Welcome to who’s on fourth where we interview one member of the yeah write community and the interview will publish the fourth Monday of each month. Next in the series features Arden of Arden Ruth Writes interviewing Asha of Parenting in the Wilderness & FlAshaTales.

yeah write on yeah write: Arden interviews Asha

It’s hard to believe that Asha first joined our community in October of 2014 as we feel like we’ve been reading her writing for years. She first submitted a personal essay through her nonfiction blog, Parenting in the Wilderness.

[T]hough I didn’t win anything with my first entry, I received such delightful and encouraging feedback that I decided to enter again the next week. Before long, I was hooked. A month later I started entering my flash fiction pieces too, and received some truly wonderful feedback from both other writers, and from the editors. I’ve only entered the microstories section once, as brevity isn’t my strongest feature!

According to Asha, the fiction challenge, which opens every Tuesday, is probably her favorite challenge at yeah write, though we can all agree we’ll read whatever Asha decides to throw at us. That being said, it was her fiction piece entitled The Fortune Teller that truly pushed her ahead in our November contest, allowing her to snag the top prize.

The fiction challenge is probably my favourite, because writing fiction comes more easily to me than the personal essay challenge. I look with envy on those who write the microstories with such aplomb each week. Oh, for the ability to be concise!

As always, I asked Asha to provide some advice for any yeah write virgins and lurkers out there:

If you’re new to yeah write, don’t be afraid. The editors and other writers are so gentle and encouraging. I would encourage anyone new to the process to read not only in the categories you’ve entered, but the others also. It’s a terrific way to read examples of excellent writing, and to get ideas on how to improve your own writing. Remember to leave comments on what you read too — everybody likes hearing what you enjoyed about their work. Oh, and don’t forget to vote!

See? We’re not so scary!

Asha has been a writer for as long as she can remember. She entered competitions when she was young, writing terrible poetry (her words) as well as keeping journals and diaries. These were key for when she traveled. When she decided to pursue a career in education, however, her creative writing took a hiatus. Once her children were born though, she decided to take a stab at the blogging trend taking over the interwebs.

When we moved to the US two and a half years ago, it seemed the perfect opportunity to pursue writing more conscientiously. I’ve been blogging, writing flash fiction, and working on larger pieces including a collection of short stories, and toying with a novel.

As for her two blogs, she’ll admit she’s a bit chaotic about them. But in the end, she’d like FlAshaTales to become a collection of short stories, which she could eventually publish. As for Parenting in the Wilderness, she’s happy with how it’s going and hopes it can stay the course.

When Asha isn’t writing, you can find her doing any number of things.

I’m a keen photographer, and owned a business for a while. I find the discipline of creating a photograph has translated well into creating written pieces. And photography, like writing, is both an intellectual and a creative pursuit. I also knit, crochet and embroider, and love to make gifts for others. Cooking is my other great love, and I read recipe books like they’re novels — cover to cover!

Asha also loves to read and you can currently find her nose stuck in “Song of Solomon” by Toni Morrison.

[I’m reading it] partially because it’s on a list of banned books in a high school district in Dallas where one of my dearest friends lives. She and I are working our way through the list to see exactly why they’ve been banned (which seems as good a reason to read a book as any!).

As for her family, it consists of a “patient, adoring husband, two rambunctious, clever sons, and two unconditionally loving, sweet dogs.”

Thank you Asha for letting us get to know you a little better here at yeah write. We are so happy to have you in our community! Make sure you follow Asha’s two blogs, Parenting in the Wilderness (nonfiction) and FlAshaTales (fiction). You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Oh, you want more? Well here are five things you never knew about Asha:

1. She has a completely irrational fear of pool sharks… no, not the kind that cheat you out of money, the kind that swim out of a pool filter and into the deep end of a pool. Yes, she knows how crazy that sounds. Yes, she knows it’s irrational.
2. She’s a terrible introvert and would probably end up a hermit in a cave if it wasn’t for her family and dogs.
3. She’s white water rafted down the Zambezi River, the highest grade of white water in the world.
4. She got her first and only filling (in her tooth) when she was thirty and pregnant with her first child.
5. She loves cake batter and cookie dough, but has no interest in cooked cakes or cookies.

Are you ready for the yeah write #215 weekly writing challenges opening this week? We hope so! Your badges await in the sidebar. Grab the code, paste into the text or HTML view of your post, then submit your post to the grids for a little friendly competition. We’re glad you’re here.