A New Kind of Brain Dump

I never had a special journal for Commonplace journaling. In fact, I never really had much structure to my journaling at all. I simply brain-dumped my way across the pages.

When a journal filled up, I filed it away. Sometimes I threw it away. Actually, I threw away quite a few of them. There was something refreshing about clearing them out, getting a little “breath of fresh air,” and starting over.

I never thought much about what I was losing.

But now, having a Commonplace journal—a place to collect things I want to remember, ponder, research, and return to, has become a must for me.

And I really like it.

I Never Wanted Structure

This is the quirky part. I have always resisted structure in my journaling. I didn’t want prompts. I didn’t want rules. I didn’t want to feel like I had to write about something.

Now, suddenly, I want structure.

I love that I am essentially ordering myself to sit down, slow down, and take some time for myself – via analogue. I can write whatever comes to mind, but I have a place for those thoughts to go.

I have my At-Home Journal, which never leaves my desk. I write in it every day, usually in the morning light. It is my everyday journal, it is modular and, my place to simply write.

My Commonplace journal is something entirely different.

It is an experience all by itself. It is hard-bound, a lay-flat and full of curiosities.

The Things We Mean to Remember

Have you ever heard or seen something that made you think, I want to remember that. I want to look into that later.

And then you don’t write it down?

A week passes. Then a month. Eventually, you find yourself Googling the same question again because you can’t remember where you heard it—or even exactly what it was you wanted to know.

That is where my Commonplace journal comes in.

It is the place for those thoughts.

I can jot something down without needing to know exactly where it will lead. Later, I can return to the entry, research it, read more, and add what I discover. I can make notes about where the information came from and continue building on the original thought.

It has become a little trail of breadcrumbs through my own curiosity.

And I love that.

Many people have been doing this for years even centuries. I just never did. So, for me, it feels like discovering an entirely new way of writing, thinking, researching, and making connections.

A Little Journal That Works For Me

I normally don’t take my A5 journals with me, they are just too large to be convenient for carrying around all the time.

My Commonplace journal is an A5, but my little passport-sized journal is perfect for capturing ideas when I’m out. It is with me all the time.

Sometimes a thought simply pops into my head. Sometimes I hear a quote or see something interesting. Sometimes I come across a name, a book, a piece of history, or an idea I want to investigate.

I don’t have to explore it right then.

I just write it down.

Then, when I’m back home, I can transfer it to my Commonplace journal and explore that little “brain dump” properly.

There is something about that process that feels very familiar to me.

Years ago—way back when we actually used books to gather information — my career was in legal research, a Paralegal. There was something fascinating about following a question from one source to another, finding a reference, chasing down another book, and gradually putting the pieces together._{(Also known as Shepardizing).}

My Commonplace journal gives me a little of that feeling again.

Only now, I get to choose the questions.

Anything Can Go In

The best part is that anything is usable.

A quote. A name. A book. A painting. An historical event. A strange fact. A question. A recipe. A word I’ve never heard before. Something someone said. Something I read. Something I suddenly wondered about for no apparent reason.

I love quotes, and I am forever wondering where they came from. Who said it? What was happening when they said it? Was it actually said by that person? What did they mean?

So I dump the quote into my Commonplace journal and go find out.

That simple act of writing something down changes it. Instead of allowing the thought to disappear, I’m giving myself permission to come back to it.

Lately It’s Been: Women Writers Who Fascinate To Me

Lately, I’ve been especially interested in women authors of the past.

How did they come up with those books?!

What were their lives like? What were they thinking? What influenced them? What did they read? What did they believe? What was happening around them when they wrote?

Mary Shelley.

Emily Brontë.

Virginia Woolf.

I can take a quote, a name, or simply a question and put it into my Commonplace journal. Then I can research the person, read about her life, find other quotes, discover her influences, and follow the trail wherever it leads.

One little note can turn into several pages.

And sometimes several pages turn into another question.

That is what makes it so interesting.

A Journal That Doesn’t Have to Know Where It’s Going

I think that’s what I’m enjoying most about Commonplace journaling.

It doesn’t have to have an ending.

It doesn’t even have to make sense when I first write it down.

It can simply begin with:

Curiosity…

And that is enough. Just one word.

I can come back later and find out.

I can research it. I can read. I can add a quote. I can write down a thought of my own. I can paste in a bit of ephemera. I can make the page beautiful simply because I enjoy making beautiful pages to go with the words.

The ephemera is part of the fun for me. A little scrap of paper, an old image, a ticket, a piece of packaging, a photocopy, a photograph—those things can turn a collection of information into something that feels personal.

And perhaps that’s why I’m enjoying this so much.

I’ve always loved making things with my hands. Now I’m making a record of the things that make me curious.

My old journals were mostly places where I emptied my head.

My Commonplace journal is different.

I’m still dumping things into it.

I’m just keeping the interesting ones now.

Til next time…

From The Rabbit Hole