Returning to yourself
2024's final journaling prompts for paid Mothership subscribers
January, for me, is a time of return. A return to routine after the chaotic magic of Christmas. A slow return to lighter evenings and warmer mornings after the winter solstice. A return to myself on the page after a not-entirely-intentional writing break.
On which note: here are your belated journalling prompts for the end of 2024.
I wrote recently about my brief attempt at (and swift discarding of) The Artists Way.
‘Persistence’ is my word for the year, but I quickly realised that I'm not in a season of life where I can eke out time for such an intensive programme*.
One aspect of The Artists Way I am persisting with though is morning pages: three pages of longhand stream-of-consciousness writing every morning (or, with a toddler, starting in the morning and coming back to them through the day until they’re done).
Maybe that’s all I needed from the programme in this moment: a reconnection with my daily journalling practice, a reminder that I can write around and alongside my daughter, and a nudge to see where I really want to put my creative energy.
*The Artists Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, to give it its full title, is a twelve-week programme (in book format) by Julia Cameron, first published in 1992. It promises an “artistic creative recovery,” through daily ‘morning pages,’ (three pages of longhand stream-of-consciousness writing every morning), weekly ‘artist dates’ (scheduled time to do something creative or inspiring alone), and several tasks, exercises and check-ins to complete each week. It’s a lot and on reflection, thinking I would have time for it alongside parenting, running a business, keeping house, managing my daughter’s medical condition, and getting any publishable writing done was a bit delulu.
The end of 2024 caught me in a whirlwind of paid work, disrupted childcare, anxiety about my daughter’s condition, and haphazardly preparing for the magic of Christmas.
This post used to contain paywalled journaling prompts — I’m experimenting with a new model and you can get sixty prompts to write through motherhood here (for free). All I ask in return is to follow me on Instagram @zoepickburn and subscribe (also for free) on here — I’m currently working on building my platform to give my book proposal the best chance of success when it lands on agents’ desks, so every follow and subscribe really helps!