Note-Taking Rituals
A Celebration of the May 2026 Commonplace Book Club
I’ve been thinking a lot about rituals lately—prompted partly by Austin Kleon’s guest post last Monday and the conclusion of the May Commonplace Book Club (CBC).
Years ago, I developed a morning ritual: I sit by a window with morning coffee, cat curled in my lap while I pick a quote to write out in my commonplace book. First, I copied quotes from Seneca’s letters, then Mary Oliver’s essays and poetry, then literary criticism. Currently, I’m transcribing quotes from Carl Jung’s Red Book, steadily making my way through a chapter each morning. This is only one of many note-taking habits.
Here’s the problem (or, rather, opportunity): Because I spend my days researching note-taking, I’m always learning about new techniques. And I want to try them all! Each new practice is like fitting another book into an overly full shelf (another habit of mine).
Part of the reason I love trying new note-taking habits is that I genuinely believe in the power of notes—I’ve seen them at work in my own personal and professional life. And, of course, I’ve studied note-taking’s powerful effects in the lives of famous creative people. But another reason is that note-taking is really fun.
Even if your notes aren’t beautiful, they are valuable. And they become more valuable over time, the more you add to them, and the more you return to them.
The power of returning to older notes is something I felt profoundly as I made my way through nearly two decades of notebooks this spring—beginning with my first dissertation notebook from 2009 all the way to my current Noted notebook—with the goal of indexing them.
Next week, I’ll share my indexing process and what I learned from it. As Ralph Waldo Emerson says,
Among the seven ages of human life…the period of indexes should not be forgotten.1
Now that I’ve started an index, I plan to continue it—to add to it and see what connections grow over the coming decades.
Rituals of Return
The Commonplace Book Club (CBC) has become another favorite ritual of mine. It’s the only note-taking ritual I do that depends on community, which makes it particularly special.
For the month of May, after writing out my own quotes, I read through our communal thread. I’d always find a few quotes to hold onto and turn over in my mind throughout the day.
I like rituals of return—of revisiting old notes or old journal entries. This is one reason I continue to make our communal commonplace book at the end of each club session, I go back through all of our threads. I gather quotes from those who have given me permission and collage them into a communal PDF.
Before we get to the communal commonplace book, some housekeeping:
The prize! Many of you maintained a daily practice through May—and of those who did, I drew a name from the lottery: Heather Bauer, who has chosen to receive a signed copy of my book. Congratulations!
Mark your calendars for the next session of the CBC, which begins on September 1, 2026!
To celebrate this May CBC’s conclusion, I’ve assembled a communal commonplace book filled with quotations from community members who granted me permission to reproduce their entries.
A note: I organized entries under topics (according to commonplace book tradition)—you might have organized entries differently, but that’s all part of the fun. Also, I found screenshots came out fuzzy, so I omitted names and commentary, all of which remain available on our chat.
Many thanks to all members of the club and especially to those who allowed me to use their entries: Allen Martin, Amy Zenger, Ann Wheeler, Cathy Clarke, Corinne McDonald, Crookshanks, Desiree Williams, EVA, Feasts and Fables, Heather Bauer, Heather Birt, Heather Rodman, Jo, Jeanne Moskal, Jean Butler, Jennifer Sears, John Rocha, Jude Knight, Kate Davis, Lisa Atkins, Liz Flaisig, Lowell Mick White, Ludy Roper, LydiaDB, Mara-Sophie, Nic, Shaz, Susan Carter Morgan, Terra M, T.N., Vivian Zuluaga Papp, and Zoe Diaz-McLeese.
You can access the full PDF here or download it:
What note-taking habits have become rituals for you? And which new ones would you like to pick up? Tell us in the comments!
Yours in note-taking,
P.S. Paid subscribers, look out for a post on my indexing technique next week!
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Harvard University Press, 1960, X. p.x.
Wonderful to see your selection gathered like this, Jillian.
Big cheer for Heather, such a diligent contributor to CBC and encourager of others. Great prize!!
And so many notes to read and gather into our own collections.
Thank you again, so much, for the communal experience. Magical. 💛
This is great. I’m really sad to have missed this one seeing as I’ve participated in them all. Nevermind. I’ll know there will be many more to come.
I have one thing to ask about your note taking. Sometimes I worry so much about the right way to write and store my notes I end up starting a million ways and having them all over the place. I’ve never found one good process. I think that’s why I only write on scraps of paper now and throw them in a box. I find that way stops my head from whirling, but it’s not so great to find them all again.