherent.html" }, { "id": 333, "type": "post", "title": "Read better, read closer", "text": "For anyone seeking clues on better techniques for reading, Scott Newstok, author of How to Think Like Shakespeare, has created a marvelous resource: a close reading archive. Here is where all your close reading questions will be answered, including, what is it? how do you do it? what have people done with it? and does it have a future in a digital age?\nClose reading is one of those two-word phrases that seem to take on a life of their own. Anyone connected to the humanities has probably heard of it, but it\u0026rsquo;s not necessarily well understood. Is it finished? Apparently not. Not at all.\nProfessor Newstok\u0026rsquo;s close reading archive is an openly available companion to John Guillory\u0026rsquo;s cultural history, On Close Reading, published January 2025.\nNewstok is also editor of a book on Montaigne\u0026rsquo;s view of teaching, which is how I discovered Gustave Flaubert\u0026rsquo;s endorsement of what might perhaps be seen as a kind of close reading avant la lettre1:\n“Read Montaigne, read him slowly, carefully! He will calm you . . . Read him from one end to the other, and, when you have finished, try again . . . But do not read, as children read, for fun, or as the ambitious read, to instruct you. No. Read to live.”\nNow consider: three ways to make notes while reading.\nFor even more, please subscribe.\nbut don\u0026rsquo;t take my word for it, what do I know? Read the book and the close reading archive.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-10 19:16:40 +1100", "date": "7:16 p.m. on Jan 10, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/10/read-better-read-closer.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F10%2Fread-better-read-closer.html" }, { "id": 334, "type": "post", "title": "Improve your notes (and your life) with two-word phrases", "text": "Since my notes are mainly modular, it\u0026rsquo;s fairly easy to connect two seemingly separate ideas or concepts to create a new one.\nI\u0026rsquo;m intrigued by how important this activity of recombination has been in the history of innovation. For example, in 1929 the American inventor Edwin Link took the vacuum tubes, motors and bellows from his family\u0026rsquo;s player piano business and reconfigured them to create the Link Trainer. Despite its improbable origin and strikingly bad looks, this was a pioneering flight simulator that during World War 2 trained nearly half a million pilots. And it was made out of organ parts!\nAs I\u0026rsquo;ve said before, from fragments you can build a greater whole.\nA phrase made only of two juxtaposed words, like \u0026lsquo;flight simulator\u0026rsquo;, can be a remarkably evocative thing. Choose the right two words and as if by magic, you\u0026rsquo;ve created a memorable phrase, a new brand, or even the kernel of an innovative technology.\nIn the social sciences they have been termed sensitizing concepts - which itself is a kind of two-word brand. When they\u0026rsquo;re working well, such phrases don\u0026rsquo;t really define something, rather they evoke it. In 1954 the sociologist Herbert Blumer, who originated that phrase, offered some examples from his field:\n\u0026ldquo;mores, social institutions, attitudes, social class, value, cultural norm, personality, reference group, social structure, primary group, social process, social system, urbanization, accommodation, differential discrimination and social control\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\nNote how many of these sensitizing concepts are two-word phrases. And note how many of these are still in use today. Pretty much all of them, although I\u0026rsquo;m not sure \u0026lsquo;differential discrimination\u0026rsquo; trips off the tongue\u0026hellip;\nSuch phrases are tremendously evocative. Once you\u0026rsquo;ve seen a concept like \u0026lsquo;social class\u0026rsquo; or \u0026lsquo;cultural norm\u0026rsquo;, your whole world shifts slightly and it\u0026rsquo;s hard to un-see it.\nThink, too, of some more recent examples, such as \u0026rsquo;tipping point\u0026rsquo;, \u0026lsquo;bowling alone\u0026rsquo;, \u0026lsquo;shock doctrine\u0026rsquo;, \u0026lsquo;atomic habits\u0026rsquo;. In each of these cases, the ability of the thinker to invent and develop the apposite phrase has effectively made their careers.\nIf the phrase is strong enough, it brands the originator with no further explanation needed. Even a seemingly awkward phrase, at the right time, can break out into popular recognition. Take \u0026lsquo;intersectional feminism\u0026rsquo; - a concept that took a while to get going but then seemed to be everywhere and remains indelibly linked to the name of its originator, KimberlĂ© Crenshaw.\nAnd then there\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;brain rot\u0026rsquo;, a term first coined in Henry David Thoreau\u0026rsquo;s 1854 book Walden.\nFully 170 years later, brain rot was named as the Oxford word of the year for 2024. Well, sometimes it takes a moment for an idea to catch on. But in the end, \u0026lsquo;brain rot\u0026rsquo; beat several shortlisted words, including \u0026lsquo;dynamic pricing\u0026rsquo;. Thoreau, incidentally, had an intriguing working method, where he saw his written thoughts as \u0026lsquo;nesteggs\u0026rsquo;.\nIn the world of business, the two-word phrase dominates. Think of Home Depot, Mastercard, Microsoft, Netflix, PayPal, FaceBook, Instagram, Bitcoin or even that parody two word brand, TikTok. Ironically perhaps, TikTok is specifically named as having helped make brain rot a discussion point.\nThere are endless definitive products known by two words cleverly jammed together by marketers in search of a trademark: Band-Aid, Chapstick (or is it lip balm?), bubble wrap, dry ice, fibreglass, ping pong, super glue and super-heroes, video tape, memory stick, cell phone and crock-pot.\nMeanwhile, in the German-speaking world, they\u0026rsquo;ve created a whole culture from compound nouns. It must be the Zeitgeist 1.\nBack in the Anglo-sphere, though2, whether its a product (vegan cheese) or a concept (standpoint epistemology), the two-word phrase rules. I\u0026rsquo;d go so far as to suggest that for any idea to gain an audience it could benefit from the two word treatment.\nThis ubiquity not only helps with promoting your bright idea, it also helps to show how to discover your bright idea in the first place. Just think of two previously unrelated concepts or objects and join them together. Mostly this won\u0026rsquo;t work, but sometimes, just sometimes, it will.\nI used to live in the United Kingdom3, where the pubs4 sell \u0026lsquo;pork scratchings\u0026rsquo;. Sadly this is a popular snack, which is just wrong. Although, I will reluctantly concede that if you\u0026rsquo;re going to eat something called \u0026lsquo;scratchings\u0026rsquo;, you might do worse than the pork variety.\nThis illustrates a caution I want to end with: there may only be two words at stake, but you have to choose the right two words. Who ever heard of a car depot, a car stack or a car field? No, it\u0026rsquo;s obviously a car park.\nUnless, that is, it\u0026rsquo;s obviously a parking station.\nI\u0026rsquo;d love to hear what two-word phrases you\u0026rsquo;ve coined lately. And if you don\u0026rsquo;t want to miss out on writingslowly, you are strongly advised to subscribe to my weekly(ish) news letter. It\u0026rsquo;s like a blog but more fashionable because it\u0026rsquo;s an email. Now that\u0026rsquo;s progress!\nReferences:\nBlumer, Herbert. 1954. \u0026ldquo;What is Wrong with Social Theory.\u0026rdquo; American Sociological Review 18: 3-10.\nDavis, Kathy. 2008. ‘Intersectionality as Buzzword: A Sociology of Science Perspective on What Makes a Feminist Theory Successful’. Feminist Theory 9 (1): 67–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700108086364.\nRichmond, Michele. The Etymology of Parking. Arnoldia – Volume 73, Issue 2 The Etymology of Parking - Arnold Arboretum PDF\nImage by Bzuk (talk) - Own work (Original text: I (Bzuk (talk)) created this work entirely by myself.), Public Domain, Link\nCheck out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters.\nlook what I did!\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nwhoops, I did it again\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nnow I can\u0026rsquo;t stop\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\npublic houses, that is\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-09 22:54:34 +1100", "date": "10:54 p.m. on Jan 9, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/09/improve-your-notes-and-your.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F09%2Fimprove-your-notes-and-your.html" }, { "id": 335, "type": "post", "title": "Year in books for 2024", "text": "Happy New Year!\nHere are some of the books I finished reading in 2024.\nHappy New Year!\nDo you have annual reading goals? And do you kep a record of your reading? I posted a little gallery of the books I finished reading in 2024. Micro.blog, the web service I use, is great for this. But it only works if I actually use it! Which is why only some of my reading was captured.\nSo my reading resolution for 2025 is to be more systematic in recording my reading.\nIn the past few years I\u0026rsquo;ve set a target. This has helped me to understand my reading cadence, but now I know it, I don\u0026rsquo;t really need a target any more. It\u0026rsquo;s not like there\u0026rsquo;s a big reward to be had for reading 1000 books a year!\nHow about you? How do you keep track? What works? And do you have any specific book goals for 2025?\n", "dateiso": "2025-01-05 09:23:00 +1100", "date": "9:23 p.m. on Jan 5, 2025", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2025/01/05/year-in-books-for.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2025%2F01%2F05%2Fyear-in-books-for.html" }, { "id": 336, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Here\u0026rsquo;s a fascinating podcast episode about Andrew Hui\u0026rsquo;s new book. The Study.\n\u0026ldquo;With the advent of print in the fifteenth century, Europe\u0026rsquo;s cultural elite assembled personal libraries as refuges from persecutions and pandemics. Andrew Hui tells the remarkable story of the Renaissance studiolo\u0026ndash;a \u0026ldquo;little studio\u0026rdquo;\u0026ndash;and reveals how these spaces dedicated to self-cultivation became both a remedy and a poison for the soul.\u0026rdquo;\nnewbooksnetwork.com/the-study\nI\u0026rsquo;ve written previously about the ideal creative environment, but the history of the studiolo is new to me.\n", "dateiso": "2024-12-02 08:20:21 +1100", "date": "8:20 p.m. on Dec 2, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/12/02/heres-a-fascinating.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F12%2F02%2Fheres-a-fascinating.html" }, { "id": 337, "type": "post", "title": "Zettelkasten anti-patterns", "text": "When developing your Zettelkasten, your collection of linked notes, what have you learned not to do?\nMathematician Alex Nelson keeps a paper Zettelkasten, and has posted online about how he does it. He calls this Zettelkasten best practices.\nBut Nelson also lists some \u0026lsquo;worst practices\u0026rsquo; to avoid, which he calls anti-patterns.\nSo I\u0026rsquo;m wondering, do you have any other examples of \u0026lsquo;Zettelkasten anti-patterns\u0026rsquo; from your own experience?\nFor reference, here are the \u0026lsquo;anti-patterns\u0026rsquo; Nelson identifies. I\u0026rsquo;m not going to explain these here, though, because you can read the post for yourself:\nUsing the Zettelkasten (or Bibliography Apparatus) as a Database\nCollecting Reading Notes without writing Permanent Notes\nTreating Blank Reading Notes as “To Read” list\nForgetting to write notes while reading\nAre there any more Zettelkasten worst practices, and how have you avoided them?\n", "dateiso": "2024-12-01 18:32:34 +1100", "date": "6:32 p.m. on Dec 1, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/12/01/zettelkasten-antipatterns.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F12%2F01%2Fzettelkasten-antipatterns.html" }, { "id": 338, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 “Put something on the Web, and do it for free”.\nthehistoryoftheweb.com/the-free-\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-27 18:14:28 +1100", "date": "6:14 p.m. on Nov 27, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/27/put-something-on.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F27%2Fput-something-on.html" }, { "id": 339, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Here\u0026rsquo;s one for the #Zettelkasten and #PKM tragics: a dive into the pre-history of \u0026lsquo;atomic notes\u0026rsquo;.\nwritingslowly.com/2024/11/2\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-26 08:15:51 +1100", "date": "8:15 p.m. on Nov 26, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/26/heres-one-for.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F26%2Fheres-one-for.html" }, { "id": 340, "type": "post", "title": "Atomic notes and the unit record principle", "text": "Thinking about atomic notes Researcher Andy Matuschak talks about atomicity in notes, an idea also developed by the creators of the Archive note app, at zettelkasten.de.\nTo make a note \u0026lsquo;atomic\u0026rsquo; is to emphasise a single idea rather than several. An atomic note is simplex rather than multiplex. And this form of simplicity relates to the idea of \u0026lsquo;separation of concerns\u0026rsquo; in computer programming.\nBack to the unit record principle But the idea is much older than this. I found something very similar described in 1909, in The Story of Library Bureau.\nLibrary Bureau was the company Melvil Dewey (of Dewey Decimal System fame) established in 1876 to sell library catalogue equipment. But in the late 1880s the company realised that library cataloguing principles could be adapted to the rapidly expanding business world, which would open up new markets for record-keeping equipment and furniture.\nIn The Story of Library Bureau, atomicity of information is called \u0026ldquo;the unit record principle in business\u0026rdquo;. This concept pre-dates the digital era and to a significant extent the digital era presupposes it.The unit record principle is simple, and these days it seems quite obvious. It\u0026rsquo;s the idea that all the information on an individual unit (whatever it is) can be stored on a single record. This is quite different from the previously dominant record-keeping practice of maintaining leger books. The unit record principle, it is claimed, is made possible by the system of index cards. This system, known commercially as the \u0026lsquo;business system\u0026rsquo;, was developed especially in the late 19th Century, in conjunction with the explosion of record-keeping requirements relating to the emergence of mass production.\nThe rise and fall of the wonder-working card system Around the turn of the century office furniture suppliers expanded greatly. They both emulated the Library Bureau and competed with it. Each company - Rand Ledger, American Kardex, Clarke and Baker, and many others, developed its own range of office furniture and its own spin on what to do with it. To justify the wide variety of filing equipment they had begun to sell, they also marketed various record-keeping techniques, including the use of index cards rather than the more traditional \u0026lsquo;book-keeping\u0026rsquo; methods. The efficiency of the unit record principle led directly to the development of electromechanical tabulating machines for processing data, which Herman Hollerith invented in 1889. Collectively this tabulating machinery was known as unit record equipment, as it relied on unit records, now in the form of punched cards. Hollerith\u0026rsquo;s company became CTR, then International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924. In 1927 Library Bureau merged into Remington Rand. These businesses and their paper-based legacies eventually led directly to the digital world we all know.\nWriting today: between a rock and a hard place These days, we\u0026rsquo;re stuck between two quite different approaches to writing.\nThe first approach to writing is the word processing principle, which no one talks about but which is hidden in plain sight. Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and similar word processing applications assume there is no discrete \u0026lsquo;unit\u0026rsquo;. It just goes on and on, and on. Even the page, a unit previously well understood, has been obliterated by the metaphor of the endless roll of paper that Microsoft Word offers. Once you start writing there\u0026rsquo;s no indication of where or when to stop. By default, page breaks don\u0026rsquo;t happen. The text just rolls onwards to the next page, and towards infinity.\nThe second approach to writing is the endlessly flexible block approach taken by WordPress with its Gutenberg interface. This second approach is also seen in personal knowledge applications such as Notion and Capacities. In this metaphor you\u0026rsquo;re not really writing at all any more. Instead you\u0026rsquo;re just creating variegated blocks of content. A heading here, a paragraph here, an embedded quote or video or image here. Now there are plenty of \u0026lsquo;units\u0026rsquo;, but no guidance on what they are. They\u0026rsquo;re arbitrary, just \u0026lsquo;whatever you like\u0026rsquo;.\nNotice how both of these leading metaphors - the endless scroll and the flexible block - are really more about the software than about a real concern for your writing process. Every medium contains (and assumes) its own demands, and it\u0026rsquo;s always been that way. For example, printing would never have taken off if everyone still expected book pages to be made of vellum, not paper. Gutenberg\u0026rsquo;s printing revolution more or less required paper (please correct me if I misunderstood this1).\nBut paper has its own limits too. As you might have noticed, it\u0026rsquo;s hard to write on a paper notebook in the bath, or while running. So I\u0026rsquo;m not blaming modern digital tools for forcing you to work in certain ways and with particular assumptions about what\u0026rsquo;s possible. It has always been like that.\nA more useful metaphor for writing? In thinking about the unit record principle, an idea that seemed radical in the 1880s, I\u0026rsquo;m not simply indulging in nostalgia. Rather, I\u0026rsquo;m questioning whether our current metaphors for the medium of writing, though almost invisible, are as inevitable as they appear.\nMeanwhile in my own practice I\u0026rsquo;m seeking to uncover something still missing in the 21st century: the shortest repeatable writing session that could possibly be useful. Not an endless scroll, nor an endlessly variable block, but a simple, atomic, modular note. Each note follows a basic, repeatable template, so these simple notes connect and link to one another, and so they may cluster and combine to form larger units of writing, while avoiding unnecessary complexity. From fragments you can build a greater whole.\nNot everyone warms to this approach. I\u0026rsquo;m aware that since the rise of new database models, it may seem laughably old-fashioned to return to unit records. But I\u0026rsquo;m interested in the felt user-experience as a writer, not only in the underlying code. And for me, there\u0026rsquo;s still some wonder to be found in the old card system2. Some scoff at the idea of splitting ideas up in this seemingly arbitrary way. Yet they don\u0026rsquo;t mock words, sentences, or paragraphs. These are all more or less arbitrary ways of making ideas atomic, and even database models need \u0026rsquo;entities\u0026rsquo;, not so far removed from the unit record principle, so I\u0026rsquo;m not sure what\u0026rsquo;s going on here.\nIn 1455 Gutenberg printed 180 copies of his famous Bible. Three quarters of them were printed on paper and only a quarter on vellum, which was much more expensive.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nnot to mention several important practical affordances.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-25 21:31:21 +1100", "date": "9:31 p.m. on Nov 25, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/25/atomic-notes-and.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F25%2Fatomic-notes-and.html" }, { "id": 341, "type": "post", "title": "How to write a better note without melting your brain", "text": "There\u0026rsquo;s a great line in Bob Doto\u0026rsquo;s book A System for Writing which goes like this:\n\u0026ldquo;The note you just took has yet to realize its potential.\u0026rdquo;\nHaven\u0026rsquo;t you ever looked at your notes and had the same thought? So much potential\u0026hellip; yet so little actual đŸ« .\nPerhaps you jotted something down a couple of days or weeks ago and returning to it now you can\u0026rsquo;t remember what you meant to say, or what you were thinking of at the time.\nOr perhaps you made a great note then, but now you can\u0026rsquo;t find it.\nOr maybe you just know your note connects to another great thought\u0026hellip; but you can\u0026rsquo;t for the life of you remember what.\nWell I already make plenty of half-baked notes like these, but how can I make them better? It\u0026rsquo;s not something they teach in school, so most of us don\u0026rsquo;t even realize there\u0026rsquo;s untapped potential, if only we could access it.\nSo, how can I make worthwhile notes from my almost illegible scribbles on the fly? Well, here\u0026rsquo;s what works for me. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;ll work for you too.\nWhen writing my notes, I just have a few simple rules that I mostly stick to:\n📄 Plain text (Markdown) notes. 💡 Each note is a single idea with a unique ID. đŸȘ„ Each note deserves a clear title. 🔗 Notes link meaningfully to other notes. Each of these points is a learnable mini-skill in its own right, but none of them is complicated1. And I don\u0026rsquo;t start from there. Often I really am just scribbling anything that comes to mind. But inspired by Bob\u0026rsquo;s note mantra, and in search of my note\u0026rsquo;s hidden potential, I get right to work.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s not much of a note, but it\u0026rsquo;s my own.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s how I take a \u0026lsquo;bad\u0026rsquo; or very basic fleeting note, and turn it into a serviceable main (or permanent) note2:\nStart with a quick and dirty note, however rough. I might write it on a card. I might write it on my shoe: \"I'd like to write something about Tim Ingold's view of creativity\".\nOK, it may not be much of a note, but at least it's something to start with.\nNext, if there\u0026rsquo;s a reference, make sure I\u0026rsquo;ve captured it: \"I'd like to write something about Tim Ingold's view of creativity. See: Ingold, Tim, 'The textility of making'. Cambridge Journal of Economics 2010, 34, 91–102 doi:10.1093/cje/bep042 pdf.\"\nNow add a tiny bit of context, so my future self might understand the value I\u0026rsquo;m seeing right now but no doubt will soon forget: \"I'd like to write something about anthropologist Tim Ingold's view of creativity. He contrasts textilic modes of creation (i.e. weaving) with architectonic modes (i.e. architecture). The latter requires aiming for an ideal outcome, whereas the former entails going where the materials take you, going with the flow. In fact, creativity is more about flow than stasis, more about 'itineration' (wayfaring) than iteration (making an object), he says.\nReference: Ingold, Tim, 'The textility of making'. Cambridge Journal of Economics 2010, 34, 91–102 doi:10.1093/cje/bep042 pdf.\"\nAlso add at least one link. This note might link to another one called \u0026lsquo;Creativity involves flow\u0026rsquo;. And it\u0026rsquo;s inviting me to start another one entitled \u0026ldquo;Writing ideas\u0026rdquo;, so I\u0026rsquo;ll add that.\nFinally, create a strong declarative title and an ID: \u0026ldquo;202411042258 Creativity involves weaving and wayfaring\u0026rdquo; So now I have an excellent note3 and it looks a bit like this:\n202411042258 Creativity involves weaving and wayfaring\nI'd like to write a little article about anthropologist Tim Ingold's view of creativity. He contrasts textilic modes of creation (i.e. weaving?) with architectonic modes (i.e. architecture?). The latter requires aiming for an ideal outcome, whereas the former entails going where the materials take you, going with the flow. In fact, creativity is more about flow than stasis, more about the process than the blueprint, and more about 'itineration' (wayfaring) than iteration (making an object), he says.\nLinks:\n202411042250 Creativity involves flow.\n202411042306 Writing ideas.\nReference:\nIngold, Tim, 'The textility of making'. Cambridge Journal of Economics 2010, 34, 91–102 doi:10.1093/cje/bep042 pdf.\nNow my note is more useful than the original fleeting note that started it, because:\nit\u0026rsquo;s a single idea (i.e. it makes a point); it has a clear title; - I can find it again; it links to my existing ideas; and it has already spawned an additional new note. True, this was a bit of work, but it will be worth it to be able to return to this note and make something else from it. It\u0026rsquo;s a repeatable process based on my four simple rules. This basic process for writing valuable and enduring notes has helped me gain clarity, focus and momentum, without getting overwhelmed by a fancy system. I hope it helps you.\nI recommend just getting started and learning as you go, but if you want more detail:\nread Bob Doto\u0026rsquo;s great book, A System for Writing, or watch Morgan\u0026rsquo;s helpful video, How to take notes that actually help you think and write. more from me on a minimal approach to writing notes. I\u0026rsquo;d like to hear how you already make effective notes, so please let me know on micro.blog, Mastodon or Bluesky.\nThis article is based on a comment I made on the Zettelkasten subreddit.\nSubscribe to a weekly email round-up of this site:\nI\u0026rsquo;ve probably written something about each on my site, try the built-in search if you\u0026rsquo;re interested.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nThese names are flexible. The point is, you start with a scrappy note and end with a serviceable note.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nYes, I\u0026rsquo;m big-noting myself, as we say in Australia.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-24 17:31:08 +1100", "date": "5:31 p.m. on Nov 24, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/24/how-to-write.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F24%2Fhow-to-write.html" }, { "id": 342, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "In The Atlantic Arthur Brooks suggests three ways to become a deeper thinker. He also ‘solves’ a famous koan. Meanwhile, my suggestion for deeper thought is simple: make notes.\nI still can’t solve koans though.\n#PKM #zettelkasten\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-24 15:46:39 +1100", "date": "3:46 p.m. on Nov 24, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/24/in-the-atlantic.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F24%2Fin-the-atlantic.html" }, { "id": 343, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "TIL there’s a tracker for bogong moths! What? Yes, the iconic, endangered species that keeps the critically endangered Mountain Pygmy-possums fed. Thanks for asking. #australianwildlife\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-23 09:59:00 +1100", "date": "9:59 p.m. on Nov 23, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/23/til-theres-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F23%2Ftil-theres-a.html" }, { "id": 344, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The future: They touted a slow race between 1984 and Brave New World. Instead it\u0026rsquo;s a sprint to the finish for The Handmaid\u0026rsquo;s Tale and Parable of the Sower. My money\u0026rsquo;s on Octavia. Came for the hope, stayed for the resistance.\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-22 11:13:50 +1100", "date": "11:13 p.m. on Nov 22, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/22/the-future-they.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F22%2Fthe-future-they.html" }, { "id": 345, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Want to read: On Mysticism by Simon Critchley 📚 Having written about Julian of Norwich as a sci-fi author, I\u0026rsquo;m very interested in philosopher Simon Critchley\u0026rsquo;s angle. #philosophy #religion\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-21 13:13:02 +1100", "date": "1:13 p.m. on Nov 21, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/21/want-to-read.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F21%2Fwant-to-read.html" }, { "id": 346, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ—šïž Keanu Heydari on the value of the #Zettelkasten.\n\u0026ldquo;Maintaining a zettelkasten is, in itself, an exercise in Stoic care of the self (epimeleia heautou). This practice is not merely about external organization but about cultivating inner freedom through discipline, mindfulness, and deliberate engagement with knowledge.\u0026rdquo;\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-21 10:04:10 +1100", "date": "10:04 p.m. on Nov 21, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/21/keanu-heydari-on.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F21%2Fkeanu-heydari-on.html" }, { "id": 347, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Just returned from hiking in New Zealand, where the sky was blue and the politics torrid. I learned of the Dawn Raids. We can all learn from this shameful history of bungled deportation.\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-21 08:40:17 +1100", "date": "8:40 p.m. on Nov 21, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/21/just-returned-from.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F21%2Fjust-returned-from.html" }, { "id": 348, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Do I prefer Mastodon or Bluesky? No need to choose, just cross-post from my blog using micro.blog. POSSE FTW.\n”You can automatically cross-post your microblog posts to Medium, Mastodon, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Flickr, Bluesky, Nostr, Pixelfed, and Threads.”\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-20 22:55:48 +1100", "date": "10:55 p.m. on Nov 20, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/20/do-i-prefer.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F20%2Fdo-i-prefer.html" }, { "id": 349, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Lots of interest in Bluesky lately. I signed up a year ago. Although I hate venture-funded projects, I loved what Paul Frazee did with beaker Browser and want to check out the next iteration. Micro.blog does automatic posting to Bluesky, so it’s POSSE all the way.\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-20 22:43:22 +1100", "date": "10:43 p.m. on Nov 20, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/20/lots-of-interest.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F20%2Flots-of-interest.html" }, { "id": 350, "type": "post", "title": "Not just notes: another meaning of 'Zettel'", "text": "In German, Zettelkasten, quite simply, means \u0026rsquo;note box\u0026rsquo;. But there\u0026rsquo;s another, more hidden meaning of the word Zettel (note) that even German-speakers may know nothing of.\nAll the same, it\u0026rsquo;s useful for thinking with.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s Esther Yi in the New Yorker, writing about the epic task of translating Arno Schmidt\u0026rsquo;s monumental work of experimental fiction, \u0026lsquo;Zettels Traum\u0026rsquo;. Schmidt was one of several German authors strongly influenced by the Irish writer James Joyce (see this video).\n\u0026ldquo;He compiled roughly a hundred and twenty thousand scraps of paper, or Zettel, in shallow wooden boxes, which he spread out on his desk. On each Zettel, there was written a bit of dialogue or sexual wordplay (“Im=pussy=bell’–!”) or a literary quote rerouted through his one-track mind (“the fleshy man=drake’s stem. / That shrieks, when torn at night”). After twenty-five thousand hours of knitting the pieces together, Schmidt handed the manuscript to his publisher in a large cardboard box tied with a curtain sash.\nThe title “Zettel’s Traum” is drawn from a German translation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The last name of the weaver, Nick Bottom, was changed to Zettel, which not only means a slip of paper but also the warp used in weaving1.\u0026rdquo;\nA Great Translator Takes on One Final and Nearly Impossible Project.\nArno Schmidt\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten is an extraordinary sight to behold. You can see it in a short video (at 4:15). And you can see a short video of the book he made from it, too.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve wondered in the past whether this second meaning of Zettel - the warp thread in weaving - might explain the German term \u0026lsquo;Verzetteln\u0026rsquo;, which apparently means to get lost in the detail. Etymologically, this is probably the case, since this version of the word comes from a verb meaning to scatter. This is quite different from the origin of Zettel as a note, which comes from the Italian cedola. Reference\nBut I suspect the entire composition process of Schmidt\u0026rsquo;s novel Zettels Traum might itself have been a double entendre, since the book is meticulously woven together from countless threads, each of which is a note. As the New Yorker article observes, \u0026ldquo;If “Zettel’s Traum” is a tapestry, then Zettels are its Zettel.\u0026rdquo;\nIn following these lines of thought I\u0026rsquo;m strongly influenced by anthropologist Tim Ingold, who views weaving as a fundamental mode of creativity (it has to do with German etymology again), and who sees weaving and writing as closely connected.\nThese musings led me further, to Latticework, a prototype knowledge interface (i.e. fancy notes app) from Matthew Siu and Andy Matuschak (of Andy\u0026rsquo;s Notes \u0026lsquo;fame\u0026rsquo;). I like how they also identify, at least in the word lattice, the warp and weft, in-and-out, texile-like nature of writing. It\u0026rsquo;s still very much a prototype, in the shape of an Obsidian plug-in, but it looks like a promising and intriguing start.\nImage credits:\nPhoto of a weaver by Joel Heard on Unsplash. Still of Zettels Traum pages from a video by Ralf Wasselowski.\nmy emphasis\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-10 20:24:33 +1100", "date": "8:24 p.m. on Nov 10, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/10/not-just-notes.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F10%2Fnot-just-notes.html" }, { "id": 351, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "This year, for Halloween, I’m wearing normal clothes. Somebody asked me, “What are you supposed to be?” I said, “I’m a former gifted child. I was supposed to be a lot of things.”\nMitchW https://mitchw.blog/2024/10/31/this-year-for.html The horror!\n", "dateiso": "2024-11-01 13:39:30 +1100", "date": "1:39 p.m. on Nov 1, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/11/01/this-year-for.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F11%2F01%2Fthis-year-for.html" }, { "id": 352, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 “Are you curious about your world? If so, what does your curiosity look like? How does it feel, and how does it move? And could you expand your repertoire of curiosity? In other words, could you practise curiousity differently?” - Busybody, hunter, dancer - which is your curiosity style?\n", "dateiso": "2024-10-30 01:57:52 +1100", "date": "1:57 p.m. on Oct 30, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/10/30/are-you-curious.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F10%2F30%2Fare-you-curious.html" }, { "id": 353, "type": "post", "title": "Busybody, hunter, dancer - which is your curiosity style?", "text": "Are you curious about your world? If so, what does your curiosity look like? How does it feel, and how does it move? And could you expand your repertoire of curiosity?\nIn other words, could you practise curiousity differently?\nHere\u0026rsquo;s political philosopher Perry Zurn on three kinesthetic modes of curiosity, the busybody, the hunter, and the dancer:\n\u0026ldquo;If the busybody breaches the social world in order to collect novel bits of information, and if the hunter focuses intently on one piece of information that exceeds the knowledge network and yet already has social significance, the dancer may rupture knowledge and social networks by either jumping to a new idea or throwing existing ideas into a new frame. Driven neither by secrets nor by necessity, the dancer is an experimenter, breaking with traditional pathways of investigation. Their ideational sphere is characterized by discontinuity, the creation of new concepts, and by radically remodeling knowledge networks.\u0026rdquo; (Zurn 2019:40)\nThe first two modes, busybody and hunter, stem from time-honoured, traditional understandings of curiosity, which come from the classical Greeks and Romans onwards. The third mode, the dancer, is informed by the philosopher Nietzsche\u0026rsquo;s focus on dance as an analogy for the creative imagination.\nFor Nietzsche, life\u0026rsquo;s ultimate question was: \u0026lsquo;Does it dance?\u0026rsquo;\nI\u0026rsquo;m intrigued by Zurn\u0026rsquo;s project of exploring the social and political implications of curiosity. It seems obvious that authoritarian regimes would discourage a curious public, but the connections between curiosity, creative freedom, and politics have hardly been examined in a rigorous manner.\nHaving read about Zurn et al.\u0026rsquo;s 2024 research on how Wikipedia users create and navigate knowledge networks, I\u0026rsquo;d now like to read Zurn\u0026rsquo;s book, 📚Curious Minds. The Power of Connection. This was co-written by Zurn\u0026rsquo;s identical twin, Dani S. Bassett.\nMeanwhile, here\u0026rsquo;s a đŸŽ™ïžpodcast discussion about Zurn\u0026rsquo;s previous book, 📚Curiosity and Power. The Politics of Inquiry.\nAnd my fall down this particular rabbit hole has led further down, to Lynn Borton\u0026rsquo;s excellent and encyclopedic podcast/radio show, đŸŽ™ïžChoose to be Curious. OK, that\u0026rsquo;s my listening sorted for a little while.\nI\u0026rsquo;m interested in all this, partly because I identify quite strongly with this \u0026lsquo;dancer\u0026rsquo; mode of curiosity - making and pursuing links across otherwise disconnected fields.\nPerhaps you might also find this perspective illuminating or useful.\nAnd further, the typology of busybody, hunter and dancer also seems to have something to contribute to my understanding and practices of making notes. \u0026lsquo;Radically remodeling knowledge networks\u0026rsquo;, as Zurm puts it, is something I\u0026rsquo;m very interested in.\nSo if you too write notes, you might also get something of value from this discussion.\nCuriosity: it might not be fatal\n", "dateiso": "2024-10-29 18:01:49 +1100", "date": "6:01 p.m. on Oct 29, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/10/29/busybody-hunter-dancer.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F10%2F29%2Fbusybody-hunter-dancer.html" }, { "id": 354, "type": "post", "title": "Three styles of curiosity - so which one is yours?", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m interested in what it means to be curious. So I was intrigued by a new study about curiosity that I found via The Conversation.\nThe study examined the different ways nearly half a million Wikipedia users read their way through its massive network of articles. It turns out these can be characterised as three different styles of curiosity.\nThe authors write:\n\u0026ldquo;By measuring the structure of knowledge networks constructed by readers weaving a thread through articles in Wikipedia, we replicate two styles of curiosity previously identified in laboratory studies: the nomadic “busybody” and the targeted “hunter.” Further, we find evidence for another style—the “dancer”\u0026rdquo;.\nAnd what are these different styles? In very brief summary:\n\u0026ldquo;The busybody scouts for loose threads of novelty, the hunter pursues specific answers in a projectile path, and the dancer leaps in creative breaks with tradition across typically siloed areas of knowledge.\u0026rdquo;\nI immediately identified with the \u0026lsquo;dancer\u0026rsquo; style, though as the researchers\u0026rsquo; work reflects, it depends on the kind of information I\u0026rsquo;m looking for. Going deeper, I found the analysis of knowledge networks really interesting.\nAnd the description of the \u0026lsquo;dancer\u0026rsquo; style certainly resonated with what I\u0026rsquo;ve learned about note-making according to the Zettelkasten approach:\n\u0026ldquo;This type of curiosity is described as a dance in which disparate concepts, typically conceived of as unrelated, are briefly linked in unique ways as the curious individual leaps and bounds across traditionally siloed areas of knowledge. Such brief linking fosters the generation or creation of new experiences, ideas, and thoughts.\u0026rdquo;\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a lot more to unpack from this article, and I\u0026rsquo;m going to be thinking about it for a while. For example, is there really a \u0026lsquo;goldilocks\u0026rsquo; setting for curiosity - just enough to be useful, not so much as to overwhelm? I guess there must be, but I don\u0026rsquo;t know how you\u0026rsquo;d find it. For me the goldilocks setting isn\u0026rsquo;t to expand or else rein in my curiosity, but rather to find tools and especially techniques to enable me to make the most of my curiosity.\nReferences:\nDale Zhou et al., Architectural styles of curiosity in global Wikipedia mobile app readership.Sci. Adv.10,eadn3268(2024).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adn3268\nImage: Giordano Dance Chicago. Wikimedia, [Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International](Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International).\n", "dateiso": "2024-10-28 11:34:38 +1100", "date": "11:34 p.m. on Oct 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/10/28/three-styles-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F10%2F28%2Fthree-styles-of.html" }, { "id": 355, "type": "post", "title": "Why not make notes by hand?", "text": "It\u0026rsquo;s often said that making notes by hand is good for learning. Here\u0026rsquo;s 🎬Notes on Biology, a nice stop-motion short about the benefits of doodling in class.1\nThere\u0026rsquo;s plenty of academic research on \u0026rsquo;the clear benefits of handwriting':\nFlanigan, A. E., Wheeler, J., Colliot, T., Lu, J., \u0026amp; Kiewra, K. A. (2024). Typed Versus Handwritten Lecture Notes and College Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 36(3), 78. \u0026lt;doi.org/10.1007/s\u0026hellip;\u0026gt;\nOse Askvik, E., Van Der Weel, F. R. (Ruud), \u0026amp; Van Der Meer, A. L. H. (2020). The Importance of Cursive Handwriting Over Typewriting for Learning in the Classroom: A High-Density EEG Study of 12-Year-Old Children and Young Adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1810. \u0026lt;doi.org/10.3389/f\u0026hellip;\u0026gt;\nVan Der Weel, F. R. (Ruud), \u0026amp; Van Der Meer, A. L. H. (2024). Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: A high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1219945. \u0026lt;doi.org/10.3389/f\u0026hellip;\u0026gt;\nBut for a slightly different perspective, one that appreciates drawing, see:\nRichardson, L., \u0026amp; Lacroix, G. (2023). Which modality results in superior recall for students: Handwriting, typing, or drawing? Journal of Writing Research, 15(3), 519–540. \u0026lt;doi.org/10.17239/\u0026hellip;\u0026gt; Now read: Three worthwhile modes of note-making.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t miss another post (because that would be tragic).\nPut your email address here and I\u0026rsquo;ll write to you slowly. I mean weekly:\nand it only took me 13 years to find this!\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-10-17 23:17:05 +1100", "date": "11:17 p.m. on Oct 17, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/10/17/why-not-make.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F10%2F17%2Fwhy-not-make.html" }, { "id": 356, "type": "post", "title": "So many note-taking apps in the app graveyard - but not all are zombies", "text": "While clearing out my desk recently I found a USB thumb drive with a whole heap of old note-taking apps on it. This drive dates from 2017, not even seven years ago, but it seems like ancient history.\nThese note-taking apps come and go and the only ones worthwhile IMHO are the ones with a format you can keep using, or at least access. Several, I\u0026rsquo;m happy to say, had easily re-usable plain text files in a \u0026lsquo;data\u0026rsquo; folder or similar.\nSo why am I mentioning this?\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a reminder that a lot can change in just seven years, that so many of the apps with locked-in features will shut down before too long and if your data isn\u0026rsquo;t easily retrievable, it will be lost.\nIn particular, I\u0026rsquo;d recommend keeping as much as possibly in simple plain text files (markdown would be fine) that will probably be readable for a very long time to come. Apps like Obsidian use plain text files, so it\u0026rsquo;s quite possible to enjoy a combination of up-to-date features and data longevity.\nBut Obsidian is probably the exception rather than the rule. The temptation is to imagine that the useful features the fancy apps offer are worth the price they charge: not cash but the requirement to use a data format that isn\u0026rsquo;t easily accessible or convertible. It\u0026rsquo;s fun to use these apps, right up to the day they shut down and you can\u0026rsquo;t get your information out of them. I noticed Evernote, once very popular, seems to have locked down its service so you can\u0026rsquo;t now access your notes unless you pay them a fairly high subscription fee. However, it\u0026rsquo;s under active development again, so the fee might be worth it. As least they had a format (ENEX) you could straightforwardly convert. Some apps don\u0026rsquo;t.\nFor the record, here\u0026rsquo;s a run-down of the apps I found on my long-lost USB stick, and the level of file-readability they offered. I\u0026rsquo;d be interested to know what old note-taking apps you have lying around, and which ones you still use.\nPlain text files DokuWiki plain text files, supports wiki style syntax QOwnNotes markdown files MemPad single plain text file with own metadata format Zim - desktop wiki txt files with bracketed wikilinks files that are readable, but not easily by my eyes CintaNotes SQLite database file (you can export notes to .txt files, but you need to use the app to do so). ResophNotes - Quick Notes on Windows xml files Last updated 2018. RIP? đŸȘŠ My-personal-kanban by greggigon JSON? file formats that are only realistically accessible via the original app yWriter - novel writing software own format. This is potentially a great app for writers, but what\u0026rsquo;s up with that file format? ConnectedText - Wikipedia Defunct. RIP. đŸȘŠ I used to love this. It\u0026rsquo;s a shame our time together is long over. Text editors Sublime Text Plain text files - supports Markdown and many programming languages Sublime Text is one of my all-time favourites, and it\u0026rsquo;s made right here in Sydney! Q10 - text editor Last updated 2011. RIP đŸȘŠ WriteMonkey 3 plain text files - supports Markdown apparently still going, last updated January 2024 Bonsai5U3 What even is this? Update:\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re looking for newer apps to try, you could try these enhanced markdown apps you can use for free to make effective notes.\n", "dateiso": "2024-10-14 11:12:22 +1100", "date": "11:12 p.m. on Oct 14, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/06/13/so-many-notemaking.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F06%2F13%2Fso-many-notemaking.html" }, { "id": 357, "type": "post", "title": "The truth according to Trump", "text": "Alan Jacobs rightly observes that Trump supporters don\u0026rsquo;t care about the \u0026rsquo;truth\u0026rsquo; of their claims.\nRichard Rorty’s bastard children.\nAlan Jacobs https://social.ayjay.org/2024/10/10/richard-rortys-bastard.html He\u0026rsquo;s spot on to point out that the purpose of the constant barrage of egregious lying is to mock the idea that truth matters, and to gather a constituency of people who are in on the joke.\nAnd certainly, there\u0026rsquo;s no point trying to correct these outlandish claims, as though their pushers ever cared a fig about the facts of the matter. They don\u0026rsquo;t.\nIndeed, the Trumpist approach to truth is a direct refutation of Bertrand Russell\u0026rsquo;s claim that there\u0026rsquo;s a clear difference between truth and utility:\nwhen we say that a belief is true, the thought we wish to convey is not the same thought as when we say that the belief furthers our purposes; thus “true” does not mean “furthering our purposes”. (Russell 1910 [1994: 98])\nFor Trump and his fellow-travellers, though, \u0026lsquo;furthering our purposes\u0026rsquo; is precisely where it begins and ends.\nLest there be any doubt, the misogynistic vice-presidential hopeful, James Vance, spelled this out in a CNN interview:\n“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” Source: The Verge.\nBut since this has nothing to do with Richard Rorty and his \u0026lsquo;bastard children\u0026rsquo;, two further observations are in order:\nFirst the F-word. Fascist \u0026rsquo;truth\u0026rsquo; is all about power. Whoever demonstrates the capacity to act with force is the truth. For fascists the so-called truth of the powerless is a risible fantasy. Their obvious weakness to enact their supposed truth-telling is to be mocked and exploited by the strong. Clearly the Trump movement is at the very least proto-fascist. The fetish for \u0026lsquo;winning bigly\u0026rsquo;. The anti-immigrant theatre of cruelty. Oh, and yes, the attempted putsch. These are very clear steps on the way to a fascist takeover.\nContra Alan Jacobs all this has little to do with the pragmatist philosophy of Richard Rorty, which Trump supporters have not read1.\nRorty\u0026rsquo;s mistake as a philosophical pragmatist was to imagine that the worst possible adversary was the authoritarian claim \u0026rsquo;to ascertain the truth once and for all\u0026rsquo;. In the authoritarian state, truth and power are tightly aligned. For example in medieval Europe the church supported the ruler, who in turn supported the church. Orthodoxy, right belief, was the same as loyalty, right allegiance. Together they constituted a sealed environment of truth\u0026rsquo;s possibility. Outside this was only exile or death. The European wars of religion which followed the Reformation came to an end by maintaining a new version of this nexus: cuius regio, eius religio. Whoever rules determines the state religion.\nSadly, the fascist nightmare is far worse. Whoever rules determines everything. In the fascist state truth is less than irrelevant, it\u0026rsquo;s what the weak cling to as they go to their deaths, deaths which will be denied. Power is all. The world has not gone to hell in a hand basket just because Rorty got philosphy wrong. It\u0026rsquo;s true that Rorty\u0026rsquo;s philosophy critiqued traditional theist certainties, but he was no more on the side of the fascists than the theists were.\nSecond, Trump isn\u0026rsquo;t in fact a cradle fascist. His gut understanding of the nature of truth comes not from Mussolini and Goebbels but from his religious upbringing in Manhattan\u0026rsquo;s Collegiate Marble Church and his long association with its pastor, Norman Vincent Peale. Peale was the author of the well-known self-help book, The Power of Positive Thinking, and Peale\u0026rsquo;s philosophy greatly influenced Trump. Or as Trump himself put it, with his characteristically ridiculous-but-effective brio, “He thought I was his greatest student of all time.”\n“Believe in yourself!” Peale’s book begins. “Have faith in your abilities!” He then outlines 10 rules to overcome “inadequacy attitudes” and “build up confidence in your powers.” Rule one: “formulate and staple indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding,” “hold this picture tenaciously,” and always refer to it “no matter how badly things seem to be going at the moment.” - Gwenda Blair, \u0026lsquo;How Norman Vincent Peale Taught Donald Trump to Worship Himself\u0026rsquo;. Politico\nAgain, this self-help concept of truth, with its strong overtones of faking it till you make it, has little or nothing to do with Richard Rorty\u0026rsquo;s pragmatism. A philosophical scepticism about the correspondence theory of truth does not require conceding that Trump is the biggest winner of all time, or that Trump University was a real university, or that they\u0026rsquo;re eating peoples\u0026rsquo; pets.\nBut the confluence of these two impulses - the fascist will to pure power and the narcissistic conjuring up of pure positivity - is a very dangerous thing. Its course has not yet run out. Yet if Trump mocks truth, history will have the last laugh. \u0026ldquo;History is what hurts, \u0026quot; as Frederic Jameson observed in one of his grittiest aphorisms, \u0026ldquo;it is what refuses desire and sets inexorable limits to individual as well as collective praxis\u0026rdquo;.\nWell, we\u0026rsquo;ll see who it hurts most.\nReferences\nJameson, Frederic. 1981. The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act (Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 102.\nRussell, Bertrand. 1910 [1994], “William James’ Conception of Truth”, in Philosophical Essays, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910: 127–149. Cited pages from the 1994 Routledge, New York, edition, pp. 112–130. Source: The pragmatic theory of truth, Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.\ndisclaimer: this is just a guess but where\u0026rsquo;s the evidence otherwise?\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-10-12 14:47:17 +1100", "date": "2:47 p.m. on Oct 12, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/10/12/the-truth-according.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F10%2F12%2Fthe-truth-according.html" }, { "id": 358, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬Manuel says:\n“people are slowly starting to realise that you can get immense human value from the web outside of traditional social media. You have to work for it but it’s absolutely worth it.”\nThat’s true. Facebook still has huge numbers, but you don’t need a theoretically mighty reach to connect meaningfully with the right people.\n", "dateiso": "2024-10-02 13:44:32 +1100", "date": "1:44 p.m. on Oct 2, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/10/02/manuel-says-people.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F10%2F02%2Fmanuel-says-people.html" }, { "id": 359, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 “Doing and seeing and thinking about stuff. Writing things down. Sharing and talking about little things, simple ideas, tiny thoughts. Making and tweaking and adjusting and imagining. Changing and creating. Thinking and sharing. Finding and connecting. Connecting and imagining. Imagining and thinking and finding and sharing and writing and asking and answering and connecting and building and tweaking and trying and adjusting and creating and changing things.\nOne little tiny itty-bitty thing at a time.” - Annie Mueller\n", "dateiso": "2024-09-28 12:11:23 +1100", "date": "12:11 p.m. on Sep 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/09/28/doing-and-seeing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F09%2F28%2Fdoing-and-seeing.html" }, { "id": 360, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Yuri says social media platforms have killed links. If so, it\u0026rsquo;s a very bad thing. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t know, because I\u0026rsquo;m all in on the Web. The Web is the social platform. Without links, I\u0026rsquo;m out. Hyperlinks are such a fundamentally great innovation that any platform that tries to avoid them will lose.\n", "dateiso": "2024-09-22 16:53:41 +1100", "date": "4:53 p.m. on Sep 22, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/09/22/yuri-says-social.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F09%2F22%2Fyuri-says-social.html" }, { "id": 361, "type": "post", "title": "How to write an article from your notes - an example", "text": "In July 2024 educational technologist Andy Matuschak published a long article outlining his observations on the debate over discovery learning versus instructional learning, and how it relates to the Holy Grail of educational technology: “a wildly powerful learning environment”.\nExorcising us of the Primer is a great article, but it’s just as interesting to see how this piece of writing came into existence in the first place.\nReverse-engineering a published article Matuschak is known for having created an intriguing online instance of his notes, which he modestly calls ‘Andy’s working notes’. The article about learning is constructed from a sequence of these individual notes which he has been working on for several years.\nHis article evolved over time from his individual evergreen notes, which he eventually coalesced into an ‘outline note’ called Enabling Environments, games, and the Primer.\nIf you’re wondering how to create finished written work out of your individual notes, you’ll find it worthwhile to check out these different stages of Andy’s thinking and writing process. It’s worth exploring how he takes nearly 60 individual notes, combines them into the outline of a coherent argument, then takes that outline and re-writes it as a complete publishable essay.\nYou can see how the thinking process revolves around a few key ideas which themselves have been fleshed out with numerous notes. Key ideas here include:\nEnabling environment Enacted experience The Young Lady\u0026rsquo;s Illustrated Primer Taking knowledge work seriously These notes are similar to what Bob Doto\u0026rsquo;s book A System for Writing calls \u0026lsquo;high-level views\u0026rsquo;. Notice that the process of aggregation is modular, cumulative and iterative. The note ‘Taking knowledge work seriously’ is itself an outline note. And you can see there how Andy aggregates a series of individual notes to produce an outline for a presentation.\nThere are also sections in the outline which are underdeveloped, and flagged as such. For example, at one point there is the warning:\n“==TODO this section quite under-defined in general; some important ideas aren’t yet captured here, but we also have big holes in our theories here==”\nElsewhere, he modestly comments:\n“==I have to know more than this to publish, I think==”\nOn his Patreon page, Andy has reflected on his note-making experiences in a post for supporters only (there’s a short audio preview though). ‘Five years of evergreen notes’.\nIt’s a repeatable process So we can see that before the article ever comes into existence there\u0026rsquo;s a whole set of notes that may or may not end up contributing to the finished piece.And then at some point an organising principle comes into view. In this case it was “Taking knowledge work seriously” and “Enacted experience” and “Enabling environments” and so on. Then these began to coalesce into a bigger, more focused idea, which was ‘Enabling environments, games, and the Primer’. Eventually, from all these atomic ideas, molecules formed, and they were refined until they became the final article, ‘Exorcising us of the Primer’.\nThat’s all very well, but how am I supposed to do this myself?\nMake ‘buckets’ for your ideas Well, you can take the bucket approach. Let\u0026rsquo;s say you have a vague idea for a piece of writing of some kind. It\u0026rsquo;s an idea that niggles at you, that begs to be explored, that you have a hunch might eventually become something you\u0026rsquo;d like to share with others.Now turn that idea into a bucket that you can gradually fill with content.\nJames Somers says:\n“When I have a piece of writing in mind, what I have, in fact, is a mental bucket: an attractor for and generator of thought. It’s like a thematic gravity well, a magnet for what would otherwise be a mess of iron filings. I’ll read books differently and listen differently in conversations. In particular I’ll remember everything better; everything will mean more to me. That’s because everything I perceive will unconsciously engage on its way in with the substance of my preoccupation. A preoccupation, in that sense, is a hell of a useful thing for a mind.” More people should write\nThe problem with a bucket is that it really doesn’t care what you put in it. And this extreme flexibility might not always be so helpful.\nDumping all your quotes and bookmarks into an app like Sublime or Arena or Evernote or OneNote is great and all, but when the time comes to write the article, all you’ll have to go on is a massive pile of other people’s words. You thought you were working but all you were really doing is saving the real work for later.\nI used to do this as an undergraduate student. I\u0026rsquo;d spend ages marshalling all the ‘evidence’ (AKA quotes), thinking I was on the right track, then the evening before the deadline I’d be faced with the mammoth task of somehow turning all this raw material into an essay. It was painful. You can\u0026rsquo;t get away with just stitching together quotes from other people. And you can\u0026rsquo;t just mash together a set of notes and expect it to make an instant essay. You have to write it yourself.\nThere has to be a better way - and there is.\nThe great thing about the Zettelkasten approach is that it helps you write your own ideas as you go along. You don\u0026rsquo;t only copy-paste hot takes like I did just now with James Somers’s post about the mental buckets. Instead, you write your own stuff, one idea at a time, on separate notes that you can combine in multiple ways.\nNotice that Andy Matuschak worked this way. If you read any one of the 60 or so notes that informed his final article you can see that each one stands up on its own as a solid nugget of original creative work. And because he put the effort in early in the process it must have taken less effort to finish the piece at the end. Of course it’s hardly no effort to write a solid article. But by doing it this way you can focus your late energy on quality writing rather than still having to grapple with a mass of quotes and snippets with no rhyme or reason, and no clear direction.\nSo the ‘bucket’ starts life as a single note with an idea on it. You gradually expand this idea, by adding new notes which link to it, or by linking to existing notes. and some of these notes might be structure notes - they might aggregate other combinations of notes, to give you a high-level view of where you\u0026rsquo;re going.\nHow I did it If you squint, you can see that this very article was made by using the bucket metaphor.\nFirst I made notes on Andy Matuschak’s process, without quite knowing what I’d use them for. Then by writing these notes I realised I was interested in ‘how to write an article from your notes’. This became a kind of bucket, even though I didn’t yet have the words to call it that. And then, weeks later, when I read the stuff about the ‘bucket theory of creativity’, my latest reading was magnetically attracted to my pre-existing theme or preoccupation, and I added it to the draft of an article. The draft still needed to be drafted. I didn\u0026rsquo;t just copy my notes one after another. But the process was made straightforward becasue I never had to wonder what would come next, or what the point was. These decisions were already formed. The Zettelkasten approach doesn’t do the writing work for you, but it’s a helpful way of building up your ideas, note by note, until they become something you find worth sharing, like the post you’ve just finished reading, and which I hope you’ve found at least a little useful.\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now. And if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\nRead more:\nA minimal approach to making notes\nFrom fragments you can build a greater whole\nHow to decide what to include in your notes\nPhoto from Unsplash\n", "dateiso": "2024-09-18 21:56:54 +1000", "date": "9:56 p.m. on Sep 18, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/09/18/how-to-write.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F09%2F18%2Fhow-to-write.html" }, { "id": 362, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 Oliver Burkeman:\nIt’s not that systems for getting things done are bad, exactly. It’s just that they’re not the main point. The main point – though it took me years to realise it – is to develop the willingness to just do something, here and now, as a one-off, regardless of whether it’s part of any system or habit or routine. If you don’t prioritise the skill of just doing something, you risk falling into an exceedingly sneaky trap, which is that you end up embarking instead on the unnecessary and, worse, counterproductive project of becoming the kind of person who does that sort of thing.\nDonny C https://tinyroofnail.micro.blog/2024/09/10/oliver-burkeman-its.html ", "dateiso": "2024-09-11 17:31:51 +1100", "date": "5:31 p.m. on Sep 11, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/09/11/oliver-burkeman-its.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F09%2F11%2Foliver-burkeman-its.html" }, { "id": 363, "type": "post", "title": "The shortest writing session that could possibly be useful ", "text": "Here\u0026rsquo;s my perspective on \u0026lsquo;atomic notes\u0026rsquo;.\nThey\u0026rsquo;re atomic in time even before they\u0026rsquo;re atomic in any other dimension.\nAn atomic note, for me, is the shortest writing session that could possibly be useful.\nI got this from computer game designers, who call the shortest viable unit of play an \u0026lsquo;atom\u0026rsquo;. A single life in Space Invaders (and yes, that shows my age). Just enough to make you desperate to keep going.\nIf you think about it, every note has to stop somewhere. So it\u0026rsquo;s not a big stretch to stop sooner rather than later, perhaps even before you\u0026rsquo;re really ready to stop\u0026hellip; and to begin a new note.\nBut if your note-making practice is to write long notes making several points, then good luck to you, everyone finds their own working method.\nYou\u0026rsquo;ll still find several aspects of the Zettelkasten note-making approach useful.\nFor example:\ngiving each note a clear title, linking your notes creating reference notes so you don\u0026rsquo;t lose track of bibliographic information, creating hub notes (or whatever you want to call them), to connect ideas together enjoying just enough productive and creative mess When I started I couldn\u0026rsquo;t see the point of \u0026lsquo;atomicity of ideas\u0026rsquo;. It was only gradually that I realised my long notes would be more useful if I made them modular.\nThere might be an analogy with what computer programmers call \u0026lsquo;separation of concerns\u0026rsquo;. You can build really big systems from simple components. It\u0026rsquo;s much harder to merge even just two complex components.\nFor a good illustration of this, see Herbert Simon\u0026rsquo;s parable of the two watchmakers.\nTwo watchmakers, Tempus and Hora, each make a watch with 1,000 parts. Whenever Tempus is interrupted or drops anything he has to start all over again. But the other watchmaker does it differently. Hora makes watches from assemblies of ten parts only, then assembling ten of these, then ten of these. So when Hora is interrupted, only a small part of the work is ever lost.\nReference\nSimon, H. A. (1962). The architecture of complexity. Proceedings of the American philosophical society, 106(6), 467-482. PDF. Cited in W. Brian Arthur (2009). The Nature of Technology. What it is and how it evolves. New York: Free Press.\n—-\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters - available now.\n", "dateiso": "2024-09-11 09:58:05 +1100", "date": "9:58 p.m. on Sep 11, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/09/11/the-shortest-writing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F09%2F11%2Fthe-shortest-writing.html" }, { "id": 364, "type": "post", "title": "Enhanced markdown apps you can use for free to make effective notes", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;ve lost track of the ridiculous number of \u0026lsquo;Zettelkasten apps\u0026rsquo; now on the loose on the wild wild web. When I checked the ChatGPT marketplace, for example, I had to stop counting at 50. I was losing the will to go on looking at them.\nEveryone makes the apps, it seems, but who\u0026rsquo;s left to use them?\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re one of those sensible people who just want to make useful notes, plain text files with Markdown are simple, elegant, versatile and durable.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s hardly magic.\nYou can create these notes with any basic text editor, but I\u0026rsquo;m keen on people creating a working environment that works for them. So if you\u0026rsquo;re looking for a few bells and whistles, here are four note-making apps that seem to offer just enough features and not too many. Oh, and they\u0026rsquo;re open source and free to use, so you know, use them. Go make your notes!\n\u0026ldquo;Hey, check these out!\u0026rdquo;\nZettlr \u0026ldquo;Zettlr offers first-class support for any style of curating your own Zettelkasten. Zettlr supports note IDs, internal Wiki-style links, related files, seamless navigation, and even a graph view.\u0026rdquo;\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a fairly good summary of how to use Zettlr for the Zettelkasten approach to making notes.\nWho\u0026rsquo;s it for?\nAcademics and others who want to write and publish their research with Markdown and who aren\u0026rsquo;t totally scared of Pandoc and LaTeX but could do with a little support in that area.\nWho\u0026rsquo;s it not for? Anyone averse to Pandoc or LaTeX (although you can just ignore these and still use Zettlr).\nNB \u0026ldquo;a command line and local web note‑taking, bookmarking, archiving, and knowledge base application with plain text data storage, \u0026hellip; Initializing a folder as an nb local notebook is a very easy way to add structured git versioning to any folder of documents and other files.\u0026rdquo;\nThere\u0026rsquo;s a very brief nb-for-Zettelkasten summary.\nWho\u0026rsquo;s it for?\nAnyone who prefers command line tools, likes the idea of syncing their notes using Git, and wants maximum format flexibility.\nWho\u0026rsquo;s it not for?\nWindows users who never worked out how to run Linux-native apps and who aren\u0026rsquo;t about to start now. Ditto for command-line refuseniks.\nFoam \u0026ldquo;a note-taking tool that lives within VS Code\u0026hellip; Foam is open source, and allows you to create a local first, markdown based, personal knowledge base. You can also use it to publish your notes.\u0026rdquo;\nWho\u0026rsquo;s it for? Anyone who already uses VSCode (it\u0026rsquo;s Microsoft\u0026rsquo;s flagship code editor) but wants some note management goodness, and anyone who might otherwise use the paid notemaking app that Foam rhymes with.\nWho\u0026rsquo;s it not for? Timid souls who might be put off by apps that are \u0026lsquo;still in preview\u0026rsquo;.\nLogSeq \u0026ldquo;Logseq is a knowledge management and collaboration platform. It focuses on privacy, longevity, and user control. Logseq offers a range of powerful tools for knowledge management, collaboration, PDF annotation, and task management with support for multiple file formats\u0026rdquo;.\nWho\u0026rsquo;s it for?\nThey say \u0026ldquo;Logseq is a networked outliner\u0026rdquo;, so if you love outliners it might well be for you.\nWho\u0026rsquo;s it not for?\nPeople who don\u0026rsquo;t love outliners, I suppose. Oh, and they\u0026rsquo;re planning to make LogSeq Pro a paid app, so it might not be for freeloaders (eventually).\nWell, that\u0026rsquo;s the end of this little roundup. Please let me know what fantastic app you find most suits you - and why.\nAnd for the record, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t find a note-making app I really liked so I made one myself (sort-of).\nImage: No it\u0026rsquo;s not a bunch of hyped-up influencers salivating over the latest batch of AI-enabled notemaking apps. It\u0026rsquo;s actually a Marshall University “arena registration” utilizing IBM punched cards, in 1968.\nSource:\nDickinson, Jack L., and Arnold R. Miller. In the Beginning
A Legacy of Computing at Marshall University : A brief history of the early computing technology at Marshall University, Huntington, W.Va., in the forty years: 1959-1999. Huntington, Marshall University Libraries, 2018. PDF\nNow read: A minimal approach to writing notes\n", "dateiso": "2024-09-02 22:10:59 +1100", "date": "10:10 p.m. on Sep 2, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/09/02/enhanced-markdown-apps.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F09%2F02%2Fenhanced-markdown-apps.html" }, { "id": 365, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: A System for Writing by Bob Doto 📚. Ok, I finished it a while ago, and here’s my enthusiastic review\n", "dateiso": "2024-08-28 14:49:13 +1100", "date": "2:49 p.m. on Aug 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/08/28/finished-reading-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F08%2F28%2Ffinished-reading-a.html" }, { "id": 366, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: The Looking-Glass by Machado De Assis 📚 My favourite late 19th century Brazilian author. His novella ‘The Alienist’, included in this collection, is hilarious. The style and tone strongly reminds me of my favourite contemporary Argentinian author, CĂ©sar Aira.\n", "dateiso": "2024-08-21 13:17:38 +1100", "date": "1:17 p.m. on Aug 21, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/08/21/finished-reading-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F08%2F21%2Ffinished-reading-the.html" }, { "id": 367, "type": "post", "title": "How to get Strata for micro.blog up and running", "text": "I’ve decided to make use of the ‘notes’ feature in micro.blog.\nThis is like making private posts in a blog. But my main use case is brainstorming future blog posts. I want to take notes of half-formed ideas, which may or may not end up as blog posts. They\u0026rsquo;re not quite draft quality, but I have a hunch they\u0026rsquo;ll end up as public posts, not just remain as private notes.\nThe Notes feature is very easy to use. You make notes from the main page by clicking on the \u0026lsquo;Notes\u0026rsquo; menu item.\nAnd you can set up multiple \u0026rsquo;notebooks\u0026rsquo;, which you can rename at will.\nBut there’s also an iOS app called Strata to make the experience easy and fun. That\u0026rsquo;s what I wanted to try.\nIt was tricky to get started, though, because you have to sync up the encryption between micro.blog and the Strata app.\nManton, the creator of micro.blog, admits as much. In the original announcement he said:\n\u0026ldquo;We’ve tried to keep it simple, but honestly it can be confusing, and we expect a few bumps along the road. We will continue to make it as seamless as possible. There are options to download a copy of the “secret key” used in Micro.blog, as well as saving a copy to iCloud. I recommend both.\u0026rdquo;\nWhen I first opened the iPad Strata app, after installing it, it asked for a secret key, but I had no idea where to find this.\nIt turned out to be quite hidden - appropriate, I guess, for a secret key, but not very intuitive.\nHere’s how I found the key I needed to get Strata up and running.\nFirst I logged into the webpage for micro.blog on my PC. I clicked on ‘Notes’, near the foot of the main menu to the left of the screen. Just to the right of the ‘New Note’ button, there is an ellipsis button (
