Writer’s Workshop  

Malta Branch of the Round Lake Library

May 8 to June 5–Five Thursdays, 6:30-7:45pm

 "Not so Common at All: How to keep a commonplace book" 

This class invites participants—in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson—to “Make your own Bible. Collect all the words and sentences that in your reading have been like a blast of triumph." 

Using your own homemade “zine,” a spiral notebook, an elegant bound journal, or an online program, you will choose sentences, phrases, and memories that are precious to you. But far from this being simply a collection of static quotes, you will be guided to record why they are meaningful to you. 

According to William Cole, The New York Times, May 3, 1970
The key word for the commonplace book is "annotated." It is not just an anthology; the compiler meets the passages she has chosen, or tells what the passages have led her to think about. A piece of prose, a poem, an aphorism can trigger the mind to consider a parallel, to dredge something from the memory, or perhaps to speculate with further range and depth on the same themes.
Join this class to create a long lasting and meaningful compendium of what’s important to you and what you’d most like to share with others.