We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ash Lucas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ash, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission is to provide an escape from reality within the pages of a book. I want to evoke a readers emotions with written words and stories. I want to inspire other writers who, like me, was afraid to show my creativity to the world, because I feared rejection and criticism. My mission is to show other writers that their craft is meant for someone but to always write for yourself and not the sole purpose of pleasing others. I have to remind myself to always reach for the stars, because they go further than you can possibly imagine, and so can you. I truly want to be someone’s favorite author one day, and I know I will be.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Ash Lucas. I was born and raised in the Bay Area and currently still reside there with my husband. I love to travel and go on adventures, go to comic conventions with friends, binge watch TV shows, go to the movies, listen to all kinds of music, challenge myself with Escape Rooms, and without a doubt my favorite place to be is lost within the pages of a book. I’ve always been a creative soul. I’ve dabbled with writing throughout my life and in March of 2021 I up and quit my office job to pursue my writing career full-time. I published my first book (a children’s book) called The Many Adventures of Captain Clark: Dinosaur Land last July. I have several different writing projects that I’m currently working on, because I would love to publish another book or two at some point this year. I think one of my greatest achievements so far has been becoming a published author. Something like that was always a dream of mine, and I made it a reality last year. It’s funny, because I loathed the idea of writing a children’s book but when opportunity knocks, you answer the door. I wrote Captain Clark within three weeks back in July of 2021 after some quality time spent with friends who convinced me to write a children’s book. The manuscript sat there, because I don’t draw and didn’t know who to talk to about illustrations for my story. A close friend of mine suggested I send the manuscript to her sister (who’s an artist) to see if she’d be interested in the project. The following day I received a positive reply about this project. We spent all of 2023 getting this book polished and ready. In early 2024, I spent several weeks researching the ins and outs of self-publishing. I self-published my Captain Clark children’s book with IngramSpark and now my book is pretty much everywhere you can buy a book (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, etc.), including international vendors. I was pretty proud when I saw my book on the Barnes & Noble website, because I felt that I had finally become an author. I’ve made it known in the past that I don’t define success as publishing something; success to me is when I see my work displayed for a reader to buy and enjoy.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal is to create as many stories as possible that readers enjoy getting lost in. I want my stories and books to inspire others to take on the craft of writing and create their own magical worlds. I want to share my creative imagination with the world. I hope to help others on their journey of publishing their own books. I think the fear of failure drives my creative journey. One of the first things I learned about writing is that writers should write every day. Sometimes I face writer’s block, not due to a lack of ideas, but because I fear failure. I struggle with perfectionism, feeling that my work must represent me well. I remind myself that differing opinions are okay, and that failure just means I tried. I think of successful people like Thomas Edison, who failed many times before achieving success. Writing takes hard work and dedication. I always tell people “don’t be afraid to fail at something you love doing, because you will fail at least once, but you’ll get up and succeed or fail again – that is called trying.” I also have to remind myself that It doesn’t matter how long my stories are that I write. One of the greatest stories ever written, was only 82 pages long. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol has long since become an iconic Christmas novel. It doesn’t matter if your story is 1,000 pages long filled with several chapters, or a mere 82 pages filling just 5 chapters, your story too can become legendary. If I can achieve just a sliver of that I’ll know that my goals were met.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish that I knew that self-publishing wasn’t as taboo as it used to be. I think that there are a lot more authors right now, because they’ve been able to self-publish their work rather than go through the traditional publishing route. Before I published my first book I did extensive research on what to use and why. I watched YouTube videos, Googled, and read several articles on the “how to’s” of self-publishing. One thing that I wish I knew about before this writing journey of mine even started was all the writing apps to help. Apps like Scrivener, Plotter, Fictionary, Reedsy, etc. make writing a whole lot easier. I now use Scrivener for all my projects and will continue to use it going forward for future projects.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ashlucas.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashlucasauthor
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AshLucasChronicles

Image Credits

Photos in plaid jacket were all taken by: Faith Gutierrez of Faithful Photography