Judith is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series,
romantic fiction that honors spiritual practices that nourish the soul and
celebrates the journey from relationship to romance.
Last week at this time
I was traveling home from the Desert Dreams Writers Conference in the Phoenix/Scottsdale
area of Arizona. I promised in the post I’d scheduled for my travel day that if
you checked in this week, you’d learn more about my trip and the conference.
I am fortunate enough
to have friends in the Phoenix area therefore I traveled a week before Desert
Dreams so I could spend time re-creating myself on several levels. This year
has been one of unforeseen challenges and I’d diverted from my writing routine.
Deviated enough that I wasn’t as happy and energized as I wanted to be.
Spending a week before
the conference gave me time to reflect on what has been happening in my life
and make some decisions.
My Android Tablet was
my friend, giving me an easy place to read some craft books (highly recommend
Maggie McVey Lynch’s Book One Secrets Every Author Should Know, ChuckHeintzelman “The Author’s Guide to E-book Bundling”. (Click on Chuck's link to learn about Bundle Rabbit). Learned a lot about the
importance of attitude from Dean Wesley Smith in his “Writing a Novel in Seven
Days”. Mary Buckham “Writing Active Setting – Book 1” had great examples that
drove home her point.
And since all work and
no play makes for a dull blog post, I will also admit to finishing a great
reread of Sarah Addison Allen’s “Garden Spells”. Yes, it is back on my keeper
shelf. Enjoyed former Genre-ista and Cover Designer of my Sacred Women’s Circle
book covers Christy Carlyle’s “Rules for a Rogue”. I purchased Victoria Alexander’s “The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentlemen” and
read that in the airport and on the plane.
The time away from my ‘real
life’ was long enough for me to realize what the changes were that I needed to
make. And after that initial realization, I gained clarity on what those changes needed to be.
Every day I engaged in
fantastic discussions on a wide variety of topics several of them having to do
with the Buddhist view of the world. I’ve made a commitment to aspire to wise compassion.
Changing Hands is a
great book store. We traveled from North Phoenix to the one in Tempe because it
is so much bigger than the one in downtown Phoenix. I went looking for
something in particular and came home with three decks of cards: two Tarot
Decks and one Oracle Deck.
Mikhaela Asheena and I
have talked over the years when I’ve visited Vision Quest which I’ve done whenever
I’ve been in town. Mikhaela is an expert in Sacred Geometry and I’ve learned a
lot about that subject in my conversations with her.
Check out her creations
and you’ll see what I mean about being inspired by her. One of the joys of this
trip was gifting her with a copy of Gabriella
and sharing with her how she inspired me to keep learning so Gabriella would
know enough to have find her way to Giovanni Migliori. I will always remember the surprise and joy on her face when I handed her her copy.
So much more to share
but rather than do an exceptionally long post, I’m breaking it down. Next week
I’ll share a story about the Grackle (bird in case you didn’t know) and
tracking down rose quartz and desert quartz.
Follow Judith on Twitter:
@JudithAshley19
Check out Judith’s Windtree Press
author page.
You can also find Judith on FB!
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