Eastern Bay health and wellness coach and writer Ashlee Sturme has released an anthology of wāhine stories and the first issue of the INSPIRE journal.

Pause is Sturme’s second anthology publication, following the publication of Inhale in 2023.

For Pause, Sturme co-ordinated contributed content from 28 New Zealand women, including fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Three women from the Bay of Plenty have work in the anthology, including Sturme with a poem emphasising the importance of slowing down and taking a breath doubling as a breathing exercise.

“We had no rules, no word counts,” she said. “We did get an editor, but there was no gatekeeping involved.”

She said she collated the project very quickly and it was published by Maia Publishing which is already strongly advocating for their latest project on its website.

“I launched it at Ages of Pages – it's New Zealand’s biggest attended book fair – over 100 writers turn out so, that was very fun.”

Sales have been steady, leaving Sturme “really, really impressed”.

Books are still available and Pause and Inhale are also available digitally on Kindle.

Sturme has also started a health and wellbeing journal called INSPIRE, inspired by an online wellness writing course she held last year.

“It’s very pretty, colourful and joyful,” she said.

“We want women to feel motivated and more inspired to look at their health,” she said.

The journal comprises articles from psychologists, midwifes, neurodiversity coaches, hormone coaches and children’s wellbeing coaches.

“It’s a celebration of health coaching and holistic wellbeing for women.”

Articles on burnout, nutrients, gut health and sleep are some of the featured topics in the first issue.

A second issue is due for release in September.