A New Approach to an Old Manuscript

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.

I’ve 8 fiction books published (The Sacred Women’s Circle (7) and The Visions quartet (Visions of Happiness with 3 more down the pike). The women and men in my stories all have the kind of every-day problems many of us have. What I show in these books is how ordinary people can overcome challenges with the unconditional acceptance, support and love of a group of like-minded women and their own personal spiritual practice.

Writing these books was cathartic and healing for me. I was able to use my personal knowledge of and in some cases my personal experiences to illustrate issues such as domestic violence, single parenting, death of a spouse, cancer, self-doubt, self-criticism – well, you get the message.

How, when we are burdened with doubts and fears, can we move forward in our lives, take that chance, take that leap and for our best life, our happily-ever-after?

Sharing emotions, dreams, fears was easy when writing fictional characters. However, I have a background in Social Services and while not a social worker or therapist, I have over 50 years working in the fields of domestic and international adoption, child protective services, geriatric care management, professional guardianship, protection of vulnerable adults and I was a parenting grandmother. Lots of life experiences.

I drew heavily on my training and certification under Dr.William Glasser and have been on the senior teaching faculty of The William Glasser Institute International and am an active instructor in The Glasser Institute for Choice Theory – US. If you are familiar with Dr. Glasser’s work, you’ll see it embedded in the stories I write.

And if you aren’t familiar with his work, let me introduce you!

In addition to writing fiction, I also write non-fiction. Staying Sane in a Crazy World gives readers a blue-print to create their own Personal Staying Sane Plan.

Currently I’m getting ready to do a total rewrite of my second non-fiction, Yes, You Can Create A Life You Love. In 1979 and 1980 I created a training Love, Worth, Fun, Freedom: How To Get More. I saw small miracles happen in the lives of people who took my course through a local community college.

In 1999, I joined Wild Women Writers with the idea to turn the course into a “self-help” book. I got side-tracked and wrote my fiction books instead.

And now I’m back!

I’ve actually written the book but when one of my “first readers” commented that while the book was good, I sounded like I was giving a lecture that stopped me in my tracks. I’ve spent several months pondering how to move forward. I’ve ideas which include starting from the beginning. In other words, put the original material aside and write. When it comes to the exercises, they will be basically the same but the illustrations will be new.

Scary?

Ohhh yesss!

Why? Because that “lecture voice” while drawn from my knowledge and experiences is distance from the real me. What I am leaping off the proverbial cliff to do, is write this book from my heart, from the same place I write my fiction.

My goal is to have Yes You Can Create A Life You Love published by the end of the year. Just typing that gives me an uncomfortable feeling. Revealing my imperfect self in real life, in real time is daunting for me. And I know my book will be better for my having stepped forth and moved through “daunting”.

In the meantime, do take a look at Staying Sane. Regardless of your politics, you will find creating your Personal Staying Sane Plan a boon to get you through these coming months if not years.

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! 

© 2020 Judith Ashley

If I Had My Life...

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic women’s fiction that honors pagan spiritual practices that nourish the soul. 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 you do overcome obstacles and find your happily-ever-after.

Coming Fall 2019

July’s writing prompt for The Genre-istas is If I had my life to do over, what’s one thing I’d change and why?

My answer is “Nothing, because to change anything would change who and what I am at this point in my life.”

Definitely a short post if I leave it at that.

However, up until I was in my thirties, I’d have had a challenge deciding which of several life events I’d experienced or survived I’d change.

Why? Because they were ugly, painful, hurtful, nasty, negative, etc. life events.

So why at this point in my life would I change nothing?

In my thirties, I was fortunate to go through a series of Lifespring trainings that exposed me to a different way of looking at my life and the world around me; provided me with an opportunity to see how those experiences had added value to my life; as well as challenged my point of view as to who controlled my life.

Within the same time period I became involved with the Glasser Institute for Choice Theory. Dr. William Glasser, a world-renown psychiatrist, believed that we are in control of our lives even to the point where we choose our misery. He taught that if we were honest with ourselves we could see and understand the purpose behind all of our choices (even those that didn’t feel like our choices).

We’ve stories and analogies in our culture that support positive thinking. The glass being half full or half empty or the little boy who happily digs through a barn of manure because surely there must be a pony in there somewhere are two of them. The Bible’s saying about having as much faith as a mustard seed and nothing will be denied us would be another.

While the Lifespring trainings are no longer available, at least not as they were when I was first involved in the 1970’s; the Glasser trainings are. If you are interested in learning more about being in control of your own life, check out www.wglasser.com and consider attending the 2019 Conference co-hosted by the US and Canada organizations and held in Bellevue, WA.

Staying Sane in a Crazy World is full of information and exercises to help you find your own path through life. And if you want a more subtle example of these concepts, consider reading my Sacred Women’s Circle books where you’ll find Dr. Glasser’s philosophy assist my heroines make choices as they face life’s challenges.

You can find all of my books at your favorite e-book vendor and selected stores in the Portland, OR area. 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