500 Likes Giveaway!

I reached 500 likes on Facebook yesterday (now 510)! I'm having a giveaway if anyone would like to enter!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, here is the teaser I shared with FB peeps yesterday for all their help! Now I am sharing it with you for all of your help!

I will also take this time to apologize for my absence. I'm afraid it will be extended (of course I'll be doing bloghops and I'll help anyone with cover reveals and the like), BUT I have lots to do on the home front with school and editing! My LAST "First" week of Graduate school was last week. First semester with face-to-face classes. Needless to say, Mondays and Wednesdays are EXHAUSTING! I know I will be ready for May once it gets here! Lot of love, Ashley

Cover Reveal: Her Olives by Fida Islaih

This cover is so gorgeous and I am so happy to help Fida release it to the world! I am also excited to read her collection of poems! 

Blurb: 

The narrator has never been to Palestine. She poems her thoughts on her love for Palestine and wanting to go to there. She tries to understand their struggles and has her own. 

Author Bio: 

Fida Islaih is a Palestinian-Malaysian Poet. She is a big lover of chocolate and cats. This is her second poetry collection. Her first collection is titled A TO Z POETRY. 











Where to find her: 

Add to GoodReads
Fida's blog, Hugs and Kisses of Poetry '


What do you think? Isn't it lovely? 

Celebrate the Small Things: 1.10.14

At the end of every week, we celebrate the small things with VikLit! If you want to head over to Scribbling of an Aspiring Author to sign up!

I didn't really have to think too hard for what I was going to celebrate today. I had thought I would be less busy over this holiday, but as it turned out I felt busier!

1. Monday is my LAST FIRST semester of graduate school! That's right in May I will graduate with my degree. I've felt a little burnt out recently, so I am just going to push through this semester and get it done.

2. I finished another edit of CUTLASS! This is the strongest I've felt after an edit, and I am so excited to turn it over to my editor.

3. My roomies are getting married tomorrow!! They are the sweetest people in the world! My boyfriend and I were there the day they met and I am so happy to have them as roommates now and to see them begin their life together.

4. I am grateful for my ability to exercise. I have recently begun Inanity (you know, that ridiculous workout program that makes you wanna die sometimes?). Yeah, that one. I am on day 5 as of today and I really enjoy it. I am excited that I have the chance to become stronger, and I cannot wait to complete it!


I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! What are you celebrating this week?

IWSG: Bad Reviews and Bad Stuff in General

Hello everyone! For this round of IWSG, our wonderful co-hosts are: Bob Milne, River Fairchild, Julie Dao, and Sarah Foster!

Once again I am going to talk about something I am battling in order to trump it! I am going to talk about bad reviews and just general bad stuff said about my books, and potentially me.

Recently, I have promised a few of my friends that I will not read my bad reviews, I will not google myself. I will do nothing to intentionally search for bad things said about myself or my book.

SO much harder said than done, isn't it??!

Here's the thing about bad reviews: Any review put out there is an opinion, even if it's a good professional review that acts as a great critique. Any review that is just a rant about you and does not offer a critique, is not a professional review, and should be ignored simply because these types of reviews are not good for YOU. They do nothing for your confidence as a writer, and hey--no one should get in the way of how we feel about our books.

Why is it that one bad review slashes all the AMAZING reviews you might have? Well, the only rational I can come up with is that all this time we are writing and promoting our books and handing them to the world, we always fear one and two star reviews. We are often so afraid someone won't like our books, when the reality is, we cannot please everyone.

WE CANNOT PLEASE EVERYONE.

Repeat that. Over and over again until you believe it.

Here's the thing--bad reviews simply hurt our feelings, and no one likes to get their feelings hurt. When people write about our books, or us, as if we aren't human, that hurts even worse. This is why we must do our best to avoid that negativity. If a review is a great critique and you can learn from it, that's wonderful! But do not let yourself be brought down because of a couple bad reviews.

I made a promise that I would write a contract to myself. My contract will state that I will not read bad reviews about my books, I will not google myself. I will not read anything bad about myself. This contract will be rewritten each time I break it until I no longer do any of these things. If you have a hard time with reading bad things on the internet about yourself, then I challenge you to do the same!