Ashley Kay's Blog

One of the questions I get asked often is “Where do you think of characters?”

Characters are always a fun topic for me because even when I watch tv shows or movies I act and discuss characters as if they’re real. Because to the author or the book or writers on the shows and movies they are real.

When you pick up a book or watch a movie you get a small sliver of each characters lives but what you don’t see are the endless notes and random facts about the character the creators undoubtedly wrote down.

It’s really easy to say you want to write a story about Jack the barber and he has black hair with green eyes. Simple, right? Well the hard part is knowing that when someone mentions lima beans Jack’s brow furrows and his top lip will always pull up in a sneer because his grandmother would force him to eat them as a child.

And now you think I’m crazy but my writers out there know exactly what I’m talking about. Creating a character isn’t about creating them in this one moment in time. For the author you create the entire back story. For me each character comes with a large set of questions.

I have my own questionnaires I’ve created over the years that are tweaked to exactly what I feel I need from each one of my characters and most writers eventually adapt a style that works best for them. Things like:

Their backstory
Childhood trauma
Past love
School year – yes school years because I may not mention dates in my books but my characters all have very real birthdays.

Some writers are super picky about characters down to the smallest detail and others know the big and let the rest flow. I fill out my questionnaire as if I’m the character answering the questions. It helps me a lot when I have to write in their POV. Some come from life and I build on them others are pulled completely out of thin air.

There really is no wrong answers when it comes to creating your characters, just listen to your heart. And my readers know we love our characters just has much as you do and to us they are real so keep arguing over why they do what they do cause in a special universe they are living out their lives!

Stay Naughty!

Ashley Kay 

Don’t do life solo. It’s so much better with friends! 

OH my gosh! Did you see Trusting You is LIVE on Kindle and in paperback.

My dream came true. I am a published author <3 

This week I want to speak to my fellow writers out there. I know as an author I am always asking other authors for their best piece of advice. After two years of going it alone and a year of writing and working inside a community I can say without a doubt my best advice is to find your tribe. 

I hear this a lot on social media, find your tribe and you should but what I think people get confused on is this. So many people think you only need 1 tribe, heck I used to think that I had my people I didn’t need others. 

But that isn’t true. I love my people, the women I consider friends are some of the best people I know. They are loving, kind, people who would at the drop of a hat be there for me even when most live on the other side of the country. 

What I learned recently is we need a tribe for each section of our lives. This year I gained a work tribe and yes I consider several of the people I work with day in and out friends now but in the beginning they were people I trusted at work and the friendship grew. 

Same with writing. In 2021 I joined a writing community. I had no idea what I was going to get but I knew I needed more. I needed to get out of this self imposed prison I trapped myself in and make a difference. 

My besties are amazing but they love me and are not always the best at being critical which is pivotal in writing. Joining this writing group was new and I wasn’t sure what to expect, I was disengaging from a previous group because it didn’t meet my needs so I was worried this wouldn’t either. 

However I went in with an open heart and mind and I found my writing tribe. We give feedback and no one takes anything personal. It’s all about growth and not competition. I mean that! There is a fellow romance writer in our group. Who made it her mission to help me publish on time.

We actually published the same day.  A published author is helping me grow. This is what it’s all about helping each other achieve our dreams. Trust me there is plenty out there for everyone. In all honesty I feel my friend says it best so I’ll let her take it from here. 

Ps. Haven’t ready Trusting You yet. Grab your copy today! 

Hadley Falls is open and waiting for you. 

Can you believe 2022 is here? 

This is the year to breakthrough…I can feel it. 

2021 was insane. 

I dove into a new career opportunity back in December 2020 and by January 2021 I was full deep in this new partnership. You might be thinking, wait a career, you’re a writer. And I am but I am also a graphic designer and social media manager. Which suits perfectly because I don’t ever have to hire out for designs, unless I want to

Flash forward a year and life is extremely different for me and my family. My husband has a new job as well, something he is actually enjoying and my little started school! Like Father Time slow down, how is my baby in preK! I know you mamas out there feel me.

Back to writing, I am in the final rounds of edits for Trusting You. Talk about a journey, editing took me longer than writing the book. A little peek inside writing for you…Line edits are brutal. They take forever and require lots of patience and decisions.

Do I cut this, do I leave that, do I change this to be more of that. It can really boggle your brain. To be honest it did boggle my brain and left me overwhelmed and spent. So much so that I took the month of November off of Trusting You because I needed some time.

So what did I do? I wrote another book, almost. I am about five chapters away from finishing Trusting Me, the next book in the Trusting Series. I also got real with myself and made a plan.

I have a plan for publishing in 2022!

2 books and 3 if I can squeak it out.A new community for my readers.A few special secret projects I can’t go into just yet.

