What was the first small thing you noticed this morning? Write it down before deciding whether it is interesting. A sound through the wall, yesterday's cup beside the sink, the sentence you woke up thinking: any of these can give you a first line.
Choose one prompt and write a few sentences in a notebook or on a blank page on your screen. If you are unsure which to choose, start with what is nearest: a sound or object, a thought already on your mind, or one moment you expect later today. You can leave the other prompts for another morning. If a different thought arrives, follow it.
Start with something you can see or hear
These morning journal prompts give you something nearby to describe. You don't need to have had an eventful morning.
What sound reached you before you got out of bed? Describe what you could hear and what you couldn't see. Write
Find a patch of light or shadow in the room. What does it touch? What is just outside it? Write
Choose an object you have already handled today. What small mark, texture, or familiar movement comes with using it? Write
What has changed since you last looked out of the window or stepped outside? Describe the difference, however slight. Write
Start with the detail itself. You can write “The spoon is bent near the handle” without knowing why you chose the spoon. In her interview with On Being, Mary Oliver describes scribbling in small notebooks as things came to her, then working that material into poems later. Recording and developing can happen at different times.
For a morning entry, try recording first. If the detail interests you, add what it reminds you of, or what you want to look at more closely.
One sound becomes an opening
This is a fictional journal entry, written to show the exercise:
The radiator knocked three times while I was pulling on my socks. I waited for a fourth knock. It never came.
There is already something to follow here: the waiting. Ask: What else was I waiting to hear? A next sentence might describe the room, or explain why the writer was listening so carefully.
A possible continuation, also fictional:
I was listening for someone in the kitchen too. On weekdays there is usually a cupboard opening by now. Today I remembered, slowly, that it was Saturday.
The writer has gone from a sound to the particular shape of this morning. Your entry may go somewhere else, or stop after the sound. Both leave a record.
Start with the thought that arrived with you
Some mornings, an object in the room is less interesting than something already on your mind. You can begin there, even if you have only part of the thought.
What sentence did you wake up wanting to say to someone? Write it plainly, then describe what brought it back this morning. Write
What from yesterday came back to you this morning? Begin with the moment it returned, rather than explaining all of yesterday. Write
Is a phrase from something you read or heard still with you this morning? Write the part you remember, then what it makes you wonder. If the wording is uncertain, say so. Write
What is already interrupting this entry? Write one line about the interruption: a sound, a task, another person, or your own wandering attention. Write
You don't have to resolve the thought. If you begin with a conversation, write the part you remember. If you are unsure what someone meant, keep that uncertainty in the sentence instead of supplying an answer.
An unfinished conversation gives you material
This fictional opening starts from a thought rather than a scene:
I meant to ask Mara whether she liked the new flat. Yesterday I asked how the move went, and she said, “Fine.” Then we talked about the bus.
To continue, the writer could ask: What made me remember this now? That question belongs to the entry; it needn't become a message to Mara.
A possible fictional continuation:
My bag is still full of packing tape from when I helped her. I found a roll while looking for my keys this morning. I think I wanted to know whether she felt at home yet.
The packing tape explains why this conversation returned this morning. It also gives the writer a question to follow. If your own first line is only “I should keep in touch,” try naming what made you think of that person today.
Write toward one part of the day ahead
If you want to look forward, choose a small part of today you can imagine. An entry can hold a possibility without becoming a schedule.
Which familiar place will you pass through today? Name one detail you want to look for when you get there. Write
Is there a conversation you expect to have? Write the question you would like to bring to it, without rehearsing the other person's answer. Write
Picture one small pause today: waiting for water to boil, a bus to arrive, or a meeting to begin. What might you notice while you wait? Write
What do you want to remember when the day gets busy? Describe the moment when that reminder might matter. Write
For the last prompt, “Slow down” may be your first line. Here is a fictional way to make it more specific: “When I come home, I want to leave my bag by the door for a minute. Yesterday I unpacked it while someone was still telling me about their day.” The second sentence gives the reminder a moment you can picture. Use a situation from your own day, even if your words are rougher.
When the first line is all you have
Read the line back and choose one question: What happened just before this? What do I mean by that word? What detail haven't I put down? Answer whichever one gives you another sentence. There is no need to answer all three.
If nothing follows, keep the line. In an On Being conversation, Krista Tippett reads Naomi Shihab Nye's advice from A Maze Me about keeping a few notebook lines, even when they are unrelated and private. Nye welcomes that small beginning. You can leave today's line as it is.
You can also skip a prompt that asks for something you don't want to write about. Return to a sound or an object, use your own question, or leave the page for another time.
For more help moving from a detail to a paragraph, read How to start writing. If you would like a page for this morning's words, begin writing in Eternal. Or keep writing wherever you have already started.