Starting a Common Place Book

This year I started a commonplace book for quotes and verses. I’ve done something similar to this with images before, but I’ve never systematically written down quotes in one place from all of the information I take in every week from reading, listening to podcasts, or watching documentaries or great movies.

“She pulled her book of pictures out of the plastic beach bag on the seat beside her. She had been collecting pictures from magazines since she was little … pictures of bedrooms with old quilts and four-poster beds, kitchens with copper pots and blue china, living rooms with sleeping Lassies curled on bright rugs, and walls covered with family pictures in gold frames. Before, these rooms had existed only in the pages of magazines she bought at garage sales in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. But now, she was on her way to California — on her way to live in such rooms.” –

“Where the Heart Is”

After I saw this movie when I was a Freshmen in college, I went and bought a three ring binder, filled it with page protectors and began to cut out pictures from magazines of what I drew my eye. I organized the pages by topic. I began to see my style develop as I saw commonalities between the images I was drawn to from the content I was consuming. When I look back through it today, I still have the same taste. No matter the trends, you are who you are.

This method today would be the equivalent of my pinterest page.

You can read more about what a common place book is here.

In a commonplace notebook instead of filing away images, I compile quotes I hear throughout the day into my notes app and then at the end of the day I transfer those notes to a composition book that has a growing table of contents.

Just as I started to notice a pattern of my style and taste developing with my image book, I’ve started to notice the same things with the words I’m collecting.

I read widely, but still see commonalities among things I’m reading and listening to even though the content I’ve selected is varied. I hope this will make me a better writer and help me retain what I’m learning.

Creatively,
Emily