http://ashmann.uk/2011/12/ Random thoughts on writing, my writing: I’ve never questioned why my novels are set in earlier times, have only followed my instinct to set my stories 50 or 60 years ago. A burden comes with that decision: research. But I compose from character, and when I’m beginning a project I don’t worry about getting the […]

Zacatelco Here I am again, on a bright March morning, not writing. I gaze out at my empty back yard that’s usually teeming with wildlife–squirrels, deer are the most frequent inhabitants, but I’ve seen groundhogs, raccoons, beaver–and my mind is blank. No characters begging for release back into the lives I’ve created for them. I bought […]

August, 2017: I was heading east from Carrboro to a Raleigh address south of Garner, about a 50-minute drive. Chose to take Highway 64 instead of the interstate so I could cross Jordan Lake on the gorgeous afternoon. I rolled down the windows, turned up the volume on my book on CD (Thirteen Ways of […]