The Simple Process I Use For Turning Notes Into Knowledge (& Knowledge Into Content)

Create An Infinite Library Of Things To Write (& Create)

Everything in my writing system starts with something that I like to call a SparkNote⚡️

Sparknotes can come from anywhere. But usually, they pop up when I’m consuming books, articles or scrolling through my Twitter feed. If you’re familiar with the Zettelkasten method you might call them fleeting or literature notes. But essentially for me they are a bolt of inspiration (like a lightning spark) that I want to capture to write or think about later.

Photo by Rafael Leão on Unsplash

All of these SparkNotes end up in my writing inbox. And my writing inbox is where I start each day. Each Sparknote becomes almost like a writing prompt. So rather than start with a blank page each morning or having to brainstorm things to write about, I can open up my writing inbox and find a wealth of prompts that have sparked me and I can explore further.

And that is exactly what happened the other day when I was scrolling through Twitter and found a tweet from my friend Natalie, which kicked off this sparknote process and I thought I’d share it.

Find Your Spark Generators

If you’re waiting for inspiration to strike as a creator, then you’re going to get frustrated & give up pretty quickly. I don’t wait for inspiration I intentionally ‘bump’ into it every day with my Spark Generators.

A Spark Generator is essentially a place I know I am going to be inspired and find a lot of SparkNotes. My go-to places are my Kindle library, my articles to-read list and would you believe it — Twitter.

And that’s exactly where I was a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled across Natalie Fidlow’s tweet about writing being a distillery of your thinking.

Often, a SparkNote feels like a bolt of lightning hitting me (which incidentally is why I call it a SparkNote). A few words stand out…