Jonathan C. Ashline, author, poet, and mental health advocate
The Creative Council
Welcome to The Creative Council, where I interview creatives about their lives and work and the ups and downs of being a creative soul.
Today’s interviewee is Jonathan C. Ashline!
Jonathan Charles Ashline absolutely abhors writing about himself. But when push comes to shove and promotion to paying bills, he will relent and pull back the curtain on himself. Pulling back the curtain is what Jonathan has been doing his entire writing career. Since self-publishing My Pocket of Fears: On Love, Depression, and Other Mental Disorders in 2022, Jonathan has been peeling away layers or curtains to reveal a complex, often anxious, mostly funny, good-natured humanist. His initial trilogy of poetry/memoirs was hailed as an evocative and raw look at living with borderline personality disorder in addition to major depressive disorder and general anxiety.
The Interview
Hi Jonathan! This conversation was a long time coming! I’m so glad we finally get to have it.
· When did you start creating? Do you remember what pulled you in?
I think I’ve always been creating art in some form or another. I remember very early on, I was writing poems for my parents’ birthdays. I wrote superhero comic books as a teenager (though I never had the visual talent for producing them on my own). Similarly, I wrote scripts for classmates to put on plays in 6th grade.
I’d credit our teacher, Mrs. Conaway, for assigning us Julius Ceasar as a class play. Nothing gets 10-year-olds excited like being allowed to ‘stab’ the bossy kid.
· When did you start pursuing your current craft for real? As in, when did you begin to take yourself seriously as a creator?
2020. The pandemic did it. I remember being kind of relieved at the mandated isolation (at least the social anxiety was lessened) but also the feeling that my life was slowly being wasted. I had just graduated with a BA in film a couple of years earlier and wasn’t putting that degree to any use. At the same time, I was watching one of my now-idols, Russell Nohelty, absolutely crush it on Kickstarter. He was selling book after book and making thousands of dollars doing so! Finally, I had a roadmap, an unwitting teacher to how I would put out my own books.
I was also working with a mental health counselor to identify and process my feelings around a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. This diagnosis came after a suicide attempt in 2020, and, looking back, it was just very clear that my life was becoming more and more complicated as the world was shutting down. I needed to propel myself out of my own depression. I needed to write and publish a book before I died.
· And you did! Multiple! So, are you still having fun? If yes, how are you making sure it stays fun?
Fun is relative. My first couple of books I wouldn’t describe as fun. In fact, I think the writing process overall is pretty grueling. There’s so much self-doubt that I, personally, have to overcome just to be satisfied with my own work.
How do you keep it fun? I recently collaborated with a childhood friend, Jeremy Sawyer, on a new Western. We’d been apart for decades before reconnecting. We both shared so many interests that we immediately clicked back into our old friendship. Out of that friendship and a bunch of smoke sessions, Frigid Whispers was born.
· What has been your biggest ‘mistake’ thus far, and what would you tell people about to make that same mistake?
This mistake has consumed the better part of my 2024. It is not valuing my time and my work highly enough. I ran a Kickstarter campaign in February and simply did not price my books high enough in order to make a profit on them. Also, while the campaign funded, it would not be enough to fulfill all of the rewards that were promised to backers. That is a really tough apology to make. It was my second year on the platform with a new book format (as well as a new genre) and all these things conspired to really bog down my year in trying to stretch the money as far as possible while getting at least SOME books made.
Russell and his business partner, Monica Leonelle, talk about it, and it’s so true; creators need to value their time better.
· That is such a common mistake to make, and I can honestly admit I’ve almost made the same. Listening to people like Russell and Monica helped me tremendously. OK, so, of all the milestones you’ve reached thus far, what has been your favourite? How did you celebrate it?
I’m honestly not much of a milestone person. I think getting my first book made and selling out of my entire first printing was a pretty good feeling. But, ultimately, I tend to need reminders to appreciate my own milestones. Each book is an amazing accomplishment for which I am eternally grateful.
· What do you struggle with most as a creative person?
The same thing I struggle with most in my non-creative life is my mind—my self-doubt and criticism. They impact me in every facet of my life, and overcoming them is the struggle to any of my creations.
· Have you always had that struggle, and what advice would you give creatives dealing with the same?
As long as I can remember. What advice would I give? Don’t listen to the critics.
· What do you do to stay inspired?
Hope inspires me. Love inspires me. Or the loss of these things. Loss in itself is a massive inspiration in my life. I guess I try to be inspired by all life around me.
· What’s the best creative advice you ever received?
James Gunn said it best: ‘Just finish the thing.’ See also, ‘Done is better than perfect.’
· As you might know, I’m pretty woo-woo. On a scale of 1 to ‘I was burned at the stake in a previous lifetime’, how woo-woo are you? And how does that express itself in your life and/or your creative practice?
*Laughs* I love this question.
I didn’t even know what woo-woo was until I met Monica Leonelle. Then I realized it’d been in my family for years. My aunt read tarot cards for a living. My mother practices paganism. I guess I remain a little more stand-offish over most woo-woo. Then again, I keep running into palm readers, or crystal lovers, or energy healers, so who really knows in this life or the next?
· Oh, it’ll be this life, I’m sure of it. We have cookies, you know. Jonathan, thank you so much for this!
You can find Jonathan and his work on his website, here on Substack, and via this handy Linktree.
Jonathan’s Frigid Whispers was published in August of this year, and Of Magic and Fangs will be released this month, so keep an eye out for that one!
Are you a creative and would you like to be interviewed next? E-mail me at marielle@mswordsmith.nl and we’ll make it happen!
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