Short bio:
Ashley
Mackler-Paternostro lives on the outskirts of Chicago with her husband and
their three dogs. The Milestone Tapes is
Ashley’s first novel.
Long Bio:
Ashley Mackler-Paternostro was born in Naperville, Illinois,
where she still lives with her husband Mark and their three dogs.
“We have such a normal life. And I’m really so
lucky, my husband Mark is absolutely the biggest supporter of my writing. It’s
… amazing. I have no right to be this fortunate … and yet, I am.”
A hairstylist by trade, Ashley will often say that some of the
best stories she has ever heard were told to her while working behind the
chair. A life long reader with an insatiable appetite for good books, she
decided to merge her love of great stories — both told and written — into her
own brand of story telling.
“Life is so strange … people can do some really
crazy things when left to their own devices. As a stylist, I was privy to that,
people just want to still down and talk — and they all have something to say.
Sometimes it’s sad, sometimes it’s just hysterical. But, that’s real life —
it’s kind of messy.
As a reader, I need to lose myself in the book,
I cherish the sort of story that you can really invest yourself deeply in, the
kind that has an unforgettable character who pulls you to the point where you
can viscerally understand them and the lines of real and unreal get blurry.
When you take all that normal stuff and blend it
with the edge of fantastical, you can really find yourself in a beautiful place.
When I write, that’s what I’m looking for–that beautiful place. I have no
problem walking away from a book if the characters aren’t telling me their
story. They have to flesh themselves out, I have to believe in them in order to
work with them. My books are absolutely character driven … just like real
life.”
When she’s not being held captive in her home office by words,
Ashley fancies herself a flea market hunter with a weakness for Japanese glass
floats and repurposing vintage goods.
“There is such bliss in the things from once
upon a time. I can’t walk past a piece of furniture without wondering how I can
change it. I can’t see pretty glassware and not want to own it. I see these
ordinary objects and wonder — what’s the story behind this, how did it end up
here? Where has this been? Who loved this? I can really get swept away in that
sort of wondering.”
Writing was always in her
blood from the time she was a little girl always eager to say something, but
until a trip to the Olympic Peninsula in the spring of 2011 she never had the
vision.
“You know, it’s sort of cliche how this all
started. I just turned 28 and my husband took me on vacation. I wasn’t at a
crossroads in my life — at least, not that I was aware of, but I came home from
Washington and was inspired, that place changed me. I had this story inside me
and it was so loud … I couldn’t quiet it down, I simply had to tell it.
So, I sat down and just started writing. I
didn’t even think about it. Once I hit 30,000 words I was like … oh … this is
pretty serious. It felt really natural, as though this was just how it was
supposed to be for me … so I let go and let the story unfold. I didn’t really
worry about outlining, or plotting … now I know better. I ended up with this
book about life and death and love and even I couldn’t believe it.”
Ashley wrote her entire first
novel with only three people knowing about it. She had no idea where this
journey was going to take her or how she would finish it … or even if she would
finish it.
“I’m a big believer in wild dreams. My Dad used
to call me an enigma, which I suppose is very true. I was a hairstylist … the
last person you’d ever think would ‘write a novel’ let alone publish a novel —
I mean, really–a writer? Even I wasn’t so sure how this would turn out.
And, at the same time, I was always the type to
just ‘blurt it out’ (I’m not the best at keeping big, life changing secrets)…
those sort of loud proclamations usually lead to expectations. I knew that if I
was going to write authentically, I had to play it close to the chest. I needed
to know where I was going — gather my answers and figure it out — before I let
too many inside.
It was hard … but not impossible. I think it was
the best gift I ever gave myself. It worked. And when I finally was at the
point when I knew this book was absolutely going somewhere, it was an exciting
thing to share with the people in my life.”
Ashley’s
writing style reflects the sort of books she herself enjoys reading. Never one
to shy away from the uncomfortable or heartbreaking, her novels often ping into
the defining moments of life in the middle of great conflict.
“I’m a writer a of real life, I actually really
like real life. I enjoy putting my characters into very hard situations and I
like seeing how they figure it out — much of the time I have no idea how
they’ll do it, but in character driven pieces, they usually give you clues.
Good endings aren’t always as simple as ‘boy and
girl live happily ever after’ … that happens sometimes, sure …. but it’s not
always genuine. If bad things happen, my characters need to be able to figure
out how to adjust and live within them … you can’t force that to fit a mold.
That’s what I’ve figured out about my writing.”
Before the launch of her
first book, THE MILESTONE TAPES, she is already hard at work with the follow
up.
“There is a lot of downtime when you’re working
on the publishing part — a lot of hurry up and wait. I couldn’t help but to be
forward thinking — excited about how I’ll follow the first one up. I’ve found a
rhythm to my style, I’m an author of ‘real life.’ My second novel definitely
pings into same emotionally whirlwind I touched upon in THE MILESTONE TAPES
while still being totally different — it has a very different vibe and
undercurrent to it, it’s a darker story — it’s all about hard — yet totally
self created — circumstances and the relationships we cultivate in our lives
and the choices we ultimately make.”
Ashley is set to debut her
first work of literary fiction in early 2012 with much excitement and enthusiasm.
“THE MILESTONE TAPES is more than a book … it’s
a year of my life and a whole new chapter. I am beyond thrilled to be in the
position to share my words. This really is a dream — a wild dream — come true.”
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