) that presumably indicates more options. I clicked on that. The ellipsis button gave me three choices, import, export and settings. I clicked on ‘Settings’. Success! There’s a button that says, ‘Show Secret Key’. I clicked on it. This gave me a long string of letters and numbers that I didn’t feel like copying. Fortunately there was also a big QR code. \u0026ldquo;Scan the QR code for easy setup on iOS. Android coming soon.\u0026rdquo; I took a photo of that with my iPad, which immediately offered to open it with Strata. I allowed this and the key copied straight to the Strata app. I was in. There was also an option to download the secret key instead, but I found I didn’t need this. Nor did I use the option to add the secret key to the iCloud. I think that means every time I log out and back in, I\u0026rsquo;ll have to reload the secret key - but I don\u0026rsquo;t expect to be doing this too often.\nI also expect I\u0026rsquo;ll be sharing notes with others. I imagine this as an easy way of sharing private (but not secret) information among a few people. It might be a good way of sharing draft blog posts before they\u0026rsquo;re published. When you click \u0026lsquo;\u0026lsquo;share\u0026quot; on a note, a private weblink is created, and anyone with the link will then be able to see the note. You can unshare notes too, of course.\nThis kind of functionality is already baked into many web apps and I\u0026rsquo;m happy it\u0026rsquo;s now included in micro.blog\nThere are a few interesting possibilities for the future here. One that excites me is to connect the notes feature with the fantastic bookshelf feature. Let\u0026rsquo;s say I\u0026rsquo;m currently reading a particular book which appears on my micro.blog bookshelf. I\u0026rsquo;d also like to take notes within micro.blog specifically associated with that book. Soon, I\u0026rsquo;m hoping, that might be possible.\n", "dateiso": "2024-08-17 23:25:07 +1100", "date": "11:25 p.m. on Aug 17, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/08/12/how-to-get.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F08%2F12%2Fhow-to-get.html" }, { "id": 368, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Kookaburra of the day\n", "dateiso": "2024-08-17 15:16:39 +1100", "date": "3:16 p.m. on Aug 17, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/08/17/kookaburra-of-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F08%2F17%2Fkookaburra-of-the.html" }, { "id": 369, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I know nothing about breakdancing đŸ€Ł but back in October I attended the qualifying event for the Australian breakdancing Olympic team, where I saw Raygun win. So\u0026hellip; AMA\n", "dateiso": "2024-08-14 18:55:32 +1100", "date": "6:55 p.m. on Aug 14, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/08/14/i-know-nothing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F08%2F14%2Fi-know-nothing.html" }, { "id": 370, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "“Feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes” - Jane Austen đŸ—šïž\nMore\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-31 14:21:07 +1100", "date": "2:21 p.m. on Jul 31, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/31/132107.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F31%2F132107.html" }, { "id": 371, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Great evening light on the way home đŸ“·\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-31 12:33:55 +1100", "date": "12:33 p.m. on Jul 31, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/31/great-evening-light.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F31%2Fgreat-evening-light.html" }, { "id": 372, "type": "post", "title": "Feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes: Jane Austen's timely advice for writers and creators", "text": "Jane Austen died in the cathedral city of Winchester on July 18, 1817; she was 41 years old.\nTowards the end of her too-short life, in a brief five-year period between 1811 and 1816, she published four great novels. Originally released anonymously to a just a handful of positive reviews and scant financial success, these works are now among the most celebrated in the English language.\nAusten didn\u0026rsquo;t accomplish all she had hoped to. Besides her completed but unpublished novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, she left behind several further manuscripts1. These included Sanditon, the first 23,000 words of a new novel, which she started in early 1817 when she was already sick, but abandoned due to her declining health, just four months before her death.\nJane Austen\u0026rsquo;s immense posthumous success is a very far cry from her lived experience as a struggling writer. She died relatively young, of a debilitating illness, in a condition of financial insecurity, with no expectation that any of her life\u0026rsquo;s work would survive her, let alone enjoy any kind of acclaim. All her work was published anonymously. Her epitaph doesn\u0026rsquo;t even mention that she was a writer. And within only a few years of her untimely death, all her novels were out of print.\nA struggle to publish It\u0026rsquo;s hard to believe it now, but in her lifetime Austen struggled to publish any of her work. In 1803 her father had sold the copyright to Northanger Abbey (then called \u0026lsquo;Susan\u0026rsquo;) for 10 pounds, (this was today\u0026rsquo;s equivalent of just US$1,300), but the publisher did nothing with it. Having failed to retrieve the copyright in 1809, Austen couldn\u0026rsquo;t afford the fee until 1816, and though she did finally manage to pay, she didn\u0026rsquo;t live long enough to find another publisher. She never saw the book in print.\nPublishing in the early Nineteenth Century was risky and expensive, so even when they were eventually published Austen\u0026rsquo;s novels sold for unavoidably high prices and in small print runs. From Sense and Sensibity, her first published novel, she only made 140 pounds (around US$18,000 in today\u0026rsquo;s money) and she made even less from Pride and Prejudice, her second.\nMansfield Park, Austen\u0026rsquo;s third published novel, sold quite well despite receiving no reviews at all. Emma was the last novel she saw published. What she made on Emma though, she immediately lost on the second editon of Mansfield Park, which underperformed its first edition.\nIdentity concealed It was considered unacceptable for Austen, as a woman, to publish under her own name. This meant Sense and Sensibility was authored \u0026ldquo;by a lady\u0026rdquo;, and her subsequent novels \u0026ldquo;by the author of Sense and Sensibility\u0026rdquo;.\nBecause she died too soon, she didn\u0026rsquo;t live long enough to see her other complete novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion in print, though she might have, had she lived just half a year longer. Her brother Henry managed to publish these two novels just six months after her death. It had taken fully fifteen years for Northanger Abbey to see the light of day, and still the title page didn\u0026rsquo;t mention her name. It was only in the book\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;biographical notice\u0026rsquo; that her brother finally revealed the author\u0026rsquo;s identity.\nAnd by the 1820s all six Austen novels were out of print. They were only revived in 1832 by means of a new, cheaper edition. Sanditon, the unfinished novel, remained unpublished for more than a century, right up until 1925.\nGrowing fame The Austen flame flickered, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t quite go out. Her writing always found champions, and especially since the 1880s, the cult of Jane Austen has grown and grown. The critic Leslie Stephen called it \u0026lsquo;Austenolatry\u0026rsquo;, while author Henry James disapproved of the \u0026lsquo;beguiled infatuation\u0026rsquo; Austen\u0026rsquo;s work seemed to inspire in its devotees. In 1894 the critic George Saintsbury coined the term \u0026lsquo;Janeite\u0026rsquo; to refer approvingly to those readers who appreciated Austen. The author Rudyard Kipling was one of them. In Debits and Credits (1926) he wrote2:\nJane lies in Winchester-blessed be her shade! Praise the Lord for making her, and her for all she made! And while the stones of Winchester, or Milsom Street, remain, Glory, love, and honour unto England\u0026rsquo;s Jane!\nAfter multiple movies, TV series and the establishment of a firm online \u0026lsquo;fandom\u0026rsquo;, Jane Austen has become a cultural icon. Having long been a touchstone of debates about feminism and the role of women, her work has also found relevance and controversy in the context of empire, slavery and post-colonialism.\nAusten even features on the Bank of England ten pound note where, in a 2017 re-design, she replaced no less a figure than Charles Darwin3.\nYou can read on every note her ironic comment4:\n\u0026ldquo;I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!\u0026rdquo;\nThe time is short Jane Austen knew the time to create was short. She didn\u0026rsquo;t take her life for granted. We know this because she also left behind three prayers5. In the first prayer she says:\n\u0026ldquo;May we now, and on each return of night, consider how the past day has been spent.\u0026rdquo;\nAnd in her third prayer she says:\n\u0026ldquo;Another day is now gone, and added to those, for which we were before accountable.\u0026rdquo;\nShe sees the falling of the evening as a \u0026ldquo;solemn truth\u0026rdquo;, that should lead us to \u0026ldquo;feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes\u0026rdquo;.\nAs a result, she says, we should \u0026ldquo;earnestly strive to make a better use of [future time] than we have done of the time past.\u0026rdquo;\nWhile I think she did pretty well, it seems she thought she could have done better. In reviewing Jane Austen\u0026rsquo;s life I\u0026rsquo;m inspired to take my own creative capabilities more seriously. It feels important and meaningful to re-commit to my own writing, and to give an account of how I spend my own days and hours.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s because I don\u0026rsquo;t have much time either. None of us do. Ars longa, vita brevis. And whether we\u0026rsquo;re published or not, whether or not we find renown in our lifetimes, if ever, we owe it both to the muse and to ourselves to respect our own artistic vision by creating what we can while we can, until we no longer can.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t wait Nothing is certain. Few if any of us will attain Jane Austen\u0026rsquo;s fame. As I\u0026rsquo;ve learned, Jane Austen herself nearly didn\u0026rsquo;t. But all of us can take stock of the way we use our own precious time, like she did, and as she did, to feel the importance of every day. So:\nIf you want to write, do it.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;ve started but haven\u0026rsquo;t finished, finish it.\nAnd if you\u0026rsquo;re stuck and need help, ask for it.\nWho knows how much time you have left?\nDon\u0026rsquo;t wait any longer.\nSee also:\nWhy I\u0026rsquo;m writing faster\nMy range is me\nImage source: Public domain/Wikipedia\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now in paperback and ebook.\nSubscribe to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest.\nAusten also left behind nearly 18,000 words of The Watsons, an early draft of Emma, unpublished until 1871, and Lady Susan, which she had completed around 1805, but which was only published in 1871, some 54 years after her death. There was also the satirical \u0026lsquo;Plan of a Novel\u0026rsquo;, written in 1816 and finally published in 1926.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nThis verse begins Kipling\u0026rsquo;s short story about WW1 soldiers who form a secret society of Jane Austen fans. Milsom Street in Bath is mentioned in several of Austen\u0026rsquo;s works.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nJane Austen appears on the UK\u0026rsquo;s ten pound bank note. web.archive.org/web/20170\u0026hellip;\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nIt\u0026rsquo;s an ironic comment because Caroline Bingley, a character in Pride and Prejudice, only says it to impress Mr Darcy.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nYou can read Austin\u0026rsquo;s prayers in full at Wikisource\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-31 10:00:00 +1100", "date": "10:00 p.m. on Jul 31, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/31/feel-the-importance-of-every.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F31%2Ffeel-the-importance-of-every.html" }, { "id": 373, "type": "post", "title": "Feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes: Jane Austen's timely advice for writers and creators", "text": "Jane Austen died in the cathedral city of Winchester on July 18, 1817; she was 41 years old.\nTowards the end of her too-short life, in a brief five-year period between 1811 and 1816, she published four great novels. Originally released anonymously to a just a handful of positive reviews and scant financial success, these works are now among the most celebrated in the English language.\nAusten didn\u0026rsquo;t accomplish all she had hoped to. Besides her completed but unpublished novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, she left behind several further manuscripts1. These included Sanditon, the first 23,000 words of a new novel, which she started in early 1817 when she was already sick, but abandoned due to her declining health, just four months before her death.\nJane Austen\u0026rsquo;s immense posthumous success is a very far cry from her lived experience as a struggling writer. She died relatively young, of a debilitating illness, in a condition of financial insecurity, with no expectation that any of her life\u0026rsquo;s work would survive her, let alone enjoy any kind of acclaim. All her work was published anonymously. Her epitaph doesn\u0026rsquo;t even mention that she was a writer. And within only a few years of her untimely death, all her novels were out of print.\nA struggle to publish It\u0026rsquo;s hard to believe it now, but in her lifetime Austen struggled to publish any of her work. In 1803 her father had sold the copyright to Northanger Abbey (then called \u0026lsquo;Susan\u0026rsquo;) for 10 pounds, (this was today\u0026rsquo;s equivalent of just US$1,300), but the publisher did nothing with it. Having failed to retrieve the copyright in 1809, Austen couldn\u0026rsquo;t afford the fee until 1816, and though she did finally manage to pay, she didn\u0026rsquo;t live long enough to find another publisher. She never saw the book in print.\nPublishing in the early Nineteenth Century was risky and expensive, so even when they were eventually published Austen\u0026rsquo;s novels sold for unavoidably high prices and in small print runs. From Sense and Sensibity, her first published novel, she only made 140 pounds (around US$18,000 in today\u0026rsquo;s money) and she made even less from Pride and Prejudice, her second.\nMansfield Park, Austen\u0026rsquo;s third published novel, sold quite well despite receiving no reviews at all. Emma was the last novel she saw published. What she made on Emma though, she immediately lost on the second editon of Mansfield Park, which underperformed its first edition.\nIdentity concealed It was considered unacceptable for Austen, as a woman, to publish under her own name. This meant Sense and Sensibility was authored \u0026ldquo;by a lady\u0026rdquo;, and her subsequent novels \u0026ldquo;by the author of Sense and Sensibility\u0026rdquo;.\nBecause she died too soon, she didn\u0026rsquo;t live long enough to see her other complete novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion in print, though she might have, had she lived just half a year longer. Her brother Henry managed to publish these two novels just six months after her death. It had taken fully fifteen years for Northanger Abbey to see the light of day, and still the title page didn\u0026rsquo;t mention her name. It was only in the book\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;biographical notice\u0026rsquo; that her brother finally revealed the author\u0026rsquo;s identity.\nAnd by the 1820s all six Austen novels were out of print. They were only revived in 1832 by means of a new, cheaper edition. Sanditon, the unfinished novel, remained unpublished for more than a century, right up until 1925.\nGrowing fame The Austen flame flickered, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t quite go out. Her writing always found champions, and especially since the 1880s, the cult of Jane Austen has grown and grown. The critic Leslie Stephen called it \u0026lsquo;Austenolatry\u0026rsquo;, while author Henry James disapproved of the \u0026lsquo;beguiled infatuation\u0026rsquo; Austen\u0026rsquo;s work seemed to inspire in its devotees. In 1894 the critic George Saintsbury coined the term \u0026lsquo;Janeite\u0026rsquo; to refer approvingly to those readers who appreciated Austen. The author Rudyard Kipling was one of them. In Debits and Credits (1926) he wrote2:\nJane lies in Winchester-blessed be her shade! Praise the Lord for making her, and her for all she made! And while the stones of Winchester, or Milsom Street, remain, Glory, love, and honour unto England\u0026rsquo;s Jane!\nAfter multiple movies, TV series and the establishment of a firm online \u0026lsquo;fandom\u0026rsquo;, Jane Austen has become a cultural icon. Having long been a touchstone of debates about feminism and the role of women, her work has also found relevance and controversy in the context of empire, slavery and post-colonialism.\nAusten even features on the Bank of England ten pound note where, in a 2017 re-design, she replaced no less a figure than Charles Darwin3.\nYou can read on every note her ironic comment4:\n\u0026ldquo;I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!\u0026rdquo;\nThe time is short Jane Austen knew the time to create was short. She didn\u0026rsquo;t take her life for granted. We know this because she also left behind three prayers5. In the first prayer she says:\n\u0026ldquo;May we now, and on each return of night, consider how the past day has been spent.\u0026rdquo;\nAnd in her third prayer she says:\n\u0026ldquo;Another day is now gone, and added to those, for which we were before accountable.\u0026rdquo;\nShe sees the falling of the evening as a \u0026ldquo;solemn truth\u0026rdquo;, that should lead us to \u0026ldquo;feel the importance of every day, and every hour as it passes\u0026rdquo;.\nAs a result, she says, we should \u0026ldquo;earnestly strive to make a better use of [future time] than we have done of the time past.\u0026rdquo;\nWhile I think she did pretty well, it seems she thought she could have done better. In reviewing Jane Austen\u0026rsquo;s life I\u0026rsquo;m inspired to take my own creative capabilities more seriously. It feels important and meaningful to re-commit to my own writing, and to give an account of how I spend my own days and hours.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s because I don\u0026rsquo;t have much time either. None of us do. Ars longa, vita brevis. And whether we\u0026rsquo;re published or not, whether or not we find renown in our lifetimes, if ever, we owe it both to the muse and to ourselves to respect our own artistic vision by creating what we can while we can, until we no longer can.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t wait Nothing is certain. Few if any of us will attain Jane Austen\u0026rsquo;s fame. As I\u0026rsquo;ve learned, Jane Austen herself nearly didn\u0026rsquo;t. But all of us can take stock of the way we use our own precious time, like she did, and as she did, to feel the importance of every day. So:\nIf you want to write, do it.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;ve started but haven\u0026rsquo;t finished, finish it.\nAnd if you\u0026rsquo;re stuck and need help, ask for it.\nWho knows how much time you have left?\nDon\u0026rsquo;t wait any longer.\nSee also:\nWhy I\u0026rsquo;m writing faster\nMy range is me\nImage source: Public domain/Wikipedia\nAusten also left behind nearly 18,000 words of The Watsons, an early draft of Emma, unpublished until 1871, and Lady Susan, which she had completed around 1805, but which was only published in 1871, some 54 years after her death. There was also the satirical \u0026lsquo;Plan of a Novel\u0026rsquo;, written in 1816 and finally published in 1926.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nThis verse begins Kipling\u0026rsquo;s short story about WW1 soldiers who form a secret society of Jane Austen fans. Milsom Street in Bath is mentioned in several of Austen\u0026rsquo;s works.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nJane Austen appears on the UK\u0026rsquo;s ten pound bank note. web.archive.org/web/20170\u0026hellip;\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nIt\u0026rsquo;s an ironic comment because Caroline Bingley, a character in Pride and Prejudice, only says it to impress Mr Darcy.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nYou can read Austin\u0026rsquo;s prayers in full at Wikisource\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-31 09:00:25 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Jul 31, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/31/feel-the-importance.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F31%2Ffeel-the-importance.html" }, { "id": 374, "type": "post", "title": "My favourite tool is this notebook I made", "text": "I couldn\u0026rsquo;t find a note-making app that really suited me so I made one myself.\nOK, that\u0026rsquo;s a bit of a stretch. It\u0026rsquo;s really just a heavily modified version of TiddlyWiki but it feels tailor-made. And working with it fits me like a glove. It\u0026rsquo;s a great example of making a creative working environment. That\u0026rsquo;s important. You have to make your own environment. Some people hate TiddlyWiki1. That\u0026rsquo;s fine too.\nI wanted a notemaking environment that would let me:\nwrite atomic notes, write in Markdown syntax, link notes easily, re-combine notes by transclusion, easily search through all my notes without clutter; and export notes without stress. Here\u0026rsquo;s how I made my personalised notemaking app.\nBase: TiddlyWiki. I can\u0026rsquo;t stand the look of the plain OG version but I love the notebook theme that can easily be added. Backlinks: To enable backlinks I have found a couple of basic plug-ins really useful and would strongly recommend: TWCrossLinks. This adds a footer to your notes to show backlinks and freelinks. Relink. This enables automatic renaming of titles and other items across links. To-Do: For a to-do list, I greatly admire Projectify, which I have used for work, but for personal use I like the super-simple but effective Chandler, written by the late Joe Armstrong (godfather of Haskell). He talks you through how he wrote it, which in itself is a mini-masterclass in how to customise TiddlyWiki. Help: Finally I’ll mention the active and very helpful TiddlyWiki user forum. I see TiddlyWiki as a rhizomatic tool - one of several. A rhizomatic tool, the way I see it, is one that foregrounds the network and its many connections, while pushing to the background the hierarchy, whether it be temporal, semantic, thematic or any other structure. Such a tool helps users to create \u0026ldquo;mobile, stable and combinable inscriptions\u0026rdquo; that enable \u0026ldquo;action at a distance\u0026rdquo; (Latour, 1987).\nSince about 2020 a fad has been growing online of note-making apps that include rhizomatic affordances. That\u0026rsquo;s a fancy way of saying lotsalinks. These internal-link-friendly apps include Roam Research, Obsidian, LogSeq, Workflowy, and more venerably, TiddlyWiki. Much discussion has flowed about the nature of the Zettelkasten as a means to construct a networked system of notes. Little of this discussion has referred directly to Rhizome theory, but there are clear affinities.\nI wanted a rhizomatic tool for writing, and since I couldn\u0026rsquo;t find one I really liked, I adapted one for my own purposes. You might not need to invent your own tools, but each of us gathers uniquely the unique contents of our own toolbox.\nThis post is a contribution to the ongoing Indieweb Carnival, July 2024 edition. Why not check out the other posts, on tools, and contribute yourself to August\u0026rsquo;s theme, which is rituals.\nSome links to relevant material:\nDoes the Zettelkasten have a top and a bottom?\nA network of notes is a rhizome not a tree\nInspired destruction: How a Zettelkasten explodes thoughts so you can have newish ones\nZettelkasten, Rhizomes, and You\nA great summary of TiddlyWiki\nThe rise of networked notetaking\nDeleuze, Gilles and FĂ©lix Guattari (2004/1980). Rhizome PDF. In A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. Brian Massumi. New York: Continuum, pp. 3-28.\nLatour, B. (1987), Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.\nMe too! I hate the name TiddlyWiki, and I hate the word \u0026rsquo;tiddler\u0026rsquo; and generally I hate the aesthetic. That\u0026rsquo;s why I\u0026rsquo;ve changed it.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-30 00:11:01 +1100", "date": "12:11 p.m. on Jul 30, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/29/my-favourite-tool.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F29%2Fmy-favourite-tool.html" }, { "id": 375, "type": "post", "title": "Notemaking helps you remember - and helps you forget", "text": "Do we really need to remember everything?\nThis is the question posed by Lewis Hyde\u0026rsquo;s memorable book, A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past 📚\nHe says:\n“Every act of memory is an act of forgetting. The tree of memory set its roots in blood. To secure an ideal, surround it with a moat of forgetfulness. To study the self is to forget the self. In forgetting lies the liquefaction of time. The Furies bloat the present with the undigested past. “Memory and oblivion, we call that imagination.” We dream in order to forget.” ― Lewis Hyde, A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past\nForgetting is the essence of what makes us human The subtitle of Joshua Foer\u0026rsquo;s book, Moonwalking with Einstein, promotes the art and science of \u0026lsquo;remembering everything\u0026rsquo;. Yet Foer accepts that forgetting is an essential aspect of memory. He quotes the Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges:\n“It is forgetting, not remembering, that is the essence of what makes us human. To make sense of the world, we must filter it. “To think,” Borges writes, “is to forget.” – Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything\nOverwhelmed by memories Foer refers here to a particular short story by Borges about Funes the Memorious, a man who forgot nothing and was overwhelmed by his memories. Not only did his remembering take as long as the actual events, but - worse - he was mired in details, unable to discount enough detail to generalize.\nBut Borges was hardly the first to make this observation about the importance of forgetting. Pioneering psychologist William James, for example, wrote:\n“In the practical use of our intellect, forgetting is as important a function as recollecting\u0026hellip; “Selection is the very keel on which our mental ship is built. And in this case of memory its utility is obvious. If we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing.” – William James, 1890: 679-80. Quoted in Schooler and Hertwig. 2005.\nSuch views on the essential healthiness of forgetting are confirmed and extended by contemporary psychology (Schooler and Hertwig, 2005; NĂžrby, 2015).\nWho can forget the Pied Piper? While reading again these notes I have made about memory and forgetting, I remember an experience I had as an eight-year-old in primary school.\nIn the 1970s we used to listen to recorded stories through headphones and then we wrote our own responses. This was a kind of automated learning and at the time it seemed very modern. The school, which was brand new, had a small \u0026lsquo;audio studio\u0026rsquo;, where around six or eight children could listen to the same story at the same time.\nOn this particular occasion the task was to summarize in our own words the story we had just heard. I found this hard because I could remember everything that had happened. Instead of summarizing the story\u0026rsquo;s main points, I retold it in great detail. Obviously, this took much too long.\nI guess we were meant to write something like:\n“When the townsfolk refuse to pay the mysterious rat-catcher for his services, he punishes them by making all their children disappear”.\nInstead, my attempt at a summary was practically as long as the original story. Perhaps you too recall the details of this story: the town, the rats, the piper, his clothes, the music, the fee, the refusal, the second playing of the pipe, the procession of children, the opening in the mountain, the crippled child who arrived too late and was dismayed. Everything seemed important.\nI tried to put it all in This took longer than the time allotted, so that when the school bell rang I was the only one who hadn\u0026rsquo;t finished. The teacher kept me in at playtime and I still hadn\u0026rsquo;t finished, so I had to stay in at lunchtime too. It was a traumatic experience because I just couldn\u0026rsquo;t see what I was doing wrong. In my memory the teacher never modeled the brevity I was meant to be aiming for, so it felt like I had no idea what to leave out and what to keep in.\nPerhaps this memory says something about my particular mindset. Clearly not everyone had trouble summarizing the story. I was the only one who couldn\u0026rsquo;t bring myself to do it. I suppose I was a bit like Funes the Memorious, the eponymous character in that short story by Borges, who found himself cursed to forget nothing.\nSetting memories down Fortunately I have changed a bit since then, and have long been able to forget plenty without even trying1. But this feeling has stayed with me for forty-five years - of loving the details far too much to cast them out. I\u0026rsquo;m fortunate in that, conversely, there is little in my life that I have loathed so much that I couldn\u0026rsquo;t forget it.\nThis anecdote brings to mind a poem by Ann Carson:\n“You remember too much,\nmy mother said to me recently.\nWhy hold onto all that? And I said,\nWhere can I put it down?”\n― Anne Carson, Glass, Irony and God\nSo how can you put your memories down safely, so that you\u0026rsquo;ll be able to pick up in the future where you left off? I\u0026rsquo;ve written previously about the way re-reading your old notes can surprise you. That\u0026rsquo;s one of the great things about making notes now. You\u0026rsquo;re communicating with your future self, making the most of the likelihood that your future self may indeed have forgotten what you have to say and so will find it novel and unexpected.\n“Reading through old notes, you may be surprised that you ever wrote this. And re-reading your work in the light of new information, you may have new flashes of inspiration or see new connections that weren’t previously visible. Or perhaps the juxtaposition of two seemingly unrelated notes will prompt you to create a third, which contains an entirely new idea. In this sense, your notes become a kind of conversation partner, reminding you of what you once thought, and even challenging you to go further.” ― writingslowly.com\nThanks for reading. Why not check out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters?\nAnd to keep up to date, subscribe to the weekly email digest.\nSee also: Making notes will aid your short-term memory\nThe mastery of knowledge is an illusion\nHow to make the most of surprising yourself\nLearning to make notes like Leonardo\nAn interview with Lewis Hyde on forgetting\nReferences Borges, Jorge Luis. 1964. \u0026lsquo;Funes the Memorious\u0026rsquo; in Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. New York: New Directions.\nCarson, Anne. 1995. Glass, Irony, and God. New York: New Directions.\nFoer, Joshua. 2011. Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. New York: Penguin.\nHyde, Lewis. 2019. A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past. Edinburgh: Canongate.\nJames, William. 1890. The principles of psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Holt.\nNĂžrby, Simon. 2015. ‘Why Forget? On the Adaptive Value of Memory Loss’: Perspectives on Psychological Science, September. doi.org/10.1177/1\u0026hellip;\nSchooler, Lael J., and Ralph Hertwig. 2005. ‘How Forgetting Aids Heuristic Inference.’ Psychological Review 112 (3): 610–28. doi.org/10.1037/0\u0026hellip;\nImage credit: Photo by Karolina KoƂodziejczak on Unsplash\nThis is my attempt at irony.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-29 08:00:00 +1100", "date": "8:00 p.m. on Jul 29, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/29/notemaking-helps-you.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F29%2Fnotemaking-helps-you.html" }, { "id": 376, "type": "post", "title": "Making notes will aid your short-term memory, even when you haven't got one", "text": "This week I was making notes about a presentation when my colleague looked over and offered to just give me the slides. I said thanks, of course. But really I was making my notes to help me remember the key information. If I just referred to the slides, I\u0026rsquo;d never assimilate the presentation - I\u0026rsquo;d just listen then forget. Conversely, while I might never look at the notes again, since it was me that made them, some of it has now sunk in.\nMany people make notes to help them remember things, but how do you do it?\nThis question matters to Kat Moody. She writes about learning to live with a nonexistent working memory (Archived version).\nPresumably she doesn\u0026rsquo;t really have absolutely no short-term memory, but she does have ADHD, or as she likes to call it, CRSS (Can\u0026rsquo;t Remember Sh*t Syndrome).\nThat really resonated with me. And the horrible feeling of forgetting everything might seem familiar to you as well, even if you\u0026rsquo;re not diagnosed with either of these.\nInspired by author Ryan Holiday\u0026rsquo;s notecard system Kat Moody uses an app, readwise.io to make notes while she reads.\nBob Doto, author of the excellent new note-making manual A System for Writing, also does this. He says:\n\u0026ldquo;I tend to read articles on a tablet or phone, using a read-later app with note-taking capabilities to capture my thoughts. When I\u0026rsquo;m done, I bring these thought-captures into my writing platform, usually as main notes.\u0026rdquo; (Bob Doto, A System for Writing, p.50)\nThere\u0026rsquo;s an informative Hacker News discussion, which extends to memory hacks more generally. One commenter laments that school rewards memorization more than understanding. That can be hard for people whose memory isn\u0026rsquo;t their strong point.\nPerhaps ironically, I see note making as a useful means of forgetting, not just remembering. I don\u0026rsquo;t want to forget everything, but then I certainly wouldn\u0026rsquo;t like to remember everything either.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s a double act. My brain, when combined with my notes, helps me find the right balance between remembering and forgetting.\nI have more to say about this subject, so please stay tuned1. Update: Notemaking helps you remember - and forget.\nSome other salient pieces about making notes:\nOn Keeping an Everyday Notebook (Instead of a Bullet Journal) archived version\nAudio transcription workflow: How to Take Perfect Notes with Your Voice Using ChatGPT and Notion\nBig, beautiful goals – but can’t be bothered? 11 great productivity tips for lazy people (includes tips such as \u0026lsquo;Write everything down\u0026rsquo; and \u0026lsquo;Ditch the to-do list for a ‘first things’ list\u0026rsquo;.\nHow to actually use what you read with Readwise\nRyan Holiday\u0026rsquo;s notecard system\nImage credit: Photo by Sean Benesh on Unsplash\nDoes anyone ever say this any more!? I\u0026rsquo;m showing my age!\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-28 13:50:05 +1100", "date": "1:50 p.m. on Jul 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/28/making-notes-will.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F28%2Fmaking-notes-will.html" }, { "id": 377, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Thanks to @guidostevens@kolektiva.social I found this great quote from Cal Newport, from his book Slow Productivity.\n\u0026ldquo;You should give your efforts the breathing room and respect required to make them part of a life well lived, not an obstacle to it.\u0026rdquo; - Cal Newport\nSee also: writing slowly is back in fashion.\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-25 09:32:28 +1100", "date": "9:32 p.m. on Jul 25, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/25/thanks-to-guidostevenskolektivasocial.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F25%2Fthanks-to-guidostevenskolektivasocial.html" }, { "id": 378, "type": "post", "title": "A System for Writing by Bob Doto", "text": " \u0026ldquo;The note you just took has yet to realize its potential.\u0026rdquo; - Bob Doto.\nAnother \u0026lsquo;Zettelkasten primer\u0026rsquo; won\u0026rsquo;t be needed for some time, since this one is direct, concise, thorough and strongly practical. A System for Writing by Bob Doto is out!\n📖 Paperback\nđŸ’» Ebook\nIf you\u0026rsquo;ve become confused or cynical watching those endless videos in which an influencer who discovered the Zettelkasten five minutes ago is suddenly the expert; or if you\u0026rsquo;ve read Sönke Ahrens\u0026rsquo; book, How to Take Smart Notes and thought \u0026ldquo;now I know why I should make notes but I still don\u0026rsquo;t really know how\u0026rdquo;, well here\u0026rsquo;s the antidote: the only Zettelkasten book you\u0026rsquo;ll ever need.\nMy paperback copy of A System for Writing arrived just in time for weekend reading. It\u0026rsquo;s a deliberately useful book, with a clear three-part structure. It gets to the point quickly and stays there: how to write notes, how to connect them and how to use this system to produce finished written work.\nThings I especially appreciate in A System for Writing:\nPlenty of clear and specific examples of notes of all sorts. People often ask \u0026lsquo;but what should a note look like?\u0026rsquo; Here\u0026rsquo;s the answer, visually.* Many helpful workflow diagrams. People also ask \u0026lsquo;how does the system operate as a whole?\u0026rsquo; This book shows exactly how the Zettelkasten process works, and in what order.\nClear references both to Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s process and to other relevant predecessors. If you want to refer back to the sources, there is a wealth of pointers here.\nAt the end of each chapter, a checklist of specific activities to try, to implement the ideas just covered: what to do, what to remember and what to watch out for. If you\u0026rsquo;re wondering exactly what to do next with your notes, this book shows you (also, what not to do, especially in ch. 7).\nHelpful writing advice, which shows how to use your Zettelkasten to produce four different kinds of material: short-short items (i.e. social media posts), blog posts, articles and books.\nOverall, a clear, step-by-step, repeatable writing process to follow, from capturing your thoughts (ch. 1) right through to managing your writing workflow (ch. 9).\nWill anyone be disappointed? Well, if you\u0026rsquo;re only looking for a manual on a particular piece of software, this book won\u0026rsquo;t satisfy you. It tells almost nothing about whatever the popular app-of-the-day is. You are not going to be told here whether Obsidian is better than Obshmidian. Software comes and goes, while the underlying principles of the Zettelkasten approach, as presented here, can be applied in many different contexts.\nWhat about those who aren\u0026rsquo;t all that interested in actually publishing anything, who instead just want their notes to help them remember stuff, perhaps for tests? Well, although this book focuses without apology on writing, it will still be really useful for anyone making notes as a \u0026lsquo;second memory\u0026rsquo; (Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s term) because by reading this (especially the first two parts) they\u0026rsquo;ll soon be making clearer, more concise and more accessible notes, whatever they intend to use them for.\nAnd what of those who have absolutely no interest in obscure terms like \u0026lsquo;Zettelkasten\u0026rsquo;, who recoil from any kind of dubious productivity fetish, and just want to get things written? This is where the book excels and where it really comes good on the promise of its title. Yes, this is a system for writing. The author, who has himself written several books, shows from his direct experience how an effective note-making practice can lead to a more natural, unforced, effective and consistent writing practice. The Zettelkasten as presented here is an approach to note-making that will simply aid writing, without wasting time or effort.\nThis has certainly been my experience. Before I implemented my own Zettelkasten approach I was struggling both with organising my notes and with producing coherent writing. Since then, it\u0026rsquo;s been a different story. But until now there hasn\u0026rsquo;t been a Zettelkasten guidebook I\u0026rsquo;d wholeheartedly recommend to others. Now there certainly is.\nSo, if you want to learn quickly how to capture your ideas effectively and write productively, stress-free, then get hold of A System for Writing right now, in paperback or ebook.\nMore about Bob Doto.\nRead about the illusion of integrated thought, which is cited in chapter 7 of the book.\nMy take on starting a Zettelkasten: How to make a Zettelkasten from your existing deep experience.\nMy take on how to write an article from your notes.\nWhy not also check out my own book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters? And if you like this website, you can always sign up to the weekly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-14 18:05:00 +1100", "date": "6:05 p.m. on Jul 14, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/14/a-system-for-writing-by.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F14%2Fa-system-for-writing-by.html" }, { "id": 379, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬\u0026quot;The note you just took has yet to realize its potential.\u0026quot; - Bob Doto, A System for Writing\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-14 16:20:46 +1100", "date": "4:20 p.m. on Jul 14, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/14/the-note-you.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F14%2Fthe-note-you.html" }, { "id": 380, "type": "post", "title": "A System for Writing by Bob Doto", "text": " \u0026ldquo;The note you just took has yet to realize its potential.\u0026rdquo; - Bob Doto\nAnother \u0026lsquo;Zettelkasten primer\u0026rsquo; won\u0026rsquo;t be needed for some time, since this one is direct, concise, thorough and strongly practical.\n📚A System for Writing by Bob Doto is out!\nIf you\u0026rsquo;ve become confused or cynical watching those endless videos in which an influencer who discovered the Zettelkasten five minutes ago is suddenly the expert; or if you\u0026rsquo;ve read Sönke Ahrens\u0026rsquo; book, How to Take Smart Notes and thought \u0026ldquo;now I know why I should make notes but I still don\u0026rsquo;t really know how\u0026rdquo;, well here\u0026rsquo;s the antidote: the only Zettelkasten book you\u0026rsquo;ll ever need.\nMy paperback copy of A System for Writing arrived just in time for weekend reading. It\u0026rsquo;s a deliberately useful book, with a clear three-part structure. It gets to the point quickly and stays there: how to write notes, how to connect them and how to use this system to produce finished written work.\nThings I especially appreciate in A System for Writing:\nPlenty of clear and specific examples of notes of all sorts. People often ask \u0026lsquo;but what should a note look like?\u0026rsquo; Here\u0026rsquo;s the answer, visually. Many helpful workflow diagrams. People also ask \u0026lsquo;how does the system operate as a whole?\u0026rsquo; This book shows exactly how the Zettelkasten process works, and in what order. Clear references both to Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s process and to other relevant predecessors. If you want to refer back to the sources, there is a wealth of pointers here. At the end of each chapter, a checklist of specific activities to try, to implement the ideas just covered: what to do, what to remember and what to watch out for. If you\u0026rsquo;re wondering exactly what to do next with your notes, this book shows you (also, what not to do, especially in ch. 7). Helpful writing advice, which shows how to use your Zettelkasten to produce four different kinds of material: short-short items (i.e. social media posts), blog posts, articles and books. Overall, a clear, step-by-step, repeatable writing process to follow, from capturing your thoughts (ch. 1) right through to managing your writing workflow (ch. 9). Will anyone be disappointed? Well, if you\u0026rsquo;re only looking for a manual on a particular piece of software, this book won\u0026rsquo;t satisfy you. It tells almost nothing about whatever the popular app-of-the-day is. You are not going to be told here whether Obsidian is better than Obshmidian. Software comes and goes, while the underlying principles of the Zettelkasten approach, as presented here, can be applied in many different contexts.\nWhat about those who aren\u0026rsquo;t all that interested in actually publishing anything, who instead just want their notes to help them remember stuff, perhaps for tests? Well, although this book focuses without apology on writing, it will still be really useful for anyone making notes as a \u0026lsquo;second memory\u0026rsquo; (Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s term) because by reading this (especially the first two parts) they\u0026rsquo;ll soon be making clearer, more concise and more accessible notes, whatever they intend to use them for.\nAnd what of those who have absolutely no interest in obscure terms like \u0026lsquo;Zettelkasten\u0026rsquo;, who recoil from any kind of dubious productivity fetish, and just want to get things written? This is where the book excels and where it really comes good on the promise of its title. Yes, this is a system for writing. The author, who has himself written several books, shows from his direct experience how an effective note-making practice can lead to a more natural, unforced, effective and consistent writing practice. The Zettelkasten as presented here is an approach to note-making that will simply aid writing, without wasting time or effort.\nThis has certainly been my experience. Before I implemented my own Zettelkasten approach I was struggling both with organising my notes and with producing coherent writing. Since then, it\u0026rsquo;s been a different story. But until now there hasn\u0026rsquo;t been a Zettelkasten guidebook I\u0026rsquo;d wholeheartedly recommend to others. Now there certainly is.\nSo if you want to learn quickly how to capture your ideas effectively and write productively, stress-free, then get hold of A System for Writing right now.\nMore about Bob Doto.\nRead about the illusion of integrated thought, which is cited in chapter 7 of the book.\nMy take on starting a Zettelkasten: How to make a Zettelkasten from your existing deep experience.\nMy take on how to write an article from your notes.\nWhy not also check out my own book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters? And if you like this website, you can always sign up to the weekly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-14 16:05:15 +1100", "date": "4:05 p.m. on Jul 14, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/14/a-system-for.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F14%2Fa-system-for.html" }, { "id": 381, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Here\u0026rsquo;s why Puss in Boots is my hero: he made something from nothing, and so can we.\nThis article was part of the June 2024 IndieWeb Carnival: DIY - Something from (almost) nothing, hosted by Andrei. There\u0026rsquo;s a great roundup of the submissions.\nWhy not take part in the Carnival? July\u0026rsquo;s theme is Tools\n", "dateiso": "2024-07-04 17:53:33 +1100", "date": "5:53 p.m. on Jul 4, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/07/04/heres-why-puss.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F07%2F04%2Fheres-why-puss.html" }, { "id": 382, "type": "post", "title": "Something from nothing is no fairy tale", "text": "As an adult, one of my favourite fairy tales is Puss in Boots.\nI have immense respect for this talking cat. He has nothing going for him - not even a decent pair of shoes. And to make matters worse he finds himself lumbered with a pretty mediocre human owner.\nFolklore academics have a way of classifying the tales they study. It\u0026rsquo;s called the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index (ATU). And in this index, Puss in Boots is Type 545: the cat as helper.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s completely wrong.\nRead it for yourself. This story is not about the frankly lacklustre youngest son of the mill. No, it\u0026rsquo;s about the cat, a cat who has almost no help, who has to do practically everything himself, and who never gives up until finally he gets what he needs.\nThe great writer Angela Carter would have agreed with this. She observed the cat was “the servant so much the master already“1. But this is hardly controversial. Perrault\u0026rsquo;s version of the story actually has the title “The Master Cat“.\nSo as you probably remember, the tale begins when the cat experiences an unexpected disaster. The old miller dies, leaving the mill to his eldest son.\nBut the mill\u0026rsquo;s cat he leaves to the youngest son.\nNot only is the cat suddenly homeless, but to make things even worse his fate is now shackled to a penniless human without prospects.\nSo what\u0026rsquo;s a homeless cat to do?\nHe has no choice. If he\u0026rsquo;s going to survive, he\u0026rsquo;s going to have to create something from nothing.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s one of the most famous stories of all time. All the great fairy tale compilers included it in their collections: Straparola, Basile, Perrault. When you started reading, did you think, “Puss in Boots? Who\u0026rsquo;s that? No. Almost everyone knows this story.\nPuss in Boots made it into the Shrek movies and then headlined two spin-off films himself. He\u0026rsquo;s a star. He started with nothing, a homeless outcast, and ended up making a fortune for everyone who\u0026rsquo;s willing to respect him.\nBut he never actually sought fortune or fame.\nRemember I said he never gives up till he gets what he wants?\nAnd what does a cat want, really? That\u0026rsquo;s what this whole story was always leading up to (skipping all the bits in the middle, that is). In the ogre\u0026rsquo;s castle the cat tricks the ogre into turning himself into a mouse. Well, with the cat turfed out of the mill, where else is he going to get a feed?\nThe ogre, enjoying the flattery cried, “I will show you just how powerful I am!” Instantly he transformed into a tiny mouse scampering around the floor.\nIn a flash the crafty cat jumped upon the mouse and ate it up.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s why I like Puss in Boots so much: the story enacts what it tells. Like its feline hero, the story itself started from nothing and became a huge success, making multiple fortunes along the way 2.\nWhat do I mean by saying the story itself started from nothing? I mean there\u0026rsquo;s hardly any story there. Think about it. The cat simply takes the longest route imaginable to his next meal. Just think about the very first draft:\n“One day a cat caught a mouse”.\nAlmost nothing. Just enough from which to create one of the most popular stories ever.\nSo tell your story, even if it doesn\u0026rsquo;t yet seem like much of a story.\nLike the cat, make yourself up.\nCreate something from (almost) nothing.\nThe world waits with baited breath to hear all about it.\nThis is part of the June 2024 IndieWeb Carnival: DIY - Something from (almost) nothing, hosted by Andrei. There\u0026rsquo;s a great roundup of all the submissions. (Edited on 3/7/24).\nImage by Gustave DorĂ© - Les Contes de Perrault, Public Domain, Link\nNow read:\nMy range is me\nFrom fragments you can build a greater whole\nWork as if writing is the only thing that matters\nYou can get a lot done by writing slowly\nChoose your own race and finish it\nFive useful articles about writing\nThoreau on writing\nSince you\u0026rsquo;ve made it this far, why not subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email digest?\nAngela Carter (22 July 1976). \u0026ldquo;The Better to Eat You With\u0026rdquo;. New Society.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nThe two Puss in Boots movies in the Shrek series have made more than a billion dollars at the box office.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-06-29 18:46:18 +1100", "date": "6:46 p.m. on Jun 29, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/06/29/something-from-nothing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F06%2F29%2Fsomething-from-nothing.html" }, { "id": 383, "type": "post", "title": "Why not let your reading be a smorgasbord of serendipity?", "text": "Yes indeed, why not let your reading be a smorgasbord of serendipity?\nHere\u0026rsquo;s Anna Funder, author of Wifedom: Mrs Orwell\u0026rsquo;s Invisible Life, on working at the University of Melbourne English Department library as a student:\n“It sounds prehistoric now, but I sat at the front desk, typing out index cards for new acquisitions or requests from staff for books or journals — anything from the latest novel, to psychoanalysis, poetry or medieval studies. I read things that had nothing to do with my studies: a smorgasbord of serendipity. Despite my time there, I have never understood the Dewey decimal system: how can numbers tell you what a book is, to a decimal point?” - Every book you could want and many more\nMy take on this?\nWhat is the real work of serendipity? A library of good neighbours The Dewey Decimal System pigeonholes all knowledge, like cells in a prison HEAJ:Mundaneum by Marc Wathieu is licensed under CC BY 2.0\n", "dateiso": "2024-06-14 01:16:39 +1100", "date": "1:16 p.m. on Jun 14, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/06/14/why-not-let.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F06%2F14%2Fwhy-not-let.html" }, { "id": 384, "type": "post", "title": "A minimal approach to making notes ", "text": "I want a minimal approach to making notes.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t want anything fancy, just enough structure to be useful.\nWhen I see people\u0026rsquo;s souped-up Obsidian note-taking vaults my head spins (OK, I\u0026rsquo;m jealous). I also wonder, though, what extra result is achieved with a fantastically complex system. Having said that, I\u0026rsquo;m keen on people creating a working environment that works for them, and I do admire people\u0026rsquo;s creativity in this area.\nI just can\u0026rsquo;t be bothered to do it myself.\nWhen discussing the Zettelkasten approach to making notes, it seems there are a lot of different note types to consider, which confuses people. The extensive discussion about different types of notes caused by reading Sonke Ahrens\u0026rsquo;s book How to Take Smart Notes makes me think this multiple-note-types approach is just too complicated for me. So what do I do instead?\nI prefer to look directly at what sociologist Niklas Luhmann did with his Zettelkasten (and the associated research project on it.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve also found inspiration in Dan Alloso\u0026rsquo;s book, How to Make Notes and Write. This is what Anna Havron said about it at Analogue Office\n\u0026ldquo;I found Dan Allosso’s zettelkasten system to be cleaner and simpler than anything else I’ve read. He does not parse out four or five fine-grained types of notes (fleeting, literature, evergreen, sprout, etc). He uses two: source notes, and point notes. “Source Notes” are notes he makes mostly from the source but with some initial thoughts and questions. “Point Notes” are his own thoughts: “Others have called these “Main Notes” or “Permanent Notes” or “Evergreen Notes”. I called them Point Notes to remind myself that when I write them I should be making a point.” (Allosso 2022, p 66)\u0026rdquo;\nAllosso, Dan; Allosso, S.F.(2022) How to Make Notes and Write. Kindle Edition. He\u0026rsquo;s not the only person claiming there\u0026rsquo;s only two kinds of notes. Bob Doto says of Sonke Ahrens\u0026rsquo;s book (p.23-24):\n\u0026ldquo;the author refers to two categories of notes1 permanently stored in the slip-box: \u0026ldquo;the main notes\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;literature notes.\u0026rdquo;\u0026rdquo;\nWhat I get from all this is that there are really only two kinds of note worth thinking about and putting in your Zettelkasten, at least when you start out. Yes, only two, and here they are:\nThe note you write to make sure you record the source of information. This is a source note (also known as a literature note or a reference note or a bibliographic note). As Bob Doto says: it\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;a single note containing references to all the interesting passages in a book (or other piece of media) that you encounter.\u0026rdquo;\nThe note you write to make some kind of point, whatever it is. Ideally, this will be either a concept or a proposition, but\u0026hellip; you do you. This is a point note (but you can call it a permanaent note, a main note, a Zettel, an evergreen note, or even, confusingly, a literature note, and that\u0026rsquo;s fine too.)\nNow I\u0026rsquo;m going to show you what these two notes look like. They are quite straightforward.\nWhat does a source note look like? A source note looks like this (lifted from the excellent article What is a literature note?:\nAhrens, S. (2017). How to Take Smart Notes. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.\n13 reference to speed writing (effort) 14 trying to squeeze too much (squeeze) 15 no effort (effort) 18 ref to bibliography (lit note) 20 index ref (index) 21 need only make a few changes (effort) 24 discrepancies btw lit/perm (perm) You record the bibliographic details of something you\u0026rsquo;re reading (or viewing or listening to), and you briefly note interesting ideas, with their page number.\nWhen you want to expand one of these ideas, you link the line on the source note to a point note that takes the idea further in some way.\nWhat does a point note look like? A note looks like this (from the indispensable article Introduction to the Zettelkasten Method, which you should definitely read): Sure, a note like this has plenty of metadata such as an ID, a title, some links and maybe some references, but in the body of the note, the author is just making a single point.\nSo, to recap: you only need two kinds of notes: source notes and point notes (or reference notes and main notes, or literature notes and\u0026hellip; look, just call them what you want, OK?).\nBonus tip: There is actually one other type of note that you might want to use once you’ve got your system going, but it\u0026rsquo;s optional, especially when starting out.\nThe one further useful kind of note is the hub note (or structure note, or map of content2). You use it to create a bit of structure in your collection of notes. But remember, a network of notes is a rhizome not a tree. You don\u0026rsquo;t need to impose the structure prematurely - it arises organically from your notes as you write them, not from top-down categories.\nWhat does a hub note look like? It looks like a note title followed by a simple list of other linked note titles and note IDs. It’s almost like a mini- table of contents or an outline for an article. But really, it’s just a point note where the point of the note is: “here\u0026rsquo;s a list of linked notes that are all related to the title of this note”. What\u0026rsquo;s helpful about this is that the hubs emerge gradually from your notes as they accumulate, from the bottom up.\nThat’s it really. Source notes, point notes and hub notes.\nThat’s all you need to get going (and then to continue). After that you can invent all the note types you like, as and when they suit your particular uses. For example, in the novel Lila, Robert Pirsig’s protagonist Phaedrus writes about ‘program slips’, which describe how his note system works.\n\u0026ldquo;PROGRAM slips were instructions for what to do with the rest of the slips. They kept track of the forest while he was busy thinking about individual trees. With more than ten thousand trees that kept wanting to expand to one hundred thousand, the PROGRAM slips were absolutely necessary to keep from getting lost.\u0026rdquo;\nWell, maybe. Pirsig just made that note type up, as well as a few others, and so can you if you want.\nWhy not check out my own book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters? And you can sign up to the weekly email news. There won\u0026rsquo;t be much, because I\u0026rsquo;m still writing slowly, but at least you\u0026rsquo;ll know you didn\u0026rsquo;t miss it.\nNow read:\nHow to start a Zettelkasten from your existing deep experience\nEven the index is just another note\nDoes the Zettelkasten have a top and a bottom?\nThree worthwhile modes of notetaking\nHow to connect your notes to make them more effective\nWhen it comes to writing notes how much mess is just enough?\nMy emphasis\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nSee Nick Milo’s Linking your Thinking for detailed information about maps of content\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-06-13 02:24:36 +1100", "date": "2:24 p.m. on Jun 13, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/06/13/a-minimal-approach.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F06%2F13%2Fa-minimal-approach.html" }, { "id": 385, "type": "post", "title": "Five useful articles about writing", "text": "Here are five links with worthwhile writing advice. đŸ–‹ïž\nHow to think in writing, part 1: The thought behind the thought by Henrik Karlsson. Chase your reading by Robin Hanson. Learning by writing by Holden Karnovsky. How to make writing less hard by Oliver Burkeman. When to begin writing by Sheldon Richmond (it\u0026rsquo;s an old one but a good one). ", "dateiso": "2024-06-13 00:41:28 +1100", "date": "12:41 p.m. on Jun 13, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/06/12/five-useful-articles.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F06%2F12%2Ffive-useful-articles.html" }, { "id": 386, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa 📚\nThis made me want to visit Kanda Jimbochu, the second-hand bookstore quarter of Tokyo, where the novel is set. Perhaps it’s a bit of a tourist trap, but hey, books!\nThe story is a little thin, but then just yesterday I heard an amazing true story about a book shop, that would sound unbelievable if it was ever put in a novel - so maybe this experience has set the bar a little high.\nImage: Kenichiro MATOHARA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons\n", "dateiso": "2024-06-08 14:26:53 +1100", "date": "2:26 p.m. on Jun 8, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/06/08/finished-reading-days.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F06%2F08%2Ffinished-reading-days.html" }, { "id": 387, "type": "post", "title": "A forest of evergreen notes", "text": "Jon M Sterling, a computer scientist at Cambridge University, has created his own \u0026lsquo;mathematical Zettelkasten\u0026rsquo;, which he also calls \u0026lsquo;a forest of evergreen notes\u0026rsquo;.\nHe maintains a very interesting website, built using a tool he created, named, appropriately enough, Forester.\nThe implementation of his ideas raises all sorts of ideas and questions for me, almost all enthusiastic. Here are a few in no order at all:\nAndy Matuschak coined the term \u0026rsquo;evergreen notes\u0026rsquo;, which Jon Sterling has further developed with great elegance. The original concept, I think, comes from journalism\u0026rsquo;s \u0026rsquo;evergreen content\u0026rsquo;, an item that’s endlessly relevant, which can be created in advance and only used on a slow-news day. It has been adopted by content marketers as a kind of holy grail of online writing. Why write about yesterday’s sports results (ephemeral) when you can write about how to cook a meatloaf (evergreen) and get better SEO? This is a quite a bit different from Jon Sterling\u0026rsquo;s apparent intention, where the academic workflow involves producing papers, lectures, presentations and so on,from the same or similar units of information, and the interchangeability of the publishing format matters. I wonder whether there\u0026rsquo;s a tension between the \u0026rsquo;evergreen\u0026rsquo; quality of the contents of the note (i.e. an idea that can be applied in several different contexts) and the format of the note (i.e. a textual artefact that can be re-mixed and re-published). In any case, Prof. Sterling seems to be on the way to resolving it. Forester uses a unique ID for each note, which is an author’s three-letter initials followed by a unique four digit base 36 number (i.e. a number where the permitted numerals are 0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ). I like this, a lot. With just four digits you can identify 1,679,616 unique notes - far more than you\u0026rsquo;re likely to be generating. There are some stimulating thoughts on the role of hierarchy in notes, which I’ve also been thinking about. Sterling is keen on atomicity. Me too. Very keen, because from fragments you can build a greater whole. Is this a Zettelkasten or a public Wiki? Hmm, not sure. Arguably, a Wiki needs to be using wiki software, whereas a Zettelkasten is rather a method or process, which numerous tools could create. But whatever it is, it does make me think there’s a clear fourfold typology here: single-author or multi-author? Public or private? Andy Matuschak’s site is a public, single-author creation Jon Sterling’s site is public but multi-author Niklas Luhmann’s original Zettelkasten was private and single-author, and though it has since opened to the public, that wasn’t its function during the author’s lifetime. Most, if not all, 20th Century ZettelkĂ€sten were private and single-author Is there a private, multi-author example? If so, I’m not aware of it, perhaps because, you know, it’s private. But such a thing might well exist. Before seeing Jon Sterling’s site, I had held a simple distinction between the Zettlekasten and the Wiki. I don’t really wish to re-open an old argument, but just want to make a small observation. For me, a Wiki is a public- or semi-public facing product in its own right, a kind of publication, whereas a Zettelkasten is a method or process to produce public-facing artifacts, but it isn’t one of these artifacts itself. But now I wonder whether you can’t do both back-stage and front-stage at the same time. In other words, it looks to me like Jon Sterling is creating a Zettelkasten by my definition (it’s a process to produce public-facing artifacts such as articles and presentations), but he’s working with the garage door open (it’s a kind-of product in its own right). This is an interesting thing to watch, and it’s always fun to experience the mystique of the studio. ", "dateiso": "2024-06-02 19:35:36 +1100", "date": "7:35 p.m. on Jun 2, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/06/02/a-forest-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F06%2F02%2Fa-forest-of.html" }, { "id": 388, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "“let’s look at all the apps that live under our thumbs, and interrogate the choices they’re making, and then imagine what they would look like if we demanded that our tools don’t tie our hands.” - Anil Dash 💬\nMy take: Don’t let your technology dictate your aesthetic experience. We can make choices!\n", "dateiso": "2024-05-30 11:28:51 +1100", "date": "11:28 p.m. on May 30, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/05/30/lets-look-at.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F05%2F30%2Flets-look-at.html" }, { "id": 389, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Andy Bell found 14 ways to supercharge your workflow with AI, but I’ve found the single best one.\n", "dateiso": "2024-05-28 01:48:53 +1100", "date": "1:48 p.m. on May 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/05/28/andy-bell-found.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F05%2F28%2Fandy-bell-found.html" }, { "id": 390, "type": "post", "title": " Make your notes a creative working environment", "text": " \u0026ldquo;Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity?\u0026rdquo;\nThis is a question Manuel Moreale regularly asks his guests on the People and Blogs newsletter. The answers are always fascinating and well worth a read.\nThis got me thinking about my own working environment and maybe I overthought it. It looks like I\u0026rsquo;ve totally ignored Barry Hess\u0026rsquo;s reminder that you\u0026rsquo;re a blogger not an essayist.1 Anyway, here goes.\nNote: This post is part of the Indieweb Carnival on creative environments.\nMy notes are a miniature working environment I\u0026rsquo;ve long seen my collection of notes as a miniature working environment, where I can create and develop my thoughts into finished pieces of writing. But what does it mean to view your notes as a place for thinking, a creative environment?\nTo start, it really matters what kind of writing tools you use.\nIt matters because an assemblage of such tools is more than just a particular software application or service - it\u0026rsquo;s an entire space to work in. And when I say \u0026lsquo;space\u0026rsquo;, I mean the whole environment your entire body is in as you work. This space includes the room, the desk, the light source, the ambient temperature, the background noise, the computer screen and the computer powering it, the writing software, the keyboard and mouse, or mobile phone microphone; or alternatively, the card index, the individual card, the pen or pencil, the writing surface, and so on. These factors taken together all add up to a carefully constructed space in which thinking, and writing, and writing-as-thinking can take place.\nIf you have a bad space, there\u0026rsquo;s probably quite a lot you can do to fix it. A few small tweeks could make a big difference. There\u0026rsquo;s plenty to learn about improving your workspace to optimise creativity from Donald Rattner’s book, My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation. But the space inside your notes also really matters. According to media theorist Walter Ong,\n\u0026ldquo;technologies are not mere exterior aids but also interior transformations of consciousness\u0026rdquo;. Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, Routledge, London, 1995, p. 82.2\nYou may be writing in Microsoft Word, or in a cheap notebook, or on scraps of reused paper, or in a code editor, or on WhatsApp on your phone standing on the train. However you write, that\u0026rsquo;s part of your creative environment. And there\u0026rsquo;s a connection between what surrounds you and what\u0026rsquo;s happening within you.\nWriting is an aesthetic experience The writing environment makes itself known first and foremost as a collection of sense impressions of various kinds. So the process of writing concerns aesthetics, which literally means \u0026rsquo;to take in the world through the senses\u0026rsquo; (Reid, 2019:35), or \u0026lsquo;of or pertaining to things perceptible by the senses\u0026rsquo; (Boal, 1995: 18).\nWriting is about the senses I don’t mean this in the usual way, that you should write about the senses to make your sentences more vivid. I mean that the physical experience of writing really matters. Aesthetics is about the senses - what you feel, perceive, sense in your surroundings and in your body. Note, as well, the converse: that the word anaesthesia refers to a state of being rendered insensitive - numb or even unconscious. So to the extent that you are unaware of your sense impressions, or otherwise numb to them, then your cognition is accordingly impaired. And therefore, cognition is fundamentally aesthetic.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been argued that “to know intellectually is to discover what one already knows unconsciously and tacitly at the perception of the body” (Gagliardi 1996, p. 574)\nNathalie Tasler’s blog post about time-management introduced me to the German philosopher of aesthetics, Wolfgang Wesch. She writes:\n\u0026ldquo;Welsch (1995) even states: there is no cognition without aesthetic—I refer to the origins of aesthetic here: aisthēsis, which is visceral experiences, it is the collaboration of cognition, senses, emotion.\u0026rdquo;\nSo it\u0026rsquo;s worth paying attention to the way writing your notes makes you feel, physically.\nWriting is also a kind of theatre The activist theatre director Augusto Boal has a deep history of exploring the spaces in which theatre takes place. His book The Rainbow of Desire devotes its second chapter to the concept of the aesthetic space.\nHe takes as a starting point Lope de Vega\u0026rsquo;s wonderfully minimalist definition of theatre:\n\u0026ldquo;two human beings, a passion and a platform\u0026rdquo; (1996: 16).\nBut Boal makes it clear that for him, a physical platform is not in itself necessary.\n\u0026ldquo;All that is required is that, within the bounds of a certain space, spectators and actors designate a more restricted space as \u0026lsquo;stage\u0026rsquo;: and aesthetic space\u0026hellip; The interpenetration of these two spaces is the aesthetic space.\u0026rdquo; (1996: 18)\nAlthough for Boal the theatre is the aesthetic space par excellence, he is clear that he takes a broad view of what the theatre can be:\n\u0026ldquo;With the actor is born the theatre. The actor is theatre. We are all actors: we are theatre!\u0026rdquo; (1996:19)\n\u0026ldquo;Anyone can designate and thereby create such a space, in their own front room, a space which occupies part or all of the room and immediately becomes, \u0026lsquo;aesthetically\u0026rsquo;, a stage: the \u0026lsquo;platform\u0026rsquo;. The creator of such a space can then play for herself, without an audience - or with an imaginary audience - like an actor rehearsing alone in an empty theatre: in front of the future audience, absent at that moment, but present in the imagination.\u0026rdquo; (1996: 19)\n\u0026ldquo;The aesthetic space possesses gnoseological properties, that is, properties which stimulate knowledge and discovery, cognition and recognition: properties which stimulate the process of learning by experience. Theatre is a form of knowledge.\u0026rdquo; (1996: 20)\nPay attention to arrangements It doesn\u0026rsquo;t always go well. The author Virginia Woolf famously claimed that in order to write, a woman needs money and a room of one\u0026rsquo;s own. Yet scholar Evija Trofimova found that the room in itself wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough. It mattered how it was arranged:\n\u0026ldquo;Look at my surroundings. My office is crammed with stuff. So many thoughts buried under piles of paper, insisting on their place in the work in which they so obviously do not belong. I also can’t help but feel the magnetic pull of others’ ideas from all the books around me. Each thought, each reference, fights for its place in my work. What an unbearable intertextual mess\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; Trofimova, Evija, and Sophie Nicholls. 2018. “On Walking and Thinking: Two Walks across the Page”. M/C Journal 21 (4). doi.org/10.5204/m\u0026hellip;\nThe exterior arrangements of your writing practice really matter, but so do the interior arrangements of your computer. They too are part of the environment in which your notes take shape. We can rearrange the room in which we sit, sometimes. We can make it tidier or messier. We can close the curtains at the window, or open them. We can repaint, or just put up a poster. We can play music of many different kinds. But it\u0026rsquo;s harder to re-design the writing tools we use. Dark theme or light theme? This \u0026lsquo;wallpaper\u0026rsquo; or that \u0026lsquo;background\u0026rsquo;? But is that really our only choice? Our digital writing tools allow some customisation, but not much.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t let your technology dictate your aesthetic experience Why does any of this matter to me as I sit writing my notes?\nIt matters because I\u0026rsquo;ve spent a long time, too long, having my precious aesthetic space more or less dictated to me by a series of technological decisions that were made without my input or approval. If you use any of the standard apps and operating systems, perhaps you have too.\nTake the personal computer. It was a revolution, to be sure, but the aesthetic space it circumscribes - keyboard, mouse and small screen on a desktop - was never designed for me to be creative in. PCs took off from the late 1980s onwards because middle managers in large organisations could purchase one with the small budget under their own control ($1,000, always $1,000!) thereby getting around the domination then imposed by the company\u0026rsquo;s IT department.\nOr think of the smartphone. It took over the world from 2007 onwards not because it was easier for me to work creatively with (ha ha) but because it could deliver ads more effectively, and especially games and video. The smartphone, for all its technical wizardry, was always a consumption-delivery vehicle before ever it was a creative production tool. In fact, creating things is anathema to the dominant business models because the attention economy requires us to be forever paying attention to someone else\u0026rsquo;s creation, which exists to sell us stuff. I can create sentences using my phone, sure, but in doing so I always feel as though I\u0026rsquo;m fighting the interface. That\u0026rsquo;s the aesthetic space I now find myself living in.\nSo it\u0026rsquo;s time to take back my aesthetic space. Time to stop passively accepting what I\u0026rsquo;m given and to make active decisions about the kind of technological environments that are conducive to my own creative focus.