Poetry Friday June 17, 2022: 5 for 30
This week Michelle Kogan is hosting Poetry Friday. Hop over there for the roundup.
5 for 30
I’m a big fan of learning about yourself and how you write best. I’ve taken a few classes about using Clifton StrengthsFinders for Writers at Becca Syme’s Write Better Faster Academy. She often offers a challenge on her Patreon called “2 for 30” where you open your manuscript for 2 minutes every day for 30 days. I’ve never done it as a group challenge, but my understanding is that once you get over the hump of opening the manuscript, the hope is that you’ll spend longer than 2 minutes working on it.
I took that seed of an idea and I started my own monthly challenge that I call “5 for 30.” I work on a manuscript for 5 minutes a day for 30 days. Each time I do this, I buy a special notebook just for that project. I keep track of the dates and the times and what I did each day.
5 for 30 Challenge 1: A Picture Book
I started doing this with a picture book I just couldn’t figure out. I worked on it for 30 days in a row (yes, including weekends). Some days I worked for 5 minutes. Some days I worked on it for 20. But at the end of 30 days, I had a solid draft. It still needs work, but it was progress on a book that had been puzzling me for a long time.
5 for 30 Challenge 2: A Poetry Collection
The next time I tried it, I worked on a poetry collection. I just barely got started by using this challenge, but it’s started and I got over that hump of starting something new that is always hard for me.
5 for 30 (or 80) Challenge 3: The Butterfly Hours Prompts
My most recent challenge for myself was to work through the word prompts in The Butterfly Hours by Patty Dann. I’ve known about this book for a couple of years. I’ve even recommended it to other people, but I’d never done the prompts themselves. In my other challenges, I had a clear idea in mind–I wanted to write a book that I’d been wanting to write for eventual publication (I hoped). But this challenge was just for fun. Just for me.
I quickly realized that my 30 days wouldn’t be nearly enough. So I spent 80 days going through each word and jotting down my memories. I skipped two days only during that 80 days and they were planned days off for my daughter’s graduation.
I still don’t know what I want to do with the work I created in those 80 days. I know there is a lot of raw material that might make some good poems. I also think there might be seeds of essays in there. If nothing else, it helped me remember things that I had forgotten about my life.
5 for 30 Challenge 4: Nature Journaling
I’ve been learning how to nature journal for awhile now, but I’m not consistent. This month’s 5 for 30 challenge is to work on my nature journaling for 5 minutes a day. More to come on that hopefully.
While this started as a challenge for me to work on manuscripts that needed a jumpstart, my last two projects have been more exploratory in nature, which I like a lot because there is no pressure.
What I’m Reading
by Patty Dann
Patty Dann utilizes words as prompts for short essays throughout her book. Her examples rotate around her own life and her teaching life. She also includes a full list of the word prompts in the back of the book.
I’m a big fan of books with text broken up into short bits. When I did my 5 for 30 challenge, I read one of her essays each day, then I wrote my own response.
Haiku of the Week
afternoon perfume
honeysuckle overwhelms
even the bees
–Photo and Haiku © 2022 Marcie Flinchum Atkins
21 Comments
Linda Mitchell
I love challenges…and summer is when I like to engage in them. Thanks for the wow of inspirationS. I am starting off summer with some reading of a tall TBR pile. But, I think I need to add Butterfly Hours! Thanks, Marcie!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Butterfly Hours is nice because you can read it in tidbits–5 min a day–no joke! And yay for plowing through a TBR pile. I’m doing that too!
Susan Thomsen
The haiku is great! I love the idea of even the bees being overwhelmed. Honeysuckle can do that! Thanks for mentioning this book, too; I’m going to see if our library has it.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you so much! And happy reading!
Irene Latham
Marcie, I am a huge fan of The Butterfly Hours…and of YOU! Love your devotion to your craft. Beautiful and inspiring. xo
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you so much, Irene!
Rose Cappelli
I always learn so much from you, Marcie! Thanks for the 5 for 30 idea which I am definitely going to try. I think it will help me get back to some projects I’ve let go. I especially like the built in accountability. The Butterfly Hours is going on my TBR list. Now I think I’ll go smell some honeysuckle!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Yes! 5 minutes a day is doable. Give it a whirl!
Mary Lee
What interesting challenges!
Hooray for the bees and honeysuckle (hopefully not the invasive kind)!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Oh I don’t know if it’s invasive or not. I’m not sure. Smelled good!
Teresa Ho Robeson
You are just one of the most amazingly tenacious people I know! I always feel inspired (and organized by proxy…LOL!) whenever I read your posts.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
If only tenacious would translate to book deals… Maybe soon!
janice scully
Your post inspired me. Discouragement is unavoidable when trying to write something but if you persist, even five minutes a day, you get somewhere better. Such a process!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Five minutes a day is very doable! I rarely get hours to myself, so 5-10 min is always reasonable.
Linda Baie
You share so many great ideas, Marcie. Thank you, & for that new one about the bees. I haven’t thought of honeysuckle for a long time, used to love it when I grew up in Missouri. Yes, had to watch out for bees that I never thought they might be getting drunk, but you’re probably so right.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
For some reason, I’ve seen a lot of honeysuckle this year. It used to grow on my neighbor’s fence line when I was very little. Haven’t seen it in years!
Michelle Kogan
You’ve been busy and productive too!!! Honeysuckle’s pretty strong, I’m with the bees–fun haiku, thanks Marcie!
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
Thank you so much!
PATRICIA J FRANZ
Marcie, I stare at the pile of books by my bedside and cringe when I hear how voraciously you consume books! I may have to try 5 for 30 on my reading! Thank you, too, for the recent poetry postcard! I got my mail forwarded and was delighted to post your haiku above my writing table.
Marcie Flinchum Atkins
I’ve definitely always been a voracious reader. But I have dry spells when things are super busy. Last year I did Gretchen Rubin’s Read 21 minutes every day in 2021. That was doable. I read Butterfly Hours in less than 5 min. a day for sure.
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