You have brilliant ideas scattered everywhere. Notes in your phone. Bookmarked articles you meant to read. Research that sits in folders you never open.
You've tried traditional outlining methods, but they don't work when your energy fluctuates. When you write in fifteen-minute fragments. When your body demands you stop mid-thought.
So your essay stays trapped in pieces. Your book exists only as disconnected fragments. And that stack of research? It just keeps growing while nothing gets written.
There's a different way.
Indexing as Creative Discovery
Introducing Indexing as Creative Discovery
The 90-minute workshop that teaches you a proven system for organizing nonfiction projects using index cards. I use it to write articles and essays for publication, and it's the method I used to write The Collected Schizophrenias, my award-winning and best-selling book that was. chosen as one of TIME's 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019.
This is my most-requested workshop. The one I teach inside The Unexpected Shape Writing Academy that students ask me to repeat again and again.
For the first time since 2021, I'm opening it to everyone.
...so you can pick up where you left off without losing your place—even after weeks away
what you'll learn
...using a simple index card system that works with your limitations, not against them
...by arranging cards spatially, seeing what's missing, and discovering unexpected connections
...using apps like Bear, Evernote, or Notion (this content has never been taught before)
(We do get asked a lot: is this helpful for fiction writers? This will vary depending on the writer; that said, we've had many poets and fiction writers who've loved this class,
and you might just want to ask yourself if using index cards to create and revise your writing appeals to you.)
IF YOU
have taken this class before and would like to learn about the digital implementation of my indexing system, please send your receipt to info@esmewang.com and we'll send you the link to register for $17.
NEW: How to implement this digitally
Megan Stielstra, author of How to Save Your Life and Once I Was Cool
Bevin D.
"I just wanted to quickly say another big THANK YOU for Saturday's workshop. As it turns out, indexing is incredibly helpful for the ADHD brain because there's just enough structure to help the ideas take shape, but not so many parameters that I'm like 'Wait...what am I doing?' This method is such a lovely gift."
Kind Words
Why This Works When Other Methods Don't
The zettelkasten ("slip box") system dates back to the 17th century. German sociologist Niklas Luhmann used it to write over 70 books and 400 scholarly articles. He attributed his extraordinary productivity to the system itself: "I only do what is easy. I only write when I immediately know how to do it. If I falter for a moment, I put the matter aside and do something else."
The method worked because it accommodated interruption. Because it valued connection over linear progression. Because it made reentry effortless.
Modern productivity culture tells you to push through. But the most prolific researcher of the 20th century built his entire practice on doing only what felt easy—and letting a simple physical system hold everything else.
Interactive session where you'll create your first index cards and discover how the system works. Includes practice exercises and real-time Q&A.
60-minute office hours (following week)
Bring your specific questions, show me your cards, get feedback on your projects.
Complete workshop recording + resources
Return to the materials whenever you start a new project. session where you'll create your first index cards and discover how the system works. Includes practice exercises and real-time Q&A.
What's INCLUDED
90-minute live workshop
(Friday, January 30th, 10 am PT / 1 pm ET)
$79
the INVESTMENT
So let me introduce:
this workshop is for you if...
You write personal nonfiction that weaves memoir with research
You accumulate research but struggle to organize it
You want to surprise yourself with connections rather than forcing a predetermined structure
You''re a book proposal writers who need to see project shape clearly
You're a neurodivergent writer whose thinking doesn't match traditional systems
You're a fragmented thinker who thinks in images rather than linear arguments
MEET Your
INSTRUCTOR
I'm a writer and teacher--the author of the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling essay collection The Collected Schizophrenias (2019), as well as the novel The Border of Paradise (2016), which was named one of NPR's Best Books of 2016; I was selected by Granta for their once-a-decade Best of Young American Novelists list of 21 authors under 40. My personal essay collection was one of TIME's 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2019 and one of People Magazine's Best Books of 2019; it also won the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize, the prestigious Whiting Award, and the Northern California Award for Creative Nonfiction. A former MFA Visiting Professor in Creative Nonfiction at San Jose State University and a current Contributing Editor for Poets & Writers Magazine, I've also made appearances on the Today Show, NPR's Weekend Edition, KCRW, the New York Times, the CBC, Flavorwire, and the New Yorker Online.
BEHIND
the COURSE
With gentle encouragement and an art director's eye, I collaborate with my couples to create effortlessly editorial images full of pure love, stunning backdrops, and natural moments (with just enough guidance!).
ENNEAGRAM 8, CREATIVE TO MY CORE, ARTIST, ROMANTIC, JANE AUSTIN STAN
about
sophia
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as seen in
Harpers Bazaar / Vogue
Marie Claire / Weddings Magazine
Enroll today!
Live workshop January 30th + office hours January 31st + lifetime access
Questions? Email info@esmewang.com