Keeping a Commonplace Book – Online and Offline
Posted on August 9, 2024 by Aywren
Though I kept something called a “writer’s notebook” when I was in high school and college, little did I know then that what I was actually keeping is what’s known as a “commonplace book.” This is, essentially, a personal notebook where you jot down quotes and passages that you’ve read or heard that you want to remember.
There are many ways to keep commonplace books, and they’ve been kept by many (famous) people throughout the ages. Since I’ve been trying to read more, especially philosophy books and the like, I decided it was a great idea to keep a commonplace book of my own.
I’ve mentioned this on and off in other posts this year, but I wanted to dedicate a post to it because it’s great fun to make a commonplace book. It doesn’t take anything special to start one – any old notebook will do. You can even keep one digitally if you want – though, most folks will tell you that there’s an importance of physically writing things down on paper that can’t be captured by typing it on a screen.
But because this blog is somewhat the center of most of my creative projects, I’ve chosen to do both!
I created a section called Commonplace Wren where I add a couple of quotes a week in digital format to this website. I organize the quotes by work and by topic. So far, I’ve only been working through Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, but I have other books on standby for when this is complete.
Likewise, I’ve been adding quotes from Meditations to my physical commonplace book. This is a journal-like book that I try to decorate with stickers and print outs to give it a bit of aesthetics.
I also try to do a little reflection on the quotes I add to my physical commonplace book by jotting down my thoughts in a different color ink under each quote. Sometimes I just summarize the quote in my own words instead. This is meant to make the process of recording these quotes more than about copying them down, but also for me to add my own input into my book.
Consider it a little like reposting/retweeting something you read that you really like, except it’s gathered in a book format. Really, that’s all there is to it. One can argue that folks have been reposting content like this for years! :D
If you’re interested in knowing more, you can find lots of YouTube videos and blog posts out there about commonplace books, how other people make and keep them, and the benefits of having your own commonplace book.
Here’s just one example: