A Ghost of a Chance
in which I very subtly freak out because, uh, it's been a wild few weeks.
Hello!
Okay, first off—how is everyone doing? Good? Putting out fires? Resisting the urge to yeet yourself into the abyss? Me too, me too. But have you seen the amazing photos coming from the new James Webb space telescope? No?
Lemme show you (the world).
(Shining, shimmering, splendid.)
Just look how beautiful space is! We’re smaller than a grain of sand on a beach compared to our universe. It’s so humbling. Frightening a bit, too. But… I don’t know. It feels like there is possibility in the space between these stars, too.
So make like John Green, pick a galaxy out of all of these tiny little dots, and love it. Own it. Be that little light’s cheerleader.
Because isn’t it just so amazing that we get to see all these lights, all of these distant galaxies? Places we’ll never go to, planets we’ll never reach, their light sailing through the darkness of space to find us millions of years after they expire. They still reach for us, across the expanse.
And it’s beautiful.
These last two weeks have been…wonderfully weird. I flew to New York, where I sat down with Eva Pilgrim from Good Morning America and we chatted about The Dead Romantics. (I believe the interview will be airing sometime in the next week.) Then I spent the rest of my book release week taking walks and watching movies and — admittedly — writing a little bit with my best friend.
Then I came home, and things have just been a nonstop cascade of surprises. I’ve been inundated with messages — so many messages — from strangers reading The Dead Romantics. It’s filled my heart with so much love.
I am so incredibly thankful.
There is so much about this career that is luck. It’s the right place, and the right time, with the right story. There is no meritocracy to it all; it doesn’t matter how hard you work, or how many dues you pay, or how many books you write…
Every book is a different experience. Different highs, different lows, different readers sometimes, too.
When I started writing The Dead Romantics, I wrote it like I did every other book so far — for me. I love ghost stories, and I love the conundrum of falling in love with someone you can’t have. The tension is *chef’s kiss*. At the time, I was also dealing with a personal tragedy, so the novel ended up also being a conversation to myself about grief, and love, and how they intersect.
Then I sent this half-formed idea to my agent, and the rest — they say — is history.
It was simply right place, right time, right editor.
This career is 90% luck, 5% stubbornness, and 5% talent. (Though the talent varies, because different people like different writing styles, and every author comes into writing a book with different strengths and lived experiences. There is also something to be said about diversity in this industry and the lack of resources for BIPOC authors.)
I’m not saying this to dishearten you, if you choose to be an author.
I’m saying this because I learned early on that the most important thing is to write the stories you are happy telling. Because only you can write those stories.
And sometimes those stories happen in the right place, at the right time.
Because it’s never a matter of time, but a matter of timing.
So, speaking of which…
The Dead Romantics is a New York Times and USA Today Best Selling Novel!
Everyone thinks that novel-writing is a solitary endeavor—and they’re partially right. There’s the author, but then there’s the editor, too, and the copyeditor, the book cover designer, the interior designer, the publicist, the sales rep — then there are the teams who juggle more than one book at a time, like marketing and social media. There’s the booksellers who bring the book to readers, and the readers who share their love for the book on social media. There’s the author’s friends who probably read the first shitty draft, and the audiobook narrator who gets to read the final, brilliant novel.
So, so many people are brought into the fold when you decide to go the traditional route. Some experiences may vary, but each book goes through multiple hands, each one adding a bit more to the foundation the author laid.
It really does take a village to raise a book, and this book wouldn’t have gone anywhere without my amazing editor, Amanda, and Sareer, and Danielle, and Tina, and Jessica, and Craig—and Holly, my impossibly fantastic agent. (And my friends, Nicole and Katie and Kaitlyn and Savvy and Cera.)
This has been such a cool experience. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
The Dead Romantics is a B&N Fiction Pick for July!
And it’s 50% off if you buy another participating book! (I recommend all of them, but especially Zoraida Cordova’s The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina and Trisha Levenseller’s Blade of Secrets and Jessica Khoury’s Sparrow Rising (Skyborn #1).)
An Indie Next Pick for July!
Amazon Book Review loved The Dead Romantics!
Vannessa Cronin said this of The Dead Romantics: “This is the ghostly romance story you didn’t know you couldn’t live without: so funny, swoony, and original in the most offbeat way, you’ll want to put googly eyes on this beguiling book (read it and see what I mean).”
Oh yeah, Vannessa, I know exactly what you mean…
Are you a #Reylo or Ali Hazelwood fan?
BECAUSE I CERTAINLY AM. And guess who is going to be chatting with her on the 26th? That’s right! Yours truly! So please come and join us!
Around the Internet…
The BookReporter included The Dead Romantics in their July 8th update!
It’s also really cool that The Dead Romantics came in at #12 on Publishers Weekly’s paperback list!
Barnes & Noble included The Dead Romantics in their roundup of “17 Authors who write both YA and Adult Books” and if you squint really hard you might find two cool books on the banner…
Sliding in at #21, The Dead Romantics is included in Reader’s Digest’s “30 Best Books to Add to Your 2022 Summer Reading List”
The Dead Romantics is an Editor’s Pick for Best Romance over on Amazon!
The Greenville Journal did an article about me! Which was really cool.
So did the Post & Courier! Which is really neat!
Powell’s wants you to include The Dead Romantics in your summer reading list!
Writer’s Digest chatted with me about Love, Death, and Books!
Berkley has partnered with a company called Sips by and they are running a giveaway with a few books—including The Dead Romantics! It’s running through July 25. So enter for a chance to receive these amazing novels and some tea!
Welp! That’s it for this edition of “Oh my god I really need to make this a weekly newsletter so it’s not as long as a CVS receipt!” I hope y’all have enjoyed my poetic waxings about the stars and a whole bunch of news about The Dead Romantics — of which I’m always incredibly thankful for.
This career is a lot of luck, a lot of right-place and right-time, and a little smattering of throwing creative shit at a wall and see what sticks.
It’s dark out there, so grab a flashlight and keep looking forward and writing those stories only you can write and looking up local elections in your state if you’re in the US, and let’s boogie.
xoxo,
Ash
I absolutely love The Dead Romantics. It was our monthly book to read for the book club I belong to. I read it twice that month. It just spoke to me. Especially these two quotes. “Everything that dies never really goes. In little ways, it all stays.” And "They're still in the wind. And they'll always be in the wind, singing. Until the wind is gone."