Circular process of writing

Traditionally, a linear process of writing is taught and discussed: choosing a topic, doing research on it and writing a piece on it (article, paper, book etc.).

In opposition to this is the circular process of writing. It views writing as part of a larger set of intellectual activities: reading, taking notes, learning and understanding.

Taking notes is a key part of that pocess: Taking smart notes creates a positive feedback loop in the writing process, making the process self-motivating.

In the circular process, you makes notes on what you read, connect them, review them and choose emerging ideas for topics. Ideas for what to write about should emerge from clusters of notes that you made while you were reading and thinking.

The next step of writing a draft is then much easier as there's already a lot of material of developed thinking to work with.

Because of that, you never start writing from scratch. That is one of the core principles of Zettelkasten

The circular process is also compounding. It grows you external system and it becomes exponentially better over time.

A good sign of embracing a circular process to writing instead of the linear one, is that you will have too many ideas for topics instead of too little.

That's because you reached a critical mass of notes where topics, questions and arguments arise. You can just follow whatever is the most interesting for you at the moment.

References: Ahrens, S. (2017). How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking — for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers., ch 8