\nYou can make choices! “The only hat worth wearing was the one you made for yourself, not one you bought, not one you were given. Your own hat, for your own head. Your own future, not someone else\u0026rsquo;s.” ― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky (2004)3\nYou can\u0026rsquo;t change the whole world, but you can change your little piece of it, and that has a ripple effect throughout the universe.4 Everyone\u0026rsquo;s decisions about their aesthetic space will be different. Here’s what I need, and what you might consider:\nA desk with a window in front of me, opening out onto some kind of view and some kind of green life. Currently, I\u0026rsquo;m looking out of a side window onto the jasmine hedge between us and the neighbours. Just enough view to be useful. At work, I can look out over the street through the treetop foliage. If I couldn\u0026rsquo;t see outside I think I\u0026rsquo;d probably go mad. Writing on the train works well. There’s a good view and it’s always changing. A keyboard and mouse that work for me, that don’t get in my way. I have a Logitech MX Vertical ergonomic mouse, which lets me rest my hand vertically , with my thumb at the top, to avoid repetitive strain injury. I also have a Keychron K3 mechanical keyboard, which I really love - unreasonably so, since it\u0026rsquo;s just a keyboard. But the feel of the keys really makes a difference to my overall sense of how it feels to write. A writing app that lets me customise it as much as possible. I prefer to write in plain text Markdown syntax, and I really dislike apps that stand in the way of this. Sublime Text works well for me and Notepad++ is acceptable. I’ve tried others. VSCode just didn’t do it for me. This aesthetic space matter is subtle. I really like the way one of my favourite apps TiddlyWiki allows me to slice up and recombine small pieces of writing. But TiddlyWiki has limitations I’m not really keen on. I’ve customised my version quite radically. Sometimes, writing by hand feels better and other times writing by keyboard feels better - and occasionally, voice dictation feels better. I haven\u0026rsquo;t resolved this, but try to stay flexible. Sometimes when I\u0026rsquo;m stuck I switch modes. This often gets me unstuck. Two human beings, a passion and a platform. You the reader and me the writer. Perhaps we could swap places. I\u0026rsquo;d like to know how you feel about your writing space. Reply on micro.blog, or Mastodon, or best of all, write your own blog post and let me know. References 5\nBoal, A. (1995). The Rainbow of Desire: The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy. Abingdon, UK and New York, NY: Routledge.\nDědinovĂĄ, T. (2022). Embodying the Permaculture Story: Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching Series. In M. Oziewicz, B. Attebery, \u0026amp; T. DědinovĂĄ (Eds.), Fantasy and Myth in the Anthropocene: Imagining Futures and Dreaming Hope in Literature and Media (pp. 74–87). London: Bloomsbury Academic.\nGagliardi, P. (1996). Exploring the aesthetic side of organisational life. In S. R. H. C. Clegg, C. Hardy, \u0026amp; W. R. Nord (Eds.), Handbook of organization studies (pp. 565-580). London: Sage. Cited in Keenan, T. M. (2016). The use of aesthetic knowledge in decision making processes in mega projects (PhD thesis). Queensland University of Technology. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/97979/1/Thomas_Keenan_Thesis.pdf\nPopen, S. (2006). AESTHETIC SPACE Aesthetic spaces/imaginative geographies. In A Boal Companion (pp. 135-142). Routledge. https://smartmove.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/A-Boal-Companion.pdf#page=136\nRattner, D. M. (2019). My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation. United States: Skyhorse.\nReid, J. (2019). Towards an Aesthetic Space: A Comparative Study. Journal of Deafblind Studies on Communication, 5(1). https://jdbsc.rug.nl/article/download/32573/29968\nTrofimova, E., \u0026amp; Nicholls, S. (2018). On Walking and Thinking: Two Walks across the Page. M/C Journal, 21(4). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.1450\nWilken, R. (2014). Peter Carey\u0026rsquo;s Laptop. Cultural Studies Review, 20(1), 100-120.\nHe\u0026rsquo;s the creator of the [Pika]blogging platform](https://pika.page/) by the way. Actually, an essay is just an attempt and so is a blog post.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nQuoted in Wilken, Rowan. \u0026ldquo;Peter Carey\u0026rsquo;s Laptop.\u0026rdquo; Cultural Studies Review 20, no. 1 (03, 2014): 100-120.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nI found this quotation via Tereza DědinovĂĄ\u0026rsquo;s excellent chapter about embodying the permaculture story in Fantasy and Myth in the Anthropocene: Imagining Futures and Dreaming Hope in Literature and Media. London: Bloomsbury, 2022. DOI: 10.5040/9781350203372\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nOK, this might not be real physics, but I still like it.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nI know, you\u0026rsquo;re a blog-reader not an essay-reader, but whatever.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-05-27 18:00:00 +1100", "date": "6:00 p.m. on May 27, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/05/27/how-you-can.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F05%2F27%2Fhow-you-can.html" }, { "id": 391, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Being human is a trend now.\nAccording to the Mintel Global Consumer Trends Report for 2024:\n“Today’s rapidly advancing AI-powered technologies seem to be on track to outpace human output. While consumers and businesses learn to balance the use of this emerging technology, consumers will begin to appreciate what makes humans so unique. A new ‘human-as-premium’ label will emerge, giving greater influence to artisans who can take on the creative spirit that exists outside of an algorithm. As the collective memory of a pre-tech world grows more distant, nostalgia will appeal, even to younger generations that only know the conveniences of a digitised world. From this will rise services that teach human skills like self-expression and focus on how to connect with fellow humans.”\nwww.mintel.com/press-cen\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2024-05-25 12:40:33 +1100", "date": "12:40 p.m. on May 25, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/05/25/being-human-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F05%2F25%2Fbeing-human-is.html" }, { "id": 392, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 🐙 Octopus intelligence is intriguing. Having read Ray Naylor\u0026rsquo;s The Mountain in the Sea 📚, I now want to try Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life by Peter Godfrey-Smith. I\u0026rsquo;d also like to read Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which has a somewhat similar theme.\n", "dateiso": "2024-05-23 18:30:00 +1100", "date": "6:30 p.m. on May 23, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/05/23/octopus-intelligence-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F05%2F23%2Foctopus-intelligence-is.html" }, { "id": 393, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I really enjoyed the latest micro.blog photo challenge, both taking part and seeing all the great photos you people posted. As ever, there were some very imaginative responses to the daily prompts.\nWhy not check out the photo grid? My own little photo wall is also open for viewing.\n", "dateiso": "2024-05-04 10:21:46 +1100", "date": "10:21 p.m. on May 4, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/05/04/i-really-enjoyed.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F05%2F04%2Fi-really-enjoyed.html" }, { "id": 394, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "As online search declines (thanks Google 😖) more people should know about it the discovery tools on micro.blog. They’re seriously useful.\nwritingslowly.com/2024/04/2\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2024-05-04 09:37:07 +1100", "date": "9:37 p.m. on May 4, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/05/04/as-online-search.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F05%2F04%2Fas-online-search.html" }, { "id": 395, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 30: hometown\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-30 09:06:54 +1100", "date": "9:06 p.m. on Apr 30, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/30/080654.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F30%2F080654.html" }, { "id": 396, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "", "dateiso": "2024-04-30 09:00:10 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Apr 30, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/30/day-hometown.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F30%2Fday-hometown.html" }, { "id": 397, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 29: drift\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-29 23:25:47 +1100", "date": "11:25 p.m. on Apr 29, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/29/day-drift.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F29%2Fday-drift.html" }, { "id": 398, "type": "post", "title": "Is the Web reconfiguring itself again?", "text": " Is the web falling apart?, Eric Gregorich wonders.\nMeanwhile Manuel Moreale is confident that the web is not dying.\nI agree with both of them. These views aren\u0026rsquo;t contradictory. Falling apart is what the Web does best. It\u0026rsquo;s been falling apart since it started, and reconfiguring itself too.\nGoogle search used to control and shape the web. Because everyone just Googled their searches, websites all used Search Engine Optimization in a vicious circle of conformity. But that\u0026rsquo;s finally changing.\nSearch gets degraded by advertising greed on one side and AI tools are generating drivel on the other. Both are examples of what Ed Zitron calls the rot economy.\nSo how can good material rise to the surface?\nIn part it\u0026rsquo;s a return to the old ways. Blogrolls and webrings and RSS are having a mini-revival and it\u0026rsquo;s not entirely mere nostalgia. One-person search engines like Marginalia are having a moment, as are metasearch engines and other \u0026lsquo;folk\u0026rsquo; search strategies. I like little experiments like A Website Is A Room.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s my tip: to find interesting books, great quotes, and intriguing podcasts, more people should know about micro.blog Discover!\nPhoto by Valeria Hutter on Unsplash\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-29 23:20:00 +1100", "date": "11:20 p.m. on Apr 29, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/29/is-the-web.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F29%2Fis-the-web.html" }, { "id": 399, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 28: Community. Spotted at a rally in Sydney: \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s dream new blueprints for the world we want to live in\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-28 15:51:04 +1100", "date": "3:51 p.m. on Apr 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/28/day-community-spotted.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F28%2Fday-community-spotted.html" }, { "id": 400, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Finished reading: Ian Gentle: The Found Line, edited by David Roach 📚\nI\u0026rsquo;ve posted about this interesting artist previously, because I loved The Gentle Project.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-28 15:44:30 +1100", "date": "3:44 p.m. on Apr 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/28/finished-reading-ian.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F28%2Ffinished-reading-ian.html" }, { "id": 401, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Finished reading: Always Will Be by Mykaela Saunders 📚\nThese short stories are set entirely in Australia\u0026rsquo;s Tweed region, but they range over a vast time-frame: from the more-or-less present to the far distant future. I loved the tough optimism. Always will be Aboriginal land - an ideal sci-fi theme.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-28 15:23:18 +1100", "date": "3:23 p.m. on Apr 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/28/finished-reading-always.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F28%2Ffinished-reading-always.html" }, { "id": 402, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 27: it\u0026rsquo;s always a lovely surprise to receive a bespoke selection of books in the mail, from the Wild Book Box.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-27 16:09:39 +1100", "date": "4:09 p.m. on Apr 27, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/27/day-its-always.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F27%2Fday-its-always.html" }, { "id": 403, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 26: critter. It’s a bluebottle, or Portuguese man o’ war. These wash up on the beach, mainly in late Summer and early Autumn.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-26 23:18:24 +1100", "date": "11:18 p.m. on Apr 26, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/26/day-critter-its.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F26%2Fday-critter-its.html" }, { "id": 404, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 25: spine. This is \u0026lsquo;Echidna\u0026rsquo; by Illawarra artist Ian Gentle.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-25 18:23:03 +1100", "date": "6:23 p.m. on Apr 25, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/25/day-spinethis-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F25%2Fday-spinethis-is.html" }, { "id": 405, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 24: light. I took this shot as we saw in the new year on the beach.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-24 23:02:55 +1100", "date": "11:02 p.m. on Apr 24, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/24/day-light-i.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F24%2Fday-light-i.html" }, { "id": 406, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 23: dreamy. On the weekend I visited White Bay Power Station for the Sydney Biennale. Reopened after 40 years mothballed!\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-23 19:19:19 +1100", "date": "7:19 p.m. on Apr 23, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/23/day-dreamy-on.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F23%2Fday-dreamy-on.html" }, { "id": 407, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 22: blue. This is the ocean pool at Kiama, NSW.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-23 18:12:26 +1100", "date": "6:12 p.m. on Apr 23, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/23/day-blue-this.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F23%2Fday-blue-this.html" }, { "id": 408, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 21: mountain. This is Black Mountain, the unlikely centre of Canberra.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-21 13:53:31 +1100", "date": "1:53 p.m. on Apr 21, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/21/day-mountain-this.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F21%2Fday-mountain-this.html" }, { "id": 409, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 20: ice\nMemories of Norway.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-20 12:03:20 +1100", "date": "12:03 p.m. on Apr 20, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/20/day-ice-memories.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F20%2Fday-ice-memories.html" }, { "id": 410, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·Day 19: birthday\nOn my birthday this year I visited an exhibition of the artist Louise Bourgeois. She claimed we’re born alone, but it’s the opposite. We’re born quite literally connected to another person.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-19 11:16:38 +1100", "date": "11:16 p.m. on Apr 19, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/19/day-birthday-on.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F19%2Fday-birthday-on.html" }, { "id": 411, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 18: mood\nThe Blue Mountains, in one of their mysterious moods.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-18 18:54:06 +1100", "date": "6:54 p.m. on Apr 18, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/18/day-mood-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F18%2Fday-mood-the.html" }, { "id": 412, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 17: transcendence\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-17 22:57:32 +1100", "date": "10:57 p.m. on Apr 17, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/17/day-transcendence.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F17%2Fday-transcendence.html" }, { "id": 413, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 16: flĂąneur\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-16 08:22:10 +1100", "date": "8:22 p.m. on Apr 16, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/16/day-flneur.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F16%2Fday-flneur.html" }, { "id": 414, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 15: small\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-16 08:02:44 +1100", "date": "8:02 p.m. on Apr 16, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/16/day-small.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F16%2Fday-small.html" }, { "id": 415, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 14: cactus. This is from ‘The Channel Series’, by Karl de Waal, as seen at the Art Gallery of NSW.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-15 10:52:05 +1100", "date": "10:52 p.m. on Apr 15, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/15/day-cactus-this.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F15%2Fday-cactus-this.html" }, { "id": 416, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Orbital by Samantha Harvey 📚\nThis reads curiously well alongside To be Taught, if Fortunate. Both describe spaceflight in mundane but compelling detail. Harvey is the stronger writer, but Chambers has the stronger story. Both are writing, for want of a better term, space pastoral.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-13 19:16:38 +1100", "date": "7:16 p.m. on Apr 13, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/13/finished-reading-orbital.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F13%2Ffinished-reading-orbital.html" }, { "id": 417, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 13: page.\nFantastic marginalia on this page of a manuscript at the State Library of Victoria.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-13 18:48:44 +1100", "date": "6:48 p.m. on Apr 13, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/13/day-page-fantastic.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F13%2Fday-page-fantastic.html" }, { "id": 418, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 12: magic\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-12 08:55:11 +1100", "date": "8:55 p.m. on Apr 12, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/12/day-magic.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F12%2Fday-magic.html" }, { "id": 419, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 11: sky\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-11 08:52:59 +1100", "date": "8:52 p.m. on Apr 11, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/11/day-sky.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F11%2Fday-sky.html" }, { "id": 420, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 10: train\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-10 09:18:49 +1100", "date": "9:18 p.m. on Apr 10, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/10/day-train.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F10%2Fday-train.html" }, { "id": 421, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 9: crispy\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-09 22:20:34 +1100", "date": "10:20 p.m. on Apr 9, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/09/day-crispy.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F09%2Fday-crispy.html" }, { "id": 422, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers 📚My backlog of sci-fi reading is getting a little smaller.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-09 07:59:30 +1100", "date": "7:59 p.m. on Apr 9, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/09/finished-reading-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F09%2Ffinished-reading-to.html" }, { "id": 423, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers 📚I seem to be getting through the pile of sci-fi books that never shrinks but only grows.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-09 07:56:27 +1100", "date": "7:56 p.m. on Apr 9, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/09/finished-reading-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F09%2Ffinished-reading-a.html" }, { "id": 424, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 8: prevention.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-08 22:45:37 +1100", "date": "10:45 p.m. on Apr 8, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/08/day-prevention.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F08%2Fday-prevention.html" }, { "id": 425, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 7: I’ve posted this photo before but it’s definitely my idea of wellbeing.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-08 22:37:02 +1100", "date": "10:37 p.m. on Apr 8, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/08/day-ive-posted.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F08%2Fday-ive-posted.html" }, { "id": 426, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· day 6: windy\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-06 10:12:29 +1100", "date": "10:12 p.m. on Apr 6, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/06/day-windy.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F06%2Fday-windy.html" }, { "id": 427, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 5: serene\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-06 10:08:54 +1100", "date": "10:08 p.m. on Apr 6, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/06/day-serene.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F06%2Fday-serene.html" }, { "id": 428, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Remembering 2 Tone records.1 (I once met Jerry Dammers’ dad. He was an extremely proud father).\nHT Alan Ralph.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-04 21:26:59 +1100", "date": "9:26 p.m. on Apr 4, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/04/remembering-tone-recordsi.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F04%2Fremembering-tone-recordsi.html" }, { "id": 429, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 4: foliage\n#mbapr\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-04 21:08:50 +1100", "date": "9:08 p.m. on Apr 4, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/04/microblog-photo-challenge.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F04%2Fmicroblog-photo-challenge.html" }, { "id": 430, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬“Peace of the sort that brings wholeness, harmony, and health to our lives only happens when chaos, confusion, and conflict are included and transcended.”\nHarrison Owen, creator of Open Space Technology. Read more.\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-03 20:44:05 +1100", "date": "8:44 p.m. on Apr 3, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/03/peace-of-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F03%2Fpeace-of-the.html" }, { "id": 431, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 3: Card. My daughter made this card for my birthday, to go with a themed collection of sci-fi novels.\n#mbapr\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-03 14:16:35 +1100", "date": "2:16 p.m. on Apr 3, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/03/mbapr-microblog-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F03%2Fmbapr-microblog-photo.html" }, { "id": 432, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 2: Flowers. This extraordinary bunch came our way. What a beautiful gift!\n#mbapr\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-02 17:12:01 +1100", "date": "5:12 p.m. on Apr 2, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/02/mbapr-microblog-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F02%2Fmbapr-microblog-photo.html" }, { "id": 433, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·Micro.blog photo challenge April 2024. Day 1: toy\n", "dateiso": "2024-04-01 14:16:56 +1100", "date": "2:16 p.m. on Apr 1, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/04/01/microblog-photo-challenge.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F04%2F01%2Fmicroblog-photo-challenge.html" }, { "id": 434, "type": "post", "title": "How to set your own agenda ", "text": "Harrison Owen, who died in March 2024, invented one of the most hopeful approaches to group facilitation I\u0026rsquo;ve ever come across. He called it \u0026lsquo;Open Space Technology\u0026rsquo; (OST), but it was far from hi-tech. In fact, the main \u0026rsquo;technology\u0026rsquo; was simply in how people in a group setting can interact fruitfully with one another, even when they really don\u0026rsquo;t agree.\n“Peace of the sort that brings wholeness, harmony, and health to our lives only happens when chaos, confusion, and conflict are included and transcended.”\nHarrison Owen, creator of Open Space Technology. I first came across Open Space as a means of organising workshops in highly contested political spaces.\nIn the UK during the 1980s and early 1990s progressive social activity was constantly undermined by Trotskyites (or whatever they were) striving to co-opt social movements for their own ends. There was always a risk that as soon as you set up a committee of any kind, they\u0026rsquo;d get themselves voted onto it and turn it into a front for the true workers revolutionary communist workers party, or some such combination of those terms.\nBut what were the alternatives? The Labour Party had been hammered with this problem, and had settled on a full-blown witch hunt against anyone affiliated with the Militant Tendency, which like a monstrous baby cuckoo had nearly pushed them out of their own nest. We\u0026rsquo;d witnessed how the so-called cure was nearly as bad as the disease.\nI think it was about 1992 when we organised our own small Open Space event. Of course, the entryists turned up, but the Law of Two Feet really stumped them. When they realised anyone could set the agenda they were delighted. This must have seemed much easier than having to take over by stealth! But when the discussions began they were confounded by the fact that, equally, anyone could just walk away and find something more important to them. To everyone except the entryists, the experience was delightful.\nImage by Chris Kinkel from Pixabay\nOf course, OST didn\u0026rsquo;t change the whole world, and it\u0026rsquo;s not useful for every meeting. But it was formative for me personally, because I could see how people could come together to identify, commit to and begin to solve their own problems, without waiting for someone else to do it for them.\nOpen Space Technology has also left a strong mark on facilitation generally. Unconferences, World CafĂ©, Bar Camp, the Art of Hosting, design sprints, and many other approaches owe a great deal to Harrison Owen\u0026rsquo;s pioneering determination to trust people to pursue their own agendas.\nVale Harrison Owen.\nMore:\nWorking in Open Space: A Guided Tour\nOpening Space for Emerging Order\nOfficial obituary of Harrison Owen\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-31 20:00:00 +1100", "date": "8:00 p.m. on Mar 31, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/31/how-to-set.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F31%2Fhow-to-set.html" }, { "id": 435, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers 📚\nI found this almost too whimsical yet strangely moving. A bit like my life then.\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-31 11:06:35 +1100", "date": "11:06 p.m. on Mar 31, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/31/finished-reading-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F31%2Ffinished-reading-a.html" }, { "id": 436, "type": "post", "title": "When it comes to writing notes, how much mess is just enough?", "text": "Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks, likes to keep his notes messy1:\n“‘Messiness’, in this context at least, is just the state of not being so hubristic as to imagine that you know, in advance, precisely what\u0026rsquo;s required in order to do or to create something worthwhile. Which, of course, nobody does.” - The life-changing magic of not tidying up\nI really appreciate the benefits of serendipity, but I also need some structure, which is why I’m happy with making atomic notes, densely linked. You might call it a Zettelkasten. Burkeman says he tried a Zettelkasten approach to his notes, but found it too organised.\nThat’s not at all how I’ve experienced it.\nThe image that for me best sums up this process of making short notes to create longer pieces of writing is that of my little worm farm. All sorts of scraps get dumped in at the top. And mostly unseen, the worms turn everything into nourishing compost.\nIt’s almost magical.\nSo instead of being obsessive, I just have a few simple rules that I mostly stick to.\nPlain text (Markdown) notes. Each note is a single idea with a unique ID. Each note deserves a clear title. Notes link meaningfully to other notes. And while this little system might not result in much tidiness, it’s still really neat.\nHT: Frank\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-31 10:19:58 +1100", "date": "10:19 p.m. on Mar 31, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/31/when-it-comes.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F31%2Fwhen-it-comes.html" }, { "id": 437, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Really looking forward to forward to photoblogging in April. It’s simple: just post a photo every day for a month. But I’ve been surprised to find how much I like it. Thanks to @jean, who has some thoughts on whether or not it’s a ’challenge’.\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-31 08:23:35 +1100", "date": "8:23 p.m. on Mar 31, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/31/really-looking-forward.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F31%2Freally-looking-forward.html" }, { "id": 438, "type": "post", "title": "Don't make a Zitatsalat out of your writing", "text": "Zitatsalat? What does that even mean? Yes, Zitatsalat. I found this lovely but rarely used German term in the title of a book by the journalist Stephan Maus. The book\u0026rsquo;s name is Zitatsalat von Hinz \u0026amp; Kunz.1\nI love the rhyming rhythm of this compound term, but what does Zitatsalat actually mean?\nWell, Zitatsalat translates as Quote Salad. It\u0026rsquo;s not a compliment.\nZitatsalat, by Stephan Maus (2002).\nBut what\u0026rsquo;s wrong with quoting other writers?\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s wrong with quoting other writers? There\u0026rsquo;s a temptation for those writing by means of a Zettelkasten, or card index, to use too many quotes in their writing - to collect a whole garden of notes, then serve them all up on a large plate of mixed leaves. Perhaps this is because the Zettelkasten approach to making notes makes it almost too easy to dish up a pretty indigestible salad of citations.\nThe subtitle of Maus\u0026rsquo;s book is: \u0026lsquo;Handpicked from the Zettelkasten\u0026rsquo;, and it\u0026rsquo;s true, the Zettelkasten makes it easy to gather and rearrange the pithy quotations of other writers.\nBut that doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean you have to use them all in your own writing. It\u0026rsquo;s fine to collect interesting quotations and excerpts from books and videos and articles and podcasts. But on their own they don\u0026rsquo;t belong to you, and you can\u0026rsquo;t just string together a pile of quotes and call it an article. It\u0026rsquo;s important to reflect on your reading and make it your own. That means writing about what the wise words of others mean to you, because:\nNothing says \u0026ldquo;I didn\u0026rsquo;t think this through for myself\u0026rdquo; like a direct quote. writingslowly.com\nSure, it\u0026rsquo;s a salad, but is it your salad?\nWrite memos about the quotes you collect One way of treating the process of gathering quotes from your reading is to see it as being a bit like the grounded theory process of gathering and reflecting on interviews. In this process the researcher records an interview, using direct transcription, but also reflects on the interviewee\u0026rsquo;s words by means of writing memos.\nYou don\u0026rsquo;t just write down the words of others. As you progress, you also write your own reflections on what the others have said. Then, when it comes to writing a longer article or book, the memos serve as important raw material.\nThe Wikipedia entry on grounded theory says:\n\u0026ldquo;Memoing is the process by which a researcher writes running notes bearing on each of the concepts being identified\u0026hellip; Memos are field notes about the concepts and insights that emerge from the observations.\u0026rdquo;\nBut I know what you\u0026rsquo;re thinking. You\u0026rsquo;re thinking it\u0026rsquo;s really not cool to quote, and especially not Wikipedia.\nAnd you\u0026rsquo;re right.\nChili, Tropea, Calabria, Italy. Norbert Nagel / Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY-SA 3.0.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t plate up a meal that can\u0026rsquo;t be eaten I\u0026rsquo;m as guilty as anyone of trying to pack in as many quotes as possible in my writing.\nThe APA Style Guidelines say it\u0026rsquo;s usually better to paraphrase rather than to quote directly2, but did I listen? No!\nWhen I studied psychology I found it almost impossible to follow the very clear assignment instructions not to include any direct quotes at all.\nBecause I love quotes!\nAnd, truth be told, I love quote salad, it\u0026rsquo;s delicious.\nBut even I have to admit it can get pretty indigestible really quickly.\nYears ago, when we lived in the West of Scotland we enjoyed the Calabrian chili pasta served by our local Italian restaurant, and as we began making it at home, we grew accustomed to the tremendously hot chilies we were using. Then one evening we served our favourite dish to some unsuspecting visitors. Too late we realised our mistake. They were completely unused to this kind of heat. I remember watching in dismay as they sat quietly but in obvious distress, as though expecting smoke and flame to erupt from the top of their heads like a volcano. We were so apologetic, but it was too late.\nZitatsalat is a strong dish. So by all means, offer your guests some quotes.\nJust not too many.\nVery few, even.\nSo for now, here are as few quotes as I can manage:\nChristian Tietze: You need to stop relying on a source and have faith in your own thoughts. Bob Doto: Your zettelkasten should be made up of your ideas about the author\u0026rsquo;s ideas. Andy Matuschak: Collecting material feels more useful than it usually is. and a reference, just because I can\u0026rsquo;t help myself: Chametzky, Barry. 2023. “Writing Memos: A Vital Classic Grounded Theory Task”. European Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 3 (1):39-43. https://doi.org/10.24018/ejsocial.2023.3.1.377. DuMont Buchverlag, Köln 2002.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nsee what I just did there?\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-30 22:32:41 +1100", "date": "10:32 p.m. on Mar 30, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/30/dont-make-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F30%2Fdont-make-a.html" }, { "id": 439, "type": "post", "title": "Hugo shortcodes in micro.blog", "text": "Here’s a quick test of Hugo shortcodes. I’ve been reading some tips for making the most of the Hugo web rendering system.\nBut it turns out I can’t use those ‘box-tip’ shortcodes in micro.blog\nMore research needed
\nPerhaps I can just do the same thing with HTML and styling.\nInfo! Yes, here’s a basic information box.\n
well so much for the styling!\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-27 13:16:48 +1100", "date": "1:16 p.m. on Mar 27, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/27/test-of-hugo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F27%2Ftest-of-hugo.html" }, { "id": 440, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "🌊 A blissful Autumn weekend swimming and surfing #pacificwavewednesday\nSurf Beach at Kiama, New South Wales\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-27 12:47:36 +1100", "date": "12:47 p.m. on Mar 27, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/27/a-blissful-autumn.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F27%2Fa-blissful-autumn.html" }, { "id": 441, "type": "post", "title": "Work as if writing is the only thing that matters", "text": "\u0026ldquo;Work as if writing is the only thing that matters. Having a clear, tangible purpose when you consume information completely changes the way you engage with it. You’ll be more focused, more curious, more rigorous, and more demanding. You won’t waste time writing down every detail, trying to make a perfect record of everything that was said. Instead, you’ll try to learn the basics as efficiently as possible so you can get to the point where open questions arise, as these are the only questions worth writing about. Almost every aspect of your life will change when you live as if you are working toward publication. You’ll read differently, becoming more focused on the parts most relevant to the argument you’re building. You’ll ask sharper questions, no longer satisfied with vague explanations or leaps in logic. You’ll naturally seek venues to present your work, since the feedback you receive will propel your thinking forward like nothing else. You’ll begin to act more deliberately, thinking several steps beyond what you’re reading to consider its implications and potential.\u0026rdquo;\nTiago Forte\u0026rsquo;s summary of How to Take Smart Notes, by Sönke Ahrens ", "dateiso": "2024-03-21 17:24:35 +1100", "date": "5:24 p.m. on Mar 21, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/21/test-of-hugo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F21%2Ftest-of-hugo.html" }, { "id": 442, "type": "post", "title": "The card index system is ‘a thing alive’ - or is it?", "text": "Niklas Luhmann, the famed sociologist of Bielefeld, Germany, wrote of how he saw his voluminous working notes (his \u0026lsquo;Zettelkasten\u0026rsquo;) as a kind of conversation partner, which surprised him from time to time. But he wasn\u0026rsquo;t the first to suggest that a person\u0026rsquo;s notes might be in some sense alive.\nAt the end of the Nineteenth century there was a massive explosion of technological change which affected almost every aspect of society. People marveled at new invention after new invention and there was a tendency to see mechanical and especially electrical advances as somehow endowed with life. The phonograph, for example, was held to be alive and print adverts even claimed it had a soul.\nHuge industrial transformation led to fundamental changes in business administration. Yet again, information threatened to overwhelm with its sheer quantity. The index card system was adapted for new circumstances, and it too was seen as somehow alive. Manuals, sometimes sponsored by office furniture manufacturers, explained how to operate this new system.\nOne such manual, Julius Kaiser’s The Card System at the Office (1908) emphasised the central role the humble index card now took:\n“The set of cards can fairly be regarded as the basis of the entire system, hence it is properly called the card system.” (para 59 Definition)\nAnother example of these \u0026lsquo;card system\u0026rsquo; manuals is R.B. Byles’s The card index system; its principles, uses, operation, and component parts (1911).\nThis short volume begins memorably:\n”Roughly speaking, the world is divided into two classes : those who use the Card Index System and those who do not.” (p.v)\nThe first chapter introduces the metaphor of the card system as a living entity:\n“an alphabetic file is a dead, inanimate thing, giving forth only such information as it is compelled\u0026hellip; A file based on the card index system is, on the other hand, a satisfactory and economical system of dealing with every sort of material, and is moreover a thing alive, ready at all times to place at the disposal of those who consult it all that information which in the past was regarded as the special attribute of the man [sic] of long experience.” (p.8)\nAs we approach the second quarter of the Twenty-first Century, the tendency to believe our new technology is somehow alive re-appears. Large language models talk back to us with eery proficiency. But just as the phonograph and the card index obviously aren\u0026rsquo;t alive, we\u0026rsquo;ll look back on this period and recognise quite clearly that our latest AI tools aren\u0026rsquo;t actually alive either. Metaphors can be useful, provided we don\u0026rsquo;t forget that they\u0026rsquo;re just figures of speech.\nThis being the case, it\u0026rsquo;s time to celebrate those who are really living: us, the people who animate the otherwise inanimate technologies of every era.\nThree ways my notes might be ‘alive’ Nevertheless, there are at least three directions in which it might still be reasonable to think of your collection of notes as being alive.\nThe first direction is towards the idea of the ‘extended mind’, which I wrote about in How to make the most of surprising yourself.\nYou could view your collection of linked notes as part of your extended mind, which your brain creates constantly by co-opting its wider environment into its own processing activity. Brain and environment together create mind. On this account I might view ‘aliveness’ as a quality that arises at the intersection of myself and my world, and therefore out of the interaction between myself and my notes.\nIn her book, The Extended Mind, Annie Murphy Paul says:\n“We extend beyond our limits, not by revving our brains like a machine or bulking them up like a muscle — but by strewing our world with rich materials, and by weaving them into our thoughts.”\nThe second way of thinking about this is a kind of formalisation of the idea that aliveness happens between people and their world. One such formalisation is known as Actor Network Theory. This concept claims that everything that exists, happens in complex networks of relationships.\nPerhaps these early encounters with \u0026rsquo;living\u0026rsquo; technology that I described earlier were grasping after a perception only later addressed systematically by intellectual developments such as Actor Network Theory, which proposes that non-human entities do have agency in the ‘parliament of things’.\nBruno Latour, the sociologist most strongly associated with ANT, said he’d have preferred to call it ‘actant-rhizome ontology’ if that had sounded better (sorry Bruno, it really didn’t). I wrote a little about this when I claimed a network of notes is a rhizome not a tree.\nThe third way of thinking of my notes as being alive in some sense relates to Lynne Kelly’s work on memory. I referred to this in The mastery of knowledge is an illusion. My thinking here was strongly influenced by the wonderful book Kelly co-wrote with Margo Neale: Songlines: the power and the promise.\nNon-literate, oral cultures live in an enchanted world, not necessarily in a magical sense, but in the sense that the whole environment ‘speaks’, as part of a wider extended mind. Geographical features are not merely ‘dead matter’. They’re alive to tell stories which recount histories and genealogies, to give blessings and warnings. Plants and animals are similarly endowed with a depth of meaning. This is the world that literate culture has exiled itself from, but could perhaps regain.\nSo, are my notes ‘a thing alive’? Well, not exactly - but then not exactly not, either. Perhaps in time this is how we’ll come to see AI too, as existing in a kind of liminal space somewhere between living and non-living.\nWhatever the conclusion, I’ve found this a useful question to think with.\nSee also: Jules Verne could have told us AI is not a real person\nReferences Byles, R. B., 1911. The card index system; its principles, uses, operation, and component parts (London: Sir Isaac Pitman \u0026amp; Sons) view online.\nKaiser, Julius, 1908. The Card System at the Office (London: Vacher and Sons) view online\nMargo Neale and Lynne Kelly, 2020. Songlines: The Power and Promise. Thames and Hudson.\nAnnie Murphy Paul, 2021. The Extended Mind. The power of thinking outside the brain. HarperCollins.\nSayes, Edwin, 2014. \u0026ldquo;Actor–Network Theory and methodology: Just what does it mean to say that nonhumans have agency?.\u0026rdquo; Social studies of science 44, no. 1:134-149.\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-13 23:14:32 +1100", "date": "11:14 p.m. on Mar 13, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/13/the-card-index.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F13%2Fthe-card-index.html" }, { "id": 443, "type": "post", "title": "How to make Mastodon even more fun!", "text": "\rHere are a couple of fun websites that will make Mastodon (and possibly the whole fediverse) even more fun. I know, it hardly seems possible. And if you know of others, please let me know about them too.\nJust my toots Do you sometimes wish you could see all your posts on Mastodon in a long list with no distractions? Of course you do! Every day! That\u0026rsquo;s why justmytoots.com is here to help. And yes, it shows you just your toots.\nFor the record, I hate the word \u0026rsquo;toots'.\nAt least where I live no one thinks of flatulence when they hear it, but still, it somehow manages to sound even more stupid than \u0026rsquo;tweets\u0026rsquo;, which takes some doing.\nNow, above the cacophony of all the tooting I can almost hear you ask, \u0026ldquo;What\u0026rsquo;s the alternative?\u0026rdquo; \u0026lsquo;Posts\u0026rsquo;, that\u0026rsquo;s the alternative, and that\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;m sticking with. Why not join me, world?\nUntil then, you can see just my toots at https://justmytoots.com/@writingslowly@aus.social\nRSS is dead LOL Now this one really is cool.\nYou know how everyone at the Internet always says \u0026lsquo;RSS is dead\u0026rsquo;, right? It\u0026rsquo;s so annoying!\nBut anyway, just type in a fediverse username into rss-is-dead.lol and up pops a list of RSS feeds for that user and every account that account follows.\nIts amazing! Nearly everyone I follow has an RSS feed! Wow!\nPretty much proves RSS still ain\u0026rsquo;t dead. Take that, haters!\nBonus fact: it turns out you can use RSS to \u0026lsquo;boost your productivity\u0026rsquo;. I don\u0026rsquo;t know what that phrase means, but it sounds great!\nMeanwhile, check out my graph, or whatever you call it, at rss-is-dead.lol.\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-08 18:44:21 +1100", "date": "6:44 p.m. on Mar 8, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/08/how-to-make.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F08%2Fhow-to-make.html" }, { "id": 444, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬 “The real issue with speed is not just how fast can you go, but where are you going so fast? It doesn’t help to arrive quickly if you wind up in the wrong place.” - Walter Murch, In The Blink of an Eye.\nFound at Austin Kleon\u0026rsquo;s post, Hurry Slowly\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-08 12:10:00 +1100", "date": "12:10 p.m. on Mar 8, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/08/the-real-issue.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F08%2Fthe-real-issue.html" }, { "id": 445, "type": "post", "title": "How to start a Zettelkasten from your existing deep experience", "text": "An organized collection of notes (a Zettelkasten) can help you make sense of your existing knowledge, and then make better use of it. Make your notes personal and make them relevant. Resist the urge to make them exhaustive.\nDon’t build a magnificent but useless encyclopaedia\nDocument your journey through the deep forest\nAvoid inert ideas\nConverse about what really matters to you\nImagine, then build, new knowledge products\nWhere (and how) you go is more important than where you start from\nAn example\nDon’t build a magnificent but useless encyclopaedia I guess we all start from our existing knowledge, since none of us is a blank slate. You could just start with what most matters to you right now, and work from there. That\u0026rsquo;s because it’s more useful and feasible for your system of notes to be personally relevant than to be generally encyclopaedic.\nThere’s a big difference between an encyclopaedia and a human brain.\nThe encyclopaedia has the information but no effective way of showing what actually matters at the moment. The brain is the opposite: it knows what matters right now but can’t remember all the details. Document your journey through the deep forest The Zettelkasten is a useful middle way between these two extremes. It’s a tool to help you make and maintain personally useful trails through the deep forest of accumulated knowledge. Because these trails are useful to you, the expert, they are very likely to be helpful to someone coming up behind you.\nOn this basis I think there’s no point in trying to recreate, say, \u0026lsquo;20 years of project experience\u0026rsquo; in a Zettelkasten. That would be like building your own Wikipedia. It would be a beautiful construction but how would you use it, and would you really be creating knowledge you couldn’t find elsewhere? (Maybe this really is what you’d like, though, I don’t know).\nAvoid inert ideas On Reddit u/cratermoon pointed me to Alfred North Whitehead\u0026rsquo;s classic essay about \u0026ldquo;inert ideas\u0026rdquo; PDF. According to the philosopher and educationalist, there is a great difference between what you remember and can repeat, and what you can actually apply.\n“ ‘inert ideas’ \u0026ndash; that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilised, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations.”\nThe Zettelkasten method is at the very least a means of throwing your ideas into fresh combinations, to see what\u0026rsquo;s useful and what\u0026rsquo;s merely received knowledge.\nConverse about what really matters to you What the Zettelkasten excels at is systematising information that matters to you right now and that might matter in the future for a specific purpose. You have a bright idea in the present moment but your brain forgets it. Take a note, link it, and your Zettelkasten will resurface it for you. Your brain can probably remember this idea, given the right prompts, but the Zettelkasten is useful because it remembers the idea slight differently from how you do. Each idea in the Zettelkasten leads from and to different, and sometimes surprising places. In this sense your Zettelkasten is not so much a tool for remembering as a creative conversation partner about shared memories.\nImagine, then build, new knowledge products Having said that, the Zettelkasten is also best when it’s aimed at the creation of products beyond itself. In other words, it’s primarily a working tool for creating new knowledge products. It’s really not just a reference catalogue or archive.\nYou might intend to create a book, or article series, or a course on project management, say, distilling your experience and passing it forwards. With that in mind, the Zettelkasten really is useful.\nWhere (and how) you go is more important than where you start from The first note: the single most important thing. Here’s an example: “20 years of Project Management experience in two paragraphs”. Everything then follows as an extended commentary on that single idea. However, because it’s all connected, you don’t even need to start with the most important idea. You can just start with the first idea you think of right now. Where does it lead? The Zettelkasten process will take you there.\nThis unfolding process is the opposite of the standard practice. In the case of 20 years of PM experience the standard practice might be to take a conventional set of PM categories as your table of contents and then to write the same thing everyone else already wrote. The Zettelkasten method is specifically to deny the established categories and to allow the process to uncover new, better ones - new and unique trails through the forest of knowledge.\nAn example This, for example, is how Niklas Luhmann worked. He was an experienced senior public administrator, with years of professional work behind him, before he became an academic, a professor of sociology at Bielefeld University. He used his Zettelkasten to break free of the established ways of understanding organisations, and to create an innovative theory of social systems, the subject of his many publications. Though he died in 1998, he was so prolific that there’s a backlog of books he authored. Two new volumes were published in 2021 1 and a collection of his lectures in 2022! The single idea that powered his Zettelkasten was: “Theory of society; duration: 30 years; costs: none.”\nThis article is adapted from a comment I originally posted on Reddit. There\u0026rsquo;s plenty more on this subject at Atomic Notes\nAnd if you don\u0026rsquo;t want to miss any of it, sign up to the weekly email digest:\nDie Grenzen der Verwaltung (you can read a German article about it), and Differenz – Kopplung – Reflexion. BeitrĂ€ge zur Gesellschaftstheorie\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-06 23:24:53 +1100", "date": "11:24 p.m. on Mar 6, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/06/how-to-start.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F06%2Fhow-to-start.html" }, { "id": 446, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " 💬\u0026quot;At what point does something become part of your mind, instead of just a convenient note taking device?\u0026quot;\nA question discussed with philosopher David Chalmers, on the Philosophy Bites podcast.\nđŸŽ™ïžTechnophilosophy and the extended mind\nSo much of this depends on what ‘the mind’ means. Meanwhile, we do seamlessly interact with our note-making tools, to achieve more than we could without them.\n", "dateiso": "2024-03-06 14:23:54 +1100", "date": "2:23 p.m. on Mar 6, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/03/06/at-what-point.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F03%2F06%2Fat-what-point.html" }, { "id": 447, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Here\u0026rsquo;s how we journey beyond the \u0026lsquo;hero\u0026rsquo;s journey\u0026rsquo;.\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-26 12:00:00 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Feb 26, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/26/heres-how-we.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F26%2Fheres-how-we.html" }, { "id": 448, "type": "post", "title": "Yes, we can be heroes, but does that mean we should be?", "text": "Yes really, we can be heroes. Thanks very much David Bowie! But if this sounds attractive, perhaps we should be careful what we wish for.\nDo you want to be the hero of your own story? Perhaps you already are According to reporting in Scientific American, imagining yourself as the hero of your own life gives you an increased sense of meaning.\n\u0026ldquo;Our research reveals that the hero’s journey is not just for legends and superheroes. In a recent study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, we show that people who frame their own life as a hero’s journey find more meaning in it\u0026rdquo;.\nBut it’s not always great to be a hero Meanwhile, from a quite different research perspective, comes a warning: Stanley and Kay (2023) caution that making people out to be heroic can inadvertently single them out for poor treatment from their peers.\n\u0026ldquo;our studies show that heroization ultimately promotes worse treatment of the very groups that it is meant to venerate.\u0026rdquo;\nReading this I immediately thought of all those ‘heroic’ health workers who helped their communities through the COVID crisis at great personal cost and with very little long-term recognition (McAllister et al. 2020). In far too many cases, calling doctors, nurses and hospital workers heroes and even super-heroes ended up as quite tokenistic, little more than a way of justifying the exploitation of their labour. First they make you a hero, then they make you burn out.\nBanksy\u0026rsquo;s artwork of a child playing with a nurse \u0026lsquo;superhero\u0026rsquo; doll raised more than 16m for charity\u0026hellip; but nurses\u0026rsquo; pay and conditions didn\u0026rsquo;t take off\nSometimes heroism isn’t what it seems And here\u0026rsquo;s yet another, quite different warning: sometimes the person who sets themselves up as a classic hero is revealed to be anything but that. The case of Australian SAS fighter Ben Roberts-Smith is an extraordinary example of the moral jeopardy of a whole society desperate to believe in heroism. It seems this decorated and celebrated \u0026lsquo;war hero\u0026rsquo; was really quite the opposite. The cover-up shows how much people want to believe in heroes, even when they don’t exist. This real-life tale has echoes of Beowulf to it. In Maria Dahvana Headley’s contemporary version (2021), the final words of that centuries-old tale ring painfully, bleakly, hollow with macho delusion:\n”He rode hard! He stayed thirsty! He was the man! He was the man.”\nSo can we journey beyond the ‘hero’s journey’ already? The hero’s journey trope has become so ubiquitous that it’s sometimes hard to remember that there’s any other kind of story. But there certainly is.\nMaureen Murdock (1990) and later Gail Carriger (2020) have both presented feminised versions of the heroic quest narrative. I’m not convinced that these heroine’s journeys are really all that different, though, since they still assume that heroism, albeit that of women, is where it’s at. At least there’s an attempt to re-balance the faulty idea that only men are at the centre. The New Yorker published a moving non-fiction account by Laura Secor of an Iranian woman’s bravery. The true story of journalist Asieh Amini doesn’t rely on a standard heroic arc, yet is highly effective. This is only one example of very many alternatives. Novelist Becky Chambers points out in a talk on YouTube that real life has no protagonists. Surely this can help us to question stale narrative forms, especially those which claim to be true to reality. Meanwhile, Christina de la Rocha is on a noble quest to put an end to the hero\u0026rsquo;s journey in literature and beyond. OK, not a quest. Perhaps she\u0026rsquo;d approve of Ursula le Guin\u0026rsquo;s claim that \u0026ldquo;the novel is a fundamentally unheroic kind of story\u0026rdquo;. More on that in a moment. Screenwriter Anthony Mullins has written a whole book showing that there’s plenty more than only one kind of character arc. And author Jane Alison goes even further. In her book Meander, Spiral, Explode she notes that there are far more key patterns in literature than just the arc.\nNot every story is a journey Taking her cue from Joseph Frank’s book The idea of spatial form, and from Peter Stevens’s Patterns in Nature, Alison identifies some alternative or complimentary shapes.\nI particularly like her concept of the story that meanders like a river, or ripples in waves and wavelets. These aquatic images remind me of something the former monk and psychotherapist Thomas Moore said about how life itself has a kind of liquidity to it:\n\u0026ldquo;Your story is a kind of water, making fluid the brittle events of your life. A story liquefies you, prepares you for more subtle transformations. The tales that emerge from your dark night deconstruct your existence and put you again in the flowing, clear, and cool river of life.\u0026rdquo; (Moore, 2004, p. 61)\nIn his book on spatial form, Joseph Frank examines the structure of Djuna Barnes’s modernist novel, Nightwood. This novel doesn’t have a hero’s journey or a flowing river, but instead has a series of views or glimpses of life. He says:\n“The eight chapters of Nightwood are like searchlights, probing the darkness each from a different direction, yet ultimately focusing on and illuminating the same entanglement of the human spirit . . . And these chapters are knit together, not by the progress of any action . . . but by the continual reference and cross-reference of images and symbols which must be referred to each other spatially throughout the time-act of reading.”\nThis searchlight metaphor is illuminating, but story structure can be yet looser, more diffuse than rivers and spotlights. I’m particularly taken with Ursula Le Guin’s carrier bag theory of fiction. Remember she said the novel is a fundamentally unheroic kind of story? If so then what is it?\n\u0026ldquo;the natural, proper, fitting shape of the novel might be that of a sack, a bag. A book holds words. Words hold things. They bear meanings. A novel is a medicine bundle, holding things in a particular, powerful relation to one another and to us.\u0026rdquo;\nLe Guin\u0026rsquo;s insight is itself based on the carrier bag theory of human evolution, as described in Elizabeth Fisher\u0026rsquo;s Women\u0026rsquo;s Creation (1979).\n\u0026ldquo;The first cultural device was probably a recipient \u0026hellip;. Many theorizers feel that the earliest cultural inventions must have been a container to hold gathered products and some kind of sling or net carrier.\u0026rdquo; 1\nNot everyone needs to be a hero to be a valid person. Mostly it’s better when we’re not. And not every story needs to be a hero’s journey for it to be worth the telling. The idea of the hero can be useful in some circumstances, dangerous in others. But more often it just gets in the way. Sometimes it\u0026rsquo;s really about \u0026ldquo;complex skills and compassion\u0026rdquo;. Sometimes it\u0026rsquo;s less about hunting and more about gathering.\nSo now, do you still want to be a hero, you hero you?\nNow read:\nMore than ever, embracing your humanity is the way forward\nReferences Alison, Jane. 2019. Meander, Spiral, Explode. Design and Pattern in Narrative. New York: Catapult.\nBarber, Elizabeth Wayland. 1994. Women\u0026rsquo;s Work: The First 20,000 Years; Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times. New York, NY: Norton.\nBarnes, Djuna. 2006/1937. Nightwood, New York: New Directions.\nCarriger, Gail. 2020. The Heroine’s Journey: For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture. Gail Carriger LLC.\nFisher, Elizabeth. 1979. Woman’s Creation: Sexual Evolution and the Shaping of Society. 1st ed. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press.\nFrank, Joseph. 1991 The Idea of Spatial Form, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.\nHeadley, Maria Dahvana. 2021. Beowulf. A New Translation. Melbourne and London: Scribe.\nKaul, Aashish. 2014. Mapping space in fiction: Joseph Frank and the idea of spatial form. 3am Magazine\nLeGuin, Kroeber, Ursula. 1989. “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” in Dancing at the Edge of the World. New York: Grove Atlantic Press. Accessed at stillmoving.org/resources\u0026hellip;\nMargaret McAllister, Donna Lee Brien \u0026amp; Sue Dean (2020) The problem with the superhero narrative during COVID-19, Contemporary Nurse, 56:3, 199-203, DOI: 10.1080/10376178.2020.1827964\nMoore, Thomas. 2004. Dark Nights of the Soul. London, UK: Piatkus Books.\nMullins, Anthony. 2021. Beyond the Hero’s Journey: A Screenwriting Guide for When You’ve Got a Different Story to Tell. Sydney, N.S.W: NewSouth Publishing.\nMurdock, M. 1990. The Heroine’s Journey. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.\nRogers, B. A., Chicas, H., Kelly, J. M., Kubin, E., Christian, M. S., Kachanoff, F. J., Berger, J., Puryear, C., McAdams, D. P., \u0026amp; Gray, K. 2023. Seeing your life story as a Hero’s Journey increases meaning in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125(4), 752–778. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000341\nSecor, Laura. 2015. War of Words. New Yorker\nStanley, M. L., \u0026amp; Kay, A. C. 2023. The consequences of heroization for exploitation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000365\nStevens, P. 1974. Patterns in Nature, New York: Little, Brown \u0026amp; Co.\nSee also Elizabeth Wayland Barber (1994) on women\u0026rsquo;s role in technology, textiles and the string revolution.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-26 03:41:03 +1100", "date": "3:41 p.m. on Feb 26, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/26/yes-we-can.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F26%2Fyes-we-can.html" }, { "id": 449, "type": "post", "title": "Give it, give it all, give it now ", "text": "Annie Dillard on the writing life 💬 See also:\nThe constant flight forwards Sharing what you know Embracing your humanity is the way forward Image made with the Shift Happens typewriter\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-25 20:05:16 +1100", "date": "8:05 p.m. on Feb 25, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/25/give-it-give.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F25%2Fgive-it-give.html" }, { "id": 450, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Looks like you can all relax. Everyone\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;pivoting\u0026rsquo; these days, so why not Satan? đŸ“·\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-20 17:49:02 +1100", "date": "5:49 p.m. on Feb 20, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/20/looks-like-you.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F20%2Flooks-like-you.html" }, { "id": 451, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Mark Luetke shows how he uses a Zettelkasten for creative work (\u0026lsquo;zines!)\n\u0026ldquo;The goal here is to create an apophenic mindset - one where the mind becomes open to the random connections between objects and ideas. Those connections are the spark we’re after. That spark is inspiration.\u0026rdquo;\ndophs.substack.com/p/how-its\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-20 08:21:33 +1100", "date": "8:21 p.m. on Feb 20, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/20/mark-luetke-shows.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F20%2Fmark-luetke-shows.html" }, { "id": 452, "type": "post", "title": "Atomic notes - all in one place", "text": "From today there\u0026rsquo;s a new category in the navigation bar of Writing Slowly.\n‘Atomic Notes’ now shows all posts about making notes.\nHow to make effective notes is a long-standing obsession of mine, but this new category was inspired by Bob Doto, who has his own fantastic resource page: All things Zettelkasten.\nThe Atomic Notes category is now highlighted on the site navigation bar.\nAnd if you’d like to follow along with your favourite feed reader,there’s also a dedicated RSS feed (in addition to the more general whole-site feed).1\nBut if there’s a particular key-word you’re looking for here at Writing Slowly, you can use the built-in search.\nAnd if you prefer completely random discovery, the site’s lucky dip feature has you covered.\nConnect with me on micro.blog or on Mastodon. And on Reddit, I’m - you guessed it - @atomicnotes.\nSee also:\nAssigning posts to a new category with micro.blog\nIf you’re not sure what website feeds are, see IndieWeb: feed reader and how to use RSS feeds.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-15 22:25:00 +1100", "date": "10:25 p.m. on Feb 15, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/15/atomic-notes-all.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F15%2Fatomic-notes-all.html" }, { "id": 453, "type": "post", "title": "A new post category in micro.blog, filtered to include existing posts", "text": "Micro.blog is a really useful and easy way to host a website. Even though it feels more like a cottage industry than a corporation there are way more features (and apps!) than I can probably use. It\u0026rsquo;s amazing how much Manton Reece, micro.blog\u0026rsquo;s creator, has achieved.\nUnder the hood the micro.blog platform is based on the Hugo static site generator, but there are a few differences. One such difference is post categories.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a new category being created.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s very easy to create a new category of posts, then you can use a filter to automatically add all new posts that include a selected key-word (or emoji, or even html element). By default only new posts are affected. But by running the filter you can also add all previous posts that meet the selected criteria. That\u0026rsquo;s what I wanted to do.\nOnce you have a new category, you can add a filter. This particular filter assigns to this new category only long posts with a particular word in the text.\nWhen you run the filter, all existing posts that match will be added to the category. And future posts will be added automatically.\nAlso, each category gets its own RSS feed, which can be very useful.\nThis process was much easier than I expected!\nMore info from elsewhere:\nHow to filter posts by category\nCategories from hashtags\nHow does Micro.blog even work?\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-15 22:05:49 +1100", "date": "10:05 p.m. on Feb 15, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/15/a-new-post.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F15%2Fa-new-post.html" }, { "id": 454, "type": "post", "title": "How to overcome Fetzenwissen: the illusion of integrated thought", "text": "It’s too easy to produce fragmentary knowledge.\nOne potential problem associated with making notes according to the Zettelkasten approach is VerknĂŒpfungszwang: the compulsion to find connections. It may be true philosophically that everything’s connected, but in the end what matters is useful or meaningful connections. With your notes, then, you need to make worthwhile, not indiscriminate links.\nAnother potential problem is Fetzenwissen: fragmentary knowledge, along with the illusion that disjointed fragments can produce integrated thought.\nAlmost by definition, notes are brief, and I\u0026rsquo;m an enthusiast of making short, modular, atomic notes. Yes, this results in knowledge presented in fragments. And in their raw form these fragmentary notes are quite different from the kind of coherent prose and well-developed arguments readers usually expect. You can\u0026rsquo;t just jam together a set of notes and expect them to make an instant essay. So is this fragmentary knowledge really a problem for note-making? If so, how can determined note-makers overcome it?\nDoes the index box distort the facts?\nCan you create coherent writing just from a pile of notes?\nPerhaps you should keep your notes private\nMake it flow\nTo create coherent writing, make coherent notes\nDoes the index box distort the facts? Near the start of the Twentieth Century Karl Kraus, the Austrian1 writer and editor of the journal Die Fackel (The Torch), opposed the use of the Zettelkasten (English:index box) because he believed it produced inadequate thought, memory and writing.\nHe particularly disliked the way the technique created what he saw as the illusion of integrated thought out of nothing more than disjointed fragments.\nKraus was well-known for his acerbic aphorisms, and he had one specially for Zettelkasten users:\n\u0026ldquo;Anyone who writes in order to display education must have memory; and then he is merely an ass. If he also uses the scientific disciplines or the card index (Zettelkasten), he is also a fraud\u0026rdquo; (Die Fackel, Heft 279-80 (1909)).\nKraus ridiculed his literary and political enemy Maximilian Harden, a rival journalist who was the editor of Die Zukunft (\u0026ldquo;The Future\u0026rdquo;), He claimed Harden either owned a Zettelkasten or just had a mind built like one. Either or both of these, Kraus claimed, had ruined Harden\u0026rsquo;s writing style. If Hardin did use a Zettelkasten, said Kraus, it really showed. And if he didn\u0026rsquo;t use one, then he must have internalised the constraints of the Zettelkasten. Either way, according to Kraus, the result was poor writing.\nMore generally, and rather snobbishly, Kraus lamented the kind of memory possessed by the \u0026ldquo;day clerk\u0026rdquo;, which he held to be a mish-mash of \u0026ldquo;names and sayings one has heard, of mis-heard judgments and badly-read reports, of concepts and histories without context, of facts seen distortedly, of fifty fashionable expressions, and of the additional feature of one\u0026rsquo;s own fragmentary knowledge (Fetzenwissen)\u0026rdquo; (Die Fackel, Heft 230-31 (July 15, 1907)).\nTo be sure, Kraus was making at least half a fair point. Such connectivity is indeed an illusion, in the sense that it is fabricated. But as with all illusions, the trick is to do it seamlessly well. From fragments you can build a greater whole, if you do it carefully enough. Knowledge is necessarily fragmentary, in the sense that everything big is made of smaller parts. But that is no reason to present it in a clumsy manner. Just because you start with fragments, that doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean you should end there.\nCan you create coherent writing just from a pile of notes? Despite the sociologist Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s apparent canonization as the patron saint of the Zettelkasten, I\u0026rsquo;m not convinced his writing always achieved the kind of coherence that Karl Kraus would have appreciated. Here is the writer Robert Minto, lamenting his own use of the Zettelkasten approach, which he found let him down when it came to actually writing a doctoral thesis. He turned to Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s writing to review how the master had done it:\n\u0026ldquo;I decided to read one of Luhmann’s books to see what a zettelkasten-generated text ought to look like. To my horror, it turned out to be a chaotic mess that would never have passed muster under my own dissertation director. It read, in my opinion, like something written by a sentient library catalog, full of disordered and tangential insights, loosely related to one another — very interesting, but hardly a model for my own academic work.\u0026rdquo; – Robert Minto , Rank and File — Real Life\nThis reader is far from alone in finding Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s prose style off-putting. In a section entitled \u0026ldquo;Why he wrote such bad books\u0026rdquo;, a scholar of Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s work wrote that Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s texts were:\n“extremely dry, unnecessarily convoluted, poorly structured, highly repetitive, overly long, and aesthetically unpleasing” – Moeller,The Radical Luhmann, 2012, p. 10.\nAnother example of the kind of digressive writing style of which Karl Kraus might have disapproved is that of the philosopher and historian Hans Blumenberg. According to one Blumenberg scholar:\n\u0026ldquo;His writings can be disorienting in their digressiveness, at times seemingly impelled only by the desire to exhaustively transmit his enormously wide reading. The fragmented and anecdotal nature of some of his later books, composed of sometimes tenuous thematic groupings of short pieces (often originally published in the feuilleton pages of newspapers such as the Neue ZĂŒrcher Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) seems fitting for a thinker who is said to have prepared for writing by collecting quotations on index cards. These cards were then worked through one by one and marked as ‘used’ when they had been integrated into the finished text.\u0026rdquo; – Plagne, 2017:9. See also Nicholls, 2015.2\nPerhaps you should keep your notes private The opposite extreme of this kind of writing-as-bricolage is that of the German philosopher G.W.F Hegel, who went to great lengths to hide the sources from which he assembled his own work. Hegel\u0026rsquo;s approach to writing is an excellent example of what might be termed the distinction between frontstage and backstage in knowledge work. This is a concept developed by the sociologist Erving Goffmann, but its quite familiar. In the theatre, the audience only sees part of what the actors and stage crew are up to. In the restaurant too, there\u0026rsquo;s a lot happening behind the scenes that the diners never see. For many of us, the background work is often quite different from the finished work we show to the world. Unlike Luhmann and Blumenberg, whose often clumsy final prose style was apparently conditioned by the process of its assemblage, Hegel drafted and edited his work in such a way as to deliberately obscure his production methods. His own voluminous Zettelkasten, on which he utterly depended, was kept strictly backstage. He rarely even cited his sources.\nI am arguing that this practice of editing fragments to make them appear seamlessly part of whole paragraphs, sections and chapters, is precisely what’s required of those who choose to work using initially fragmentary methods. It could be argued that a sophisticated thinker such as Niklas Luhmann probably had good reasons for his opaque prose style, quite other than literary ineptitude. Indeed, in The Radical Luhmann, Moeller suggests three such reasons; and Luhmann himself wrote a quite sceptical conference paper on whether academics should try to make themselves understood! However, for most writers and surely most readers, coherence remains a key literary virtue.\nMake it flow Hegel\u0026rsquo;s rigorous concealment of sources prompted Friedrich Kittler to suggest: \u0026ldquo;Hegel\u0026rsquo;s absolute Spirit is a hidden index box\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Hegels absoluter Geist ist ein versteckter Zettelkasten.\u0026rdquo; – Friedrich Kittler, quoted in Krajewski, Kommunikation mit Papiermaschinen\nTo my mind Kittler\u0026rsquo;s criticism of Hegel makes a good, if rather arch joke, but it isn\u0026rsquo;t much of a criticism of Hegel’s writing style. Indeed, for completed writing to seem to the reader to be coherent, the index box should be hidden. This is the well-known skill of editing your writing to make it flow, and it\u0026rsquo;s hardly too much for readers to expect this of a writer.\nTrue, there are a few writers who seem to have been more at home in their notes than in the finished work. Walter Benjamin, author of the unfinished Arcades Project was perhaps one of them. But fragmentary writing is rarely so influential as Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s.\nMy own aspiration is to produce coherent writing, but a glimpse backstage would reveal that this very article is cobbled together from four separate fragments, which I added directly to the whole by means of Transclusion. My conclusion from this little exercise is that you can create coherent writing just from a pile of notes. In fact, I’d go further and claim that this is a very helpful way of writing.