Time Out, Time Away, Time---

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

The month of March was challenging in a new way. For the past fourteen years it has been challenging because it is the month where my Dad (1998) Mom (2002) and younger brother (2004) died. I was half way through March this year before that even registered. Why?

Virus and then bacterial infections.

Yep, March was The Month of Illness. I’m not someone who does ‘illness’ well and by the end of the month I was so “sick and tired” of being sick and tired (viruses generally sap all my energy and the one(s) I had in March were no exception.

I’d also planned for over a year, to not only attend the Desert Dreams Writer’s Conference but to extend my time in Arizona. By March I already had my airline tickets and my hotel reservation for the conference (I’d registered for the conference last year).

What to do? Both of my eyes were red and watery from a bacterial eye infection, my left ear was plugged – still, my sinuses were Not my friend and I hadn’t written a single word since March 2^nd when I started to feel sick.

In the end I decided to go. One of those “I can feel miserable there as well as here” and the additional “Maybe a new place will help and everything allergy related will disappear.”

Maybe not an ocean of water flowing around me but close!

So, after flooding my dining room (literally the plants were overflowing onto the floor where the water took on a life of its own and ran (no, it didn’t trickle – nowhere near trickle) under furniture. Of course I’m supposed to be on my way to the airport when this all happens!!!

Take a deep breath --- well, take several of them.

I’m now in Arizona at my friend’s house. After hauling my suitcases in and getting my ‘scorpion relocation kit and instructions’ (that's another blog post) we head to the store (Sprouts). Once back at the house, I drop an 8 pound bag of ice that breaks open and springs across the floor (from wall to wall and under everything in between). To tell the truth, I was so stunned I just stood there with my mouth hanging open while my friend scrambled to round up the scattered ice. I won’t bore you with my other ‘water adventures’ while in Arizona but there were others.

Since I believe things happen in our lives for a reason, especially if it is something that happens over and over. All that water flowing around me? I was scrambling to figure out what that meant!!!

Water is critical for us to survive. We can actually go without food better than we can without water.

Water is used to clean, to wash ourselves and our belongings.

Water has a spiritual connotation. Think Holy Water, baptism and also in my tradition, sacred wells.

And then all major religions have a story about a Great Flood!

Being in Arizona, water is especially critical so I always had my water bottle with me (of course it broke the first week I was there). Taking time to think about the spiritual aspect of water was helpful. I’d not been involved with my daily spiritual practice since early March when I became sick – that changed!

Time out—I’d originally thought this would be a great time to write. I’d called it a “Writing Retreat”. In actuality, I never even got my laptop out of the case. And, I never wrote anything on my current WIP Sophia.

Time away—Time Away from the rigors of my everyday life. My time in Arizona became a retreat from my everyday life. No television at all for two full weeks and then some. Two short stints on my friend’s desktop computer to check Desert Rose Chapter Meeting and then return flight and print out my boarding pass.

Time—To gain perspective, to reconnect with myself and where I want my life to go.

Time out, Time away—Time.

Since returning home, I’ve had a couple of ‘water events’. The most recent was yesterday when not only did a plant I was watering overflow, but I dropped another bottle of water that splashed and flowed—reaching for my laptop and briefcase which I narrowly rescued. Dripping into a pair of shoes (saved the laptop and briefcase, not the shoes).

Do you ever have some kind of minor (in the relative scheme of things that is) disaster that happens again and again? What do you do when that happens? (You can see I don't believe I'm the only one this kind of thing happens to).

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook

© 2016 Judith Ashley

Registraion: A Time To Connect and Reconnect

Most of the time, when I embark on an adventure, I look for Synchronicity and have a clear Intention before hand. That was true for my 2012 Desert Dreams experience.

I volunteered for Registration and was assigned to the first shift. One of the best things about volunteering is you get to Register first, meet other volunteers, and meet and greet a group of attendees. Since I subscribed to the Desert Dreams Yahoo Loop, I knew names and could put faces to them. I'd also 'met' other writers on the loop, but that's another story.

Because of the organization of Shelley Coriell, Registration was ssmmoootthh and almost 50% of attendees had their registration packets by the end of our shift. Shelley has mastered being organized without being controlling.

I met and worked along side of Taylor Lee and Nina Benneton and renewed my connections with Robin Kramme, who I'd met and talked to at Desert Dreams in 2010. One of the added gifts I've found from regularly attending smaller regional conferences is I make friends and stay in touch in between.

Why did I volunteer for Registration duty? My Intention was to support my Desert Rose Chapter at the Desert Dreams Conference. Shelley had been a guest at Romancing The Genres and I may have met her in 2010 but I was able to really put her name and face and writing together when she guested with us in April. (She writes Young Adult. Check out her website by clicking on her name). One of the first people I spotted as I walked in the Registration area was Robin Kramme, who I met in 2010. At that time we'd shared our writing goals and dreams; this time we took the time to catch up on what had happened in the intervening two years. My Intention is to remain in contact with Robin until I see her again. You can click on her link to read a bio as she is one of the LitSisters. Click here to read about her play!

Nina Benneton and Taylor Lee are new acquaintances. Taylor is active with the Indie Book Collective, a great organization that supports independently published authors. Nina is an author with Sourcebooks. Check them out. I think you'll find them interesting and accomplished women you'd like to get to know.