We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Manley. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with ashley below.
Ashley, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I have always been a writer. Writing in notebooks, writing too-long essays through high school and college, writing in blogs when that was a thing. Even when I had a photography business years ago, my website and social media posts leaned heavily on my words. I’ve always written non-fiction and personal essays, but it wasn’t until I felt like there was a whole group of women who were being overlooked in modern romantic fiction stories–the middle aged gals–that I felt my calling as a writer. Now working on my third novel, when I sit down to write, that’s who I do it for. Every word is my love letter to moms and women who still have a hidden fire of a main character burning beneath the surface of their skin.
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?
First and foremost, I’m a stay-at-home mom to two kids. My son is in his first year of public school and I homeschool my 3rd grade daughter. When I’m not focused on keeping our home somewhat presentable, I write. My debut novel, Every Beautiful Mile, was inspired by the two years my family and I spent living in a camper and traveling the country. The main character is a forty-one year old widow with two teenage kids and takes a summer road trip of her own, visiting many of the places my family and I did when we were on the road. My next novel, When Wildflowers Bloom, follows the journey of a woman who lost both her mother and grandmother to breast cancer and she spends her days convinced she too will get cancer. While I write stories that have difficult themes, there are also very strong love stories, a little spice, and lots of laughs. My biggest goal when I write is to create flawed yet relatable characters.
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?
Be stupid enough to try. That’s my biggest piece of advice. The day I decided to write, I announced it to my family out of nowhere. I knew nothing about writing a book. When I finished my first draft, I didn’t even know what genre I had written, but I was stupid enough not to worry about it. I was stupid enough to keep going, and now here I am, on the brink of two published books with my third one sitting with my editor.
When people reach out to me and tell me they’ve always wanted to write, I tell them just to start and keep going. Even when the words don’t make sense or they feel like they don’t know what they are doing. Keep showing up. Keep going. Keep telling that little voice in your head that’s trying to talk you out of it to shut the hell up.
For better or worse, when I go for something, I go for it, and writing is no different.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
Through this whole process of writing and sharing my words, the biggest lesson I had to learn was that my writing is not for everyone. I’ve had people tell me that my books are the best stories they’ve ever read and I’ve had people tear my words to shreds. When I started writing, I was convinced if I wrote a good enough book, it would be universally loved, but now I know that that’s just not the case. Some people will love me, some won’t, and at the end of the day, I have to be okay with that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ashleymanleywrites.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ashleymanleywrites
- Other: goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/48956624.Ashley_Manley
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