Writing Prompt: Minutes Are Just Seconds Aren’t Minutes

In this month’s Literary Reflections essay, Minutes Are Just Seconds Aren’t Minutes, Wendy C. Ortiz writes an arresting account of the impact of motherhood on her writing time.

She writes:

“Minutes: they fly or stay still, fly or stay still, where have they gone, why are there so many as though the limited amount of time I have to write has opened up into other dimensions that I can — Wait: why is it so quiet in there?”

Do you relate to that experience of craving time alone to write, only to find your thoughts continually propelled back to the wellbeing of your child as soon as you’re finally granted some sacred space? How do you navigate your way between those divided worlds of time devoted to writing and spent caring for a child, and how do you assuage the dizzying sense that time seems to either fly or stand still?

Submit a 500-word response to this writing prompt by May 15th for feedback from our editors. Email it to LMreflectionsATliterarymamaDOTcom and note “Writing Prompt: Minutes Are Just Seconds Aren’t Minutes” in your subject line. We’ll publish our favorites on the blog.