Writing Prompt: Getting Books


Each month, we post a writing prompt tied to the current month's essay. Please email your responses of 500 words or less to lmreflections (at) literarymama (dot) com with the word "writing prompt" in the subject line so that we know it's not an essay submission. We will accept responses until the 15th of each month and offer our feedback on each response privately before the end of the month. We hope you'll take this opportunity to get inspired, share your work, and find community with other writers!

In "Getting Books," Amy Hassinger watches her children's growing interest in books and reflects on how books have influenced her life. While her seven-month-old son is just discovering the delight of seeing images on a page and chewing on books' corners, her five-year-old daughter is "tasting their ideas, swallowing and digesting their stories. She's getting books now, what a multiplicity they represent, what beauty and joy and understanding and peace they offer, and also what violence and what unutterable sadness. Already, books are a crucial part of her becoming; already, they are rearranging her reality, word by word."

Prompt: Reflect on your experience with books. How have they influenced you -- in general or more specifically as a writer? What are your favorite books and how have their words rearranged your reality?