Sheri Yutzy - Speculative Fiction Author

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THE SEA BREEZE – #flashfictionmagic

April 11, 2023 by Sheri

#flashfictionmagic #sheriyutzy

THE SEA BREEZE – #flashfictionmagic

The seaward corner of the cabin creaked, and Mari’s gaze snapped toward the door, the tiny window, all the weak spots.
Was the sea breeze blowing again already? She should have another three hours. Three hours to mend her nets, make fish head stew, perhaps have a nap.
Before the wary vigil began again.
Father had left her this cottage, built with his own hands and magicked with his own blood. The only problem with relying on magic from a former Mer? The sea breeze snuffed it out every time it rose.
Leaving her unprotected against the creatures of Lutha Isle.
She’d been here alone—was it seven years now—and the breeze had been predictable. It died at the first sign of dusk, when the monsters first began to hunt. Many times she’d heard them snuffling and growing in the trees outside, finding remnants of her scent but unable to trace it to the cabin because of the magic shield.
When the breeze rose at dawn, the magic died.
Another creak sounded, this one on the front porch.
Silently, Mari stood, gripping her wickedly sharp fishing trident. The cabin was tiny, only a few yards from the door at any time, and she couldn’t help but imagine a hulking beast smashing the door down and snatching her with a claw in one swoop.
Her hands, damp from washing fish, made the trident slick. Her breaths hurt in her throat.

And then: a knock at the door.
Mari remained frozen for so long she thought she’d imagined it.
Then it came again, stronger, more insistent.
Lutha’s creatures did not knock.
Somehow she got to the door and I did the latch one handed, the trident tall beside her.
On the porch, his hair long and green and his statuesque face startled, stood a Mer.
🌊🌊🌊

#flashfictionfriday #fantasyflashfiction #mermaidstory #sheriyutzy #freestory #amwritingflashfiction #readingcommunity #iloveflashfiction #shortstory #mermaids #merman #theseabreeze #magicalfiction #islandlife #mermaidinspiration #seaisland #oceanlife

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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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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
☀️I brought this series with me to Arkansas. I ☀️I brought this series with me to Arkansas. It seemed an appropriate way to remember Lani, a friend who shone like the sun even while facing death.
It was around this time of year in Arkansas that I first heard about her stage IV diagnosis of a rare cancer, and I had just started reading her first book. Sometimes I hesitate to read my friends’ books because I so much to love them it stresses me out. 😅 But when I started The Seventh Sun, I forgot I knew who wrote it, and lost myself in the story. Now I’m rereading it, and still struggling to slow down and not gobble it all up.
☀️I haven’t read The Obsidian Butterfly yet, and I’m so excited to see how this story continues.

☀️What a beautiful thing books are, that we can write them and read them and remember each other through words. I think Lani is watching us love her stories, and one day I hope to have a long talk with her about them.

☀️Is there an author who has passed on that you want to talk to about their books?

@laniforbes #laniforbes #rememberinglaniforbes #theseventhsun #thejadebones #theobsidianbutterfly #azteclegends #mayanaandahkin #yafantasybooks #yafantasyauthors #yafantasyseries #mayanlegend #mayanpeople #mayanstories #sheriyutzy
Your needs are sometimes endless Unfathomable Like Your needs are sometimes endless
Unfathomable
Like endless tangled currents that never let you go.

Your needs are vital; they are your language
But sometimes they are too tight around your body.
So tight you cannot lift your arms to find your true needs beneath the false ones.

It can feel impossible to find peace, contentment, when you are swept along by so much need.

You need your needs,
But sometimes, many times, it is best to let them go. You are safe without them. The true needs will always come back, and you will recognize them. You are still a person, in this world of self care, even if you release your needs and let yourself just be.

#intentionally #lettinggo #sheriyutzy #releasingneeds #slowliving #beaverlake #watchingtheriver #watchingtheriverflow #greenwater #selfcare #findinginnerpeace #findinginnerstrength #findinginnerharmony #writingcommunity
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