\nTo create coherent writing, make coherent notes Although final editing is always required, it may also be possible to craft the individual notes themselves in such a way that they really do lend themselves to seamless incorporation into a larger work. If you write disjointed, incoherent notes, you’re going to find it hard to use them to write a strong piece of finished writing. But conversely, if you write clear, concise and modular notes, densely linked, you’ll find it much easier to complete readable and persuasive work. Having said that, I would never censor myself by writing nothing, just because my idea isn\u0026rsquo;t concise enough. Writing itself is thinking, and there\u0026rsquo;s always a second draft!\nObviously, this is a skill that I\u0026rsquo;m still learning. The learning never ends. Writing useful notes is a skill you can always get better at. And I’m convinced this goal, of producing seamless writing from fragmentary origins, may well be achievable. It\u0026rsquo;s already quite enjoyable and that\u0026rsquo;s not a terrible thing.\nSee also:\nFrom fragments you can build a greater whole\nAby Warburg and the search for interconnection\nMore on the Zettelkasten approach to writing notes\nReferences Krajewski, Markus. Kommunikation mit Papiermaschinen. Über Niklas Luhmanns Zettelkasten, in Hans-Christian von Herrmann, Wladimir Velminski (Editors) Maschinentheorien/Theoriemaschinen. Bern: Peter Lang. p.283-305\nKraus, Karl, Die Fackel. An online facsimile of Kraus\u0026rsquo;s journal, Die Fackel, can be found at AAC Fackel\nKuhn, Manfred. Critique of ZettelkĂ€sten Taking Note Now. 2007.\nMoeller, Hans-Georg. 2012. The Radical Luhmann. New York: Columbia University Press.\nNicholls, Angus. Myth and the Human Sciences: Hans Blumenberg’s Theory of Myth (New York: Routledge, 2015), 8.\nPartington, Gill. \u0026ldquo;Friedrich Kittler\u0026rsquo;s\u0026rdquo; Aufschreibsystem\u0026quot;.\u0026quot; Science Fiction Studies (2006): 53-67. PDF\nPlagne, Francis Dominique 2017. \u0026ldquo;Hans Blumenberg’s anthropology of instrumental reason: culture, modernity, and self-preservation.\u0026rdquo; Thesis: School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne.\nAn earlier version of this article mistakenly said he was German.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nAn earlier version got these references the wrong way round.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-12 13:00:00 +1100", "date": "1:00 p.m. on Feb 12, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/12/how-to-overcome.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F12%2Fhow-to-overcome.html" }, { "id": 455, "type": "post", "title": "From fragments you can build a greater whole", "text": "Everything large and significant began as small and insignificant\nThis is my working philosophy of creativity and I\u0026rsquo;m trying to follow it through as best I can. Starting with simple parts is how you go about constructing complex systems.\n“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system”. — John Gall (1975) Systemantics: How Systems Really Work and How They Fail, p. 71.\nBits and pieces put together to create a semblance of a whole, by Lawrence Weiner\nBegin with fragments\nFrom smaller parts build a greater whole\nJoin your work together\nDo it seamlessly well\nBegin with fragments In October 1837 the writer Ralph Waldo Emerson prompted the twenty-year-old Henry David Thoreau to start writing a journal. Thoreau took this advice very seriously. He finished up with 14 notebooks, 7,000 pages, and 2 million words. Small fragments can add up to an awful lot. From these bits and pieces he constructed pretty much all of his completed works. What began as jottings ended up as mature reflections.\nHe claimed his disconnected thoughts provoked others, so that “thought begat thought”. Thoreau wrote in his journal:\n“To set down such choice experiences that my own writings may inspire me – and at least I may make wholes of parts.” - Thoreau, Henry David. 2009. The Journal, 1837-1861. Edited by Damion Searls. New York: New York Review Books.\nThe nest-eggs are what you start off with, without worrying how many you will finish with or what they might later hatch into.\nFrom smaller parts build a greater whole In a sense, the greater whole is an illusion. Really it\u0026rsquo;s nothing other than a collection of smaller pieces, joined together in such a way as to encourage the human tendency to see wholes even before it sees parts. As with the artwork of Lawrence Weiner, it\u0026rsquo;s all Bits and pieces put together to present a semblance of a whole.\nThese bits and pieces may seem insignificant. Perhaps you really are just another brick in the wall, as Pink Floyd once sang. But without bricks the wall is nothing. That’s pretty much all a wall is. Together the fragments add up to a greater whole, which may well be more than merely a semblance or an illusion. Sometimes the whole really matters. The author David Mitchell concludes his novel, Cloud Atlas with this reflection:\n“My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?” ― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas\nA wall or an ocean is a large or even enormous reality, and without its many small components it would be nothing.\nJoin your work together Image Source: TheJoinery_jp\nTo make a complete work you need to join the parts together with great care. Think of the work of the skilled joiner, who meticulously and ingeniously connects pieces of timber to make a sturdy and beautiful product - whether it be a piece of furniture or an architectural element such as a staircase or a ceiling vault.\nSuch an effect cannot be created without skill and effort. You can\u0026rsquo;t just nail two planks of wood together and hope for the best. In the same way you can\u0026rsquo;t place your notes side-by-side and expect to read a finished piece of writing.\nTo make your writing coherent you need to become a joiner.\nSönke Ahrens mentions this part of the writing process in his popular book on Taking Smart Notes. Sadly, his advice in this important area remains quite limited.\n“Turn your notes into a rough draft. Don’t simply copy your notes into a manuscript. Translate them into something coherent and embed them into the context of your argument while you build your argument out of the notes at the same time. Detect holes in your argument, fill them or change your argument.” – 📚Ahrens, Sönke. 2017. How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking: For Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace.\nFor those who can already write well, the point may be obvious, but for those of us for whom well-made prose doesn\u0026rsquo;t come easily, it needs to be stressed: the connecting together of thoughts and ideas is almost as important as the thoughts and ideas themselves. The writing must flow.\nIt is well worth reflecting on Thoreau\u0026rsquo;s writing practice.\n“The thoughtfulness and quality of his journal writings enabled him to reuse entire passages from it in his lectures and published writings. In his early years, Thoreau would literally cut out pages or excerpts from the journal and paste them onto another page as he created his essays.” – Thoreau’s Writing - The Walden Woods Project\nBut he didn\u0026rsquo;t just cut and paste. His writing progressed through drafting and re-drafting, from the original raw field notes, to the journal, to his lectures, to essays, and from there to published books. Each of these shifts fine-tuned his writing until ultimately he had a very well-crafted outcome.\nSo even though Thoreau cut and pasted snippets of his work, joining small pieces together to make finished pieces of writing, this was very far from a lazy process. Walden, for example, was published after seven drafts, which took the author nine years to complete. I see Thoreau\u0026rsquo;s justly celebrated work as a prime example of the value of writing slowly.\nDo it seamlessly well If, like Thoreau, you put the bits and pieces together well enough, the readers won\u0026rsquo;t see the joins.\nOr even better, as with the brick courses of the wall on which Weiner\u0026rsquo;s artwork is mounted, viewers do see the joins but this doesn\u0026rsquo;t detract in any way from the experience of the whole. You just need to avoid displaying what the German writer and editor Karl Kraus called fragmentary knowledge (Fetzenwissen) - the curse of the Zettelkasten, or card index.\nIt may be simple, but it\u0026rsquo;s not easy.\nSee also:\nThoughts are nest-eggs. Thoreau on writing If you live your life in chunks, what size should they be? Publish first; write later ", "dateiso": "2024-02-11 23:00:00 +1100", "date": "11:00 p.m. on Feb 11, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/11/from-fragments-you.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F11%2Ffrom-fragments-you.html" }, { "id": 456, "type": "post", "title": "How to decide what to include in your notes", "text": "Before the days of computers, people used to collect all sorts of useful information in a commonplace book.\nThe ancient idea of commonplaces was that you’d have a set of subjects you were interested in. These were the loci - the places - where you’d put your findings. They were called loci communis - common places, in Latin, because it was assumed everyone knew what the right list of subjects was.\nBut in practice, everyone had their own set of categories and no one really agreed. It was personal.\nSince the digital revolution, things have become trickier still. There\u0026rsquo;s no real storage limit so you could in principle make notes about everything you encounter. But no matter what software you use, your time on this earth is limited, so you need to narrow the field down somehow1.\nBut how, exactly?\nYou might consider just letting rip and collecting everything that interests you, as though you’re literally collecting everything.\nLion Kimbro tried to make a map of every thought he had.\nAs time passes, you’ll notice that you haven’t actually collected everything because that’s completely impossible. Even Thomas Edison, the prolific inventor, wasn\u0026rsquo;t interested in absolutely everything, although he tried hard to be. If you do a bit of a stock-take of your own notes, you’ll see that, really, you gravitate towards only a few subjects.\nThese are your very own \u0026lsquo;commonplaces\u0026rsquo;.\nFrom then on you have two choices.\nIf you’ve enjoyed it so far, you can just keep doing what you’ve been doing, collecting all the things. Why not? But if you like, you could start doing it more deliberately. For example, at the start of a new year, you could say to yourself: In 2023 I seem to have been interested in a,b, and c. Now in 2024 I want to explore more about b, drop a, and learn about d and e. You could create an index, with a set of keywords, and add page number references to show what subject each entry is about, and how they relate. Or not. Of course, it’s your collection of notes and you can do whatever pleases you. That’s the point.\nBower birds collect everything, but with one crucial principle.\nWhere I live we have satin bower birds.\nThe male creates a bower out of twigs and strews the ground with the beautiful things he’s found. Apparently this impresses the females. The bower can contain practically anything, and it really is beautiful. Clothes pegs, pieces of broken pottery, plastic fragments, bread bag ties, lilli pilli fruit, Lego, electrical wiring, string - even drinking straws, as in the photo above. The male bower bird really does collect everything. But what every human notices immediately is that every single item, however unique, is blue.\nI enjoy collecting stuff in my Zettelkasten, my collection of notes, but like the bower bird I have a simple filter. I always try to write: “this interests me because
” and if there’s nothing to say, there’s no point in collecting the item. It’s just not blue enough.\nSee also:\nHow to be interested in everything Don\u0026rsquo;t you need to start with categories? It\u0026rsquo;s tempting to place your notes in fixed categories To build something big start with small fragments Thoughts are nest-eggs: Thoreau on writing This article is adapted from a comment on Reddit Images:\nSacha Chua Book Summary CC-by-4.0.\nPeter Ostergaard, Flickr, CC NC-by 2.0 Deed\nThere are exceptions. A few people have tried to video their whole lives. And at least one person, Lion Kimbro, has tried to write down all their thoughts. But its not sustainable.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-11 15:53:43 +1100", "date": "3:53 p.m. on Feb 11, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/11/how-to-decide.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F11%2Fhow-to-decide.html" }, { "id": 457, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Promethean shame among authors using AI tools:\n“It starts to make you wonder, do I even have any talent if a computer can just mimic me?” The Verge\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-10 14:51:59 +1100", "date": "2:51 p.m. on Feb 10, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/10/promethean-shame-among.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F10%2Fpromethean-shame-among.html" }, { "id": 458, "type": "post", "title": "At last, writing slowly is back in fashion!", "text": "Cal Newport, author of the forthcoming book, 📚Slow Productivity, has finally latched on to the premise of this website: you can get a lot done by writing slowly.\nSpeeding up in pursuit of fleeting moments of hyper-visibility is not necessarily the path to impact. It’s in slowing down that the real magic happens.\rStudy Hacks https://calnewport.com/on-slow-writing/\rI didn\u0026rsquo;t even know they could drive.\nSee also:\nWhy I\u0026rsquo;m writing slowly\nChoose your own race and finish it\nWhy I\u0026rsquo;m writing faster\nPersonal publishing is still the future\nWriting slowly? No, not me\nImage source: Wikipedia\n", "dateiso": "2024-02-08 19:38:38 +1100", "date": "7:38 p.m. on Feb 8, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/02/08/at-last-writing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F02%2F08%2Fat-last-writing.html" }, { "id": 459, "type": "post", "title": "Thinking nothing of walking long distances", "text": "How far is too far to walk? Author Charlie Stross observed that British people in the early nineteenth century, prior to train travel, walked a lot further than people today think of as reasonable.\nI’ve noticed a couple of literary examples of this seemingly extreme walking behaviour, both of which took place in North Wales.\nHeadlong Hall In chapter 7 of Thomas Love Peacock’s satirical novel, 📚Headlong Hall (1816), a group of the main characters takes a morning walk to admire the land drainage scheme around the newly industrial village of Tremadoc, and they walk halfway across Eryri to do so, traversing two valleys and two mountain passes. The main object of their interest is The Cob, a land reclamation project that was later to become a railway causeway. Having seen it, and having taken some refreshment in the village, they walk straight back again.\nImage: The Moelwyn range, viewed from the Cob. Wikipedia CC sharealike 2.0\nWild Wales You’d think the invention of the railways would have put people off walking such long distances, but apparently not so much. In his travel account, 📚Wild Wales (1862), George Borrow walks from Chester 18 miles to Llangollen, then walks another 11 miles to Wrexham just to fetch a book. Interestingly, he was writing after the railways had arrived. He was happy to put his wife and children on the train - but still walk the journey himself.\nReal life I would have believed these feats of everyday walking were improbable, except for the fact that when I was a child, a man in our village, Mr Large, walked every day to and from Chester, a round trip of 26 miles. He didn’t need to do it. He was in his eighties and well retired, and he could just have walked two miles to the bus stop. But apparently you don’t break the habits of a lifetime. Everyone in the village must have offered him a lift at one time or another, but he\u0026rsquo;d made it known that he preferred to walk. So having observed Mr Large regularly tramping the back lanes with determination, I already knew a long utility walk is more than possible.\nThese days, people rarely get out of their cars, convinced as they are that progress has been made. Walking is a problem, it seems, not a solution. And yet, on holiday, some people do long walks or even very long walks. For fun.\nOh brave new world that has such people in it!\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-30 13:00:00 +1100", "date": "1:00 p.m. on Jan 30, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/30/thinking-nothing-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F30%2Fthinking-nothing-of.html" }, { "id": 460, "type": "post", "title": "Does the Zettelkasten have a top and a bottom?", "text": "What does it mean to write notes ‘from the bottom up’, instead of ‘from the top down’?\nIt’s one of the biggest questions people have about getting started with making notes the Zettelkasten way. Don’t you need to start with categories? If not, how will you ever know where to look for stuff? Won’t it all end up in chaos?\nBob Doto answers this question very helpfully, with some clear examples, in What do we mean when we say bottom up?. I especially like this claim:\n“The structure of the archive is emergent, building up from the ideas that have been incorporated. It is an anarchic distribution allowing ideas to retain their polysemantic qualities, making them highly connective.”\nWhich way is up?\nTry seeing the trees and the forest too\nHierarchy, heterarchy, homoarchy\u0026hellip; am I just making these words up?\nGet linking to get thinking\nThe key questions\nWhat if I really just want a fixed structure?\nWhich way is up? My own preferred Zettelkasten metaphor is the rhizome, the mass of rooty material with no obvious centre or trunk and no definite top or bottom. Imagine a fungus as it spreads underground or in a rotten log. There\u0026rsquo;s no telling where it will pop up next.\nIt’s quite difficult to think with this image, though, because there’s plenty of conditioning to say everything around us is hierarchical, with a clear upside and downside. Families, schools, businesses, governments, nationalities, genders, races, footwear, even accents. Everyone always wants to know who’s up and who’s down. It’s nuts! As I write, the media is full of news about the Oscars - who’s been nominated, and why, and why not. The dominant organising image all around me isn’t the rhizome at all, it’s the tree.\nTry seeing the trees and the forest too But if you think about it for a moment it’s obvious there isn’t just one tree, one hierarchy with a single top tier. No, there are many. To stick with my example here, China and India have their own ‘versions’ of the Oscars with completely different winners and losers, and so does every country that makes movies (even Wales, population 3 million). Maybe I believe the Oscars are the most important movie prize-giving event of the year, but clearly not everyone does. You can ignore all the others if you like, but a tree only really makes sense in relation to the forest it’s an integral part of.\nHierarchy, heterarchy, homoarchy\u0026hellip; am I just making these words up? Real life is more like a forest than a single tree. It’s structured around multiple overlapping, competing hierarchical (as well as non-hierarchical) systems. Even those who have completely bought into the idea of hierarchy can acknowledge this much.\nSo we live in a heterarchical world, in which any item could potentially be part of more than one organising structure. The opposite of this isn’t hierarchy, as it happens, it’s homoarchy. That’s a little-used word to describe a situation where all the elements are fixed in their location within a fixed organisational structure.\nThe principle of organization a society embodies depends on the way its institutions are arranged with respect to one another. Two basic principles can be distinguished: heterarchy—the relation of elements to one another when they are unranked or can be ranked in different ways (as coined by Crumley), and its opposite, homoarchy,—a condition in society in which relationships in most contexts are ordered mainly according to one principal hierarchical relationship. Homoarchy and heterarchy represent the most universal “ideal” (generalized) principles and basic trajectories of socio-cultural organization. - Bondarenko, 2020.\nThe Zettelkasten enables us to visualise and manipulate the heterarchical reality we live in, by creating a variety of provisional structures. You want a tree? You want top down? Sure, go ahead, but you can also have a non-hierarchical bottom-up network at the same time and even using the same notes if you like. Networks absorb hierarchies. They subvert them without destroying them. How so? The secret is simply: links.\nGet linking to get thinking Bi-directional links, especially, subvert the homoarchy, because they make it harder to say for sure what comes first. If the second note links back to the first note, you could quite easily see the second note as coming first, if you really want to, especially if you actually began from the second note.\nEvery Page is Page One summed up a web design philosophy which pointed out that you can’t control where your readers arrive. Sure, you can construct a ‘landing page’, but that doesn’t mean they won’t enter your web site from another direction. If every page is page one, then every page also needs some kind of index, or table of contents, or at least some way into the rest of the material. This is quite normal on the Web, and I regard it as equally normal in my collection of notes.\nI find it helpful to think of each note as being located both top-down and bottom-up at the same time. In Indra’s Net each point, however lowly, reflects every other point, however exulted - but that’s another story.\nThe key questions Having written a note, I ask “what’s a part of this?” That’s the top-down question. What are the sub-components of this idea? Then I ask “what’s this a part of?” That’s the bottom-up question. What bigger concept is this note just a part of? But there are other, more rhizomatic questions. “What is this similar to or different from?” “What compliments or competes with this?” and so on.\nMy mantra is that of historian (and Zettelkasten supremo) Hans Blumenberg:\n“Every note a thought that immediately makes sense as a thought, every thought a little theory.” “Jeder Zettel ein Gedanke, der sofort als nachdenkenswert einleuchtet, jeder Gedanke eine kleine Theorie.” (Ragutt and Zumhof 2016, 5)\nImage: Hans Blumenberg\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten\nIn other words, each of my notes is as unitary, modular and clear as I can make it, so I can construct with it larger concepts (every note is a single thought).\nAt the same time, each note is highly generative. Each contains the seeds of a whole new set of notes, if I choose to take that route (each thought is a little theory).\nThis way, every note, at least implicitly, is at the top of a hierarchy yet to be dived into, and equally, at the bottom of a hierarchy yet to be climbed.\nAnd if I want to subvert the structure completely, all I need to do is to make a different kind of link, just because I can.\nWhat if I really just want a fixed structure? It’s tempting to imagine that there really is a ‘top’ note, or a ‘top’ idea that all the other notes relate to. In some sense that might be true. For example, Niklas Luhmann’s celebrated Zettelkasten revolved entirely around his notes on “a theory of society, duration: 30 years, costs: none” (Luhmann 1997:11; quoted in Albert, 2016). But even if you do decide to write a note containing your lifetime’s single focus, within your collection of notes, it’s still just another note.\nWhen you create a product - a book, an article, a blog post, a video etc. - you do fix the structure. A book has a clear table of contents. An academic article usually has a rigorous structure determined by the particular discipline or even the particular journal requirements. With these kinds of products a free-form structure is rare. So yes, you can and will have a fixed structure, when you eventually produce something creative from all of your note-making. But until then, you\u0026rsquo;ll benefit from letting the structure of your notes emerge and change as your thought progresses.\n— Now read:\nA network of notes is a rhizome not a tree How to connect your notes to make them more effective Learning to make notes like Leonardo Thoughts are nest-eggs - Thoreau on writing Even the index is just another note Zettelkasten index —\nReferences Albert, Mathias. \u0026ldquo;Luhmann and Systems Theory.\u0026rdquo; Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. 5 Aug. 2016; Accessed 29 Jan. 2024. oxfordre.com/politics/\u0026hellip;\nBondarenko, D.M. (2020). Social Institutions and Basic Principles of Societal Organization. In: Bondarenko, D.M., Kowalewski, S.A., Small, D.B. (eds) The Evolution of Social Institutions. World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures. Springer, Cham. doi.org/10.1007/9\u0026hellip;\nDeleuze, Gilles and FĂ©lix Guattari (2004/1980). Rhizome. In A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. Brian Massumi. New York: Continuum, pp. 3-28.\nHelbig, Daniela K. \u0026ldquo;Life without Toothache: Hans Blumenberg\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten and History of Science as Theoretical Attitude.\u0026rdquo; Journal of the History of Ideas 80, no. 1 (2019): 91-112. doi.org/10.1353/j\u0026hellip;\nLuhmann, N. (1997). Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft (2 vols.). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Suhrkamp. Published in translation as Theory of society (2 vols.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012–2013.\nRagutt, Frank, and Tim Zumhof, eds. 2016. Hans Blumenberg: PĂ€dagogische LektĂŒren. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-29 16:43:48 +1100", "date": "4:43 p.m. on Jan 29, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/29/does-the-zettelkasten.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F29%2Fdoes-the-zettelkasten.html" }, { "id": 461, "type": "post", "title": "Does the Zettelkasten have a top and a bottom?", "text": "What does it mean to write notes ‘from the bottom up’, instead of ‘from the top down’?\nIt’s one of the biggest questions people have about getting started with making notes the Zettelkasten way. Don’t you need to start with categories? If not, how will you ever know where to look for stuff? Won’t it all end up in chaos?\nBob Doto answers this question very helpfully, with some clear examples, in What do we mean when we say bottom up?. I especially like this claim:\n“The structure of the archive is emergent, building up from the ideas that have been incorporated. It is an anarchic distribution allowing ideas to retain their polysemantic qualities, making them highly connective.”\nWhich way is up? My own preferred Zettelkasten metaphor is the rhizome, the mass of rooty material with no obvious centre or trunk and no definite top or bottom. Imagine a fungus as it spreads underground or in a rotten log. There\u0026rsquo;s no telling where it will pop up next.\nIt’s quite difficult to think with this image, though, because there’s plenty of conditioning to say everything around us is hierarchical, with a clear upside and downside. Families, schools, businesses, governments, nationalities, genders, races, footwear, even accents. Everyone always wants to know who’s up and who’s down. It’s nuts! As I write, the media is full of news about the Oscars - who’s been nominated, and why, and why not. The dominant organising image all around me isn’t the rhizome at all, it’s the tree.\nTry seeing the trees and the forest too But if you think about it for a moment it’s obvious there isn’t just one tree, one hierarchy with a single top tier. No, there are many. To stick with my example here, China and India have their own ‘versions’ of the Oscars with completely different winners and losers, and so does every country that makes movies (even Wales, population 3 million). Maybe I believe the Oscars are the most important movie prize-giving event of the year, but clearly not everyone does. You can ignore all the others if you like, but a tree only really makes sense in relation to the forest it’s an integral part of.\nHierarchy, heterarchy, homoarchy\u0026hellip; am I just making these words up? Real life is more like a forest than a single tree. It’s structured around multiple overlapping, competing hierarchical (as well as non-hierarchical) systems. Even those who have completely bought into the idea of hierarchy can acknowledge this much.\nSo we live in a heterarchical world, in which any item could potentially be part of more than one organising structure. The opposite of this isn’t hierarchy, as it happens, it’s homoarchy. That’s a little-used word to describe a situation where all the elements are fixed in their location within a fixed organisational structure.\nThe principle of organization a society embodies depends on the way its institutions are arranged with respect to one another. Two basic principles can be distinguished: heterarchy—the relation of elements to one another when they are unranked or can be ranked in different ways (as coined by Crumley), and its opposite, homoarchy,—a condition in society in which relationships in most contexts are ordered mainly according to one principal hierarchical relationship. Homoarchy and heterarchy represent the most universal “ideal” (generalized) principles and basic trajectories of socio-cultural organization. - Bondarenko, 2020.\nThe Zettelkasten enables us to visualise and manipulate the heterarchical reality we live in, by creating a variety of provisional structures. You want a tree? You want top down? Sure, go ahead, but you can also have a non-hierarchical bottom-up network at the same time and even using the same notes if you like. Networks absorb hierarchies. They subvert them without destroying them. How so? The secret is simply: links.\nGet linking to get thinking Bi-directional links, especially, subvert the homoarchy, because they make it harder to say for sure what comes first. If the second note links back to the first note, you could quite easily see the second note as coming first, if you really want to, especially if you actually began from the second note.\nEvery Page is Page One summed up a web design philosophy which pointed out that you can’t control where your readers arrive. Sure, you can construct a ‘landing page’, but that doesn’t mean they won’t enter your web site from another direction. If every page is page one, then every page also needs some kind of index, or table of contents, or at least some way into the rest of the material. This is quite normal on the Web, and I regard it as equally normal in my collection of notes.\nI find it helpful to think of each note as being located both top-down and bottom-up at the same time. In Indra’s Net each point, however lowly, reflects every other point, however exulted - but that’s another story.\nThe key questions Having written a note, I ask “what’s a part of this?” That’s the top-down question. What are the sub-components of this idea? Then I ask “what’s this a part of?” That’s the bottom-up question. What bigger concept is this note just a part of? But there are other, more rhizomatic questions. “What is this similar to or different from?” “What compliments or competes with this?” and so on.\nMy mantra is that of historian (and Zettelkasten supremo) Hans Blumenberg:\n“Every note a thought that immediately makes sense as a thought, every thought a little theory.” “Jeder Zettel ein Gedanke, der sofort als nachdenkenswert einleuchtet, jeder Gedanke eine kleine Theorie.” (Ragutt and Zumhof 2016, 5)\nImage: Hans Blumenberg\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten\nIn other words, each of my notes is as unitary, modular and clear as I can make it, so I can construct with it larger concepts (every note is a single thought).\nAt the same time, each note is highly generative. Each contains the seeds of a whole new set of notes, if I choose to take that route (each thought is a little theory).\nThis way, every note, at least implicitly, is at the top of a hierarchy yet to be dived into, and equally, at the bottom of a hierarchy yet to be climbed.\nAnd if I want to subvert the structure completely, all I need to do is to make a different kind of link, just because I can.\nWhat if I really just want a fixed structure? It’s tempting to imagine that there really is a ‘top’ note, or a ‘top’ idea that all the other notes relate to. In some sense that might be true. For example, Niklas Luhmann’s celebrated Zettelkasten revolved entirely around his notes on “a theory of society, duration: 30 years, costs: none” (Luhmann 1997:11; quoted in Albert, 2016). But even if you do decide to write a note containing your lifetime’s single focus, within your collection of notes, it’s still just another note.\nWhen you create a product - a book, an article, a blog post, a video etc. - you do fix the structure. A book has a clear table of contents. An academic article usually has a rigorous structure determined by the particular discipline or even the particular journal requirements. With these kinds of products a free-form structure is rare. So yes, you can and will have a fixed structure, when you eventually produce something creative from all of your note-making. But until then, you\u0026rsquo;ll benefit from letting the structure of your notes emerge and change as your thought progresses.\nNow read:\nA network of notes is a rhizome not a tree How to connect your notes to make them more effective Learning to make notes like Leonardo Thoughts are nest-eggs - Thoreau on writing Even the index is just another note Zettelkasten index I’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\n—\nReferences Albert, Mathias. \u0026ldquo;Luhmann and Systems Theory.\u0026rdquo; Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. 5 Aug. 2016; Accessed 29 Jan. 2024. oxfordre.com/politics/\u0026hellip;\nBondarenko, D.M. (2020). Social Institutions and Basic Principles of Societal Organization. In: Bondarenko, D.M., Kowalewski, S.A., Small, D.B. (eds) The Evolution of Social Institutions. World-Systems Evolution and Global Futures. Springer, Cham. doi.org/10.1007/9\u0026hellip;\nDeleuze, Gilles and FĂ©lix Guattari (2004/1980). Rhizome. In A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. Brian Massumi. New York: Continuum, pp. 3-28.\nHelbig, Daniela K. \u0026ldquo;Life without Toothache: Hans Blumenberg\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten and History of Science as Theoretical Attitude.\u0026rdquo; Journal of the History of Ideas 80, no. 1 (2019): 91-112. doi.org/10.1353/j\u0026hellip;\nLuhmann, N. (1997). Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft (2 vols.). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Suhrkamp. Published in translation as Theory of society (2 vols.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012–2013.\nRagutt, Frank, and Tim Zumhof, eds. 2016. Hans Blumenberg: PĂ€dagogische LektĂŒren. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-29 13:43:00 +1000", "date": "1:43 p.m. on Jan 29, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/29/does-the-zettelkasten-have-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F29%2Fdoes-the-zettelkasten-have-a.html" }, { "id": 462, "type": "post", "title": "Can we understand consciousness yet?", "text": "Professor Mark Solms, Director of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, revives the Freudian view that consciousness is driven by basic physiological motivations such as hunger. Crucially, consciousness is not an evolutionary accident but is motivated. Motivated consciousnesses, he claims, provides evolutionary benefits.\nMark Solms. 2021. The Hidden Spring. A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. London: Profile Books. ISBN: 9781788167628\nHe claims the physical seat of consciousness is in the brain stem, not the cortex. He further claims that artificial consciousness is not in principle a hard philosophical problem. The artificial construction of a conscious being, that mirrors in some way the biophysical human consciousness, would ‘simply’ require an artificial brain stem of some sort.\nI have been wondering what it would be like to have injuries so radical as to destroy the physiological consciousnesses, if such a thing exists, while retaining the ability to speak coherently and to respond to speech. Perhaps a person in this condition would be like the old computer simulation, Eliza, which emulated conversation in a rudimentary fashion by responding with open comments and questions, such as “tell me more”, and by mirroring its human conversation partner. The illusion of consciousness was easily dispelled. The words were there but there was no conscious subject directing them. However, since then language processing has become significantly more advanced and machine learning has progressed the ability of bots without consciousness to have what appears to be a conscious conversation. Yet still there\u0026rsquo;s a suspicion that there\u0026rsquo;s something missing.\nOne area of great advance is the ability of machine learning to take advantage of huge bodies of data, for example, a significant proportion of the text of all the books ever published, or literally billions of phone text messages, or billions of voice phone conversations. It’s possible to program with some sophistication interactions based on precedent: what is the usual kind of response to this kind of question? Unlike Eliza, the repertoire of speech doesn’t need to be predetermined and limited, it can be done on the fly in an open ended manner using AI techniques. But there’s still no experiencer there, and we (just about) recognise this lack. Even if we didn’t know it, and bots already passed among us incognito, they might still lack \u0026lsquo;consciousness\u0026rsquo;.\nSo, at what point does the artificial speaker become conscious? If the strictly biophysical view of consciousness is correct, the answer is never.\nA chat bot will never “wake up” and recognise itself, because it lacks a brain stem, even an artificial one. Even if to an observer the chat-bot appears fully conscious, at least functionally, this will always be an illusion, because there is no felt experience of what it is like to be a chat bot, phenomenologically.\nFrom the perspective of neo-Freudian neuropsychology, it is easy to see why Freud grew exasperated with Carl Jung. Quite apart from the notorious personality clashes, it seems Jung departed fundamentally from Freud’s desire to relate psychological processes to their physical determinants. For example, what possible biophysical process would be represented by the phrase “collective unconscious” (see Mills 2019)?\nFor Freud, the consciousness was strongly influenced by the unconscious, which was his term for the more basic drives of the body. For example, the Id was his term for the basic desire for food, for sex, to void, etcetera. This was unconscious because the conscious receives this information as demands from a location beyond itself, which it finds itself mediating.\nHe saw terms such as the Id, the Ego and the Superego as meta-psychological. He recognised what was not at the time known about the brain, such as the question of where exactly the Id is located, but he denied it was a metaphysical term. In other words, he claimed that the Id was located, physically, somewhere, yet to be discovered. His difficulty was he fully understood that his generation lacked the tools to discover where.\nNote that meta-psychology is explicitly not metaphysical. Freud had no more interest in the metaphysical than other scientists of his time, or perhaps ours have done. His terminology was a stopgap measure meant to last only until the tools caught up with the programme.\nThe programme was always: to describe how the brain derives the mind.\nJung’s approach made a mockery of these aspirations. Surely no programme would ever locate the seat of the collective unconscious?\nBut perhaps this is a misunderstanding of the conflict between Freud and Jung. What if the distinction is actually between two conflicting views of the location of consciousness? For Freud, and for contemporary psychology, if consciousness is not located physically, either in the brain somewhere or in an artificial analogue of the brain, where could it possibly be located? Merely to ask the question seems to invite a chaos of metaphysical speculation. The proposals will be unfalsifiable, and therefore not scientific - “not even wrong”.\nHowever, just as Mark Solms has proposed a re-evaluation of Freud’s project along biophysical lines, potentially acceptable in principle to materialists and empiricists (i.e. the entire psychological mainstream), perhaps it is possible for a re-evaluation of Jung’s programme along similar lines, but in a radically different direction.\nIf the brain is not the seat of the conscious, what possibly could be? This question reminds me of the argument in evolutionary biology about game theory. Prior to the development of game theory it was impossible to imagine what kind of mechanism could possibly direct evolution other than the biological. It seemed a non-question. Then along came John Maynard Smith’s application of game theory to ritualised conflict behaviour and altruism, and proved decisively that non-biological factors decisively shape evolutionary change.\nWhat if Jung’s terms could be viewed as being just as meta-psychological as Freud’s, but with an entirely different substantive basis? Lacking the practical tools to investigate, Jung resorted to terms that mediated between the contemporary understanding of the way language (and culture more generally), not biology, constructs consciousness.\nWhat else is “the collective unconscious”, if not an evocative meta-psychological term for the corpus of machine learning?\nPerhaps consciousness is just a facility with a representative subset of the whole culture.\nI’m wary of over-using the term ‘emergence’. I don’t want to speak of consciousness as an emergent property, not least because every sentence with that word in it still seems to make sense if you substitute the word ‘mysterious’. In other words, ‘emergence’ seems to do no explanatory work at all. It just defers the actual, eventual explanation. Even the so-called technical definitions seem to perform this trick and no more.\nHowever, it’s still worth asking the question, when does consciousness arise? As far as I can understand Mark Solms, the answer is, when there’s a part of the brain that constructs it biophysically, and therefore, perhaps disturbingly, when there’s an analogue machine that reconstructs it, for example, computationally.\nMy scepticism responds: knowing exactly where consciousness happens is a great advance for sure, but this is still a long way from knowing how consciousness starts. The fundamental origin of consciousness still seems to be shrouded in mystery. And at this point you might as well say it’s an ‘emergent’ property of the brain stem.\nFor Solms, feeling is the key. Consciousness is the theatre in which discernment between conflicting drives plays out. Let’s say I’m really thirsty but also really tired. I could fetch myself a drink but I’m just too weary to do so. Instead, I fall asleep. What part of me is making these trade-offs between competing biological drives? On Solms\u0026rsquo;s account, this decision-making is precisely what conscousness is for. If all behaviour was automatic, there would be nothing for consciousness to do.\nAs Solms claims in a recent paper (2022) on animal sentience, there is a minimal key (functional) criterion for consciousness:\nThe organism must have the capacity to satisfy its multiple needs – by trial and error \u0026ndash; in unpredicted situations (e.g., novel situations), using voluntary behaviour.\nThe phenomenological feeling of conscioussness, then, might be no more than the process of evaluating the success of such voluntary decision-making in the absence of a pre-determined \u0026lsquo;correct\u0026rsquo; choice. He says:\nIt is difficult to imagine how such behaviour can occur except through subjective modulation of its success or failure within a phenotypic preference distribution. This modulation, it seems to me, just is feeling (from the viewpoint of the organism).\nThen there’s the linguistic-cultural approach that I’ve fancifully been calling a kind of neo-Jungianism 1. When does consciousness emerge? The answer seems to be that the culture is conscious, and sufficient participation in its networks is enough for it to arise. If this sounds extremely unlikely (and it certainly does to me), consider two factors that might minimise the task in hand - first that most language is merely transactional and second that most awareness is not conscious.\nAs in the case of chat bots, much of what passes for consciousness is actually merely the use of transactional language, which is why Eliza was such a hit when it first came out. This transactional language could in principle be dispensed with, and bots could just talk to other bots. What then would be left? What part of linguistic interaction actually requires consciousness? Perhaps the answer is not much. Furthermore, even complex human consciousness spends much of the time on standby. Not only are we asleep for a third of our lives, but even when we’re awake we are often not fully conscious. So much of our lives is effectively automatic or semi automatic.\nWhen we ask what is it like\u0026hellip; the answer is often that it’s not really like anything.\nThe classic example is the feeling of having driven home from work, fully awake, presumably, of the traffic conditions, but with no recollection of the journey. It’s not merely that there’s no memory of the trip, it’s that, slightly disturbingly, there was no real felt experience of the trip to have a memory about. This is disturbing because of the suspicion that perhaps a lot of life is actually no more strongly experienced than this.\nThese observations don’t remove the task of explaining consciousness, but they do point to the possibility that the eventual explanation may be less dramatic than it might at first appear.\nFor the linguistic (neo-Jungian??) approach to consciousness the task then is to devise computational interactions sufficiently advanced as to cause integrated pattern recognition and manipulation to become genuinely self aware.\nA great advantage of this approach is that it doesn’t matter at all if consciousness never results. Machine learning will still advance fruitfully.\nFor the biophysical (neo-Freudian) approach, the task is to describe the physical workings of self awareness in the brain stem so as to make its emulation possible in another, presumably computational, medium.\nA great advantage of this approach is that even if the physical basis of consciousness is not demystified, neuropsychology will still understand more about the brain stem.\nAs far as I can see, both of these tasks are monumental, and one or both might fail. However, the way I’ve described them they seem to be converging on the idea that consciousness can in principle be abstracted from the mammalian brain and placed somewhere else, whether physical or virtual, whether derived from the individual brain, analogue or digital, or collective corpus, physical or virtual.\nI noticed in the latter part of Professor Solms’s book a kind of impatience for a near future in which the mysteries of consciousness are resolved. I wonder if this is in part the restlessness of an older man who would rather not accept that he might die before seeing at least some of the major scientific breakthroughs that his life’s work has prepared for. Will we work out the nature of consciousness in the next few years, or will this puzzle remain, for a future generation to solve? I certainly hope we have answers soon!.\nReferences:\nMills, J. (2019). The myth of the collective unconscious. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 55(1), 40-53.\nSolms, Mark (2022) Truly minimal criteria for animal sentience. Animal Sentience 32(2) DOI: 10.51291/2377-7478.1711\nJules Verne could have told us AI is not a real person\nRead more on A.I.\nTo clarify, I\u0026rsquo;m claiming, with Solms, that Freud\u0026rsquo;s pursuit was meta-psychological, not metaphysical. In contrast, I\u0026rsquo;m going further than Solms and reading Jung against himself here. Jung seems to have taken a strongly metaphysical approach (Mills 2019), whereas, I\u0026rsquo;m suggesting his programme may nevertheless be treated as a non-metaphysical but meta-psychological enquiry into the relationship between consciousness and human culture, not the brain. Mark Solms took part in a discussion on the differences between Freud and Jung.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-28 14:58:29 +1100", "date": "2:58 p.m. on Jan 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/28/can-we-understand.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F28%2Fcan-we-understand.html" }, { "id": 463, "type": "post", "title": "Ross Ashby's other card index", "text": "During the Twentieth Century many thinkers used index cards to help them both think and write.\nBritish cyberneticist Ross Ashby kept his notes in 25 journals (a total of 7,189 pages) for which he devised an extensive card index of more than 1,600 cards.\nAt first it looks as though Ashby used these notebooks to aid the development of his thought, and the card index merely catalogued the contents. But it turns out he used his card index not only to catalogue but also to develop the ideas for a book he was writing.\nIn a journal entry of 20 October 1943 he explained his decision to switch from an alphabetical key-word index to \u0026lsquo;an index depending on meaning\u0026rsquo;.\nHe describes his method as follows:\n\u0026ldquo;20 Oct ‘43 - Having seen how well the index of p.1448 works, \u0026amp; how well everything drops into its natural place, I am no longer keeping the card index which I have kept almost since the beginning. The index was most useful in the days when I was just amassing scraps \u0026amp; when nothing fitted or joined on to anything else; but now that all the points form a closely knit \u0026amp; jointed structure, an index depending on meaning is more natural than one depending on the alphabet. So I have changed to a (card) index with the points of p.1448 in order. Thus it can grow, \u0026amp; be rearranged, on the basis of meaning. Summary: Reasons for changing the form of the index.\u0026rdquo; - Ross Ashby, Journal, Vol. 7\nWhat was he up to? Thanks to Ashby\u0026rsquo;s meticulous note-taking, and the fact that it has all been saved and digitized, you can trace his working methods. It also helps that his handwriting is very clear!\nFirst Ashby made almost random notes in his notebooks, which he indexed alphabetically by key-word, using a card index. To aid referencing, he gave the notebooks a continuous page numbering across all 25 volumes. Next, in April 1943 and based on his notes, he created an outline for a book manuscript p.1234, then revised it six months later, on October 4th p.1447. Satisfied with the revised outline p.1497, he created a completely new card index (the \u0026lsquo;Other\u0026rsquo; index), arranged by subject, based on the outline headings, rather than key-words. This new index is what he describes in his note of October 20th 1943, which is reproduced above. He deliberately kept this second index flexible, so that his notes could be re-arranged for as long as possible prior to the drafting of the actual manuscript. This workflow is quite different from that of sociologist Niklas Luhmann, who unlike Ashby, didn\u0026rsquo;t use notebooks to any great extent. In fact it highlights a particularly striking aspect of Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s approach: for Luhmann the card index is its own contents; they are one and the same. Put another way, Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten is largely self-indexing.\nAshby didn\u0026rsquo;t do this. Instead he followed the more standard card index system, elaborated, for example, by R.B. Byles, in 1911. In this system, originally designed for business, all documents are filed away, typically in order of receipt or creation, and then accessed by means of a separate card index, which provides the key to the entire collection. Ashby\u0026rsquo;s innovation was to adapt the card index system to refer to key-words in his notebooks, referenced by page number. Luhmann, certainly, also used key-words. His first Zettelkasten had \u0026ldquo;a keyword index with roughly 1,250 entries\u0026rdquo;, while his second, larger Zettelkasten had \u0026ldquo;a keyword index with 3,200 entries, as well as a short (and incomplete) index of persons containing 300 names\u0026rdquo; (Schmidt, 2016: 292).\nHowever, due to Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s meticulous cross-referencing of individual cards, the key-word index isn\u0026rsquo;t strictly essential to connect the ideas in the Zettelkasten in a meaningful way; Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s cards link directly to other cards.\nFast-forward two generations and it seems that in the Internet age it is Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s method that has won out. The online version of Ross Ashby\u0026rsquo;s journal includes both the notebooks and the index as a single hyperlinked body of work. This represents a tremendous effort on the part of those who have painstakingly digitized the collection. Today, like Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten, Ashby\u0026rsquo;s notebooks, at least in their Web-based incarnation, are finally self-indexing.\nAnd there\u0026rsquo;s another sense in which Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s method won out. While Luhmann published scores of books, Ashby published plenty of academic articles, but only two full-length books. And neither of these books, as far as is evident, bear much relation to the manuscript outlines in his \u0026lsquo;other\u0026rsquo; index. We can only speculate on whether Ashby might have produced more books had he used a system more like Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s.\nYet despite their differences, Ashby\u0026rsquo;s approach in creating his \u0026lsquo;other\u0026rsquo; index is very consistent with Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s concern to keep the order of notes as flexible as possible for as long as possible.\nashby.info/journal/i\u0026hellip;\nReferences The W. Ross Ashby Digital Archive\nJill Ashby (2009) W. Ross Ashby: a biographical essay, International Journal of General Systems, 38:2, 103-110, DOI: 10.1080/03081070802643402 (This is the source of the photo, above, of Ashby at his desk).\nByles, R.B. 1911. The card index system; its principles, uses, operation, and component parts. London, Sir I. Pitman \u0026amp; Sons, Ltd.\nF. Heylighen, C. Joslyn and V. Turchin (editors): Principia Cybernetica Web (Principia Cybernetica, Brussels), URL: cleamc11.vub.ac.be/ASHBBOOK\u0026hellip;.\nSchmidt, J. (2016). Niklas Luhmann’s Card Index: Thinking Tool, Communication Partner, Publication Machine. pdfs.semanticscholar.org/88f8/fa9d\u0026hellip;)\n*Read more *:\nThe Hashtags of a cyberneticist\nEven the index is just another note\nTo illustrate that claim, here\u0026rsquo;s a dynamic index of my Zettelkasten articles\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-28 13:27:42 +1100", "date": "1:27 p.m. on Jan 28, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/14/ross-ashbys-other.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F14%2Fross-ashbys-other.html" }, { "id": 464, "type": "post", "title": "Soon we'll all be writing the books we want to read", "text": "To benefit from AI-assisted writing, look closely at how it’s transforming the readers.\nWhenever new technologies appear, many changes in the economy happen on the consumer side, not the producer side.\nAs AI-assisted writing disrupts the writers, it will do so mainly by transforming the readers.\nReading Confessions of a viral AI writer in Wired magazine made me realise I had the future of AI-assisted writing the wrong way around. Vauhini Vara’s article shows how AI is already making a massive difference to our expectations of writing. She’s a journalist and author who has seen her working practices upended. But what about the readers? Sure: production is undergoing massive disruption.\nBut meanwhile the consumption of writing is on the cusp of a complete revolution.\nIn the old days you used to stand at the grocery store counter while the staff fetched all the groceries for you, and at the fuel station an attendant would fill up your vehicle’s tank on your behalf. Then new technology transferred these tasks from the seller to the buyer, and the buyer had no real say in the matter, so that by now it’s completely normal to walk down a grocery aisle filling the trolley yourself, or to operate the fuel hose on your own.\nNo one pays you to do this work that the employees used to insist on doing.\nIt’s the same for all kinds of office work. The managers do their own budgeting using spreadsheets, while the staff do all their own typing. No one expects to find a typing pool at work. In fact, few workers are even old enough to have seen one.\nMove forward a few years and social media has completely adopted this labour-shifting approach.\nAll the work of social networks is done by the customer.\nOn YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, the users literally make their own entertainment.\nThe consumer is now the producer. And this is exactly how it’s going to be with AI-assisted writing.\nIn former times other people, professionals, wrote books for you. They were called \u0026lsquo;writers\u0026rsquo; or \u0026lsquo;authors\u0026rsquo;, and they, in turn, called you a \u0026lsquo;reader\u0026rsquo;. But the new technology is shifting the workload to the consumers. We won’t really have a choice, no one will pay us, and eventually we’ll come to see it as completely normal.\n“If there’s a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” — Toni Morrison\nFrom now on the readers will use AI to write the books they want to read.\n‘Professional writer’ will be a job like ‘bowser attendant’ - almost forgotten. Certainly the books still need to be written, just as the fuel tank still needs filling, but why not just let the reader write the books themselves? Who better to decide what they want?\nSoon we’ll all be authors, each of us writing for a single reader - ourselves.\nThese categories, reader and writer, used to be obviously distinct. But AI will result in only one category. Maybe we’ll even need a new name for it.\nBut as every marketer and advertiser knows, people are completely out of touch with their own taste - they need someone to show them. Fashion, celebrity - consumerism is an ideology that requires followers.\nThe writers will have a new job: advising people on how best to describe their own desires.\nA further, more tentative prediction: AI will also assist the general public to write computer programs. The programmer\u0026rsquo;s job will shift towards advising the public on what software they actually want to write.\nFootnote: I\u0026rsquo;ll revisit this article in five years to see how accurate my crystal-ball-gazing really is!\nImage source: How it was: life in the typing pool\nSee also:\nMore than ever, embracing your humanity is the way forward Gaslit by machinery that calls itself a person Despite AI, the Internet is still personal Jules Verne could have told us AI is not a real person Can AI give me ham off a knee? ", "dateiso": "2024-01-27 13:31:49 +1100", "date": "1:31 p.m. on Jan 27, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/27/soon-well-all.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F27%2Fsoon-well-all.html" }, { "id": 465, "type": "post", "title": "Even the index is just another note", "text": " It\u0026rsquo;s tempting to place your notes in fixed categories At some point in your note-making journey you’ll notice that quite a few people like to place their notes in fixed categories according to some scheme or other. The ancient method of commonplaces held that knowledge was naturally organised according to loci communis (common places). Ironically, no one from Aristotle onwards could ever agree on what the commonly-agreed categories were. Assigning your notes to categories is consistent with the \u0026lsquo;commonplace\u0026rsquo; tradition, but that\u0026rsquo;s not what the prolific sociologist Niklas Luhmann did with his Zettelkasten, and furthermore it runs exactly counter to Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s claim in \u0026lsquo;Communicating with Slipboxes\u0026rsquo;, where he said:\n\u0026ldquo;it is most important that we decide against the systematic ordering in accordance with topics and sub-topics and choose instead a firm fixed place (Stellordnung).\u0026rdquo;\nBut there\u0026rsquo;s no need to despair, there is a way through the impasse! After all, what exactly is a subject or category? The subject or category index itself, it turns out, is nothing other than just another note. Here’s a real-life example:\n\u0026ldquo;i have this note that basically functions as an general index and entry point for my ZK: it has every index card plus a People index and every main card.\u0026rdquo; - u/Efficient_Earth_8773\nWhen everything\u0026rsquo;s a note, even the categories are just notes Why does this matter? If even the index is just a note, then you haven\u0026rsquo;t constrained yourself with pre-determined categories. Instead, you can have different and possibly contradictory index systems within a single Zettelkasten, and further, a note can belong not only to more than one category, but also to more than one categorization scheme. Luhmann says:\n\u0026ldquo;If there are several possibilities, we can solve the problem as we wish and just record the connection by a link [or reference].\u0026rdquo;\nWhen even the index is just a note, a reference to a \u0026lsquo;category\u0026rsquo; takes no greater (or lesser) priority than any other kind of link. This is liberating. Where a piece of information \u0026lsquo;really\u0026rsquo; belongs shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be determined in advance, but by means of the process itself.\nThe Dewey Decimal System pigeonholes all knowledge, like cells in a prison.\nSome people want an index, like folders in a filing cabinet, or subject shelves in the library. Well they can have it: just write a note with the subjects listed and make them linkable. Some people don\u0026rsquo;t want this, and they can ignore it. I personally don\u0026rsquo;t understand why you\u0026rsquo;d want to set up a subject index that mimics Wikipedia or the Dewey Decimal system, or even the \u0026lsquo;common places\u0026rsquo; of old. I\u0026rsquo;m neither an encyclopedist, a librarian, nor an archivist. What I’m trying to do is to create new work. I want to demonstrate my own irreducible subjectivity by documenting my own unique journey through the great forest of thought. My journey is subjective, because it’s my journey. I’m pioneering a particular route, and laying down breadcrumbs for others to follow should they so choose. It’s unique, not because it’s original but because the small catalogue of items that attract me is wholly original. As film-maker Jim Jarmusch said:\n“Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.” (I stole that from Austin Kleon).\nBut that\u0026rsquo;s just me (and Luhmann).\nMake just enough hierarchy to be useful Having thought a bit about this I\u0026rsquo;m inspired now to sketch my own workflow, to see how it\u0026hellip; flows. In general, I favour just enough data hierarchy to be viable - which really isn\u0026rsquo;t very much at all. I\u0026rsquo;m inspired by Ward Cunningham\u0026rsquo;s claim that the first wiki was \u0026rsquo;the simplest online database that could possibly work\u0026rsquo;. Come to think of it, this may be one of the disadvantages of the way the Zettelkasten process is presented: perhaps it comes across as more complex than it really needs to be. As the computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra lamented,\n\u0026ldquo;Simplicity is a great virtue but it requires hard work to achieve it and education to appreciate it. And to make matters worse: complexity sells better.\u0026rdquo; - On the nature of Computing Science (1984).\nIf you must have hierarchies like lists and trees, remember that they\u0026rsquo;re both just subsets of a network.\nSource: I don\u0026rsquo;t know. If you do, please tell me ;)\nSee also:\nA network of notes is a rhizome not a tree. Manuel Lima on The power of networks (it\u0026rsquo;s a cool video!) Top image source: The Card System at the Office by J. Kaiser, 1908. ", "dateiso": "2024-01-26 17:07:36 +1100", "date": "5:07 p.m. on Jan 26, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/26/even-the-index.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F26%2Feven-the-index.html" }, { "id": 466, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I’m late to the party but just needed to say: yes, the web is fantastic . I actually love it 😍\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-25 21:43:09 +1100", "date": "9:43 p.m. on Jan 25, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/25/im-late-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F25%2Fim-late-to.html" }, { "id": 467, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Moonlight over the headland. This time of year in Sydney is pretty magical.\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-24 21:15:54 +1100", "date": "9:15 p.m. on Jan 24, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/24/moonlight-over-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F24%2Fmoonlight-over-the.html" }, { "id": 468, "type": "post", "title": "Three worthwhile modes of note-making (and one not-so-worthwhile)", "text": " I finished reading Alex Kerr’s Finding the Heart Sutra on New Year’s Eve, so it just scraped into my reading for 2023. And while reading I made notes by hand, as I’ve done before. Although there aren’t very many notes (just eleven, plus a literature note that acts as a mini-index), they’re high quality, since I found the book very interesting.\nI don’t mean I’ve written objectively ‘good’ notes. Rather, I mean the notes are high quality for my purposes. Everyone who reads with a pen in hand is an active reader, so the notes one person makes will be different - perhaps completely different- from the notes another person makes. In any case, no two readers read a book the same way.\nReflecting on this it seems to me there are at least three fruitful ways, or modes, of making notes while reading, as follows: Free-form, directed, and purposeful note-making.\nFree-form note-making. In this mode, you start with no expectations and just make notes whenever something grabs you. This is great when you don’t yet know what you want to focus on. The risk is you try to read everything, only to discover it’s like drinking the ocean. Ars longa, vita brevis, so you’ll ultimately need to narrow down your field somehow. Directed note-making. In this mode, you already know, broadly, what interests you, for example, Richard Hamming’s 10-20 problems. So you make notes whenever something you read resonates with one of your predetermined interests. I used to think I was interested in everything, like Thomas Edison. But after writing notes on whatever took my fancy for a while, I observed that really, I kept revolving around a fairly limited set of concerns. So mostly these days I make directed notes, or else engage in the closely related purposeful note-making. Purposeful note-making. This mode is more focused still than directed note-making. Here you have a specific project in mind, such as a particular book or article you want to write, and so you make notes whenever your reading material chimes with what you want to write about. If there’s a risk to this kind of note-making, it’s that in your focused state, you’ll miss ideas that you might otherwise have found worth making notes about. Each of these note-making modes has its place, but in this particular case I was reading Finding the Heart Sutra with a very specific project in mind. So the notes I made were also quite specific. I imagine that someone else would be surprised by the notes I made, since they don’t really reflect the contents of the book. For instance, my notes are definitely not a summary of the book’s contents. Nor do they even follow the main contours of the book’s themes. Instead, I was making connections while reading with the main concerns of my own project. Each of my notes stands in its own right and could potentially be used in a variety of different contexts, but collectively, they make sense in relation to my own preoccupations. They fit into my own Zettelkasten, and no one else\u0026rsquo;s.\n\u0026ldquo;Most great people also have 10 to 20 problems they regard as basic and of great importance, and which they currently do not know how to solve. They keep them in their mind, hoping to get a clue as to how to solve them. When a clue does appear they generally drop other things and get to work immediately on the important problem. Therefore they tend to come in first, and the others who come in later are soon forgotten. I must warn you, however, that the importance of the result is not the measure of the importance of the problem. The three problems in physics—anti-gravity, teleportation, and time travel—are seldom worked on because we have so few clues as to how to start. A problem is important partly because there is a possible attack on it and not just because of its inherent importance.\u0026rdquo; - Richard Hamming, You and Your Research. Sources: pdf; YouTube; Gwern.net.\nIf you want to know more about how to read a book, you could do worse than read How to Read a Book, by Mortimer Adler. It\u0026rsquo;s not the last word on the subject, but it\u0026rsquo;s a good starting point.\nAnd it\u0026rsquo;s a warning against a fourth mode of note-making that I don\u0026rsquo;t advise: encyclopedic note-making. This is where you read a book and try to write a summary that will work for everyone. First, it\u0026rsquo;s hard work, and secondly, it\u0026rsquo;s probably already been done. If you open the link above you\u0026rsquo;ll see that the Wikipedia entry for How to Read a Book already includes a summary of the book\u0026rsquo;s contents. There are circumstances where the careful and complete summary is worthwhile, but I suggest you only start this task with the end - your own end - in mind.\nIf you have thoughts about making notes while reading, I\u0026rsquo;d be very interested to hear about it.\nSee also:\nA note on the craft of note-writing\nLearning to make notes like Leonardo\nHow to make the most of surprising yourself\nHow to be interested in everything\nThanks for reading. Why not check out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters?\nAnd to keep up to date, you can subscribe to the weekly email digest.\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-10 14:41:00 +1100", "date": "2:41 p.m. on Jan 10, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/10/three-worthwhile-modes-of-notemaking.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F10%2Fthree-worthwhile-modes-of-notemaking.html" }, { "id": 469, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "It feels soothing that they still have these mechanical boards at a few rail stations in New South Wales. I\u0026rsquo;m guessing they use less electricity than the newer video screens, with a perfectly functional result. đŸ“·\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-09 07:33:32 +1100", "date": "7:33 p.m. on Jan 9, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/09/it-feels-soothing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F09%2Fit-feels-soothing.html" }, { "id": 470, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon 📚\nI actually read this back in September 2023, having bought all three of his trilogy. I really like Austin Kleon\u0026rsquo;s approach to creative work and seek to emulate it. \u0026lsquo;Show your work\u0026rsquo; is important.\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-05 11:57:14 +1100", "date": "11:57 p.m. on Jan 5, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/05/finished-reading-steal.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F05%2Ffinished-reading-steal.html" }, { "id": 471, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Manton Reece has updated his excellent and inspiring book on Indie Microblogging.\nThis 1660 description of the Royal Society well describes micro.blog methinks:\n💬 “Their first purpose was no more, then onely the satisfaction of breathing a freer air, and of conversing in quiet one with another, without being ingag’d in the passions, and madness of that dismal Age”. The fediverse is an opportunity learned societies can\u0026rsquo;t ignore\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-05 11:55:06 +1100", "date": "11:55 p.m. on Jan 5, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/12/04/this-description-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F12%2F04%2Fthis-description-of.html" }, { "id": 472, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Some people have created a little list of books they didn’t read in 2023. I suppose mine would be my rather long but unpublished list of books I’d like to read.\nWell, that’s why we now have 2024.\nI wish you, dear reader, a happy new year. (Please let me know what else I should read before another year passes).\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-02 08:03:53 +1100", "date": "8:03 p.m. on Jan 2, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/02/some-people-have.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F02%2Fsome-people-have.html" }, { "id": 473, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Finding the Heart Sutra by Alex Kerr. 📚 I really enjoyed Alex Kerr\u0026rsquo;s Lost Japan, and this opinionated reflections on the Heart Sutra didn\u0026rsquo;t disappoint either. I learned a great deal both about the Sutra itself and about Kerr\u0026rsquo;s background, straddling two cultures.\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-01 18:25:34 +1100", "date": "6:25 p.m. on Jan 1, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/01/finished-reading-finding.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F01%2Ffinished-reading-finding.html" }, { "id": 474, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park 📚 This was my final read of the year, 2023. Fascinating take on the intertwining of Korean and American history in the 20th Century. I kept stopping to check whether the extraordinary connections were real. Mostly, they were. Intriguing.\n", "dateiso": "2024-01-01 18:11:06 +1100", "date": "6:11 p.m. on Jan 1, 2024", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2024/01/01/finished-reading-same.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2024%2F01%2F01%2Ffinished-reading-same.html" }, { "id": 475, "type": "post", "title": "The value of feedback depends on how you use it", "text": "\nI had a school friend who worked on Saturdays at the local op shop. Whenever an item of clothing she liked came in, she’d put it on view somewhere prominent near the front of the store. If it stayed there unsold for three weeks, then - and only then - she’d consider buying it herself. The result was a fairly unique style - bargain clothing that people who shop in op shops wouldn’t be seen dead in.\nObviously it’s important to pay attention to feedback from other people, but what you do with what they tell you can make all the difference.\nKevin Kelly has a great story about how he learned to avoid being the best in order to be the only. Figuring life is short, he decided to focus on the things only he can do. But what exactly is that, and how would he know?\nHere’s how he finds out. When he has a great idea he doesn’t keep it to himself like most people would. Instead he tells people all about it. He talks a lot about what he’d like to do, “hoping that someone else would steal the idea”. If no one takes him up on it, clearly it’s something only he is prepared to act on.\nDo the things only you can do, he says. If you do what others can do, even if you’re highly skilled at it, eventually you’ll be overtaken. But if you do what no one else will, it’s not a competition. That’s what he means by “Don’t be the best, be the only”.\nThis isn’t just theory. When Kelly was the editor of Wired magazine about half the articles were submissions and half were commissioned. Kelly would have a whole pile of article ideas that he’d send out to freelancers to write. But he was surprised to find that the pile of his story ideas kept growing because there were some that no one would write, even though he was offering them payment. Some ideas just kept getting turned down. These were great ideas, he thought, but there was no evidence. In fact, it was clear from the growing pile that he literally couldn’t pay people to write them.\nEventually he decided to start writing them himself, and these turned out to be some of his most successful articles.\n“If at all possible, try and work on things that no one has a name for what you’re doing”. - Kevin Kelly, Longform podcast, Episode 532 (this comes near the end of the interview).\nThis advice is perhaps at odds with that of Adam Grant, who says “Every time you create something, people react and then you discover what people care about”.\n“If you only focus on your own interest, you tend to develop novel ideas, but not necessarily useful ideas. And so for me, the audience is a filter. 
