How to start a commonplace book
Start with one blank notebook and one item. Other people's lines, collected so they can return.
You type how to start a commonplace book because you have decided to begin, and you do not want a system that needs a week of setup. You want the first item in.
Start with one blank notebook. Paper or a phone is fine. Do not build a vault. Do not make a theme list first. The structure comes from what you actually keep.
The first day has one job. Collect one item from something you are already reading. The item is the text, its source, and the date you collected it. You are its keeper, not its author. A short annotation about why it stayed is enough. Skip the annotation if the line is enough.
That is the start. Not an index. Not a second brain. One item.
Tomorrow you may collect another. Or you may not. The book does not need a streak. Later, once you have half-forgotten the first line, it returns as a recollection. That is how you know you started a commonplace book and not a filing cabinet.
If the habit stalls, collect the next item while the line is still in front of you. Not tonight. Not when you remember. The source goes with it.
If that is the search, continue here: How to keep a commonplace book
Opuss is that notebook, for iPhone. Free on the App Store.
You collect an item. You can add an annotation. Later it returns as a recollection.
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The letter
Read issue 1. Ten we kept this week, and how to keep your own. Or start with how to keep.