My Favorite Commercials

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, soul nourishing romantic women’s fiction with light paranormal elements. 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 make choices to overcome the darkest nights of your life to choose love and light.

Usually I’m not a last minute person, especially when it comes to writing blog posts. However, even though I’ve had this idea for this month’s “Favorite Commercial” theme since the Blog Queens first came up with it, I’m less than 48 hours away from it being published!

Why? Why have I waited and waited and waited?

Well it comes down to ‘fear’.

You might wonder what there is to fear about writing a blog post. I can’t speak for other people. For me it is the fact that blog posts with images are read and remembered more often than those that are not. And in the case of this post, I immediately knew what those images would be.

What’s the problem? Me! I do not like to search on the internet for anything if at all possible. The idea of scrolling through images of products or in this case pictures that would illustrate this post is my idea of a personal hell. Well, that may be exaggerating a bit…but not by much.

So, here I am now a little more than 12 hours before this post goes live (yes, I’ve come back and am now tweaking it). I have found images that if you’ve seen the commercials, you should recognize. Or at least I hope you do. And FYI: the second commercial was Much harder to find anything remotely resembling the commercial so you'll need to use your imagination for that one.

Once upon a time, I was watching television with the sound muted (because I have closed captioning and keep it on) and there is a buffalo on the screen. I will say my curiosity was pricked but that was all. No idea what the commercial was about which is pretty normal for me.

Over several months I saw the same commercial and was dumbfounded that any company would just show a buffalo in a restaurant…at least that finally registered.

One day it dawned on me that this buffalo had wings!

And I have heard of Buffalo Wild Wings! So, in this case, it took several months before I connected everything together. And I do remember the company…never been to one of their restaurants and I’m not sure I’ve ever actually eaten a Buffalo Wild Wing but I do find these commercials  fun and I find myself smiling as I watch them.

The second commercial that I smile when it comes on … actually I often chuckle and voice the dialogue … has a dog sitting in a chair and a guy on a sofa. This one I had no problems deciphering but had a enough of a challenging time finding images, I’ve decided not to put them up.

Don’t know what it is yet?

Here’s a hint. When the dog says “Vaase”, at least to me, I find that funny. After numerous opportunities to see this commercial, I still laugh and repeat both the dog’s lines and his human’s. If you’ve not seen the commercial, you may need to sound it out in order to recognize the humor.

I do understand that many people no longer watch “regular” t.v. that has commercials.

However, if you do, please do share your favorites

And be on the lookout all of August as the Genre-istas who do watch “regular” t.v. share their favorite commercials.

Spoiler alert: neither televisions, streaming nor commercials are featured in any of my books.

Learn more about my books, workshops and training on my website JudithAshley.net.

You can find my books at your favorite e-book vendor as well as through my website www.JudithAshley.net and Windtree Press. Print books are available at Jan’s Paperbacks in Beaverton, OR and Arte Soleil in Portland, OR. Get the addresses from my website. And be sure to ask your library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series at JudithAshley.net

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

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© 2024 Judith Ashley

What's in a name?

 As Mr. Shakespeare had Juliet say in that tragic play, 

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose 

By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Well, that might hold true for roses and your doomed lover’s surname. Thanks family feud! But when it comes to naming a character? I beg to differ. 

Here’s my story.

A couple years ago, I submitted the bones of a story to my publisher who was launching a series based in a small town. We were given a map of the town along with key details about a historic inn which had to feature in our stories. I had my characters, their goals, their wounds, their basic personalities, and their names. I signed a contract and was off to the races. Yippee. 

No, wait. 

Someone else was already using the heroine’s name in their story and they signed a contract first. My heroine’s name would have to change.

Horrors!

Calamity!

Much gnashing of teeth!

How could I give this fully formed woman who baked delicious cupcakes a new name?

What choice did I have?

So … I renamed her and the earth continued to orbit the sun. (Though it still rankles as you can probably tell.)

Now we come to my current book. 

My hero was Stan* from his first breath on the page. I spoke to Stan. I dreamed of Stan. My heroine, Jinny, fell in love with Stan. 

Stan survived the first draft, the self-edits, the cruel-to-be-kind comments from my editor. 

Until I heard from a good friend that her marriage was ending. Her husband, Stan, evidently forgot a wedding vow, the one about being faithful. Stan broke my friend’s heart.

Stan was dead to me.

The Stan in my story? He had to go. The name Stan was forever tainted. Stan would never be a hero. Were I to write a gruesome thriller, Stan would suffer. He’d suffer so much that masters of Medieval torture would avert their gaze and consider switching careers.

I had to find a new name for my hero.

It took some deep thinking and soul searching. I had to forget Stan ever existed. Wipe all molecules of the other Stan from my memory and remove any hint of a connection to the hero of my book. 

