Category: Writing

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon #12

Posted on by Amy McNulty

I’m writing this ahead of time, although hopefully I’ll be able to post my link. I’m off to ALA Midwinter today! (Not as a librarian. Just as a book lover. And an author, I suppose!)

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count:  1. 85,589 words and 26 chapters in NOBODY’S GODDESS, latest round of revisions done and sent back to publisher

2. 88,514 words and 36 chapters in NEVER VEIL 3 (first draft finished in November but first edits needed)

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 1. 85,048 words and 26 chapters in NOBODY’S GODDESS, FINAL round of revisions complete and sent back to publisher! (Looks like I did nothing, but I did re-read it in its entirety yet again!)

2. 88,514 words and 36 chapters in NEVER VEIL 3… Oops. Yeah, I actually did nothing for that one!

WIP Issues This Month: Getting back into the groove of writing and/or editing. I did edit NOBODY’S GODDESS because I had a looming deadline, but somehow I just haven’t found the time and/or motivation to get to editing NEVER VEIL 3 like I need to.

Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. Promoting my book is a lot of fun and I wish I could get paid to do that instead of work so much, ha.

2. You can find typos (very few) even after you’ve read a book a dozen times and like 10 others have edited it!

3. I really need to figure out how to get to the place between work-hard-on-manuscript-every-day and barely-do-anything-for-it-all-month.

4. I’m apparently afraid of diving into a big edit.

What distracted me this month while writing: Quite a lot! I helped my boyfriend move, so the packing, moving and unpacking took us a while. We’re headed to ALA Midwinter in Chicago today, too. My cover reveal for NOBODY’S GODDESS was so much fun! (And I love my cover!) You can see it all over my website, but in case you otherwise missed it:

Nobody's Goddess Cover Smaller

Goal for next month: I STILL need to add a new scene to NEVER VEIL 3 and fix a few things and then start the whole beginning-to-end read-through before passing it along to my beta. That’s been my goal for two months now and it just hasn’t happened. It’s been almost a year since I’ve been agent-less, too, and I feel sad thinking about how I’ll have nothing to query anytime soon, but I really need to finish NEVER VEIL 3’s initial edits before I get back to any of my on-hiatus manuscripts (or start something new). I also plan to start direct-subbing my project agents passed on last year soon.

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon #11

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Happy (almost) 2015, fellow WIP Marathoners! 🙂 I love checking in with you each month. Even when I don’t get much done, it helps to remind me to get back on track. Congrats to all of you on your writing and editing this year, and good luck next year!

Things I’m Glad I Did In 2014:

  1. I finished 3 manuscripts, including both books 2 and 3 of NEVER VEIL. (Well, the drafts are finished, anyway!) 2/3 of the manuscripts I’d done some work on in previous years, but it was still nice to get to “The End.”
  2. I got to announce my book deal! (I kept it secret in late 2013 waiting for the go-ahead to announce.) It’s been fun getting to know readers who are looking forward to the book and willing to give a new author a chance.

In 2015, I’ll love to:

  1. Celebrate the release of NOBODY’S GODDESS! (Hopefully in April. And I’m hoping the cover reveal will be much sooner than that. I’ve seen the mockups and can’t wait to share!)
  2. Sign at BookCon (I hope it works out) and/or do signings locally or visit schools.
  3. Complete another manuscript and try for an agent again.
  4. Direct submit my agent-rejected manuscript to smaller publishers because I still believe in it. (I’m still waiting on a few responses, but I doubt I’ll get an agent with it after all.)

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count:  1. 88,426 words and 36 chapters in NEVER VEIL 3–first draft done

2. 82,790 words and 26 chapters in NOBODY’S GODDESS (NEVER VEIL 1), in the process of revising

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 1. 88,514 words and 36 chapters in NEVER VEIL 3 (I spent very little time on it)

2. 85,589 words and 26 chapters in NOBODY’S GODDESS, latest round of revisions done and sent back to publisher

WIP Issues This Month: Oops. After that first week, when I was finishing up the latest NOBODY’S GODDESS edits for my deadline, I really barely did any writing or editing at all. So… Finding the time and motivation to get back into it.

Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. December is not a good time for me to write.

2. You can resurrect scenes you liked you long ago cut out when an editor suggests something and you think you have the perfect thing to address that in your reject folder. (Yay!)

