.jpeg?picon=2982)
I am a sucker for blank books. I love the variety of styles and sizes available, and I love the potential they hold. Sometimes my blank books become journals. Some have become a collection of anecdotes, messages, and memories I'll share with my sons one day. I use one for brainstorming story ideas and taking notes at conferences. Another holds a book list five years in the making.
In the last week, I've come across two articles about blank books and journaling, one in February's Writer's Digest called "Unkeep a Journal to Grow Your Writing," one at Sara Lewis Holmes's blog, Read Write Believe. Both articles have a common theme: writers should consider using a journal not as an obligatory place to record events but as a haven for quotes, observations, lists, poems.
In the Unkeep article, Heather Sellers says, "A journal is meant to be something you have with you when you are not at home, when you are bored, or grumpy or staring off into space...On a trip, you write down what people are saying in the airplane seats behind you. You sketch the banana trees outside your hotel. You listen to your grandma's recipes for cornbread and grits, and you wrtie them down, plus a description of her skin, her earrings, the wonderful way her hair wisps around in a circle...My journal is like a spider web; I catch stuff I can use later in it."
On Sara's blog, she quotes Jonathan Swift, who said, "A commonplace book is what a provident poet cannot subsist without, for this proverbial reason, that 'great wits have short memories:' and whereas, on the other hand, poets, being liars by profession, ought to have good memories; to reconcile these, a book of this sort, is in the nature of a supplemental memory, or a record of what occurs remarkable in every day's reading or conversation.
There you enter not only your own original thoughts, (which, a hundred to one, are few and insignificant) but such of other men as you think fit to make your own, by entering them there."I have a beautiful journal I bought years ago -- blue velvet, a crimson and silver ribbon running around the middle, gilded pages big and thick and waiting for something important. Last week, I figured out its purpose. It's my Commonplace book. Already I've transcribed Johnathan Swift's quote above, a hymn that reminds me of my days teaching at my dear Episcopal school, and quotes about living an intentional life.
Here's where I tell you about the giveaway:
The lovely journal pictured above is for one of you readers to unkeep your own Commonplace Book.
In order to enter, leave a comment about what you might include in your own Commonplace Book. That's it. No need to be an official Follower (though, of course, that would be nice!). You international friends may enter, too.
The contest closes Friday, 6:00 PM CST. I'll us
13 Comments on Commonplace Book Giveaway, last added: 1/22/2010
Display Comments
Add a Comment
I'd keep calming quotes and short poems, ones with a sense of Robert Frost's A Star ("They may choose something like a star/ To stay their minds on, and be stayed."
It's a poem about perspective.
By the way, I hate following blogs and much prefer to use google reader, so I appreciate your policy. I still know whenever you post!
Oh I love notebooks! I have ones for everything! I have two in my bag right now; one I use to write ideas for romantic fiction in, the other to flesh out my spec fiction.
I am, however, lacking one for everyday observations, so I think that is what I'd use this one for. A book where I can record the funny thing the lady on the bus said to her son, or a description of the beautiful barista who got my coffee this morning, or the way I felt when my son ran across the room for the first time this week. Yes, I think it would be my Patchwork book, full of the little details that make the bigger projects come to life.
I am obsessed with blank books. I think its the beautiful covers and then, well, the blankness... all that white space. All the thoughts and dremas that are mine. All the pieces of me that I could let drip onto the pages. What I would keep in my book would be a collection of my favorite lines from books I am reading this year. I have a goal to read 50 books for 2010. I am already at four. I love reading, but I was thinking the other day, "how many of the yummy words that woo my mind do I actually remember later?" Sure the stories stay with me, but the actual words get lost, unless I write them down. so that it what I would do.
btw- I follow the blog, Have done for a while and I love it.
Short story ideas and drafts! I love writing my short stories long hand for some reason. (First drafts anyway...)
It's gorgeous!
I'd write all those interesting snippets of conversation I hear while picking up the kids from school, listening in on playdates, and hanging with friends.
This is a lovely contest idea, Caroline. I would record the "kidisms" I gather from my high school students and my own children. I would collect words and phrases, thoughts and feelings, ideas and images.
When I hear something amazing, profound, or even disturbing, I like to record it, whether via writing or on my cell phone. I like to really show my first reaction to the statement and see if I become numb to it after a while. That's how I can really gage a phrase's power.
I have a notebook that is a few pages shy of filled up and I need a new one. So, I would use the Commonplace to continue my elementary journey of recording the profound.
I suppose my to-do list won't suffice? How about notes and ideals for my next novel?
What a lovely idea! I love blank books too. I use them for a variety of things. One of my favourite uses is for quotes!
Song lyrics, kid quotes, doodles, drawings, writerly thoughts and "normal" moments in my day.
Winged Writer
Ooh, pretty! I'd put it on my nightstand with my little keychain flashlight and use it for those late night/early morning epiphanies.
Oh how I love this giveaway. Blank books are definitely on my favorite things list. I usually use them to journal , so they stay by my bed. But the corners of my planner are stuffed these days with the things I think of for future books or the quirky thing my friend's son said while I was visiting. I finally have a big, beautiful purse to replace my old tiny one. So I'd carry this blank book in there and feel so happy that I could pull it out any moment inspiration strikes. (If it's too big for that, maybe I'll use it for a journal and buy a smaller one for Inspiration Central!)
I would put in quotes, and things people say--I'm studying dialogue right. I LOOOVE blank journals! Thanks for the cool contest!