And so, Ben was born.

Holy moley, golly gee, it wasn’t easy. 

I’ll be nervous about naming my characters now. Maybe I should borrow from history, or other cultures. Or be inventive. How does Lozamda9 sound?

*name changed to protect my friend’s privacy

Luanna Stewart has been creating adventures for her imaginary friends since childhood. She spends her days writing contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and historical romance. When not torturing her characters, she’s in her kitchen baking something delicious. She lives in Nova Scotia with her patient husband and five hens.

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A 2020 Holiday to Remember

 By Courtney Pierce

Romance is supposed to fill the air during the holidays. Senses come alive with the sweet and savory scents of cooking and candles. Warm flames in the fireplace dance to the accompaniment of floating snowflakes outside. Family and friends gather to reflect on the year’s accomplishments and challenges, for which we offer tight hugs of congratulations or sympathy. For a writer, all of these sacred rituals frame an inspiring story of holiday romance.  

What a difference this 2020 holiday season will be from 2019. How in the heck does one cancel Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hannukah? State governors are like mean 'ole Grinches from Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Last year I was hopeful and believed right was right, no matter what stood in the way. I had a clear set of convictions and personal goals: my writing, my health, my marriage, and to raise a teenager with a solid set of principles. We worked and frequented our favorite restaurants. My stepdaughter went to school every day. I tucked the holiday grocery list in my purse, ran errands, and ticked off the completion of home projects. 

And get this . . . my uncovered face connected with the expressions of fellow residents I didn’t know. As an American, freedom of thought was a given, a right never to be questioned. Livelihoods couldn’t be cancelled over a Tweet. 

I took this rock-solid normalcy for granted.

As writers, we use the issues of the day—both personal and environmental—as emotional guides to create our stories. To make the words connect, we incorporate the relevant and current. Historical novels must adhere to the details of their time period, too. While Fantasy and Magical Realism novels enjoy more flexibility, there are still rules about what magic can and can't do. I imagine there will be a resurgence of books with themes similar to The Hunger Games in the coming months. Can one of them be turned into a holiday book about the sheer will to secretly decorate a Christmas tree? I may have to write it.

One of my favorite themes is for my character to do the wrong thing to fight for what's right.

Cartoon: Cayman Compass

So how are writers to deal with our sudden loss of personal freedoms in their stories, especially romance ones? The current social obstacles get in the way when describing the build-up to a long-awaited kiss. Slipping off a face mask doesn’t match the impact of peeling off a blouse. An intimate candlelit dinner for two in a quiet restaurant isn't allowed, so the evening is reduced to a grab-and-go meal picked up at the curb? I just can't bypass the appetizer flirt and go straight to the doggie bag. Is a budding couple supposed to sit in the car and drip sauce on their lap? Rub hand sanitizer on their hands before they reach across the console? 

Oh, the ridiculousness of it all. A skip over the juicy parts isn't acceptable. We writers have to make some serious choices about our novels-in-progress.

Before the pandemic, I struggled to ratchet up the conflict in my current draft of Big Sky Talk. The story needed deeper emotion and gut-wrenching introspection. Over the past ten months, I got that inspiration in spades, so much so that I became a bit psychologically paralyzed. Dealing with masks, social distancing, and lockdowns became irrelevant noise that would only distract readers from the story. Also, once the CoVid-19 vaccine is in wide distribution, any social restrictions written into the prose would make the book dated. Unless the genre is a thriller about a pandemic, books that include physical restrictions will end up in the bargain bin. A blip. A flash of time that we all want to forget, never mind read about.

The choice became clear. 

Cover Art: Rosalind McFarland

Big Sky Talk is set in a pre-pandemic time period of 2019. It will be current, but free to tell the story. However, I have started to infuse the resulting emotion of the pandemic’s oppression into my main character of Aubrey Cenderon. She feels helpless, frustrated, and isolated. Aubrey suffers a self-imposed lockdown in an attempt to block out her inability to take a chance on love. She restricts her own freedoms and dons an emotional mask, not a physical one. She becomes disillusioned that the world isn’t what she thought it was. Touch is scary and the risk of entering into a relationship fills her with insecurity.

The psychological impact of behavioral restriction has been both challenging and inspiring. After I took all of my personal frustrations out on my character, I didn’t feel victimized anymore. But through the process, Aubrey became my friend and counselor. As she grew and stepped into the light, so did I.

Little Cindy Lou Who was so right about it being impossible for the Grinch to steal her Christmas.  Holiday light continues to flicker deep within us. It can’t be bought, boxed, or bowed.

 

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and Authors of the Flathead. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2021!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and it must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting her too . . . for a different reason.