3. You wind up reading a manuscript MANY times before publication. Many. Good thing I love my characters!

4. Juggling writing, work and so much else can be hard.

What distracted me this month while writing: The holidays! Not just the actual celebrations (I’ve had two so far :)), but preparing for them took up a lot of my free time, and I don’t even consider myself someone who goes overboard. Also, work picked up a little (yay) and multiple people in my life, including me, got sick, so that sucked. (I seemed to have it easiest with a head cold, though.) I saw The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, but it was my least favorite of all six LotR films. (Yet I want to see it again.) I also got distracted by Super Smash Bros. throughout the month.

I don’t usually mention my reads here, but My True Love Gave to Me was the PERFECT December read for me and gave me many warm fuzzies.

Goal for next month: My editor tells me I may get the final round of revisions to do and approve in January for NOBODY’S GODDESS–that’s right, the FINAL round. It’s off to the printers after that! So that will come first, of course. I do want to add a new scene to NEVER VEIL 3 and fix a few things and then start the whole beginning-to-end read-through before passing it along to my beta, but I have time before it’s due and may not get to it. (My goal last month was to start it and I barely did, so…) I hope to, though. I have no plans to draft anything new or work on any of the other projects on hiatus this month, though.

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon #10

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Winner-2014-Web-Banner

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count: 1. 23,897 words and 10 chapters in NEVER VEIL 3

2. 85,221 words and 26 chapters in NOBODY’S GODDESS (NEVER VEIL 1)–I hadn’t touched it in months and was waiting on the next round of revisions, which I got back in early November… When I got it back, my stellar editor helped me cut down some wordiness, so it was 82,854 words and 26 chapters before I began work on the next round (wow, a good editor can really help you streamline things!).

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 1. 88,426 words and 36 chapters in NEVER VEIL 3–first draft done! Woot! It took me 45 days (not bad at all) and I started the month of NaNoWriMo with 33,000-ish words–and managed to add 50,000 to “win” the month’s challenge by November 20th.

2. 82,790 words and 26 chapters in NOBODY’S GODDESS (NEVER VEIL 1), in the process of revising

WIP Issues This Month: Not many again! Writing has gone well for me the past couple of months. I need to watch for repetitive phrases. (I tend to have people cross their arms and I write about people’s eyes a lot.)

Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. When I can write a draft relatively quickly, I feel much happier about the writing process. (It took me 5 months to write NEVER VEIL 2, even though it was 20k shorter and I started with 10k already written! 0_O)

2. Watch for “I saw X do this” or “I felt X happen” type of sentences in first person POV because they just add lots of extra words. My editor cut them all down (to like “X did this” and “X happened”)  and the sentences read smoother.

3. Taking time to write something you really want to write, even though you know it won’t help you reach your new writing goals (I can’t get a new agent with NEVER VEIL 3, but I wanted to write it more than I wanted to write something new), can help you get your writing mojo back. (So I won’t have a new agent this year… Perhaps not even next year. It’s okay. It doesn’t mean it’ll never happen again or even if it doesn’t… *shrugs* What can I do?)

4. Finishing a trilogy is very satisfying! (Although there are years of revisions ahead.)

What distracted me this month while writing: I didn’t do much this month besides fiction write (even my client work has decreased, boo), so that might explain why I did so well. (If only I could make that my full-time job and not feel guilty about not business writing as much. *sigh*) I saw Mockingjay Part 1 twice because I love the Hunger Games books and films with every fiber of my being. 🙂 (Reading the trilogy inspired me to get serious about fiction writing after almost a decade of floundering.) I saw a couple of other good movies, too. (Big Hero 6, Interstellar, Birdman and Nightcrawler.) I’m not big on Thanksgiving, but we had a couple of nice, small gatherings.

Goal for next month: Wrap up this round of revisions for NOBODY’S GODDESS (due December 7th). Start revisions for NEVER VEIL 3–maybe even finish the first round and get it ready for my beta reader, but with the holidays and plenty of time before my due date (June 1st! I’m hoping I can turn it in a few months early, though), I’m in no rush. I just want to work on it, you know? And I don’t feel up to diving into a new (or on-hiatus) WIP just yet.

