OUR GUIDE TO KEEPING A COMMONPLACE BOOK, OR NOTEBOOK FOR IDEAS

Both personal and inspirational, a “Commonplace Book” is a notebook where you can write down and organise your ideas and knowledge to draw on later. As an adept of the practice, the writer H.P. Lovecraft would jot down, for instance, “dreams, things read, casual incidents, idle conceptions, (…) designed to set the memory or imagination working”.

Keeping a Commonplace Book is a beneficial way of developing your writing style and creativity and is helpful for anyone who would like to bolster their writing and their imagination. Definition, benefits and advice:  follow our guide to keeping a Commonplace Book!

Unlike journaling which involves penning the most intimate of thoughts, a Commonplace Book involves jotting down and organising thoughts and ideas provoked by other sources and authors, quotes, book extracts, etc. All these notes and inspirations are then gathered in a dedicated notebook. The tradition of keeping a Commonplace Book dates back to the Renaissance period.  Thinkers, writers, philosophers and men of science in the XIVth century would use a Commonplace Book as a way of compiling wisdom and knowledge, with the aim of stimulating the thought process and creativity.

Are you ever been moved by a quote from a film or a book, does a work of art ever make you want to create, or can a line from a poem mesmerise you? Would you like to keep them in mind? Creative ideas, drawings, quotes, observations, personal thoughts: a Commonplace Book gathers all the notes and thoughts that you can draw on for inspiration.

---

As British educator Charlotte Mason stated, expanding knowledge through ideas is a way of feeding the mind and imagination of young children. According to Charlotte Mason, the most important thing is to expose children to sources of inspiration so that they are surrounded by ideas that will encourage them to be creative.

Finding inspiration and developing imagination are the main benefits of keeping a Commonplace Book. If you’re worried about inspiration drying up or forgetting content that would enrich your mind, it’s time to consider keeping a Commonplace Book.
By jotting down the ideas you come across as you read a book or listen to music, you can take a “mental screenshot” of this inspirational content which you can revisit later on.

Has an idea come to you as you visit a museum or after you’ve finished reading a book? Does a picture in a magazine inspire you? Seize these moments and recreate or transcribe these ideas to keep them close! Let yourself be inspired: transcribe the extracts or quotes you like, cut out the pictures from a magazine and stick them in your notebook.

While it is common today for people to turn to their smartphones to jot down notes quickly, it has been proven that handwriting with a writing instrument is a better way to remember what you wrote. Equally, writing down one’s ideas by hand is a classic and timeless activity that has a charm that cannot be emulated by digital tools. Fountain pen, ballpoint pen or mechanical pencil: use the writing instrument that best suits you. Like your notebook, your pen is a personal object so follow our advice on how to choose the perfect pen.

---

The point of a Commonplace Book is to put to paper all the ideas that come to you. Inspiration or the wish to write something down can strike at any time and in any place, making it essential that you always have a notebook with you.

---

---

If your Commonplace Book is teeming with ideas that aren’t necessarily linked, it can be helpful to add some structure. Dedicate the first page of your notebook to creating an index which will make it easier to retrieve your ideas when reading your Commonplace Book.

---

---

The aim of keeping a Commonplace Book is to gather all sorts of ideas, even the most spontaneous. Bear in mind that this notebook is a receptacle for your thoughts, and you should not censor yourself. Maybe one day you’ll need to re-read these musings even if they might not seem that interesting to begin with. Let your imagination run free and give it food for thought whenever you can to expand your ideas.