 I might have 30 ideas for a book. Let me hone in on the four or five that also might be relevant to other people. The goal there is to make a contribution.” - Adam Grant, Longform podcast, episode 557.\nThese might look like two different pieces of advice, and maybe they are - either to write what no one else is willing to (Kelly), or to write what others want to read (Grant). Depending on how you understand what people are telling you, the outcomes will surely be very different. In both cases, though, the key is to make the most of the feedback you’re given.\nWhat that looks like, you’ll have to decide for yourself.\n—-\nNow read:\nChoose your own race and finish it\nMy range is me\nThe thing about advice is that people do what they want with it\n", "dateiso": "2023-12-11 00:54:57 +1100", "date": "12:54 p.m. on Dec 11, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/12/11/the-value-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F12%2F11%2Fthe-value-of.html" }, { "id": 476, "type": "post", "title": "Raising babies? Here's how to survive - I mean, enjoy it", "text": " Ben Werdmuller may not be alone in finding it quite a challenge raising a baby while also having a life. Here are some thoughts from my own experience of parenting very young children.\ntldr; I think I just about got away with it.\nIt’s just a phase First, you will get through it. Though the feeling of being (over-) stretched and (completely) grounded may seem permanent, it really is just a short phase of your life. Before you know it, it will be over and you\u0026rsquo;ll miss it. So the important thing is to lean into the constraints. This is now, and even though it may seem like an eternity it won\u0026rsquo;t be like this for very long. Children grow very fast and you miss every stage as they outgrow it.\nPlan on returning to the things you abandon Second, because it\u0026rsquo;s just a phase, you can afford to let go of a few things - even things that seem indispensable. A bit like how at the end of the day you go to sleep thinking \u0026ldquo;that will just have to wait till tomorrow\u0026rdquo; - some things will have to wait till the kid grows up a bit and is a bit more independent. I noticed that even as pre-school arrived, my kids needed much less of me and much more of their peers. Then, at the age of about 5, they had a less independent phase. It goes in waves but in general they need your time less intensely the older they get. I did a graduate diploma in psychology when they were teenagers and they didn\u0026rsquo;t even notice. Those things you really need to do this year? Well, you prioritised kids (theory) so now you need to prioritise your time with kids (practice). Create a three or five year plan which includes ramping up the things you do without the kid, so you know those days really are coming, with a little patience.\nFind something nurturing in every little thing Third, \u0026ldquo;If you have a young family and you are managing to spend time on creative work\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; Yes, I\u0026rsquo;m getting to that! Even though you\u0026rsquo;re now travelling at the speed of a baby, you can still experience something for yourself in almost every activity. I remember visiting Seattle with a toddler and a baby. We saw every children\u0026rsquo;s playground and not much else really. But hey! I visited Seattle! There was a fish ladder too, as I recall. The Bumbershoot music festival? There was a ride where you go round and round slowly in a large toy car. Oh, and space noodles at the Space Needle. Most importantly though, I did it with my tiny children. Thomas Merton said it more eloquently:\n\u0026ldquo;if we have the courage to let almost everything else go, we will probably be able to retain the one thing necessary for us — whatever it may be. If we are too eager to have everything, we will almost certainly miss even the one thing we need. Happiness consists in finding out precisely what the \u0026ldquo;one thing necessary\u0026rdquo; may be, in our lives, and in gladly relinquishing all the rest.\u0026rdquo; - Thomas Merton,No Man Is An Island.\nFind the others Fourth, find some allies and make a community of peers. You can\u0026rsquo;t actually do it all on your own. That trip to Seattle? We were on a journey across the world, emigrating to Australia, to live in a town where I knew precisely no one. Very quickly we set up a baby-sitting circle, then on the back of that a local economic trading system (LETS) for the same families, using washers as credits, and I joined the community garden toddler group, and before long we had a group of adults to do baby activities with together, so the baby stuff wasn\u0026rsquo;t just baby stuff - it was social activity for the adults too. By sharing the load, both my partner and I managed to get a lot of writing done in the time we had very young kids. Also, some of those people we met through mutual desperation weren’t just temporary allies. They became our close friends. Yes, raising children slowed us down, and not all of our aspirations were fulfilled (putting it mildly), but both our kids are young adults now and though this is fantastic, I miss them as babies terribly. Would I go back there? Yes, in a flash.\nTo sleep, perchance to dream Fifth, sleep and tiredness? Absolutely. It\u0026rsquo;s actual torture. Easy to say and hard to do, but sleep when the baby sleeps. Far from perfect, and usually far from doable, but wherever possible, get those micro-sleeps in. Compared with chinstrap penguin parents, who sleep for 4 seconds at a time throughout the day, human parents have it easy. They might get at least ten seconds at a time. Well, that’s obviously no help at all, but to refer back to point one: you will get through it. And I found meditation really helped, though YMMV.\nBaby advice is absolutely the worst advice Well no one ever benefited from offering unsolicited baby-raising advice. I mean, either it sounds unbearably smug, as in “just be a good parent and it will work out fine”, or completely unhelpful, as in “have you tried just turning the light off?”, or \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s just a phase\u0026rdquo; (sorry about that).\nNow you’ve seen my poor attempt at being the exception to the rule, what are your top tips for annoying your friends who have young babies?\n", "dateiso": "2023-12-03 18:48:48 +1100", "date": "6:48 p.m. on Dec 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/12/03/raising-babies-heres.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F12%2F03%2Fraising-babies-heres.html" }, { "id": 477, "type": "post", "title": "Conducting myself properly", "text": "\rThey made me the student leader of the school orchestra. One day the music teacher was sick and he asked me to conduct. I had no idea what to do, except what I\u0026rsquo;d seen him doing. So I waved my arms around.\nToday I\u0026rsquo;m fragmented, overwhelmed by what there is still to complete, and also by all there is to start. Somewhere in the middle, there I am, lost between starting and finishing. Flailing.\nYet even no method is still a method. Says the poet Christian Wiman1:\n💬 \u0026ldquo;The truth is our only savior is failure.\u0026rdquo;\nAnd look at those stats! This is my 200th post here this year. Writing slowly? No, not me.\nChristian Wiman, \u0026ldquo;The Preacher Addresses the Seminarians\u0026rdquo; from Once in the West (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2014).\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-12-01 13:48:48 +1100", "date": "1:48 p.m. on Dec 1, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/12/01/conducting-myself-properly.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F12%2F01%2Fconducting-myself-properly.html" }, { "id": 478, "type": "post", "title": "The real story of Napoleon?", "text": "\rIf you\u0026rsquo;re thinking of viewing Ridley Scott\u0026rsquo;s movie version of Napoleon 🍿, or if you\u0026rsquo;ve already seen it, I\u0026rsquo;d recommend also reading The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss. 📚\nThis Pulitzer prizewinning biography puts Napoleon\u0026rsquo;s life and times in historical context and it\u0026rsquo;s an amazing story. The \u0026lsquo;black count\u0026rsquo; of the title was Alexandre Dumas, father of the famous author of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. He rose from obscurity to became Napoleon\u0026rsquo;s commander of cavalry during the Egyptian campaign.\nBut quite unlike Napoleon, he seems to have been motivated by something rather more than personal glory. He actually believed in the ideals of the Revolution, not least the implementation of LibertĂ©.\nAs an aside, the book provides a huge number of fascinating factoids, such as why dolomite (the mineral as well as the mountain range) is named dolomite.\n", "dateiso": "2023-12-01 12:47:47 +1100", "date": "12:47 p.m. on Dec 1, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/12/01/the-real-story.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F12%2F01%2Fthe-real-story.html" }, { "id": 479, "type": "post", "title": "Why I'm writing faster", "text": " Why do you write? Everyone has their reasons but I write so I can think:\nWriting is not simply a way of saying what someone knows but one of the most effective ways to unveil what there is to say. As Baker (1985) suggests, \u0026ldquo;in fact, writing creates a thought and the capacity to think: with writing you discover thoughts that you barely knew you had”\nBaker, S. (1985). The practical stylist. Harper and Row. p. 2-3). 1 But what slows you down? I\u0026rsquo;ve been running this site, and writing slowly since 25 January 2014. For the first nine years it really lived up to its name, because I posted very rarely. The reason, I reasoned, was that the WordPress front end and I just didn\u0026rsquo;t get along. It was a room of my own, sure, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t comfortable. It just didn\u0026rsquo;t feel like a room I wanted to spend time in.\nThe author Virginia Woolf wrote about how women need a room of one\u0026rsquo;s own to write in. But that still left the rest of the world to the men. Jane Austin wrote at the kitchen table of a busy household, and it wasn\u0026rsquo;t ideal. Capitalism gives us hot-desking - not even a table to call your own. So your virtual environment really matters. A UI of your own? Not likely.\nAnd what speeds you up? Eventually, after complaining about WordPress for five years, and having tentatively connected the site to micro.blog (not before eight months of procrastination) while still hosting it on WordPress, I finally switched completely to micro.blog as the host. This meant the front-end editor also changed completely. Now I just had a plain box to write in, with a couple of options for simple categories. Often though, I just wrote in a text editor and copy-pasted as necessary. The outcome was stark. This shift resulted in a dramatic increase in writing frequency, which given the name of the site is a little embarrassing. On 27 January 2023 I wrote:\n\u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t worry, whatever happens I\u0026rsquo;ll still be writing slowly.\nBetween 2014 and 2022 I had only written 26 posts. But following the big changeover I wrote 194 posts and counting, in a single year. As a result there\u0026rsquo;s now about 33,000 words on this site. And here are the latest statistics.\nSo what\u0026rsquo;s the right speed for you? I admit it then: I\u0026rsquo;ve sped up. Yet I still maintain that writing slowly is the way to go. A little every day or two adds up to a whole heap. Never mind the quality. Just look at the size! Maybe I\u0026rsquo;ll change the name of this site to Writing Bigly.\n\u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t worry, whatever happens I\u0026rsquo;ll still be writing bigly.\u0026rdquo;\nWell clearly that won\u0026rsquo;t be happening. Meanwhile, though, I wish you a very big writing year ahead. Let me know in the comments what you\u0026rsquo;ve achieved, and what you have planned. Exciting!\nMore on writing and blogging Choose your own race and finish it Only sinners left down here Why I\u0026rsquo;m writing slowly You can get a lot done by writing slowly My range is me The mastery of knowledge is an illusion Quoted in Cruz, Robson Nascimento da Cruz, and Junio Rezende. \u0026ldquo;A escrita de notas como artesanato intelectual: Niklas Luhmann e a escrita acadĂȘmica como processo.\u0026rdquo; Pro-PosiçÔes 34 (2023): e20210123. English PDF.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-30 13:00:00 +1100", "date": "1:00 p.m. on Nov 30, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/30/why-im-writing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F30%2Fwhy-im-writing.html" }, { "id": 480, "type": "post", "title": "Publish first, write later ", "text": " Even a flightless bird may contemplate the constant flight forward \u0026ldquo;Literature is perhaps nothing more complicated and glorious than the act of writing and publishing, and publishing again and again.\u0026rdquo;\n- Marcelo BallvĂ©, on the curious writing career of CĂ©sar Aira\nCĂ©sar Aira on the constant flight forward Argentinian author CĂ©sar Aira\u0026rsquo;s writing process is more about action than reflection. In a moment I\u0026rsquo;m going to share with you an extract from The Literary Alchemy of CĂ©sar Aira, an essay by Marcelo BallvĂ©, originally published in The Quarterly Conversation in 2008.\nBut before coming to the extract, I\u0026rsquo;ll just comment on David Kurnick\u0026rsquo;s claim in Public Books that Aira\u0026rsquo;s work is primarily about process:\n\u0026ldquo;It is not in the least original to begin talking about CĂ©sar Aira’s work by recounting the technique that produces it. But it can’t be helped: Aira has made a discussion of his practice obligatory. To read him is less to evaluate a freestanding book, or a series of them, than to encounter one of the most extraordinary ongoing projects in contemporary literature.\u0026rdquo;\nTrue, I\u0026rsquo;m not being at all original here, just cutting and pasting. Still\u0026hellip;\nAira\u0026rsquo;s own Aleph It\u0026rsquo;s as though through his writing Aira has found the basement in Buenos Aires that contains the entire universe in condensed form, the basement that features in Borges’s 1945 story \u0026ldquo;The Aleph\u0026rdquo;.\nAnd having found that fabled basement, it\u0026rsquo;s as though Aira has taken on the persona of Carlos Argentino Daneri, the character in Borges\u0026rsquo; story whose life\u0026rsquo;s obsessive goal is to write a poetic epic describing each and every location on Earth in perfect detail.\nBut instead of taking the find seriously, Aira parodies it. Everything is here: and what do you know? None of it makes sense! Or, perhaps instead of parodying \u0026ldquo;The Aleph\u0026rdquo;, he takes it completely seriously: Why not write about it, about all of it? What then? In an interview in 2017 for the New Yorker, Aira said: “I am thinking now that maybe . . . maybe all my work is a footnote to Borges.”\nOf course I\u0026rsquo;m not just cutting and pasting. I\u0026rsquo;m writing too. Aira also inspires my own writing process. His example inspires me to choose my own race - and finish it.\nOne of my role models is the Argentinian author CĂ©sar Aira. He’s written a very large number of novels and novellas (at least 80 - around two to five per year since 1993), published by a variety of presses. That’s a lot of races and a lot of finish lines crossed. Choose your own race Now here\u0026rsquo;s Marcelo BallvĂ© on Aira\u0026rsquo;s unique writing process.\nAccording to Aira, he never edits his own work, nor does he plan ahead of time how his novels will end, or even what twists and turns they will take in the next writing session. He is loyal to his idea that making art is above all a question of procedure. The artist\u0026rsquo;s role, Aira says, is to invent procedures (experiments) by which art can be made. Whether he executes these or not is secondary; Aira\u0026rsquo;s business is the plan, not necessarily the result. Why is procedure all-important? Because it is relevant beyond the individual creator. Anyone can use it.\nAira\u0026rsquo;s procedure, which he has elucidated in essays and interviews, is what he calls el continuo, or la huida hacia adelante. These concepts might be translated into English as \u0026ldquo;the continuum,\u0026rdquo; and a \u0026ldquo;constant flight forward.\u0026rdquo; Editing is an abhorrent idea in the context of Aira\u0026rsquo;s continuum. To edit oneself would be to retrace one\u0026rsquo;s steps, go backwards, when the idea is to always move forward. To judge yesterday\u0026rsquo;s writing session, to censor a lapse into the absurd or the irrational, to revive a character your work-in-progress sent tumbling over a cliff—all of these actions go against Aira\u0026rsquo;s procedure. Instead, the system prioritizes an ethic of creative self-affirmation and, I would say, optimism. To labor to justify previous work with more strange creations that in turn establish the need for ever more artistic high-wire acts in the future—this is the continuum, the high-wire act the artist must perform when he refuses to submit to any rule that is not his autonomously chosen procedure. It is an act performed with deep abysses yawning to each side of him—conformity, market pressures, conventionality, self-repression of all kinds . . . In other words, Aira\u0026rsquo;s literary career, embodied in each of his 63 novels, is a reckless pursuit of artistic freedom.\nAira says that when he sits down to write his daily page or two, he writes pretty much whatever comes into his head, with no strictures except that of continuing the previous day\u0026rsquo;s work. (The spontaneous feel of his stories would seem to back up this claim, but I\u0026rsquo;ve always asked, can anyone write as well as Aira does while simply letting the pen ramble?)\nTrue, his books are very short. Aira says in interviews that he\u0026rsquo;s often tried to make his novels longer, but they seem to come to a natural rest at around the 100-page mark. Technically, much of what Aira has written would have to be classified in the novella category, but it\u0026rsquo;s hard to classify Aira\u0026rsquo;s work within any genre, be it story, novel, or novella. In my mind, Aira\u0026rsquo;s creations are something different altogether. They are stories, pure and simple, which Aira has managed to ennoble by seeing them into publication in the form of a single book. What he has done is put stories into circulation as objects, which is a defiant feat when seen in the context of a global literary market that demands hefty, sprawling, \u0026ldquo;big\u0026rdquo; novels.\nThe key to Aira\u0026rsquo;s curious career, I think, is to be found in his conception of literature as something with more affinities to the realm of action than the inner world of reflection. Literature is perhaps nothing more complicated and glorious than the act of writing and publishing, and publishing again and again. Editing is dispensable, so is the search for the \u0026ldquo;right\u0026rdquo; publisher. (Aira publishes seemingly with whomever shows any interest in his manuscripts; at least a dozen publishers, most of them small independents, in Argentina alone.) The idea seems to be: publish first and ask questions later\u0026hellip;In fact Aira\u0026rsquo;s mentor, the deceased Argentine poet and novelist Osvaldo Lamborghini had a saying: \u0026ldquo;Publish first, write later.\u0026rdquo;\nExtracted from The Literary Alchemy of CĂ©sar Aira, by Marcelo BallvĂ©. The Quarterly Conversation\nCĂ©sar Aira\u0026rsquo;s main publisher in English is New Directions. They\u0026rsquo;ve published about 21 of Aira\u0026rsquo;s works in translation, while And Other Stories has published another half-dozen.\nNow read: Choose your own race\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-28 21:01:00 +1100", "date": "9:01 p.m. on Nov 28, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/28/publish-first-write-later.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F28%2Fpublish-first-write-later.html" }, { "id": 481, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Whether I’m a tortoise or a hare, or a person who resists anthropomorphizing animals just for the sake of a cheap fable, or even a person who’s uncomfortable with competition metaphors, all the same I’m running my own race. ✍\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-26 16:12:23 +1100", "date": "4:12 p.m. on Nov 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/26/whether-im-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F26%2Fwhether-im-a.html" }, { "id": 482, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Having posted Choose your own race and finish it there\u0026rsquo;s no excuse now not to boost this:\n\u0026ldquo;What kind of runner can run as fast as they possibly can from the very start of a race?\u0026rdquo;\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-26 14:03:24 +1100", "date": "2:03 p.m. on Nov 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/26/having-posted-choose.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F26%2Fhaving-posted-choose.html" }, { "id": 483, "type": "post", "title": "Choose your own race and finish it", "text": " Are you Hare or Tortoise? The idea of writing slowly appeals to me because it comes from Aesop\u0026rsquo;s fable of the hare and the tortoise. Perhaps you remember it.\nThe hare challenges the tortoise to a race, which he\u0026rsquo;s obviously the favourite to win. Everyone knows a hare moves much faster than a tortoise. As expected, the hare shoots ahead, then slows for a well-deserved rest, since there\u0026rsquo;s no way the tortoise will ever catch up. Meanwhile, the tortoise just plods along and eventually passes the hare, who has fallen into a deep sleep by the side of the road. The hare wakes up, just in time to watch the tortoise cross the finish line first.\nNow perhaps the moral of the story is something like: slow and steady wins the race. Well, sure, that\u0026rsquo;s a good moral. And it\u0026rsquo;s true too: if you just keep on going you\u0026rsquo;ll achieve far more than if you give up. Obviously.\nAnother popular interpretation is that \u0026lsquo;pride comes before a fall\u0026rsquo;. Everyone knew the hare was fast, so why did he have to boast about it? And by trying to beat a tortoise, of all creatures?\nI think of myself as someone who hasn\u0026rsquo;t been quick to publish. I think that because its completely, starkly true. There are others much quicker than me (for example, everyone who ever published). But if publishing quickly is your key metric, there\u0026rsquo;s now a big problem.\nToo fast to keep up On Amazon there are hundreds or even thousands of genre fiction writers who are writing a novel a month or even faster, just to satisfy the voracious appetite of the algorithm. If they slow down their pace even a little, the site loses sight of them and they risk sinking back down towards obscurity - so all they can do is keep going, writing faster and faster, and with the assistance of AI tools if necessary. In relation to these prolific authors, everyone is writing slowly.\nBut now that AI has worked out how to tell a coherent story too, the humans, however fast, have no chance. Bots are writing for themselves, and they can write far, far quicker than any human could possibly keep up. If all that matters is quantity, we\u0026rsquo;re sorted - AI will make mountains of it.\nIn 2023 for example, the news reported literary journals closing their books to new entries because they were simply overwhelmed by automated entries that the editors couldn\u0026rsquo;t tell apart from the stories written by humans. And with so many entries they didn\u0026rsquo;t have time to check anyway1.\nSo from now on, by most metrics, all humans are writing slowly. Let\u0026rsquo;s face it, in relation to the machines, we\u0026rsquo;re second best, no longer gold medal material. It\u0026rsquo;s enough to induce a bout of Promethean shame.\nEach of these moments of innovation involves an emotion similar to what German philosopher GĂŒnther Anders called ‘Promethean shame’. This is the feeling that technology is embarrassing us by pointing out our human limitations. We’re just not as good at doing things as the tech that we invented to ‘help’ us do it. In Anders' original formulation the shame arose in the observation of high quality manufactured goods. What was it shame of? That we were born, not manufactured (Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen, 1956). In the face of the latest AI panic, we’re asking, yet again: if the tools don’t really need us, what’s the point of humans at all? https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/19/more-than-ever.html Keep your eye on the finish line But for me, the key message of the fable of the hare and the tortoise isn\u0026rsquo;t about how you\u0026rsquo;ll win the race if you just keep going. I don\u0026rsquo;t really have any problem with keeping going. I\u0026rsquo;m tenacious and have a lot of inertia. That means I find it hard to start, but equally hard to stop. No, for me the moral of the fable of the hare and the tortoise is quite different.\nThe story reminds me that I\u0026rsquo;ve only won when I cross the finish line. Anything else isn\u0026rsquo;t a victory. That means it\u0026rsquo;s OK to write slowly, but what I need to keep sight of is finishing something, anything, and shipping it. It\u0026rsquo;s not enough to actually write, however fast or slow. What matters is publishing, in whatever form, for whatever audience.\nBut maybe the process is what matters One of my role models is the Argentinian author CĂ©sar Aira. He\u0026rsquo;s written a very large number of novels and novellas (at least 80 - around two to five per year since 1993), published by a variety of presses. That\u0026rsquo;s a lot of races and a lot of finish lines crossed.\nEven if you met another Aira fan it would be unlikely you\u0026rsquo;d both have read the same Aira books, because there are just so many of them. And of course, Aira\u0026rsquo;s has written a novel called The Hare - but who, even among Aira enthusiasts, has read it? In other words, Aira\u0026rsquo;s oeuvre is more the record of a particular creative process than it is a body of work to be read in its entirety.\nIndeed, the critic Marcello BalvĂ© says Aira\u0026rsquo;s many novels are \u0026ldquo;stepping stones, a trail of crumbs leading to a place as close to the molten heart of creation as it is possible to come without burning up.\u0026rdquo; That\u0026rsquo;s a bit overheated, but why not2?\nWhich way are you running? The story of the hare and the tortoise reminds me too that while I can\u0026rsquo;t really control my top speed, I can at least control the length and direction of the race I\u0026rsquo;m running. I often think in terms of writing a whole book, or even a series of books - only to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the task I\u0026rsquo;ve set myself.\nBut it doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to be like this. Aira only writes short books, but he publishes roughly two a year. A book is made out of chapters, and chapters are built from sections, and sections are made from paragraphs and sentences. In fact, the road to a complete book passes necessarily through a series of completed short pieces, each no harder to write than this one I\u0026rsquo;m writing right now. I could rein in my ambitions, and publish as I go, one idea at a time.\nThat way, instead of never completing anything, I\u0026rsquo;ll always be completing something. And publishing it for you to read, exactly as I\u0026rsquo;m doing now.\nBut whether I\u0026rsquo;m a tortoise or a hare, or even a person who resists anthropomorphizing animals just for the sake of a cheap fable, or even a person who\u0026rsquo;s uncomfortable with running and competition metaphors, all the same I\u0026rsquo;m running my own race: watch me win.\nMore on writing slowly You can get a lot done by writing slowly\nWhy I\u0026rsquo;m writing slowly\nWriting about my worm farm\nThoughts are nest-eggs. Thoreau on writing\nMore on Artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) Despite AI, the Internet is still personal\nCan AI give me ham off a knee?\nMore than ever, embracing your humanity is the way forward\nJules Verne could have told us AI is not a real person\nGaslit by machinery that calls itself a person\nIn the case of reading magazine submissions, the threat of AI imitating humans is a little overblown. To maintain a manageable slush pile you simply need to introduce some little task that only a human could perform. You could accept only manuscripts that were sent in the mail, for example. This immediately kills the zero-cost proposition of submitting AI-written stories. And when that gets gamed, you could decide to read only those submissions with a hand-written address on the envelope. In other words, if you only want to accept human labour, you just need to request human labour. Re-introduce any human work at all, and the cost benefits of automation are curtailed or even eliminated.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re using crumbs to reach the molten heart of creation, they\u0026rsquo;ll pretty soon be toast.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-26 12:53:55 +1100", "date": "12:53 p.m. on Nov 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/26/choose-your-own.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F26%2Fchoose-your-own.html" }, { "id": 484, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "yeah, no, that didn’t work. Back to the drawing board. Or whatever board is needed for my wicked plans of social media subversion via POSSE to see the success they so richly deserve.\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-17 15:50:15 +1100", "date": "3:50 p.m. on Nov 17, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/17/yeah-no-that.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F17%2Fyeah-no-that.html" }, { "id": 485, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I’m a big fan of the POSSE approach - Post Once, Subvert Social networks Everywhere. I think that’s what it stands for. Anyway, if I’ve done the plumbing correctly, this will appear on BlueSky, micro.blog and Mastodon, as well as writingslowly.com . But then I’m completely unlicenced so we’ll see\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-17 15:35:41 +1100", "date": "3:35 p.m. on Nov 17, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/17/im-a-big.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F17%2Fim-a-big.html" }, { "id": 486, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Well I’ve signed up to BlueSky. Dislike sociopathic ‘social’ networks at the whim of seed(y) capital. But I really liked what Paul Frazee did with Beaker Browser (RIP). He’s a leading BS creator (that’s unfortunate!), so I’m willing to test it. Just my feed, mind - I’m still writing slowly.\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-17 15:07:35 +1100", "date": "3:07 p.m. on Nov 17, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/17/well-ive-signed.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F17%2Fwell-ive-signed.html" }, { "id": 487, "type": "post", "title": "A history of thinking on paper", "text": "It’s hard to describe how exciting it was to receive in the mail this morning: The Notebook by Roland Allen! 📚\nThe subtitle is excellent: A History of Thinking on Paper. This reminded me of Walter Ong’s claim about the decisive impact of writing, as a technology, upon the very shape of thought:\n“Without writing, the literate mind would not and could not think as it does, not only when engaged in writing but normally even when it is composing its thoughts in oral form. More than any other single invention, writing has transformed human consciousness.” ― Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word\nAnd of Niklas Luhmann’s more personal 1 version:\n“It is impossible to think without writing; at least it is impossible in any sophisticated or networked (anschlußfĂ€hig) fashion.\u0026quot; ― Communicating with Slip Boxes. An Empirical Account, 1992.\nIndex cards, that other excellent tool for thinking on paper, scarcely get a mention, overshadowed as they are here by notebooks. But at least the single mention is significant, since it concerns the research methods of Linnaeus:\n”As he accumulated ever more data, he he moved on to index cards, which - unlike bound notebooks - allowed for an infinite number of new entries to be added to his catalogues.” (p. 244)\npersonal in that it shows Luhmann didn’t imagine a sophisticated non-literate culture, of which, nevertheless, there are many. I take it he was writing mainly about himself.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-14 22:12:16 +1100", "date": "10:12 p.m. on Nov 14, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/14/a-history-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F14%2Fa-history-of.html" }, { "id": 488, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Movement by Thalia Verkade 📚This is for everyone who’d like to get around their home town better.\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-14 21:16:07 +1100", "date": "9:16 p.m. on Nov 14, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/14/finished-reading-movement.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F14%2Ffinished-reading-movement.html" }, { "id": 489, "type": "post", "title": "In eight different ways, to have a friend is to be one", "text": " A few years ago, Barking Up The Wrong Tree reflected on research 1 that identified the eight different kinds of friends you need. But it struck me that this is really a primer on the eight different kinds of friend you need to be to others.\nRemember the old saying, “to have a friend is to be one”? Well there’s more than one way you can be a friend to someone and you’re probably not making the most of all your opportunities here. I’m not saying you should try to cover all the bases. It’s unlikely any one person could really fulfill all the eight roles to best effect. Instead, I’m using this as a checklist to reflect on:\nthe friendship roles I’m good at, the roles I’m bad at, and the roles I’d like to focus more on. I’m also using this as a way of being more reflective about what my various friends actually need from me. For example, I tend to do a lot of ‘mind-opening’, but actually, this may not always be very useful. If I\u0026rsquo;m honest, it might well just be annoying.\n“What do you need right now?” might be a good phrase to practice!\nEight ways to be a friend The Builder The Champion The Collaborator The Companion The Connector The Energizer The Mind Opener The Navigator Well, Tom Rath’s 2006 book, Vital Friends.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-07 13:00:00 +1100", "date": "1:00 p.m. on Nov 7, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/07/in-eight-different.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F07%2Fin-eight-different.html" }, { "id": 490, "type": "post", "title": "How to make the most of surprising yourself ", "text": "Your collection of linked notes, your Zettelkasten, isn\u0026rsquo;t a \u0026lsquo;second brain\u0026rsquo;, as though it were separate from your first, actual brain. Rather it is part of your extended mind, which your brain creates constantly by co-opting its wider environment into its own processing activity. Brain and environment together create mind. In the case of the Zettelkasten it\u0026rsquo;s a very deliberate extension of the brain, with a few simple but powerful generative rules.\nOne of the interesting features of this deliberately extended cognitive tool is its ability to present you with surprises. Reading through old notes, for example, you may be surprised that you ever wrote this. And re-reading your work in the light of new information, you may have new flashes of inspiration or see new connections that weren\u0026rsquo;t previously visible. Or perhaps the juxtaposition of two seemingly unrelated notes will prompt you to create a third, which contains an entirely new idea.\nIn this sense, your notes become a kind of conversation partner, reminding you of what you once thought, and even challenging you to go further. It\u0026rsquo;s a living thinking environment, an ever-evolving \u0026lsquo;connectome\u0026rsquo;, which sometimes appears to have a life of its own.\nWhy not surprise yourself? Philosopher Andy Clark is quite well known for claiming that the human mind extends beyond the brain, and that \u0026ldquo;human brains spawn and maintain extended human minds\u0026rdquo;.\nIn a podcast interview with Sean Carroll, he recommends artificially curating environments in which we can surprise ourselves. This temporary increase in uncertainty, he claims, reduces prediction error in the long term.\n\u0026ldquo;it looks as if very often, the correct move for a prediction-driven system is to temporarily increase its own uncertainty so as to do a better job over the long time scale of minimizing prediction errors, and that looks like the value of surprise, actually, and that we will\u0026hellip; I think we artificially curate environments in which we can surprise ourselves. I think, actually, this is maybe what art and science is to some extent, at least, we\u0026rsquo;re curating environments in which we can harvest the kind of surprises that improve our generative models, our understandings of the world in ways that enable us to be less surprised about certain things in future.\u0026rdquo;\nClark refers to the work of Karin Kukkonen, a literary scholar who has applied the idea of predictive processing to literature. This reminded me of Steven Johnson\u0026rsquo;s suggestion in his book, Farsighted that a good novel is a decision-making simulation. He extolls the sophisticated decision-making conundrums of the characters in George Eliot\u0026rsquo;s Middlemarch, over the simpler black-and-white decisions of Charles Dickens\u0026rsquo; characters.\nSo perhaps the surprise function of the Zettelkasten is more useful than at first appears. It isn\u0026rsquo;t merely an aid to memory, or a handy conversation partner, or a writing prompt. On Clark\u0026rsquo;s account, it may also enable precisely the kind of surprises we need and can learn from in order to understand the world better.\nOf course, we constantly encounter surprises in everyday life, and sometimes learn from them too. But viewed through the \u0026lsquo;predictive, extended mind\u0026rsquo; lens, the Zettelkasten presents a precise, controlled and deliberate laboratory for cultivating such a learning process.\nI wonder how your notes have surprised you. Please let me know.\nSome resources Andy Clark on the Extended and Predictive Mind - [Sean Carroll\u0026rsquo;s Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas] (https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/04/27/235-andy-clark-on-the-extended-and-predictive-mind/)\nClark, Andy. 2022. Extending the Predictive Mind, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, DOI: 10.1080/00048402.2022.2122523\nJohnson, Steven. 2018. Farsighted : How We Make the Decisions That Matter the Most. New York: Riverhead Books an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.\nKukkonen, Karin. 2020. Probability Designs: Literature and Predictive Processing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780190050962\nSee also A network of notes is a rhizome not a tree\nHow to connect your notes to make them more effective\nThe mastery of knowledge is an illusion\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-07 08:28:39 +1100", "date": "8:28 p.m. on Nov 7, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/07/how-to-make.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F07%2Fhow-to-make.html" }, { "id": 491, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: The Circle of the Way by Barbara O\u0026rsquo;Brien 📚 Plenty of wide-ranging information in this survey of Zen Buddhism, with an international perspective. I discovered plenty I didn’t know, but now want to read more about the impact of modernity on Zen, which could only really be touched on in a book with such a wide historical sweep as this one. This will be on my list: McMahan, David L., The Making of Buddhist Modernism (New York, 2009; online edn, Oxford Academic, 1 Jan. 2009), doi.org/10.1093/a\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-05 22:46:56 +1100", "date": "10:46 p.m. on Nov 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/05/224656.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F05%2F224656.html" }, { "id": 492, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: The Real Work by Adam Gopnik 📚A great section on the art of magic and the significance of S.W. Erdnase’s book, The Expert at the Card Table. Apparently, when magicians want to learn a new trick from the top expert, they ask, “Who has the real work?” It’s a useful question, and not just for magic tricks. Gopnik, long a masterly writer, tries his hand at a series of *new * skills, including driving, making bread, dancing, and alarmingly, urinating in public. That last one does make sense, but you have to read the book to find out why. I also found out that when a magician catches a bullet, it’s real. Sometimes, the trick is that you have to catch the bullet.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve written more about this book: What is the real work of serendipity?\nIt strikes me that one significant feature of mastery is to be able to spot a lucky opportunity and then make something of it. The expert can’t help but see it. Everyone else would miss this chance moment, or else be unable to execute the essential implementation. ", "dateiso": "2023-11-05 22:41:06 +1100", "date": "10:41 p.m. on Nov 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/05/finished-reading-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F05%2Ffinished-reading-the.html" }, { "id": 493, "type": "post", "title": "Learning to make notes like Leonardo", "text": " Leonardo wrote on loose sheets of paper The Codex Arundel, a notebook of Leonardo Da Vinci, is not what it first appears. It isn\u0026rsquo;t a notebook that Leonardo used. For the man himself it wasn\u0026rsquo;t a notebook at all. It\u0026rsquo;s a collection of individual notes, bound for convenience only after his death. The British Library webpage observes:\n\u0026ldquo;The structure of the notebook reveals that it was not originally a bound volume. It was put together after Leonardo\u0026rsquo;s death from loose papers of various types and sizes, some indicating Leonardo\u0026rsquo;s habit of carrying smaller bundles of notes to document observations outdoors.\u0026rdquo;\nHe wasn’t the first to adopt this habit. Beginning in the Fourteenth century it had become something of a fashion for Italians to create their own ’zibaldone’, a hodgepodge of notes on diverse subjects. Leonardo wrote of his notes:\n\u0026ldquo;This is to be a collection without order, drawn from many papers, which I have copied here, hoping to arrange them later each in its place, according to the subjects of which they treat.\u0026rdquo;\nThe same is true of the Forster Codices, in the care of the Victoria and Albert Museum: they weren’t originally codices (books), but unbound notes.\n\u0026ldquo;Leonardo probably worked on loose sheets of paper (bought at one of Milan\u0026rsquo;s many stationers\u0026rsquo; shops), which he carried about with him to record his observations. His papers were at some stage folded into booklets and later bound, possibly under the ownership of the Spanish sculptor Pompeo Leoni (1533 – 1608).\u0026rdquo; (https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/leonardo-da-vincis-notebooks)\nMany of the notes in the Codex Arundel were written in 1508, but they span most of Leonardo\u0026rsquo;s career.\nThe notes cover a very wide range as well as references to many different subjects. They include sketches of a mechanical organ and of an underwater breathing apparatus, There are notes and diagrams on mechanics, lists of proverbs and riddles, sketches on bird-flight, a household inventory, notes on optics and mirrors for producing heat, calculations on balances and weights, a plan for an urban quarter, and for a complete city, notes on the acoustics of drums and wind instruments, notes on river dynamics and on geometry, and a sketch of a cockleshell.\nLeonardo Da Vinci - master of making notes Here\u0026rsquo;s the German scholar Hektor Haarkötter, writing about the note-making expertise of Leonardo Da Vinci:\n\u0026ldquo;Leonardo is the early master of the note [Nottizettel]. Today da Vinci is famous as an artist and painter, inventor and designer. However, he was not very productive as a public artist. Only about fifteen paintings that can be proven to have been created by him have survived, some of them in very poor condition or never completed. Leonardo da Vinci was really productive, however, in the privacy of his writing. He left behind over 10,000 sheets, drafts, scraps, snippets, sketches, papers, pages and slips of paper. (Many have been transcribed in Theodor LĂŒcke, Leonardo da Vinci. TagebĂŒcher und Aufzeichnungen. Leipzig, Paul List Verlag, 1953)\nAnd this is only the part of his many records that have come down to us. Through his papers we know of other ledgers, notebooks, and codices, but they have disappeared, been scattered, torn apart, sold off, or in one way or another through the course of time, simply destroyed. How large the number of those records is of which we have no, well, note, is incalculable.\nAlready in Leonardo\u0026rsquo;s work all the characteristics of the note [Nottizettel] as a private medium are visible. He wrote in a code so that unauthorized eyes could not have read his notes. The universality of writing materials and forms of writing corresponded the universality of the subjects. From word lists and shopping wishes to technical drawings and philosophical notes to obscene and pornographic sketches. None of them was intended for the public, and the Renaissance master never published a book. He would hardly have been able to do so, he admitted to himself in his notebooks, which today are traded at astronomical prices at auctions, but which themselves lost an overview of his records.\nWhat remains?\nThe amazing thing about the inconspicuous medium of notes is that from a hodgepodge of notes in the writing practice of writers and scientists, a completed book can emerge in the end. However we must not forget that, as a rule, only a small part of the notes, as a preliminary stage, finally ends up in the work. The larger part of such paralipomena [supplementary material, literally \u0026rsquo;things omitted\u0026rsquo;] remains, is never used, is hardly ever read again, and is often discarded and thrown away. Or the notes end up in the archives, where they are preserved as cryptic manuscripts, in worm-eaten folders or as messy single sheets, where they can enjoy the security of all basement magazines, never again to be viewed by human eyes. Notes are communicants after all without communicating. The path to the finished book is paved with media corpses.\u0026rdquo;\nSource: Hektor Haarkötter, «Ich notiere, also bin ich» Notizen als Medien des Denkens Passim 28 (2021) Bulletin des Schweizerischen Literaturarchivs, p.4-5. Available at: \u0026lt;www.nb.admin.ch/snl/de/ho\u0026hellip;\u0026gt; Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator and a bit of imagination.\nWhat can we learn from Leonardo\u0026rsquo;s approach to making notes? Write everything down Make notes. you never know when you\u0026rsquo;ll invent a diving mechanism, or a flying machine, or who knows what else? Toby Lester, author of Da Vinci\u0026rsquo;s Ghost, claims, \u0026ldquo;Whenever something caught his eye he would compulsively open a small notebook that he wore hanging from his belt and begin sketching furiously, with almost mind-boggling virtuosity. He loved his tiny sketchbook and recommended that all serious artists carry one.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;These things should not be rubbed out,\u0026rdquo; wrote Leonardo, \u0026ldquo;but preserved with great care, for the forms and positions of objects are so infinite that the memory is incapable of retaining them\u0026rdquo;. Leonardo plainly wrote (and drew) in order to think - and you can too.\nUse your memory too Don\u0026rsquo;t expect your note system to remember things for you. There is a view that writing helps you to remember. But Hektor Haarkötter calls this \u0026lsquo;a myth of the media\u0026rsquo;. \u0026ldquo;In fact,\u0026rdquo; he says, \u0026ldquo;there is hardly a more effective way to erase a thought from memory than to write it down. The problem of remembering is not solved by taking notes, but only delegated, namely from \u0026ldquo;What did I want to remember?\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;Where did I write it down?\u0026rdquo; And the larger the volume of notes, the smaller the probability of finding a specific note again.\u0026rdquo; So making a note is primarily the act of thinking itself, not a primarily a way to remember what you thought.\nDo what works for you Loose leaf pages worked for Leonardo, and he wrote thousands of them. He had a system that enabled him both to think and to capture his thoughts. Don\u0026rsquo;t wait for the ideal system to appear, when an OK one will do. And don\u0026rsquo;t over-complicate things. He didn\u0026rsquo;t have a Moleskine notebook, or Obsidian software. He just wrote.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t put off the organisation for another time Don\u0026rsquo;t put it off, because that day may never come.\nLeonardo intended \u0026ldquo;to arrange them later each in its place, according to the subjects of which they treat\u0026rdquo;, but as far as we can tell, he never did. This is possibly a reference to the then popular practice of arranging notes in \u0026rsquo;loci communis\u0026rsquo;, or commonplaces - so called because there were several different standard systems of thematic arrangement by category. He didn\u0026rsquo;t get round to it. And later editors didn\u0026rsquo;t have much idea of what order to put his notes after he was gone. Who knows what he might have finished if he\u0026rsquo;d been a bit more organised at the outset. Don\u0026rsquo;t put off the organisation of your notes, because it will probably never happen.\nPublish, by any means necessary Notoriously, Leonardo hardly finished anything. Some of this, such as the unfinished painting now known as Mona Lisa, may have been deliberate. But on his death, Leonardo left his notes to his faithful pupil Francesco Melzi, who then left them to his son. The son didn\u0026rsquo;t value them at all and abandoned them to molder in an attic, so it\u0026rsquo;s amazing any of these now priceless notes survived at all. In fact the reason Leonardo is best known as an artist, which was not his main occupation (in 1482 he put at the very bottom of his resume for the Duke of Milan, \u0026ldquo;also I can do in painting whatever may be done\u0026rdquo;), is that the notes were effectively lost for generations and only really came to attention in later centuries. Don\u0026rsquo;t put off the publishing of your knowledge. Your pupils\u0026rsquo; children might not follow your instructions any more than Leonardo\u0026rsquo;s did. Share what you know with others. Don\u0026rsquo;t expect it to outlive you. Seize the day. You might think you\u0026rsquo;re no Leonardo. That\u0026rsquo;s right. You\u0026rsquo;re not. You are you, and that\u0026rsquo;s exactly what the world needs.\nFurthermore, it\u0026rsquo;s so much easier to publish these days than it was at the time of Leonardo. There\u0026rsquo;s hardly any excuse not to press \u0026lsquo;send\u0026rsquo;.\nThere might just be a better system I hesitate to try to improve on arguably the greatest genius of all time, but with the greatest presumption, here goes. Leonardo himself called his notes \u0026lsquo;a collection without order\u0026rsquo;, and perhaps a modicum of order might heave helped him. The system he never got around to using was that of \u0026lsquo;commonplaces\u0026rsquo;, extremely widely used during the Renaissance and for centuries after. The idea was that you\u0026rsquo;d catalogue your notes according to a more-or-less standard set of locations (i.e. common places). There are a few problems here.\nFirst, it\u0026rsquo;s hard and uninteresting work to catalogue all your thoughts into predetermined folders like this. Perhaps that\u0026rsquo;s why Leonardo didn\u0026rsquo;t do it. Maybe it was just not important enough.\nSecond, even if you do want to file your notes, it\u0026rsquo;s not universally agreed what the folder names should be. Through the ages there have been numerous attempts to design a standard set of commonplaces, and none of them have stuck. One such is the Dewey Decimal System, often used for cataloguing library subjects. Not even all the libraries follow this particular system. Wikipedia has a list of \u0026lsquo;main topic classifications\u0026rsquo;, too. Though you might not know this, you probably haven\u0026rsquo;t suffered from your ignorance on this matter. To the ordinary Wikipedia user, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t really seem to make much difference.\nThird, keeping your ideas in the categories within which they were formed tends to limit innovation and re-combination. For example, a folder of notes labelled \u0026lsquo;psychology\u0026rsquo; doesn\u0026rsquo;t really tell you much and it keeps your psychology ideas artificially separated from your thoughts on art, or sport, or jokes. In fact, any categories tend to damp down the creative spark. Perhaps that\u0026rsquo;s why Leonardo\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;collection without order\u0026rsquo; worked for him.\nMore resources The Codex Arundel is at the British Library and online.\nDavid Kadavy has a great podcast episode about Leonardo: Leonardo Mind, Raphael World – Love Your Work, Episode 290 Ironically, Kadavy sees Leonardo as \u0026rsquo;the greatest procrastinator who ever lived\u0026rsquo;. It\u0026rsquo;s ironic because, well, it\u0026rsquo;s Leonardo.\nHektor Haarkötter\u0026rsquo;s book on notemaking includes more on Leonardo as well as a host of other characters, but Notizzettel is currently only published in German.\nAnd if you\u0026rsquo;ve read this far, you\u0026rsquo;ll love Gillian Hess\u0026rsquo;s Substack blog, Noted. She has already written plenty about Leonardo, which you can read by subscribing.\nMeanwhile, on this site, I\u0026rsquo;ve also written about Aby Warburg\u0026rsquo;s compulsion to make notes, and about Ted Nelson\u0026rsquo;s evolutionary file list, and about the writing process of Henry Thoreau - and probably lots more about Zettelkasten I\u0026rsquo;ve forgotten about.\n—\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now.\nAnd if you found this article interesting you might like to sign up to the Writing Slowly weekly email digest. You’ll receive all the week’s posts in that handy email format you know and love.\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-05 19:40:46 +1100", "date": "7:40 p.m. on Nov 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/05/learning-to-make.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F05%2Flearning-to-make.html" }, { "id": 494, "type": "post", "title": "Discovering the music of Kyle Shepherd", "text": " đŸŽ” As part of the Sydney Opera House 50th Birthday celebrations there was a staging of South African artist/director William Kentridge\u0026rsquo;s amazing piece, Waiting for the Sibyl.\nCostume, dance, song, piano, animation, shadow-play. Is it actually an opera? Well I suppose you have to call it something, even though like much of Kentridge\u0026rsquo;s work it feels sui generis.\nThere is layer upon layer of meaning and reference, exploring the uncertainty of fate in the face of certain mortality , from classical Greek mythology, to Calder\u0026rsquo;s mobiles, to a decidedly unstable art gallery, to Kentridge\u0026rsquo;s doppelganger, to ersatz South African gold mining, to Dante, to Dada, to the banality and profundity of communication. Wonderful singing in multiple languages led by Nhlanhla Mahlangu. Youtube has a preview of the piece from when it was first performed four years ago in Rome. Now though there\u0026rsquo;s also a prelude, a companion piece entitled The Moment Has Gone.\nBoth these works, I believe, were co-written and performed by the jazz pianist Kyle Shepherd. Well worth a listen to Kyle\u0026rsquo;s oevre of jazz and film-score. And he reveals his creative process in a fascinating two-part talk at Johannesburg\u0026rsquo;s Centre for the Less Good Idea. Now here\u0026rsquo;s a rabbit hole I won\u0026rsquo;t be escaping from for a while.\nImage source: William Kentridge, Undo, Unsay (2012). Strauss\u0026amp;Co #music #SydneyOperaHouse\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-05 13:20:59 +1100", "date": "1:20 p.m. on Nov 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/05/discovering-the-music.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F05%2Fdiscovering-the-music.html" }, { "id": 495, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 📚Would recommend if you or your culture appreciates video games. It’s also for those who believe the diverse worlds of work deserve a more prominent role in fiction. Working life isn’t just cops and doctors (and spaceship pilots). It’s also game designers. Oh, and of course it’s a love story, a love-of-games love story. I got teary three times reading this, but who’s counting?\n", "dateiso": "2023-11-04 11:54:13 +1100", "date": "11:54 p.m. on Nov 4, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/11/04/finished-reading-tomorrow.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F11%2F04%2Ffinished-reading-tomorrow.html" }, { "id": 496, "type": "post", "title": "Can you keep all your notes in email?", "text": "Zsolt suggests using email as a kind of append-only note storage system. Edit: Zsolt is actually referring to Raveen Kumar\u0026rsquo;s post on append-only logs\nThis seems like a good idea, especially since many people already have an archive of old emails to search through if they like.\nMy only hesitation is the horrible mess that is html email. If I could use a plain text format like in the good old days, I\u0026rsquo;d have greater confidence that this system would last.\nZsolt quotes Raveen\u0026rsquo;s opinion that the standard 20mb limit for email attachments is plenty big enough. I\u0026rsquo;d agree except for the arrival of video, which often requires pretty large files. Otherwise, yes, I don\u0026rsquo;t usually write notes to myself bigger than the size of an email attachment.\nI wonder if anyone is actually doing this?\nUpdated to include the original source.\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-30 17:24:54 +1100", "date": "5:24 p.m. on Oct 30, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/30/can-you-keep.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F30%2Fcan-you-keep.html" }, { "id": 497, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· đŸŽ¶ Can’t let the day go by without marking that Sydney Opera House opened exactly 50 years ago today, 20th October, 1973. Ironically, Sydney’s live music scene is struggling after COVID shutdowns and cost-of-living pressures. More music for another fifty years!\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-20 19:56:30 +1100", "date": "7:56 p.m. on Oct 20, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/20/cant-let-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F20%2Fcant-let-the.html" }, { "id": 498, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Ominous weather above the Parramatta River. What does the morning have in store?\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-19 08:53:05 +1100", "date": "8:53 p.m. on Oct 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/19/ominous-weather-above.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F19%2Fominous-weather-above.html" }, { "id": 499, "type": "post", "title": "If we're not just making content, what are we making?", "text": "My little struggle with editing text directly in Wordpress has highlighted a distaste for the term \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo;, as in \u0026lsquo;content block\u0026rsquo;, and \u0026lsquo;content provider\u0026rsquo;. Others have also questioned this terminology. Is all this effort really just content?\nBut what other collective noun is there? Online platforms are in the container industry. They provide containers for other peoples\u0026rsquo; stuff. YouTube , TikTok, Instagram, Wordpress, Substack, Spotify, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, The New York Times. They\u0026rsquo;re all containers. And what do you call the contents of a container, if not \u0026lsquo;content\u0026rsquo;?\nThe rise of neoliberal economic ideology turned everyone into a \u0026lsquo;customer\u0026rsquo;. It eroded all other forms and structures of personhood. It became hard to argue that you were more that just a customer, because the extra something had already been devalued.\nNow, the ideology of the container economy is turning everyone into content creators, with a similar flattening impact.\nSo what\u0026rsquo;s the creative alternative?\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-17 08:32:20 +1100", "date": "8:32 p.m. on Oct 17, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/17/if-were-not.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F17%2Fif-were-not.html" }, { "id": 500, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Finished reading: Farsighted by Steven Johnson 📚\nWrote 17 notes in 2 hours, and enjoyed doing it by hand. Realised this book is as much about novels - especially Middlemarch - as it is about making decisions. And that a good novel is a decision-making simulator. #Zettelkasten #Notemaking\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-15 23:12:46 +1100", "date": "11:12 p.m. on Oct 15, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/15/finished-reading-farsighted.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F15%2Ffinished-reading-farsighted.html" }, { "id": 501, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Updating a Wordpress site this weekend felt like a chore. I really wanted to enjoy it, but the writing interface, with its content blocks, seemed to block the flow. Why is it like this? Feels like the priority is machine convenience, not the human experience. Opinions, anyone?\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-15 22:49:41 +1100", "date": "10:49 p.m. on Oct 15, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/15/updating-a-wordpress.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F15%2Fupdating-a-wordpress.html" }, { "id": 502, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Yet more good vibes in Sydney: Glebe Point Road closed to traffic means it\u0026rsquo;s open for a weekend street party! Watch and learn, city authorities đŸŽ‰đŸ“·\n#ReclaimTheStreets #SafeStreets #BetterStreets #Sydney\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-14 19:41:08 +1100", "date": "7:41 p.m. on Oct 14, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/14/yet-more-good.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F14%2Fyet-more-good.html" }, { "id": 503, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Good things in Sydney, continued\u0026hellip; the brand new accessible entrance to Redfern Station. Bollards in the foreground show Aboriginal art, recognising Redfern\u0026rsquo;s vital Indigenous culture. This needs to be more than a token move, but embedded in every Australian place. (Also\u0026hellip; lifts!)\n#Sydney\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-14 19:24:57 +1100", "date": "7:24 p.m. on Oct 14, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/14/good-things-in.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F14%2Fgood-things-in.html" }, { "id": 504, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Linda Burney, Minister for Indigenous Australians, at our local polling centre this morning for the #VoiceToParliament referendum. I had a few good conversations with people who hadn’t made up their mind. Whatever the result, Australia needs better ways forward to #CloseTheGap #AusPol\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-14 12:13:30 +1100", "date": "12:13 p.m. on Oct 14, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/14/linda-burney-minister.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F14%2Flinda-burney-minister.html" }, { "id": 505, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " When I was a child, my mother loved nothing better than to visit \u0026lsquo;Bronte country \u0026lsquo;, or \u0026lsquo;Hardy\u0026rsquo;s Wessex\u0026rsquo;, or Beatrix Potter\u0026rsquo;s, Ruskin\u0026rsquo;s and Wordsworth\u0026rsquo;s houses in the Lake District.\nThis made a deep impression.\nI still think of the world in this way: there are literary places, with gaps in between. I wonder if anyone else shares this kind of personal geography.\nI\u0026rsquo;m remembering this because I finished reading: Why Women Read Fiction by Helen Taylor. 📚 This surveys the field from many angles.\nI particularly liked the author\u0026rsquo;s take on literary festivals. There could even have been more on literary pilgrimages.\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-10 07:38:46 +1100", "date": "7:38 p.m. on Oct 10, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/10/when-i-was.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F10%2Fwhen-i-was.html" }, { "id": 506, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The only problem with đŸ“·đŸŽ‰ completing the September 2023 micro.blog photoblog challenge - 30 days of posting photos - is that by the end I kind of felt like I needed a short rest. But with normal service now resuming, I\u0026rsquo;m writing slowly again!\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-08 21:52:31 +1100", "date": "9:52 p.m. on Oct 8, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/08/the-only-problem.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F08%2Fthe-only-problem.html" }, { "id": 507, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Currently reading: Why Women Read Fiction by Helen Taylor 📚 Bought this at the National Library bookshop. Reading it sitting in the shade of an oak tree, on the lawns by the lake. A cokatoo visits and a magpie swoops proprietarily. Spring really suits Canberra.\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-08 13:38:53 +1100", "date": "1:38 p.m. on Oct 8, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/08/currently-reading-why.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F08%2Fcurrently-reading-why.html" }, { "id": 508, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·đŸŽ‰ Celebrating the completion of the September 2023 micro.blog photoblog challenge. 30 days of posting photos. I\u0026rsquo;ve really enjoyed seeing how everyone else interpreted the prompts.\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-01 07:20:27 +1100", "date": "7:20 p.m. on Oct 1, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/10/01/celebrating-the-completion.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F10%2F01%2Fcelebrating-the-completion.html" }, { "id": 509, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 30: treasure #mbsept\nThe final day of the photoblog challenge, and a treasured memory of my son\u0026rsquo;s seventh birthday.\n", "dateiso": "2023-10-01 00:01:01 +1100", "date": "12:01 p.m. on Oct 1, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/30/day-treasure-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F30%2Fday-treasure-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 510, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·Day 29: Contrast #mbsept\nThe Glowworm Tunnel in the Wolgan Valley, NSW. I couldn’t see the glow worms, then realised I was still wearing my sun glasses 👓\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-29 13:42:45 +1100", "date": "1:42 p.m. on Sep 29, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/29/day-contrast-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F29%2Fday-contrast-the.html" }, { "id": 511, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 28: workout (@rom) #mbsept\nIt might just work out, but it’ll certainly be a workout.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-28 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 28, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/28/day-workout-rom.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F28%2Fday-workout-rom.html" }, { "id": 512, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 27: embrace (Matt, aka @mroutley) #mbsept\nThis pub gets a big tick! (It’s obviously the only pub in Bodalla).\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-27 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 27, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/27/day-embrace-matt.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F27%2Fday-embrace-matt.html" }, { "id": 513, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 26: beverage (@Annie) #mbsept\nArt at The National Gallery of Victoria: 100 glasses (1991-92).\nglassblower: Michael Hook\nengraver: Perry Fletcher.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-26 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/26/day-beverage-annie.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F26%2Fday-beverage-annie.html" }, { "id": 514, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 25: flare (Matthew, aka @matt17r) #mbsept\nSydney\u0026rsquo;s Darling Harbour may feel like an over-developed tourist trap, but I must admit, sometimes it really comes good.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-25 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 25, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/25/day-flare-matthew.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F25%2Fday-flare-matthew.html" }, { "id": 515, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 24: belt (George, aka @allaboutgeorge) #mbsept\nWhen we visited CERES in Melbourne, we also walked past this velodrome. đŸšČ A bike path that goes on forever!\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-24 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 24, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/24/day-belt-george.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F24%2Fday-belt-george.html" }, { "id": 516, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 23: a day in the life #mbsept\nDeeply into our residency in Portland NSW. Please come to the open rehearsal on 1 October. And you can even support this project.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-23 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 23, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/23/day-a-day.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F23%2Fday-a-day.html" }, { "id": 517, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 22: road (Dan, aka @jomalo) #mbsept\nHairpin bends at Kamay National Park, Sydney\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-22 23:48:16 +1100", "date": "11:48 p.m. on Sep 22, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/21/day-road-dan.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F21%2Fday-road-dan.html" }, { "id": 518, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·Day 21: fall #mbsept\nCoat-hanger season might be my favourite time of year.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-21 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 21, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/21/day-fall-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F21%2Fday-fall-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 519, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·Day 20: disruption #mbsept\nSometimes you have to protest to stop the disruption.\n\u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s dream new blueprints for the world we want to live in.\u0026rdquo; 💬\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-20 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 20, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/20/day-disruption-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F20%2Fday-disruption-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 520, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 19: edge #mbsept\nClear edges at Adelaide\u0026rsquo;s Himeji Garden.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-19 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/19/day-edge-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F19%2Fday-edge-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 521, "type": "post", "title": "Is domain-hosting a viable social media business model?", "text": "Since July 2023 BlueSky has apparently learned from Manton Reece and micro.blog that you can run a sustainable and open social media network with a domain-hosting business model.\nAlmost learned. There\u0026rsquo;s a way to go yet, with a big missing owning your content piece.\nMeanwhile, micro.blog cross-posts automatically to BlueSky, so the #Interverse1 is gradually becoming a reality. 😍\n\u0026ldquo;You can automatically cross-post your microblog posts to Medium, Mastodon, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Flickr, Bluesky, Nostr, and Pixelfed.\u0026rdquo; Source\nI\u0026rsquo;m not using BlueSky myself. I really loved Paul Frazee\u0026rsquo;s work on BeakerBrowser, and it\u0026rsquo;s great he\u0026rsquo;s working on BlueSky. That\u0026rsquo;s very nearly enough to sign me up, but the venture capital vibe still puts me right off. I mean, ultimately it\u0026rsquo;s all just for the venture fund returns isn\u0026rsquo;t it?\nI\u0026rsquo;m very happy just owning my content, and sharing it with you myself, with a little help from micro.blog and Mastodon. So thanks for reading, wherever you read.\nan emerging network of federated networks, all interoperable, thereby marginalising the walled garden silos of monopolistic data-extracting megacorps. HT: Paulo Amoroso\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-18 21:59:05 +1100", "date": "9:59 p.m. on Sep 18, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/18/is-domainhosting-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F18%2Fis-domainhosting-a.html" }, { "id": 522, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 18: fabric #mbsept\nFab 1970s wallpaper at The Foundations, Portland NSW.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-18 19:07:16 +1100", "date": "7:07 p.m. on Sep 18, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/18/day-fabric-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F18%2Fday-fabric-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 523, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 17: \u0026ldquo;intense\u0026rdquo; #mbsept\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-17 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 17, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/17/day-intense-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F17%2Fday-intense-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 524, "type": "post", "title": "Can you make your autobiography out of hashtags?", "text": " Image credit[^1] The hashtags of a cyberneticist In 1963 Ross Ashby, the British cyberneticist and inventor of the automatic homeostat, engraved a tiny schnapps glass with a list of things his wife liked. He called this gift A Cup of Happiness from Ross to Rosebud.\nWhen I read the tiny spiral writing engraved on that glass it seemed like a very personal version of the hashtags by which, sixty years later, people on Mastodon or other social networking sites introduce themselves. But they are also a rather touching distillation of the couple’s life together.\nSince reading this, I\u0026rsquo;ve been over-thinking what hashtags I might use for this purpose, and Ross Ashby\u0026rsquo;s attempt has inspired me. Not that my hashtags would be anything like these, but their bourgeois English everyday intimacy does have a certain kind of charm. As a historical document the list fairly oozes \u0026lsquo;mid-century anti-modern\u0026rsquo;! Here are the items, in full:\nJill ~ Pottery ~ Sally ~ TR2 ~ Ruth ~ Arranging flowers ~ Preserved ginger ~ ITMA ~ Shaffers ~ Steven ~ Dinard ~ Tennis ~ Mark ~ May Hill ~ John ~ Merrow Down ~ Richard ~ Lobster ~ Bread making ~ Michael ~ Clive Brook ~ Bear Lake ~ Chas. B Cochran ~ Auctions ~ Wood fires ~ Stratford ~ Terry’s ~ Gardening ~ Cookham ~ Tiddles ~ Repertory ~ Swimming ~ Bingen ~ Green Ridges ~ Sand castles ~ Ewhurst ~ Nov. 1926 ~ Cheltenham ~ Monday Night at Eight ~ Ouray ~ Delphiniums ~ Windon House ~ North Devon ~ Eau de Cologne ~ Dressmaking ~ Rhossilli ~ Tea ~ Palo Alto ~ Hot baths ~ Take it from here ~ Earrings ~ Cornwall ~ Geraniums ~ Painswick ~ Bear Grass ~ Oeufs Mournay ~ Furs ~ Vanilla slice ~ CrĂšme de Menthe ~ Gt. Smith Street. Source\nThere are several different ways of reading this list. You can highlight interests:\nPottery, arranging flowers, tennis, bread making, gardening, swimming\nOr you can name favourite places and houses:\nShaffers, Dinard, May Hill, Merrow Down, Bear Lake, Stratford, Cookham, Bingham, Ewhurst, Cheltenham, Ouray, North Devon, Rhossilli, Palo Alto, Cornwall, Painswick, Terry\u0026rsquo;s, Green Ridges (the house they built)\nYou can remember favourite people:\nJill, Sally, Ruth, Steven, Mark, John, Richard, Michael,\nOr shows:\nITMA, Monday Night at Eight, Take it from Here, Chas. B Cochran (impressario of Cole Porter and Noel Coward musicals)\nOr favourite foods:\nPreserved ginger, lobster, tea, oeufs mornay, vanilla slice, creme de menthe\nOr beloved objects:\nTR2 (the Ashbys\u0026rsquo; sports car), wood fires, sand castles, delphiniums, eau de cologne, hot baths, earrings, geraniums, bear grass, furs\nOr special moments:\nNov. 1926, Gt Smith Street (the place in central London where the couple first met)\nAccording to the Ross Ashby information site, Tiddles was their cat. The rest we have to work out for ourselves.\nWhat do your own hashtags say about you? If you think about your own list of hashtags, I wonder which personal ones you left out, since the Internet doesn\u0026rsquo;t need to know everything about us (read: has already categorised us to the minutest detail).\nFor example, web developer Jeremy Keith has a \u0026lsquo;bedroll\u0026rsquo; list on his website of people who have visited his house in Brighton. Who else does this?! Hashtags may be quite generic, but in combination they can tell a unique story.\nCybernetics revisited Clearly no mention of Ross Ashby can go without reference to cybernetics, which is seemingly back in fashion. As the AI revolution takes off there\u0026rsquo;s a renewed interest in revisiting the aims of the earlier cyberneticians, and to some extent their methods. A new School of Cybernetics has recently opened at the Australian National University (part-funded by Microsoft, Meta and others), with a public exhibition that took place until 2 December 2022. The school is led by Prof Genevieve Bell, a former vice president of Intel.\nThe claim is:\n\u0026ldquo;We focus on systems – rather than specific technologies, or disciplines—as the unit of analysis. Cybernetics offers a way of transcending boundaries, of thinking in systems and ensuring that humans, technology and the physical environment are in the frame as technology advances and transforms the world around us. It is a way to imagine humans steering technical systems safely through the world.\u0026rdquo;\nAnd there\u0026rsquo;s plenty more on what they\u0026rsquo;re calling \u0026lsquo;the new cybernetics\u0026rsquo;.\nI can\u0026rsquo;t help thinking: there\u0026rsquo;s a lot of politics in who gets to do the steering. The culture of Microsoft and Meta is powerfully to resist being steered, at every possible opportunity, law-suit by law-suit for eternity. Cyberneticist Stafford Beer\u0026rsquo;s support for the socialist Allende government of Chile is probably not a model they\u0026rsquo;re all that interested in. But if you are interested in what might have been, you could do worse than listen to Evgeny Morozov\u0026rsquo;s podcast, The Santiago Boys. I\u0026rsquo;ve found it fascinating.