NYC/NY


WEEKLY CLASS TOPICS


Everything that’ll be covered in the System for Writing Master Course.



MODULE 1BUILDING YOUR ZETTELKASTEN [MORE INFO]


Week 1: Capturing Ideas



what you’ll learn

Learn how and why to capture ideas either in passing or while reading (or watching, listening, etc.), as well as the major tenets of the zettelkasten method to writing, the recent history of the practice, and the most common (and confusing) terms associated with keeping a zettelkasten. 

  • Fleeting notes
  • Reference notes
  • What to look for when reading
  • The main components of the zettelkasten
  • How to leverage marginalia
  • How to determine what media content might be relevant to you
  • Where to store your different notes


Week 2: Processing Ideas



what you’ll learn

A deep dive into the most common and frequently misunderstood note-type in the zettelkasten: Main Notes.

  • Making main notes
  • Refining your ideas
  • How main notes become the seeds for longer works
  • How to turn fleeting and reference notes into main notes
  • What goes into making useful, "sticky," highly linkable main notes
  • How to design and layout main notes that will be a joy to engage with
  • How and why we work with “atomicity”
  • How to turn a long note into two or more atomic, main notes
  • The power of titles
  • How main notes lead to endless writing projects (AKA never have writer’s block again)


Week 3: Connecting Ideas



what you’ll learn

This week is all about links, connections, and relationships!

  • What to look for when establishing relationships
  • The importance of contextual linking
  • How to create strong, inspiring, unforeseen, and, useful connections
  • The relationship between atomicity and linking
  • How to establish links so your future self will never be lost


Week 4: Locating Ideas



what you’ll learn

Digging into higher-level “meta notes,” which allow you to work with the anarchy of ideas.

  • How to find what you’re looking for
  • How to use higher-level notes (aka “meta notes”) to locate and source ideas for writing
  • How to extract ideas from your zettelkasten for writing
  • How to create structure notes to help you organize your ideas
  • How to use chance to create content you never knew you’d create
  • How both folgezettel and structure notes help locate our ideas


MODULE 2WRITING WITH YOUR ZETTELKASTEN [MORE INFO]




Week 5: Sourcing Ideas for Your Writing



what you’ll learn

Having a robust zettelkasten is great. Learning how to actually use it for writing is better. 

  • How to choose trains of thought for writing
  • Bottom-up vs top-down sourcing
  • The benefits (and fun) of getting lost in your zettelkasten
  • How making connections between ideas directly contributes to writing longer works


Week 6: Developing Ideas for Your Writing



what you’ll learn

Dumping all your notes into a writing doc and calling it “finished” makes for terrible writing. Learn how to turn fragments into flow.

  • How to add necessary copy to enhance your ideas
  • Locate holes in your arguments
  • Decide how much material (how many notes) you’ll need
  • The beginnings of your outline
  • Brain dumps and breakups


Week 7: Writing Short Works



what you’ll learn

Everything I do to write blogs, articles, and essays.


Week 8: Writing Longer Works



what you’ll learn

Everything it takes to turn shorter works into longer works.


Week 9: TBD



what you’ll learn

I always leave the last class open so it can be catered specifically to the participants in the class. We will decide as a cohort where to go. It will be fun and incredibly applicable.


    when it’s all happening

    Every week consists of two sessions: one 2-hour lecture on Tuesday with some time for Q&A, and one 1-hour “Open Studio” session on Thursday dedicated to questions and instructor demos. The dates for each session are as follows:  

    WEEK 1
    Tuesday, 1/14 @ 1100am NYC time (lecture)
    Thursday, 1/16 @ 1100am NYC time (Q&A)

    WEEK 2
    Tuesday, 1/21 @ 1100am NYC time (lecture)
    Thursday, 1/23 @ 1100am NYC time (Q&A)

    WEEK 3
    Tuesday, 1/28 @ 1100am NYC time (lecture)
    Thursday, 1/30 @ 1100am NYC time (Q&A)

    WEEK 4
    Tuesday, 2/4 @ 1100am NYC time (lecture)
    Thursday, 2/6 @ 1100am NYC time (Q&A)

    —ONE-WEEK BREAK—

    WEEK 5
    Tuesday, 2/18 @ 1100am NYC time (lecture)
    Thursday, 2/20 @ 1100am NYC time (Q&A)

    WEEK 6
    Tuesday, 2/25 @ 1100am NYC time (lecture)
    Thursday, 2/27 @ 1100am NYC time (Q&A)

    WEEK 7
    Tuesday, 3/4 @ 1100am NYC time (lecture)
    Thursday, 3/6 @ 1100am NYC time (Q&A)

    WEEK 8
    Tuesday, 3/11 @ 1100am NYC time (lecture)
    Thursday, 3/13 @ 1100am NYC time (Q&A)

    WEEK 9
    Tuesday, 3/18 @ 1100am NYC time (lecture)
    Thursday, 3/20 @ 1100am NYC time (Q&A)

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