Do You See How I ...?

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction that honors pagan spiritual practices. My stories show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you do overcome obstacles and find your happily-ever-after.

Another one of those “brilliant ideas” in August 2018 that draws a blank as to what we (at least I) had in mind when Sarah Raplee and I came up with it. What I vaguely remember is that there are books I’ve read and reread because of the way an author writes. It isn’t just about the story, but about the way in which the story is written.

For example: I’ve just read/reread several of Claire Delacroix’s Medieval Romance. How does she take me back to that time (1100 – 1500)? Part of it is in the language. Twould be nice if it twas so easy in other times. Another is the description of clothing – actually not a description but the word used when referencing an article of clothing like kirtle and chemise. Beyond seeing the date at the beginning of Chapter One and knowing Ms. Delacroix’s book are set in Medieval times, I know by the time I’ve read a couple of paragraphs in what time period this book is set.

Another favorite author of mine is Jo Beverley. As a lover of history, I’ve some awareness of fashions, who the monarch was in England at various times, etc. but Ms. Beverley does much the same as Ms. Delacroix. Her use of language and dress orients the reader to the stories setting in either Georgian or Regency England.

I write Contemporary Romance set in the early 2000’s. Hard to believe the changes that have occurred in less than twenty years. To assist readers, I do note the date at the beginning of each book and also for important events such as the Sabbats. As my stories are set in Oregon, Ireland and Italy, I also make that clear at chapter beginnings and scene breaks.

Because my professional life did lead to my being in unsafe situations, I took the time to remember how I dealt with difficult even dangerous situations with no cell phone available, no automatic locking car doors, much less emergency buttons on key fobs. Before easily carried cell phones, I did have pepper spray (mace) in my purse or pocket. (You can read the exciting adventure I had at Heathrow airport, London, England because I carried mace here.)

What would you do if you were caught without your cell phone or couldn’t reach it and you were in danger?

My The Sacred Women’s Circle series begins in 2002 and sequences through 2006. Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl is set in 2002 – 2003 but the trauma that resulted in her PTSD was in the early 1980’s. Answering machines were available but not voice mail.

Email? Nope.

Stalking laws? Non-existent.

What about sexual harassment laws? None.

And domestic violence? In some enlightened jurisdictions police would respond and protect the victim but not in all. In earlier still considered “contemporary” times victims did not have the resources available today. There was a stigma of being an abuse victim evident in the culture. What did she do to invite the beating, rape, etc. was common thinking.

If you were born in the late 1980’s or later, you might not know that in the “good old days” I was considered my husband’s property. In the 1960’s I was even told I “belonged” to him. That mind set is, in some cases, alive and well to this day—even in the United States.

What I show in my books is that, “contemporary” times have dramatically changed in the past fifteen or so years. For readers from teens to maybe early thirties, the reality of how their own lives have changed and that what they take for granted now wasn’t readily available ten to fifteen years ago is one of my goals.

My characters, as do all of us, have choices. Like us, some choices they embrace and some they fight. Some are based on their beliefs and some on their experiences. What I show is that we all have choices in what we believe and our actions. And our beliefs and actions today create our tomorrows.

It takes courage to trust in the future a choice may bring us rather than to stay in a challenging situation because we know what to expect. At the heart of each story, the heroine and at times the hero must take the leap and trust in the future a different choice can create for them.

And because I write romance you know that even in the darkest times there will always a “happily-ever-after.”

You can find all of my books at your favorite e-book vendor. Be sure to ask your local library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.

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! 

© 2019 Judith Ashley

Romance Authors Helped Me Through Tough Times

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’d never really read romance novels until the summer of 1997. Oh, it isn’t that I’d never seen one, one of my aunts was an avid reader of Danielle Steele.

However the summer of 1997 my dad had exploratory surgery. Sitting in the hospital waiting for the surgeon to advise us as to the outcome, I needed something to distract me other than a Tom Clancy or psych-thriller-type book.

The hospital gift shop had Nora Roberts’ books and, while I don’t remember the title, I never looked back. You see, even though the surgeon said the operation was a success and the cancer had been removed, that wasn’t true.

When my dad’s balance went and his eye-sight was affected and the headaches relentlessly pounded, my mom relented and let me make an appointment to see an oncologist.

By this time it was too late. Over the next months, I spent hours with my dad at doctor appointments and while he had radiation treatments. Where was my mom? Her grief over losing her soul mate, her life partner for almost 60 years took a massive toll on her health. So much so, we weren’t sure she’d survive.

