How I Easily Brainstorm 🧠 and Write 📝 using Obsidian MD

Writing doesn’t have to begin on a blank page when a note system turns past ideas into ready-to-use building blocks. The workflow described here centers on Obsidian as an “information bank,” where newsletter drafts are assembled by linking inputs (highlights, reflections, and daily notes) to a reusable template, then pulling the most relevant pieces into a cohesive weekly post. The payoff is an incremental writing process: consume, capture, connect, outline—then publish—without starting over from scratch each time.

At the core is a newsletter workspace anchored by a main index note that lists every edition using Dataview queries. Those queries pull notes from a dedicated newsletter folder and sort them by publish date, making it easy to track output over time. Each new edition is generated from a template using Templater variables that automatically set headers and the newsletter structure. The newsletter content itself is built from a consistent set of categories: what was interesting from the week, personal experiences and reflections, insights from content consumed, and “ramblings” gathered from walks or self-examination.

The vault’s note types function like modular ingredients. Input notes store highlights and thoughts from things consumed, along with started/finished dates to preserve context and enable later linking. Thought notes capture more personal, subjective ideas—kept distinct from objective notes—so the draft can mix insight with lived experience. For quick capture while away from a desktop, Fleeting notes are handled through an app called Fleeting Notes, which syncs with Obsidian and supports linked ideas; it’s used for notes from YouTube videos, walks, and spontaneous thoughts. Daily notes then provide the raw material for consistency and authenticity: small snippets that may not matter alone become meaningful when reviewed together during a weekly cycle.

When drafting, the process starts with automation and retrieval. A command palette shortcut creates a new newsletter note and assigns the next edition number, leaving it ready for filling in. The writer then scans daily notes and weekly review artifacts to extract accomplishments, categorize life updates, and identify resources worth sharing. Concrete examples of linked themes are pulled from multiple sources—such as Jeff Bezos’s remarks about conformity, the “purple cow” concept about standing out, and a personal discovery that ties entertainment and attention—so the final newsletter section can unify them under a shared idea: uniqueness versus conformity.

To keep the writing relevant even when older ideas are needed, the workflow leans on search and backlinks. Quick Switcher searches surface notes tied to “writing” and “note storage systems,” which then connect to concepts like the Zettelkasten “slip box” method (via “zettelcost”/“zelicostin” references), evergreen notes, and the role of connections in retrieving and recombining knowledge. Backlinks help the writer jump from a concept note to related resources, including guidance on turning notes into articles and books using Obsidian.

Once the draft is assembled, the final step is publishing to Substack, then converting the published text into new Obsidian notes. Those new notes are linked back into the vault—turning the newsletter into future input. The result is a system where writing becomes a loop: capture ideas, connect them to existing structures, draft faster, publish, and then feed the output back into the knowledge network.