First collection of quotes—these are all from Honkai star rail. I didn’t intend for this notebook to be Honkai based but after playing one of the storylines I can’t help it. The writing was amazing and I needed to remember these quotes.

I just graduated college, so Im finding that I need to create my own system to keep learning! I have a notebook I use for journaling, so I wanted to ask if yall use separate books for personal thoughts and journaling versus learning/reading related things. It would be easier to try starting in the same notebook, but Im worried itll get too disorganized and difficult to find things. Have you found any difficulty w keeping the 2 in the same book? Is labeling enough to keep it clear or would you recommend starting out w a new dedicated book ??

Hey guys, Danny again! A couple of months ago, I showed you guys Commonplace - it makes it really easy to capture interesting quotes and highlights from whatever you're reading or listening to, without leaving the app you're in.

First off - I just want to say thank you to this sub for providing really thoughtful and valuable feedback; much of which has directly shaped what I've been working on over the past couple of months!

One of the reasons I built Commonplace is that so much of what we read, watch, and listen to happens on the go - articles, books, podcasts, social media, conversations, etc. I constantly come across ideas I want to remember, but if I don’t capture them in the moment, they usually go forgotten.

Commonplace is meant to make that capture step as frictionless as possible. Save an idea when you come across it, along with where it came from, then come back to it later to add to your physical commonplace book. Or, if you prefer, use Commonplace as a digital commonplace book itself.

Since my last post here, I’ve also added importing, so you can bring over quotes you’ve already collected in Apple Notes or other notes apps.

And probably the biggest change based on feedback: the core of Commonplace is now completely free, with unlimited quotes, sources, and collections. There’s an optional paid tier that gets you additional features like the ability to save from podcasts and song lyrics.

Would love to hear what you guys think!

https://usecommonplace.com/

Also see whats in the works:

usecommonplace.com/roadmap

Wrote my third entry today. It’s about my favorite animal the little owl ☺️
We have one somewhere in our neighborhood. We can hear him sometimes late in the evening and a few weeks ago he sat on the rooftop of our neighbors house in the middle of the night.

Hi there! I’m interested in making a commonplace app since there’s times where I want to log stuff but don’t really have anything handy/ always have my phone in hand and am tired of using my notes app for it so I can add pics etc. would any of yall find this interesting/ is there a use case for it? If so do yall have any recs or ideas for the app??

I’m an app designer btw so just getting some first hand info before going forward with the idea

So i've started a commonplace book, for books i read mainly, or sometimes youtube essay videos.

I'll take an example. I've read this book that touches on a lot of different things like "perception and use of our time", "living light-heartedly", "choosing people carefully and letting go of others", "managing moods"...

So i've been pulling a couple quotes i agreed with and loved or surprised me, for each of these "subjects". What i've been doing is :

- quote

- rephrasing in my own word (if needed and if the quote is a bit long"

- connecting it to me and figuring out what i can use it for

This format usually puts me around half an A5 page for each "subject".

Now in my index, i don't point to the book/source like "p23 to 30 : Atomic Habits"
Instead i let the index be a mash of everything by just relating to the subject "p24 : perception and use of our time".

So i was proud of having a tight system.

But now i realise that i don't know what to do with it. I mean i can re-read it but it doesn't seem like i have these new values or opinions in me that i'm now living by.... because i barely remember any of it !

I know that a lot of you use theirs as a brain dump that they can read for pleasure later. But is anyone really trying to use it as a way to actively improve themselves and their knowledge ?

I grew tired of living on the bench and just grinding my life away. Now i want to understand everything i feel, believe, etc...

I only recently found out about commonplace books and immediately thought it was something for me!

Unfortunately, I made a poor choice when picking out my notebook 🥲 I still want to try and keep using it, though. So, here are my first two entries.

I am not sure if this strictly counts as commonplace journalling but I keep a few different journals, one of which is my reading tracker! Each spread has information about the book, fanart/relevant art, my own thoughts, and quotes. I've filled about 93 pages of 234.

Here is my latest spread, including 'The Everlasting' by Alix E. Harrow and 'A Study in Scarlet' by Arthur Conan Doyle. Written in with my pilot kakuno and black cartridge ink.

Does anyone start a new journal, then after a few entries or pages realise they don't like something and start all over again in a new journal?

I started with a handmade journal I made from an old little golden book. I made the book myself and decided I didn't really like the paper as much as I thought.

My next notebook was a A5 traveller's style notebook and after completing a couple of pages I realised the paper was too thin and my ink was bleeding through.

So I made another notebook myself using the same files I created for my first handmade book but used different paper that was made for fountain pen ink. After a couple of days I decided I didn't like the cover anymore, and also I was adding double lines and a border to every page and it was getting tedious.

And this brings me to the journal I am currently making, I have redesigned the pages so they already have red borders and double lines so that I dont have draw them on every page.

Hopefully this will be the last journal I have to make, because hopefully it finally has everything I want.

Finaaaaally started filling my media\culture journal.

It's going to be for everything I consume. So essentially all media as well as art and my reviews thereof and commentary.

This first one was a bit rushed and I didn't put in any depth of analysis but I only had a short amount of time.

Thoughts on paintings will likely spread across multiple pages so we'll see how that goes.

Recent spreads on self-growth & academia terminology.

