Essays and notes
Notes on thinking, reading and keeping a notebook
Short essays written slowly. Replace this introduction with a line about yourself and what you write about.
Latest notes
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Four habits for a notebook you reread
A notebook is useful only when you open it again. These are the four habits that keep mine alive. Write one line a day One line is enough. It is a promise to keep the habit, not a diary entry. Some days it is the only thing you write. Read the last month once a…
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A short note on unfinished drafts
A draft that never ships is not a failure. Keep it in a folder called unfinished, and open it once a season. Some drafts close themselves; some turn into the next essay.
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Slow reading in a fast week
A slow read is a choice. Pick one chapter, one essay, or one long article. Read it once with a pencil, write one sentence in the margin, and stop before you feel finished. Over a week, that small habit does more than a quick skim of ten pieces.
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On keeping a notebook you actually reread
Most notebooks fail because they are written for the day and never read again. Try one rule: once a month, read the last four weeks from start to finish and mark one line that still matters. The marked lines become the next month’s topics. The notebook becomes a conversation with yourself instead of a pile.