A Step by Step Guide on Building a Writing Inbox in Roam
Hey everyone!
I published a new video yesterday about my writing inbox system. But I feel I didn’t explain well about how to actually make it.
I’m not sure if people are interested in this, but here’s a more detailed explanation.
The idea of writing inbox is that it always gives you some ideas to write about.
I think writing is the best way to develop your ability to think clearly.
But we often don’t know what to even write about. That’s when a writing inbox comes in - when you have no idea what to write about, just see inside your writing inbox, pick a topic, and then write about it. That way, you don’t have to spend ages searching for topics.
Here’s the steps to build my writing inbox (if you’re interested)
Step 1 Create a page called Research
Brainstorm and write down topics you’re interested in. For example, I’m interested in health a lot, so my research page looks like this.
Don’t forget to add tags - “Waiting”, “In Progress” and “Done”.
Step 2 Create a Resonance Calendar
Resonance Calendar is where you store all of the articles, books and podcasts that you consumed and resonated with you. I explained this in my previous video, so not going to talk about it here in detail.
The most important thing is to have a status field where you put “Waiting”, “In Progress”, or “Done” tag.
Waiting means you haven’t made any literature or evergreen notes from it. In Progress means you’re currently working on it.
So, for example, when I finished reading a book I really liked, I put the book highlights into my resonance calendar and put the Waiting tag so that I won’t forget to make literature notes of it.
Step 3 Create a page called Writing Inbox
This is pretty straightforward.
Step 4 Write queries for each page
In the Writing Inbox page, write the following queries.
{{query:{and:[[Research]]{or:[[Waiting]][[In Progress]]}}}}
{{query:{and:[[Quick Capture]][[Waiting]]}}}
{{query:{and:[[Resonance Calendar]]{or:[[Waiting]][[In Progress]]}}}}
The query for Quick Capture is optional. If you use Roam on mobile when you want to make a quick note, this might be useful. I often use mobile quick capture.
Whenever I get good ideas, I open Roam on my phone and write it down with the tag Waiting. Then, the ideas will appear in the writing inbox.
After completing these steps, your writing inbox should look like this:
But, if you’ve any question, feel free to send me a message on Twitter or Instagram :)
Have a great week!
Shu
What I've been reading
I really liked this article “If You’re Reading This, It’s Time For You To Create Something” by Darius Foroux.
I’ve been following his blog for months now, and his articles are all great.
One of my favourite highlights from this article is:
“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” - Steve Jobs
Why can’t you create something? The only question you have to answer is this: What’s your ‘thing’?
What experience do you have?
What skill do you have?
What talent do you have?
How do you provide value to others? There are only 2 ways.
You do or create something that’s useful to others.
You entertain people.
What I've been listening
I’ve been listening to “The Office Ladies” by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey while I cook every night. As a huge fan of The Office, I love listening to them talking about the behind the scene!