People have sex, they swear, they fall in love.
“Writing the first book was really hard for me,” she said, adding that she was apprehensive about what the feedback would be not only from her husband, who she is now divorced from, but from her close friends and family. “It makes people wonder, ‘where do these thoughts come from?’ I was nervous about what other people would think.”
She’s an avid reader herself, of books of all genres, and she’s writing about hardcore romance in her spare time. She not only draws inspiration from her own personal experiences, but even the music she listens stimulates her thoughts and emotions. Her first three novels were part of the Meadowlarks Series. The first, Meadowlarks, is about a rodeo cowboy from Wyoming who meets a girl from Maine. Breathless and Endless, the second and third novels respectively, are spinoffs of the characters from the first book.
Freed by Fire and Silhouette followed shortly after and are of the Chicago in Love Series. Readers will be taken on an emotional journey reading about how finding love that’s full of passion is actually possible for two best friends.
This is my escape for now. And having all these book boyfriends is just fun.
“This is my way of getting that,” says DuMetz. “I fell in love with these people. I’d cry when I’d have to kill one of them off. They evolved. The first book wasn’t so descriptive. I would use different ways to explain parts of body. I was dipping my toes in and testing the water to see what people could be accepting of. I also wanted to see where my comfort zone was.”
Even though she reached deep within as a source of inspiration to write about heartache and a desire to find true love, DuMetz holds no hard feelings toward her ex-husband. In fact, she has nothing but good things to say about him. She was with him for 10 years and has two children with him. He was one of the first people to read one of her novels.
“We’re still good friends, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted. I feel like that person I’m meant to be with is actually out there. I feel like there are people who we are meant to be with. This is my escape for now. And having all these book boyfriends is just fun.”
It’s a juggling act being a single mom to two girls as well as a writer with a full-time job. She’s employed at McDonalds in Bracebridge and works rollercoaster shifts that sometimes leave her feeling a tad drained. Tie in the fact that she also works at a Huntsville law office doing assistant law clerk work and it’s a wonder how she finds any time to write at all.
She grew up in a Christian household and the only book her mother avidly read was the Bible. So when DuMetz asked her mom to read her first novel, she might have been a bit taken aback to say the least. However, her mom has become one of her daughter’s greatest supporters.
“She tells people she works with about it. She realizes it’s something I’m passionate about and she’s accepted the genre it is. I mean, how was I created? At the end of the day, I’m an adult. She appreciates I have this side to me.”
Staring at a blank cursor on her computer means she’s probably not in the right mind frame to “let it flow right out.”
“Those moments are rare and precious and I try not to force it. I just let it come. I didn’t do it for the money or to be famous… just to express myself and get it out there.”
DuMetz is currently working on book three of the Chicago Fire series. Her novels are available in paperback form from Amazon as well as e-books through Kobo. For more information on her novels check out her Facebook page by searching Ashley Christine or visit www.goodreads.com.
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