Please give a warm welcome to author Zoe Ashwood

Have you always wanted to become an author?

Well, I’ve always been a reader. I also have notebooks and little scrap pieces of paper scribbled with terrible snippets of never-finished stories and angsty poems dating back to the 90s when I was in elementary school. But I didn’t set out to be a writer until I had a book blog for a couple of years – and then I heard about NaNoWriMo from another blogger and decided to give it a try. That was in 2015 – but it took me until 2019 to publish my first novel. 

What was your inspiration for your current book/series?

Ooh, I’m so glad you asked. The Nora Moss series is inspired by my love of action-adventure movies and ancient civilizations! It’s a love letter to Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, and Atlantis, as well as a steamy love story about a woman who fights for the people she loves. Cursed in Love, the first book in the series, takes place in Egypt – because the Ancient Egyptian civilization is my absolute favorite ancient culture. I had so much fun writing it!

What are you working on now?

I’m writing Captured in Love, which is Book 2 of the Nora Moss series. Nora and her guys are heading to Iceland next! 

Do you have any quirks while working?

I plot my stories obsessively because I hate editing! I also drink a lot of barley coffee with almond milk – I’ve trained my brain to have a sort of a Pavlovian response to it! So now barley coffee means work. It’s a strange but effective little ritual.

What are your hopes for the future?

Well, I’m about to become a full-time author, so my goal is to grow my author career to the point where it’s the primary source of income for our family! I’d love for that to become our reality. I want to write beautiful stories that my readers will enjoy.

Do you have any advice for new authors about the publishing world?

I would say: be kind. Don’t engage in drama (there’s always drama in the author world) and be a source of kindness and motivation instead. And work on your mindset too! I just started with that – and it’s so important! Other than that, just finish your book and/or series. If you don’t finish the first draft (which will invariably be crappy), you can’t edit it and polish it and make it into a finished product. You can do it! Take that story you love and make it shiny.

Do you have anything to say to your followers?

Oh yes! Thank you for being here! Another blogger recently asked me about my greatest writing success – and I said it was having actual readers! I fangirl over my favorite authors a lot, so having someone tell me that they loved my books is the best feeling. It’s so awesome to know that my stories are read by real humans. 🙂