Today we’re interviewing Carol Ashby, who will be joining our group of frequent contributors to the ACW blog.
Fast Five
Kiwis or koalas?
Kiwis since I love watching birds, but koalas are cute enough it’s a hard choice. Can I choose cockatoos instead? I used to breed budgies and cockatiels, and I had a blue-fronted Amazon for many years.
Hobbits or Mad Max?
Hobbits (absolutely!) We’re a Middle-earth-loving family.
Sun or snow?
Sun shining on fresh-fallen snow so the snow crystals sparkle; I actually get to see that every year in New Mexico. We’ve had as much as 1 meter fall in a day and a half.
Desert or sea?
I live in the high desert of New Mexico at 2000 meters, but I like the ocean, too.
Plotter or pantser?
Plotter. Timelines and Excel files are my best friends while I’m writing.
Getting to Know Carol Ashby
What’s something interesting or unusual about you that not everyone knows?
I got degrees in chemistry and worked at a research lab for more than 30 years, mostly working in semiconductor research.
Where are you from?
I was born in Idaho, but we’ve lived in New Mexico, USA, since right after grad school.
What is your town or city most famous (or infamous) for?
Albuquerque is only thirty or so kilometers away. The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta has as many as 800 balloons here for ten days starting the first weekend in October.
What books are set in your town/city?
I’m sure there must be some, but I don’t know what they are.
About Your Writing
What do you write?
I write Roman-era adventures with danger and suspense, where friendships grow between a believer and a nonbeliever and where agape love, forgiveness, and the courage to share why one believes change the nonbeliever’s life. There’s always a romance woven through, but there are other friendships that are at least as important.
Who or what are your main writing influences?
I was inspired to start the first novel by what was going on with ISIS in Iraq and by the faith of believers under persecution in other places around the world. The parallels with the Christians who stood firm under Roman opposition were so obvious.
I can’t identify a particular author who influenced me. My first three manuscripts were all in the classic omniscient narrator style. I had to retrain to the more marketable modern style after I entered them in the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Genesis contest for unpublished writers, where I learned my plots were good but no one would buy my POV. So, maybe it was the nine anonymous judges of the Genesis contest who deserve credit for how I write today.
Do you have any books published?
My Light in the Empire series has eleven stand-alone volumes now. I’m starting to develop the plot for the twelfth—praying and plotting.
How long have you been writing?
I started writing fiction the last Friday in September, 2013. I published the first novel in November, 2016.
What inspired you to start writing?
I was thinking about the people dying for their faith in Jesus as ISIS took over Iraq and how the Roman Empire tried so hard to make Christians embrace Roman religion or die. Then the story that became Blind Ambition came to me, and I started writing.
What’s your favourite part of the writing process?
I like doing the historical research to get all the details right. I enjoy it so much that it led to my Roman history website at carolashby.com. I also like figuring out all the little details of the plot so everything flows in a believable and self-consistent way from beginning to end.
But most of all, I love writing the dialog that carries the plot forward. I worked for years in a mostly male career, so the way men think and speak feels natural to me. I love writing the men in the stories, but I enjoy writing strong, intelligent women, too.
What’s your biggest writing challenge?
Finding enough time to do everything as well as I’d like since I’m fully responsible for the business and marketing aspects of publishing as Cerrillo Press.
How does your faith impact your writing?
I’ve spent years sharing with friends at work about why I believe in God as the creator and Jesus as my savior. Those conversations with people who aren’t yet Christians prepared me to write honest faith conversations with deep and difficult questions like real people ask.
Finally, where’s the best place to find you online?
My author website is at carol-ashby.com, but I’m more active at my Facebook profile and page.
My books, fiction and otherwise, can be found through my Amazon author page.
What fun to meet a sister Idahoan (sort of)! And to think we met in Australasia (sort of)!
I’m so glad to know about your series–it sounds great!
It is fun. I’m always surprised to come across someone from Idaho like me. There aren’t that many of us!
About books set in your area, let me recommend the Pot Thief series by Mike Ornduff. Delightfully humorous and erudite mysteries.
I haven’t read any of his, Donna. I’ll have to check them out.
Nice to get to know you better Carol. We see the hot air balloon festival here on the news and it always looks like fun. Good to have you on board.
Thanks for adding me to the board. ACW is a wonderful group, and I’m looking forward to it.
Hi Carol, It’s great to see you here. I also credit contest judges for helping me to identify by writing strengths and weaknesses. I’d love to see snow in the desert. Thanks Carol and Jenny for your fun interview. 😊
Thanks, Narelle. I’m delighted to be here. Being a finalist in a contest has helped some of my traditionally published author friends get the agent they wanted, too.
Snow sparkling in the sun under a blue sky is gorgeous, wherever it falls. The 7 inches of snow we got in two snowfalls last week hasn’t melted in completely, and we might get more Wednesday. Hope so. Now that my kids are grown, I don’t have to watch out for the snowballs they couldn’t resist throwing when they were little. But I must confess, I sometimes started the snowball fight.