I was inspired to do this, starting at the end of 2023, from reading Roland Allen's The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper. I've been calling mine a commonplace book - which I think is only roughly correct, since I include more than quotes in it, but it is organized with an index up front. I'm just wrapping up book #3 and I've been perusing the previous ones before launching journal #4. It's really satisfying to see what my brain was obsessed with at certain points in time - what has been abandoned since then, what has grown into new or different obsessions - and how these have shaped who I am now. I love your idea of githerments (my notebooks are slowly becoming more personal so this fits nicely) and also becoming the artist in residence of somewhere. At very least I am the artist in residence of my commonplace book.
I really appreciate your comment. The artist in residence concept is one I plan to pursue. I complain to myself about how trapped I feel living on a tiny island and think the AIR idea could shake me from my whining.
Lived on Kauai since 2001. It's a dream. And..... it's an island. Sometimes I just need to drive and drive and drive. Your suggestion for the residency feels like a life boat. I've not read your musings on it, just gathered the gist from other responses. Will read today though. I do a couple other online courses and work in clay and other medium. I am a writer but not of books. Haven't published since Covid.... sorry. TMI.
I understand the feeling! My parents lived on an island for a while when I was in college. It’s amazing but can also be constricting. Interesting how we relate to land/water…
Been keeping a journal for 61 years. I guess that's my "second brain." But your githerments post also inspired me to start sketching my favorite things in my sketchbook!
Last evening, I attended a zoom talk by John Muir Laws, naturalist and artist, about Nature Journaling. I especially loved one take away from the talk - three questions to help create your entries in whatever form, prose, poetry, numbers and measurements, or drawings.
1. I noticed _____
2. I wondered about _____
3. It reminded me of _____
These questions can help center your thoughts and can "slow you down to the speed of wonder".
And it all perfectly aligns with what you are suggesting. I love it.
I love this, as someone who's been putting off journaling despite it being a very hectic and emotionally fraught time in my life where I could use a day-to-day record. I have a question totally unrelated and that you may have answered previously and I missed, but will there be any more Miss Kopp books? As a New Jersey mystery fan, I loved them and miss the Kopp family's quirkiness.
Hey, thanks! I think I'm coming around to the idea that I'll keep more of a day-to-day type of journal when it's something I actively want to do because it's more interesting and rewarding that what I might otherwise be doing (and honestly, ten minutes will get you there.) As for the Kopps, thank you very much! I'm not planning any more right now, but I left them in a pretty obvious place to start the next (also true!) chapter of their lives. Maybe someday.
This happened to me last week. It broke my heart to realise I had forgotten a whole book. And I spent a week wondering what's the point if I couldn't retain any of it. But you keep trying. You keep reading. That's what you do. However, until this post, it never crossed my mind to document even the less than impressive books and movies in my journal. I had been journaling only the special ones. This has opened up a whole new world for me. Thank you so much!
Oh good! I think as soon as I quit asking “why is this happening” and just moved on to the solution — to write something down, anything at all, just a few lines—I felt much better about the whole situation.
Awesome post! I make notes on everything - and although I index my notebooks it's a trial to find exactly what I'm looking for afterwards. I'm now using an index card system with keywords and gosh, it's early days but so far I've been able to find what I'm looking for.
I feel fed by your curiosities and insights. And the comments are dessert, very fulfilling. I draw and write daily with no "goal" in mind and these offerings germinate inside me. I do intend for a bunch of small things to lead to a more cohesive finish and the seed in me is still in the dark potential.
“Try to be one of the people upon whom nothing is lost.” Henry James. I’m chuffed that the means for doing this is so inexpensive—a cheap notebook and a ball point you take from the bank! Thank you for your inspiration!
Have you read "The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain" by Annie Murphy Paul? It covers a lot of the neuroscience around journaling and other tools to help expand our cognitive capacity (often outside our own cranial compartments)!
Hey, thanks for the shout-out of my double yolks! 🥳😆 You are seriously onto something with this githerment/second brain stuff. Another thought I've had (prompted by your posts and comments by others) is this: In the past, I briefly tried keeping an abbreviated journal in my sketchbook, but I tend to feel that my written thoughts are private, while my sketches are not. I felt self-conscious sharing sketches when some unedited writing was on the facing page. After that experiment, I decided I would always segregate sketches from writing.
