I Can Do It!

Judith Ashley 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.

Coming Summer 2018

What do you expect of yourself? The task will be easy and effortless? You’ll struggle but overcome? You’ll struggle and fail? You won’t even try? For some of us our expectations squash our outcome before we even start.

Growing up I found math difficult. Those pesky times tables in fourth grade were nightmares (and still can be). Back then we didn’t have access to smart phones, calculators and if we had (because they were available by the time I was in college) it was “cheating” to use them.

I will admit I still don’t understand why we say 2 + b = 5 when it is obvious that 2 + 3 = 5 and there isn’t another combination in that format that works.

Switch to reading. I easy and effortlessly learned to read. It has always been a joy to immerse myself in a book. Yes, I even liked many of the text books in high school and college. I still read for pleasure and am a published author.

The Sacred Women's Circle series

These days I pay attention to my expectations of myself because I know my perception of the task makes it easier or harder to accomplish. Having positive expectations of my ability to do anything I chose to can move me forward.

My caveat is this: there are times that the energy, time and effort to figure out, understand and learn something new is daunting. Even though I tell myself I can do and also believe that I can—doesn’t mean it will necessarily come easy to me. Most recently I’ve struggled with learning how to put my books into box sets.

I read a couple of articles, looked at the box sets I have of some of my writer friends and started the learning curve. A few weeks (yes, weeks) into the process I stopped. It is true I had some medical stuff going on in my life but it is also true I was using up my “learning curve energy” on box sets when I had a whole course in creating ads for Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, etc. ahead of me.

Available Now!

First things first when my positive self-expectation is thwarted is to figure out the core issue and then problem solve from there. If you are interested in learning a simple process to find solutions to issues that are interfering with the quality of your life, check out my latest non-fiction book Staying Sane in a Crazy World.

Do you ever feel as if the world around you is tumbling out of control and there is nothing you can do to make your world a better place?

Do you ever wish there was?

Staying Sane in a Crazy World may help guide you toward stopping the tumbling and choosing how to take effective control of your life.

The reality is there is no One answer that fits all but we each have Our answer.

In this short guide, Judith Ashley leads you through a straight-forward process that allows you to find Your answers. Answers you’ll use to craft a Personal Staying Sane Plan that will help you regain and keep your balance whenever the world around you is out-of-whack.

Staying Sane is now available at your favorite e-retailer. 

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

Follow Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2018 Judith Ashley

Finish! or End!

Judith Ashley 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.

Finish!

When do we ever truly finish some projects or aspects of our lives?

Yes, I can finish a book but if it really touched my soul, it is on my “keeper shelf” and will be reread.

Yes, I can finish painting a room but in time it will need a fresh coat.

Yes, I can finish with spring planting, fall harvesting but next year I’ll be doing it again.

Yes, I can learn something new, gain expertise in a new area, figure out something about myself, but am I ever “finished” growing as a person?

End!

The end of a journey?

The end of the road?

The end of life?

Even if I go on a completed journey at another time, it will not be exactly the same as my first trip. Something will have changed either in myself or the roads or the people I’ll meet along the way.

And the road? When I drive to another part of the town where I live, it also changes. If there’s been a few weeks or months, I’ll notice a new building, construction in the road itself, some house painted, new people on the street, perhaps a change in speed limit or traffic design. Even if it is a trip I take every day, there is something different if I’m open to seeing it.

Then there are some journeys that do take us to the end of the road – what lies beyond is the vast ocean or a canyon or river with no bridge to cross. And yet, if I take the same road on another day, there will be some aspect of that end-of-the-road view that will be different.

Our lives is another place where there is an end. There are a few people who are resuscitated and come back to live a bit longer. For the vast majority once we cross over or pass or die, we’ve come to an end. Whether it is “The End” or not depends on our beliefs.

During part of March and April, I decided to reread the seven books in my series, The Sacred Women’s Circle. I felt distanced from them because I’d been distracted from writing for most of last year and the first part of this one.

As a series, after Book One, the first scene in the next book picked up the next  circle sister's story. At the end of Book One, we learn Elizabeth is leaving the next day for Ireland. Book Two opens with Elizabeth in Ireland and ends on Winter Solstice. Book Three opens on Winter Solstice with Diana questioning her marriage after bearing witness to the unconditional love shared between Elizabeth and her new husband. Book Four opens at Diana's wedding. Book Five opens with Ashley and her new husband off on their honeymoon.

However, when I came to Books Six and Seven: 

Gabriella: Chaos and Symmetry and Sophia: Endings and Beginnings things changed. Each of these books start before the end of the previous book. Having just reread the series I pondered why these last two books overlapped in a different way. 

Of all the women in the series, these two had made choices along their paths that kept them separated for longer periods of time from the other women---both by choice and circumstances. In the end, they too had to face their personal demons, their fears. They had to accept help that was offered and even more daunting, they had to ask for help.

In the end, to no one’s surprise. they find the man who will cherish and love them unconditionally. After all, I do write romance.