Winner-2014-Square-Button

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon #9

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count:  0 words (outline completed over two years ago, though)

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 23,897 words and 10 chapters in NEVER VEIL 3 (That “new WIP” I started over the summer is on hold for the foreseable future; I never could bring myself to finish the outline even.)

WIP Issues This Month: Not many!  This was the first month I’ve done well in quite a while. I totally planned for November to be this big writing push since I wanted to do NaNoWriMo, but I knew the 50,000 words I was aiming for in that month wouldn’t be a first draft for NEVER VEIL 3, and I was tired of waiting to start. I finally convinced myself to start and so far it’s gone pretty quickly! I haven’t had days where I’m just staring at the page. Some days I struggle to turn off distractions and devote a block of my time to writing, though.

Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. You CAN get your writing mojo back, even after feeling like you never will.

2. Having a passion for your characters helps push you to write.

3. Going off-outline can lead to very interesting surprises.

4. Writing is fun! (I re-learned that.)

What distracted me this month while writing: Not too much. I had less client work, which isn’t a good thing for my pocketbook, even if it frees up more time for writing. I visited the David Bowie Is exhibit in Chicago mid-month, and that was fun. (See photos here.) Some GOOD things are happening “behind the scenes” this time as far as my books/writing/editing goes, but I can’t talk about them yet. Maybe by next check-in!

Goal for next month: Successfully complete NaNoWriMo! (But also, don’t feel bad if I can’t write that much. My friend pointed out at this rate, I probably will have written 50k in 30 days regardless, I just started earlier.) I hope that brings me to the end of a first draft for NEVER VEIL 3, but I can see it quite possibly not being enough words yet. (The conclusion is a long one!) Still, I’ll be a heck of a lot closer.

Many of you are already my buddies on NaNoWriMo (can’t wait to cheer you on if you’re participating this year!), but if you’re not, please add me! (Click the logo.)

Participant-2014-Web-Banner

Oh, also fellow WIPMarathoner Suzanne and I interviewed each other recently for the Month9Books blog! Keep an eye out for our announcement on Twitter whenever those interviews appear.

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon #8

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count:  3287 words and 1 1/2 chapters (New WIP)

Current report WC + CC/ SC:  3287 words and 1 1/2 chapters (New WIP)–no progress (I wrote like two paragraphs in the outline if that counts for something; ha, it was on the last marathon update day, too)

WIP Issues This Month: This is the second month in a row I haven’t worked on fiction writing seriously. So I really have no business making this update! I’ve been busy, but I’ve also been down in the dumps about writing due to some things going on behind the scenes. I can’t find the motivation to dive back in. I WILL by November, though, for NaNoWriMo. I hope earlier. I want to start NEVER VEIL 3 by then. (Putting the above new WIP on hold–although I did want to finish the outline for that at least. But the motivation isn’t there.)

Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. Other authors struggle, too. (It was nice hearing from those who’ve “made it” at Fierce Reads, and how they still have doubts.)

2. Going too long without fiction writing is a bad idea.

3. Editing other people’s writing at least gives me a kind of satisfaction and helps motivate me a little.

4. There’s only so much that’s under my control as a writer, and that’s the writing, so I need to get back to that.

What distracted me this month while writing: I’ve been busy with work, but I also visited NYC for my 7th time with my boyfriend to visit his family! (And Melissa Giorgio, who coincidentally lives near them!) I did a writeup of the Fierce Reads event we attended here, and posted photos here. We did a lot of bookish and Japanese culture things because my favorite hobbies are anime, reading and comics. It was our first time visiting Strand Bookstore as well!

Goal for next month: Maybe finish the outline for the new WIP, although it’s not very important. (At this stage, I’ve given up having anything to show a potential agent for a year or more!) Possibly start NEVER VEIL 3. The outline is done. I should just dive in, a little bit at a time. Maybe it’ll help me work up to the insanity that is 50,000 words in November.

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Report #7

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count: 1. 69,577 words and 28 chapters (NEVER VEIL 2)–working on post-beta edits

2. 3287 words and 1 1/2 chapters (New WIP)

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 1. 70,052 words and 28 chapters (NEVER VEIL 2)–first draft done and sent to publisher

2. 3287 words and 1 1/2 chapters (New WIP)–no progress made on this or even on the outline, *sigh*

WIP Issues This Month: I didn’t work on my WIPs at all on any day in August. (That last bit of editing on NEVER VEIL 2 was done in late July.) So my issues were… finding the time and motivation to do that. And I failed. Except I was busy with other things, too.

Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. A month off from fiction writing hopefully doesn’t make me a failure as a writer.

2. Editing other writers’ works can help me step back from my own writing and get some perspective.

3. The longer I go without working on fiction writing, the harder it is to get back into the groove.

4. There is such a thing as too many story ideas.

What distracted me this month while writing: I spent a lot of time this month beta reading the last book in the Silver Moon Saga (it was over 110,000 words ^^), and it was bittersweet to say goodbye to the characters (until the next time I read it, which should be soon!) I’ve grown to love for years now. There were some periods in which I had more freelance work than others, and I did some editing for potential clients I’m excited (and nervous) about hopefully having a chance of working with. And… I got one of my dream freelancing opportunities! For at least the next month, if not longer, I’ll be a Daily Streaming Anime Reviewer for Anime News Network for three shows. My boyfriend and I also visited the Chicago Botanical Gardens for the first time earlier in the month, and it was a lot more fun than I even expected it to be.

Goal for next month: I did finish NEVER VEIL 2, but I didn’t get any work done on the outline for the new WIP. This month I already know I’ll be really busy for a week at least, so I don’t imagine I’ll get a lot of writing done. I still haven’t decided if I should dive into NEVER VEIL 3 yet or not–I’ve had enough of a break from the series to justify going back now–but I would like to finish the new WIP’s outline at minimum first. And if I start it beforehand, I’ll be breaking the NaNoWriMo rules if I work on it in November. Not that that’s important!

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Report #6

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count: 1. 67,909 words and 28 chapters (NOBODY’S GODDESS 2)–first draft sent to beta

2. (New WIP) 3287 words and 1 1/2 chapters

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 1. 69,577 words and 28 chapters (NOBODY’S GODDESS 2)–after making some changes due to beta editing, but I’m still working on one more read-through

2. (NEW WIP) 3287 words and 1 1/2 chapters (New WIP)–no progress made, but I’m maybe 40% into the outline

WIP Issues This Month: I didn’t feel like the month was a failure, but you can see I didn’t make a lot of progress. But I did a lot of editing–both for my friend and for myself. I guess I got a little stuck on the outline for my new WIP, but I just didn’t devote enough time to it this month.

Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. Shiny new ideas have an annoying habit of demanding to be written right away and then… Heading back to the bottom of your to-do list.

2. New perspectives can help you notice problems in your book.

3. Editing book 2 in a series can help you tweak book 1 even more.

4. It’s hard to choose which projects to prioritize!

What distracted me this month while writing: I’m not sure. I felt busy every day, but I didn’t do much to write home about. It was my 9th anniversary with my boyfriend this month, and that was a fun night off! 🙂 I also spent a day at the local Renaissance Faire, which is about the only summer fair I care about.

I’ve just about finished querying FALL FAR FROM THE TREE as I’ve met my minimum querying goals; I’m still waiting on a number of responses, but this might not be the project with which or the year I get a second agent. I don’t plan to give up on the manuscript finding some place to call home, though.

Goal for next month: My first task is actually for before the month ends–NOBODY’S GODDESS 2 is due August 1st, so I just need to finish this read-through and send it off. My next task is to finish the outline for the new WIP; I’d really like to have one in place before I dive back into writing it, and it’d be nice if I got a few thousand words done for that one in August. I still might start NOBODY’S GODDESS 3 (outline already completed) instead, but I might save it for NaNoWriMo (even though I burnt out on that last year!).

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Report #5

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count: 1. 67,566 words and 28 chapters (NOBODY’S GODDESS 2)–first draft done

2. 53,861 words and chapters still not quite relevant because I hadn’t fixed it the random scene-jumping I did toward the end (NaNoWriMo project)

3. (New WIP) wasn’t even an idea yet

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 1. 67,909 words and 28 chapters (NOBODY’S GODDESS 2)–first edit completed (I didn’t make a lot of changes, obviously)

2. 59,463 words and 20 chapters (NaNoWriMo project)–first draft and first edit complete

3. 3287 words and 1 1/2 chapters (New WIP)–it wasn’t going to be my next project, but it was one of those “shiny new ideas when busy writing and editing other things” situations

WIP Issues This Month: I had a pretty good writing month! After I moaned last month, I all of a sudden had a burst of inspiration and got so much done! The biggest problem I noticed while editing was incorrect tenses. Since #1 above is in past tense and #2 and #3 are in present, and I was writing and editing all of them, I kept subconsciously writing in the wrong tenses.

