Hello! Thanks for stopping by! My name is Ash, and I’m in the process of fumbling — err, I mean — confidently pursuing my dream of writing. I should clarify. I love the writing process: the spark of an idea, the chemistry of plot lines meeting character journeys, and bringing a figment of a character to life with insights that just aren’t possible in real life!

The whole meet-agents-get-published thing though is incredibly new and slightly overwhelming (hence the fumbling reference earlier). You see, writing has always come natural to me. A beloved English professor in college once told the class that “if I ever wanted to drop in on Ash for a quick bite to eat, I might call her up and tell her I’m coming. My expectation would be a sandwich and maybe some chips. But Ash being Ash, would somehow roll out the best, most decadent Thanksgiving feast I’d ever seen or eaten. That’s how she writes, and it is one of the things I appreciate most about her work ethic.” That’s me. I’m the type of person who jumps in with all I have to offer. I love big, I dream bigger, and I have a passion for this work.

Since college, I’ve written (and directed) four murder mystery plays, scripts and clues for three murder mystery parties, and countless short skit scripts and monologues for non profit organizations I support. I’m a public speaker and have presented on topics ranging from parenting, to Biblical philosophy, to Infant Loss Awareness, to the psychology of right brain verses left (eccentric, I know).  But whether writing scripts, monologues, or speeches, I always come back to my dream of taking the characters and plot lines in my head and giving them a chance to live between the jackets of a novel.

So why me? What gives me any right to entertain a reader? To add my plots to the many chapters on shelves already? Knowing that this would likely be a question posed to me as I take the next step of this journey, I’ve worried and wondered at the answer. As strange as it may sound, I believe the answer is simple:  I read.  I read, and I’ve read. I’ve read every book, every genre, every author I could physically get my hands on since the time I was ten years old.

Don’t believe me? I’m an army and a navy brat — my father, Army, my stepdad, Navy. Every other weekend, we’d hop in the car to switch custodial parents; subsequently, I’ve spent thousands of hours in the backseat of my mother’s little four door sedan, lost in the Mary Higgins Clark books on tape she didn’t know I was listening to. After meeting us halfway, my father knew that as soon as we crossed the county line near his home, we’d stop at a local library and borrow the story in written form so I could find out what happened next. Before long, my mother was passing down every book she read, just with blacked out sentences she didn’t feel were appropriate for a ten or eleven year old to read!

I now have a daughter that is close to the age I was when I became enthralled with the genre I still obsess over. And while her love of reading is real and beautiful, her interests are more in line with unicorns and fairies, magical tree houses and just about any book that has a horse or princess on the cover. I’ve only recently come to understand that my experience is not what many would consider normal. I still have a book report I did on Nora Robert’s Key Trilogy when the teacher allowed us to pick a book to read over the summer and come to school the first day with the report in hand. For the record, I received an A. Oh and also, I was in 7th grade.

But reading born in me the ability to see the world beyond my young self. I love meeting new people and hearing all about their upbringing and what makes them who they are today, just as I love reading and writing characters who have depth and perspectives and hopes and dreams! In books, we’re given the gift of perspective: we can peer into the psyche, the motives and the reasoning behind a character’s actions. How often, in real life, is this a possibility?

So why me? Because I’m in love with the written word. I’ve lived in it’s many worlds and realms, in it’s fantasy for most of my life and it’s formed me into a devoted connoisseur. I have high expectations of the books I read and will apply those same standards to the books I write. As I type this, I am 3/4 of the way through my first novel. My fingers itch to finish as I’ve already plotted out the character journeys for not one, not two but seven other stories that all stem from this same written world I’ve already created.

If you’d like to read a sample, I’m happy to send one along! In the meantime, you can find me here with any questions or suggestions! I attend my very first writer’s conference this weekend… wish me luck! As I move farther along in my manuscript, I hope to introduce my characters so that you can meet them too, so come visit again soon!

All the best,

Ash