But while githerments are certainly personal, they usually don't need to be kept private (most are more fun if shared). Maybe I need to keep written and drawn githerments in the same place. The book would certainly be more interesting to look through that way. But then that becomes an additional daily-carry, because you never know when a githerment will strike! Oooh, I gotta think about this... 🤔
Right! This has been my exact feeling. I have these sketchbooks full of pretty pictures, mostly art for art’s sake, and they feel kind of public. Which might be instagram’s fault—I’m old enough to remember when you couldn’t show a sketchbook to anyone unless they came over to your house and were actually interested in seeing your sketchbook. Nonetheless, I always struggled with putting whatever I thought of as “personal” stuff in an “art” sketchbook. I want to unify those two things more. Which for me means that that I’ll always have a diary that I pour my heart out into whenever I need to, and that’s for sure private, but there are a lot of more shareable ideas, thoughts, events, interests that can totally go in a sketchbook.
And in terms of portability, for me, that’s where a pocket sketchbook comes in—and/or I’m either emailing things to myself or using my camera roll—both for taking actual pictures but also for screen shots, a picture of a quote or book cover I want to remember, etc. The trick is to actually go through those things when I get home!
I already daily-carry a small sketchbook AND a separate small notebook (for all the written dribs and drabs of the day, most of which does NOT qualify as githerments)... so it's a matter of somehow incorporating the two in a way that's sustainable. Looking forward to hearing more about your process as it evolves!
Maybe you already said this somewhere, but isn't a "commonplace book" of previous eras sort of like a githerment repository? But maybe that's more for quotations from readings and such and less about one's ideas.
It is just for quotes, and I never felt like I was enough of a quote writer-downer to want to have one. But I definitely put some quotes in this newish journal of mine, and they've been a good excuse to draw people, which I want to do more of--I draw the person whose quote it is.
I was inspired to do this, starting at the end of 2023, from reading Roland Allen's The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper. I've been calling mine a commonplace book - which I think is only roughly correct, since I include more than quotes in it, but it is organized with an index up front. I'm just wrapping up book #3 and I've been perusing the previous ones before launching journal #4. It's really satisfying to see what my brain was obsessed with at certain points in time - what has been abandoned since then, what has grown into new or different obsessions - and how these have shaped who I am now. I love your idea of githerments (my notebooks are slowly becoming more personal so this fits nicely) and also becoming the artist in residence of somewhere. At very least I am the artist in residence of my commonplace book.
Thank you for all the thoughtful inspiration!
Thanks! And I've been meaning to read that book, I really should pick it up.
I really appreciate your comment. The artist in residence concept is one I plan to pursue. I complain to myself about how trapped I feel living on a tiny island and think the AIR idea could shake me from my whining.
Okay, you know I have to ask: What tiny island? If you feel like saying.
Lived on Kauai since 2001. It's a dream. And..... it's an island. Sometimes I just need to drive and drive and drive. Your suggestion for the residency feels like a life boat. I've not read your musings on it, just gathered the gist from other responses. Will read today though. I do a couple other online courses and work in clay and other medium. I am a writer but not of books. Haven't published since Covid.... sorry. TMI.
I understand the feeling! My parents lived on an island for a while when I was in college. It’s amazing but can also be constricting. Interesting how we relate to land/water…
Been keeping a journal for 61 years. I guess that's my "second brain." But your githerments post also inspired me to start sketching my favorite things in my sketchbook!
Oh, that’s great! Have fun with it!
Last evening, I attended a zoom talk by John Muir Laws, naturalist and artist, about Nature Journaling. I especially loved one take away from the talk - three questions to help create your entries in whatever form, prose, poetry, numbers and measurements, or drawings.
1. I noticed _____
2. I wondered about _____
3. It reminded me of _____
These questions can help center your thoughts and can "slow you down to the speed of wonder".
And it all perfectly aligns with what you are suggesting. I love it.
Oh yeah, that's great!
I love this, as someone who's been putting off journaling despite it being a very hectic and emotionally fraught time in my life where I could use a day-to-day record. I have a question totally unrelated and that you may have answered previously and I missed, but will there be any more Miss Kopp books? As a New Jersey mystery fan, I loved them and miss the Kopp family's quirkiness.
