If you joined my newsletter anytime over the summer, it happened to coincide with four intense and nonstop months of writing the manuscript for the upcoming Linking Your Thinking book.
I'm happy to report that as of Sep 30th, I've submitted the whole LYT manuscript!
There will be notes from the publisher, of course, especially because we might have around 20,000 words to cut, but I'm just immensely satisfied to have an entire book that will be able to share LYT with everyone.
I can't wait for brand new people to experience it. I can't wait for PKM veterans to read it. I think it's going to give a lot of value to everyone.
When you put words and illustrations on the page of a book, you're basically saying "this is canon." Like, if this is my one chance to speak comprehensively on the topic, this is what I have to say. That was a heavy burden, but one I relished.
Every day felt like four breakthroughs would happen and four more obstacles would be on the horizon. To solve those obstacles I would walk sideways, over hills, ravines, and valleys, which would lead to new solutions to attempt, new breakthroughs, and new obstacles. I would pivot and start walking back uphill towards the initial horizon, solving old obstacles and realizing some had already been solved by walking in this new direction.
That was my summer.
The Four "Waves" in the Book
The book is arranged in four different parts. I view them as waves, with each successive wave adding depth and detail to the waves that came before.
The first part covers the core ideas.
The second part builds on that with the core methods of LYT.
Part three, the third wave, shows a diverse array of how individuals across the globe are using linked notes in compelling ways that we can learn from. It's grouped according to the four sensemaking archetypes that we all embody to various degrees.
Part three required me to learn new skills: interviewing people with unique use cases, researching their fields, pulling out interesting threads, weaving them together into stories while being mindful to weave in practical takeaways along the way. I'm thankful for the recent books, like Steve Jobs in Exile by Geoffrey Cain, that I have recently read.
And then the fourth and final part is the quick start guide to setting up your own ideaverse, along with some advanced ideas I never thought could make it into book form. But after I cracked the code on a simple and effective visual design (RDL: Rectangle-Dot-Line), I was able to find a way (that I think is quite effective) to show complex ideas in a way that will serve the reader.
I'm in Recovery Mode
48 hours after submitting the manuscript, I realized I was getting sick. This makes sense. It's not surprising. I've been sustaining a sprint of sorts for 4 months. And in the aftermath, the body is letting me know that there are certain debts to pay.
It's not a bad one—part of my routine involved hiking trails in Montana so I'm actually in pretty good health, all things considered—but it is a reality of working intensely on something for a long duration and then completing that thing...and the body realizing it can now let up.
Throughout the run, especially near the end, many nights I would reflect on being grateful that I was staying healthy in mind, body, and spirit. Being taken out with a cold for a week would have pushed the deadline and hurt my motivation and momentum.
So, What's Next?
So where are we now? I'm still coming out of the haze. I'm resurfacing and I'm reassessing how to give you useful, valuable stuff. I guess my mind initially goes to YouTube videos. I'm wondering what might resonate.
- Is that a YouTube video talking about Obsidian's new features over the summer?
- Is it a video talking about one person's creative process to write a book, moving from writing to walking, to talking, to listening back to what one recorded of oneself, to dictating takeaways, and back to writing in a really useful creative flow?
- Is it a video about all the analog writing I did alongside the digital writing?
- Is it a video about random interests?...Right now I'm reading two books that are polar opposites: The Infinity Machine and The Butterfly Season.
Cool Books
As part of my recovery from the book manuscript, I went to the local Barnes & Noble, where I found about 100 different books I'd like to read. The one I couldn't ignore was The Butterfly Season. I mean, look at this cover, it's gorgeous.
Something about it, as a form of recovery from an intense sprint, felt perfect. I also couldn't help but reflect that the 'me of my 20s' would never have reached for this book. I guess I'm just thankful to be alive long enough to go through a few seasons of life myself.
The next book I grabbed was The Infinity Machine. This is an extremely well-written book. I'm only about a third of the way through, and I am so thankful that this perspective exists in the field of AI. It's a perspective removed from much of Silicon Valley.
I'm still reading it, but it's already a book I can recommend. Between Sebastian Mallaby's The Infinity Machine and Geoffrey Cain's recent Steve Jobs in Exile, I'm amazed at how these authors weave together the big personalities of our time into compelling stories and just move along the page.
How to Be Good at Life is a new book by Ben Meer. If you're at a point in life where you really want to work on habits and systems, or could just use a tune-up, Ben is a leading voice on setting up simple systems in your life to "achieve more and stress less."
While Martijn Aslander was recovering from a medical emergency, he rebuilt his whole PKM system, in ways that are incredibly comprehensive. He doesn't just have his notes linked, but he has documents and files of all types. And that's just the beginning.
The key is the title of his latest book, Information Autonomy, where Martijn makes the forceful argument that you must own your data, your information, and your knowledge. He shows what that looks like in the book, for both individuals and organizations. If you believe in the value of keeping your notes in plain text and under your control, you will likely find a lot that will resonate and pique your interest.
Idea Exchange