In addition to contemporary romance or romantic women’s fiction, I’ve ventured into writing non-fiction. My first book, Staying Sane in a Crazy World is available at your favorite e-retailer. By following the simple process outlined in this book, if you’ve unfinished projects that drive you crazy, you can create a plan to change that!

Do you ever feel as if the world around you is tumbling out of control and
there is nothing you can do to make your world a better place?

Do you ever wish there was?

Staying Sane in a Crazy World may help guide you toward stopping the tumbling and choosing how to take effective control of your life.

The reality is there is no One answer that fits all but we each have Our answer.

In this short guide, Judith Ashley leads you through a straight-forward process that allows you to find Your answers. Answers you’ll use to craft a Personal Staying Sane Plan that will help you regain and keep your balance whenever the world around you is out-of-whack.

On the fiction front, your complimentary copy of Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl, is waiting for you. To download it, you need only sign up for my mailing list. I will not spam you and, you can always unsubscribe.

As an indie author, your support in the form of reviews is appreciated. Please note in your review that you received a free copy of Lily in exchange for an honest review. 

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

Follow Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2018 Judith Ashley

Finishing Projects

Judith Ashley 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.

I’ve lived in my house for over forty-two years. When I first bought this house, there were several things I wanted changed.

A light fixture in the stairwell going up to my room instead of a bare bulb.

Book cases on either side of the fireplace,

Every room painted (the previous tenants loved a blue, chocolate brown and yellow palate). So not me!

A few walls removed to open up the finished attic that I’d claimed as “my space.”

A nice deck in the backyard,

A rose garden in the wide area between sidewalk and street, etc.

I painted the main rooms before I moved in – a beige color with white trim. The living and dining rooms as well as my office are now a labor intensive five coat rose with 3 different colored glazes so depending on the light, the rooms are different colors.

My son and I built book cases on either side of the fireplace – obvious work done by amateurs.

I took the walls done upstairs. I tried to use some kind of patching stuff to even things out but…

I built two 8 X 10 connecting decks in the backyard.

And, with the help from my dad, I planted that rose garden.

Somewhere along the way when I had some work done on the house, I had professionals finish off the upstairs.

I also ended up having the back decks professionally built (more than once as the sun is brutal in that part of the yard).

But this post is about “finished." So what is “finished?”  

On March 26, an electrician came and installed the light fixture I’ve been wanting for 42 years! I love it!!!

Last month I also had a trim put on the bookcases. It hides the raggedly edges that shouted “we were built by amateurs.”

A couple years ago, I gave up on wood decks and had a PVC-type decking installed. To keep it looking good, it only needs a good hosing in the Spring and Fall.

What’s important to realize is that nothing that’s being done is a Major Project. But as each of these tasks that finish bigger projects is completed, I feel a lightness, an ease of a long-held tension I no longer noticed.

I am proof positive that finishing a started project can be a joyous and satisfying experience.

However, there were those 42 years…

While I'd like to think that everyone finishes everything they start, that isn't true. Not everything we start will we finish. After forty-two years of an unfinished project hanging around me, I've learned a few things.

To keep that unfinished project tension from taking root in your body, the key is “to choose.”

Choose to not finish the project.

Choose to pass it on to someone else.

Choose to put it aside with a commitment to look at it another time. Perhaps that will be a better time to move forward or maybe not. And choose again.

I can honestly say “Don’t do as I’ve done” and natter around about wanting or even needing to get this done. Remember that scene in Star Wars when Yoda tells Luke Skywalker that there is no try, there is only do? I'm living proof that you'll feel lighter and freer and be more relaxed if you live by that mantra and Do It or at the very least Choose To Not Do It.

In the meantime, in case you missed the news, I’ve also ventured into writing non-fiction. My first book, Staying Sane in a Crazy World is available at your favorite e-retailer. By following the simple process outlined in this book, if you’ve unfinished projects that drive you crazy, you can create a plan to change that!

Do you ever feel as if the world around you is tumbling out of control and
there is nothing you can do to make your world a better place?

Do you ever wish there was?

Staying Sane in a Crazy World may help guide you toward stopping the tumbling and choosing how to take effective control of your life.

The reality is there is no One answer that fits all but we each have Our answer.

In this short guide, Judith Ashley leads you through a straight-forward process that allows you to find Your answers. Answers you’ll use to craft a Personal Staying Sane Plan that will help you regain and keep your balance whenever the world around you is out-of-whack.

On the fiction front, your complimentary copy of Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl, is waiting for you. To download it, you need only sign up for my mailing list. I will not spam you and, you can always unsubscribe.

As an indie author, your support in the form of reviews is appreciated. Please note in your review that you received a free copy of Lily in exchange for an honest review. 

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

Follow Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2018 Judith Ashley

A Month of Love: Flowers

Black/Blue Salvia

Armisted salvia

We’ve have some very warm temperatures recently and I see the signs of spring. My violets are profusely blooming as is my rosemary. The distinctive aroma of Daphne fills the air when I step out on my porch.

