Q&A with author Aaron Ashford

South Carolina native Aaron Ashford has always been an avid reader and a closet writer. While he was a student at South Carolina State University, he started writing his first novel. But it wasn't until he started his own counseling service that he decided to follow his dream and become a published author.
His first book, Closure, was released in 2009.
Ashford talked to me about writing and his latest works.

1.       Tell the readers what prompted you to start writing. 

I have always had a love of both reading and writing that goes back to at least third grade or so. It was something that came easy to me, because I am always imagining "what if?" I was prompted to write a novel after I finished college and found time for leisure reading again.  One night, I had some bad insomnia and just started writing and before I knew it characters started getting acquainted with one another, a plot was formed and a resolution was had.

2.       Tell the readers about your Closure series.

Closure was the product of my insomnia.  I wanted to write about an issue that was somewhat controversial such as infidelity, but use male characters (Jason and Kevin) as the lead so that readers could see that men are equally impacted by infidelity; no different than women.  For Jason, infidelity affected him early on and he was never able to truly commit in future relationships.  For Kevin, it was the impact of infidelity through his father and consequently he saw the impact on his mother.  As a married man he decides not to stray and wants to keep his marriage together in spite of obvious signs that his wife has other ideas.  Closure is different for every person and every situation and for these characters it was necessary.  My years as a licensed therapist have taught me that when people are hurt and never heal that they only offer hurt to others disguised as love.  

 3.       Do you plan to write sequels about these characters? 

Initially, I planned a sequel but right now it's not in the works.  Closure was released in 2009 and Getting Closure was released in 2012 which was the re-release that has an epilogue, which picks up when the original ended providing some previously unreleased footage, and a totally redesigned cover, which is on my independent publishing label iWrite Publishing.  It also has the first three chapters of my latest novel In the Moment due out February, 2013.  There are plans for my characters to make appearances in other stories.  

4.       What’s the most rewarding thing for you about being an author? 

For me the most rewarding thing about being an author is developing something inside of my mind, translating it to paper and having other people read it and enjoy themselves.  As a fan of fiction to have a book in print is still overwhelming.  I've had people who I didn't know email me their feedback about the book and how they enjoyed and how much they are looking forward to the next book.  That is such an awesome feeling.

5.       How can readers follow you on social media?

 I'm on Facebook (Aaron Ashford) and Twitter (AaronLAshford), my website is aaronlashford.com I'm on Myspace as well, but nobody checks that anymore.  I miss Myspace.