journals and commonplace books.

Feel free to ignore this post/assignment, particularly if you are excited to make things and especially if you are excited to make things in a context that takes you AWAY from the digital world and into the world of the senses.

But if the grayness of the day has you in a reflective mood, think about starting a commonplace book...or building into your JOURNAL a section for commonplace book-style entries.

What's a commonplace book?

RILKE: “A commonplace book is what a provident poet cannot subsist without, for this proverbial reason, that ‘great wits have short memories:’ and whereas, on the other hand, poets, being liars by profession, ought to have good memories; to reconcile these, a book of this sort, is in the nature of a supplemental memory, or a record of what occurs remarkable in every day’s reading or conversation. There you enter not only your own original thoughts, (which, a hundred to one, are few and insignificant) but such of other men as you think fit to make your own, by entering them there.”
—from “A Letter of Advice to a Young Poet”   <-- (this is a fantastic resource, BTW)

The philosopher John Locke started to be interested in this idea and was (perhaps) the first writer to use a commonplace book to record quotes to be able to refer back to over time. LOTS AND LOTS of artists and writers use this concept. Also ordinary folks who are just hoping to create a book of inspirations and comforts. 

You can just record quotes. You can record/paste in images. You can comment on things to say WHY they are important. Items in your commonplace book could be pithy quotes from philosophers, but they could also be something that your kid neighbor said that struck a chord in you. THERE ARE NO RULES.

When I was in high school, I used to write quotes from the books I was reading (and the music I was listening to) on my sneakers. I suppose that was a form of commonplacing. My sneakers (thank God) are long gone, but I actually do remember some of the quotes I wrote on them (from Joseph Conrad, actually).

The internet is awash in resources and suggestions for starting/keeping a commonplace book (it's almost as big as bullet-journaling!). And I commend you to them. But don't let your trip into that rabbit hole be bottomless. The most important thing is to get started.

You do NOT need a special book or pens or anything that you do not have access to.

Think about:

What do you know? 
What do you know that you feel connected to on a deep level?
What is the nature of that knowing? (How do you know what you know?)

What connects you to what you know? What words? What quotes? what images? etc.
Of what you are engaged in now, as a persona and as an artist, what do you think you'll want to be reminded of?

SOME RESOURCES:



a Big Blog of commonplace book ideas and examples.

More tips from commonplacers...

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