Glue sticks are great.
It’s kind of a retro tool, but I find that they are rather indispensable for collecting ideas in whatever form grabs me, and then, quite literally (!) making them stick.
I have this blank book.
Truth is, I have many, many blank books, but this one has random quotes in it, little bits of inspirational text and then tons of blank pages that beg to be scribbled on, with lots of room for random scraps of magazine pages and/or pictures to be added with a quick swipe of that glorious glue stick.
This book is called, wait for it…The Idea Book.
I bought this book in Toronto. It was in a pile of random selections on a bookstore’s clearance table. I found it again this week when I moved some books from Sechelt to Vancouver. I don’t think you need a specific book called The Idea Book, but it was on sale and really cheap.
I’m Mennonite. What can I tell you?
It seems I had written in it twice. One entry had a date…March 29, 2006. Apparently, I haven’t had many ideas since ’06.
Truth is, I’ve got a zillion other books filled with scraps and bits, so in my defence, I’ve had a few ideas, I just didn’t stick them in this particular place. I guess this one just slid out of view for a while…like about six years.
I decided it would be fun to use this one again. This process is not done with any particular theme or quest in mind. It’s more akin to how a crow grabs shiny things and weaves them into their nest.
Here’s what I tore out of a 2007 Architectural Digest magazine the other day. It was from an ad for Tucker Robbins furniture. It seems he is a former monk turned furniture guru. One could safely assume him to be a bit of an authority on reinventing oneself and the odd inspirational quote.
His site is quite cool and his green eco-furniture wildly expensive. That aside, here is what I tore out of that shiny magazine.
Interviewer: “How does one go about reinventing oneself?”
Tucker Robbins: “By being courageous – daily. By getting a feel for taking a step without knowing where the ground is. It takes courage and belief in the basic goodness of life.”
It seemed worth a bit of glue. That’s a thought that I’d like to stick.
Three semi-random thoughts:
1. How does one get from being a monk (which I thought was a life sentence commitment) to a high end furniture designer?? that’s sort of shocking!
2. Have you ever returned to your idea books and written something based on what you had saved there?
3. Lots of artists keep sketch books. I think they are supposed to be sources of inspiration for later works, but still haven’t met an artist who actually uses them that way.
Jana. Sorry it’s taken me so long to answer. I like your listing of semi-random thoughts.
#1. Indeed. What a story eh?
#2. I have gone back and pulled up things that have sparked a new direction, whether it’s simply a book recommendation, website addresses, or a snippet of eavesdropped conversation.
#3. I think mostly the notebook helps me focus a thought for right at the moment. If I take the time to write it down, it helps me to think about it in a deeper way. In that regard, the books aren’t always so much for later reference for me, but as “magnifying glasses” for tuning in to that particular moment.
I’ve played around with those kinds of things (and yes I love glue sticks – wish they’d had them when I was in kindergarten!), but I tend to lose interest in them before they do me any good! Same with the vision boards – people tell me they really work.
I like that quote. Sometimes it’s harder than others to have that faith in the basic goodness of life.
Hey Becca, as is obvious by the March ’06 date on the last entry in The Idea Book, I skitter around with these things too. But it is fun to go back and see what kind of things were catching my interest. I also carry a very small Moleskine, just for jotting book suggestions, or random things people say, or suggestions on places to eat, things to do…It ends up becoming a log of one section of my life. I like looking back on those things now and again. But whatever works. Each to his own, right 🙂