But “commonplace” used to be a notebook where you wrote down all those quotes and ideas that you thought were cool and thought-provoking and inspiring, and maybe why you found them to be so. I wanted to do this, but I already had too many ways to capture the crap that floated around in my mind — Evernote, electronic to-do lists, reporter’s notebook, Google calendar, paper planner — all somehow too connected and yet not connected enough. Did I really need to add another dedicated notebook or app for quotes I came across in blogs and books?

The answer was yes, and I did it by using a tool I’ve already got: my paper planner. I use a hardcover weekly planner with the days of the week on the verso and a lined page on the recto. I’ve been using the lined side for project-related to-do lists, which only ever take up half the page. I now use the bottom half as a commonplace. I always have it with me, whether I’m reading The Portable MFA on my Kindle, or Desolation Angels in paperback, or the New York Times using an app on my phone.

Here are a few gems I’ve read and miraculously kept track of, thanks to this old commonplace idea:

Devotion to anything, if you were female, could make you ridiculous.  – Alice Munro, “Haven,” from the March 5, 2012, New Yorker (I am prepared to be fully ridiculous!)

In lab studies, mice, rats, and monkeys drink more after periods of isolation. – New York Times 3/15, with a note about what that might explain about writers

Funny how Cody [Cassady] never comes to poetry readings or any of these formalities, he only came once, to honor Irwin’s [Ginsberg's] first reading, and when Irwin had finished howling the last poem and there was a dead silence in the hall it was Cody, dressed in his Sunday suit, who stepped up and offered his hand to the poet (his buddy Irwin with whom he’d hitch hiked thru the Texases and Apocalypses of 1947) – I always remember that as a typical humble beautiful act of friendship and good taste. – Jack Kerouac, Desolation Angels

When you suffer a thing you think is writer’s block, as with any demon or ghost, deny its existence. “The power of the word count compels you!” you scream, flecking it with the holy water of writers (aka, whiskey). – Chuck Wendig, Terrible Minds blog, 3/26/12

Reminder! My published work is now conveniently and prettily located at Cuttings.me!

What, I’m sure you’re asking, has been going on to keep me so busy?

• I finished a book tentatively titled “A Car of One’s Own.” It’s half straight-up how-to guide for buying a car and half feminist diatribe. It’s funnier than it sounds.
• I reviewed a dozen or so cars for the new web site VroomGirls.com, which is aimed straight at women looking to buy cars.
• I participated in Mudfest, the annual SUV/CUV competition held by the Northwest Automotive Press Association. Plenty of mud for all, except the Jeep and Land Rover guys. There’s never enough mud for them.
• I picked up a new occasional gig writing about exotic cars for Consumers Digest.

If you want to keep track of my work, I suggest heading over to Cuttings.me, where I’ve got a page that neatly collects everything in a “Best Of” kind of format. Actually, if you want to keep track of your own work, I suggest heading to Cuttings.me whether you want to see what I’m doing or not.

I’ve also been working on novel in my spare time and running with my dog nearly every day to offset the whiskey I drink. To do all this, I take my daily planning strategy from Dr. Temperance Brennan on an early episode of “Bones”:

Interviewer: How do you juggle twin careers as a best-selling author and crime-fighting scientist?
Bones: Well I do one, then the other.

How Stuff Works does not tolerate shoddy work. My editor requires that all my sources be listed at the end of every piece I turn in, whether it’s a one-page Question of the Day article or a multi-page, in-depth exploration of a topic. Every web site, book, interview, press release, etc., has to be included. Now, because there are few things I like better than going down the research rabbit hole, leaving myself a trail of breadcrumbs in the form of documentation notes is a habit I’m grateful to have developed.

When I first started working with How Stuff Works, my editor (hi, Scott!) required that I turn in an outline for approval, then begin on the article itself. After a few months, he trusted me to structure the articles on my own, but I still use the outline even now. I use it for everything that requires research, since it helps me take that mass of information that I’ve accumulated in the rabbit hole and make it comprehensible.

I’ve even tried the research and outline approach in my fiction writing, but it’s less helpful there. Where my non-fiction work is kind of like building an engine according to carefully drawn-up plans, thanks to years of How Stuff Works assignments, my fiction writing tends to be more like driving a muscle car with wide tires, no brakes, and a gleeful death wish.