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A radical system for synthetic thinkers

211 pages
print & ebook
2024

print + kindle

epub

Unorthodox creatives deserve unconventional methods.

You're here because you’re a particular kind of creative. You're a "synthetic thinker," someone who gets excited by the interaction of concepts and ideas. You’re into niche subcultures, arcane subjects, esoteric practices, and hyphenated genres.

The wild things you encounter, you unpack and examine. You're probably doing it right now.

But, what do you do with all these insights?

A System for Writing gives you a blueprint for turning ephemeral stuff—thoughts and ideas—into something real: writing. And we do it by using a zettelkasten. A “zettelkasten for writing.”

It's a book for readers who underline every insight, but rarley develop their own.

It’s a book for thinkers who take hundreds of notes, but never turn them into manuscripts.

It’s a book for writers who slog through their process, never knowing how they did it, or if they’ll ever do it again.

It's a book for creatives who start projects, but rarely see them through.

If you’re one of these people, then this is your book.

Inside, you’ll learn how to:

Effortlessly capture ideas before they slip away
Save the most relevant insights from what you read
Connect information in profound and unexpected ways
Transform individual notes into articles, blog posts, and books
Start every writing session with words already on the page
Develop a system for writing that not only supports your creativity, but inspires it

If you're done with writer's block, get this book. If you're done with information overload, forgetting ideas, and waiting around for inspiration to strike, get this book. If you’re ready to transform passing thoughts into writing, get this book. It was written for you.

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Stop ignoring your thoughts. Start capturing them.

“If it’s important, I’ll remember it.” Trust me. You won’t. Too many should-be-writers take for granted their ability to retain thoughts and ideas. A System for Writing teaches you how to capture thoughts, so you can feel comfortable forgetting them.

Having lots of ideas shouldn’t make you more confused.

Just because you’ve had over six thousand thoughts today doesn’t mean you should be wallowing in confusion. Making connections between your seemingly disconnected ideas is how they increase in value. It’s how you build complex arguments, strong positions, and hot takes you can stand behind. A System for Writing teaches you how to make sense of the chaos, and put it into words.

Create a system that supports your writing.

No system will make you a writer. But, if you’re invested in the practice, a system can be the difference between finishing your projects and fizzling out. It can turn a love/hate relationship with writing into an inspired one. A System for Writing outlines the entire process from capturing thoughts to refining ideas to making connections to organizing trains of thought to putting work out in the world. And, it teaches you how to do it again and again.

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For independent writers. By an independent writer.

I started publishing when I was fifteen, selling my photocopied “Buddhist punk rock zine” at hardcore shows and record shops. Since then, I’ve published five books, over six hundred blogs, and dozens of zines, poetry chapbooks, comics, broadsheets, performance art pieces, and political screeds. I’ve been heralded and harrassed online. I’ve had thousands of reads a day and next to none. I’ve given public readings, put on readings for other people, and snuck into dinner parties to hang with well-known writers after their readings. A System for Writing is informed by over thirty years of down and dirty experience in the field.

Written by a teacher who knows how to teach.

I‘ve been teaching for over twenty years. Not just in public schools (though I got my start subbing high school). Not just in college (though I taught at the Pacific College of Health and Sciences for five years). But, in punk warehouses, in living rooms, at yoga studios, and online. A System for Writing was written by a teacher who specializes in making simple the complex, and doing it for a variety of audiences.

Four years of research One and half years of writing.

I spent four years researching the methods taught in A System for Writing, engaging with the community surrounding these practices every single day. I’ve written nearly two dozen articles on the subject, and taught half a dozen 4-week courses. Now the head moderater of the world’s largest online zettelkasten community with over twenty three thousand members, I’m more active than ever. Basically...I’m obsessed.

The best book on the subject?

I wrote A System for Writing to give creatives a book they could confidently recommend. No cavetates. No excuses. No “It’s ok, but terribly written.” No “It’s fine, but weak on the details.” No “It’s kinda interesting, but I feel like I’m being scammed.” Instead, this is what readers say about A System for Writing:

"It's straight to the point." "Efficient and thorough." "By far the best book on the subject." "If you're starting from scratch, without any knowledge, this is the book." "Doto’s book goes right to the point clearly, simply, efficiently." "The book I wish I had in 2020." "Finally clarifies how this process works." "Simple and clear." "Does exactly what it promises." "The essence of the Zettelkasten note-making approach." "Clear instructions on creating a Zettelkasten." "Lots of practical examples." "Addresses every confusion and misconception in an incredibly effective book."

Ready to transition from pondering to pro-active?

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Now, click [[here]] to register for the next AMA on Writing!