quantity, not quality
I started doing The Artist’s Way, which I’d only heard of a few years ago, last week. For some reason, before this I’d thought of it as “an old person’s...
read like a writer
This year, my goal is to read forty-five books. For the past two years, I’ve tracked my reading on the Goodreads app (friend me! I’m @ashleyshaffey) and...
you've got this
I know that one of the primary rules of the internet is “don’t read the comments,” right there next to “don’t feed the trolls.” I usually steer clear from...
magic is real
I’ve sewn forever, it feels like. In high school, I’d go to Goodwill and buy clothes with the intention of altering their length and fit or frankensteining...
renew review
I’m on Spring Break this week, so I solemnly swear not to complain or speak flippantly about time, stress, or exhaustion to anybody who is out there working...
beware the ides (yes, I know it passed)
Today I was talking with my friend about how March is so long this year. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised and said, “it’s always long.” Which, yes, is...
right here, right now
I took a baby break last week because Sunday, my usual newsletter day, Michael and I got up at 3:30 in the morning to drive down to Southern California to...
sliding doors
I just finished Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library this weekend and it has me thinking about choice, opportunities, regrets, free will, and all that good...
words of affirmation
Woah. Today’s prompt is #31 (okay, actually it’s # 32, but I accidentally shifted the count months ago, so I’m just going with it, let’s not quibble) and it...
go forth and brag!
Funny funny me. I talked last week all about the danger of sending the newsletter late and what a big deal it is to get it out on time, and now this week...
write anyway
Hello, friend, and welcome to another newsletter. I’m going to be honest with you and let you know that this weekend flew by too fast, I didn’t do enough...
let's talk
Last year meant a change for some Americans around WASPy expectations of “politeness.” It was a reckoning for some, a lifting of a veil, a reality check. A...
hey, good lookin’
If you’ve been reading this newsletter since last year, you may remember a little prompt back in May (I labeled it #6, but it was technically #7, and...
hopin' and wishin’
If you’re anything like me, hope is a kind of scary thing. When people ask if I’m an optimist or pessimist, I usually say optimist; however, when it comes...
the muck
I don’t have much to say in my intro this week. As you’ll see in the prompt, I’m not feeling like making the best of things or engaging in gratitude. Those...
ripples
It’s the first newsletter of 2021 and I’ve been feeling writer’s block about it all day, so I popped on a guided meditation to help focus myself and maybe...
new year, who this?
‘Tis the season for reflection, for plans, for resolutions. This may not feel like the best year for all that (look back at your 2020 resolutions, if you...
dreamy days
Yesterday I went to an herbal dream pillow workshop. My friend knows the facilitator and encouraged me and another friend of ours to join. I signed up...
the end is nigh
Is that subject line ominous enough? What I meant to say was “look! It’s December 13th! This year is almost over!” But, as 2020 has shown again and again,...
a lil ebb, a lil flow
Is anybody else feeling the pressure to perform? Maybe this is a silly question. Maybe this is a question with the most obvious answer of all of 2020. Of...