Bookcraft 2.0 Why Read the Date Archives Not the Categories?

What’s Established vs. A Fresh Look

I’m still sorting the pages I printed out when I read through Phil’s monthly archives. As I was sorting, I thought someone must have this question.

Why not just use the categories Phil already has?

It’s a great question and it’s an idea with value. Staying with the categories that are already established offers these benefits.

There are compelling reasons to ignore the categories and take a fresh look.

Knowing that I have the original categories to fall back on, I decided to go with a fresh look. For a person reading someone else’s archives as I am, the choice is really a toss-up — I could do either. It’s easy for me to ignore the official category a post might have come from.

Right now in the sorting, I have 3 distinct categories and 2 possibles. Of those 5 I have identified only 1 is in Phil’s current category list.

For a blogger reading his or her own archives, I recommend not reading through by original cataegories. As the writer, the blogger already is familiar with the content, coming at it from the date archives might help mix it up to jar new ideas and ways to put it back together.

Notes on Sorting or Let’s Get Physical

Sorting the pages may seem like mostly physical labor only, but the interaction of moving the pages, while thinking about them, gets more senses involved — which brings the information deeper. While you are reading, thinking about, and sorting pages, ideas start occurring. Capture them. Write them down. They will be ideas for ways to organize the book, for other book titles, and for even blog posts building off the posts you are seeing.

Do ask questions, if you’ve got some. I’m writing what I can think of to tell you, but I know it’s not everything. So don’t let your questions go with out answers.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz to help you find or make a book from your archives, click on the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.