Writing feels impossible when you're starting from zero.

The cursor is blinking in front of you. You have a few half-formed ideas, but none of them seem worth writing about. And you know you encounter hundreds of fascinating ideas every day... so why can't you seem to remember any of them?

That's where note taking tools are a game changer.

Digital note taking tools make capturing ideas effortless. You can save ideas to Evernote, Notion, Roam Research, or your digital note taking app of choice in seconds. And idea capture tools make it easy to store and organize the best insights you come across – so you can use them as starting points for content of your own.

Here are three great idea capture tools every freelance writer should know:

Readwise is duct tape for your personal knowledge management system. Readwise can take almost any input – Kindle highlights, tweets, PDF highlights, you name it – and save them to your notetaking platform of choice. And as you capture and save more highlights, Readwise gives you the tools to tag and format them so you can stay on top of what's in your idea garden. 

Kindle highlights are a great way to get way more out of every book you read – especially if you're reading paper books now. I still love a good hardcover every now and then. But reading on Kindle lets you capture and revisit the best insights from your books in a way that paper books simply don't allow.

Hypothes.is is my go-to Chrome extension for saving highlights from any webpage – which can then be automatically imported by Readwise into your notetaking system. It's especially great for content writers researching articles or whitepapers.

Getting started with digital notetaking is the easiest way to transition from consumer to creator. These idea capture tools have become essential parts of my workflow. Give them a try – you might be surprised at how they'll spark your creativity, too.