Speculative Outlines

We start an outline when we start a new writing project. This forces us to start with a blank page. By contrast, if we write new notes daily and notice how they relate, these can accumulate into potential writing projects.

When taking notes from any material, add the new note to an existing outline or create one if necessary. Substantially-complete writing projects will emerge.

When an outline feels “ripe,” we can pluck it and turn it into an article or manuscript without the start-up effort that comes with a blank page. Furthermore, to start a writing project with a blank outline, we must have a topic and some angle in mind.

Maintaining already-written notes in an outline is easy: look at a pair of notes and ask: which comes first?

Reorder the notes in the outline to reveal something new, surprising, or insightful which might end up being original.