The writing inbox is an idea I'm borrowing from Andy Matuschak. It is a virtual space where inklings or incompletely developed ideas are allowed to linger until they're completely processed. In the talahardin, the writing inbox is not a separate folder. Instead, items that are considered "inside a writing inbox" are those tagged by seedlings and seeds. Since majority of notes in the talahardin have these tags and that even notes tagged with evergreens could still change, one could make the claim that the talahardin, being an unfinished archive, is the writing inbox itself.

Aside from the talahardin, my journal as well as my Drafts app contain seeds and seedlings. Per my note-writing rules, I'm cutting down on creating new evergreens, so the inklings in my journal/s are simply tracked through an index of my journals that helps me return to these inklings when needed. Meanwhile, notes in my Drafts app could be deleted or added to the seeds section under the daily note.

However, after reading Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, I was inspired to maintain a stand-alone note that contains topics that could serve as writing prompts during my morning writing sessions. These are prompts that could lead to pieces that when taken together could make a larger piece or even a book. Here is my writing inbox.

Ephemeral notes in all these locations are drained naturally during daily and weekly reviews.

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. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Matuschak, A. (n.d.). A writing inbox for transient and incomplete notes. Andyʼs Working Notes. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://notes.andymatuschak.org/A_writing_inbox_for_transient_and_incomplete_notes