Hi, I’m Ashlyn

Curated by Best-selling Author and Editor of SPEAK Magazine Edna J. White, who contributed her own piece "Layers of Me" to the project, Women Write Now compiles the experiences of several writers, professors, artists, and mothers through their own tales of survival and empowerment after life-altering events of violence and domestic abuse.

Okay is a story about grappling with the reality of sexual trauma and figuring out what really is (and isn’t) “okay.”

It’s strange being in a place that you spent most of your life in and feeling like everything is familiar except one thing. For as long as I could remember, we had a dog in the house. Even before we lived in this particular house, we had a dog in the family. Usually, more than one at a time. My parents had repeatedly said that once Jack was gone, they wouldn’t get another dog because they wanted to be able to travel without finding a dog sitter. I never believed them, but they stayed true to their word...