Hey, thanks! I think I'm coming around to the idea that I'll keep more of a day-to-day type of journal when it's something I actively want to do because it's more interesting and rewarding that what I might otherwise be doing (and honestly, ten minutes will get you there.) As for the Kopps, thank you very much! I'm not planning any more right now, but I left them in a pretty obvious place to start the next (also true!) chapter of their lives. Maybe someday.
This happened to me last week. It broke my heart to realise I had forgotten a whole book. And I spent a week wondering what's the point if I couldn't retain any of it. But you keep trying. You keep reading. That's what you do. However, until this post, it never crossed my mind to document even the less than impressive books and movies in my journal. I had been journaling only the special ones. This has opened up a whole new world for me. Thank you so much!
Oh good! I think as soon as I quit asking “why is this happening” and just moved on to the solution — to write something down, anything at all, just a few lines—I felt much better about the whole situation.
Awesome post! I make notes on everything - and although I index my notebooks it's a trial to find exactly what I'm looking for afterwards. I'm now using an index card system with keywords and gosh, it's early days but so far I've been able to find what I'm looking for.
I love index cards!
I feel fed by your curiosities and insights. And the comments are dessert, very fulfilling. I draw and write daily with no "goal" in mind and these offerings germinate inside me. I do intend for a bunch of small things to lead to a more cohesive finish and the seed in me is still in the dark potential.
“Try to be one of the people upon whom nothing is lost.” Henry James. I’m chuffed that the means for doing this is so inexpensive—a cheap notebook and a ball point you take from the bank! Thank you for your inspiration!
Ooooh I love that, I'm going to have to chase down that quote!
Have you read "The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain" by Annie Murphy Paul? It covers a lot of the neuroscience around journaling and other tools to help expand our cognitive capacity (often outside our own cranial compartments)!
OK I'm adding that one to my list! Y'all have good book recommendations!
Hey, thanks for the shout-out of my double yolks! 🥳😆 You are seriously onto something with this githerment/second brain stuff. Another thought I've had (prompted by your posts and comments by others) is this: In the past, I briefly tried keeping an abbreviated journal in my sketchbook, but I tend to feel that my written thoughts are private, while my sketches are not. I felt self-conscious sharing sketches when some unedited writing was on the facing page. After that experiment, I decided I would always segregate sketches from writing.
But while githerments are certainly personal, they usually don't need to be kept private (most are more fun if shared). Maybe I need to keep written and drawn githerments in the same place. The book would certainly be more interesting to look through that way. But then that becomes an additional daily-carry, because you never know when a githerment will strike! Oooh, I gotta think about this... 🤔
Right! This has been my exact feeling. I have these sketchbooks full of pretty pictures, mostly art for art’s sake, and they feel kind of public. Which might be instagram’s fault—I’m old enough to remember when you couldn’t show a sketchbook to anyone unless they came over to your house and were actually interested in seeing your sketchbook. Nonetheless, I always struggled with putting whatever I thought of as “personal” stuff in an “art” sketchbook. I want to unify those two things more. Which for me means that that I’ll always have a diary that I pour my heart out into whenever I need to, and that’s for sure private, but there are a lot of more shareable ideas, thoughts, events, interests that can totally go in a sketchbook.
And in terms of portability, for me, that’s where a pocket sketchbook comes in—and/or I’m either emailing things to myself or using my camera roll—both for taking actual pictures but also for screen shots, a picture of a quote or book cover I want to remember, etc. The trick is to actually go through those things when I get home!
I already daily-carry a small sketchbook AND a separate small notebook (for all the written dribs and drabs of the day, most of which does NOT qualify as githerments)... so it's a matter of somehow incorporating the two in a way that's sustainable. Looking forward to hearing more about your process as it evolves!
Maybe you already said this somewhere, but isn't a "commonplace book" of previous eras sort of like a githerment repository? But maybe that's more for quotations from readings and such and less about one's ideas.
It is just for quotes, and I never felt like I was enough of a quote writer-downer to want to have one. But I definitely put some quotes in this newish journal of mine, and they've been a good excuse to draw people, which I want to do more of--I draw the person whose quote it is.