This month, we’ve got breaking waves, last chances, loss, therapist appointments, and much more. To submit a first line, email booklifeeditor@booklife.com.

Adelyn’s Adventure on the Beach
Charles Bruckerhoff
“Early the next morning, in the darkness before dawn, Adelyn awoke to the sound of waves breaking on the shore.”


Aftermath: Coming of Age on Three Continents
Annette Berkovitz
“I spent the first three years of my life unaware of the disaster that had befallen my family.“


All the Lost Pieces
Lara Martin
“If Nina Abrahams hadn’t been fired this morning, she never would have said yes.”


The Beautiful Misfits
Susan Reinhardt
“In ten minutes, Josie Nickels would go live with the day’s news, just as she’d done every evening without incident for the past twenty years.”


The Blue Race
Senan Mahon
“They found my ship! How the hell did they find my ship?”


The Call of Jeremiah McGill
Joseph Moore
“One Sunday afternoon, me and my buddies were sitting outside on my front porch enjoying some of Mama’s ice-cold sweet tea she made for us to combat the heat.”


A Change Would Do You Good
Pinar Tarhan
“Janie sat in her therapist Dr. Lucia Lopez’s office for the twenty-seventh time.”


Dads, Kiss Your Sons
Mark Craven
“It’s probably a good thing that I caught the inspiration to write something like this.”


Dreamer
Emily Gallo
“She had no idea what lay before her, but she knew this was her only chance.”


The Girl Who Stole My Chair
Thadeus Parkland
“Kimberlee’s memories of her birth mother were nonexistent.”


Just Say It
Tessa Barrie
“It was almost the end of the year, a century, a millennium, and what a decade it had been.”


Lady of the Army
Stefanie Van Steelandt
“Nine hundred and fifty-eight days. Beatrice Ayer Patton knew exactly how long it had been since she last saw her husband when she awoke on June 7, 1945.”


The Mother Gene
Lynne Bryant
“The University of Virginia Rotunda glowed in the buttery light of a balmy May evening.”


Tiny Tin House
L. Maristatter
“The Guardian Angel told me Mom was dead in the same tone of voice he’d use to tell kids on the sub to stop climbing over the seats and sit down.”


This piece has been updated for clarity.