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Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips “nice”

A moment of peace after an evening spent with a friend from Catch Snakes

#WritingCommunity

Baby Inez rested her head on Erica's
shoulder, sending a warm, contented feeling through her chest. Alison's back door stood open, letting in the breeze and a partial view of the starry night sky. The rhythmic sound of crickets chirping stirred sweet memories of
being outside past bedtime. It was nice. This whole new life was nice. Erica had found herself a simple job that could easily be described in two words: Teach English. She was happy now to live a life she could wrap her head around, sink her teeth into, and truly
understand.

November 4, 2025 at 2:58 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips “charge” had to go back to my #amquerying snake story for this one! 🐍
#writingcommunity #writingprompts #writesky

Anticipation kindled in her chest as she walked stiffly to the kitchen and took her phone off the charger. She would have to call Will, right? He was aware she owned a vibrator, which was mortifying. But the snake was right in front of the house. She at least needed to know if it was venomous.
It was 9:30 am. But he should have his phone silenced if he was asleep, she decided. So she dialed his number and waited.
“This is Will,” he answered the phone. Such a funny way to answer, she thought, like he was a dad.

October 22, 2025 at 7:20 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips “second”

Ruby’s twin confronts her about paying her portion of the rent on time 🫩 what’s a fake princess to do?!?

#Writesky #WritingPrompts #Writingcommunity

Ruby blew out a heavy breath as numbers on bank statements flashed through her mind. Low numbers. “Okay, so you want me to be more timely with the rent. I’ll try, I mean, you know how it is in the princess game,” she gestured to her dress. “It’s like, feast or famine out there. I might have to get a second second job,” she said with a chuckle. Her first job being acting, which was a joke.
“Yeah,” Jade said. Ruby winced, not expecting her to agree so quickly. “Or get better about, like, budgeting.”
Ruby’s heart plummeted, but she felt her own head nodding in agreement, anyway.

October 21, 2025 at 1:01 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

Back to my chef WIP!
#WIPSnips field >> yard

This is the second paragraph of the book 👸

#writingcommunity #writesky #writingprompts

At least she was off the clock, with only a half-mile of hilly, suburban sidewalk separating her from her van. She had just spent her afternoon as an unbranded princess, the hired entertainment at a child’s backyard birthday party. It wasn’t glamorous work. It wasn’t what she’d ever envisioned herself doing. But, for the first time, princess-work was beginning to look less like a temporary source of income, and more like her entire future. And at that, Ruby felt a strange, strong sense of relief.

October 20, 2025 at 12:24 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips We’re playing fast and loose with the vibes here today

Dodge>> ignore

Snip from a short story I’m working on, I call it: Cadaver Lab Daydreams.

Rachel’s not gay…. Right?!? RIGHT??

#writingcommunity #writesky

When a more dramatic, romantic, sweeping song came on, Rachel might allow the tip of her toe to cross into fantasy territory. She imagined touching Adeline’s face, connecting all of her freckles, tracing the line of her angular jaw. She imagined Adeline cupping her face; a gentle touch from a powerful hand. She knew well enough what Adeline’s hands looked like, the unpainted square fingernails, so short she must have bitten them as a child.

When the music descended into a sweet, tinkling piano, she might imagine Adeline feeling the pounding beat of Rachel’s pulse, which would make her chuckle softly and whisper something like, “It’s okay, it’s just me.”

I wish you would, Rachel thought, over and over and over again.

She didn’t know what word came after “would.”

I want you to, she thought, having no idea what it meant.

Fantasies were nice, but no one could ever know. So Rachel tried to ignore her sixth sense, the one that was excruciatingly aware of Adeline at all times.

October 18, 2025 at 2:58 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips “might”

Just admiring a man slicing tomatoes 🤤 maybe nsfw? Because of one word. nothing juicy happens lol

#writingcommunity #writesky #writingprompts

She watched his hands move deftly, at impossible speeds, so thorough and accurate it was almost obscene. Like she was watching porn, and not a guy slicing and salting tomatoes. Short nails, wide hands marked with tiny white scars that came with years of kitchen burns and cuts. The edges of a tattoo visible at the edge of his rolled white sleeve, a traditional moth, maybe. If he hadn’t been so deeply in the zone, she might have tried to talk more, if only to watch his dimples deepen in his stubbled cheeks again, or to see if she could get him to roll those dark, handsome eyes.

October 16, 2025 at 1:30 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips “care”

Ruby worries her unlikely protegé, Brynn, is about to be dumped from a talent show dance number. Of course, Ruby is going to project her own anxieties onto the situation— which may just sabotage the little girl she’s grown so fond of.

#WritingCommunity

"I don't know," Ruby said, looking back at Brynn just to remind herself who she was speaking to. Eight years old with no idea just how cut throat and conniving her competition could get. Ruby wished that she could guard her little heart from the shattering that was surely on the way. "Hey, but don't tell them you suspect anything. And if they do kick you out, you have to act like you don't care. And definitely don't tell them about what we're doing."