Trade paperbacks by Nora, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Jo Beverley and a myriad others easily tucked into my purse. One was always on hand to distract me while waiting.

And that’s how my path to writing romance started. I read, immersed myself in the stories knowing that a happily-ever-after waited for me on the last page, while knowing a happily-ever-after was not waiting for me in my real life.

My dad died March 8, 1998. I was invited to join Wild Women Writers in December 1999. Originally I was going to take a personal growth program I’d developed in the early 1980’s and turn it into a book. I dithered around with that project for a year and then the magic happened.

I started remembering dreams, having day dreams, hearing voices of women who wanted me to tell their stories. They each wanted a happily-ever-after and were positive I was the only one who could write about them. All those hours of escaping into the pages of romance novels rushed back. I put the personal growth book away and started writing down the visions and voices that would not leave me alone.

Would I be a romance author now if not for all those books I read in hospital rooms and doctor’s offices? Read at night or when I couldn’t sleep in an effort to push away the darkness of grief at losing my dad?

Would I have taken the plunge if I hadn’t had these books in my hands?

I don’t think so.

While I’m no Nora or Susan or Jo, if one reader benefits from my books like I did from theirs, then I’m happy.

After working in social services for fifty or so years, one thing I know is this truth: We never know the impact we have on others. We never know if something we’ve said or written or done will change someone’s life.

What I also know is true is that when we move forward in our lives with love in our hearts and our deeds, we do no harm. And what better caveat than that – we send love into the world and did no harm.

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

For Your Reading Pleasure And Other Things

by Judith Ashley

November the Genre-istas share their favorite holiday-themed romance novel and our

Judith Ashley

weekends are full of Guest Contributors and Genre-istas who have holiday-themed romance novels, novellas, short stories, and anthologies coming out.

Without even going to my ‘saved on the shelves’ stash I clearly remember Jo Beverley’s Christmas Angel and Nora Robert’s The Gift and if you are looking for an historical or contemporary romance I’d recommend either. Another one of my favorites is Paty Jager’s e-book Christmas Redemption. I’m sure by the end of this month, I’ll have added a few more favorites to my list!

For much of my life Christmas was the center of our family’s winter doings. My Mom shopped all year long for that special something for the people on her list. She always was aware of their color and style preferences and took great pride in finding just the perfect ‘something’. As adults, at Thanksgiving we exchanged lists with each other and included sizes, colors, and brands if appropriate. Why? Because none of her three children had inherited her ‘gift’ of finding just the right ‘gift’ so we cheated and helped each other out after a couple of disastrous gift exchanges.

Twenty years ago this September I was invited to join a newly forming Sacred Women’s Circle and in December I celebrated my first Winter Solstice. Until my mother’s death in 2002, I balanced both Christmas with my family and Solstice with my Women’s Circle. And for a year or two after she died, I worked hard to keep the long standing family Christmas traditions alive – special ornaments nearing their 100^th year of being for the Christmas tree, being able to open one gift on Christmas Eve from someone who would not be with us Christmas Day, special breakfast Christmas morning, Christmas stockings hand knitted for each of us (when I was divorced my original stocking got lost in the process – I still tear-up when I think of the Christmas Eve my mom said I had to open this box with a box with a box and in the last box was a new Christmas stocking she’d knitted for me that year).

These days, my granddaughters spend Christmas Day with their parents and do all the tree, trimmings, turkey dinner, etc. They (or at least one of them) spend Solstice night with me. Sometimes we drive around and look at lights and ooh and aah over the sparkle and creativity of the homeowners. We always talk about what we want to manifest in the coming light of the next year. And it never fails that, at least once during the evening, I talk about the wonder and awe our ancestors experienced when they drove back the darkness and minute-by-minute the days grew longer and warmer after this darkest of nights.

We talk about this time of year - from Samhain (Halloween) to Solstice (Christmas) and maybe through New Years Day - as ‘the holiday season’. In my tradition, we celebrate the turning of the wheel of life so every six weeks or so there is another “holiday” to celebrate. My plan is to start up www.JudithAshleyRomance.blogspot.com with posts about those holidays. I hope you’ll join me.

May the light of love shine upon you whatever your traditions.

Please share your favorite holiday memory or tradition, especially one that brings a tear to your eyes.

www.FreeReadsFromTheGenre-istas.blogspot.com for my newest short short story First Love. I’ll be writing Ashley’s Story, Book Four in the Women’s Circle Series, during National Novel Writing Month which starts today.