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Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#151

Post by nixpulvis »

lazyjones wrote: post #81

Over the past 25-odd years I've used text files, Moleskine notebooks I carried with me everywhere and lately just iCloud notes. My main problems turned out to be not the preservation of such ideas, but not actually bothering to write them down often and lack of discipline at revisiting them later. Judging from past "successes", getting to work on good ideas immediately has worked best for me.

Basically the same as me, though I love spending time going back a rereading all my notes. Sometimes I'm really tempted to delete one, as it's stupid, but I resist the urge.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#152

Post by stunt »

srikz wrote: post #67

I (and am sure many here) have been in the same situation. I have tried physical books (which I'm still biased towards), OneNote (my next favourite, especially on tablets with stylus), txt files, wiki etc. Ultimately what I realised is that it is all useless if I don't have a periodic review session for these ideas. So, what I am doing these days (not with much success due to lack of discipline) is to have 2 or 3 dif…

Dedicate a wall in your bedroom or private office to hang a whiteboard for writing your ideas. If one of your creative ideas is going to have a positive impact on your life, it worth to be in front of your eyes.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#153

Post by MarsAscendant »

ves wrote: post #61

I write them down. Now for the bit nobody will care about: If the thought’s really worth it, I will get up, find a notebook, and spend quite a lot of time transcribing it. I’ve actually gotten pretty good at writing blind because a particularly pernicious thought keeps sleep from me at least once a month. Every so often, I’ll read through my notebooks and try to synthesize these notes into something better. Often, th…

> If the thought’s really worth it, I will get up, find a notebook, and spend quite a lot of time transcribing it.

I keep a notebook (or a substitute) by the bed, for the very same reason. Writing most ideas down is worth it, in a sense of developing a habit to write all of them down, regardless of how much they're worth at the time.

I'm writing this story, where chapters are broken down by the song the main character listens to, which reflects his emotional state. I've had this great song idea for a sudden shift in atmosphere when his abuse ex messages him out of nowhere, after years apart. It's an emotional whiplash for the character.

I'm kicking myself for not writing the title down. All I remember now is that it was perfect for it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#154

Post by ozim »

upatricck wrote: post #82

I use todoist, I have one project that contains my random creative thoughts. i review them and remove those i think are useless from time to time.

I did that but then I wanted to group ideas, links, etc. to have some kind connections. I moved all stuff from todoist to FreeMind. I still use todoist to quickly note stuff because app synch is great, I have it on my mobile. But then when I have some time I move it to mind maps to have categories and see which ones are to be skipped and I don't care.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#156

Post by alkonaut »

I know this isn’t the topic but just for anyone else reading and gets the impression that they aren’t normal:

My answer is - I don’t. I’m reasonably creative and also get ideas in inconvenient situations. But I try to remember and it actually works. Since it’s an “idea” it’s usually such a small piece of information that is key anyway “if I process everything backwards I can do it in constant time” or whatever. Obviously if your creativity is grapical you need to draw, if it’s musical you might need to record. But for problems I’m stuck on, it’s usually a tiny thought that unlocks the whole thing I’m stuck on.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#159

Post by tbeutel »

polote wrote: post #17

I use Zim wiki: http://zim-wiki.org/ I organize everything in it, and I have also a daily journal in zim, it is synchronized with syncthing https://syncthing.net/ on all my computers and my phone. When I have something quick to add and don't have access to my computer, I send to myself a message and slack, or on whatsapp and I add it later to my notes

I've been hosting my own wiki based on Use Mod Wiki since the late 90's. I'm still using it everyday.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#160

Post by halfastack »

whiddershins wrote: post #141

As an Asana user, I email myself and cc Asana. That way I have an ongoing list of Asana tasks that are my ideas. Honestly, I rarely get to them though. Usually if an idea is stimulating it keeps coming back over and over and it’s irrelevant whether I wrote it down.

I love the idea of "Steve" or "Ariana" at Asana thinking "Oh, another email from whiddershins, better write that down for him into his account. Good on you, mr. whiddershins!":))
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