2022 is my year. The year I become a published author. The year I put me and my business and dreams first. I am putting a plan in place to be consistent and show up for all of you just as I promise!

This is my promise to you, my commitment to showing up, sharing my stories and worlds with you and building a community of fellow book lovers and friends.

I’ll let you in on a secret I’ve found…Internet friends are the best friends

So if you’re like me and love to set goals I would love to hear from you. What are your 2022 goals, what’s something you’re working on achieving this year?

I’d love to hear from you!

Ashley Kay

Seriously don't wait to be ready, pull the trigger.

Ready is a Lie.

Ouch. I’m fairly certain my toes were just stepped on. Holy crap! So much truth in one little statement.

Ready is a Lie.

There is no ready, you can prepare and plan an alternative. You are never ready. Writing is no different, in the author world you hear that phrase thrown around so much.

“My book is almost ready.”
“I’m almost ready to publish.”
“My story is almost ready in my head.”
“A few more details, and that project is ready to pull the trigger.”

The problem with waiting to be “Ready” is in the waiting, giant things tend to fill that space. Ever notice how you say “I’m almost ready” or something along those lines and BAM! Life piles on and you are now rushing here or there.

That isn’t life, it’s your mindset. It’s you unconsciously letting life get in the way. I’m in no way saying I’m perfect. Fuck no and far from it. I do that all the time, wanting things and everything surrounding it to be perfect.

I’ll be transparent and honest here. I had a giveaway in March and because of my perfectionism and making sure everything is ready I forgot about 5 prizes that I needed to send and those babies are currently on my dryer.

Yep that is what happens when you want things to be ready, shit gets put to the side and forgotten.

I am happy to say those lovely packages are being mailed out this week but it is still the same. Had I pulled the trigger and mailed what I originally wanted to send instead of adding to them to make it “PERFECT” they would have been out months ago.

Take my advice, don’t wait to be ready, just pull the trigger and let’s go!

If you are one of those amazing people waiting for your box please know it is now on the way and you will be getting lots of LOVE from me soon.

P.S. 

Something I’ve stressed over being perfect that wasn’t. My sneak peak of Trusting You. I agonized over this being “ready” then I stressed over my friends and writer buddies reading it. You know what? It was nothing. And now it’s out there. Wanna check it out? Sign up to get the first 2 Chapters. 

~A.Kay

Why don't you do more of what sets your soul on fire?

Such a simple question, yet this one question set me on the path I am on today. Granted I was headed here but I don’t deny that question got me here a lot faster.

We all have that one friend. You know who I mean, the one that always says things that hit you in the feels. She is that one friend that has the ability to make you feel loved and check your toes at the same time. 

I have friend like that. She tends to ask questions that make you go huh? Then that question builds over and over in your brain until you say wait what! 

That my friends is exactly how I got started down my author journey. 

I've always been a lover of books.

From early on I always had a love for books and reading.

Around fourth grade I fell out of love for it. I think it was because of the books but who knows.

In sixth grade we had to read “Where the Red Fern Grows” and that was the first time I cried while reading a book. A few years later in high school I picked up a random title at the book store it was Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan and feel in love with reading all over again.

At the time my local big book store didn’t have all the books in the series so I remember sending my dad to every local independent book store in the area. Luckily they had books 3,4, and 5. From then on I ready everything I could get my hands on.

Around high school I started having ideas for characters and stories but never put pen to paper. I just kept reading and sort of filed the stories away in my brain. 

My love for reading continued and eventually led me to join an ARC (Advance Read Copy) team through a group on Facebook. Through emailing the author my responses I got to see a glimpse into how normal she is.

Realizing that made me think, could I do this? I have always wanted to write but could I really write an entire book. I thought about it, then life happened and I filed it away as a dream.

After the birth of my daughter, I started reading twice as much as before.  However, the characters in my head just kept getting louder. I had thought about writing again but kept talking myself out of trying. 

The Lunch that Changed it All...

One day, over a year after having my little one I met that friend I mentioned before for lunch.

Out of the blue she asks me “Why don’t you do more of what makes you happy?” I honestly had no idea what to tell her. I think I said you’re right and then we changed the subject.

The whole way home her question turned over in my head.

Why wasn’t I doing more of what makes me happy?

For the whole weekend I thought about that, then Monday I journaled about it. Funny thing the journal prompt said,

“What sets your soul on fire?”

My journal session became an idea for a story which then turned into a four book series idea. 

Now here I am writing my first blog post on my author website. My first book will be releasing September of this year.

The rest are still a work in progress but I am excited to share that journey with all of you. 

Thank you to my dear friend that sparked my courage. 

You know who you are and I Love you!

Stay Naughty…

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