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Writing

What? It’s April, already?

Ashleigh NicSidhe
a word balloon reading "hello"

Where did 2024 disappear to? I turned around and it was gone!

Life has been somewhat chaotic and challenging for me the past several months, following the US elections. I won’t say that I was surprised by the outcome, because that would be a lie, but I was disappointed by my fellow citizens for allowing a criminal to again assume what should be one of the most prestigious offices in the world. But they did, and he did, and he immediately set about doing the very things that those who warned about such knew he would.

I mean, the man has been given a free pass for everything he’s ever done in his life, why should this be any different?

Oh, well. That’s enough of my political rant. It wasn’t what I wanted to talk about anyway.

Last year, I was officially diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. This was something I had long suspected, but my generation was never diagnosed with this. After several delays, I was finally approved for medications for it, and have now been on that for two months. It’s making a huge difference.

I’m now able to concentrate on what I’m doing, and actually finish tasks without bouncing from one thing to another leaving them all unfinished. What a difference.

I’m back at work on Good Bones, the murder mystery that began life two years ago as a cooperative work with a longtime friend, but is now a solo project. It’s in draft five, and I’m planning on this being my last draft before going into preproduction edits. I want to have it ready for submission by Left Cost Crime – San Francisco Schemin’, which is February 2026.

in the meantime, there are also a few other mini projects in the pipes well.

I have two short stories that feature Brooke Morningstar and her wife, Dr. Anna Jones (both characters from Good Bones) set much earlier in their relationship. One is their initial meeting, and the other about a year after their marriage, on Brooke’s “seventh” birthday. Being born on leap day (February 29), she really only gets to celebrate her actual birthday once every four years, and it’s always a special day for her.

One of my pastimes is writing songfics — short fiction based around a song.

I’ve written several of these over the years, as I tend to have music playing throughout my day. As these aren’t likely to ever be published anywhere else, unless I do a self publication (which is always an option, it’s how my very first book was done, back in the 1970s), I will likely be posting them in my blog here. The most recent one was written this past week, around the Irish song Siúil a Rún. Others I have done include The Highwayman, Diamonds and Rust, and Alegria (from the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name.) Plus a lot of poetry.

I am very happy that the creativity Muse has been visiting again.

Oh,yes. We also had our tax appointment this past week. At least we do not owe money this year.

How is your year going?

Ashleigh signature

Inward clockwise spiral beneath the Anglo-Saxon 'ash' rune (ᚫ), representing descent into the Otherworld and spiritual thresholds (spiral), combined with the ash tree's symbolism of rootedness, ancestral connection, and liminal authority (rune). The spiral represents the Sidhe raths or fairy mounds. Combined it is a representation of "Ash McSidhe,

Ash NicSidhe

Ash NicSidhe has been a voice in the Pagan and Traditional Witchcraft community for over fifty years, writing under this name and its evolving magical lineage. Her work explores Witchcraft, folklore, Tarot, and the esoteric arts, weaving scholarly insight with lived ritual experience and initiatory tradition. As Elder High Priestess of Nemed Cuculatii, she continues to serve as a guardian of the old ways and a trickster of the spiral path. Her writing has appeared in The Witches’ Almanac, The Crystal Well, and other Pagan publications back into the 1970s. She has also contributed to books including The Small-Town Pagan's Survival Guide, Reflections in Diana’s Mirror: A Devotional for the Queen of Heaven, Which Witch is Which, and more.

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