New growth from the mint along the fence is visible. It won’t be long before I’m loading geraniums and fuchsias into the trunk of my car. And I’ll be looking for my Armistad and Black & Blue Salvia to sprout.

Fuchsias and Geraniums

Clematis

I will also be looking for one or maybe two new clematis plants. There was a mix-up and some “kill it dead” spray meant for my neighbor’s laurel hedge that didn’t quite get taken all the way out (at least not on my side of the fence she put up) drifted on to at least one if not both of my prized clematis.

Why prized? Because while I love this plant I’ve not been particularly successful in growing them.

Sitting at my computer, looking into my yard with the hummingbirds flitting around the plants is inspiring. I love the color against the carport storage area and fence.

In summer our days have gotten so hot, I do not spend time on my back decks enjoying the yard up close and personal but through my windows I have a panorama of visual delight.

When you read my books you’ll see I include flowers and gardens.

In Lily, she looks out over the view from Eleanor’s windows at the winter garden and the tall Douglas fir beyond. While the garden itself is a figment of my imagination, from my office windows I see the Douglas firs a couple blocks away.

Fuchsias are featured in Elizabeth. One of my fondest memories of driving around Ireland were the plethora of one of my favorite flowers growing wild along the roads.

I’ve included pictures from my garden.

Enjoy!!!

And, to get you started

Your free copy of Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl is waiting for you.

Go to JudithAshleyRomance.com and sign up for my occasional newsletter“Connections.”

Follow the prompts to download your own digital copy of the first book in The Sacred Women’s Circle series.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

Follow Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2018 Judith Ashley

A month of love: Writing

February: month of love.

A core theme in my stories is

When in Doubt, Choose Love and Light

I love writing stories where the characters find their way past challenges of their own making as well as those that pop up in their path. At some point both the hero and the heroine must make a choice and both have risks and possible heart-ache.

But as much as I love writing romance stories I also love teaching people about Dr. William Glasser's Choice Theory and how to use it and the concepts inReality Therapy to create the life they want for themselves.

Because of that desire, I’ve melded my two loves and have branched out into non-fiction. Staying Sane in a Crazy World is the first of three non-fiction books I plan on publishing this year along additional fiction books.

Every Monday during the month of February I’ll be sharing something I love about my life. In case you haven't figured it out, I love to write and teach!

What do I love about writing?

A large segment of the population who sees me for the first time sees me as “old” and while I don’t feel particularly older than say 35 – 40, the calendar would add several decades to those numbers. What that means is I’ve lived a rich and varied life. I’ve experienced tragedy and born witness to man’s inhumanity to man in my decades in social service work.

Because of my own experiences and my witnessing of others, I’ve a treasure trove of information I can share through my stories. It is my time to speak up, speak out and through my books share the lessons I’ve personally learned as well as the one’s I’ve seen other people learn.

Here are two opportunities for you to experience what I mean when I write about sharing life lessons through my writing.

When you sign up for my mailing list, you will receive a link to download your free digital copy of Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl.

Go to JudithAshleyRomance.com and sign up for my occasional newsletter“Connections.”

Follow the prompts to download your own digital copy of the first book in The Sacred Women’s Circle series.

And if you want to check out my non-fiction? Click on this link and leave your first name and email address, I will send you a Free Copy of Staying Sane in a Crazy World as soon as it is ready for publication. It isn’t a long book, under 10K words but it is chock full of information and ideas about how you can create your own personal Staying Sane Plan.

What’s the catch? I’d appreciate your writing a review and even telling your friends about it but other than that, no catch.

Here’s the link again.

While you will be signing up twice, you will not get duplicate emails from me because I use ConvertKit. But be sure to use the same email address.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

Follow Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2018 Judith Ashley

Subtle Messages

Judith Ashley 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.

Earlier this month I wrote on Secret Messages. Today I’m talking about Subtle Messages and using The Sacred Women's Circle book covers as an example.

When you look at a book cover, there are certain things that, depending on what you read, you want to see (or maybe not see). I love to read historical romance so seeing a castle, period dress and a more ornate font tells me at a glance that this book might be one I’d like to read. I then check out the back cover blurb to see what the bare bones of the story is about. Then I make my purchase.

I also like to read contemporary romance and those covers are going to look different than the historical romance covers. Two of my writing friends write paranormal romantic suspense and I do read their books although I don’t normally read in the genre.

In The Sacred Women’s Circle series, I wanted my covers to depict more than just ‘contemporary romance’ because the stories had so much more than the outer journey of the heroine and hero. I also wanted readers to get a hint at what was an additional story line without telling them on the back cover. And I latched on to Lois’s idea (she is a friend of mine) about another way of ‘branding’ the books.

And here is the key to the Subtle Message you’ll see on  each cover:

Overlay

Color

Crystals

Tell me what you see and if you would have noticed without my pointing them out.

Learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshleyRomance.com

Follow Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB! 

© 2018 Judith Ashley