I'm doing something scary. 😱

Read my NaNoWriMo Rough Draft 🫣

I had other plans for this week’s Substack, but Davy’s been sick and we didn’t have our sitter long enough to record a podcast.

So I’m doing something scary. I’m sharing a bit of my NaNoWriMo rough draft.

Shout out to Gracie Klumpp who is sharing her WHOLE NaNo as she writes it over on Patreon. She is my hero.

My novel is a complete mess right now. But I have pulled out two scenes that are vaguely coherent, but also raw and unedited.

Here is the first…

Mawd took a deep breath and looked up at the stars. The moonlight pooled around them lighting the forest in a pale blue light. Her shadow joined back to her feet in its rightful place. She waggled her hand at herself in greeting.

Duncan’s eyebrow arched. Mawd stifled a laugh.

The midwives glanced at each other. They knew.

“It is time.” One said.

“Attend. It is the time of the joining.”

They gestured with their arms wide and stepped back, Mawd and Duncan intuitively doing the same, to widen the circle.

Malwen reached her hands up to the sky,

“Attend ye beasts of the sky.” And with a rustle a flurry of birds came to roost on the trees above. Owls, robins, sparrows, starlings, kestrels, all seated respectfully next to each other on branches watching in anticipation.

Bryn held her palms out, arms bent at the elbow, “Attend ye beasts of the wood.” And the forest creatures from both land and water hopped, crept, and slithered into a protective circle around them.

Mawd drew in her breath. There were black bears, deer, tiny frogs, and snakes and salamanders, spiders, and snails. And among them the glow of fireflies. The light reflected in the eyes of every living creature their attention fixed onto Mawd. Not just the group of humans, but specifically Mawd. Each one seemed to look into her soul.

The midwives gestured again and they closed the circle tightly again, holding hands. Malwen squeezed Duncan’s hand who squeezed Bryn’s hand who squeezed Mawd’s hand. Mawd tried not to fixate on comparing how this ritual was being done to what would have been required at the palace, but it seemed different in immeasurable ways.

Malwen and Bryn guided Duncan and Mawd’s hands inward, stepping to make the circle even tighter, and outward. Inward and outward. Feet following along in a folk dance. Mawd was so focused on the motions she hadn’t noticed Malwen was chanting in a language she didn’t understand. Bryn echoed.

Enaid y perthynas. Enaid y perthynas. Yn y tywyllwch lle rydych chi’n gorwedd. Y tywyll du dwfn. Gwrandewch. Gwrandewch. Gwrandewch.

(Soul of the kin. Soul of the kin. In the dark where you lie. The deep black dark. Listen. Listen. Listen.)

The circle began to spin waterwise, then windwise.

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Feet stepping lightly. Not in dance, but in rhythm. Suddenly with a hush the walking stopped and Malwen nodded to Mawd. This was her turn now.

She opened her mouth and began to sing a wordless lullaby. Her voice echoed and reverberated through the forest. Slowly it faded to silence.

The midwives looked on with encouragement then closed their eyes. This part of the ritual had been to bring awareness of the mortal realm to the underworld. The midwives had thinned the veil and Mawd had cried out in song for the soul kin to recognize her.

Now the midwives – Malwen specifically, would guide the soul and help it make the jump from one realm to the next. Mawd felt nervous. She didn’t know what to expect.

Slowly Maude noticed the fireflies surrounding the circle spinning faster and faster. They blurred into a bar of pure light. Then a million tiny sparks of light appeared surrounding Mawd. It was as if she was standing in a sea of stars. And in that sea one light glowed brighter than the rest. It pulsed with the beat of her heart. Unbidden she reached toward it and there was a flash of light expanding outwards from the point. It came with a clap of sound and a whoosh of wind and Mawd was knocked off her feet into a heap on the ground. It all happened so quickly all she remembered was reaching for the light and hitting her head.

And another bit from earlier in the timeline… this is more of a character sketch.

Maude sat tinkering at her workbench, fingers nimbly aligning cogs and wheels and screws in the automaton she were making for the royal heir. Her mind clear of all of the thoughts and anxieties that normally clouded it. The workbench made everything fall away.

A small brass screw pinged out of place and bounced across the floor. Maude reached a long arm with greased stained fingers to reach its place on the floor. She could feel her shoulder slightly subluxate out of joint as she grasped the tiny threads with calloused fingers.

Sitting back up with a groan she pulled her magnifying goggles down into place. Trying to work without goggles is why the screw flew away in the first place. But they pressed on the temples and Maude would have a headache if she wore them for long.

Furrowing a brow and working quickly and carefully the tiny screw slotted in and tightened to hold everything into place.

Breathing out with a huff she set the tiny automaton down. This work was meant to distract her for hours yet, but now it was done too soon.

She peered over the top of the lenses and took it in. The automaton was a tiny brass bird. It had wings made of worn bits of metal and tiny delicate feet from bits of discarded jewelry. Maude was like a magpie always gathering up bits and bobs that were discarded around the palace. Some of them were truly valuable, but her owners had no use for a broken bit of necklace or a cabochon without its gemstone. Gems would be reset in new cabochons and the pure gold would be seen as a bit of worthless trash. So it would wait, abandoned in a dark corner, to be discovered by a small child or Maude. Maude had indeed started this habit as a child, but never left it off. She did many things her peers considered childish, but she couldn’t understand why adults were meant to be so boring and lifeless.

It was absurd to everyone in the palace that a royal of Maude’s stature would sit up in the loft of the castle barn fashioning bits of metal into sculptures when she could be down at the ball swanning around the dance floor in silks. These mating rituals were ridiculous. Maude couldn’t understand them.

She pushed the goggles back into her auburn hair leaving a grease streak along her temple and felt the flood of anxiety come rushing back.

And a messy bit to show what I do when I change things on the fly or write something I immediately disagree with (I have a strict no backspace policy during NaNoWriMo.)

All of the magic that was in her returning to the underworld where it was WAITSHESHOULDHAVETRAVELEDTOTHEUNDERWORLDTOSTEALTHISMAGIC-HOWDIDIMISSTHATOPPORUTNITY.OK.CHANGETHAT.

😂😂😂

I’m basically crazy quilting a story together, but it’s fun. It may take me a decade to finish, but I can see the bones now and they are laced with magic.

Ok, off to bed now and scheduling this to go out tomorrow.

Sarah