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In a kingdom where nobles hoard food and peasants starve, ill-tempered Carys discovers she can see what others can't—strange mushrooms glowing like fallen stars. But following their light into the forest after dark breaks every rule she knows.

They say a witch lives in those woods, speaking to mushrooms and knowing the secrets of time. They say the mad queen walks the castle halls at midnight, searching for something only she can see.

And they say girls who wander into the forest at night never return quite the same...

The Story Behind the Story

The first 500-ish words of this story were written in 2020 (or 2021; I don’t remember). It was an experimental departure from my usual lyrical and poetic style of writing, originally intended as a story to be included in the anthology my son and I were writing together. I ended it at the moment Carys was about to put the glowing mushroom in her mouth. And…got stuck there until the end of 2024.

Every once in awhile, I’d pull it out and try to continue it. Sadly, the story did not want to continue.

I’m not a plotter. In fact, if I try to create even a vague outline for my stories, my brain completely refuses to follow. It’ll shut down the story altogether.

Yes, it’s quite inconvenient.

Glowing mushrooms were part of Reveria, the world in which our short stories were set.

A solo writing retreat to the mountains led to a breakthrough, finally and inexplicably—a full day of pine trees, no Internet, no distracting children haha—and 2000 words later, I had a completed story.

Does anyone understand how these things happen?? If I could explain it, I’d finish more my stories and books a lot faster.

The original completed story was much simpler. At first, I simply wanted it to be done. The witch gave Carys the ability to see hidden food, there was some commentary about there being a symbiotic relationship between all peoples, and all are saved. The end.

I had the time loop idea in mind, but I confess to being scared of these types of stories for the inherent difficulties of explaining temporal paradoxes. Still, even after I finished it, the story I really wanted to write kept niggling at me. Finally, I scrapped the original ending, and reworked the whole thing to incorporate the time loop plot.

Four years, multiple drafts, one mountain retreat, and countless cups of coffee later, here is “A Girl Made of Time”—a story about mushrooms, magic, and the circles we create through time to save the ones we love.

Even though you didn’t have to wait five years for this story, I hope you find it as worth it as I do.