A System for Writing: How an Unconventional Approach to Note-Making Can Help You Capture Ideas, Think Wildly, and Write Constantly - A Zettelkasten Primer

The structure of a Luhmann-style zettelkasten is not predetermined. It emerges out of the relationships the note maker establishes between ideas recorded in the notes.

If you’re using a digital platform, create a folder within your “Zettelkasten” folder titled “Reference Notes.”

This can be done more or less in the same fashion as above: Copy and paste the idea into a new note. Consider its relation to other notes already stored in your zettelkasten. Link it. Give it an alphanumeric ID. Title it. Store it among your main notes. As a rule of thumb, it’s best to treat your own work the same as you would another writer’s work

I remembered something my shaykha said: “In Islam, gift-giving is considered a blessing. To refuse a gift is to deny that blessing.”

are almost always your own thoughts,

Go wild with your captures.

By contrast, reference notes are taken while you’re actively engaging with media, capturing ideas and passages as you come across them. Unlike fleeting notes, reference notes are stored in your slip box, to be used as a reference or personal index of the media you’ve consumed over the years.17

I recommend bringing these captures

A Luhmann-style zettelkasten is used to store and network ideas. So, unless you have thoughts about wedding planners, the benefits of doing household chores, or how birthdays are some of the last rites of passage we have in society, these notes should remain outside the hallowed halls of the slip box. All the rest can be converted into main notes o