Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was famous for his Waste Books, little notebooks into which he jotted even the tiniest idea or witticism. As he said, you can build a wealth of material by saving the pennies of wit.
He got the idea from British merchants, who would scribble down sales transactions as they occurred in a "waste book," and then neatly transcribe them into their registers after the day was done.
For our purposes, a WASTE BOOK is any way you maintain for scribbling ideas, plans, any kind of ABORTIVE ATTEMPT. Just pour it out without any kind of filter. Later, you can retrieve the ideas that work.
You can read blog posts about WASTE BOOKS here.
