Hey everyone! I think it'd be interesting to start a discussion on the different ways magicians/mentalists organize their knowledge. As performers, what we know can come from lectures, books, instant downloads, magic conventions, etc., and many of us also keep several notebooks filled with our own ideas. On top of that, sleights, props and principles can often be reused and re-purposed to create a myriad of different performances. It can sometimes be hard to find that one effect you learned two years ago to review the subtleties, or remember that principle that made the routine you saw seem like a miracle.
Do any of you keep notes as you read books or attend lectures? If so, do you organize your notes by magic creator/area of magic? Do you use regular old notebooks or do you find it more convenient to keep them online?
I'll start: I keep general notebooks for lectures and magic jams. After every lecture I write up a summary of the effects and theory, and then keep them in docs on Google Drive along with summaries of books and downloads. These are only intended to be easily searchable references though, to remind me of the right notebook or chapter in a book. I include major words like prediction, peek so that I can find the summaries easily.
I also keep separate notebooks specifically for my own thoughts and routines.
Do any of you keep notes as you read books or attend lectures? If so, do you organize your notes by magic creator/area of magic? Do you use regular old notebooks or do you find it more convenient to keep them online?
I'll start: I keep general notebooks for lectures and magic jams. After every lecture I write up a summary of the effects and theory, and then keep them in docs on Google Drive along with summaries of books and downloads. These are only intended to be easily searchable references though, to remind me of the right notebook or chapter in a book. I include major words like prediction, peek so that I can find the summaries easily.
I also keep separate notebooks specifically for my own thoughts and routines.