October 15, 2025 at 3:11 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips going with “finally”

The sous chef at Ruby’s work helping her jump her car after a closing shift 😬😏

#writingcommunity

"I don't know, did I? You're the one
out here smokin' all night."
He looked over his shoulder to give
her an amused smile. She grinned back. "Nah,
I don't think you left anything on," he
admitted. "When was the last time you got the
battery replaced?"
"Never," she said.
"Hmm, well. Let's see if this works."
"It should, right?"
"Yeah, yeah," he said in a higher pitch
than usual. "Let's try it."
He started his car, and a few minutes
later, she tried hers. Nothing. They tried it
again. He rechecked the cable connections.
"It's dead," he finally said. "Let's give
up. It's almost two. I'll drive you home. We'll
get you a new battery tomorrow."

October 14, 2025 at 5:05 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

Haven’t done a #WIPSnips with my new project yet! Here’s our melodramatic fmc dreaming up a sympathetic breakup story for an interview.. #WritingCommunity #Writesky #WritingPrompts

“Okay, fine,” Ruby said, searching the ceiling for her answer. “Oh. He fell out of love with me. It was devastating. There I was, thinking I had found it, the kind of love that people write songs about. We laughed at the grocery store together. Sat cuddled up to each other in restaurant booths with no one on the other side. His nieces and nephews called me ‘Aunt Ruby.’ It was perfect, until it wasn’t. I don’t even know which of my dumb jokes was the last one he laughed at. But suddenly, I wasn’t enough. On the weekends, he’d always look for an excuse to —“

“Jesus, Lord, that’s enough. Do not say all that. You sound like you’re still in love with him,” Jade snapped.

October 5, 2025 at 2:23 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #amquerying

Erica tags along with Will as he relocates a cottonmouth. She’s got other things on her mind.

He was back in the car, shutting the door. “All right, I think he’s happy. Shouldn’t be bothered by any more screamin’ girls out here.”
He cranked the engine and started down the road.
“You all right?” He said. She supposed she was oddly quiet.
“Do you wanna come inside? We can hang out,” she said. It was a pathetic thing to do.

July 24, 2025 at 12:22 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

@srmilesauthor.bsky.social yours is one of the first accounts i followed on bluesky so of course i recognized this title at the library today. I was like “omg i know her” 🤩

July 23, 2025 at 4:24 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

MY LADY JANE x ELLA ENCHANTED

Millie is a spinster with a secret, but her lifelong curse renders her unable to lie. On her quest to lift the curse, she meets Griffin, the helpful but grumpy wizard with an ulterior motive that may just hurt Millie worse than the curse itself.

#BluePit📖 #A #F #W #R

Cursed and Giftless by N. Goodwinn 90k words
Moodboard containing: a stone bridge in a lush green forest, a toadstool, a medieval tavern bar top, crystals, a woman in a red dress holding a dagger, a black horse grazing in a meadow, a box full of potion vials, a medieval leather shoe

July 13, 2025 at 7:12 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

“Just for the Summer” x Bridget Jones

Erica moved to the coast in pursuit of cottagecore bliss, but instead she found

👵🏻 a nosy, dirty-mouthed 92 y/o bff
📓 out-of-pocket toxic coworkers
🌶️ a sexual awakening
🐍 7 snakes
😩 a snake man obsession

SNAKE COUNTRY. 90k #A #R #Q #BluePit📖

Collage with peach background and overlying text.
Title (teal blue): Erica.
Bulleted list: snake magnet, aspiring cat lady, NO chill, done with relationships, down bad for him.
“Unfair we’re not somewhere misbehavin’ for days” - R U Mine, Arctic Monkeys
Image: spotify playlist screenshot. Solitude is Bliss by Tame Impala, Pretty Pimpin by Kurt Vile, R U Mine? by Arctic Monkeys, Lover by Devendra Banhart, Bed Chem by Sabrina Carpenter, Let the Light in (feat. father john misty) by Lana Del Rey, The Truth by Dr. Dog
Image: meme of Tina Belcher flipping hair with text “Time for the charm bomb to explode” (credit- Bob’s Burgers)
Image: orange zinnias
Image: tuxedo kitten
Image: library shelves
Image: vintage teal scrabble board with scattered letter tiles
Image: sunset reflected in ocean water

Collage with dark brown background and overlying text.
Title (cream colored text): Will. Bulleted list: Snake Whisperer, Willpower of steel, quietly freaky, secretly Simping, serial monogamist
“And I can’t help myself, from goin’ wanderin’ with her”- Dr. Dog, “Nellie”
Images in collage:
spotify playlist screenshot: Hang me up to Dry by Cold War Kids, Nellie by Dr. Dog, old friends by pinegrove, sedona by houndmouth,come a little closer by cage the elephant, nothings gonna hurt you baby by cigarettes after sex
Image: live oak tree with spanish moss
Image of snake slithering along chain link fence
Image of 1999 toyota tacoma
Image of small snake in a man’s hand

July 13, 2025 at 11:35 AM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

Erica is so glad to be done with her ex, she swears off relationships for good. But when snakes start slithering into her life, she must rely on local reptile wrangler, Will, for help. Denying her infatuation for him is almost as hard as living in a snake pit.

