Meet Ashleigh Bello

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashleigh Bello. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashleigh below.

Ashleigh, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

That’s a good question. It might be one of the most important questions an author can ask themselves after writing ‘The End’ to their story, then having the guts to share it with strangers to read and interpret for themselves (terrifying!).

I think of the first moments when the thought of a character and fantasy world shaped in my head—the innocent idea that I might one day form those thoughts into a book is how my resilience was born.

It was a slowly learned skill, honed from all the ways the world can seem to work against a person who has the audacity to try and turn an idea into a reality.

Who was I to think I could cross the barrier from dreamer to writer, when so many have tried and failed before? Who was I to believe my book might be entertaining enough that a fantasy reader would feel compelled to keep turning the pages? Sometimes, my own imaginary characters even stopped me in my tracks with worries and doubts (hello, writer’s block).

I suppose an idea can only grow into a dream in the face of adversity.

My passion was tested in too many ways to count; I had to keep proving to myself that my desire to see my dream realized was my truth. That it was worth the minutes, hours, months, and years I dedicated to it, even as my goal was forced to take on different shapes.

When I didn’t give up, and when I failed and tried again… that’s how my resilience was earned. And when I started truly believing that I was worthy of the title ‘author’, so did everyone else.

Thinking about it in reverse, if you asked me how I turned my imagination into a book—then that book into a series, and that series into a world with endless possibilities—my answer would be resilience.

“Never take a dream lightly! A mind is a mystery to both man and magic. Therefore, it must be respected. Your mind never sleeps, and that’s why you dream. If you start to pay more attention to both worlds, rather than just the physical one, you may be in for a wonderful surprise.” -Master Solomon Bell, Belvedor and the Four Corners, Belvedor Saga, Book One

My innocent idea of a world filled with magic—and the hope that any ordinary girl could achieve her dreams—is where I got my resilience from.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m a Brooklyn-based fantasy author who enjoys creating captivating and diverse worlds, inspired by my travels. I’m known for spending time with the details, and I craft immersive settings where readers can get lost in the magic.

My latest novel, A Myrmaid’s Kiss, is a dark, spicy romance set in a realm where humans are the irresistible prey and mermaids are the spellbinding huntresses. I am also the author of the Belvedor Saga, a completed five-book epic fantasy series for young adults—all my works feature strong Black female protagonists and a network of developed characters that any reader might feel themselves represented.

In my later books, I’ve challenged myself to explore complex themes out of my comfort zone—I tapped into my dark side with A Myrmaid’s Kiss, and I feel stronger for it!

I’ve celebrated some major milestones on my author journey following that new release. I built a small but mighty community on TikTok who are proud to call themselves ‘myrmaids’; my books have hit top Amazon charts, even if for brief shining moments; and I had the honor to host a table at New York Comic Con last October, a cosplay haven of the kindest human beings.

Coming up next: I will be attending a signing event at the Astoria Bookshop in New York City on May 21, followed by the Imaginarium Book Festival in Washington D.C. on June 6—catch me in panel sessions with some very talented authors!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think I can boil this down into three simple pieces of advice for new and aspiring authors:

1. Learn from your mistakes and try again.
2. Be humble—ask and accept feedback.
3. Start at the beginning; keep writing until there is an end.

The third point should be a writer’s golden rule, if you ask me.

The biggest and saddest pitfall I see for some aspiring authors is that they have an idea for a story that lights them up, but they pitch drafts and concepts to agents and publishers too soon. When they inevitably get rejected, they sometimes lose the confidence to finish their books.

I went through this, too. When I first started writing, I daydreamed about the life of a ‘successful’ author. That I would get swept up by a big publisher on my first pitch, then fawned over by every fantasy reader in the world, because my idea was just that good. I believed in myself and my story, so I submitted half a poorly-structured book—I was crushed when I got a templated rejection.

What’s the point of finishing after that? It felt like my writing career was over before it started, and I lost the motivation to continue working so hard to complete my vision.

I’m lucky that I realized I made a big mistake; I forgot the reason I started writing in the first place… it wasn’t just for the sake of being published or validated by a corporation! I had an incredible story to tell, for myself (my mom), and anyone else who might want to one day read it.

So, if there’s one thing I’d BEG you to do, before anything else in your author journey, it’s to just finish your book.

Put in the time to complete your story. Write it the way you dreamed it. Lean on people you trust handling that dream with care for feedback, then hit ‘print’.

After it’s done, you can figure out how you want to try to share it.

Whether you get picked up by an agent or publisher, or you go the independent publishing route like me, there are so many wonderful ways to get your story told. But the only criteria to become an author is to write a beginning, middle, and end.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

Take breaks, and don’t be hard on yourself about it! Your dreams will still be there when you’re feeling energized enough to tackle them again.

I struggle with this so much, especially when it comes to writing. I have always juggled full-time jobs and made a lot of sacrifices with my time to keep my author dreams alive; I feel disappointed when I can’t give my full heart to my passion, but I always get back to the grind in the end.

We’re only human. Our priorities have to change to accommodate our multifaceted lives. Lean in, and be okay with what you can and can’t manage as time goes on.

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