Douglas Wilson, in Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life, recommends keeping a commonplace book. I agree. It’s important to have a place to store favorite words, lines, and passages.
I tend to keep mine in my REAP journal, but I’ve been known to jot things down on scraps of paper if the journal isn’t near at hand. I’m not picky. I just know the journal is the best place for me to keep things. It shows where I’ve been and where I’m going. I can follow the trajectory, ponder why certain lines struck at a certain point in time.
I have other notebooks, too. One is dedicated to poetry. Nothing but poems are to be found in it. Compartmentalized? Maybe, but it’s the process that works for me. I don’t like to write poems in my REAP journal, but, like I said, I’m not picky. If a good line or an entire poem starts to take shape in my head, I write it down. I know better than to hope I’ll remember the lines a few hours later.
Why copy down other people’s words, though? One reason is inspiration. Some passages cause me to think. I want to use the thoughts as a jumping off point. Another is study. I want to know how the author created a certain effect. I want to examine the line breaks, rhythm, and punctuation.
The third is possession. When I write down another person’s words, they become mine. Their rhythms are my rhythms. They don’t reveal themselves in direct imitation; that is not the point of possessing another’s words or rhythms. No, they mingle with my sensibilities and become something altogether different. They inform me and my work as I learn and relearn what, exactly, that work is.
A final reason is remembrance. I write down verses and worship songs and other snippets to remind me of God’s truth and grace. I need Him. I want the words I write to glorify Him and call people to Himself. I can’t do that if I keep His words at a distance. They need to be close to me, not only in the Bible I read but also in the journal, or commonplace book, I keep.
Do you have a commonplace book? Why or why not?
Image: Roco Julie (Creative Commons)
[…] write things down. I’m notorious (maybe) for keeping a journal in my purse, authoring an in-advance to-do list, tracking assignments in a college-ruled notebook, […]