SNAKE COUNTRY. 90k #A #R #Q #BluePit📖

Background is tall, yellow-green grasses against a light blue sky
Text: Snake Country by Natalie Goodwinn. adult contemporary romance. 90k words

The Pitch: Erica’s fresh start is all about independence. Finally free from her pretentious ex, she moves to coastal Georgia with one rule: no more boyfriends. But when snakes of all kinds start slithering into her life, she finds herself relying on Will, the hunky local snake wrangler, for help. As her infatuation with Will becomes harder to deny, Erica is faced with an impossible choice: keep Will around and risk breaking her only rule, or learn to live among the snakes.

For fans of: Abby Jimenez “Just for the Summer” Ali Hazelwood’s “Deep End” “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and “Broad City”

“The vibes”, this slide contains a collage of images. a small snake on a man’s hand, A corn snake, a tuxedo kitten, a live oak draped with Spanish moss, a library bookshelf, a vintage scrabble board with scattered letter tiles, a 1999 green Toyota tacoma, a paddle board in a lake, and a black snake slithering along a chain link fence

Opening Lines: There’s a distinctly unpleasant feeling that immediately follows a midday nap. Disoriented, grimy, mysteriously anxious. I’ve been living in that familiar haze ever since our anniversary date. But instead of grabbing my phone and discovering I overslept by forty-five minutes, it’s been eight years.

July 13, 2025 at 4:00 AM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

After a liberating breakup, Erica is eager to embrace her fresh, blissful, hopefully-eternal solitude…until she starts finding snakes all over her yard. Local snake wrangler (🥵), Will, is happy to take them off her hands. Cue the infatuation.

SNAKE COUNTRY. 90k #A #Rom

#playlistpitch #booksky

July 11, 2025 at 9:52 AM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

One of my friends drew this little sketch, meant to be a doodle from my protagonist’s journal to help her remember the features of a common water snake #BluePitHype #writingcommunity #booksky

Sketch of a snake with arrows pointing to face and text “no eyebrow or ‘zorro mask’” and “derpy, bulging eyes”

July 9, 2025 at 8:38 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

A little snake dialogue with a scoff and a “smile” 🐍
#WIPSnips #amquerying #WritingCommunity #booksky

“Oh, Lord, I know who this is.” He said it as if she were a pesky prank caller. She was relieved that it felt like a friendly jab. Maybe she had hallucinated the whole vibrator situation, she thought hopefully.
“I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. But it’s Erica Beckett, again. I need your help.”
“You found me another snake already? What are you doing, leaving bowls of food out for ‘em?”
“Yep, and I’m pretty sure this one is poisonous.”
“Venomous,” he said. “Why?”
“It’s red and yellow, and that can kill a fellow, I hear,” she said.
He scoffed. She smiled.

July 9, 2025 at 11:51 AM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

another 🐍 snip for “yell.”
#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #booksky

She opened the door and yelled to him. “Oh my fucking god. Is that a snake?”
“Yep,” he yelled back. She stepped tentatively onto the patio. “He’s harmless. Just a brown water snake. There’s a little creek running behind your backyard, so,” he said.
“Uh, cool,” she said back. “Are you gonna kill it?”
He stopped short. “No, I’m not gonna kill it.”

July 8, 2025 at 10:32 AM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

Little snip from ch 2.. going with “someone” 🐍
#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #booksky

She did call animal control, and someone answered. He was unimpressed by Erica’s harrowing tale, but he did offer her a number.
“Look, the only person who’s gonna get up for that is Will with Coastal Wildlife Solutions. Big snake guy.”
Erica took down this snake guy’s number.
She called it next, fully expecting it to go straight to voicemail, like the first two. She looked at her muddy feet, the footprints through the house. Her knee bounced wildly as she mentally prepared her script.
“Hello?” A man’s voice answered. Gruff, as if he were not at work fielding customer calls, but sleeping.
“Oh, I think this is the wrong number,” Erica blurted.

July 6, 2025 at 1:52 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity a tender little moment with Erica and Will 💕🐍

“Were you upset with me today?” she whispered, her eyes still closed. She felt tears starting to form. There were plenty of emotions battling for her attention: fear, anxiety, embarrassment, disappointment, desire. She wasn’t sure which was to blame.
“What?” he said.
A tear broke free from her eye and rolled down her cheek. She frowned.
“No, no,” he whispered, with a reassuring laugh. “Course not. No.”

June 22, 2025 at 11:14 AM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity
🐍💕

Erica began the self-indulgent endeavor of looking through her own collection and imagining what Will might have thought of her when he discovered it hours earlier. Her books were mostly fantasy, some romance, lots of fantasy-romance. Plenty of classics, too. Maybe he thought she was sophisticated for being such a voracious reader. Maybe that made her seem pretentious. Or, worse, maybe he thought her taste was shallow. She fitfully combed through box after box, searching for her answer, what did her book collection say about her?

June 19, 2025 at 9:17 PM

Nat Goodwinn 🐍is querying🐍

@seenatwrite.bsky.social

@nathanbransford.com i knew this title looked familiar.. turns out i’ve read a query letter for one of this series on your blog. Cool to see it out in the wild at the library!