A draft is not written from a blank page but assembled by translating notes

Writing from a blank page is daunting. In a Zettelkasten, drafting is not creation but translation — you pick out permanent notes you have already written and transplant them into a coherent piece aimed at a single claim. The thinking is already done at the note stage. What remains for the draft is arrangement and connection.

Two preconditions make this translation possible:

• The notes must already be written in my own words — Meaning sinks in only when a note is rewritten in my own words, not copied
• What to write is decided by the notes that have gathered — Topics are not decided from the top but emerge bottom-up from the notes that pile up

Source: Follow the eight steps in order (step 7)