I’ve shared before about how I fell in love with handwriting and journaling. It didn’t happen all at once. It was a transformation, started with scribbling thoughts, ideas, brain dumps, and even personal book reviews into whichever notebook I had nearby. It made me feel present, connected to the moment, and to myself.

That sense of presence nudged me to keep a dedicated notebook for all the beautiful, inspiring sentences I encounter while reading. And as I’ve recently fallen in love with poetry, the urge to write down moving verses and keep them safe has only grown stronger. How could I possibly resist copying a line that took my breath away?

What started as scattered habits slowly turned into a daily rhythm. No matter what I was reading—books, articles, a sentence someone tweeted online—if it stirred something in me, I wrote it down. I’d also write down my own thoughts about that line, whether I agreed, disagreed, or somewhere in between. At first, I thought I was just journaling. It wasn’t until later that I read The Notebook and I learned what I was doing actually had a name: keeping a commonplace book.

What’s the Difference Between a Commonplace Book and a Journal?

A journal is deeply personal. It’s a space to record your experiences, emotions, memories, dreams, and reflections of your life in your own words.

A commonplace book, on the other hand, is more of a curated collection. It’s where you gather quotes, ideas, and fragments of insight from the world around you. People have kept them for centuries, especially during the Renaissance as a way to store knowledge, inspiration, and wisdom.

When I learned those definitions, something clicked. That’s exactly what I’d been doing all along without even realizing it.

My Hobonichi Notebook as a Commonplace Book

The content of my commonplace book ranges from quotes I’ve quoted from books, to book reviews and personal opinions (about the books themselves or about whatever issue happens to cross my mind and feels worth keeping or maybe even worth sharing here, which becomes blog post idea).

Most commonplace notebook users index their entries with little stickers placed beside the writing to mark what each note is about. I do it differently by using colored pens instead, each color standing in for a category, as you can see in the picture above: blue for quotes pulled straight from books, pink or green for book reviews and random thoughts, and light pink, brown, or purple for blog post ideas. I never held myself to a strict color code, though. I simply reached for whatever ink refill I had on hand at the time, as long as it let me tell one kind of content apart from another.

Whenever I stumble upon a sentence that makes me pause, I reach for this notebook. Sometimes it’s a quote that puts into words what I’ve long felt but never knew how to express. Other times it’s an idea I want to sit with for a while.

Over time, it’s become my personal library of borrowed brilliance: a space filled with words that matter to me. According to Harvard Libraries, a commonplace book is “a central resource or depository for ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations, and information” collected from various sources. That’s exactly what this notebook has become for me. And as you can see from the list of book titles, each Hobonichi A6 notebook can hold about 50–60 books that I’ve quoted and reviewed, with some random thoughts scattered in between!

Some of the blog posts you’ve read here started as notes in that little book. Flipping through its pages has become a ritual. I often return to passages I’ve copied down during moments when I feel stuck, uncertain, or in need of a creative spark.

My Hobonichi Notebook as a Journal

This notebook is also the place where I respond to what I read. After a powerful paragraph or a thought-provoking chapter, I often feel a rush of thoughts: questions, opinions, even frustrations. So I write those down too. I might write the book title, summarize what the author said, and then respond with my own reflections. Sometimes it’s a sentence or two. Other times, it spills out like a mini essay, almost like a blog post tucked between the pages.

What I love most about this process is the freedom it gives me.

Unlike how I set my Hobonichi Weeks Mega, which dedicates a more structured kind of journaling with dated pages, prompts, and space for stickers and doodles, my Hobonichi Notebook places no demands on me. There are no expectations to write daily, no boxes to check, and no pressure to be consistent. At the same time, there’s unlimited space to write when I have a lot to say.

Some days, I don’t write a word. Other days, I fill pages in one sitting.

The Notebook Itself

This time, the Hobonichi that I use is Hobonichi Notebook in A6. It’s small, just the right size to slip into even my tiniest bag. Do not underestimate the size because it could hold so much: quotes and reviews from more than 60 books and my thoughs!

Writing on it is a joy. It’s the kind of tactile satisfaction that makes me want to keep writing. Just to feel it again.

While my Hobonichi Weeks Mega is for daily snippets, such as tracking moods, routines, and small life moments, this A6 notebook has evolved into something more fluid. It’s part commonplace book, part reflective journal, and fully, wholeheartedly mine.

---

This tiny notebook has become my paper sanctuary where borrowed words sit beside personal reflections, and where the voices of others gently intertwine with my own. It’s book of wisdom and emotional archive at once.