by Ashley Pabilonia
You might have come across this site wondering, "Who is this girl typing up yet another blog in the Interwebs?" I understand the sentiment. The great -- and sometimes not so great -- thing about the World Wide Web is that anyone can add new information to it. The key is getting people to read and respond to it. I'll leave it up to you whether to follow my little Internet contribution.
I'm Ashley, a literary enthusiast and writer hopeful. You may have come across me by my handle "Ashi" on various writer Web sites. My writing "career" started with my creating picture books during elementary school, but my first "ah-ha" writer moment came between middle and high school. As a preteen, I made it a personal goal to write more pages of story than all my classmates. At the time, the quality must have matched the quantity because my teachers posted my works in the class newsletter. Few years down the line, I started writing for my high school newspaper. Content and layout restrictions, as well as classroom story critiques, taught me the value in saying more with fewer words.
I earned a Bachelor of Arts and double majored in Communications and Writing to cover both ends of the writing spectrum -- the content industry side and the creative, literary one. I knew the reality was one major was going to get me paid, but the other was dearer to my heart. I've written in different forms ranging from poetry and short fiction to media articles and most recently episode surveys for a major media research company. You can check out my career background on LinkedIn.
So why blog, and why now? The deep, philosophical reason is that I'm tired of fear holding me back. I thought about starting this for a few years, but my nagging fear of failure kept me from registering this blog account. A recent career transition forced me to scrutinize my personal and professional goals. Maintaining this blog should keep my writing skills on track while I share what I love with the virtual public. The base reason is that I want to be more involved in the literary community on the vast Internet scale and, more so, the insular and local Tampa, Florida scene.
Will I succeed? That's to be seen, but if you're reading this, you're witnessing part of my journey. Welcome, tread thoughtfully, and carry a big pad and pen.
I'm Ashley, a literary enthusiast and writer hopeful. You may have come across me by my handle "Ashi" on various writer Web sites. My writing "career" started with my creating picture books during elementary school, but my first "ah-ha" writer moment came between middle and high school. As a preteen, I made it a personal goal to write more pages of story than all my classmates. At the time, the quality must have matched the quantity because my teachers posted my works in the class newsletter. Few years down the line, I started writing for my high school newspaper. Content and layout restrictions, as well as classroom story critiques, taught me the value in saying more with fewer words.
I earned a Bachelor of Arts and double majored in Communications and Writing to cover both ends of the writing spectrum -- the content industry side and the creative, literary one. I knew the reality was one major was going to get me paid, but the other was dearer to my heart. I've written in different forms ranging from poetry and short fiction to media articles and most recently episode surveys for a major media research company. You can check out my career background on LinkedIn.
So why blog, and why now? The deep, philosophical reason is that I'm tired of fear holding me back. I thought about starting this for a few years, but my nagging fear of failure kept me from registering this blog account. A recent career transition forced me to scrutinize my personal and professional goals. Maintaining this blog should keep my writing skills on track while I share what I love with the virtual public. The base reason is that I want to be more involved in the literary community on the vast Internet scale and, more so, the insular and local Tampa, Florida scene.
Will I succeed? That's to be seen, but if you're reading this, you're witnessing part of my journey. Welcome, tread thoughtfully, and carry a big pad and pen.