Four things I learned this month in writing: 1. Typos happen, and sometimes you don’t even notice them while editing. It’s okay… Hopefully we notice them eventually!

2. Switching between tenses is hard.

3. A month off between finishing a draft and starting the edit seems to work quite well. (I usually jump in like a day or two later.)

4. The journey to publication won’t ever be as smooth as you hope, but you’ve got to keep trying!

What distracted me this month while writing: I’ve been busy with work and I saw a lot of movies. Also, my boyfriend and I played WAY too much Mario Kart 8. It’s addicting… 0_O I’m still querying FALL FAR FROM THE TREE; I’d taken some time off from it (just busy with other things) but decided to focus on it again this past week.

Goal for next month: My first task is to beta read for a friend. Once that’s done, and she’s beta read for me, I’m going to do another NOBODY’S GODDESS 2 edit, and then I’ll turn it in at the end of the month because it’s due August 1st. I’d also like to write an outline for the new WIP and try to write some more of it. I don’t think I’ll jump right into NOBODY’S GODDESS 3 because it’s not due until next summer, but I’m thinking about it.

Posted in Writing

WIPMarathon Report #4

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Last report wordcount + chapter count/scene count: 1.51,128 words and 21 1/2 chapters (NOBODY’S GODDESS/THE NEVER VEIL 2)

2. 50,250 words and chapter count no longer relevant because I wrote in a crazy, skip-to-scenes-I-want-to-write-most way. (NaNoWriMo project–not touched since November!)

Current report WC + CC/ SC: 1. 67,566 words and 28 chapters (NOBODY’S GODDESS 2)–first draft done, yay!

2. 53,861 words and chapters still not quite relevant because I haven’t fixed it (NaNoWriMo project)

WIP Issues This Month: I started this month off with a bang–I was so productive and finished the NG2 draft by May 8th! That made me really happy and I was looking forward to tackling my next goal (after putting NG2 aside for a time to get some distance from it), finishing the NaNoWriMo project that had been on hiatus since November. I had to re-read it in its entirety before I could begin, really, because I’d been working on another world. I did that over about a week and a half and was able to make some edits as I went along. And it felt nice at first. I was starting to think, “Why did I burn out on this? It really isn’t that bad! In fact, it’s kind of good for being out of my comfort zone!” Then after re-reading what I had, I tackled trying to finish the draft and… totally hit a wall. ;-;

Meanwhile, at the same time, I got really busy with other things, and even thought I DO have time to write every day recently, I’m not making much progress at all, which depresses me. Every time I sit to write, it just isn’t flowing. So gone are my dreams of finishing the first draft of the NaNoWriMo by the end of May. (It SHOULD have been possible–I seriously didn’t need more than 5000-10,000 words to finish!) Now I’m wondering if I have to put that aside AGAIN to start NG2 edits, considering that’s due to the publisher August 1st and I need to give my betas time to read and then edit again after they read. *sigh* I’m not in a very confident author mood right now, but I’m making a little progress.

Four things I learned this month in writing:  1. I’ll always be going through good and bad writing phases. (So I hope I get out of this funk soon.)

2. It’s entirely possible to want to change some relatively small but still important things in book 1 of a series AFTER you already turned in the edits because of what came out while writing book 2. (Hope I get a chance to do so during the next round of edits!) Editing doesn’t end… 0_o

3. Beating myself up over not accomplishing as much as I’d like to is a bad idea (but I knew that and do it anyway).

4. My goals aren’t always realistic. Since I assume I’ll ALWAYS be able to write a decent amount each day when that’s clearly not the case.

What distracted me this month while writing: I’ve been trying to clean my ENTIRE house in the hopes of moving this year. (Don’t know when or where yet, just downsizing.) I’ve been tackling the big move clean up for seriously 10 years, but not every day like I have for the past week and a half. And there’s always more to be done, and I’ve been prepping myself to part with some things I didn’t originally want to get rid of, so there’s more cleaning to do. I’m also trying to ebay a lot of the stuff I’m parting with, and that’s a huge hassle, but my paying work has been light this month (which is both good and bad ;-;) so I have to do something to try to offset the decrease in income. Unfortunately, most auctions are almost too much of a pain to justify what little I earn off of something!