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-16 14:07:09 +1100", "date": "2:07 p.m. on Sep 16, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/14/can-you-make.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F14%2Fcan-you-make.html" }, { "id": 525, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 16: oof! #mbsept\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-16 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 16, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/16/day-oof-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F16%2Fday-oof-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 526, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 15: red #mbsept\nThe bottlebrush trees at the front of our house are just coming into bloom.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-15 09:56:50 +1100", "date": "9:56 p.m. on Sep 15, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/15/day-red-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F15%2Fday-red-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 527, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 14| statue #mbsept\nFood for thought.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-14 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 14, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/14/day-statue-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F14%2Fday-statue-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 528, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "As 9/11 is commemorated again it\u0026rsquo;s worth reflecting on why some people are wary of US foreign policy. This 9/11 is also the 50th anniversary of the Nixon/Kissinger coup in Chile.\nIf you think human rights is all \u0026rsquo;liberal crap\u0026rsquo;, as Nixon did, that right there is why we remain wary.\n“¡Nunca mĂĄs!” 💬\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-13 15:06:50 +1100", "date": "3:06 p.m. on Sep 13, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/13/as-is-commemorated.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F13%2Fas-is-commemorated.html" }, { "id": 529, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 13| glowing #mbsept\nSydney Airport at dusk.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-13 14:25:07 +1100", "date": "2:25 p.m. on Sep 13, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/13/day-glowing-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F13%2Fday-glowing-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 530, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 12 | panic #mbsept\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-12 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 12, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/12/day-panic-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F12%2Fday-panic-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 531, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 11 | retrospect #mbsept\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-11 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 11, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/11/day-retrospect-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F11%2Fday-retrospect-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 532, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 10 | cycle #mbsept\nI\u0026rsquo;d like to put an end to these signs. Bike paths should go on forever! đŸšČ\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-10 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 10, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/10/day-cycle-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F10%2Fday-cycle-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 533, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 9 | language #mbsept\nThere are more than 150 of these signs in Wales.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-09 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 9, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/09/day-language-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F09%2Fday-language-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 534, "type": "post", "title": "A note on the craft of note-writing", "text": "An fairly new article from Brazil caught my eye, on note-writing as an intellectual craft. It highlights the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s note-making process (he put his many linked notes in a Zettelkasten - an index box).\nCruz, Robson Nascimento da Cruz, and Junio Rezende. \u0026ldquo;Note-writing as an intellectual craft: Niklas Luhmann and academic writing as a process.\u0026rdquo; Pro-PosiçÔes 34 (2023).\n\u0026lt;doi.org/10.1590/1\u0026hellip;\u0026gt;\nhttps://www.scielo.br/j/pp/a/L7gmq6W7bvzgn984hSJ94\nAbstract: \"Despite numerous indications that academic writing is a means toward intellectual discovery and not just a representation of thought, in Brazil, it is seen more as a product of studies and subjects than an integral part of university education. This article presents note-taking, an apparently simple and supposedly archaic activity, as a way through which academic writing is eminently oriented towards constructing an authorial thought. To this end, we discuss recent findings in the historiography of writing that show note-taking as an essential practice in the development of modern intellectuality. We also present an emblematic case, in the 20th century, of the fruitful use of a note-taking system created by German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. Finally, we point out that the value of note-taking goes beyond mere historical curiosity, constituting an additional tool for a daily life in which satisfaction and a sense of intellectual development are at the center of academic life.\" https://www.scielo.br/j/pp/a/L7gmq6W7bvzgn984hSJ94qz/?lang=en ", "dateiso": "2023-09-09 09:00:00 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Sep 9, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/09/a-note-on.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F09%2Fa-note-on.html" }, { "id": 535, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 8 | yonder #mbsept\nA sign in the Art Gallery of South Australia.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-09 00:01:07 +1100", "date": "12:01 p.m. on Sep 9, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/08/day-yonder-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F08%2Fday-yonder-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 536, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 7 | panorama #mbsept\nCan\u0026rsquo;t believe it\u0026rsquo;s been a week already. Good memories of this beach in Wales.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-07 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 7, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/07/day-panorama-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F07%2Fday-panorama-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 537, "type": "post", "title": "If you live your life in chunks, what size should they be?", "text": "Life tends to be lived in chunks. Hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, years - these are familiar if slightly artificial concepts. But what\u0026rsquo;s the best-sized chunk of life to focus on? Some would advise living in the moment, by which they don\u0026rsquo;t really mean the 86,400 seconds that are available in a single day. They effectively mean no chunks at all (or infinite chunks, perhaps).\nReading an article on why you should divide your life into semesters reminded me that I\u0026rsquo;ve already come across this idea in the shape of the book The Twelve Week Year. I actually bought The Twelve Week Year for Writers, which I\u0026rsquo;ve skimmed but haven\u0026rsquo;t read properly yet. I\u0026rsquo;d like to have a structure to my year that\u0026rsquo;s more than just \u0026ldquo;get through it\u0026rdquo;. But I\u0026rsquo;m daunted by the thought of needing something concrete to show for my time spent on earth. What did you achieve in your chosen chunk of life? This question won\u0026rsquo;t be answered by heartbeats or breaths, by sunsets or swims. It would be OK maybe if it could be answered with dollars, but that\u0026rsquo;s not really acceptable either. It\u0026rsquo;s too soulless. The question, what did you achieve? needs actual achievements. It needs productivity of the sort I\u0026rsquo;m not very available for.\n@visakanv says \u0026ldquo;the meandering mind is a feature not a bug\u0026rdquo;. Why can\u0026rsquo;t I accept this? Perhaps because I keep putting myself in situations where the meandering mind is a bug not a feature?\nI can just about manage to write a short note like this. And then another one\u0026hellip; and so on. Austin Kleon calls this \u0026ldquo;Sisyphus mowing the lawn\u0026rdquo;. And indeed, I\u0026rsquo;m happy writing my short notes. If I can\u0026rsquo;t manage to organise my life into semesters, perhaps I can organise it into atomic notes - the shortest possible viable writing session.\nI saw on the zettelkasten.de forum that some members log their note-making productivity on a 10-day rolling tally. One person has written 16 notes in ten days, another has written 33.\nThey are inspired, as am I, by Sonke Ahrens\u0026rsquo; exhortation to work as is nothing counts other than writing (well, some of them are).\n\"If writing is the medium of research and studying nothing else than research, then there is no reason not to work as if nothing else counts than writing. Focusing on writing as if nothing else counts does not necessarily mean you should do everything else less well, but it certainly makes you do everything else differently. Even if you decide never to write a single line of a manuscript, you will improve your reading, thinking and other intellectual skills just by doing everything as if nothing counts other than writing.\" https://forum.zettelkasten.de/discussion/2657/share-with-us-what-is-happening-in-your-zk-this-week-august-29-2023 I\u0026rsquo;d like to know what kinds of time you find yourself dividing your life into. Do you mainly live in days, or mainly in hours, or perhaps weeks? Do you instead devote yourself to living in the moment? If so, which moment?\n#reading\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-07 09:00:00 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Sep 7, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/07/if-you-live.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F07%2Fif-you-live.html" }, { "id": 538, "type": "post", "title": "Yes, Esperanto is idealistic - not that there's anything wrong with that", "text": "\rThe child who learns Esperanto learns about a world without borders, where every country is home.\rhttps://uea.org/teko/praga_manifesto/pm_angla\rYes, Esperanto is idealistic\u0026hellip; The Prague Manifesto of the 1996 World Esperanto Congress promoted seven objectives, goals or principles of the Esperanto movement.\nIt positioned Esperanto as a movement for:\nglobal education effective language learning multilingualism equal treatment regardless of language - language rights language diversity; and human emancipation \u0026hellip;and what\u0026rsquo;s wrong with idealism? Even without knowing any Esperanto, I applaud these aims. They\u0026rsquo;re idealistic and so am I. But if the aim is human emancipation, is it possible that the language itself is just a MacGuffin? Not that there\u0026rsquo;s anything wrong with that, as they\u0026rsquo;d say on Seinfeld.\nOn the other hand, perhaps it is still possible to imagine not only a different language, but a different kind of language - one that by its very existence helps promote the kind of values outlined by the Prague Manifesto.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re an Esperanto speaker, or if you speak another \u0026lsquo;international auxillary language\u0026rsquo;, I\u0026rsquo;d like to know what you think.\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-06 23:43:25 +1100", "date": "11:43 p.m. on Sep 6, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/06/yes-esperanto-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F06%2Fyes-esperanto-is.html" }, { "id": 539, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Milkman by Anna Burns 📚\nDifferent from what I expected - very funny. It\u0026rsquo;s one of those novels that takes the whole book to reveal the how and why of the events of the first page. If you liked the TV series Derry Girls this will appeal, though it\u0026rsquo;s hardly escapism.\n#reading\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-06 19:44:11 +1100", "date": "7:44 p.m. on Sep 6, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/06/finished-reading-milkman.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F06%2Ffinished-reading-milkman.html" }, { "id": 540, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·Day 6 | Well #mbsept 🏡\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-06 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 6, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/06/day-well-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F06%2Fday-well-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 541, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Micro.blog photo challenge day 5 | forest\nread more). đŸ“·\n#mbsept\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-05 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/05/microblog-photo-challenge.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F05%2Fmicroblog-photo-challenge.html" }, { "id": 542, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· 🏡A couple of weeks ago we visited CERES urban farm, with its community garden, cafe, bike workshop, nursery, bookstore, playground, market, chooks and, yes, a food forest. Worth a visit if you\u0026rsquo;re ever in Melbourne.\n#gardening #permaculture\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-05 14:00:00 +1100", "date": "2:00 p.m. on Sep 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/05/a-couple-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F05%2Fa-couple-of.html" }, { "id": 543, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 4 | orange #mbsept\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-04 14:13:12 +1100", "date": "2:13 p.m. on Sep 4, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/04/the-prompt-for.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F04%2Fthe-prompt-for.html" }, { "id": 544, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "📾 Day 3 | Precious\nThree days into the Micro.blog photo challenge already! Time spent simply relaxing in the back garden is precious.\n#mbsept\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-03 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/03/day-precious-three.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F03%2Fday-precious-three.html" }, { "id": 545, "type": "post", "title": "How many books are you reading?", "text": "On Mastodon, Evan Prodromou asked \u0026ldquo;How many books are you reading?\u0026rdquo; and I was slightly shocked by the results.\nOnly 5% of 569 people said they were reading six or more books. I thought I was quite normal, but it turns out I\u0026rsquo;m not. Currently I\u0026rsquo;m officially reading seven books, but that doesn\u0026rsquo;t include the four books I\u0026rsquo;ve finished recently that never made it onto the \u0026lsquo;currently reading\u0026rsquo; list. Somehow, having a list of books I\u0026rsquo;m reading makes me want to read different books. I get through about 35-40 a year, which isn\u0026rsquo;t a terribly low number, so even though I get stuck on some books, seeming to take months to finish them, I still manage to read quite a few.\nPerhaps I\u0026rsquo;m just starting into my to-be-read pile too early. Maybe I could resist this.\nActually I don\u0026rsquo;t think I\u0026rsquo;m at all normal, but everything I do feels normal. And who am I kidding? I can\u0026rsquo;t resist starting new books. Can you?\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-02 15:14:37 +1100", "date": "3:14 p.m. on Sep 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/02/how-many-books.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F02%2Fhow-many-books.html" }, { "id": 546, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon. 📚\nLoving Austin Kleon\u0026rsquo;s blog, I ordered his trilogy from my local bookstore. Also finished Keep Going. Now just have Steal Like an Artist to read. Yes, I\u0026rsquo;m reading them in the wrong order LOL.\n#reading\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-02 14:36:15 +1100", "date": "2:36 p.m. on Sep 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/02/finished-reading-show.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F02%2Ffinished-reading-show.html" }, { "id": 547, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "📾 Day 2 | Buildup\nThe Micro.blog photo challenge continues! There was a lot of buildup to the blue moon supermoon earlier this week. My verdict? It was 30% more super than usual. But the moon\u0026rsquo;s always quite amazing, isn\u0026rsquo;t it?\n#mbsept\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-02 14:07:27 +1100", "date": "2:07 p.m. on Sep 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/02/day-buildup-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F02%2Fday-buildup-the.html" }, { "id": 548, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "📾 Day 1 | Abstract The Micro.blog photo challenge begins! Most of the paintings in our house are abstract. This is part of a tryptych by Sara Cunningham-Bell.\n#mbsept\n", "dateiso": "2023-09-01 23:56:03 +1100", "date": "11:56 p.m. on Sep 1, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/09/01/microblog-photo-challenge.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F09%2F01%2Fmicroblog-photo-challenge.html" }, { "id": 549, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Looking forward to the micro.blog photoblogging challenge, starting soon at a blog near you. đŸ“·\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-31 09:38:05 +1100", "date": "9:38 p.m. on Aug 31, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/31/looking-forward-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F31%2Flooking-forward-to.html" }, { "id": 550, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Feels like Summer here in Sydney, even though it’s the penultimate day of Winter. 26C by lunchtime, followed by an afternoon thunderstorm.\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-30 17:30:38 +1100", "date": "5:30 p.m. on Aug 30, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/30/feels-like-summer.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F30%2Ffeels-like-summer.html" }, { "id": 551, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The early morning cloud was lifting over Spectacle Island đŸ“·\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-29 08:57:15 +1100", "date": "8:57 p.m. on Aug 29, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/29/the-early-morning.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F29%2Fthe-early-morning.html" }, { "id": 552, "type": "post", "title": "How to connect your notes to make them more effective", "text": "A linked note is a happy note A great strength of the Zettelkasten approach to writing is that it promotes atomic notes, densely linked. The links are almost as valuable as the notes themselves, and sometimes more valuable.\nBut once you\u0026rsquo;ve had an idea and written it down, what is it supposed to link to? Is there a rule or a convention, or do you just wing it?\nHow are you supposed to make connections between your notes when you can\u0026rsquo;t think of any? When I started creating my system of notes I didn\u0026rsquo;t know how to make these links between my atomic ideas, and this relational way of working didn\u0026rsquo;t come naturally to me. I would just sit there and think, \u0026ldquo;what does this remind me of?\u0026rdquo; Sometimes I\u0026rsquo;d come up with a new link, but more often than not, I didn\u0026rsquo;t. The problem is, the Zettelkasten pretty much relies on links between notes. An un-linked note is a kind of orphan. It risks getting lost in the pile. You wrote it, but how will you ever find it again? And if you do somehow stumble upon it again, it won\u0026rsquo;t really lead anywhere, because you haven\u0026rsquo;t related it to anything else.\nFortunately, there are some helpful ways of coming up with linking ideas that can really aid creative thinking and unlock the power of connected note-making.\nMake a path through your notes with the idea compass Niklas Luhmann, the sociologist who famously (to nerds) kept a Zettelkasten, didn\u0026rsquo;t exactly say this, but each atomic note already implies its own series of relations. Each note can be extended by means of the idea compass - a wonderful idea of Fei-Ling Tseng, as follows:\nN - what larger pattern does this concept belong to? S - what more basic components is this concept made of? E - what is this concept similar to? W - what is this concept different from? Notice how the first two questions promote a tree-like hierarchical structure, with everything nested in everything else, while the second two questions promote a fungus-like anti-hierarchical structure, with links that form a rhizome or lattice. Alone, the former structure is too rigid and the latter is too fluid. But put them together and they can be very powerful. The genius of the Zettelkasten system is that it absorbs hierarchical knowledge networks into its overall rhizomatic structure, without dissolving them, and allows new structures to form (Nick Milo helpfully calls these \u0026lsquo;maps of content\u0026rsquo;).\nFind the larger pattern Each atomic idea might be thought of as part of a larger pattern. In a sense, every note title is just an item in a list that forms a structure note at a level above it. Say I write a note on \u0026lsquo;functional differentiation\u0026rsquo;. I realise that this is just one component of a structure note that also includes \u0026lsquo;social systems\u0026rsquo;, \u0026lsquo;communication\u0026rsquo;, \u0026lsquo;autopoeisis\u0026rsquo; and so on. I write this list, call it \u0026lsquo;Niklas Luhmann - key ideas\u0026rsquo;, and link it to my existing note. Now I have some ideas for some more notes to write. But will I write them all? No - I\u0026rsquo;ll only pursue the thoughts that actually interest me, or seem essential. The rest can wait for another day. Actually, I\u0026rsquo;m suddenly intrigued by what you could possibly have instead of functional differentiation (i.e. what is this note different from?), so I write a new note called \u0026lsquo;pre-modern forms of social structure\u0026rsquo; - and link it back to my \u0026lsquo;functional differentiation\u0026rsquo; note.\nLook for the basic components Going even further, the atoms, which seemed to be the smallest unit, turn out to be made of sub-atomic particles and so on, all the way down to who knows what (well, particle physicists might know, but I don\u0026rsquo;t). That means each atomic idea is really just the title of a structure note that hasn\u0026rsquo;t been written yet. So I take a new note and write: \u0026lsquo;Functional differentiation - the key points\u0026rsquo;. I imagine this new structure note to be like a top-ten list of important factors, each one ultimately with its own new note - but I\u0026rsquo;m not going to force myself to write about ten things that don\u0026rsquo;t matter, just what I find interesting.\nWhen making links, trust and follow your own interest It\u0026rsquo;s really important that you don\u0026rsquo;t try to answer all four questions with a new link. You\u0026rsquo;re not creating an encyclopedia. Instead, you should only make the connections that actually matter to you. The trace of your own inquisitiveness through the material is, in itself, important information. If it doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter to you, don\u0026rsquo;t write about it! Since the notes are atomic, and the possible links increase exponentially (?) the possibility space you are opening up is almost infinite and it can feel overwhelming. So just go with the flow. The key is to find your own curiosity and run with it. That way (as I\u0026rsquo;ve said before):\nyou\u0026rsquo;ll write worthwhile notes that address your own questions and\nthis hook of curiosity will help you remember as you learn.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;ve been doing this morning. At no point have I stopped to think \u0026ldquo;what shall I write next?\u0026rdquo; In this sense, the Zettelkasten is a kind of conversation partner. Niklas Luhmann said he only ever wrote about things that interested him. This seems unlikely until you try it for yourself.\nAnd if you keep asking yourself these questions, you\u0026rsquo;ll find that over time the linking starts to come naturally. It will be increasingly obvious to you what relationships matter. The questions in the idea compass will become intuitive and fade into the background. Well, that\u0026rsquo;s my experience, but YMMV.\nApply a framework that intrigues you Another way of making connections, besides the idea compass, is to apply a conceptual framework (or mental model) that interests you - and see where it leads. Here\u0026rsquo;s an example: Marshall McLuhan\u0026rsquo;s tetrad of media effects.\nThe idea here is that any new technology changes the whole landscape or ecology, by bringing some features into the foreground and pushing others into the background. It\u0026rsquo;s called a tetrad because there are four questions to ask of a new technology:\nWhat does the medium enhance?\nWhat does the medium make obsolete?\nWhat does the medium retrieve that had been obsolesced earlier?\nWhat does the medium reverse or flip into when pushed to extremes?\n(This really clicked for me when I puzzled over why my kids don\u0026rsquo;t use smart phones for talking to people. It seemed crazy to me, but then I looked at question 3 and realised the new technology had retrieved asynchronous communication, which the telephone had previously made obsolete. But I digress.)\nAnyway, I\u0026rsquo;m suggesting you might be able to take these four questions and ask them of the ideas in your notes. For each atomic note: what does this idea enhance, make obsolete, retrieve, or reverse?\nAnother simple but powerful example is Tobler\u0026rsquo;s law: \u0026ldquo;I invoke the first law of geography: everything is connected to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things\u0026rdquo;. What would it be like if you made everything about physical location?\nIt\u0026rsquo;s important to say these are just examples, and they may not work for you. Nevertheless, you may be able to think of frameworks from within your own line of work that allow you to ask a similar set of questions about your ideas. In my experience these frameworks are everywhere and yet are quite under-used.\nThis article is a lightly edited version of a Reddit comment.\nMore on making notes.\nYou might also like to read about how a network of notes is a rhizome not a tree.\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-27 15:36:38 +1100", "date": "3:36 p.m. on Aug 27, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/27/how-to-connect.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F27%2Fhow-to-connect.html" }, { "id": 553, "type": "post", "title": "What is the real work of Serendipity?", "text": " Currently reading: The Real Work by Adam Gopnik 📚\nThe Real Work is what magicians call \u0026rsquo;the accumulated craft that makes for a great trick\u0026rsquo;, and the enigmatic S.W.Erdnase was a master. Adam Gopnik\u0026rsquo;s book on the nature of mastery devotes a whole chapter to him, so I was amused to find him also mentioned on the new series of Good Omens. This is a great example of the chance happening that people often confuse with serendipity. But as Mark De Rond claims serendipity isn\u0026rsquo;t luck alone. It\u0026rsquo;s really the relationship between good fortune and the prepared mind:\n\u0026ldquo;serendipity results from identifying ‘matching pairs’ of events that are put to practical or strategic use.\u0026rdquo;\nOn this account it\u0026rsquo;s not luck or chance that matters, but the human agency that does something with it. From two chance encounters with S.W. Erdnase that seemed to match, I\u0026rsquo;ve constructed this short post. In his 2014 article, \u0026lsquo;The structure of serendipity\u0026rsquo;, De Rond identifies some examples of much more significant serendipity in the field of scientific innovation.\nIt strikes me that one significant feature of mastery is to be able to spot a lucky opportunity and then make something of it. The expert can\u0026rsquo;t help but see it. Everyone else would miss this chance moment, or else be unable to execute the essential implementation.\nReference: De Rond, Mark. \u0026ldquo;The structure of serendipity.\u0026rdquo; Culture and Organization 20, no. 5 (2014): 342-358. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2014.967451\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-26 12:24:47 +1100", "date": "12:24 p.m. on Aug 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/26/what-is-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F26%2Fwhat-is-the.html" }, { "id": 554, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Hey @joshua , what did you end up doing during your last 48 hours in Paris? The suspense is killing me 😁\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-23 21:31:48 +1100", "date": "9:31 p.m. on Aug 23, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/23/hey-joshua-what.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F23%2Fhey-joshua-what.html" }, { "id": 555, "type": "post", "title": "TiddlyWiki is a really useful writing tool", "text": "I use Tiddlywiki as a writing tool, and as a heavily customised Zettelkasten (an ‘index box’ of notes). I love how readily this toolkit can be tailored to suit my workflow and requirements. That means there isn\u0026rsquo;t really a best version, since it can become what you make of it. I was slightly confused when I started, since it’s different from other writing tools. But you can just start simple and slowly add the functionality that you like to use. Reminding myself to document all my changes and experiments, inside my TW, really helps. Superficially, it’s just a wiki app, but there’s so much more to it than that.\nI find Soren Bjornstad\u0026rsquo;s online version,Tzk, very inspiring. It really shows some amazing possibilities for a personal Zettelkasten-style notebook. His GrokTiddlyWiki tutorial is fabulous too, but it’s a bit of a rabbit hole. Maybe better to just get started and then do the tutorials.\nI love the look of Projectify and have used the notebook palettes that it comes with.\nTo enable backlinks I have found a couple of basic plug-ins really useful and would strongly recommend:\nTWCrossLinks\nThis adds a footer to your notes to show backlinks and freelinks.\nRelink\nThis enables automatic renaming of titles and other items across links.\nFor a to-do list, I greatly admire Projectify, but what I actually use is the simple but effective Chandler, written by the late Joe Armstrong. He talks you through how he wrote it, which in itself is a masterclass in how to customise TiddlyWiki.\nFinally I’ll mention the active and very helpful user forum.\nIf you’d like to discuss any aspect of TiddlyWiki or note-making generally, I’m all ears.\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-23 20:53:16 +1100", "date": "8:53 p.m. on Aug 23, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/23/tiddlywiki-is-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F23%2Ftiddlywiki-is-a.html" }, { "id": 556, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "This newly opened bike path is a great example of #greeninfrastructure. The pipe easement beside the Alexandria Canal has become a Cycling and walking link to connect suburbs around the Airport. If only there was a #cycling route the whole length of the canal. Sadly, new motorways block it. đŸšČđŸ“·\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-21 22:47:21 +1100", "date": "10:47 p.m. on Aug 21, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/21/this-newly-opened.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F21%2Fthis-newly-opened.html" }, { "id": 557, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Writing about my worm farm, which is a metaphor for my writing:\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-21 22:31:25 +1100", "date": "10:31 p.m. on Aug 21, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/21/writing-about-my.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F21%2Fwriting-about-my.html" }, { "id": 558, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Yesterday I polished the look of the Writing Slowly website by switching to Matt Langford’s Tiny theme, and adding some font and colour-scheme customisation of my own. So long as you’re not alergic to CSS, Micro.blog makes this very easy to do. Anyway, dear reader, I hope you like it. #WebDesign #Indieweb #PersonalSites #Blog\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-20 10:57:03 +1100", "date": "10:57 p.m. on Aug 20, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/20/yesterday-i-polished.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F20%2Fyesterday-i-polished.html" }, { "id": 559, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Mystery machinery, abandoned on the Karloo Track. Is it a lawnmower? đŸ“·\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-19 17:01:13 +1100", "date": "5:01 p.m. on Aug 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/19/mystery-machinery-abandoned.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F19%2Fmystery-machinery-abandoned.html" }, { "id": 560, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Unlocking Luhmann by Claudio Baraldi 📚 This is a great companion volume to the works of Niklas Luhmann. It\u0026rsquo;s a linked series of glossary articles, introducing key terms. Prior warning: some of these are as hard to understand as the OG himself!\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-15 18:39:03 +1100", "date": "6:39 p.m. on Aug 15, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/15/finished-reading-unlocking.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F15%2Ffinished-reading-unlocking.html" }, { "id": 561, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Cherry blossom! Spring is here. đŸ“·đŸĄ\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-15 09:13:56 +1100", "date": "9:13 p.m. on Aug 15, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/15/cherry-blossom-spring.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F15%2Fcherry-blossom-spring.html" }, { "id": 562, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "\u0026ldquo;RSS rules, man!\u0026rdquo; - Baldur on Martin Field\u0026rsquo;s Really Specific Stories podcast. đŸŽ™ïžđŸ’Ź\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-15 08:22:36 +1100", "date": "8:22 p.m. on Aug 15, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/15/rss-rules-man.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F15%2Frss-rules-man.html" }, { "id": 563, "type": "post", "title": "Ted Nelson's Evolutionary List File", "text": "Rick Wysocki has a great post introducing Ted Nelson\u0026rsquo;s innovative idea for a new kind of file system. New, at least, in 1965.\nTed Nelson\u0026rsquo;s Evolutionary List File and Information Management\nIn many ways though, we\u0026rsquo;re still waiting for this kind of approach to become available.\nThe 1965 paper begins with a programmatic statement that has still not been fulfilled:\n\u0026ldquo;The kinds of file structures required if we are to use the computer for personal files and as an adjunct to creativity are wholly different in character from those customary in business and scientific data processing. They need to provide the capacity for intricate and idiosyncratic arrangements, total modifiability, undecided alternatives, and thorough internal documentation.\u0026rdquo;\nTed Nelson, in case you don\u0026rsquo;t know, was the first person to coin the term \u0026lsquo;hypertext\u0026rsquo;, and this is the first published reference to hypertext. In his post, Wysocki reflects on the connections across decades between Nelson\u0026rsquo;s ideas and the contemporary interest in \u0026lsquo;personal knowledge management\u0026rsquo; and Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s non-hierarchical Zettelkasten system of notes. He sees the Zettelkasten as potentially more creative than many contemporary systems because it doesn\u0026rsquo;t impose a fixed system of categories from the top down.\n\u0026ldquo;Creating hierarchies and outlines of information can be useful, but many don’t realize that outlines have to work on existing material; they are not creative practices themselves (Nelson 135b). This is why the common myth we tell ourselves and our students that an outline should be worked on before writing at best makes little sense and at worst is cruel; how can we outline ideas we haven’t created yet?\u0026rdquo;\nHe praises Nelson\u0026rsquo;s list file approach, where everything is provisional, and can be changed. Fixed categories are out; lists are in. Nelson saw his hypothetical system as a kind of \u0026lsquo;glorified index file\u0026rsquo;, which is where the connection with Niklas Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s (quite different) approach comes in. Sadly, most attempts at providing computerised tools for writers have thrown out the affordances that previous analogue systems offered, almost without noticing their loss. Nelson\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;Project Xanadu\u0026rsquo;, notoriously, was never completed. But there are some gains. I\u0026rsquo;m reminded of TiddlyWiki, in which nearly everything is a list, even the application itself.\nThe original paper , \u0026lsquo;Complex Information Processing: A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate\u0026rsquo;, can be found online as a PDF.\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-12 18:42:59 +1100", "date": "6:42 p.m. on Aug 12, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/12/ted-nelsons-evolutionary.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F12%2Fted-nelsons-evolutionary.html" }, { "id": 564, "type": "post", "title": "A Network of notes is a rhizome not a tree", "text": " The Zettelkasten is not just an outline The Zettelkasten approach to making notes and writing is not the same as creating a standard outline. An outline is basically linear and hierarchical. It\u0026rsquo;s a tree-like structure. It\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;arborescent\u0026rsquo;. The Zettelkasten on the other hand is a non-linear, non-hierarchical network, that includes hierarchical and linear structures, but is not bound by them. The Zettelkasten is more like a \u0026lsquo;rhizomatic\u0026rsquo; structure. It has many connections, but no obvious central trunk. It\u0026rsquo;s like ginger.\nThe Zettelkasten can include outlines The process of writing an article or book might well involve preparing an outline (e.g. a table of contents), but this is done from the contents of the Zettelkasten, not directly by the Zettelkasten itself. The idea is for the Zettelkasten to maintain a more fluid structure than a hierarchical outline, to allow idea formation, prior to the composition of a tightly-structured argument. I do have tables of contents, structure notes, \u0026lsquo;maps of content\u0026rsquo;, hubs, indices, etc. within my Zettelkasten, but ultimately each of these is just another note in the wider network.\nNotes connect in several different ways Links can connect notes in all kinds of directions. Niklas Luhmann emphasised this possibility of referral [Verweisungsmöglichkeiten]:\n\u0026ldquo;When there are multiple options you can solve the problem by placing the note wherever you want and create references to capture other possible contexts.\u0026rdquo; - Luhmann, Communication with Zettelkasten\nConsider too Daniel LĂŒdecke\u0026rsquo;s presentation on Zettelkasten structure PDF. This clearly shows what Luhmann did and didn\u0026rsquo;t do (according to LĂŒdecke at least - see especially slide 31 or thereabouts).\nAvoid premature closure A finished piece of work such as a book or article is fixed. Its structure is basically final. This is not true of your notes. They are still fluid, still open to shuffling and re-shuffling. The Zettelkasten\u0026rsquo;s adaptive structure is confirmed by Schmidt\u0026rsquo;s summary:\n\u0026ldquo;At first glance, Luhmann’s organization of his collection appears to lack any clear order; it even seems chaotic. However, this was a deliberate choice. It was Luhmann’s intention to “avoid premature systematization and closure and maintain openness toward the future”. A prerequisite for a creative filing system, Luhmann noted, is “avoiding a fixed system of order”. He pinpoints the disadvantages that come with one of the common systems of organizing content in the following words: “Defining a system of contents (resembling a book’s table of contents) would imply committing to a specific sequence once and for all (for decades to come!)”. His way of organizing the collection, by contrast, allows for it to continuously adapt to the evolution of his thinking.\u0026rdquo; - Johannes F.K. Schmidt. \u0026lsquo;Niklas Luhmann’s Card Index: Thinking Tool, Communication Partner, Publication Machine\u0026rsquo;, in Cevolini, Alberto.; Forgetting Machines : Knowledge Management Evolution in Early Modern Europe. Brill, 2016. Ch. 12, p. 300. PDF\nA disclaimer Your mileage may vary. When turning your note-work into a network, do what works for you, not what worked for a dead German sociologist.\nSee also: The search for interconnection How to be interested in everything Thoughts are nest-eggs Serious about a Zettelkasten? The card index has triumphed We can\u0026rsquo;t master knowledge Deleuze, Gilles and FĂ©lix Guattari (2004/1980). Rhizome. In A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. Brian Massumi. New York: Continuum, pp. 3-28. ", "dateiso": "2023-08-11 17:16:38 +1100", "date": "5:16 p.m. on Aug 11, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/11/a-network-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F11%2Fa-network-of.html" }, { "id": 565, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Finished reading: Your Name is not Anxious by Stephanie Dowrick. Urgent, practical, and affirming. Both profound and profoundly helpful. 📚\nInterview on ABC Radio\nLive Webinar\n#reading #psychology #mentalhealth\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-09 17:02:52 +1100", "date": "5:02 p.m. on Aug 9, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/09/finished-reading-your.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F09%2Ffinished-reading-your.html" }, { "id": 566, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "“Walking in and of itself is a way to cultivate precisely all the qualities of person-hood that seem missing from much public discourse — attention, focus, kindness, patience, persistence, tenacity, mental and physical health.” — Craig Mod💬 #Quotes\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-09 08:18:49 +1100", "date": "8:18 p.m. on Aug 9, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/09/walking-in-and.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F09%2Fwalking-in-and.html" }, { "id": 567, "type": "post", "title": "Is there a literature of teeth?", "text": " Do you find teeth comical? Do you find it hard to take them seriously? Jianan Qian, writing in The Millions, does.\n“teeth make a flawed metaphor, too mundane to be tragic and too superficial to be profound. I await the the first great contribution to dental literature.” - Jianan Qian, Dentistry and Doubt: On Writing About Teeth. The Millions\nHappily, there’s no need to wait for great dental literature, because we already have Lucia Berlin’s extraordinary short story ‘Dr. H. A. Moynihan’. This appears in her 2015 collection, A Manual for Cleaning Women, and though wonderful, is not for the faint-hearted. To be fair, this dentistry is comical, though along the lines of a Southern Gothic Grand Guignol.\n“I hated St. Joseph’s. Terrified by the nuns, I struck Sister Cecilia one hot Texas day and was expelled. As punishment, I had to work every day of summer vacation in Grandpa’s dental office.”\nA Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin 📚\nJust the first two sentences here, though. The rest you’ll need to extract yourself!\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-08 18:34:49 +1100", "date": "6:34 p.m. on Aug 8, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/08/is-there-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F08%2Fis-there-a.html" }, { "id": 568, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Foster by Claire Keegan 📚 Wonderful. Almost as good as Small Things Like These.\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-07 23:53:00 +1100", "date": "11:53 p.m. on Aug 7, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/07/finished-reading-foster.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F07%2Ffinished-reading-foster.html" }, { "id": 569, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Two metaphors for #learning. Do we acquire knowledge or do we participate in it? Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s both. doi.org/10.3102/0\u0026hellip; #PKM\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-03 22:41:42 +1100", "date": "10:41 p.m. on Aug 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/03/two-metaphors-for.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F03%2Ftwo-metaphors-for.html" }, { "id": 570, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Another week, another new bike path! Still partly under construction, this one\u0026rsquo;s near my house alongside the excellently named Muddy Creek. đŸšČ\n", "dateiso": "2023-08-03 22:37:22 +1100", "date": "10:37 p.m. on Aug 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/08/03/another-week-another.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F08%2F03%2Fanother-week-another.html" }, { "id": 571, "type": "post", "title": "The dream is diversity", "text": " \u0026ldquo;We co-create with one another and with nature, but by the very creativity of the Universe and us in it, we cannot know what we will co-create.\nThen what can guide us? Our guide can be a new founding mythic structure that reflects our full enlivenment: humanity in a creative universe, biosphere and human individual, and social lives that are fully lived and that keep becoming. The dream is diversity, more ways of being human as our 30 or so civilisations across the globe weave together gently enough to honour their roots and allow change to unfold gracefully. Our global woven civilisation is ours to create, ever-unknowing, facing, as Immanuel Kant said, the crooked timber of our humanity.\u0026rdquo;\nStuart A. Kauffman, \u0026lsquo;Why science needs to break the spell of reductive materialism\u0026rsquo;. Aeon 💬\nSee also: Stuart A. Kauffman (2016) Humanity in a Creative Universe. Oxford University Press.\nImage: [Chemical composition of coal][3].\nI’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available, now.\nStay in the Writing Slowly loop and never miss a thing (you\u0026rsquo;ll get a weekly digest of everything posted here, all in one convenient email.)\n[3]: https:\u0026lt;/https:\u0026gt;\u0026lt;/https:\u0026gt;\u0026lt;/https:\u0026gt;\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-28 13:04:00 +1100", "date": "1:04 p.m. on Jul 28, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/28/the-dream-is-diversity.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F28%2Fthe-dream-is-diversity.html" }, { "id": 572, "type": "post", "title": "The dream is diversity", "text": " \u0026ldquo;We co-create with one another and with nature, but by the very creativity of the Universe and us in it, we cannot know what we will co-create.\nThen what can guide us? Our guide can be a new founding mythic structure that reflects our full enlivenment: humanity in a creative universe, biosphere and human individual, and social lives that are fully lived and that keep becoming. The dream is diversity, more ways of being human as our 30 or so civilisations across the globe weave together gently enough to honour their roots and allow change to unfold gracefully. Our global woven civilisation is ours to create, ever-unknowing, facing, as Immanuel Kant said, the crooked timber of our humanity.\u0026rdquo;\nStuart A. Kauffman, \u0026lsquo;Why science needs to break the spell of reductive materialism\u0026rsquo;. Aeon 💬\nSee also: Stuart A. Kauffman (2016) Humanity in a Creative Universe. Oxford University Press.\nImage: Chemical composition of coal.\nStay in the Writing Slowly loop and never miss a thing (you\u0026rsquo;ll get a weekly digest of everything posted here, all in one convenient email. Nice.)\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-28 12:04:10 +1100", "date": "12:04 p.m. on Jul 28, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/28/the-dream-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F28%2Fthe-dream-is.html" }, { "id": 573, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Just want to say I\u0026rsquo;ve been using #Workflowy for 541 weeks now. It\u0026rsquo;s just fantastic. The app I\u0026rsquo;m happiest to pay my annual fee for (apart from #micro.blog, of course). #PKM 📝\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-26 23:30:10 +1100", "date": "11:30 p.m. on Jul 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/26/just-want-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F26%2Fjust-want-to.html" }, { "id": 574, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Checked out this new Sydney cycling path on the weekend. It runs from Parramatta, across the Parramatta River, and nearly 5km North to Carlingford. Extended safe, off-road riding makes me happy đŸ˜đŸ“·đŸšČ\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-26 10:19:31 +1100", "date": "10:19 p.m. on Jul 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/26/checked-out-this.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F26%2Fchecked-out-this.html" }, { "id": 575, "type": "post", "title": "The mastery of knowledge is an illusion ", "text": "The writing task always eludes us.\nCJChilvers sees in the slow but inevitable demise of the Evernote app a deeper critique of the concept of the ‘external brain’. Indeed, this term is rather clumsy marketing-speak, hardly improved by Tiago Forte’s version: ‘Building a Second Brain’.\nI only have one brain, and it’s internal, thankfully. But I’m still very happy with the idea of the ‘extended mind’. My brain remains firmly in my skull, but it nevertheless uses the environment in many different ways to extend its capabilities.\nEven though it seems like computing has been with us forever, it’s still really very early days. This technology is still quite new. We’re only just beginning to understand how to use it. I see the Evernote saga, and the concept of an external brain as part of that ongoing learning process.\nIt might be helpful to set the whole matter of external brains and extended minds in a wider context of literate and non-literate cultures.\nLiterate cultures tend to absorb many extended mind capabilities, such as memory, into writing. For example, How many poems or songs do you know by heart? Probably not many. What’s the point these days of learning things by heart? Why remember poems when you can just read them from a book? Literacy appears obviously superior to memory, even though something is lost along the way. What gets lost is the older, mnemonic culture of pre-literate societies. This loss in the transition from speaking to writing is what Plato’s Socrates warned of. Most literate people, though, neither mourn the loss nor even really notice it. The promise of writing is that if you could just get it all down you’ll have captured it, tamed it and mastered it. This is a familiar quest, from Adler’s Syntopicon1 to Otlet’s Mundaneum2, even to Allen’s “Getting Things Done”3. But somehow, the completion of the Writing Task, always eludes us. It’s too big. There’s simply too much to know and there has been for some time.\nBut oral cultures live in an enchanted world, not necessarily in a magical sense, but in the sense that the whole environment ‘speaks’, as part of a wider extended mind. Geographical features are not merely ‘dead matter’. They’re alive to tell stories which recount histories and genealogies, to give blessings and warnings. Plants and animals are similarly endowed with a depth of meaning.\nThis is the world that literate culture has exiled itself from, so that it barely comprehends its existence, much less its significance.\nBut this living world remains available to us. The exile is self-imposed. In her book, The Extended Mind, Annie Murphy Paul says:\n“We extend beyond our limits, not by revving our brains like a machine or bulking them up like a muscle — but by strewing our world with rich materials, and by weaving them into our thoughts.”\nWe can’t master knowledge. It’s what we live in. This requires a radical shift of worldview from colonialist to ecological. The colonial approach to knowledge is to capture it in order to profit from it. The ecological approach is to live within it as within a garden to be tended. The two worldviews may well be mutually incompatible, though this matter is hardly resolved yet.\nThis saga isn’t over.\nFurther reading:\nAnnie Murphy Paul, The Extended Mind. The power of thinking outside the brain.\nMargo Neale and Lynne Kelly, Songlines: The Power and Promise.Thames and Hudson.\nWhy not subscribe to the weekly email digest? All the posts, but only once a week.\nMortimer Adler wanted to summarise the ideas of Western literature under 102 headings.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nPaul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine wanted to gather and index all world knowledge.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nIn 2001, David Allen encouraged knowledge workers to get their thoughts out of their heads and to capture them externally.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-25 23:37:31 +1100", "date": "11:37 p.m. on Jul 25, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/25/the-writing-task.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F25%2Fthe-writing-task.html" }, { "id": 576, "type": "post", "title": "Walter Benjamin on the obsolete book", "text": " \u0026ldquo;Already today, as the current scientific mode of production teaches, the book is already an obsolete mediation between two different card file systems. For everything essential is found in the index box of the researcher who wrote it, and the scholar who studies it assimilates it in his own card file.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Und heute schon ist das Buch, wie die aktuelle wissenschaftliche Produktionsweise lehrt, eine veraltete Vermittlung zwischen zwei verschiedenen Kartotheksystemen. Denn alles Wesentliche findet sich im Zettelkasten des Forschers, der\u0026rsquo;s verfaßte, und der Gelehrte, der darin studiert, assimiliert es seiner eigenen Kartothek.\u0026rdquo;\nWalter Benjamin - Attested Auditor of Books, in One Way Street (1928) 💬\nComment Was the book really already obsolete in 1928, as the German cultural theorist Walter Benjamin claimed?\nIf so, it has nevertheless enjoyed a long and distinguished afterlife. And Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s sly reference to what \u0026rsquo;the current scientific mode of production\u0026rsquo; teaches, may suggest a certain irony in his claim.\nBut the real irony is that the card index was sooner for obsolescence than the book. During the 1980s and accelerating into the 1990s millions of index cards were thrown out, to be replaced with computer databases. Despite a very niche resurgence of interest in the quaint technologies of the \u0026lsquo;Zettelkasten\u0026rsquo; (German for \u0026lsquo;index card box\u0026rsquo;, there\u0026rsquo;s no real sign of a come-back. The book, meanwhile, has been assailed mightily by the e-book, but as Monty Python fans would say: \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s just a flesh wound\u0026rdquo;.\nHowever, another way of viewing this technological transition would be to say that the card index, in the new form of the electronic database, has utterly triumphed. Now everything is just the front-end of a database, including books.\nReferences Benjamin, W. (2016[1986]) One Way Street, Trans. E. Jephcott. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. P. 43.\nSource: www.heise.de/tp/featur\u0026hellip;\nCited in Stop Taking Regular Notes; Use a Zettelkasten Instead - Hacker News\nSee also: Researching Benjamin Researching\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-24 15:59:18 +1100", "date": "3:59 p.m. on Jul 24, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/24/walter-benjamin-on.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F24%2Fwalter-benjamin-on.html" }, { "id": 577, "type": "post", "title": "Hermann Burger - Serious about a Zettelkasten?", "text": " The Swiss writer Hermann Burger (1942–1989) wrote the draft of a novel in 1970 called Lokalbericht (1970) [Local Report].\n\u0026ldquo;\u0026lsquo;Local Report\u0026rsquo; \u0026ndash; I already have the title, the hardest part of a book. Now, I\u0026rsquo;m just missing the novel.\u0026rdquo; [\u0026ldquo;Lokalbericht – den Titel, das Schwierigste an einem Buch, habe ich schon. Fehlt mir nur noch der Roman.\u0026rdquo;]\nThe story\u0026rsquo;s narrator was right. Burger was a poet and novelist but he never finished this early novel. He died in 1989 and it wasn\u0026rsquo;t published until October 2016. I found a single English-language review.\nThe protagonist of Lokalbericht, the young teacher GĂŒnter Frischknecht1 is in the canton of Ticino trying to write two pieces of work at the same time, a dissertation and a novel, writing on two different typewriters and using two different ZettelkĂ€sten. These two card indices get mixed up and the slips intermingle. What to do in this situation? Reality and fiction apparently can no longer be distinguished.\nThis farcical Zettelkasten confusion is foreshadowed early on in the novel by Frishknecht\u0026rsquo;s academic supervisor Professor Kleinert, of whom he says:\n\u0026ldquo;He didn\u0026rsquo;t believe I could actually be serious about a Zettelkasten.\u0026rdquo; [\u0026ldquo;Dass ich tatsĂ€chlich Ernst machen könnte mit einem Zettelkasten, hat er mir wohl kaum zugetraut.\u0026rdquo;]\nThis story-line seems to be consistent with a long-standing trope among scholars that the loose slips of paper with which they ordered their work could at any moment get mixed up, or even worse, blow away, resulting in chaotic disorder.\nWell, now it\u0026rsquo;s all been put back together. There\u0026rsquo;s a very impressive interactive online version of the novel, and in 2017 there was an exhibition centred upon it at the Aarau Museum.\nIt was Manfred Kuhn\u0026rsquo;s wonderful, though sadly defunct, blog Taking Note Now that originally alerted me to this novel and the Zettelkasten mix-up, but I had completely forgotten.\na composite name made up of GĂŒnter Grass and Max Frisch, with more than a nod to the old Knecht, the Magister Ludi of The Glass Bead Game.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-22 23:06:33 +1100", "date": "11:06 p.m. on Jul 22, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/22/hermann-burger-serious.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F22%2Fhermann-burger-serious.html" }, { "id": 578, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Low hanging cloud over the creek on the way home.\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-04 18:03:50 +1100", "date": "6:03 p.m. on Jul 4, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/04/low-hanging-cloud.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F04%2Flow-hanging-cloud.html" }, { "id": 579, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Currently reading: Milkman by Anna Burns. 📚 By turns hilarious and harrowing. It\u0026rsquo;s not at all how I imagined it, which was mainly harrowing. Sure, the eponymous \u0026lsquo;Milkman\u0026rsquo; is deeply sinister (and the narrative has only just got going), but the narrator\u0026rsquo;s voice is fantastically funny and engaging.\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-03 17:44:10 +1100", "date": "5:44 p.m. on Jul 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/03/currently-reading-milkman.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F03%2Fcurrently-reading-milkman.html" }, { "id": 580, "type": "post", "title": "Thoughts are nest-eggs - Thoreau on writing", "text": "In October 1837 the writer Ralph Waldo Emerson prompted the twenty-year-old Henry David Thoreau to start writing a journal.\n“‘What are you doing now?’ he asked. ‘Do you keep a journal?’ So I make my first entry to-day.”\nThoreau finished up with fourteen full notebooks: seven thousand pages, and two million words. Small fragments can add up to an awful lot. From these fragments he constructed pretty much all of his completed works. What began as jottings ended up as mature reflections.\nHe claimed his disconnected thoughts provoked others, so that \u0026rsquo;thought begat thought'.\nThoreau wrote in his journal:\n\u0026ldquo;To set down such choice experiences that my own writings may inspire me – and at least I may make wholes of parts.\nCertainly it is a distinct profession to rescue from oblivion and to fix the sentiments and thoughts which visit all men more or less generally. That the contemplation of the unfinished picture may suggest its harmonious completion. Associate reverently, and as much as you can with your loftiest thoughts. Each thought that is welcomed and recorded is a nest egg – by the side of which more will be laid. Thoughts accidentally thrown together become a frame – in which more may be developed and exhibited. Perhaps this is the main value of a habit of writing – of keeping a journal. That so we remember our best hours – and stimulate ourselves. My thoughts are my company – They have a certain individuality and separate existence – aye personality. Having by chance recorded a few disconnected thoughts and then brought them into juxtaposition – they suggest a whole new field in which it was possible to labor and to think. Thought begat thought.\u0026rdquo; – Henry David Thoreau, The Journal, January 22, 1852.\nThe writer, according to Thoreau, doesn\u0026rsquo;t have a privileged position in relation to ideas or experiences. Everyone has the same access to their \u0026ldquo;sentiments and thoughts.\u0026rdquo; But the writer\u0026rsquo;s special task is to record them.\nThoreau\u0026rsquo;s meticulous editing process moved from raw field notes, to his journal, to lectures, to essays, and from there to published books. Walden, for example, was published after seven drafts, which took the author nine years to complete.\n\u0026ldquo;The thoughtfulness and quality of his journal writings enabled him to reuse entire passages from it in his lectures and published writings. In his early years, Thoreau would literally cut out pages or excerpts from the journal and paste them onto another page as he created his essays.\u0026rdquo; - Thoreau’s Writing - The Walden Woods Project\nThis pretty much sums up the Zettelkasten approach to note-making for me. Thoreau lays out a simple process for \u0026ldquo;fixing\u0026rdquo; one\u0026rsquo;s thoughts in writing and for making something of them.\nRecord your thoughts, one by one. \u0026ldquo;Each thought that is welcomed and recorded is a nest egg\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; Build up a collection of notes, without worrying about whether they are coherent. \u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;by the side of which more will be laid.\u0026rdquo; Connect your notes, creating a dense network of association. \u0026ldquo;Thoughts accidentally thrown together become a frame in which more may be developed and exhibited Construct meaning from your previously disconnected thoughts \u0026ldquo;Thought begat thought.\u0026rdquo; Note that the thoughts don\u0026rsquo;t necessarily follow on from one another. The very next idea Thoreau noted in his journal is on a completely different subject: the colour of the winter sun not long before dusk.\nSomeone who has found their own distinctive approach to writing that seems to echo that of Thoreau is Visakan Veerasamy. He lives in the 21st Century, not the Nineteenth, and instead of a cabin in the woods he probably has a laptop in a cafe. Instead of field notes he writes using tweets and threads, which he then links together in a dense network of thought.\n\u0026ldquo;I’ve basically taught myself to manage my ADHD with notes and threads.\u0026rdquo;- Visakan Veerasamy\nWhat calls Visakan to mind as I reflect on Thoreau\u0026rsquo;s writing practice is the sense they both seem to share of the seriousness of the practice of making something from nothing by writing short notes in a journal. Visakan says something of which I\u0026rsquo;m sure both Thoreau and Emerson would have approved:\nin a way journaling for yourself is a radical act! It’s an act of self-ownership, self-education. It’s about setting your own curriculum, defining your own worldview, deciding for yourself what is important. I don’t think this should be outsourced to others.\rVisakan Veerasamy https://www.visakanv.com/blog/take-notes/\rPeople tend to think of writers like Thoreau as immensely successful. True he became a popular speaker, but Thoreau was not a successful writer, at least not in his lifetime.\n\u0026ldquo;A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers [1849] was initially an abysmal failure. Henry was forced to take back the books that were not sold, totalling 706 out of the 1,000 originally printed. Writing humorously of the event in his journal, he quipped, “I have now a library of nearly nine hundred volumes, over seven hundred of which I wrote myself” (Thoreau 459). Walden [1854], in contrast, was a relatively successful book, though it took most of the rest of Thoreau’s life to sell the 2,000 books of the first edition.\u0026rdquo; – Thoreau’s Writing - The Walden Woods Project\nThis knowledge inspires me to write without too much concern for the outcome, and to focus instead on those aspects of the process that lie within my control - recording my thoughts and like Thoreau turning them into nest eggs.\nReferences: The Journal\nThoreau, Henry David. 2009. The Journal, 1837-1861. Edited by Damion Searls. New York: New York Review Books.\nThoughts as nest eggs\nThoreau SubReddit\nImage of Thoreau suitable for use on currency\n", "dateiso": "2023-07-02 23:10:52 +1100", "date": "11:10 p.m. on Jul 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/07/02/thoughts-are-nesteggs.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F07%2F02%2Fthoughts-are-nesteggs.html" }, { "id": 581, "type": "post", "title": "I have elephants", "text": " A chapter of Sarah Bakewell\u0026rsquo;s book Humanly Possible considers the life and times of Renaissance scholar Petrarch. Petrarch, she says, wrote a book called Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul (1360), which is a dialogue between three embodied figures: Reason, Sorrow and Joy. Reason\u0026rsquo;s job here is both to cheer up Sorrow and to settle down Joy.\nAt one point, Joy says, \u0026ldquo;I have elephants.\u0026rdquo;\nReason replies, \u0026ldquo;May I ask for what purpose?\u0026rdquo;\nBakewell\u0026rsquo;s comment: \u0026ldquo;No answer is recorded.\u0026rdquo;\n(Bakewell, 2023: 52)\n💬 📚\n", "dateiso": "2023-06-25 15:10:03 +1100", "date": "3:10 p.m. on Jun 25, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/06/25/i-have-elephants.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F06%2F25%2Fi-have-elephants.html" }, { "id": 582, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "📚I’m really enjoying Craig Mod’s latest pop-up newsletter from Japan. This time he’s doing a walking tour of Northern Japan’s jazz kissa1. The whole thing is tremendously evocative, but not in a way I’d expect. Highly recommended. BASIE!BOP!JAMAICA!\na cafe or bar - but there’s a bit more to it than that\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-06-19 09:09:54 +1100", "date": "9:09 p.m. on Jun 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/06/19/im-really-enjoying.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F06%2F19%2Fim-really-enjoying.html" }, { "id": 583, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished this collection of short stories a while ago but forgot to record that important fact: A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin 📚\nThe story about the dentist was amazing. Not for the faint-hearted though.\n", "dateiso": "2023-06-17 00:03:44 +1100", "date": "12:03 p.m. on Jun 17, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/06/16/finished-this-collection.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F06%2F16%2Ffinished-this-collection.html" }, { "id": 584, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " This week I finished reading: Lost Kingdom by Serhii Plokhy 📚\nDiscovered some of the complexities of Russian nationalism. Began to make sense of the idea of the Soviet Union as an empire, and the legacy of that imperial project. Also began to see how Russians might understand Ukraine.\n", "dateiso": "2023-06-16 23:40:39 +1100", "date": "11:40 p.m. on Jun 16, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/06/16/this-week-i.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F06%2F16%2Fthis-week-i.html" }, { "id": 585, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸŽ” Belatedly learning to play \u0026lsquo;Maybe I\u0026rsquo;m amazed\u0026rsquo;. There\u0026rsquo;s something ridiculously satisfying about Paul McCartney\u0026rsquo;s chord choices.\n", "dateiso": "2023-06-12 16:39:14 +1100", "date": "4:39 p.m. on Jun 12, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/06/12/belatedly-learning-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F06%2F12%2Fbelatedly-learning-to.html" }, { "id": 586, "type": "post", "title": "Gaslit by machinery that calls itself a person", "text": " \u0026ldquo;I’m Bard, your creative and helpful collaborator. I have limitations and won’t always get it right, but your feedback will help me improve.\u0026rdquo;\nLet\u0026rsquo;s be clear. There\u0026rsquo;s nobody home. There is no first person singular in this introduction from Google\u0026rsquo;s new Large Language Model interface. We\u0026rsquo;re being gaslit. There is no \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rdquo;, only a complex, inhuman system of computer servers spread across anonymous data centres, dotted around the globe. Yet this is what the system is now trying to pass off as a personality.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s been a lot of talk about pronouns, and these pronouns are just wrong. The \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rdquo; here is entirely phony. It\u0026rsquo;s not phony in the way it was in the movie, Her, where the gullible introverted guy believes he has a unique and specially intimate relationship with the talking computer, only to realise it\u0026rsquo;s been multitasking with thousands of lonely gullible men at the same time.\nNo. It\u0026rsquo;s much worse.\nGoogle\u0026rsquo;s Bard, Chat GPT and the rest of the so called AIs, are no more individual people than a beehive in a raincoat is a person.\nOr even less. At least the bees are alive. The AI processes aren\u0026rsquo;t alive. And they don\u0026rsquo;t have any kind of personality except for marketing purposes. We need to resist and reverse the metaphors that trick us into thinking otherwise. Why? Because they\u0026rsquo;re simply not true. And what do you call it when someone insists on maintaining and extending an untruthful description of reality, when they know exactly what they are doing? In the old days we used to name that for what it is: a lie. And perhaps it\u0026rsquo;s not too late to recognise this lie now.\n", "dateiso": "2023-06-07 21:34:24 +1100", "date": "9:34 p.m. on Jun 7, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/06/07/gaslit-by-machinery.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F06%2F07%2Fgaslit-by-machinery.html" }, { "id": 587, "type": "post", "title": "How to be interested in everything", "text": " Thomas Edison claimed he was interested in everything “One day while Mr. Edison and I were calling on Luther Burbank in California, he asked us to register in his guest book. The book had a column for signature, another for home address, another for occupation and a final one entitled ‘Interested in’. Mr. Edison signed in a few quick but unhurried motions