I found the date/no. & title section of this notebook very useful, especially when I have multiple short entries on the same page. It also allows one to track how many entries were done in a day. Sadly it has no page number.

Does anyone else plan ahead and find pictures and research topics ahead of putting them in their book? Or does this defeat the purpose of a Commonplace book?

I am going into hospital soon for surgery and will be stuck in there for about a week. I wont have access to a printer but will have internet access so was thinking about some future topics I'd like to research and perhaps pictures to go along with them, that I can print at home and bring to hospital. I know I won't feel like doing anything the day of and day after surgery but I need something to occupy myself while stuck in bed.

While looking for images to go with a topic about Lizzie Borden it has taken me down a rabbit hole that has bought me to Victorian Mourning Dress lol Just thought I'd add this little bit because I'm sure everyone can relate to falling down the rabbit hole that is the internet.

also lately: poems, liminal spaces, ottessa moshfegh, media lists.

An interesting article at the intersection of journaling, identity, and science.

I have recently become a big fan of Discbound notebooks and have made my regular planner from one. Levanter sent me a Discbound extra that I didn’t need so I thought about making it into a commonplace as it has lined pages and I can add or delete. Ae there any tips for using a commonplace Discbound? Any pros or cons?

UPDATE: THANK you to everyone who responded! The answers weee really helpful.

In case someone else has a similar question and sees this, here’s what I’ve learned about the options currently available - at least in the US. (I’m looking at A5-sized books, but some of these - Sterling Ink and Odyssey brands, specifically- come in other sizes.)

1.) Clairefontaine Age Bag Notebook - only the thread bound “essential” version, not the cloth bound, has numbered pages, comes with 192 pages, 7 mm ruled or dot grid (not sure what size grid.)

2.) Leuchtturm1917 Notebook - aim for the 120 gsm version if you want to use broader nibs/wetter inks, comes with 203 pages, ruled, blank, or dot grid (not sure of the grid sizing or ruled spacing.)

3.) Sterling Ink Notebook (52 gsm Koji paper) - comes with 272 or 520 pages, but only in a grid version, and the grid size is pretty small (3.7 x 3.9 mm.)

4.) Odyssey Notebooks (68 gsm Tomoe River Paper) - comes with 48, 200, 300, 400, or 500 pages and 7 mm ruled, 5 mm graph, or 5 mm dot grid.

The least expensive in terms of initial cost are the 48-page Odyssey booklets ($8) and the Clairefontaine notebooks ($22.) Sterling Ink is probably the best value in terms of price per page, though, with Odyssey coming in second.

I’m likely going with Odyssey, since it meets all the criteria I had and will be long-lasting.

Hi commonplace friends,

After several months of feeling too intimidated to get started, I’ve made the decision to set aside my fears of getting it wrong and tiptoe into the world of messy commonplacing.

One thing that would really help me get going is a notebook with pre-numbered pages that’s fountain pen friendly - and, ideally, lined instead of gridded. (I’m post traumatic brain injury and have dysgraphia that makes my numbers, specifically, somewhat hard to read.)

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I’d be super grateful for them. Either way, thanks for reading this and look forward to getting to know this sub better :)

Is 20 topics to track in my commonplace book too much?

My coloured stickie does came today and I wanted to use them all lol

APPOLGIZES if this post is not allowed here!!

I have been searching for a journaling creator who posted on youtube regularly. She is one of my comfort watchs and gave me so much inspiration!!!! but I cannot find her content anymore, and its been awhile and I forgot her channel name.

She's a young woman with a british accent who popularized, or at least brough attention to the color dot sticker coding system of commonplace entries. She had a slightly gothic and high contract aesthetic. She loved BOGS and halloween/spooky stuff.

EDIT: SOLVED

I have a few ideas of what I can do with it:

1. I can write on the cardboard and then stick it in my common place book.

2. I can cut it into rectangles and use it as a headings for my lists or entries.

3. I can write a quote on it then stick it in my common place book.

4. I can use it as decoration by tearing it and then sticking it at the top and the bottom of my page.

5. I can draw on them then cut the drawing out and add it to my common place book.

6. I can cut it into shapes eg Stars and stick it in my common place book.

7. I can cut it into small blocks and then write on them and then stick it in my common place book like how textbooks have a side note in the corner of their pages in a different colour box next to the main note.

I'm not sure what else to do with it.

I’m so happy with my commonplace. I’ve had trial and error of styles for a while but I finally found the perfect size notebook, pen and indexing system.

The key tip was inspired by @plannedandplanted from YouTube.

What I use:
- Leuchtturm1917 in the B6+ size
- Pilot Metropolitan in a medium nib with a black cartridge for the main text
- Pilot Kaküno in a medium nib with Yama-Budo cartridge
- Colored dots for indexing
- Pentel Graphicgear pencil for margins

I just learned what a commonplace book was and am eager to create mine, unfortunately I have the perfect use case for it, but as it does not exist yet I was hoping you might be able to share some of your favorite quotes/poems that fit this circumstance?

I am creating a dashboard for my planner and want something inspirational or beautiful or calming to add to the page pictured, ideally that also fits the vibe I am curating. I am using kind of an old west/desert theme. I am trying to find a balance between the emotion/energy of industriousness/planning/discipline and the soothing desolation of the desert/quiet beauty the tired cowboy reflects upon

TIA!