Hello Friends,
It’s been a couple of years or more since I’ve shared a writing update on my romance
stories. My life has changed a lot as no doubt yours has too.
Back in 2019, before the virus days, I entered a writing competition run
by the Romance Writers of Australia (RWA). The Sapphire Award was judged in
2020, and I was chosen as a first-round finalist. I didn’t make it through to the
final round of judging, but I was very pleased with the result.
Then the virus spread throughout the world and I wasn’t able to write or
blog. I went into survival mode to get through some problems. As workplaces closed,
it took effort to keep my day job. I was pressured into moving house which was
the furthest thing from my mind. I lived at a caravan park for several
weeks until I was able to move into a new house. The worst part was a death in the family of
someone I loved.
During 2021, the borders were closed to the State of Western Australia
where I live. We were riding out the spread of the virus in isolation. In the
early months, I felt empty of creativity for story-writing and lost in a
changing world. After I came out of the fog, I entered another RWA Sapphire Award
but with a different romance story.
The results of the judging came back in December 2021, and I was very
happy to find out I was a first-round finalist again. Then in February 2022, I
didn’t achieve high enough scores for the final round of judging. But I had no
complaints. The judge’s feedback made it worthwhile and the competition was fierce.
In 2022, I’ve thought about the twists and turns my life journey has
taken in recent years, as if I was caught and dragged along unwillingly in a
global tide. I decided I wanted to restart my romance writing. I delisted my
books from the shops.
The blank page is in front of me now. What will I write? I still feel like I'm taking each day as it comes in order to survive. So I haven’t got
my focus for 2022 yet, but I do know this,
LOVE, and the lack of LOVE is important in the turbulent world right now.
LOVE and HOPE.
I HOPE to keep writing whatever makes me feel LOVE.
Finally, I have some comments about blogging.
Around Christmas time last year, I visited here, my blog site, thinking it
had reached the end of its life. What a wonderful surprise it was to me to find
out people were still reading the posts. Despite everything, the blog site was
still alive.
In January 2022, I decided that if people were still reading the blog, I
would try blogging again. So here I am, a bit rusty, and out of practice at
writing long blog posts. Thank you for visiting, reading posts, and inspiring
me to keep this site going.
Take care,
stay well,
♥ Ashlyn
Photo
Credit: Annie Spratt and John Schnobrich on unsplash.com