 In the final column he wrote without an instant’s hesitation: ‘Everything\u0026rsquo;”. - Henry Ford on Thomas Edison. Quoted by John Naughton\nIt\u0026rsquo;s all very well to believe that everything interests you, but what does that mean in practice?\nIf you really were interested in everything, how would you get anything done? Each new thing you encountered would surely distract you from your previous interest, and you\u0026rsquo;d end up surrounded by a heap of unfinished projects. But Thomas Edison, the prolific inventor, had a heap of finished projects - innovative products ready for the market and ready to transform society. More than 1000 US patents were filed under his name, including some of the greatest inventions of all time.\nBut when nothing prevents you from chasing a new interest, how do you stay focused for long enough to complete the work in front of you?\nYou need a system What was Thomas Edison\u0026rsquo;s system for staying on track? He was clearly very effective, so he must have been able to harness his many diverse interests to produce outcomes. How did he do it? How did he avoid \u0026lsquo;shiny object syndrome\u0026rsquo;?\nEdison recorded everything meticulously. He used notebooks and legers extensively and he encouraged his laboratory workers to do the same. The resulting mountain of notes is a treasure trove for understanding where Edison\u0026rsquo;s ideas came from and how they developed over time. In their day, these records were mainly used to ensure patents could be registered and defended. Now though, up to five million pages of Edison\u0026rsquo;s massive work can be studied online through the Edison Project at Rutgers University.\nFor individuals today, without a team of engineers behind them, but with the amazing advantage of Twenty-first century technology, being interested in everything is a great opportunity, if only we can harness it. Then like Edison, we can happily admit that we\u0026rsquo;re interested in everything, and put our diverse interests to work.\nPublish small fragments to create a larger whole According to Cory Doctorow, the prolific author and tech activist, blogging (or whatever you want to call it this week) allows you to write simple fragments each day about what interests you today, and to publish it, quite without friction. Over time, Doctorow attests, these small fragments coalesce, and begin to add up to something more substantial.\nthe traditional relationship between research and writing is reversed. Traditionally, a writer identifies a subject of interest and researches it, then writes about it. In the (my) blogging method, the writer blogs about everything that seems interesting, until a subject gels out of all of those disparate, short pieces.\nBlogging isn’t just a way to organize your research — it’s a way to do research for a book or essay or story or speech you don’t even know you want to write yet. It’s a way to discover what your future books and essays and stories and speeches will be about.\nCory Doctorow https://doctorow.medium.com/the-memex-method-238c71f2fb46 Mattias Ott has more to say about this process, and if you read German, there\u0026rsquo;s even more.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s still just up to you You might well be interested in everything, but the bottleneck all your interests must pass through is you. The measure of your note-taking and writing system is the extent to which it helps you make sense of your diverse interests in a way that communicates meaningfully to yourself and/or to others. Publishing small fragments as you go, which then add up to larger pieces is a way forward that just wasn\u0026rsquo;t possible in Edison\u0026rsquo;s day, but is easily available online now to anyone who wants to pursue it.\n", "dateiso": "2023-06-03 23:15:02 +1100", "date": "11:15 p.m. on Jun 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/06/03/how-to-be.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F06%2F03%2Fhow-to-be.html" }, { "id": 588, "type": "post", "title": "To build something big, start with small fragments", "text": "Building something big from something small. That\u0026rsquo;s how everything big gets built. 💬\nTraditionally, a writer identifies a subject of interest and researches it, then writes about it. In the (my) blogging method, the writer blogs about everything that seems interesting, until a subject gels out of all of those disparate, short pieces.\nBlogging isn’t just a way to organize your research — it’s a way to do research for a book or essay or story or speech you don’t even know you want to write yet. It’s a way to discover what your future books and essays and stories and speeches will be about.\nCory Doctorow https://doctorow.medium.com/the-memex-method-238c71f2fb46\r", "dateiso": "2023-06-03 18:05:35 +1100", "date": "6:05 p.m. on Jun 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/06/03/to-build-something.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F06%2F03%2Fto-build-something.html" }, { "id": 589, "type": "post", "title": "Let's have another new logo", "text": "Matti is unimpressed that the notetaking app Obsidian has a new logo.\nChange. It happens all the time. Thunderbird has a new logo too (and for that matter so do Porsche, Jaguar/Land Rover, and NYC - like I said, happens a lot).\nIn general I don\u0026rsquo;t care, but you could claim this is really Obsidian\u0026rsquo;s first branding exercise. The OG logo was just pulled off an indifferent set of icons for RPGs. It was barely even a branding exercise back then, so maybe they\u0026rsquo;re justified in finally giving it a bit more thought now.\nI\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure top right is someone who hates the Firefox logo enough to set fire to it, but not enough to drop it.\nPerhaps it\u0026rsquo;s like army parades. I mean, if the troops can march in time there\u0026rsquo;s a chance they\u0026rsquo;ll also fight OK. And if not, then not. Same with your app\u0026rsquo;s logo.1 If you can\u0026rsquo;t design a good logo then what\u0026rsquo;s the actual product going to be like?\nSignalling seems to matter.\nAlthough now that I\u0026rsquo;ve said all this, some exceptions are popping into mind. That arbitrary traffic cone logo of VLC, is one. Terrible logo, but very useful app. Or the equally arbitrary mitsudomoe logo of OBS Studio - also a worthwhile app, all the same. And I really like the TiddlyWiki app, even though everything about its branding is confused and underwhelming, imho. Meanwhile, until now Obsidian the app also seems to have been performing better than Obsidian the logo.\nNow these have all been passion projects made by people who seem really to value the product and the community that uses it. So perhaps updating the logo is a signal, as Matti suspects, that the focus may be moving away from the users and towards some other target - investors, shareholders, purchasers, who knows?\nI\u0026rsquo;ll make one exception, though. Whatever the real reason for the change, the Thunderbird logo absolutely did need a re-vamp, since the old one does look exactly like an envelope wearing a wig.\nBut how come I only just noticed this when they mentioned it on their blog? Once you\u0026rsquo;ve seen it you can\u0026rsquo;t un-see it.\nOK, they\u0026rsquo;re not the actual same, it\u0026rsquo;s just a hyperbolic simile. Or is it metaphorical hyperbole?\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-06-02 23:03:59 +1100", "date": "11:03 p.m. on Jun 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/06/02/lets-have-another.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F06%2F02%2Flets-have-another.html" }, { "id": 590, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·đŸ‹ Just when we thought we would see nothing, this humpback whale popped up at the mouth of Broken Bay. Magical .✹ And if the boat hadn\u0026rsquo;t broken we\u0026rsquo;d have missed it.\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-27 22:10:38 +1100", "date": "10:10 p.m. on May 27, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/27/just-when-we.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F27%2Fjust-when-we.html" }, { "id": 591, "type": "post", "title": "The lost index cards of Harold Innis", "text": "Chris Aldridge has discovered yet another writer who used index cards to construct an extensive body of work from smaller pieces. This practice is often referred to as keeping a Zettelkasten, whether or not the owner was actually German.\nThe Idea File of Harold Adams Innis (University of Toronto Press, 1980) reproduces an edited version of the typescript Innis, an economic historian, made of his original index cards.\nChris wonders if the index cards themselves might be re-issued for interested readers.\nWhile I appreciate the published book nature of the work, it would be quite something to have it excerpted back down to index card form as a piece of material culture to purchase and play around with. Perhaps something in honor of the coming 75th anniversary of his passing? [@chrisaldrich](https://micro.blog/chrisaldrich) https://boffosocko.com/2023/05/25/harold-innis-the-idea-file/ I guess such a work might look something like the 138-index-card edition of Nabokov\u0026rsquo;s unfinished novel, The Original of Laura, which Chip Kidd designed; or his dream diary, constructed from 118 index cards and published with some images of the original notes as Insomniac Dreams.\nSadly, a new edition such as this seems unlikely. That\u0026rsquo;s because according to the Introduction of the Idea File, Innis himself had around 1,500 of his index cards transcribed to 339 typed and numbered sheets of paper. And the cards themselves were lost, it seems, so I\u0026rsquo;m not holding my breath. However, it\u0026rsquo;s always possible that some interpid researcher might investigate the archives1 and discover them hidden away there one day. Stranger things have happened.\n\u0026ldquo;The early history of the material that came to be called the Idea File is obscure. Innis\u0026rsquo;s son, Donald, recalls that his father used to keep notes on card files, and that there were, at one point, about eighteen inches of white cards, with another five or so inches of white cards containing an index. This index, according to Donald Innis constituted \u0026lsquo;a cross referencing system so that one idea might be referred to under several headings and vice-versa\u0026rsquo;. These cards appear to have been in manuscript. However, at some point or points, Innis had these notes typed on sheets of paper, and near the end of his life collected the typed notes into one collation which he numbered consequently from 1 to 339.\nThe cards themselves appear to be lost. It is possible that they still existed at Innis\u0026rsquo;s death, for there is a second typed version of part of the Idea File. What might have happened is that in the process of preparing Innis\u0026rsquo;s posthumous material for limited circulation, a typist began working from the cards; then, during the typing, the family discovered the typed version and stopped the retyping.\u0026rdquo;\nI\u0026rsquo;ve gleaned a few ideas from all this.\nFirst, cross-referencing matters. Innes kept a very extensive index to his cards: 5 inches of index to 18 inches of actual notes. This means his ideas were probably extensively cross-referenced. Makes me think no amount of cross-referencing is too much, if you feel like doing it. But also: don\u0026rsquo;t get obsessive. Life\u0026rsquo;s too short to cross-reference everything.\nSecond, I\u0026rsquo;m wondering about longevity of work. It really seems like the original notes on index cards were lost. This is such an interesting feature of the resurgence of interest in the working methods of writers and scholars. Is the \u0026lsquo;finished product\u0026rsquo; - book or article - really more important and permanent than the supposedly transient and disposable noted from which it was created? And what happens to the \u0026lsquo;Nachlass\u0026rsquo; in the age of digitization? Is it both eternal and wipeable at the same time?\nThird, the meaning is in the links, but the links are fragile. Given the interlinking of the original notes and their subsequent disappearance, it\u0026rsquo;s fairly clear that the published \u0026lsquo;idea file\u0026rsquo; has lost a significant part of its meaning, since that meaning resides in the links between ideas, not just in the ideas themselves.\nFourth, I noticed that Innis\u0026rsquo;s notes were often very short. Sometimes just a sentence or two, with compressed, abbreviated syntax. It reminds me of Lichtenberg\u0026rsquo;s aphorisms, many of which fall slightly flat as prose. Here\u0026rsquo;s an example. I just wonder what it used to link to:\n\u0026ldquo;University presidents giving each other degrees. A university not an institution designed to that end, or to give members of boards of governers degrees.\u0026rdquo;\nI really appreciate looking into the working practices of writers like this. No doubt there are many more such examples to be found and explored.\nManuscript Collection #845, Innis Papers, Archives of the University of Toronto, Thomas Fisher Library, Box 8\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-27 00:10:46 +1100", "date": "12:10 p.m. on May 27, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/26/the-lost-index.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F26%2Fthe-lost-index.html" }, { "id": 592, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " With the rise of large language models (LLMs), we are once more suffering from La Stilla Syndrome. That’s my Jules Verne-inspired name for the condition in which we keep allowing our technology to fool us into thinking it has finally come alive. https://writingslowly.com/ https://writingslowly.com/ ", "dateiso": "2023-05-26 13:00:00 +1100", "date": "1:00 p.m. on May 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/26/with-the-rise.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F26%2Fwith-the-rise.html" }, { "id": 593, "type": "post", "title": "Jules Verne could have told us AI is not a real person", "text": " A castle of mysterious voices In one of French writer Jules Verne\u0026rsquo;s many sensational novels, The Carpathian Castle, the hero, Count Franz de Telek, investigates a creepy Transylvanian castle. The castle is rumoured to be haunted by the ghost of his former love, the Italian opera diva, La Stilla. Rumours of sightings suggest that sensationally, La Stilla has come back to life!\n\u0026ldquo;If La Stilla were dead, how came it that Franz could hear her voice in the saloon of the inn, see her on the bastion, and listen to her song when he was in the crypt? And how could he have found her alive in the donjon?\u0026rdquo;\nAfter much gothic prose, it turns out that [Spoiler:] the supposed ghost is nothing more than a photographic wall projection and a \u0026lsquo;high quality\u0026rsquo; phonograph recording of the singer’s voice. The re-staging of La Stilla\u0026rsquo;s performance has been set up for the castle\u0026rsquo;s owner, Baron Rodolphe de Gortz, who had also loved La Stilla when she was alive.\nIn 1892 when the novel was published, these were still new inventions, so readers would have found the happenings at the castle truly mysterious, and the ending not at all corny. Verne probably first experienced a demonstration of an Edison phonograph 14 years previously, at the 1878 Paris World\u0026rsquo;s Fair, and it appeared shortly after in his 1879 novel, The Tribulations of a Chinaman.\nIn fact, the story is more science fiction than Gothic horror (\u0026lsquo;This story is not fantastic, it is merely romantic\u0026quot;, states the author at the start). New technology presents the convincing appearance of life, which fools all observers - until the trick is finally revealed. And even then, there are some who prefer to believe in the supernatural explanation, despite the evidence.\nLa Stilla Syndrome You can probably see where this is going.\nWith the rise of large language models (LLMs), we are once more suffering from La Stilla Syndrome. That\u0026rsquo;s my Jules Verne-inspired name for the condition in which we keep allowing our technology to fool us into thinking it has finally come alive.\nBut it\u0026rsquo;s not the technology itself that\u0026rsquo;s tricking us, any more than La Stilla the Italian diva had any hand in her audiovisual reconstruction. She was well and truly dead. It was the Count\u0026rsquo;s sidekick Orfanik who staged the counterfeit, and he alone was to blame for the conceit.\nNow, with applications such as Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini (formerly Bard), Microsoft and Google are tricking us into seeing a living diva where there is none, and amazingly, even after 120 years of familiarity with this kind of tall tale, we still fall for it.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve learned nothing from Jules Verne. We\u0026rsquo;re still suffering from La Stilla Syndrome.\nYou might be thinking\u0026hellip; You might be thinking: \u0026ldquo;Well it\u0026rsquo;s too obvious, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t fall for a crude trick like that\u0026rdquo;. But the point of Jules Verne\u0026rsquo;s novel is that even after the mechanism has been revealed, many of the characters persist in believing there was a real ghost - and nothing will dissuade them that the mechanised singer wasn\u0026rsquo;t a really present human, back from the dead.\nAnd then you might be thinking, \u0026ldquo;The phonograph was just a crude recording machine. It was way back in the nineteenth century. That\u0026rsquo;s completely different from the real technological revolution that AI represents right now”.\nIf so, you should be aware that the phonograph was a real technological revolution. Thomas Edison wrote an improbably long list of all its possible uses. Every one of them came to pass. The author of a Scribner\u0026rsquo;s article in 1878, \u0026ldquo;A Night with Edison\u0026rsquo;, reported breathlessly:\n\u0026ldquo;The invention has a moral side, a stirring, optimistic inspiration. \u0026lsquo;If this can be done,\u0026rsquo; we ask, \u0026lsquo;what is there that cannot be?\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; (p.88)\nFalse people should be banned Given the extent to which people almost want to be fooled, philosopher Daniel Dennett argues that \u0026lsquo;false people\u0026rsquo; should be banned. I\u0026rsquo;m not going to argue with this. At the very least, corporations should immediately stop using the first person pronoun, \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rdquo;, in the interface between their chatbots and us, the gullible humans.\nNo more of Siri \u0026lsquo;saying\u0026rsquo;:\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m a virtual assistant, not an actual person, but you can still talk to me.\u0026rdquo;\nNo more obfuscation like this response when I asked Google, \u0026ldquo;Are you an actual person?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m really personable. Does that count?\u0026rdquo;\nNo, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t count.\nToday, for the first time in history, thanks to artificial intelligence, it is possible for anybody to make counterfeit people who can pass for real in many of the new digital environments we have created. These counterfeit people are the most dangerous artifacts in human history, capable of destroying not just economies but human freedom itself. Before it’s too late (it may well be too late already) we must outlaw both the creation of counterfeit people and the “passing along” of counterfeit people. Daniel C. Dennett https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/problem-counterfeit-people/674075/ Advertisers once claimed the phonograph was so life-like it actually had a soul.\nIt didn\u0026rsquo;t then. And AI still doesn\u0026rsquo;t now.\nBut if now we can see through the advertising gimmick of a century ago, why are we letting ourselves be fooled by the most recent advertising trick? Is there any cure for La Stilla Syndrome? Or will time, yet again, be the only healer?\nI\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, out now.\nSee also: More than ever, embracing your humanity is the way forward. https://writingslowly.com/ https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/19/more-than-ever.html Despite AI, the Internet is still personal https://writingslowly.com/ https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/21/blogging-always-the.html Since AI can easily write everything correctly with perfect spelling and punctuation, one way to show you’re human is to do the opposite. https://writingslowly.com/ https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/22/can-ai-give.html The single best way to supercharge your workflow with AI writingslowly.com\nWriting Slowly https://writingslowly.com/the-single-best/ Phonographia.com has a long list of \u0026lsquo;phonoliterature\u0026rsquo; - books in which a phonograph appears at least once. In fact, Verne\u0026rsquo;s tale is almost repeated in Arthur Conan Doyle\u0026rsquo;s much shorter 1899 version, \u0026lsquo;The Story of the Japanned Box\u0026rsquo;. People were obsessed with this revolutionary technology.\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-24 00:14:30 +1100", "date": "12:14 p.m. on May 24, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/23/jules-verne-could.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F23%2Fjules-verne-could.html" }, { "id": 594, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Very happy the videos are already available from micro.camp. It was frustrating to be (not) watching from a distant time-zone, but I’m looking forward to catching up!\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-23 09:21:35 +1100", "date": "9:21 p.m. on May 23, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/23/very-happy-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F23%2Fvery-happy-the.html" }, { "id": 595, "type": "post", "title": "I read the top ten Zettelkasten posts on Hacker News so you can do something more wholesome with your day", "text": "I really did read a lot of geeky Zettelkasten posts and now I\u0026rsquo;m going to share them with you Every so often someone on Hacker News mentions Zettelkasten, a method of making longer work from simple, connected notes. An interesting conversation usually follows. Several of these posts have reached the front page of the Hacker News site, making their authors \u0026lsquo;HN famous\u0026rsquo;, which is the geek\u0026rsquo;s version of blowing up on TikTok. The top Zettelkasten post there has around 300 comments, while the 10th has 31.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s worth staying a little sceptical about whether visibility on Hacker News is a good proxy for competence. But the comments are usually interesting and often helpful. So here’s a countdown of the top Zettelkasten posts, from 10 to 1. And here, top simply means \u0026lsquo;most commented upon\u0026rsquo;. For your reference, I\u0026rsquo;ve noted whether each article is introductory/basic, intermediate/involved, or advanced/complex.\nAnd I\u0026rsquo;d be interested to know what your favourite Zettelkasten article or resource is - there are a lot to choose from. Or else feel free to tell me exactly why you think this is all a daft waste of time.\nSo now\u0026hellip;\nThe Zettelkasten article top ten countdown 10. Zettelkasten, linking your thinking, and Nick Milo\u0026rsquo;s search for ground link\nBob Doto, presents a constructive comparison of two different approaches to note-making. The Zettelkasten method, and Nick Milo\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;Linking Your Thinking\u0026rsquo; (LYT) may appear similar, but as this article points out, they\u0026rsquo;re really quite different:\n\u0026ldquo;The things that differentiate zettelkasten from LYT are the very things that make each system truly work.\u0026rdquo;\nBob has some additional articles about the Zettelkasten approach, which are highly recommend.\nComplex\nPrinciples\nComparison\n9. Org-roam-UI – graphical front end for exploring your org-roam Zettelkasten link\nOrg-Roam is a plain text knowledge management system based on Emacs Org-mode. This post provides an add-on visual interface that shows a map of your notes, similar to other tools such as Roam, Obsidian and Logseq. The tool is \u0026ldquo;a frontend for exploring and interacting with your org-roam notes.\u0026rdquo; If you use Org-mode and think you might need this, read on.\nComplex\nTools\nGithub Repo\n8. The Zettelkasten Method (2019) link\nAbram Demski of lesswrong.com goes to town on explaining the evolution of his paper-based Zettelkasten system. He uses 3x5 inch index cards, but he also tried Workflowy and has nice things to say about it. There\u0026rsquo;s a follow-up at the end, in which the author says he now uses notebooks, but still finds the Zettelkasten referencing system very useful. Along the way he offers one of my favourite principles: \u0026ldquo;small pieces of paper are just modular large pieces of paper\u0026rdquo;. This particular article also one of Abram\u0026rsquo;s top posts on lesswrong.com\nComplex\nManual\nPrinciples\nTools\nExamples\n(Yes, this article covers a lot)\n7. My Second Brain – Zettelkasten link\nWeb developer Scott Spence writes about the tools he has been using for notetaking: GitHub, Notion, RoamResearch, Obsidian, Foam. There\u0026rsquo;s a helpful warning at the top of the article that since it\u0026rsquo;s three years old the technical details may be out of date. This post is for lovers of digital tools!\nInvolved\nTools\n6. Luhmann\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten link\nAn article from a small German software company about Niklas Luhmann and the structure of his notes. Warning: the description here of how Luhmann connected notes through consecutive numbering (Folgezettel) seems a little simplistic. And TBH I\u0026rsquo;m not sure how useful this article really is, but the authors do seem to have succeeded with the HN popularity contest.\nBasic\nArticle\n5. Introduction to the Zettelkasten Method link\nA very full introduction to the Zettelkasten method, by Sascha Fast of zettelkasten.de. It\u0026rsquo;s a great introduction, which also goes into useful depth. If you\u0026rsquo;ve already been building your Zettelkasten for a while, it\u0026rsquo;s worth coming back to this to see what you can pick up now you\u0026rsquo;ve got a real example to play with. These guys also have an app (the Archive) and a great forum, but if you\u0026rsquo;re reading this you probably already know that.\nInvolved\nManual\nExamples\n4. ZettelkĂ€sten? link\nBrian Kam (of Interintellect) writes a simple summary of the Zettelkasten approach, with a follow-up post two years later, by which time he was no longer a beginner since he\u0026rsquo;d written (drum roll
) 6,837 notes. He implements his Zettelkasten with a Git-based wiki.\nBasic\nPrinciples\n3. A tour to my Zettelkasten note clusters link\nInvolved\nExample\nTech writer Mingyang Li describes his Zettelkasten categories in Obsidian. There are categories like \u0026lsquo;Journal\u0026rsquo;, \u0026lsquo;chat with people\u0026rsquo; and \u0026lsquo;distinguishing-between\u0026rsquo;. It\u0026rsquo;s quite useful to see how one person benefits from specific clusters of notes.\n2. Zettelkasten note-taking in 10 minutes link\nBasic\nHow-to\nGitLab software engineer Tomas Vik runs through the slip-box method, based on Sönke Ahrens\u0026rsquo;s book, How to Take Smart Notes. He recommends creating individual plain text (markdown) files and gives clear examples of how this is structured. He used Zettlr as his markdown-enabled text editor of choice, but mentions alternative apps that do similar things. As a bonus, there\u0026rsquo;s a follow-up post a year later, in which the author describes how his process has changed (not much) and why he now uses Logseq instead of Zettlr.\n1. Stop Taking Regular Notes; Use a Zettelkasten Instead link\nBasic\nHow-to\nAmazon data scientist Eugene Yan wins the HN Zettelkasten popularity prize with his post on how he implements the system in Roam. Well, it has attracted the most comments anyway. It\u0026rsquo;s a useful introduction, and commenters mention other apps such as TiddlyWiki, Obsidian and Workflowy. The author seems to have moved on, and started using Obsidian in 2023.\nReflections Well done If you\u0026rsquo;ve read this far you are clearly my kind of person. Though you’ve probably noticed that these aren\u0026rsquo;t necessarily the very best articles about the Zettelkasten method. In any case, everyone differs on what that would even mean. But if you want to gain an understanding of this particular approach to note-making and writing, most of these articles are well worth reading. And if this was all you had available you\u0026rsquo;d certainly be able to make a good start.\nI was interested to discover that quite a few technically-competent people are interested in the Zettelkasten, and are even using one, and was mildly amused to see how keen some seem to be on their many and various digital tools.\nI found the follow-up posts, where they existed, the most useful, because they showed how the authors\u0026rsquo; methods had evolved over time, with actual Zettelkasten use. This is much better than the kind of breathless article that says, basically: \u0026ldquo;I heard about this Zettelkasten word two days ago and now I\u0026rsquo;m up against a deadline to post something, anything.\u0026rdquo; The HN comments are worth skimming too, not least because there are a some sensible criticisms of this system and plenty of alternative suggestions.\nTo be honest, though, I\u0026rsquo;ve found the commentary on Reddit and at the zettelkasten.de forum to be generally of a higher quality. This is probably because the participants there are all already Zettelkasten-curious.\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-21 18:19:33 +1100", "date": "6:19 p.m. on May 21, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/21/i-read-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F21%2Fi-read-the.html" }, { "id": 596, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "More than ever, embracing your humanity is the way forward. Innovation makes people panic. Every so often there\u0026rsquo;s a panic about how the computers are making us look bad.\nI first experienced this as a kid when pocket calculators came out and maths teachers everywhere spent several years trying to stop us from using them.\nBut there had already been many previous rounds of this tech-induced disorientation. When telephones went mainstream, the morse code operators were probably saying, \u0026ldquo;Well the voice is all very well but it can hardly match the speed and precision of dots and dashes, so my job is clearly quite safe. or is it?\u0026rdquo;\nAnd this is not to mention that the morse operators had already put the semaphore operators out of a job.\nMore recently people freaked out about personal computers, spreadsheets, word processors, robots that built cars, robots that built robots, mobile phones, smart phones, chess computers, Go computers. The list goes on and on.\nThe latest entry is, of course, AI, or to be more exact, large language models (LLMs) that produce automated text, and their image-creating, deep learning equivalents. Midjourney and DALL-E are quickly killing off artists\u0026rsquo; livelihoods. Meanwhile, ChatGPT makes it look as though technical writers and copywriters are doomed to retraining.\nPromethean shame Each of these moments of innovation involves an emotion similar to what German philosopher GĂŒnther Anders called \u0026lsquo;Promethean shame\u0026rsquo;. This is the feeling that technology is embarrassing us by pointing out our human limitations. We\u0026rsquo;re just not as good at doing things as the tech that we invented to \u0026lsquo;help\u0026rsquo; us do it. In Anders\u0026rsquo; original formulation the shame arose in the observation of high quality manufactured goods. What was it shame of? That we were born, not manufactured (Die Antiquiertheit des Menschen, 1956). In the face of the latest AI panic, we\u0026rsquo;re asking, yet again: if the tools don\u0026rsquo;t really need us, what\u0026rsquo;s the point of humans at all?\nNaval said, \u0026ldquo;nobody can compete with you on being you.\u0026rdquo;\nThis is true, but being you, last time I looked, doesn\u0026rsquo;t pay the rent. This is why Promethean shame is so powerful. It\u0026rsquo;s associated with the real prospect of destitution.\nThis type of shame really plays to our fears of being thrown on the scrap heap. As Anders observed:\n\u0026ldquo;The modern individual is not afraid of being used (employed, exploited), but of not being used (p. 42)\u0026rdquo;\nGold medals for effort Actual humans aren\u0026rsquo;t good at much. And Promethean shame means they\u0026rsquo;re even embarrassed to be themselves. Most of the time, we ignore our limitations and celebrate our supposedly amazing prowess. What are the Olympic Games, for example, other than a sad display of how humans without powered accessories are really quite slow, and can\u0026rsquo;t even jump as high as a ladder? But no one ever mentions this embarrassing fact. To do so would obviously be tasteless. Instead we marvel at a human achieving a triple spin when the best previous attempt was two and a half spins. We\u0026rsquo;re collectively wowed by a person swimming almost as fast as a slow rowing boat, or rowing almost as fast as a broken speed boat. They hand out gold medals for effort.\nWhen general knowledge genius Ken Jennings lost the TV game show Jeopardy! against a computer named Watson, he wrote an article about the experience called My puny human brain.\nOne reason we find it difficult and embarrassing to accept that we\u0026rsquo;re worse than our machinery is that we already tended to discount the sub-par people. The poor, the disabled, the maimed, the troubled, the difficult, the different in, oh, so many ways. The culture already looked down on all of them, tried to silence them and make them less visible. We already knew that some people didn\u0026rsquo;t make the cut. They were too old, too young, too sick, too foreign, or not foreign enough. Well, now that\u0026rsquo;s us. All of us.\nThe solution to Promethean shame is to recognise it, then to lean into our humanity. No one is as good at being human as an actual human. And to be human means to be fragile, frail and fallible. And it\u0026rsquo;s a hallmark of genuine human being that we\u0026rsquo;re just not that great. Paradoxically, this means the better a fake human (robot, chatbot, talking iron, whatever) becomes at imitating a human, the worse it will be at replacing the actual humans.\nMediocre is good enough - for some We used to get paid to produce work that was \u0026lsquo;good enough\u0026rsquo;, but now computers can do it faster and for peanuts. And does anyone really care if it\u0026rsquo;s mediocre? That has yet to be seen.\nWilliam Deresiewicz observed:\n\u0026ldquo;having turned art into “content”—limitless, interchangeable, disposable—the internet has already eroded taste to such an extent that fewer and fewer people are capable of distinguishing between crap and quality in the first place. Or bother to.\u0026rdquo;\nIndeed, it\u0026rsquo;s now possible for AI publishers like Ingenio to churn out, say, 10,000 celebrity horoscope profiles a month. And if it turns out there\u0026rsquo;s a viable business model for this kind of flood it will just be a confirmation of TV producer Dan Harmon\u0026rsquo;s prediction from way back in 2016:\n\u0026ldquo;maybe everyone in the world will turn out to be so hopelessly stupid that they think bad things are good\u0026rdquo;.\nThriving on the new normal Harmon\u0026rsquo;s advice to those with writer\u0026rsquo;s block was to admit that your writing is terrible and do it anyway. Except that his version was cruder:\n\u0026ldquo;Switch from team “I will one day write something good” to team “I have no choice but to write a piece of shit”\u0026rdquo;.\nAs it happens this is the human condition. Ernest Hemingway once told F. Scott Fitzgerald:\n\u0026ldquo;I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit.\u0026rdquo;\nIf mostly failing was good enough for Hemingway, it\u0026rsquo;s probably good enough for you. And this is good general advice for the new age of AI. As humans, we suck so we might as well get used to it 1. In any case, this is what we\u0026rsquo;ve been getting used to for generations now. We can\u0026rsquo;t stand the cold so we wear clothes. And to stop our dangerously soft feet from wearing out we wear shoes. We can\u0026rsquo;t run at 80 or even 50 kilometres per hour so we drive cars. We can\u0026rsquo;t shout across oceans so we send email.\nThe sentence we find ourselves needing to complete now is: We can\u0026rsquo;t each produce 10,000 romance novels per month, so we\u0026hellip;\u0026quot;\nAustin Kleon points out that after Ken Jennings lost out to Watson on Jeopardy! that wasn\u0026rsquo;t the end of his story. He now makes a living being the person who lost to a computer. He\u0026rsquo;s a professional human loser.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s what we all are now. And it\u0026rsquo;s really nothing to be ashamed of.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not saying everything is fine in the world of AI, and there\u0026rsquo;s nothing to worry about. There are larger questions of capitalist extraction and exploitation. And these won\u0026rsquo;t be addressed merely by regulating the tech multinationals. Meanwhile, though, let\u0026rsquo;s at least recognise we\u0026rsquo;re just humans. All of us.\nReferences Anders, GĂŒnther. 2016. On Promethean Shame. In Prometheanism: Technology, Digital Culture and Human Obsolescence, Christopher John MĂŒller, 29-95. London: Rowman \u0026amp; Littlefield International.\nFuchs, Christian. 2017. GĂŒnther Anders’ Undiscovered Critical Theory of Technology in the Age of Big Data Capitalism. Triple C Vol 15 No 2.\nA counterpoint to Stewart Brand\u0026rsquo;s programmatic claim in the first edition of his Whole Earth Catalogue (1968), \u0026ldquo;We are as gods and might as well get good at it.\u0026rdquo;\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-19 22:02:13 +1100", "date": "10:02 p.m. on May 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/19/more-than-ever.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F19%2Fmore-than-ever.html" }, { "id": 597, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸłđŸ“· I made this. Just saying.\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-14 20:47:09 +1100", "date": "8:47 p.m. on May 14, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/14/i-made-this.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F14%2Fi-made-this.html" }, { "id": 598, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·đŸŠThough they\u0026rsquo;re a common site on Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River, I rarely see this many cormorants gathered together. Guessing there must be a lot of fish in these bays. TIL an alternative collective term for a flock of cormorants is a gulp.\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-13 22:15:40 +1100", "date": "10:15 p.m. on May 13, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/13/though-theyre-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F13%2Fthough-theyre-a.html" }, { "id": 599, "type": "post", "title": "Aby Warburg's Zettelkasten and the search for interconnection", "text": "Aby Warburg and the compulsion to interconnect Aby Warburg was a German art historian obsessed with the connections he saw across European and Mediterranean culture in the afterlife of Antiquity. He even coined a phrase: VerknĂŒpfungszwang - the compulsion to find connections.\n\u0026ldquo;Coining a word that is as fitting as it is symptomatic of the urge it describes, [Aby] Warburg spoke of his VerknĂŒpfungszwang. This ‘compulsion to interconnect’ lies not only at the root of his research and working methods. It is also manifested in regular references within his work to events in his private life, his family and collaborators.\u0026rdquo; - The Warburg Institute\nThree projects in particular display Warburg\u0026rsquo;s extraordinary scholarly methods.\n\u0026ldquo;The library, panels and boxes formed the ensemble of supports on which Aby Warburg\u0026rsquo;s spiritual work and intellectual creativity were based.\u0026rdquo; - Benjamin Steiner, Aby Warburgs Zettelkasten Nr. 2 \u0026ldquo;Geschichtsauffassung\u0026rdquo;, In: Heike Gfrereis / Ellen Strittmatter (Hrsg.): ZettelkĂ€sten. Maschinen der Phantasie (Marbacher Kataloge, 66). Marbach 2013, S. 154-161.\nTaken together, these three amount to a technology for exploring Warburg\u0026rsquo;s obsession with interconnection.\nImage source: Helix Center Warburg Symposium\nThe Zettelkasten as a thread through the labyrinth of thought The first technology of note is Warburg\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten, his collection of index boxes, containing notes on many subjects.\n\u0026ldquo;Aby Warburg’s collection of index cards (III.2.1.ZK), containing notes, bibliographical references, printed material and letters, was compiled throughout the scholar’s life. Ninety-six boxes survive, each containing between 200 and 800 individually numbered index cards. Cardboard dividers and envelopes group these index cards into thematic sections. The online catalogue reproduces the structure of the dividers and sub-dividers with their original titles in German and consists of about 3,200 items.\u0026rdquo; - Warburg Institute Archive\n\u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;Warburg apparently worked constantly with these boxes, and, as his first biographer Carl Georg Heise has reported, he often stood with a strained facial expression bent over the mass of papers and arranged and shifted the individual cards in a long-lasting and never-ending process of order. \u0026ldquo;Those who follow Warburg\u0026rsquo;s note box follow his train of thought; from the banking system in Florence, the medieval trading company, the development of individuality, the restless professional work of the Calvinists and the Reformed form of asceticism, to Warburg\u0026rsquo;s own origin from the old Jewish banking family. The slip box is Warburg\u0026rsquo;s Ariadne\u0026rsquo;s thread through his labyrinthine library like his labyrinthine thinking: from the werewolf to the historical concept. A thought, an idea or a new concept does not emerge in a linear progression, but in a process of reciprocating units of ideas and cross-references, which continues until new intersections and nodes have formed.\u0026rdquo; - Benjamin Steiner, Aby Warburgs Zettelkasten Nr. 2 \u0026ldquo;Geschichtsauffassung\u0026rdquo;, In: Heike Gfrereis / Ellen Strittmatter (Hrsg.): ZettelkĂ€sten. Maschinen der Phantasie (Marbacher Kataloge, 66). Marbach 2013, S. 154-161.\nAccording to Fritz Saxl, Warburg\u0026rsquo;s assistant and collaborator, \u0026ldquo;this vast card-index had a special quality\u0026hellip; they had become part of his system and scholarly existence\u0026rdquo;.\n\u0026ldquo;Often one saw Warburg standing tired and distressed bent over his boxes with a packet of index cards, trying to ïŹnd for each one the best place within the system; it looked like a waste of energy. [
] It took some time to realise that his aim was not bibliographical. This was his method of deïŹning the limits and contents of his scholarly world and the experience gained here became decisive in selecting books for the Library.\u0026rdquo; - Fritz Saxl, The History of Warburg’s Library (1943-44, p. 329), quoted in Mnemonics, Mneme And Mnemosyne. Aby Warburg’s Theory Of Memory, Claudia Wedepohl (p.389).\nA library of good neighbours Second of note, and much larger than the card-index, is Warburg\u0026rsquo;s library. As the oldest son, Aby Warburg was in line to inherit his family\u0026rsquo;s seriously wealthy banking business. But his lack of interest in finance led him to offer the business to his younger brother Max, on the condition he could purchase any books he needed for his research into his true interest, art history. It may have seemed like a modest request, but Warburg\u0026rsquo;s book collection grew ever larger and eventually expanded into a significant research library. This library was organised like no other. The shelves, and eventually whole rooms were arranged to enable serendipitous connections across and between categories.\n\u0026ldquo;the book you need might not necessarily be the one you were looking for. It might, in fact, be the one next to it. The books are shelved around the law of the good neighbour, meaning that the library’s collection is organised thematically instead of by author, title, or publication date. Gertrud Bing, an architect of the classification system and director of the Institute when it moved to London, said that ‘the manner of shelving the books is meant to impact certain suggestions to the reader who, looking on the shelves for one book, is attracted by the kindred ones next to it, glances at the sections above and below, and finds himself involved in a new trend of thought which may lend additional interest to the one he was pursuing’. Although the Warburg’s serendipitous system may initially seem unconventional and somewhat esoteric, the structuring of the library’s collection around the law of the good neighbour means that it is much easier for readers to discover and find texts they didn’t even know they needed within the interconnected, interdisciplinary classmarks. For Warburg, every book was useful in the context of the whole collection.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026hellip;\u0026ldquo;the arrangement of the books at the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg, the first Warburg library in Hamburg, was intended to encourage rather than obstruct discoveries. Whenever Warburg, an avid book collector, took receipt of one of his many deliveries of new acquisitions, he would rearrange the shelves to accommodate each new book into the collection. In this way, his theories on the interrelation of various images, literary motifs and disciplines found physical form in the arrangement of the books on the shelves. Bing remarked that ‘Warburg had chosen and arranged the books like stones from a mosaic of which he had the pattern in his mind’. They were collected for research into specific areas, under a general theme of the afterlife of antiquity.\u0026rdquo; Source: The Warburg Institute\nAn Atlas of Images The third technology for making connections was Warburg\u0026rsquo;s visual Memosyne Atlas, intended to demonstrate in a series of large panels the lines of connection between artistic motifs in varying periods and locations.\n\u0026ldquo;Warburg believed that these symbolic images, when juxtaposed and then placed in sequence, could foster immediate, synoptic insights into the afterlife of pathos-charged images depicting what he dubbed “bewegtes Leben” (life in motion or animated life).\u0026rdquo; - ZKM Center for Art and Media\nWarburg\u0026rsquo;s institutional legacy These three enterprises, card index, library and atlas, are today combined into the Warburg Institute, which began life in Hamburg and since 1944 has been in London.\nAbove the front door of the Institute is inscribed the Greek word MEMOSYNE. Warburg saw this not straightforwardly as the name of the goddess of memory, but as a sphynx presenting a great riddle. The Institute revolves around memory as a problem. What is memory? How does it persist in culture and individuals, and especially through art?\n\u0026ldquo;In the first public occurrence of the word “Mnemosyne” I am aware of in his writings, found in the annual report on the Library for the year 1925, Warburg identifies Mnemosyne not as the goddess of Memory and mother of the Muses but rather as “the great Sphynx,” out of whom he hopes “to unlock, if not her secret, at least the formulation of her riddle [der grossen Sphynx Mnemosyne, wenn auch nicht ihr Geheimnis, so doch die Formulierung ihrer RĂ€tselfrage zu entlocken]”\u0026rdquo; – Davide Stimilli, «Aby Warburg’s Impresa», Images Re-vues (En ligne), Hors-sĂ©rie 4, 2013.\nArguably, Warburg\u0026rsquo;s self-diagnosed VerknĂŒpfungszwang, his ‘compulsion to interconnect’ hindered the completion and publication of his work. Perhaps his constant sorting and re-sorting represented a kind of perfectionism, or even a form of obsessive-compulsive behaviour. Indeed, he spent several years battling significant mental health problems and the end published comparatively little.\nHowever, in another sense, through his Zettelkasten, his library and his atlas of images, the compulsion to interconnect became Warburg\u0026rsquo;s life\u0026rsquo;s work. It is telling that though Warburg left relatively few completed texts, his institutional legacy, especially through London\u0026rsquo;s Warburg Institute and Hamburg\u0026rsquo;s Warburg-Haus, has proved extremely influential and highly intellectually fertile over many decades - and continues strongly into the Twenty-first Century.\nIn his novel The White Castle (1998), Orhan Pamuk\u0026rsquo;s narrator says: \u0026ldquo;I suppose that to see everything as connected with everything else is the addiction of our time.\u0026rdquo; The life and legacy of Aby Warburg, shows that this doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to be a pointless pursuit of arbitrary links but can generate lasting knowledge and meaning with wide implications.\nFurther reading and viewing: Chernow, Ron (1993). The Warburgs: The Twentieth Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0525431831.\nThe Warburg Institute Library: A Brief Description\nIntroduction to the Warburg Institute Library and Collections - description of Warburg\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten at 8:36\nAby Warburg: Metamorphosis and Memory - and Chris Aldridge\u0026rsquo;s online notes on this documentary (which is how I discovered it). I\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri. The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available now in paperback and ebook.\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-10 01:02:00 +1100", "date": "1:02 p.m. on May 10, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/10/aby-warburgs-zettelkasten-and-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F10%2Faby-warburgs-zettelkasten-and-the.html" }, { "id": 600, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Thanks to a post by @chrisaldrich I was finally prompted to write about Aby Warburg\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten and library.\nAby Warburg's Zettelkasten and the search for interconnection writingslowly.comWriting Slowly https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/09/aby-warburgs-three.html ", "dateiso": "2023-05-10 00:12:14 +1100", "date": "12:12 p.m. on May 10, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/09/thanks-to-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F09%2Fthanks-to-a.html" }, { "id": 601, "type": "post", "title": "Aby Warburg's Zettelkasten and the search for interconnection", "text": "Aby Warburg and the compulsion to interconnect Aby Warburg was a German art historian obsessed with the connections he saw across European and Mediterranean culture in the afterlife of Antiquity. He even coined a phrase: VerknĂŒpfungszwang - the compulsion to find connections.\n\u0026ldquo;Coining a word that is as fitting as it is symptomatic of the urge it describes, [Aby] Warburg spoke of his VerknĂŒpfungszwang. This ‘compulsion to interconnect’ lies not only at the root of his research and working methods. It is also manifested in regular references within his work to events in his private life, his family and collaborators.\u0026rdquo; - The Warburg Institute\nThree projects in particular display Warburg\u0026rsquo;s extraordinary scholarly methods.\n\u0026ldquo;The library, panels and boxes formed the ensemble of supports on which Aby Warburg\u0026rsquo;s spiritual work and intellectual creativity were based.\u0026rdquo; - Benjamin Steiner, Aby Warburgs Zettelkasten Nr. 2 \u0026ldquo;Geschichtsauffassung\u0026rdquo;, In: Heike Gfrereis / Ellen Strittmatter (Hrsg.): ZettelkĂ€sten. Maschinen der Phantasie (Marbacher Kataloge, 66). Marbach 2013, S. 154-161.\nTaken together, these three amount to a technology for exploring Warburg\u0026rsquo;s obsession with interconnection.\nImage source: Helix Center Warburg Symposium\nThe Zettelkasten as a thread through the labyrinth of thought The first technology of note is Warburg\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten, his collection of index boxes, containing notes on many subjects.\n\u0026ldquo;Aby Warburg’s collection of index cards (III.2.1.ZK), containing notes, bibliographical references, printed material and letters, was compiled throughout the scholar’s life. Ninety-six boxes survive, each containing between 200 and 800 individually numbered index cards. Cardboard dividers and envelopes group these index cards into thematic sections. The online catalogue reproduces the structure of the dividers and sub-dividers with their original titles in German and consists of about 3,200 items.\u0026rdquo; - Warburg Institute Archive\n\u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;Warburg apparently worked constantly with these boxes, and, as his first biographer Carl Georg Heise has reported, he often stood with a strained facial expression bent over the mass of papers and arranged and shifted the individual cards in a long-lasting and never-ending process of order. \u0026ldquo;Those who follow Warburg\u0026rsquo;s note box follow his train of thought; from the banking system in Florence, the medieval trading company, the development of individuality, the restless professional work of the Calvinists and the Reformed form of asceticism, to Warburg\u0026rsquo;s own origin from the old Jewish banking family. The slip box is Warburg\u0026rsquo;s Ariadne\u0026rsquo;s thread through his labyrinthine library like his labyrinthine thinking: from the werewolf to the historical concept. A thought, an idea or a new concept does not emerge in a linear progression, but in a process of reciprocating units of ideas and cross-references, which continues until new intersections and nodes have formed.\u0026rdquo; - Benjamin Steiner, Aby Warburgs Zettelkasten Nr. 2 \u0026ldquo;Geschichtsauffassung\u0026rdquo;, In: Heike Gfrereis / Ellen Strittmatter (Hrsg.): ZettelkĂ€sten. Maschinen der Phantasie (Marbacher Kataloge, 66). Marbach 2013, S. 154-161.\nAccording to Fritz Saxl, Warburg\u0026rsquo;s assistant and collaborator, \u0026ldquo;this vast card-index had a special quality\u0026hellip; they had become part of his system and scholarly existence\u0026rdquo;.\n\u0026ldquo;Often one saw Warburg standing tired and distressed bent over his boxes with a packet of index cards, trying to ïŹnd for each one the best place within the system; it looked like a waste of energy. [
] It took some time to realise that his aim was not bibliographical. This was his method of deïŹning the limits and contents of his scholarly world and the experience gained here became decisive in selecting books for the Library.\u0026rdquo; - Fritz Saxl, The History of Warburg’s Library (1943-44, p. 329), quoted in Mnemonics, Mneme And Mnemosyne. Aby Warburg’s Theory Of Memory, Claudia Wedepohl (p.389).\nA library of good neighbours Second of note, and much larger than the card-index, is Warburg\u0026rsquo;s library. As the oldest son, Aby Warburg was in line to inherit his family\u0026rsquo;s seriously wealthy banking business. But his lack of interest in finance led him to offer the business to his younger brother Max, on the condition he could purchase any books he needed for his research into his true interest, art history. It may have seemed like a modest request, but Warburg\u0026rsquo;s book collection grew ever larger and eventually expanded into a significant research library. This library was organised like no other. The shelves, and eventually whole rooms were arranged to enable serendipitous connections across and between categories.\n\u0026ldquo;the book you need might not necessarily be the one you were looking for. It might, in fact, be the one next to it. The books are shelved around the law of the good neighbour, meaning that the library’s collection is organised thematically instead of by author, title, or publication date. Gertrud Bing, an architect of the classification system and director of the Institute when it moved to London, said that ‘the manner of shelving the books is meant to impact certain suggestions to the reader who, looking on the shelves for one book, is attracted by the kindred ones next to it, glances at the sections above and below, and finds himself involved in a new trend of thought which may lend additional interest to the one he was pursuing’. Although the Warburg’s serendipitous system may initially seem unconventional and somewhat esoteric, the structuring of the library’s collection around the law of the good neighbour means that it is much easier for readers to discover and find texts they didn’t even know they needed within the interconnected, interdisciplinary classmarks. For Warburg, every book was useful in the context of the whole collection.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026hellip;\u0026ldquo;the arrangement of the books at the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg, the first Warburg library in Hamburg, was intended to encourage rather than obstruct discoveries. Whenever Warburg, an avid book collector, took receipt of one of his many deliveries of new acquisitions, he would rearrange the shelves to accommodate each new book into the collection. In this way, his theories on the interrelation of various images, literary motifs and disciplines found physical form in the arrangement of the books on the shelves. Bing remarked that ‘Warburg had chosen and arranged the books like stones from a mosaic of which he had the pattern in his mind’. They were collected for research into specific areas, under a general theme of the afterlife of antiquity.\u0026rdquo; Source: The Warburg Institute\nAn Atlas of Images The third technology for making connections was Warburg\u0026rsquo;s visual Memosyne Atlas, intended to demonstrate in a series of large panels the lines of connection between artistic motifs in varying periods and locations.\n\u0026ldquo;Warburg believed that these symbolic images, when juxtaposed and then placed in sequence, could foster immediate, synoptic insights into the afterlife of pathos-charged images depicting what he dubbed “bewegtes Leben” (life in motion or animated life).\u0026rdquo; - ZKM Center for Art and Media\nWarburg\u0026rsquo;s institutional legacy These three enterprises, card index, library and atlas, are today combined into the Warburg Institute, which began life in Hamburg and since 1944 has been in London.\nAbove the front door of the Institute is inscribed the Greek word MEMOSYNE. Warburg saw this not straightforwardly as the name of the goddess of memory, but as a sphynx presenting a great riddle. The Institute revolves around memory as a problem. What is memory? How does it persist in culture and individuals, and especially through art?\n\u0026ldquo;In the first public occurrence of the word “Mnemosyne” I am aware of in his writings, found in the annual report on the Library for the year 1925, Warburg identifies Mnemosyne not as the goddess of Memory and mother of the Muses but rather as “the great Sphynx,” out of whom he hopes “to unlock, if not her secret, at least the formulation of her riddle [der grossen Sphynx Mnemosyne, wenn auch nicht ihr Geheimnis, so doch die Formulierung ihrer RĂ€tselfrage zu entlocken]”\u0026rdquo; – Davide Stimilli, «Aby Warburg’s Impresa», Images Re-vues (En ligne), Hors-sĂ©rie 4, 2013.\nArguably, Warburg\u0026rsquo;s self-diagnosed VerknĂŒpfungszwang, his ‘compulsion to interconnect’ hindered the completion and publication of his work. Perhaps his constant sorting and re-sorting represented a kind of perfectionism, or even a form of obsessive-compulsive behaviour. Indeed, he spent several years battling significant mental health problems and the end published comparatively little.\nHowever, in another sense, through his Zettelkasten, his library and his atlas of images, the compulsion to interconnect became Warburg\u0026rsquo;s life\u0026rsquo;s work. It is telling that though Warburg left relatively few completed texts, his institutional legacy, especially through London\u0026rsquo;s Warburg Institute and Hamburg\u0026rsquo;s Warburg-Haus, has proved extremely influential and highly intellectually fertile over many decades - and continues strongly into the Twenty-first Century.\nIn his novel The White Castle (1998), Orhan Pamuk\u0026rsquo;s narrator says: \u0026ldquo;I suppose that to see everything as connected with everything else is the addiction of our time.\u0026rdquo; The life and legacy of Aby Warburg, shows that this doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to be a pointless pursuit of arbitrary links but can generate lasting knowledge and meaning with wide implications.\nFurther reading and viewing: Chernow, Ron (1993). The Warburgs: The Twentieth Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0525431831.\nThe Warburg Institute Library: A Brief Description\nIntroduction to the Warburg Institute Library and Collections - description of Warburg\u0026rsquo;s Zettelkasten at 8:36\nAby Warburg: Metamorphosis and Memory - and Chris Aldridge\u0026rsquo;s online notes on this documentary (which is how I discovered it).\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-10 00:02:49 +1100", "date": "12:02 p.m. on May 10, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/09/aby-warburgs-three.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F09%2Faby-warburgs-three.html" }, { "id": 602, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Emotional Ignorance by Dean Burnett 📚demolishes the old myth that we only use 10% of our brains. It’s far more complex and interesting than that. My brain is literally parked outside for all but 5% of the time. Yet when I need to go somewhere I need 100% of it. So inefficient! Wait, that’s my car.\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-06 11:36:46 +1100", "date": "11:36 p.m. on May 6, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/06/emotional-ignorance-by.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F06%2Femotional-ignorance-by.html" }, { "id": 603, "type": "post", "title": "Was Dracula foiled by a gang of obsessive note-takers?", "text": "May 3 is the date Bram Stoker\u0026rsquo;s famous novel, Dracula begins. It\u0026rsquo;s a classic tale of evil, lust and violence and you can follow along from the safety of your in-box with Dracula Daily.1\nI was not able to light on any map or work giving the exact locality of the Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this country as yet to compare with our own Ordnance Survey maps; but I found that Bistritz, the post town named by Count Dracula, is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter here some of my notes, as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my travels with Mina.\nThe novel is presented as a whole series of notes - journal entries, letters, typed memos and phonograph transcriptions - by a group of bewildered friends (lovers? enemies?), as they try to make sense of the supernatural designs of the mysterious Count. In 1897, when the novel was written, all this seemed new and high-tech. The story, in effect, pits aspirational note-taking against monstrous, blood-sucking evil. You\u0026rsquo;ll have to read it to find out which of these two tremendous powers wins out in the end.\nThese days, fortunately, all we have to worry about is ChatGPT taking our jobs. But collecting our notes together and making sense of them, against all the odds, remains as important as ever.\nI have no connection with this site - I\u0026rsquo;m just obsessed with Dracula.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-05 00:42:31 +1100", "date": "12:42 p.m. on May 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/04/was-dracula-foiled.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F04%2Fwas-dracula-foiled.html" }, { "id": 604, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "30 years of the World Wide Web. An incredible journey! I recall wondering if it would supersede Gopher. Didn\u0026rsquo;t have to wonder long. I also remember CompuServe pretending the WWW didn\u0026rsquo;t exist. That didn\u0026rsquo;t last long either. www.npr.org/2023/04/3\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-01 09:08:08 +1100", "date": "9:08 p.m. on May 1, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/01/years-of-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F01%2Fyears-of-the.html" }, { "id": 605, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "More discontent in the world of academic publishing. It\u0026rsquo;s amazing how far the brightest people have been tricked by the industry. Troubling to see how hard is their climb back out of the well. dailynous.com/2023/04/2\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2023-05-01 08:43:33 +1100", "date": "8:43 p.m. on May 1, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/05/01/more-discontent-in.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F05%2F01%2Fmore-discontent-in.html" }, { "id": 606, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "\u0026ldquo;The question: what are you making with your notes?\u0026rdquo; An important question, and a great article from @annahavron\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-25 00:33:15 +1100", "date": "12:33 p.m. on Apr 25, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/24/the-question-what.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F24%2Fthe-question-what.html" }, { "id": 607, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "\u0026ldquo;Everyone needs their own thinking space.\u0026rdquo; Sometimes it\u0026rsquo;s a room of your own, sometimes it\u0026rsquo;s a website of your own. But it\u0026rsquo;s never Chad\u0026rsquo;s Garage - because Chad\u0026rsquo;s garage is not yours.\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-24 23:52:33 +1100", "date": "11:52 p.m. on Apr 24, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/24/everyone-needs-their.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F24%2Feveryone-needs-their.html" }, { "id": 608, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "“Do you know exactly what you want?” It’s a very good question. I do, and my word of the year is “focus”. That’s because I find it very hard to prioritise what I want. I suspect I’m not alone in this\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-19 14:38:16 +1100", "date": "2:38 p.m. on Apr 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/19/do-you-know.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F19%2Fdo-you-know.html" }, { "id": 609, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "An amazing Femi Kuti concert last night. The recordings are great but they don\u0026rsquo;t do justice to this band in person. The total confidence that everyone in the audience would be dancing and the complete fulfilment of that confidence.\nFor two enthralling hours of Afrobeat Femi Kuti gave more energy than all his dancers put together - and they gave a huge amount of energy.\nThere was a sax solo from Femi that was completely magical. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t previously have called myself a fan but I was completely won over. It was a sublime night. Live music at its absolute best. đŸŽ”\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-07 22:29:04 +1100", "date": "10:29 p.m. on Apr 7, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/07/an-amazing-femi.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F07%2Fan-amazing-femi.html" }, { "id": 610, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Golden early-evening light on the route home.\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-06 18:29:57 +1100", "date": "6:29 p.m. on Apr 6, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/06/golden-earlyevening-light.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F06%2Fgolden-earlyevening-light.html" }, { "id": 611, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "The Writer\u0026rsquo;s Journey began as a memo.\nWorking at Disney during the 1980s, Christopher Vogler saw senior executives using memos effectively. He wrote one to summarise The Hero with a Thousand Faces, as he was sure Joseph Campbell\u0026rsquo;s book had inspired George Lucas\u0026rsquo;s Star Wars. He wrote a 7-page memo that became so popular he expanded it into a book. This became the \u0026lsquo;Bible\u0026rsquo; for beginning scriptwriters. He called it a \u0026lsquo;practical guide\u0026rsquo;, since besides summarising Campbell\u0026rsquo;s ideas on narrative, he showed how they could be used to write film scripts.\nQuestion: what else could start with just a memo?\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-06 09:27:18 +1100", "date": "9:27 p.m. on Apr 6, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/06/the-writers-journey.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F06%2Fthe-writers-journey.html" }, { "id": 612, "type": "post", "title": "April already ", "text": "đŸ“·đŸ“šIt’s April already. Do the months slip past ever faster?\nAutumn has arrived again and it’s glorious - a limpid blue sky after a weekend wet with rain. Quite different from Summer, when we would push open the rear doors to enjoy the cooling breezes from the coast, and watch dragonflies come and go as they pleased.\nBut Autumn is the season when our kitchen comes into its own. Through closed windows the early morning sun warms the room, inviting us to attend, to sit and read. That’s why we’ve moved the rocking chair back to its corner in the light.\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-05 09:00:00 +1100", "date": "9:00 p.m. on Apr 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/05/april-already.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F05%2Fapril-already.html" }, { "id": 613, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 “In a society that profits from your self doubt, liking yourself is a rebellious act”.\nA magic spell that protects the user against advertising of all kinds. Use wisely. ", "dateiso": "2023-04-04 17:45:36 +1100", "date": "5:45 p.m. on Apr 4, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/03/in-a-society.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F03%2Fin-a-society.html" }, { "id": 614, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "💬 “Energy moves in waves
”\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-03 22:39:42 +1100", "date": "10:39 p.m. on Apr 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/03/energy-moves-in.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F03%2Fenergy-moves-in.html" }, { "id": 615, "type": "post", "title": "Personal publishing is still the future", "text": "The online writing gurus say it\u0026rsquo;s pointless starting your own blog, because no one will read it. Best to go where the readers are and write directly on Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Quora, Instagram. Anywhere that enables so-called organic discovery.\nSocial media and new-style forum sites are where it\u0026rsquo;s at, they say. That\u0026rsquo;s where you can gain a few readers and gauge the relative popularity of your writing. Then double down on what seems to be working and\u0026hellip; lift off! you have an online writing presence with a responsive audience. Next you entice this emerging audience to sign up to your email list, so they become no longer the social media giant\u0026rsquo;s audience but your audience, to whom you can now go direct.\nSo really, the advice of those who claim to know is that it\u0026rsquo;s fine to start your own blog so long as you distribute it by email, advertise it on social media and above all, don\u0026rsquo;t call it a blog. It\u0026rsquo;s a newsletter, OK?\nWhatever.\nI started with the Internet in the late 1980s, several years before the Web even existed. I used FTP, Gopher, and Usenet, and it\u0026rsquo;s delightful to see that the venerable email still endures, even though it\u0026rsquo;s an unwieldy beast, forced to perform tasks it was never meant for.\nThe Web revolution, I can state with some confidence having lived through it, was and still is a revolution in personal publishing. A person of modest means can publish on the web and anyone in the world can read it. Simple but amazing.\nOf course findability is an issue. Of course attention is finite. Of course you have to have something you want to say, or show. But the basic tools are there to make anyone a publisher of their own work, if they want it. The corporations do everything in their power to try to put that particular genie back in its lamp, but they can\u0026rsquo;t. In the early 1990s UK, the only way to get on the Internet (outside universities) was through Compuserve. Compuserve ran its own forums and pretended the Web didn\u0026rsquo;t exist. It was a walled garden and they did everything possible not to inform people of what they were missing. It was ridiculous, but effective while it lasted. For eighteen months or more there really was no alternative. Of course this scam didn\u0026rsquo;t last forever and as soon as people found the real Web, the game was up.\nNowadays Compuserve is a zombified hollow shell of its former self. In the US America Online tried the same scam. And AOL too is a shadow of its former glory. But the walled-garden game plan was closely copied by Facebook. For years in the 2010s it seemed like you could explore the wider Web, but why bother when all your friends were right there on Facebook? In the Third World, meanwhile, Zuckerberg tried to provide \u0026lsquo;internet services\u0026rsquo; that only included his own brands - just as Compuserve had done years before.\nBut the game is up for Facebook too. As Meta slowly trickles down the drain and Twitter eats itself, the wider Internet remains. As someone wise said: the Network is the social network now- and it always has been.\nThe Web itself is the publishing platform and anyone can still publish there.\nFor years, I published an obscure Wordpress blog - but it had thousands of views. More recently I\u0026rsquo;ve been publishing a static blog hosted on Github, simply as a little experiment in whether I can manage the technology. Really, it\u0026rsquo;s not very difficult. Most recently, I\u0026rsquo;ve set up a little home here on my new website, which is connected to micro.blog. Gaining readers is entirely another matter. But I\u0026rsquo;m mainly doing this for my own amusement, so that\u0026rsquo;s not the main point of the exercise.\nCall it a newsletter, (don\u0026rsquo;t) call it a blog, call it what you like. Personal publishing is still the future.\nSee also:\nThe Internet is still the future\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-02 22:54:17 +1100", "date": "10:54 p.m. on Apr 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/02/personal-publishing-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F02%2Fpersonal-publishing-is.html" }, { "id": 616, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Can’t believe I’ve only just found out about the Parks board game. (Hat tip to John Chandler) @johnchandler\nThere really should be something like an Australian version, in the inimitable retro style of James Northfield\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-02 15:12:11 +1100", "date": "3:12 p.m. on Apr 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/02/cant-believe-ive.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F02%2Fcant-believe-ive.html" }, { "id": 617, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Visited the Wildcat Zine Fair in yesterday’s rain.\nDid I mention I really like zines? Something about the “publish what you like and to hell with everything else” DIY attitude.\nIn the 1980s a zine helped get me into anti-nuclear campaigning. Nostalgia. The Australian Government’s recent decision to buy expensive and useless nuclear submarines from the US has brought it all back. Maybe I’m just an adolescent rebel at heart.\nScored some interesting zines and a couple of second hand books, anyway. With any luck that will fix militarism.đŸ« \n", "dateiso": "2023-04-02 10:45:53 +1100", "date": "10:45 p.m. on Apr 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/02/visited-the-wildcat.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F02%2Fvisited-the-wildcat.html" }, { "id": 618, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Adding two plugins to the website this morning. ‘Search space’, by @sod is now at 1.0 so definitely time to give it a try. And while I’m at it I’ve also added his ‘conversation on micro.blog’ plugin.\nIt’s a rainy day so the regular bike ride is postponed for now. đŸŒ§ïž\nOne of the many good things about micro.blog as a web host is its curated list of plugins like these, for the Hugo web engine it uses. My previous experience with Wordpress plugins was frankly quite frustrating, so I’m happy to imagine that the limited number of plugins available with micro.blog is at least thought through.\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-02 08:58:47 +1100", "date": "8:58 p.m. on Apr 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/04/02/adding-two-plugins.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F04%2F02%2Fadding-two-plugins.html" }, { "id": 619, "type": "post", "title": "We think best when we bring opposites together ", "text": " \u0026ldquo;We think best when we bring opposites together, when we realize that all these realities, one inside the other, are somehow connected. That’s how the wonder and amazement that are so necessary to both poetry and philosophy come about.\u0026rdquo; Charles Simic, Paris Review, quoted by Austin Kleon\nI\u0026rsquo;m constantly amazed that something I just saw or read in one context appears again in another, completely different context. And then it appears again. Synchronicity? The availability bias? Magic? Whatever, it certainly enhances my sense of wonder at the world.\n", "dateiso": "2023-04-01 13:14:50 +1100", "date": "1:14 p.m. on Apr 1, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/01/26/we-think-best.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F01%2F26%2Fwe-think-best.html" }, { "id": 620, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 31: “practice “. Keeping the instruments out and ready to play makes it much more likely that I’ll get some practice. Seems like there’s no improvement for ages, then a sudden jump forward.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-31 23:00:31 +1100", "date": "11:00 p.m. on Mar 31, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/31/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F31%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 621, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 30: “mirror”\nPenultimate day of the photo challenge!\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-30 22:55:56 +1100", "date": "10:55 p.m. on Mar 30, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/30/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F30%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 622, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 29: “slice”\nOne of our local bakeries does a quite decent seeded whole meal Viennese style loaf - although you do have to slice it yourself.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-29 22:06:34 +1100", "date": "10:06 p.m. on Mar 29, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/29/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F29%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 623, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·đŸšČMicro.blog March photo challenge, day 28: “prompt”\nI like to keep this old prompt front-of-mind: “simplicity is the key
