The Spark File: Add Your Connections, Questions, and Ideas Throughout the Summer

This weekend, I received a handful of emails from members who wanted to share a thought or an article or a question that connected to Player Piano and the Techno-Visions theme. It was great to find them in my inbox, but I wondered, wouldn't other members like to consider these finds too? And isn’t it likely that other members found something worth sharing but didn’t send an email? And since it’s the beginning of the book club, what should we do when more of these pop up? 

I think a writing tool used by author Dan Pink offers us a solution: The Spark File.

A year or so ago, I interviewed Dan for a writing workshop. The one hour session was a deep dive into his writing process so that attendees could pick up tips to apply in their own writing. 

Dan is a nimble and creative writer, who has to keep track of a lot of ideas. Just a quick scan of his work reveals what I mean. He has written a number of bestsellers on a variety of topics, including motivation (Drive), timing (When), and regret (The Power of Regret). Most recently, he started writing a column for The Washington Post, called “Why Not?”, where, in each article, he focuses on one “bold, surprising, maybe a bit jarring” idea. So far, he has written about paying teachers more, fans owning their city’s baseball team, and why we should consider banning left turns. And these are just the ideas that make it into print. 

So how does he keep track of all his possible ideas? How does he keep track of the articles he reads that connect to an idea he might write about later? Where do leads from friends and colleagues go?

He uses a surprisingly simple method: The Spark File.