# Collect words The artist's job is collect good ideas.[^1] Austin Kleon calls this kind of thing a swipe file,[^2] after the practice of cartoonists and commercial artists keeping swipe files of stuff to copy.[^3] [[Curating and creating are not all that different]]. Use the [[Lynda Barry journal method]] to collect words you'd heard or read. [[Scan a book for interesting words]]. Keep a hook book.[^4] Paul Simon keeps pages of lines that aren't yet in songs.[^5] [^1]: [[Steal Like an Artist]] pg. 14 [^2]: [[Steal Like an Artist]] pg. 22 [^3]: [Swipe Right: How Artists Borrow and Steal - RetroSupply Co.](https://www.retrosupply.co/blogs/tutorials/swipe-right) [^4]: [8 Songwriting Tips I Wish I Knew Sooner - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuP1YVs6m7M&t=2s) [^5]: [[Songwriters on Songwriting]] pg. 120