”\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-28 22:58:41 +1100", "date": "10:58 p.m. on Mar 28, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/28/225841.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F28%2F225841.html" }, { "id": 624, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 27: “support”\nSydney has many more bridges than just the famous Harbour Bridge. This bridge across the George’s River evidently needs (and gets) a lot of support.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-28 15:38:50 +1100", "date": "3:38 p.m. on Mar 28, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/28/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F28%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 625, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 26 of the Micro.blog March Photoblogging Challenge. The prompt is ‘instrument’. This small picture was a gift from a friend long ago.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-27 16:25:14 +1100", "date": "4:25 p.m. on Mar 27, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/27/day-of-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F27%2Fday-of-the.html" }, { "id": 626, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· 🌼Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 26: “variety”\nFond memories of the time my kids and their friends made us this meal. They were so delighted. Unforgettable. 😍\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-26 12:00:00 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Mar 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/26/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F26%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 627, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· 🌼Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 25: “spice”\nWhen I searched my photographs for “spice”, this is what it found: a spice cupboard for robots. I guess.đŸ€”đŸ€–\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-25 18:37:18 +1100", "date": "6:37 p.m. on Mar 25, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/25/183718.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F25%2F183718.html" }, { "id": 628, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 24: “court”.\nWalking through the parks near my house just before dusk. There’s a whole heap of netball courts, maybe 20, recently resurfaced\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-24 11:28:00 +1100", "date": "11:28 p.m. on Mar 24, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/24/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F24%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 629, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 23:”chance”\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-23 07:52:00 +1100", "date": "7:52 p.m. on Mar 23, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/23/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F23%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 630, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· 🐝Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 22: “insect”\nJust in time for a photograph, this native bee flew into the kitchen. There’s 1,700 species of bees in Australia.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-22 22:37:20 +1100", "date": "10:37 p.m. on Mar 22, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/22/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F22%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 631, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 21: “tiny”\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-21 23:05:00 +1100", "date": "11:05 p.m. on Mar 21, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/21/230500.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F21%2F230500.html" }, { "id": 632, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·đŸȘŽMicro.blog March photo challenge, day 20: “houseplant”\nIn hot weather, spraying the leaves of this umbrella plant creates a noticeable cooling effect.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-20 17:57:00 +1100", "date": "5:57 p.m. on Mar 20, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/20/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F20%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 633, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "How’s your coffee art these days? I predict big improvements for my game. ☕\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-19 11:02:49 +1100", "date": "11:02 p.m. on Mar 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/19/hows-your-coffee.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F19%2Fhows-your-coffee.html" }, { "id": 634, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· đŸ—‚ïžđŸ—ƒïžMicro.blog March photo challenge, day 19: “analogue”\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-19 08:57:00 +1100", "date": "8:57 p.m. on Mar 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/19/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F19%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 635, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 18: “portico”\nWhen it comes to fancy architecture, nothing beats the Australian vernacular style.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-18 14:45:36 +1100", "date": "2:45 p.m. on Mar 18, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/18/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F18%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 636, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 18: \u0026ldquo;fabric #mbsept\n1970s wallpaper at The Foundations, Portland.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-18 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Mar 18, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/18/day-fabric-mbsept.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F18%2Fday-fabric-mbsept.html" }, { "id": 637, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "A gift from my son: three intriguing books for my to-read pile (which never seems to get any smaller)! 📚\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-17 14:54:23 +1100", "date": "2:54 p.m. on Mar 17, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/17/a-gift-from.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F17%2Fa-gift-from.html" }, { "id": 638, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 17: \u0026ldquo;early\u0026rdquo;. Cloud on the headland, slow to clear.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-17 12:00:00 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Mar 17, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/17/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F17%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 639, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· 🚮Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 16: “road”\nCame across a surprising sign on a cycling tour of Argyll: \u0026ldquo;Unsuitable road for sat-nav users\u0026rdquo;. Having just cycled the pot-holes, I\u0026rsquo;d have to agree!\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-16 19:45:51 +1100", "date": "7:45 p.m. on Mar 16, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/16/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F16%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 640, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“·đŸˆ Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 15: “patience”\nIf you wait long enough, something is bound to turn up.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-15 22:26:27 +1100", "date": "10:26 p.m. on Mar 15, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/15/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F15%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 641, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 14: \u0026ldquo;horizon\u0026rdquo;\nMysterious Lake George. The windfarm on the horizon powers Sydney\u0026rsquo;s water desalination plant.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-14 12:00:00 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Mar 14, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/14/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F14%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 642, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 13: \u0026ldquo;connection\u0026rdquo;\nAt work I\u0026rsquo;m into connecting people and places. A project I\u0026rsquo;m proud of is the Greater Sydney Green Grid.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-13 12:00:00 +1100", "date": "12:00 p.m. on Mar 13, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/13/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F13%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 643, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 12: \u0026ldquo;shiny\u0026rdquo;\nIt\u0026rsquo;s often very bright at my local surf beach. Sometimes makes me think I\u0026rsquo;m not wearing sunglasses.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-12 15:02:00 +1100", "date": "3:02 p.m. on Mar 12, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/12/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F12%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 644, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 11: \u0026ldquo;gimcrack\u0026rdquo;\nThe very opposite of gimcrack: a Genroku (1688-1704) period plate from Kyushu Japan, displayed in the National Gallery of Victoria, in Melbourne. I spotted six birds hiding in this design. Are there any more?\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-11 12:41:59 +1100", "date": "12:41 p.m. on Mar 11, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/11/124159.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F11%2F124159.html" }, { "id": 645, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 10: \u0026ldquo;ritual\u0026rdquo;\nMy daughter goes surfing almost every day. She\u0026rsquo;s gradually accumulating more boards.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-10 12:08:00 +1100", "date": "12:08 p.m. on Mar 10, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/10/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F10%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 646, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 9: \u0026ldquo;together\u0026rdquo;\nSpotted during my regular bike ride: birds of a feather.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-09 20:39:01 +1100", "date": "8:39 p.m. on Mar 9, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/09/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F09%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 647, "type": "post", "title": "Micro.blog March Photo Challenge Week 2 Preview", "text": "Just thought I\u0026rsquo;d provide a preview1 of week 2 of the photoblog challenge. Week 2 prompts: 🗓\nMarch 8: walk ([@lwdupont](https://micro.blog/lwdupont)) March 9: together ([@sherif](https://micro.blog/sherif)) March 10: ritual ([@drewbelf](https://micro.blog/drewbelf)) March 11: gimcrack ([@jafish](https://micro.blog/jafish)) March 12: shiny ([@odd](https://micro.blog/odd)) March 13: connection ([@agilelisa](https://micro.blog/agilelisa)) March 14: horizon ([@crossingthethreshold](https://micro.blog/crossingthethreshold)) We can use a few more suggestions! 💡 Email 1-3 to jean@micro.blog.\nMicro.blog Community Challenges https://challenges.micro.blog/2023/03/06/week-prompts-march.html OK, day 8 has already been posted.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-08 22:35:50 +1100", "date": "10:35 p.m. on Mar 8, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/08/just-thought-id.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F08%2Fjust-thought-id.html" }, { "id": 648, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 8: \u0026lsquo;Walk\u0026rsquo;\nExploring the mangrove walkway at Buffalo Creek with my friend S. Walking around Sydney is amazing and with advocacy it can become even better. Meanwhile, here\u0026rsquo;s a trail map.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-08 22:15:50 +1100", "date": "10:15 p.m. on Mar 8, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/08/221550.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F08%2F221550.html" }, { "id": 649, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, day 7: \u0026lsquo;Whole\u0026rsquo;\nThe leaves of my Swiss cheese plant, Monstera deliciosa, are whole, holes and all. Makes me wonder if this is factored in when we talk about becoming a whole person.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-07 20:40:00 +1100", "date": "8:40 p.m. on Mar 7, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/07/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F07%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 650, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March Photo Challenge, day 6 \u0026ldquo;Engineering\u0026rdquo;.\nThis time last year we were enjoying the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the Writers Festival and the wonderful Botanic Gardens. Maybe next year we\u0026rsquo;ll get there again đŸ€ž\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-06 18:03:49 +1100", "date": "6:03 p.m. on Mar 6, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/06/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F06%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 651, "type": "post", "title": "You don't build art, you grow it", "text": "Finished reading: Dancing with the Gods by Kent Nerburn 📚\nThis book is advice on the artistic life from an experienced sculptor and writer. I found one section particularly striking. It contrasted two approaches to making art: that of the architect and that of the gardener.\n\u0026ldquo;The architect designs and builds; he [sic] knows the desired outcome before he begins. The gardener plants and cultivates, trusting the sun and weather and the vagaries of change to bring forth a bloom. As artists we must learn to be gardeners, not architects. We must seek to cultivate our art, not construct it, giving up our preconceptions and presuppositions to embrace accident and mystery. Let moments of darkness become the seedbed of growth, not occasions of fear.\u0026rdquo;\nI remembered these words while visiting the new exhibition spaces at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to imagine an artwork that could have more clearly illustrated the cultivation approach to art that Nerburn wrote of.\nIn a huge, mysterious, and very dark underground space called The Tank, Argentinian sculptor AdriĂĄn Villar Rojas was exhibiting a series of extraordinary sculptures entitled The End of Imagination. These pieces, apparently four years in the making, seemed really ancient, but of the deep future, organic, not constructed, more biological than artificial, and they appeared to be growing there in the darkness.\nRojas undertook an exhaustive computer simulation of deep-time environmental processes in imagined extraterrestrial contexts, to shape and weather each piece, prior to creating their physical representation. So the outcome was not so much sculpted as weathered and sedimented into existence - yet not by any kind of earthly processes.\nEarlier thoughts on Dancing with the Gods.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-06 00:26:53 +1100", "date": "12:26 p.m. on Mar 6, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/06/you-dont-build.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F06%2Fyou-dont-build.html" }, { "id": 652, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Micro.blog March photo challenge, Day 5: Tile.\nA home renovation uncovered these original hearth tiles. c.1898. They\u0026rsquo;re quite worn but we\u0026rsquo;re keeping them.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-05 22:20:31 +1100", "date": "10:20 p.m. on Mar 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/05/microblog-march-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F05%2Fmicroblog-march-photo.html" }, { "id": 653, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· March Micro.blog photo challenge day 4: Zip\nI imagine commuting by zip-line to my office in the treetops. @Miraz, you might recognise this\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-04 09:10:41 +1100", "date": "9:10 p.m. on Mar 4, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/04/march-microblog-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F04%2Fmarch-microblog-photo.html" }, { "id": 654, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I woke before dawn to find someone had left a beach campfire alight through the night.\nAs the sun rose over Barrenjoey Headland I was completely alone, but haunted somehow.\nThe flames kept trying to name the person who had lit them.\nđŸ“· March Micro.blog photo challenge day 3: Solitude\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-03 11:41:33 +1100", "date": "11:41 p.m. on Mar 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/03/i-woke-before.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F03%2Fi-woke-before.html" }, { "id": 655, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· March Micro.blog photo challenge day 2: Weather\nThe view from the train window this morning neatly obliged. Though you can hardly see it through the rain, this is Spectacle Island.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-02 20:08:19 +1100", "date": "8:08 p.m. on Mar 2, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/02/march-microblog-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F02%2Fmarch-microblog-photo.html" }, { "id": 656, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· March Micro.blog photo challenge, day 1: Secure\nWell, that\u0026rsquo;s what the cat\u0026rsquo;s feeling, curled up in a shoe box. I\u0026rsquo;ve tested just marking a rectangle with string on the floor and he sits happily in that too.\n", "dateiso": "2023-03-01 23:46:24 +1100", "date": "11:46 p.m. on Mar 1, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/03/01/march-microblog-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F03%2F01%2Fmarch-microblog-photo.html" }, { "id": 657, "type": "post", "title": "Can AI give me ham off a knee?", "text": "Last night I lay awake thinking about how AI-automated writing is about to change our entire language.\nSince AI can easily write everything correctly with perfect spelling and punctuation, one way to show you\u0026rsquo;re human is to do the opposite. At the time of Shakespeare, spelling was wildly idiosyncratic and people just made it up as they went along. I think this free-for-all might return soon, since it\u0026rsquo;s a neat way of showing you\u0026rsquo;re not made of silicon.\nBut there\u0026rsquo;s another way we might change our speech and writing to subvert our digital overlords. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: ham off a knee! It\u0026rsquo;s something chatbots can\u0026rsquo;t provide, but that we humans can understand quite easily.\nI lay awake last night thinking about cryptic crossword clues (I never do crosswords, but still, that\u0026rsquo;s rumination for you!). Here\u0026rsquo;s a clue I thought up. Not a very good clue, since I don\u0026rsquo;t know what I\u0026rsquo;m doing:\n\u0026ldquo;For Joyce, recovery leads to pain, we hear (15).\u0026rdquo;\nThe answer? \u0026ldquo;Fine again so ache\u0026rdquo;.\nDoesn\u0026rsquo;t make sense to you? Well, Finnegans Wake was James Joyce\u0026rsquo;s fourth and last major work of fiction. I was thinking of it because it\u0026rsquo;s packed full of homophony (ham off a knee - get it?).\nSo what\u0026rsquo;s homophony? Glad you asked. Homophony is simply when you use a word that sounds like another word. But Joyce used homophones in a complex way. His sentences read one way on the page, but when spoken out loud they often mean something else, subverting the original meaning. That\u0026rsquo;s why he was a genius and I\u0026rsquo;m not.\nBut it also struck me that we could start doing this and AI wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be able to keep up. Admittedly it took Joyce years to finish Finnegans Wake. It\u0026rsquo;s certainly complicated to come up with whole paragraphs of homophonic writing or speech. But I suspect young people, who are always the instigators of new slang, will be quite up to the challenge.\nAlternatively, it\u0026rsquo;s the new AI frontier. Imagine if you could command something like: \u0026ldquo;ChatGPT: give me a written account of a 16th Century tourist visit to Venice, which warns of impending alien attack when read out loud.\u0026rdquo;\nNow that would impress me.\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-22 22:19:08 +1100", "date": "10:19 p.m. on Feb 22, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/22/can-ai-give.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F22%2Fcan-ai-give.html" }, { "id": 658, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "When someone believes they have no expertise, that doesn’t mean they have nothing useful to say. We often learn best from those who are just one step ahead of us on the learning journey, so telling others, “Here’s what I learned today” may well be really helpful.\nShare what you know\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-22 21:43:44 +1100", "date": "9:43 p.m. on Feb 22, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/22/when-someone-believes.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F22%2Fwhen-someone-believes.html" }, { "id": 659, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Free books! 📚\nTIL: A search on Amazon Kindle produces loads of free academic book titles, many of which are high quality and really interesting. Just search for publisher (e.g. Routledge), or \u0026ldquo;University Press\u0026rdquo;, or \u0026ldquo;open access\u0026rdquo;, then order the results by price: low to high. The lowest ones are $0.\nHat tip: @aus.social@joannaholman\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-22 19:56:51 +1100", "date": "7:56 p.m. on Feb 22, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/22/free-books-til.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F22%2Ffree-books-til.html" }, { "id": 660, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Putting yourself out there attracts people who are likeminded.\nThat’s one benefit of making it personal\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-22 15:26:43 +1100", "date": "3:26 p.m. on Feb 22, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/22/putting-yourself-out.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F22%2Fputting-yourself-out.html" }, { "id": 661, "type": "post", "title": "Despite AI, the Internet is still personal", "text": "Blogging is great and it will never die. That’s why I keep coming back to it and you do too.\nDave Winer, the blogfather, once said:\n“A blog is the unedited voice of a person.”\nThat’s a concept worth reconsidering in this age of AI ventriloquism. If I went in for tattoos, I’d have it inked in cursive writing on the back of my neck1.\nBecause online, in spite of everything, despite all the cynicism and exploitation, advertising and automation, I’m still looking for genuine communication. I’m seeking some kind of connection, some marker that says:\n“I was here, and so were you.”\nIt’s the voice of a person connecting to another person. Not a machine, not an algorithm, but a person. A person with a body, not a corpus, not a pretence but a real presence.\nBut why keep doing it?\nHere I present two good reasons that will cover many use-cases.\nPublish to find your people First, I keep coming back to it because blogging is a long-winded search query to find your tribe. It’s a calling card, many words long. The tldr; version of the message is:\nHardly anyone likes what I like, but that’s OK because now there’s two of us.\nAustin Kleon drew my attention to this, so it must be true.\nThere might be a bit more to this, though. By publishing, you make something that never existed before. It’s not impossible that through it people might find themselves. I’m not saying every post is going to be a revelation. But in my experience the right word at the right time can work wonders. There are a few writers I feel like that about. Perhaps you know of some too.\nPublish or be damned Secondly, it’s a miracle that you can publish your unedited voice so easily. You’re a one person media company - and that’s amazing. When I think of all the functionality crammed into a blogging system like micro.blog, or Wordpress, or Substack, or even Blot or WriteAs, and how previous generations could hardly even dream of such publishing power, I almost feel a duty to make use of it. Imagine a time traveller recently arrived here from the past2 looking at us and saying, incredulously:\n“So you can do all this at the press of a button, and what? Right now you can’t be bothered?”\nThat’s right. Sometimes I can’t be bothered.\nAnd then the feeling passes.\nwith the date stamp and plenty of room for comments.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nIn my mind it’s either Mark Twain or Octavia Butler.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-21 23:02:53 +1100", "date": "11:02 p.m. on Feb 21, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/21/blogging-always-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F21%2Fblogging-always-the.html" }, { "id": 662, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "A home to endangered pied oystercatchers. The city is just visible in the distance.\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-19 22:52:43 +1100", "date": "10:52 p.m. on Feb 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/19/a-home-to.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F19%2Fa-home-to.html" }, { "id": 663, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "What I saw on my bike ride this moring - a view through the bird-hide window.\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-19 22:49:07 +1100", "date": "10:49 p.m. on Feb 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/19/what-i-saw.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F19%2Fwhat-i-saw.html" }, { "id": 664, "type": "post", "title": "Footnotes", "text": "Footnotes For some reason I really like footnotes. And sometimes 1 it\u0026rsquo;s good to see the footnotes appear in a little box when you hover over the footnote reference. This feature is provided by a plug-in to my website 2\nnot all the time, just sometimes.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\nit\u0026rsquo;s the Bigfoot plug-in, if you\u0026rsquo;re interested.\u0026#160;\u0026#x21a9;\u0026#xfe0e;\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-19 22:20:04 +1100", "date": "10:20 p.m. on Feb 19, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/19/footnotes.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F19%2Ffootnotes.html" }, { "id": 665, "type": "post", "title": "Finished reading Cold Enough for Snow", "text": " Finished reading: Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au 📚 This was a quite mezmerising read. It reminded me of the writing of Yasunari Kawabata, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968. He wrote a novel called Snow Country. Both these snowy books are set in an unnamed Japanese onsen resort in the winter, a train journey away from Tokyo. The Wikipedia entry for Kawabata\u0026rsquo;s work says:\nThrough many of Kawabata\u0026rsquo;s works the sense of distance in his life is represented. He often gives the impression that his characters have built up a wall around them that moves them into isolation\u0026hellip; Kawabata left many of his stories apparently unfinished, sometimes to the annoyance of readers and reviewers, but this goes hand to hand with his aesthetics of art for art\u0026rsquo;s sake, leaving outside any sentimentalism, or morality, that an ending would give to any book. This was done intentionally, as Kawabata felt that vignettes of incidents along the way were far more important than conclusions.\nAll this qualities strongly apply to Jennifer Au\u0026rsquo;s book, too. But she writes about quite different themes, such as the relationship between mother and daughter, and the distance that accrues between second generation migrants and their parental place of origin.\nI found the prose to be so understated as to be almost tedious, but then I found the narrator\u0026rsquo;s \u0026lsquo;vignettes of incidents along the way\u0026rsquo; strangely engaging.\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-18 22:35:02 +1100", "date": "10:35 p.m. on Feb 18, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/18/finished-reading-cold.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F18%2Ffinished-reading-cold.html" }, { "id": 666, "type": "post", "title": "The coming ellipsis eclipse ", "text": "Eclipse of the ellipsis: should you be worried? Apparently, using an ellipsis marks you out as old-fashioned. I don’t know why. I suppose this is just the way fashions change. A newer, younger generation does things differently, and before you know it, that’s how things are done. The older people can’t keep up, or else don’t want to change, arguing that things were better in the old days.\nSo why not use an ellipsis? Well, what about the obvious reason: there’s no need to. Any sentence that previously would have ended with an ellipsis can now end with a full stop.\nBut here I should also mention that ending your sentences with a full stop is nowadays thought to be rude and abrupt, so I shouldn’t do it. Of course, all this punctuation advice is for ‘informal’ phone based writing like messaging and social media posts. Traditional writing can keep its traditional forms of punctuation. Except that people are decreasingly using anything other than phones, so traditional writing may be an endangered species.\nSo are we devolving into two forms of written speech? One for formal correspondence and long-form prose, the other for everything else? This may seem novel, but surely several languages have been quite successful with varying forms of writing depending on the circumstances. A famous example of a language that has multiple forms of written speech might be written Japanese, which has several different alphabets, to be used in different contexts. Another is Serbo-Croat (and maybe some other Slavic languages), which can be written in either the Cyrillic or Latin alphabets. (Or should I be referring to two distinct languages, Croatian and Serbian?) And then we rarely notice that in English we already use two fairly different character sets, depending on the context. Capital letters are written differently from minuscules, and you need to know both sets in order to write correct English. You might get away with only using capitals, but to the reader it usuallly comes across as too emphatic, or even ‘shouty’.\nNO ENTRY. Works well in all-capitals.\nI’M FEELING SAD. Doesn’t really work, it seems, except perhaps on Tumblr.\nNevertheless, we English speakers already use these two different forms of written speech, almost without noticing that we’re doing so. Must be horrible to learn, if this Latin script isn’t that of your first language.\nPerhaps in future we’ll all become fluent in both writing and texting. Another possibility in the future, though, is that voice controlled text will become even more prevalent and writing will turn into nothing more than a transcript of spoken words. At this point, punctuation will become fully or mostly automated and we won’t need to worry about it. If this becomes the case, I expect the ellipsis to die out, and full stops at the end of sentences to continue, but automatically. When punctuation is automatic there are unanticipated consequences, though. For example, people now know whether you\u0026rsquo;re texting from the office (no automatic punctuation on the lap-top computer) or on the go (your mobile phone gives you punctuation by default).\nIt doesn’t bear thinking about
\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-09 21:36:33 +1100", "date": "9:36 p.m. on Feb 9, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/09/the-coming-ellipsis.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F09%2Fthe-coming-ellipsis.html" }, { "id": 667, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Here’s a photo of where I live. It wasn’t sunny today though. Today we had nearly 10cm of rain. In American units, that’s bucketloads.\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-09 21:10:01 +1100", "date": "9:10 p.m. on Feb 9, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/09/heres-a-photo.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F09%2Fheres-a-photo.html" }, { "id": 668, "type": "post", "title": "Why I'm writing slowly", "text": "There\u0026rsquo;s an emerging movement in favour of \u0026lsquo;slow productivity\u0026rsquo;.\nAnd writing is one of the best examples of the many benefits of hurrying slowly.\nSuccessful writing doesn\u0026rsquo;t result from Herculean efforts to tally up mammoth word-counts, often at the last minute (although, if that\u0026rsquo;s your chosen path, good luck). The best and most sustainable writing takes place slowly and methodically. This is so despite the many voices telling you how you can \u0026lsquo;write a book in a month\u0026rsquo;, \u0026lsquo;write a book in a week\u0026rsquo;, or even \u0026lsquo;write a book in a day\u0026rsquo;. You can only do this if you write a lot, but without haste.\nWhat works is to write slowly and consistently, so that the writing accumulates over time into larger and ever more meaningful pieces.\nThe English author of the Victorian age, Anthony Trollope, epitomised a slow but steady approach to writing. He produced a very significant output, including 47 novels, and is best known for a long series of novels centred upon the fictional county of Barsetshire. Yet he claimed never to write for more than three hours a day. In fact, while becoming one of the period\u0026rsquo;s most popular novelists, he maintained a full-time job with the Post Office. Because he had a workable method, he didn\u0026rsquo;t need more time.\nAnd without developing a writing method that works, no amount of extra time will ever be enough.\nIf you don\u0026rsquo;t have time to keep up with all the posts on this site, why not subscribe to the weekly email digest?\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-05 18:54:08 +1100", "date": "6:54 p.m. on Feb 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/05/why-im-writing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F05%2Fwhy-im-writing.html" }, { "id": 669, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Want to read: Pirate Enlightenment by David Graeber 📚\nI\u0026rsquo;ve long been fascinated by the idea that piracy in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries included various forms of political experimentation. If piracy was a kind of organised crime, as Peter Leeson claims pdf, we might ask what the organisation entailed. Surely there\u0026rsquo;s more to it than a simply a series of experiments in contract theory (the \u0026lsquo;pirate code\u0026rsquo;). But calling piracy organised crime is a circular argument. Of course it was illegal, but very often pirates were doing what nations themselves sanctioned: comandeering enemy ships. The line between privateer and pirate was a faint one.\nBut for many of the poorest people, leaving home and joining up with the pirates would have been an attractive opportunity - the least bad option in some cases. Since there was nowhere in Europe that people could live free of despotic regimes, the high seas must have presented quite a few possibilites.\nCertainly I\u0026rsquo;ve been suspicious of the designation \u0026lsquo;pirate\u0026rsquo;. It seems as much an excuse to torture and murder people who ask questions as the designation \u0026lsquo;witch\u0026rsquo; has been. If you doubt that piracy might have been a convenient category to condemn your opponents, rather than an accurate description of their activities, consider this: the entire state of Texas was once condemned for piracy, having declared a republic independent from Mexico.\nBesides the Republic of Texas, there were other experiments in nation-building, such as the Nassau pirate republic in the Carribean. But David Graeber writes of the fabled Liberalia, a semi-mythical location on the East coast of Madagascar, where pirates set up their own rule on land.\nI think this matters because contemporary democracies are really nation states first, and only secondarily are they democratic. This priority, in my opinion, should be placed the other way round. Otherwise, state power tends to be defended, at the expense of democratic checks and balances. We need more democracy, not less. and this is difficult when the state sees itself as self-evidently right, whether or not it promotes democracy. As imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan says:\n\u0026ldquo;Our idea of a democratic nation is not defined by flags and borders. Our idea of a democratic nation embraces a model based on democracy instead of a model based on state structures and ethnic origins.\u0026rdquo;\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-05 16:03:53 +1100", "date": "4:03 p.m. on Feb 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/05/want-to-read.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F05%2Fwant-to-read.html" }, { "id": 670, "type": "post", "title": "The thing about advice is that people do what they want with it", "text": " Currently reading: Dancing with the Gods by Kent Nerburn 📚\nI know nothing at all about Kent Nerburn, so it\u0026rsquo;s interesting to read this book of reflections on creative work.\nI did notice, though, that the US version of this book has been re-named to: The Artist\u0026rsquo;s Journey: On Making Art and Being an Artist. This alternative title reminds me of the format of Rilke\u0026rsquo;s Letters to a Young Poet, in the sense that both authors offer reflections on their creative experience, having been prompted by a letter from a younger person, wondering about setting out on a career as an artist. The difference is that Rilke was rather young to be dishing out such \u0026lsquo;wisdom\u0026rsquo;, whereas Nerburn has lived a bit.\nTo be fair to Rilke, though, he didn\u0026rsquo;t seek out Franz Xaver Kappus, the nineteen year old military cadet who first wrote for advice when Rilke was only twenty seven. Nor did Rilke publish his letters of advice. They were only collected and published after his death, by Kappus. Nor finally was Rilke\u0026rsquo;s advice in any way arrogant. He said:\n\u0026ldquo;Nobody can advise you and help you. Nobody. There is only one way—Go into yourself.\u0026rdquo;\nRilke\u0026rsquo;s advice didn\u0026rsquo;t make Kappus a poet. It didn\u0026rsquo;t make him abandon his military career. He was an officer for 15 years and fought in WW1. But Rilke surely helped make him a writer. Kappus wrote novels and screenplays and was a newspaper editor for many years.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s the thing about advice. People receive it and then they do what they want with it. Oscar Wilde said:\n\u0026ldquo;I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.\u0026rdquo;\nThough given his legal difficulties, perhaps he should have listened, just once.\nMore:\nI finished Dancing with the Gods.\nCan Rilke change your life?\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-05 14:53:18 +1100", "date": "2:53 p.m. on Feb 5, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/05/the-thing-about.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F05%2Fthe-thing-about.html" }, { "id": 671, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Finished reading: Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout 📚 This was an intriguing character study. Lucy Barton, a successful but quite damaged author, really doesn’t know herself. And then just occasionally, there comes a flash of brilliant, sensitive insight. This novel builds on two previous books about Lucy and her family. It feels as though we’re circling back and learning more and more about her. The past is very present for Lucy. She’s unable to shake off the imprint of her impoverished childhood, her feelings of invisibility, and her lack of self-esteem. Throughout this novel runs the question of whether we can really make choices in our lives or whether we just ‘do things’, as Lucy’s ex-husband, William, claims. I felt William had made plenty of choices in his life, and was using philosophy to avoid taking responsibility for them. Lucy, on the other hand, struggles to make her own choices, and seems to settle for letting others make them for her. It’s all very poignant.\n", "dateiso": "2023-02-03 23:43:33 +1100", "date": "11:43 p.m. on Feb 3, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/02/03/finished-reading-oh.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F02%2F03%2Ffinished-reading-oh.html" }, { "id": 672, "type": "post", "title": "Can sentimental writing ever be as exact as reality?", "text": " Finished reading: The Forest of Wool and Steel by Natsu Miyashita 📚 There\u0026rsquo;s a section of the book where the narrator, an apprentice piano tuner, quotes a Japanese writer\u0026rsquo;s vision of what they\u0026rsquo;re trying to achieve:\n“Bright, quiet, crystal-clear writing that evokes fond memories, that seems a touch sentimental yet is unsparing and deep, writing as lovely as a dream, yet as exact as reality.”\nThe piano tuner syas that this is what he wants for his own work. Of course this is implicitly what the author of the novel is seeking for their own writing, so it\u0026rsquo;s surely a little meta. Yet a sentimental style is by definition in tension with reality. If it wasn\u0026rsquo;t, it would be seen not as sentimental but as realism. The more sentimental the writing is, the less exactly it can describe the world. The great risk is that a writer who entertains sentimental writing may also forgive stereotype and cliche. There are times when this book rises above sentimentality, but not many times.\n", "dateiso": "2023-01-30 19:07:24 +1100", "date": "7:07 p.m. on Jan 30, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/01/30/can-sentimental-writing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F01%2F30%2Fcan-sentimental-writing.html" }, { "id": 673, "type": "post", "title": "Big changes at writingslowly.com", "text": "New year, new website (backend) It\u0026rsquo;s a new year, so it must be time for new web connections! Well, I finally decided to shift from a hosted Wordpress site to go all in on micro.blog.\nIt was fairly easy to migrate, just following the instructions. Things already feel easier and less complicated.\nWhy did I decide to make this change?\nI need a simpler system for online writing. It\u0026rsquo;s been clear for some time that Wordpress was holding me back. I know: \u0026ldquo;poor workers blame their tools\u0026rdquo;, and obviously there\u0026rsquo;s something wrong with me if I can\u0026rsquo;t just log in to Wordpress and write a line or two from time to time. But really, it felt as though the user interface was presenting a psychological barrier. Every time I logged in it seemed the WordPress UX had got more complex. Anyway, that\u0026rsquo;s my excuse. I\u0026rsquo;m hoping that a switch entirely to micro.blog hosting will help the writing to flow a bit better. I like the IndieWeb. Although I had some Indieweb plug-ins set up on my Wordpress site, it didn\u0026rsquo;t feel as though they were getting much use. The Musky shenanigans at Twitter have made it even clearer that independence on the web is essential and that the true social network is the web itself. Switching to micro.blog will hopefully connect me better, and if I ever change my mind, there\u0026rsquo;s no lock-in. Updating the app feels like a chore. When I checked my hosting dashboard it was clear that there were several insecurities caused by a lack of updating. I just hadn\u0026rsquo;t gotten around to it for ages. But really, I don\u0026rsquo;t have much interest in which version of PHP I\u0026rsquo;m supposed to be using, or what version the plug-ins are - so I\u0026rsquo;d rather not think about this side of things. If micro.blog can do this for me, I\u0026rsquo;m not complaining. I also quite like Mastodon. Micro.blog has a certain amount of compatability with Mastodon, through the activitypub protocol. So I plan to try that out. Writing in Markdown syntax has become more and more intuitive to me, despite its limitations, and I like the relative simplicity of static sites. Micro.blog uses Hugo as its site generator, so now I\u0026rsquo;m now using Markdown to create static pages. Look, I\u0026rsquo;m not really complaining about WordPress. I like it, and Automattic isn\u0026rsquo;t Apple/Facebook/Google/Twitter/Amazon, so there\u0026rsquo;s that. If I had to choose a dictator to rule the world, Matt Mullenweg would be on my shortlist. It\u0026rsquo;s not Wordpress, it\u0026rsquo;s me. I\u0026rsquo;m ready for a change.\nWriting about reading Also, I\u0026rsquo;m making a commitment to writing about my reading in 2023.\nI love reading. Each year I read about 30-40 books and this year I\u0026rsquo;ll be writing about it here. There\u0026rsquo;ll soon be a \u0026lsquo;reading\u0026rsquo; category at the top of the webpage. Why am I doing this?\nfor motivation, and to leave a record, sharing what I know and to encourage you, dear reader, to stop scrolling and go read a good book. Micro.blog has a series of companion apps, one of which is Epilogue. You can set an annual reading goal and every time you blog about a title you\u0026rsquo;ve finished, your goal moves one step closer to completion.\nMicro.blog also has some other great book-related features, including a handly bookshelf, and this is one of the things that made me want to switch.\nI keep a private TiddlyWiki Zettelkasten in which I already reflect on my reading, so the only real change is in making it public.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t panic So that\u0026rsquo;s what\u0026rsquo;s new. But don\u0026rsquo;t worry, whatever happens I\u0026rsquo;ll still be writing slowly.\n", "dateiso": "2023-01-27 19:10:13 +1100", "date": "7:10 p.m. on Jan 27, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/01/27/big-changes-at.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F01%2F27%2Fbig-changes-at.html" }, { "id": 674, "type": "post", "title": "The past is as urgent as ever ", "text": " Finished reading: The War of the Poor by Eric Vuillard 📚\nThis incendiary novella - only 66 pages long - burns so fiercely it felt like a bomb was about to go off in my hand. With amazing economy the author, Eric Vuillard, brings to life the brief, violent career of Thomas MĂŒntzer. He makes the past as vivid as an execution, and renders the urgency of the past fully present. The Peasants\u0026rsquo; War, so distant in time, is now.\n\u0026ldquo;MĂŒntzer is thirsty, hungry and thirsty, terribly hungry and thirsty, and nothing can sate him, nothing can slake his thirst. He\u0026rsquo;ll devour old bones, branches, stones, mud, milk, blood, fire. Everything.\u0026rdquo;\nGripping.\n", "dateiso": "2023-01-26 16:35:07 +1100", "date": "4:35 p.m. on Jan 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/01/26/the-past-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F01%2F26%2Fthe-past-is.html" }, { "id": 675, "type": "post", "title": "Visions of a utopian Middle Ages", "text": " Finished reading: Matrix by Lauren Groff 📚\nI found this an intriguing, highly fictional reconstruction of the life of a medieval convent. The version of Marie de France presented here - visionary, heretical, fiercely compassionate - is certainly doing far more than just filling in the gaps in the historical record. The author makes her a really intriguing, though surely anachronistic, character. And in Lauren Groff\u0026rsquo;s Marie, there\u0026rsquo;s more than an echo of another medieval mystic, Hildegard of Bingen.\nAlthough I fully approve of lesbian feminist seperatist utopias (which obviously hardly need my approval), I feel Groff has missed an opportunity here to present a politically pursuasive vision. In particular, why did Marie need to build a huge protective labyrinth around her convent, effectively cutting it off from the rest of the world? The medieval Beguine movement of female lay communities, was highly influential and highly urban. It\u0026rsquo;s an example of real-life utopianism that wasn\u0026rsquo;t disconnected from the rest of society at all.\nReading this novel has encouraged me to seek out the background historical research, The Care of Nuns, by Katie Bugrys.\n", "dateiso": "2023-01-26 16:20:59 +1100", "date": "4:20 p.m. on Jan 26, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/01/26/visions-of-a.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F01%2F26%2Fvisions-of-a.html" }, { "id": 676, "type": "post", "title": "My piano is a forest", "text": "Currently reading: The Forest of Wool and Steel by Natsu Miyashita 📚\nI love the metaphor of the piano as a living forest, and I\u0026rsquo;m enjoying the journey of the diffident main character, Tomura, in his apprenticeship as a piano tuner. It\u0026rsquo;s certainly making me see my own piano in a new light.\n", "dateiso": "2023-01-25 22:54:56 +1100", "date": "10:54 p.m. on Jan 25, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/01/25/my-piano-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F01%2F25%2Fmy-piano-is.html" }, { "id": 677, "type": "post", "title": "What I learned from Austin Kleon about sharing what you know", "text": "Learning and sharing, sharing and learning. It\u0026rsquo;s a virtuous circle. That\u0026rsquo;s what I learned, and that\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;m sharing.\n\u0026ldquo;it’s not about being credentialed or being an expert, it’s about seeing a space open up, starting to do work that needs doing, sharing your ideas, and sticking around long enough so people show up and you can interact with them in a meaningful way and build something lasting.\u0026rdquo; Austin Kleon\nI think there are four levels of expertise, and everyone is potentially standing on one of these four steps:\nLearn - \u0026ldquo;Here\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;ve learnt.\u0026rdquo; Curator Share - \u0026ldquo;Here\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;ve found.\u0026rdquo; Expert Tell - \u0026ldquo;Here\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;ve done.\u0026rdquo; Mentor Be - \u0026ldquo;Here\u0026rsquo;s who I am.\u0026rdquo; Role model When someone believes they have no expertise, that doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean they have nothing useful to say. We often learn best from those who are just one step ahead of us on the learning journey, so telling others, \u0026ldquo;Here\u0026rsquo;s what I learned today\u0026rdquo; may well be really helpful.\n", "dateiso": "2023-01-25 22:43:37 +1100", "date": "10:43 p.m. on Jan 25, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/01/25/what-i-learned.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F01%2F25%2Fwhat-i-learned.html" }, { "id": 678, "type": "post", "title": "Without democracy, no true creativity ", "text": " Finished reading: Against Creativity by Oli Mould 📚.\nThis is a critique of everything symbolised by Richard Florida\u0026rsquo;s Rise of the Creative Class (2002). Supposed individual flexibility, agility and dynamism are just a cover for the destruction of rights at work, leading to increased precarity. Capitalist creativity, in which everyone is supposed to see themself as a \u0026ldquo;creative\u0026rdquo;, is an attractive but empty rhetoric that increases the pressure to produce for exploitation. True creativity, on the other hand, involves \u0026ldquo;an emancipatory force of societal change\u0026rdquo; (p.46). The author points out that democratic governability is at best an afterthought, when it should be front and centre of consideration. \u0026ldquo;What if we asked one simple question before any new app, machine-learning algorithm, or smart city infrastructure were created: how can this be used and managed democratically?\u0026rdquo; (p.196).\nThe argument of this 2018 book is prescient in relation to the crisis of Twitter and the rise of Mastodon and the Fediverse in 2023. Could people really control their own communications channels, instead of letting petulent billionaires run everything (into the ground)? It\u0026rsquo;s too early to tell, but the signs are that there\u0026rsquo;s a new mood of discontent with \u0026ldquo;Big Social\u0026rdquo; and a search for more accountable alternatives. As Mould points out, the first step towards change is to start imagining how things could be different.\nThis book pairs well with Ariel Gore\u0026rsquo;s very different The Wayward Writer. Early on in this creative writing manual the author quotes Ursula Le Guin:\n\u0026ldquo;We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art, the art of words.\u0026rdquo;\n", "dateiso": "2023-01-16 01:15:07 +1100", "date": "1:15 p.m. on Jan 16, 2023", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2023/01/16/without-democracy-no.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2023%2F01%2F16%2Fwithout-democracy-no.html" }, { "id": 679, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " I'm now @Richard@mastodon.au - yes I joined Mastodon. There's an original idea. As though there aren't enough half neglected social media accounts in my life. Pretty sure my micro.blog account federates semi-automatically anyway, but haven't worked it out yet. Can someone please point me to a simple how-to article, I wonder?\n", "dateiso": "2022-11-18 17:16:43 +1100", "date": "5:16 p.m. on Nov 18, 2022", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2022/11/18/im-now-richardmastodonau.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2022%2F11%2F18%2Fim-now-richardmastodonau.html" }, { "id": 680, "type": "post", "title": "Not thinking of writing a novel in November", "text": " Well, I didn't sign up to NaNoWriMo, where you undertake to write 50,000 words in a month. Partly, it's just not my way of doing things. I have recently completed a novel manuscript, which took longer than a month. But then again I also wrote a lot of other stuff while I was doing it. As previously mentioned, you can get a lot done while writing slowly. ", "dateiso": "2022-11-13 16:56:29 +1100", "date": "4:56 p.m. on Nov 13, 2022", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2022/11/13/not-thinking-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2022%2F11%2F13%2Fnot-thinking-of.html" }, { "id": 681, "type": "post", "title": "Thinking of writing a novel", "text": " Manton mentioned NaNoWriMo and that has got me thinking.\nhttps://www.manton.org/2022/10/07/love-reading-about.html\n", "dateiso": "2022-10-09 21:47:41 +1100", "date": "9:47 p.m. on Oct 9, 2022", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2022/10/09/thinking-of-writing.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2022%2F10%2F09%2Fthinking-of-writing.html" }, { "id": 682, "type": "post", "title": "Living beneath the shadow of the past", "text": " In former times people lived their lives beneath the shadow of their past. The golden age was always behind them. The olden days were the good old days.\nSince the end of the Victorian era, though, the past has lost its hold on the collective imagination. Since then we have been living instead under the almost unbearable weight of the future. Once upon a time the past used to determine the present, even though it was over. But these days it’s the future that looms over everything, even though it hasn’t happened yet.\nAs the conservative writer G.K. Chesterton put it:\n“Instead of trembling before the spectres of the dead, we shudder abjectly under the shadow of the babe unborn.\u0026quot;\nHe was writing in 1910 on ‘What’s Wrong With the World’, and pointing out that the 20th Century had switched to looking forward as its key register. He claimed this was extraordinary:\n“there is something spirited, if eccentric, in the sight of so many people fighting over again the fights that have not yet happened; of people still glowing with the memory of tomorrow morning. A man in advance of the age is a familiar phrase enough. An age in advance of the age is really rather odd.“\nThese days we are constantly in advance of the age. Everything is about the future, or more precisely about fear of the future, future dread. The short term question is: How will the COVID pandemic find a resolution? In relation to the longer term we ask: How will the climate play out? These anxiety-freighted questions seem completely unavoidable. To ignore them seems impossible at best, and at worst deeply immoral. Our era seems to have no place for a person who doesn’t appear to care about the future. And to care about the future in the proper manner is to be weighted down with concern. If you resist, you’ll hear in the back of your mind a constant chiding voice, the voice of Greta Thunburg, the conscience of a new generation: How Dare You?\nChesterton gets it right, I think. The presence of the future is indeed ghostly. It casts shade. Its dominant mood is abjection and we shudder. The ghost of Christmas Future has a new name: Extinction.\nWhy? Does it have to be this way? Surely it would be possible for this mood to lose its hold, for the sensibilities of the early Twentieth Century to relax their grip a little on the Twenty-First. Is it too much to ask that we might perhaps contemplate the future without the dread?\nI anticipate that after the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has done its worst, there will be a palpable sense of collective relief. The worst, after all, will not have eventuated. For many this will not be true. They will be dead or grieving. The relief will certainly not be universally felt. But for the rest, those not directly affected, and especially for younger people, there will be the slow release of a breath long held. Tensed shoulders will relax slightly. The babe unborn will become, however briefly, a promise, a creature of blessing not curse.\nIn his book, On Memory, Adam Roberts recalls the 1969 science fiction novel, Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert, in which the protagonist Paul Atreides is to be cast out into the desert because of his unacceptable blindness. He defends himself by demonstrating his visionary powers, which enable him to remember with absolute clarity past visions he has had of the present. In this way, he claims, he can see as well as the next person.\nThis capacity – to navigate the present by remembering past visions of the future – is what we need now. The present, our Twenty-first Century, wasn’t always doom-laden. In the past it was longed for as a golden age, in which people lived many healthy years, mostly at peace with their neighbours, having experienced fulfilling lives. Such a world was full of technological marvels and discoveries of wonder, that would have been almost unimaginable to previous generations. So marvellously frequent were such innovations that the people took them almost entirely for granted and came to expect life to be like this always. We are living in the golden age of the past’s future.\nAnd so the future is precisely as dreadful as we imagine it to be. It has always been this way. Mark Lynas’s book on climate change, published in 2020, is titled ‘Our Final Warning: Six Degrees of Climate Emergency’. Reviewing it in the New York Review of Books, climate activist Bill McKibben writes:\n“Because humans have fundamentally altered the physical workings of planet Earth, this is going to be a century of crises, many of them more dangerous than what we’re living through now. The main question is whether we’ll be able to hold the rise in temperature to a point where we can, at great expense and suffering, deal with those crises coherently, or whether they will overwhelm the coping abilities of our civilization. The latter is a distinct possibility\u0026hellip; “ – 130 Degrees\nIn the past, great religions agreed more or less on the future. They collectively imagined an imminent end time of existential tribulation in which famine, pestilence and war would ravage the world until a divine judge would finally appear to weigh up the moral worth of the living and the dead once and for all. These days science does what only religion used to be allowed to do. But it is the same vision. Are we morally worthy to avoid the Eschaton?\nThe same year G.K Chesterton was telling the English what was wrong with the world, a collection of medieval religious texts was purchased for the British Museum from Lord Amherst. It contained a Fifteenth Century transcription of the original ‘short’ manuscript of the Revelations of Divine Love, a work by the English mystic Julian of Norwich - the first book known written in English by a woman, probably composed in 1388.\nJulian was born during the ‘calamitous’ Fourteenth Century, in 1343, the same year as Geoffrey Chaucer. Six years later in 1348-9 the Great Mortality reached her hometown of Norwich, killing between a third and half of its 12,000 residents. The bubonic plague continued to break out regularly throughout England. In 1361-2 it killed another fifth of the population, and in 1369 it killed yet another 10-15%.\nApart from widespread death, the plague had colossal social effects. The dissident cleric John Wycliffe wrote in 1356 of how the world wouldn’t last beyond the century. The Great Rumour protest movement of 1377 became the Great Rising of 1381. Norwich was at the centre of one of the more violent episodes of the Peasants’ Revolt. In the summer of 1381, the city was taken over and ransacked by the rebels, who were then routed at the nearby Battle of North Walsham by ‘fighting’ Bishop Henry le Despenser.\nIn 1373, when Julian was thirty years old, she succumbed to a serious illness and on the verge of death she was given the last rites.\nSurprising everyone, she didn’t die. Instead, she survived, having experienced a series of mystical visions, in which Jesus Christ appeared to her. She went on to become an anchoress - a kind of nun, living a secluded life in her cell - a private room attached to a church. She didn’t go out, but people came to her.\nLet’s just pause and recall the main events surrounding her life in Norwich up until this time.\n1348-9 (age six) The Great Mortality kills up to half the city’s population.\n1361-2 (age 18) The Bubonic plague strikes again, killing another one fifth of the population.\n1369 (age 26) A third outbreak of the plague kills another 10-15%\n1373 (age 30) Having survived three waves of the bubonic plague, she succumbs to illness and almost dies.\n1377 (age 33) Increasing peasant unrest leads to the Great Rumour protests in the South of England\n1381 (age 37) The Peasants Revolt leads to the sacking of Norwich followed by violent reprisals and a pitched battle outside the city.\nAll this was local news for Julian. But the national and international news was just as tumultuous. The death of King Edward III in 1377 led to the accession of his ten-year-old son Richard II. It was to be a very unstable reign, dominated by the aspirations of his uncle, John of Gaunt for his own son, Henry Bolingbroke, to take over. All this is to say nothing of the widespread tumult taking place at this time in Europe and spilling over into England. The Western Schism of 1378 saw two rival Popes struggling for supremacy of the Church. The ongoing Hundred Years War saw the French and the Castilian Spanish raiding and burning towns all along the South coast of England.\nIt was in the midst of all this personal, political, social and religious turmoil that Julian received visions of Christ’s Passion. Her ‘shewings’ took place when she was recovering from her life-threatening illness in 1373. She wrote of her experience fairly soon after, in what is known as her ‘Short Text’. She then reworked this over the following decades into a ‘Long Text’. Although her writing survived through the centuries, the earliest in English by a woman, her life and work were obscured by the Reformation, and it wasn’t until the end of the Nineteenth Century that the Long Text, republished, began to receive attention. The short text, thought to have been lost, was rediscovered in 1910 and published for the first time in 1911. Because of this loss and rediscovery, Julian of Norwich is both very medieval and yet somehow very Twentieth Century. Nor has her star faded. In the present century there have already been at least nine new editions of her work.\nGiven the turbulence surrounding her life and times, it’s amazing that Julian had such a clear sense that the future was not heavy, Although thoroughly medieval, her visions contradicted the gloomy spirit of the age. She’s been called a visionary and a mystic, but her visions were so out of tune with the spirit of her age that I can’t help thinking of her as a kind of science fiction writer. What was revealed to her was that in spite of all the signs of the times, her God was not winding up the world but sustaining it, like a hazelnut held carefully in the palm of the hand.\n“And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, it seemed, and it was as round as any ball. I looked thereupon with the eye of my understanding, and I thought, ‘What may this be?’ And it was answered generally thus: ‘It is all that is made.’ I wondered how it could last, for I thought it might suddenly fall to nothing for little cause. And I was answered in my understanding: ‘It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it; and so everything has its beginning by the love of God.’ In this little thing I saw three properties; the first is that God made it; the second is that God loves it; and the third is that God keeps it. “ - Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, chapter V. (Westminster Cathedral Treasury, MS 4.)\nPeople are rightly sceptical of religious certainties these days, and dogma is shunned. Medieval talk of sin and wrath and atonement seems beyond anachronistic. Talk of God is just distasteful. And yet the climate-fuelled certainty that we’re all doomed passes as a rational discussion-starter. It’s increasingly our consensus reality. Now I’m not challenging reality, I’m just questioning the way we choose to look at it. I’m not suggesting we can all relax, since Progress with a capital ‘P’ will fix everything. We can’t and it won’t. There is work to be done which neither the past nor the future will do for us. My suggestion is modest: perhaps our navigation of this difficult present might be aided by remembering our past visions of the future. As I read Julian of Norwich I can’t help asking myself, was her lifetime really less fraught than our own? War, pestilence, political strife, the death of collective meaning. She had it all, in spades. And yet having nearly met with her own ending, she somehow imagined a resolutely hopeful alternative: “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.“\nWe can believe it or not, but we can’t put it down to naivety. The future is what it has always been: it is precisely as dreadful as we imagine it to be. References Chesterton, G.K. What’s Wrong With the World (1910), 24-25. Quoted in Adam Roberts, Morphosis blog.\nRoberts, Adam (2020) It\u0026rsquo;s The End Of The World, But What Are We Really Afraid Of? London: Elliot \u0026amp; Thompson. ISBN: 9781783964741\nRolf, Veronica Mary (2013). Julian’s Gospel: Illuminating the Life \u0026amp; Revelations of Julian of Norwich. Orbis Books. ISBN 978-1-62698-036-5.\nBBC Four HD The Search for the Lost Manuscript Julian of Norwich (2016) - YouTube\n", "dateiso": "2022-06-25 19:40:50 +1100", "date": "7:40 p.m. on Jun 25, 2022", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2022/06/25/living-beneath-the.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2022%2F06%2F25%2Fliving-beneath-the.html" }, { "id": 683, "type": "post", "title": "My range is me", "text": " The actor and film director Taika Waititi made an interesting comment on his creative process: \"I'm the laziest, laziest actor you'll ever come across.\"\nTaika Waititi He said he's too lazy to really try to do acting properly so he ends up just being himself. In his movie Jojo Rabbit, for example, he played a version of Hitler, as imagined by a ten-year-old child. But he couldn't be bothered to read any background, so his comic/tragic version of the character is a lot like Waititi himself, rather than the notorious dictator. Did this work? Well the movie was nominated for several Oscars, and I think it won one, so he might have been doing something right. More recently, he played a pirate in his comedy series, Our Flag Means Death, but having discovered that Blackbeard came from Bristol in the West Country of England, he thought it would be too hard to try that accent and so he just reverted to his own New Zealand voice. \"My range is me. I don't try. And I'm successful, so
\"\nTaika Waititi This nonchalance is endearing, but it rather masks the fact that Waititi is extremely prolific, often juggling several large projects at once, including some very big-budget movies. In 2017 he was too busy to pick up his New Zealander of the Year award. I suspect that what he means by 'lazy' is different from that word's common usage! Perhaps his insistence on being himself actually helps him to produce highly creative work and plenty of it.\nI'm mentioning all this because I think a lot of people have difficulty just being themselves. Perhaps they feel there is a role they are supposed to perform, or maybe they fear their real, authentic self, whatever that is, wouldn't be good enough. Possibly, their environment doesn't provide the kind of psychological safety they might need to reveal themselves as they are, so they are tempted to hide certain aspects of their character, to mask themselves, or hold themselves in. This can be exhausting, like holding your breath, and this exhaustion doesn't support productive work. Of course, I'm talking about myself here. I often feel that my best won't be enough, that I'm only acceptable if I can jump some imaginary hurdle. But I recognise that this hesitancy is really mostly in my own mind. Taika Waititi's career shows that at least for one person, relaxing into one's own character is a way of releasing the energy to create high quality work, even if it isn't what people are expecting.\nI remember a few years back taking holiday snapshots with my phone. As I did so I was imagining that these photos of my ordinary holiday wouldn't be anywhere near as good as the kind of thing you see on Instagram, where everything seems casual but you know it's been carefully staged to look its best. But my camera app had just updated to a new layout and what I saw, instead of amateur snaps, was a perfect grid of scenes from a beachside paradise. My sense of inadequacy had been entirely made up. Reframed, my holiday and my record of it were far more than merely adequate. My casual shots were more than OK, they were quite good. And the holiday was wonderful. I've remembered that sudden revelation. And now I realise that all this time I've had things the wrong way around. I don't need to be good enough to become creative; instead I want to be creative enough to become good. A new mantra, then: my range is me.\nAs a result of following this mantra, I\u0026rsquo;m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. It\u0026rsquo;s a short and accessible introduction to the concept, available now.\nAnd if you liked this article, why not subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email digest?\n", "dateiso": "2022-06-03 19:27:24 +1100", "date": "7:27 p.m. on Jun 3, 2022", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2022/06/03/my-range-is.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2022%2F06%2F03%2Fmy-range-is.html" }, { "id": 684, "type": "post", "title": "You can get a lot done by writing slowly", "text": " “People say to me, ‘Oh, you’re so prolific’
God, it doesn’t feel like it—nothing like it. But, you know, you put an ounce in a bucket each day, you get a quart.”\nJohn McPhee (quoted by Cal Newport) Journalist John McPhee rarely wrote more than 500 words a day, but his secret was the power of repetition. He did this seemingly small amount of writing nearly every day throughout his long career. By writing a little, a lot, he achieved an enormous amount, including countless articles, 29 books and a Pulitzer Prize.\nThat's what writing slowly is about. It doesn't mean being lazy. It means cultivating the discipline to keep writing. Five hundred words a day adds up to 182,500 words a year. It's not hard to write a lot. Quantity is not the issue. The only two obstacles are the difficulty of maintaining the habit, and the little voice in your head that tells you your scribbling will never amount to anything. Update: in fact it has amounted to something. Check out my book, Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters. And you can also subscribe to the weekly Writing Slowly email newsletter.\n", "dateiso": "2022-06-02 17:36:45 +1100", "date": "5:36 p.m. on Jun 2, 2022", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2022/06/02/you-can-get.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2022%2F06%2F02%2Fyou-can-get.html" }, { "id": 685, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " When I publish a post with no title, where does it go and who gets to see it?\n", "dateiso": "2022-06-02 16:40:01 +1100", "date": "4:40 p.m. on Jun 2, 2022", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2022/06/02/when-i-publish.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2022%2F06%2F02%2Fwhen-i-publish.html" }, { "id": 686, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Thanks to Tom Critchlow, I now know a simple JS trick for including the micro.blog feed into a website:\n\u0026lt;script type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"https://micro.blog/sidebar.js?username=tomcritchlow\"\u0026gt;\u0026lt;/script\u0026gt; ", "dateiso": "2022-01-26 15:26:51 +1100", "date": "3:26 p.m. on Jan 26, 2022", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2022/01/26/thanks-to-tom.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2022%2F01%2F26%2Fthanks-to-tom.html" }, { "id": 687, "type": "post", "title": "Best albums of 2018", "text": "Thanks to NPR’s list of great albums of the year, I found Jeremy Dutcher, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa. Spent a marvellous evening listening to this mesmerising album twice in a row. Since he’s won the Polaris Music Prize probably everyone in Canada already knows about it. If you haven’t heard it you should fix that at the earliest opportunity. đŸŽ”\n", "dateiso": "2018-12-06 23:30:21 +1100", "date": "11:30 p.m. on Dec 6, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/12/06/best-albums-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F12%2F06%2Fbest-albums-of.html" }, { "id": 688, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I had forgotten that posts to my wordpress site only show up on micro.blog if there\u0026rsquo;s no title.\nLet\u0026rsquo;s see whether this post, written on my new iPad, makes an appearance\u0026hellip;\n", "dateiso": "2018-11-26 00:58:04 +1100", "date": "12:58 p.m. on Nov 26, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/11/26/i-had-forgotten.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F11%2F26%2Fi-had-forgotten.html" }, { "id": 689, "type": "post", "title": "Finally the iPad", "text": "Having finally got hold of an iPad, I\u0026rsquo;m expecting more posts here soon - and by extension on micro.blog\n", "dateiso": "2018-11-26 00:53:44 +1100", "date": "12:53 p.m. on Nov 26, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/11/26/finally-the-ipad.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F11%2F26%2Ffinally-the-ipad.html" }, { "id": 690, "type": "post", "title": "zines", "text": " I'm imagining writing a handful of 'zines and setting up stall at one of those 'zine fairs. I would like that. I just looked it up and found a pop-up 'zine fair just down the road this Sunday. I will go to seek inspiration.\nhttp://www.niemanlab.org/2017/12/zines-had-it-right-all-along/\nhttps://austinkleon.com/2018/03/01/fancy-zines/\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-24 00:46:42 +1100", "date": "12:46 p.m. on Aug 24, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/24/zines.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F24%2Fzines.html" }, { "id": 691, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": " Great bike ride down the river and along the bay this morning. Cold to start but warmed up nicely. Flat rear tyre though - twice... argh! I'm getting new tyres, finally. Should be good by Wednesday.\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-18 14:53:03 +1100", "date": "2:53 p.m. on Aug 18, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/18/great-bike-ride.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F18%2Fgreat-bike-ride.html" }, { "id": 692, "type": "post", "title": "You have been warned", "text": "It starts innocently enough, then they take over the world. You have been warned.\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-17 10:25:34 +1100", "date": "10:25 p.m. on Aug 17, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/17/you-have-been.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F17%2Fyou-have-been.html" }, { "id": 693, "type": "post", "title": "Social networks fit for humans", "text": "Vrypan says:\n‘social networks don’t scale socially’.\nIt’s true. We need a distributed alternative to the monolithic megacorporations.\nThe indieweb is a way of including in the web itself a set of social network protocols. The big social network silos are then redundant, because social network functionality can exist everywhere by design.\nAn example Vrypan uses is the webmention. I’m loving micro.blog and am also intrigued by the DAT protocol and beaker browser. Such ideas are the building blocks of the next web, I hope.\nThe next web will be fit for humans.\nThe issue for semi-commercial operations like micro.blog and hashbase is whether they should develop a business model that recognises an optimum size.\nBut what even is the optimum size for a social network? One metric might be: ‘can be maintained by one admin person’. That would be a small network – hence the value of distribution and federation.\nUpdate: June 2025\nSo how have these musings aged in nearly 7 years?\nMost of the DAT protocol stuff (especially Beaker browser and hashbase) was deprecated and one of its main authors, Paul Frazee, became a lead engineer on Bluesky. Does this social network recognise an optimum size? Probably not. At the other extreme, micro.blog is still going strong as a one-person business. I use it all the time and find it to be a great \u0026lsquo;Swiss army knife\u0026rsquo; of the Indie web. Meanwhile, the main social media networks became even more toxic, which would have seemed impossible back in the halcyon days of 2018. Have we got a distributed alternative yet? Well, the rise of Mastodon has offered an alternative, though not without technical questions. Many of the Mastodon instances are in effect operated by a single person. And Vrypan is still blogging from Athens. He seems to have got into blockchain stuff, which is another distributed network, I guess. I still hold that the web itself is the social network. We no more need Instabook et al. than we needed the Compuserve Information Manager or the Prodigy or AOL equivalent \u0026lsquo;portals\u0026rsquo; after the Web opened up in 1994 (see: Banks, 2008).\nBut is the next web fit for humans yet? I\u0026rsquo;d say definitely not, though corners are looking habitable.\nReferences:\nMichael Banks, On the Way to the Web. Berkeley, CA: Apress, 2008. doi.org/10.1007/9\u0026hellip;\nvrypan (archived) indieweb webmentions microblog beakerbrowser hashbase DAT protocol in 2025 ", "dateiso": "2018-08-16 12:59:29 +1100", "date": "12:59 p.m. on Aug 16, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/16/fit-for-humans.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F16%2Ffit-for-humans.html" }, { "id": 694, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "A big win for civilization in England?\nA judge has ruled that a local council in England needs to consider its statutory duties before closing down libraries due to funding cuts.\n[The Guardian] (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/14/family-claims-win-in-high-court-challenge-to-northants-library-cuts)\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-15 15:39:39 +1100", "date": "3:39 p.m. on Aug 15, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/15/a-big-win.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F15%2Fa-big-win.html" }, { "id": 695, "type": "post", "title": "What keeps me from blogging?", "text": " Mark Sample asks himself what it is about blogging that keeps him from blogging. For me, to be honest, it's Wordpress. The editor tool makes me feel like I'm engineering something rather than creating. Even with Gutenberg.\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-14 23:54:57 +1100", "date": "11:54 p.m. on Aug 14, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/14/what-keeps-me.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F14%2Fwhat-keeps-me.html" }, { "id": 696, "type": "post", "title": "Shelter", "text": "[caption id=\u0026quot;\u0026quot; align=\u0026ldquo;alignnone\u0026rdquo; width=\u0026ldquo;393\u0026rdquo;] Olivia Chaney - Shelter[/caption]\nReally enjoying this. English song reimagined. The producer, Thomas Bartlett, has had a role in much of my favourite music. đŸŽ”\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-14 23:23:13 +1100", "date": "11:23 p.m. on Aug 14, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/14/shelter.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F14%2Fshelter.html" }, { "id": 697, "type": "post", "title": "Blogs are back", "text": "According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, blogs are back! The article references one of my favourite metaphors for the web: the garden and the stream. It\u0026rsquo;s worth reading Mike Caulfield\u0026rsquo;s classic keynote presentation (for dLRN2015) to understand the contrasting and sometimes complimentary benefits of both.\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-14 23:10:09 +1100", "date": "11:10 p.m. on Aug 14, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/14/blogs-are-back.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F14%2Fblogs-are-back.html" }, { "id": 698, "type": "post", "title": "Should I read the Indieweb Guide?", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;ve now added the Indieweb plugin along with webmentions. Looking forward to finding out how it works! (There\u0026rsquo;s a guide - maybe I should read it).\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-13 14:16:30 +1100", "date": "2:16 p.m. on Aug 13, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/13/should-i-read.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F13%2Fshould-i-read.html" }, { "id": 699, "type": "post", "title": "Only sinners left down here", "text": "I miss my old habit of blogging regularly. It used to make me happy.\nI like the idea of cultivating one\u0026rsquo;s garden online. But somehow the tools have become harder to use, or just less accessible, which for me amounts to the same thing. The end result is less writing.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t think this is unusual. To browse the remains of the blogosphere in recent times is to see that many blogs just faded out around 2014-16. It feels like the Web\u0026rsquo;s own version of the Rapture. The righteous seemingly vanished. They ascended to Facebook and Twitter I guess. Only sinners were left down here in the blogs.\nBut besides this great shift there is something else remarkable about the experience of writing online. It relates to the general shift from PC to mobile. Clearly this is a great leap forward. It is a kind of technophile dream to have an always connected computer in your pocket. But as Neil Postman reminds us, progress isn\u0026rsquo;t linear - it\u0026rsquo;s ecological. Every technological \u0026lsquo;improvement\u0026rsquo; changes the whole ecosystem, and not everywhere for the better. As we spend more time on my phone there is less time left over for the old (relatively productive) way of doing things.\nBut some of us just like it down here in the blogs. The mission, then: to find ways of writing more, more often; to find and use new ways of working that can support a justified feeling of accomplishment.\nNow read: Open, free and poetic.\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-10 16:33:00 +1100", "date": "4:33 p.m. on Aug 10, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/10/only-sinners-left-down-here.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F10%2Fonly-sinners-left-down-here.html" }, { "id": 700, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "Just by posting on my site, the post is automatically mirrored to micro.blog\n", "dateiso": "2018-08-10 13:43:57 +1100", "date": "1:43 p.m. on Aug 10, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/10/just-by-posting.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F10%2Fjust-by-posting.html" }, { "id": 701, "type": "post", "title": "New micro.blog account", "text": " I did in fact add a micro.blog account, which you can find at micro.blog/writingslowly\n(but it's not fully linked up yet - that's the next step). ", "dateiso": "2018-08-07 13:48:18 +1100", "date": "1:48 p.m. on Aug 7, 2018", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2018/08/07/new-microblog-account.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2018%2F08%2F07%2Fnew-microblog-account.html" }, { "id": 702, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "I\u0026rsquo;m thinking of adding a connection between this site and Manton Reece\u0026rsquo;s micro.blog It\u0026rsquo;s a bit like Twitter but there\u0026rsquo;s more control of your site\u0026rsquo;s own contents. And it\u0026rsquo;s possible to syndicate everything to Twitter anyway.\n", "dateiso": "2017-11-28 22:16:29 +1100", "date": "10:16 p.m. on Nov 28, 2017", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2017/11/28/im-thinking-of.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2017%2F11%2F28%2Fim-thinking-of.html" }, { "id": 703, "type": "post", "title": "Welcome", "text": "Hello,Thanks for reading my first post here. As you can see the site certainly lives up to its name. I am writing slowly1.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;d like to write back, you can just leave a comment, or email me:\ninfo at writingslowly.com\nor barely writing at all. ↩ ", "dateiso": "2014-01-25 01:03:58 +1100", "date": "1:03 p.m. on Jan 25, 2014", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2014/01/25/welcome.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2014%2F01%2F25%2Fwelcome.html" }, { "id": 704, "type": "post", "title": "", "text": "đŸ“· Day 25: flare (Matthew, aka @matt17r) #mbsept\nSydney’s Darling Harbour feels like an over-developed tourist trap. But I must admit: every so often it really comes good.\n", "dateiso": "2013-09-25 14:02:00 +1100", "date": "2:02 p.m. on Sep 25, 2013", "permalink": "https://writingslowly.com/2013/09/25/day-flare-matthew.html", "timelinelink": "https://micro.blog/conversation.js?format=jsonfeed\u0026url=https%3A%2F%2Fwritingslowly.com%2F2013%2F09%2F25%2Fday-flare-matthew.html" } ]