Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday November 11, 2022: Morning Pages Reflection Prompts

November 11, 2022 /
 
Buffy Silverman has our Poetry Friday roundup this week. Hop on over there to see what others are posting about. 
 
 

Morning Pages Reflection Prompts

I’m a big fan of morning pages. I don’t always follow all of the rules that Julia Cameron lays out in her book The Artist’s Way, but I’m a believer. Morning pages help me get the gunk out of my brain and clear the decks to write.
 
I typically write morning page 5 days a week. I have different routines for the weekend, so I don’t write them then. As part of my morning pages, I answer a series of questions. I think it’s because I crave structure and this is one of my ways of creating it. 
 
Some of these questions came out of a workshop I attended awhile back on “SCRUM Method for Creative People.” I also have added some other reflections for myself as well. Here are my daily prompts:
 
  • I will let go of…
  • I am grateful for…
  • What did I do yesterday…
  • What am I going to do today…
  • What (if any) roadblocks are in my way….
  • Highs/Lows
 
Sometimes I write a half page about these reflections. Sometimes it’s two pages, but it helps me structure my thoughts for the day.
 
I also build in very structured reflection on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. This is just my daily reflection. 
 
Do you reflect daily? Are there certain questions you ask yourself? 
 
 

Haiku of the Week

thin skin of summer—
tomatillos dangle
green garden lanterns
 
Photo & Haiku © 2022 Marcie Flinchum Atkins 
 

Haiku Moments Playlist

Poetry Printables Page

Sign up for poetry postcards

 

What I’m Reading

by April Pulley Sayre
 
Last weekend I attended a nonfiction SCBWI conference sponsored by the Indiana chapter of SCBWI. They put on a phenomenal conference that was in honor and memory of April Pulley Sayre.
 
Teresa Robeson mentioned this book, and I bought it immediately. I’m a sucker for books about creativity, and this one is a gem. I’m just getting started, but I already love it.

You May Also Like

Highlights Fiction Contest: Mystery Writing Tips

January 5, 2015

How to Survive a Move with Your Creativity Intact

December 30, 2015

Writing Wednesday: Using SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY as a Writing Mentor Text

January 8, 2014

20 Comments

  • Carol Varsalona

    November 11, 2022 at 1:00 PM

    Marcie, I am not sure that I thanked you for your last Photo Card. My husband picked up the mail and told me he liked your card also. The paper-thin lanterns are so delicate and graceful. I was given some like that but they are real flowers that become beautiful decorations for a vase of artificial flowers. The haiku is lovely and your morning pages reflection is something I should do.

  • Buffy Silverman

    November 11, 2022 at 3:48 PM

    I love tomatillos as green lanterns. And am jealous that you have the sun to grow them! My Mexican brother-in-law taught me how to make salsa verde years ago, but I rely on the grocery store for tomatillos.
    Your question structure for morning pages sounds intriguing. I stopped doing them because they were feeling repetitious and not inspiring. But maybe I’ll try again with your approach–thanks for the idea!

  • Alan j Wright

    November 11, 2022 at 7:29 PM

    Marcie, you have clearly defined your limbering up process. Your mind exercises are well articulated. I thank you for sharing these routines. I find individual process both fascniating and informative. It can be affirming and instructive. I am mindful of sharing my individual process with young writers all the time, so your process adds to my knowledge. It remains ever fascinating to see what actually emerges from such routines- often unexpected treasure! I don’t have defined questions but I frequently commenced my writing time with rereading old notebook entries, and some book rummaging. Sometimes it is deliberate, at other times quite random, delving into notebooks from years past in the hope of finding new inspiration in old words. Thanks again for sharing.

  • Rose Cappelli

    November 11, 2022 at 9:08 PM

    Your posts are always so helpful and inspiring, Marcie. I started doing Morning Pages in August and have continued. I also try to do them at least five times a week. I find that it does help clear my mind and sometimes I go off in random directions that I didn’t expect. But I actually do look forward to writing them each morning. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to start in on, but sometimes it helps to have some prompts like those you’ve offered. So thanks. And I will be putting Unfold on my to read list. Right now I’m working through The Butterfly Hours and am using some of those prompts in Morning Pages.

  • Mary Lee Hahn

    November 12, 2022 at 8:29 AM

    Thanks, as always, for your process notes. Always interesting to peek over another creative’s shoulder! My version of morning pages is more “BIC,” or in German, “Sitzfleisch,” which is literally the flesh upon which you sit, but also “To have sitzfleisch means the ability to sit still for the long periods of time required to be truly productive; it means the stamina to work through a difficult situation and see a project through to the end.”

  • Laura Purdie Salas

    November 12, 2022 at 9:24 AM

    Wow. The haiku/image are fabulous. And I do morning pages almost every morning, but I mostly just brain dump and recite yesterday’s events to record and let go of them. I’ll chat about what I’m worried about or irritated about and how I’m feeling, and every so often I open a workbook I have with prompts about life and answer one in my mp. But I’m intrigued by your daily answering of these questions! I’ve emailed them to myself to try answering this coming week. I’m interested to try switching up my mp and seeing what happens! Thanks, Marcie.

  • Heidi Mordhorst

    November 12, 2022 at 11:25 AM

    I seem to do better with a daily poem than with morning pages, myself–I think it serves some of the same purposes but I get a “piece” out of it that becomes part of my “oeuvre”. I adore your tomatillo haiku (great photo too). That’s JUST what it looks like! Thanks for highlighting April’s book.

  • Carol J. Labuzzetta

    November 12, 2022 at 12:27 PM

    Marcie,
    I am loving your posts that are chock full of creativity and wisdom. I also respond well to structure and even crave it at times. As far as reflective writing routines, I do that through my blog, the same one where I post Poetry Friday articles, and where I write on a daily basis. Since I’ve been involved in NaNo this year and have found it takes me 1.5-2 hours each night to complete the word goal for the day, I’ve taken to writing my blog (which is reflective, addressing many of the same questions you ask yourself), in the morning and the NaNo in the evening. This helps me to separate the two and gives me a down time in the middle of the day where I can mull over the next steps for NaNo but feel accomplished because I already got my blog out. I’ve not been posting as much on WordPress, where I’ve written daily since 2017 because I started posting on Medium. Right now, I’m trying to keep both going. It’s been a lot of writing! I’d almost venture to call it an immersion! BTW, I also love your lantern haiku and photo! Thanks for sharing so much of yourself!

  • Laura Shovan

    November 12, 2022 at 7:03 PM

    Hi, Marcie. Your tomatillo poem and photo remind me of a tree we have in our yard — an American bladdernut. It also has green, lantern-like pods. And the seeds are edible (I haven’t been brave enough to try.)