I’m still querying FALL FAR FROM THE TREE when I find the time (and I entered TheWVoice early on in the month but didn’t move on to the next round)–but between EVERYTHING ELSE, I’m not sending out as many queries as I’d like! So far, I’m pretty happy with the responses–I’m averaging a 12.3% request rate, which is more than NOBODY’S GODDESS got originally (and that one got me an agent!). 🙂 No offers, obviously. (I’d let you all know!)

Goal for next month: I need to do my first edits on NG2 and get it off to my beta(s). I really wanted to finish the first draft of my NaNoWriMo and get that off to my beta(s), too, but I can’t give them both at once! I’m having a hard time deciding which to do first because I’d hoped to have the NaNoWriMo draft done by now but that’s obviously not happening. *sigh* Maybe I need to go back to NG2, brain shift though it may be, to jumpstart my writing muse.

Posted in Writing

The Writer’s Voice Entry: Fall Far From the Tree

Posted on by Amy McNulty

Dear The Writer’s Voice Judges:

Terror. Callousness. Denial. Rebellion. How the four teenage children of leaders in the duchy and the neighboring empire of Hanaobi choose to adapt to their nefarious parents’ whims is a matter of survival.

Seventeen-year-old Rohesia, daughter of the duke, spends her days hunting “outsiders” with different faces, fugitives who’ve snuck onto her father’s island duchy. That she lives when even children who resemble her are subject to death hardens her heart to tackle the task.

Fastello is the sixteen-year-old son of the “king” of the raiders who steal from the rich and share with the poor. But as of late, few aristocrats have escaped to tell the tale of the forest-dwelling thieves, and Fastello questions what his peoples’ increasingly wicked methods of survival have cost them.

At the tower beyond the forests, sixteen-year-old Cateline, favorite pupil of her religion’s leader, worships the goddess of the night. An orphan raised by a convent of mothers, Cateline can think of no higher aim in life than to serve her religion, even if it means turning a blind eye to the suffering of other orphans under the mothers’ care.

Across the waters in Hanaobi, seventeen-year-old Kojiro, new heir to the empire, must figure out not only how to rule, but also how to avenge his people against the “barbarians” who live in the duchy, all while terrified the empress, his own mother, might rather see him die than succeed.

A YA version of Game of Thrones meets Marvel Comics’ Runaways, Fall Far From the Tree is a character-driven YA fantasy complete at 75,000 words. A self-contained novel, it leaves room for one sequel and switches between the points of view of four characters, each the progeny of malevolent parents.

I am the author of Nobody’s Goddess (formerly known as The Veiled Man’s Goddess trilogy), the first in a YA fantasy romance series that debuts in 2015 with Month9Books. I am also a freelance writer with over eight years of experience and an honors degree in English, and I was first published in a national scholarly journal, The Concord Review, while in high school.

Thank you for your consideration. Below are the first 250 words.

 

Sincerely,

Amy McNulty

 

I’d lived only five winters the first time I saw an infant drowned.

I felt Father’s hand on my shoulder as the horse jostled us slightly, shaking her head and whipping the tips of her silky black mane across my eyes. Father noticed the instinct that took over, the mere moment my eyelids closed despite how hard I’d fought to keep them open. “Watch, Rohesia. Burn the moment into your mind.”

The shrieking woman held aloft by two soldiers kicked her legs, sending her skirt upward. I noticed the mud that collected along the hem, the strands of straw-colored hair that escaped her kerchief and swung wildly across her mouth. The hair blew with each shriek like curtains in the breeze, the skirt a gale that tore through a field of wheat, the woman the only source of movement beyond the scuffing hooves of the horses beside me.

“The child, Rohesia. Not the mother.”

The soldier by the river tossed the tattered cloth that had wrapped the baby to the ground and held the crying infant as far out in front of him as his stocky arms would allow. One gauntlet supported the baby’s head and neck, the other gripped the child’s body loosely, and I saw one impossibly small leg kick upward vainly.

The horse tossed her mane again, whipping the black hair across my eyes, but I leaned sideways and turned my head away so I wouldn’t close them.