Sheri Yutzy - Speculative Fiction Author

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THE AWAKENING – #flashfictionmagic

July 21, 2022 by Sheri

THE AWAKENING – #flashfictionmagic
“Come with me. I know a place you will be safe.” Her fingers curled around his, cool and hard and perfect.
He didn’t resist as she tugged him behind his cottage and up the steep, tree-gnarled hill. “My wife—she won’t know where I am,” he muttered.
Leaves and trunks already hid the cottage’s thatch roof. The wood nymph glanced back at him, her green-lined eyes exasperated. “That is the point. You think you will be safe if she can find you?”
He frowned. Something was strange, his thoughts so muddled. But the nymph kept tight hold and soon he was heaving for breath to keep up. The nymph danced lightly over fallen branches, hardly rustling the rotted leaves underfoot.
A jolt of panic rocked him as he stared at her supple back. “Wait.” He pulled to a stop. “She warned me about you.”
The nymph turned back slowly. This time her lips and eyes softened with sorrow. “I know she did, Rip. She is a witch who won you with a spell. We wood folk are the only ones who can weaken it enough to take you away.”
Some of his confusion faded. “You told me all this before.”
She nodded. “You must sleep for a hundred years before the spell breaks entirely. But we must hurry—she returns from the village even now.”
Rip hurried after her, urgency lightening his feet. When they reached a shallow cave, she settled him against the far wall and covered him with branches, then handed him a mossy horn full of black liquid.
“Drink it all,” she murmured. “When you wake, she will be long gone, and you will be free.”
He studied her smooth, brown face once more. Doubts began to creep in—what if she was a witch too? But her eyes remained gentle, no sign of impatience.
He took the horn and tilted it back.
“I’ll see you when you wake, Rip.” Her clear voice was the last thing he heard before darkness settled over him.

#freestory #yafantasyauthor #sheriyutzyauthor #amwritingflashfiction #amwritingflashfictionfantasy

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About Sheri

Here Goes Something New!

Hi, I'm Sheri Yutzy. I love forests under the night sky, trying new foods, and drinking Irish tea. I've been to 17 countries, and once spent the night in a hotel lobby in Florence, Italy, because the entire city was fully booked for a festival.
I'm married to a musician who looks good in black, mama to three curious kids, and happy resident of a Cape Cod cottage in Ohio.
I write YA fantasy and am acquisitions editor at sparkflashfiction.com.
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sheriyutzyauthor

I am still alive here, just living the garden life I am still alive here, just living the garden life.🌿
I came down with social fatigue last weekend (that’s what I’m calling it) and the remedy seems to be gardening.
It was lovely to come home from my trip and find a raised bed full of spinach and radishes (and some other things I don’t recognize). Today I planted tomatoes.
I’ll return to my regular posting when my well is full. 
🌿I hope you all have a lovely week!🌿

#raisedbedgarden #socialfatigue #sheriyutzy #smallspacegardening #slowlife #theslowlife #slowliving #intentionallife #livingoutdoors #gardeningtherapy
Recommend a book! When I first read this little b Recommend a book!

When I first read this little book soon after I was married, I was thoroughly startled.
It’s that kind of book.
I’ve never read a book that made me more thrilled about getting older. More hopeful about finding simplicity.
I reread it every time I go through a life change or feel off kilter and out of harmony with myself.
Each chapter holds deep insight about finding focus, relaxing into relationships, resting in the ebb and flow of life.
She shows so clearly that it’s not necessary to leave everything behind to find simplicity. It is possible to let simplicity come and go and let its effects remain, even with households to run, children to care for, or jobs to manage.
Hopeful possibility is the phrase that lingers in my mind.

Now it’s your turn. What inspiring book do you recommend I read next?

#giftsfromthesea #annemorrowlindbergh #findingsimplicity #findingthesimplelife #sheriyutzy #classicbooks #smallinspiringbooks #slowlife #theslowlife #thesimplelife #findingfocus #lovingmiddleage
Thinking back on the beautiful white daffodils of Thinking back on the beautiful white daffodils of early spring…
The colors of the earth deepen and grow more vibrant as time goes on, until they rest again beneath the stark white and black of winter.

What’s your favorite season? I really can’t choose.🌿

#springdaffodils #changingseasons #slowliving #slowingdown #cottagegardens #intentionallifestyle #homemakerlife #sheriyutzy #moodycottage #slowlifestyle #ordinarymagic #everydaymagic
🌿 I’ve been told many times To be afraid for 🌿
I’ve been told many times
To be afraid for my children
That I will regret not holding them tighter.
It’s as if fear is a currency, and if I don’t have enough, I haven’t earned motherhood.
I will never accept this,
for Jesus has taken my fear.
He is enough.
🌿

“Fear not.”
-Jesus.
I spent the evening following these two along the river bank, finding all the ant hills and burrows and mushrooms. No wonder Jesus cares for these, I thought. They are the best at finding all the magical good in the world.

#fearnot #courageousparenting #saynotofear #sheriyutzy #intentionalmotherhood #intentionalliving #slowliving #fearlessliving #fearlessparenting #kidsoutside #riverbank #twentywordtuesday #shortpoem #poetsofinstagram
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