The hunt for improved note-taking

As a writer, I procrastinate.

I mean… I procrastinate on a lot of stuff in my life, but that definitely includes delaying settling down to finally write. Which is of course counterproductive and illogical, given I genuinely enjoy writing. But I guess there’s something hardwired in.

Behold the writer in his native environment. With time on his hands, what better time to write? Yet note the avoidance of actually doing so. Does the kitchen need cleaning? Is there laundry to do? Are there errands to run? A book that hasn’t been read yet? Tea to be made or a snack to be found? All these things may be the case and done at any other time. Yet writers can, as a species, most often be found doing those, doing anything, that–despite their very genus–aids in avoiding the act of writing.

So I’m always on the lookout for when I do that and try to curb it when it’s just sheer delay tactic. But there are times when what I’m doing falls into a grey area, where I don’t know if what I’m doing while not writing is actually beneficial/productive or just another time-killer.

The most current example is hunting for a convenient enough note-taking system. One that ideally backs up the contents elsewhere so I’m not relying on just one location, app or service (which is still good advice).

For decades I’ve kept notes ideas for writing by any means that were convenient, be that a piece of paper, a notebook, an app on my phone, or in a file on a computer.

Longer ideas were generally written in more detail long-hand in a spiral-bound notebook of the kind you may have used in school. I returned to using notebooks some years back, though changed style from lined paper to blank so that I could write as well as doodle out imagery for whatever game or graphic I had in mind as part of some concepts. I actually found that while it’s waaaaaaay slower than typing, I really enjoy writing long-hand. Though there’s always the danger, if one keeps one’s ideas only in physical copy, of fire or flood or simply leaving it behind in a coffee shop somewhere (in a parallel world where I wrote in coffee shops).

The problem I’ve long had, though, was that if I wrote a note on the computer instead of in a notebook, then it wasn’t somewhere for me to refer to or add to when I was out of the house. But if I had it in a book, then it wasn’t in a digital format I could easily back up or edit. And you can probably appreciate the frustration of decades worth of spiral-bound notebook ideas randomly written out and stacked on a shelf in no particular order (and really, what good would keeping them chronological do anyway, since each notebook was a collection of totally random ideas for stories and characters and games?)

Then last year I came across this post by Austin Kleon, “a writer who draws”, whose work has been inspiring me for years. And it struck a chord with me. Indeed, what use is a collection of ideas (or anything else) when there’s no means to discern one thing from the other or find what you’re looking for when you want it? So I wanted to somehow start indexing my ideas. Through what means, I don’t know yet. But the seed for effective indexing was planted.

Added to that, I came across this other guy’s quick hit advice videos and found myself (dare I say procrastinating?) scrolling down through the titles, and this one caught my eye: “This is how to capture your great ideas and still get work done.” Procrastination aside, this issue has plagued me forever. If I ignore new ideas as they pop up, with my crappy memory, there’s a really good chance I’ll forget them later. But if I get too distracted by them, or by the process it takes to get them written down, I’ve often gotten taken away by the new idea and start mucking around with it instead of the work I’m trying to finish. This led to literal decades of getting so distracted by the appeal of new ideas that I’d often abandon what I was working on for the sexier new thing, which left a lot–a… lot–of projects started and then left part-way through.

Pink basically suggests something called a Spark File, which in his case is an always open Word file where, any time he’s working on the computer and gets hit by an idea, he writes it down in the Spark File and then returns to his current work. The thinking is that it’s a system that lets his new idea get duly recorded but doesn’t dwell on it; it’s a brief hiccup in his productivity, and he can then review his Spark File contents when he has more time to pursue any ideas that hold promise of something longer that strikes his fancy.

The downside, of course, is that a Spark File is again on one file on one computer. If I get an idea when I’m working out at the gym (in a parallel world where I had ever even set foot in a gym), there’s no access to the Spark File. So I’m back to needing a convenient way to jot down ideas, while somehow being able to access those ideas in more places and settings than having them on one device.

All of which comes back to having notes easily available wherever I am and having them backed up.

I’ve been using Evernote for years to copy down ideas and share editing options to collaborate on some game concepts. I’ve been taking photos of my most recent long-hand notebook and uploading the images to Evernote so at least all the material is duplicated in case I ever lose that book. I can access all of my files with a phone or on a computer, which has proven very handy. And I have no qualm with them or their service.

But…

I confirmed with the Evernote folks recently that they don’t have a built-in method of exporting a user’s files to a backup service. Notes on their system can be manually exported and then be backed up elsewhere, but they don’t do it themselves. Better than not having them backed up at all, but I still have to remember to do it. Back to that issue of my crappy memory…

So while it wasn’t a pressing thing, and since I was of course compelled to keep procrastinating doing any writing, I hunted around a bit and I’m now down to two competing note-taking services which both seem to offer the same basic features as Evernote, but as part of their membership deal, they’ll automatically backup your files and send them to a backup service of your choice every night. Meaning I can access, make, edit, and save my idea/Spark/writing files from a computer or my phone, plus everything I do there will be backed up with no extra effort on my part.

The added bonus is that with it being a digital format, I can come up with folders to start indexing the material I save there, which is far easier to do and manage virtually than physically.

That, my friends, is exactly what it seems I’m looking for. This isn’t (just) something I’m doing to procrastinate, but actually has some promise to get me from where I am as far as effective, broadly accessible and secure note-taking, to where I want to be.

All of which is, I fully realize, risking just moving the goal posts for myself (the ever-present thinking “I’ll Be Happy When I Get [Blank]” which of course then shifts to be a bigger, other goal when you finally get there). But I don’t think that’s the case here. I’m pretty happy with what the technology I use already allows me to do, but I would be happier (or at least less distracted over that issue) with just a little bit extra that I don’t have the ability to do yet.

Now it’s just a matter of figuring out the nuances and pros and cons of each proprietary system, and read more reviews and comparisons of them to see which is the better bet to switch to.

And… oh yeah, if I get some time after that, maybe do some writing.

2 Comments

  1. I like your doodling idea — using the image as a spark to be “worded” later.
    I wonder what kind of backups Dickens, (Poe, Shakespeare, etc.) had?
    Okay, I’m an old-fashioned gal, trusting that how I grew up will hold me in decent stead through the rest of my life — plus whatever learning-struggle happens later. What truly happens, though, is that “growing-up” stuff is often proven wrong.
    Sorry about the ramble.

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