Happy Tuesday,

Welcome to Letter 42. I can't promise I have the answers to life, the universe and everything, for your delectation this week, I have selected a variety of links and resources covering both Roam and the wider topics of tools for thought and knowledge management.

Around the Roaman Empire

First up, Pooja shared a Twitter thread and a more in-depth article describing her mind-garden approach that she has developed for using Roam more effectively.

---

As I mention often, for knowledge workers, I think it’s very worthwhile taking time to watch and dissect how others approach their work. You can often learn little tips and tricks, but looked at more holistically you can also begin to discern patterns in the workflows that you can apply to your own processes.

I missed this one initially–shoutout to Ramses for flagging it in his newsletter–. In this Loom video, Alex Wright shares how he takes notes in Roam when he’s actively reading.

---

While this may appeal more for the academics among you, it’s always worth watching what Lisa-Marie shares. In this video she shows how she used Roam to prepare for her Ph.D Viva.

---

​Jason Griffing has released an update to his Vanilla Roam course, covering a new framework he’s developed which he calls OPM–Outliner Productivity Method.

If you’re looking to improve your productivity using Roam, and get the most from the tool without resorting to extensions, Jason’s course will be worth a look.

If you previously took advantage of the special code Jason offered to LFR readers, you’ll get this new material at no extra cost. If not, I’ve still got you covered. If you use the code PRODUCTIVITY to purchase the course you’ll save $10 though the end of May.

---

One more quick reminder that Ev Chapman has the second cohort of her Effortless Creator Course starting this coming Saturday at a more European/Asia-friendly time of 9am UTC. Ev’s course is ideal if you’re trying to build a daily writing habit and create a library of notes and ideas that you can use to publish more consistently.

---

​Abhay has hacked together a pretty cool auto-tagging plugin which leverages a few other extensions to make it effortless to more densely link your notes.

​It’s best explained by watching his demo video shared on Twitter.​

Expand your Thinking

I really enjoyed this talk from Gordon Brander in a recent Tools-for-Thought Rocks session.

In it, he shared his views on note-taking, and how he’s been influenced in his journey to building his own tools. While I continue to love using Roam, I am particularly interested in seeing how he evolves his Subtext and Subconscious tools.

---

It pairs well with this short video from Nick Milo about The Knowledge Process.

Events

Speaking of Nick, he’s also putting on a free conference next week with sessions from a variety of speakers across the TfT space including my friends Ramses Oudt and Tracy Winchell.

You can find out more and register for the sessions that interest you most at www.linkingyourthinking.com/conference​

---

​Bianca Pereira is continuing her PKM for Research series with several events in May too. I’m particularly looking forward to a Twitter space with Bianca and Maggie Appleton on May 15th, 2022 as they discuss the ideas around programmable notes.

Like Nick’s upcoming conference, you can register for free for any sessions that interest you via this Lu.ma link​

Books

This was a pretty video-heavy edition, so in case, reading is more your thing, I came across this extensive reading list by Chris Beiser on Tools for Thought.

---

I am still experimenting a little with my new format. Did you enjoy this issue with more of of the wider scene? I am considering making the newsletter more widely applicable since many of the resources, ideas and techniques I share can be applied regardless of tool.

So long and thanks for all the fish, (sorry, couldn't resist the Douglas Adams references for this edition)

Andy

P.S. 💖 I am extremely greatful to Minh who kindly supported me yet again. These newsletters take me a lot of time and effort to create, so if you enjoy my work, please consider contributing to help me pay my running costs. I accept donations via Buy Me a Coffee.

If you'd like some help or guidance for making the most of Roam in your own workflows, I offer a few private 1-1 Roam coaching sessions.