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writing craft

Photograph of Anne Frank. Above it: GERMANY OF 1943 IS BEING REPEATED IN usa OFF 2025 Below it "Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of the homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parent have disappeared." - Diary of Anne Frank January 13, 1943. Image credit Jeffrurr.bsky.social
Writing

what we have learned from history is that we do not learn from history

The grandparents of the protagonist of the novel I’m writing were survivors of the Shoah – although Brooke’s grandmother is technically also a survivor of it and the samudaripen, which is one of many terms the Roma people call the same time, as she herself is Romani.
I have spent much time recently reading about the Roma camps, especially the “Gypsy family camp” (German: Zigeunerfamilienlager) was Section B-IIe of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp, where Romani families deported to the camp were held together, instead of being separated as was typical at Auschwitz. (Yes, I am very much aware that word -G*** – is a slur, it’s the title of the Wikipedia article.)
Research takes you down many a strange rabbit Warren, and this one been no exception.

Ashleigh NicSidhe
a word balloon reading "hello"
Writing

What? It’s April, already?

What? It’s already April? Life has been somewhat chaotic and challenging for me over the past several months, especially after the US elections. I won’t say I was surprised by the outcome, but I was disappointed. On a brighter note, I was recently diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, and after starting medication, I can finally concentrate and complete tasks! I’m back at work on my murder mystery, *Good Bones*, and I’m excited to share some new short stories featuring beloved characters. Plus, I’ve been writing songfics and poetry again. How is your year going?

Ashleigh NicSidhe
Writing

On Reviews

At a recent writers’ workshop that I attended, there was a brief discussion on reading reviews. Some did, some didn’t; a very few read every review, regardless. One person commented on a “One Star” review that they had committed to memory. That review said, “I finished it, but I don’t know […]

Ashleigh NicSidhe