Where's your second brain?
Welcome to the Mythical Type newsletter, where I share projects I’m working on, things I’ve been reading, and sources of inspiration.
How do you keep track of ideas?
Post-it notes, journals, note-taking apps, whiteboards, Word documents, voice memos…there are a lot of ways to capture ideas. But what happens afterwards? How do you use those ideas? What comes out of them?
I’m pretty good at capturing ideas on paper and with digital tools. But sometimes I struggle with how to execute those ideas. Every couple years, I migrate between digital and analog tools. In the last month, I’ve been moving toward analog.
Here’s what I’ve noticed:
Apps like Notion and Day One are great for capturing ideas. They’re easy to use and flexible in format. But they very much feel like documentation to me.
I need to move those ideas somewhere else to work on them. Paper feels better than copying and pasting to another screen, so I’ve gone old school with a Hipster PDA
. I have a lot of zine things coming up this fall (more on that below). Outlining everything on index cards has been great.
The most important thing for me is, the stack of index cards sits on my desk. I see it every day, and it’s a good reminder to check cards for what I should work on next.
I didn’t totally switch over to analog. I love putting events and reminders in my phone. Then I get notifications without having to remember what to check.
How do you keep track of ideas? Does your system change over time? Let me know in the comments.
Speaking of analog, I shot a roll of film for the first time since…2018, I think. I went to a car show a couple weeks ago and took photos with a Diana Mini 35mm camera. Here are a few of my favorite shots.
Zine happenings
SFV Zine Fest
The SFV Zine Fest is running all through September with free programming via Zoom. Each zinester has their own profile, so you can learn about them and their work.
This Saturday (September 3) at 5 p.m. ET is a virtual mixer where you can meet the zine fest organizers and participants. And I’ll be on that! I’m planning to be in the September 10 event, too.
Guest speaking
My friend is teaching a college course on zines and invited me to be a guest speaker in a couple weeks. I’ll be talking about my zines, process, and the zine community.
I haven’t had many conversations in person about zines and definitely not in a large group. I’m looking forward to what comes out of the class discussion.
October is a secret
I’m working on a little something spooky. More details later.
Zine Lunch on November 4
I’m leading a zine workshop that’s part of a lunch series from Sarabande Books. The workshop is free, open to anyone, and over Zoom, so you can join from wherever. Registration for my workshop is not posted yet, but I’ll let you know in a future newsletter when that’s up.
I’m planning some list prompts to generate ideas, and then we’ll make a mini zine during the workshop.
Zine in progress
I am slowly working on a new zine called “How to Deal with Small Talk.” I finished writing it. Next I’m drawing and then adding color with stamp ink.
I’ve been experimenting with layering ink colors. It didn’t turn out quite how I wanted, so I’m making adjustments. But, these are the colors I’m working with for the zine: purple, blue, and red orange.
Thank you for reading!
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If you want to see more from me, you can follow me on Instagram, check out my blog, or browse my zines on Etsy.
Until next time!
I used a Hipster PDA in college to keep track of projects and extra curricular activities. You can’t beat the flexibility of rearranging and adding cards as needed. Then throwing out cards when you’re done. And because they’re index cards, they never feel too precious. I can write messy notes and scribble drawings. Function over form.