you should start a commonplace book

If you're anything like me, you probably have a large notebook collection. This seems to be a common problem among creative people, and I don't think it's about hoarding the notebooks themselves and just having them on our bookshelves. It's the idea of what we're going to fill them with. We're collectors of ideas and memories and plans and we store them all in notebooks. I have a journal that's a record of my life where I write down things that happen and how I feel about them. I have a bullet journal where I try to organize my life and make to-do lists and plan for the future. I have so many sketchbooks filled with bad drawings and ideas that are half-finished, but I think my favorite notebook, the one that I've used the most consistently over the years, is my commonplace book. And you're probably wondering, what is a commonplace book? Because I myself didn't even know what the term was until pretty recently, and I realized that that was something that I've been keeping for at least the last decade. A commonplace book is a collection of quotes or excerpts from books you've read, song lyrics, ideas, or inspiration. You record it all in one notebook, that way you can flip back through it anytime you want to remember what that one really inspiring thing you read a long time ago was. We're taking in so much information that it's all useless unless we figure out a way to sift through it and keep what's really important. I have so many random quotes saved, words scribbled on paper scraps, things that are bookmarked to go back and read later. It's so easy to just read something and be really inspired by it, and then you close the book and forget about it, and it just kind of gets lost in the universe. And that's where the commonplace book comes in. It's not a diary, so you don't have the pressure of recording your daily life, because I know so many of us can't keep up with a diary or a journal. But this is still kind of a diary in a way, because you can flip back through and see the things that you saved at a point in your life, and remember why that was meaningful to you, and you're taken back. You remember what it felt like to be at that point in your life. And as an artist, my commonplace book has become one of my biggest sources of inspiration. When I'm stuck or I need an idea for a project, I can just flip back through and there's all of my best ideas and inspiration that I've saved. You should start one. You should start a commonplace book. Just choose a notebook. It doesn't really matter what it looks like. You could choose something that's small and easy to throw in your bag or keep in your pocket, or you can choose something that's sturdy that's going to last a while. It doesn't really matter. Just pick a notebook, and don't be tempted to start organizing all these words and ideas into different notebooks. You just want one. You just want one place to dump everything into. That way you have a single collection of your favorite pieces of inspiration that you've collected from the world around you. Keep it in your desk drawer, or in your backpack, or by your bedside. You just want it in a place where you can easily grab it anytime you have something that you have to write down, that you really want to keep. Write down your favorite song lyrics, or that advice that your best friend gave you, the best passage from the novel you just read, or something that your professor said that just really stuck with you. Even things that you read online, things on tumblr or pinterest, write it down. Ideas get lost too easily on the internet. And you could even tuck in other little bits and pieces that you collect, like old train tickets, or newspaper clippings, or things that you pick up on your travels. Anything that inspires you or sparks some sort of interest or curiosity, just add it to your commonplace book. And then when you feel stuck, or you just need an answer, you can flip back through this notebook.