Ashen Sky Life Episode #4: 13 Questions with Ashen Sky, featuring Blackberries and Hitting 60k

S: Hi guys! How are y’all doing? See, I said y’all this time.
A: You’re stealing my thunder, Sky! ;) Well, people, today we are going to answer the questions that you asked us last time.
S: No, I’m not stealing your thunder, I’m being the lightning to accompany your thunder! Anyways....
A: Yes. Anyways...are you guys ready for these questions to be answered?
S: Of course they are. *insert the crowd’s applause here*
A: Okay, so Sky...what’s our first question?
S: *goes to look* … Okay, Hannah Grace over @ Walk in Thy Truth said:

1. How long have Ash and Sky known each other? [or did y'all answer that somewhere else and now I look lame?]

A: Ash and Sky have known each other for a while. Since June of 2008. We met on HomeschoolBlogger.com. We started talking and got to know each other better. And then....Sky, continue my story.
S: Actually, we’ll tell you the full story later, when we get to the question of how we met. ;) Anyways, yes, we met in 2008, and so that means we’ve been friends for 3 years this fall. Not including the summer we were so busy that we never talked to each other. :P So, in answer to the question, three years. :P Oh, and Hannah, no you don’t look lame. No worries! :D
Next question is also from Hannah.

2. Which one of you loves Matt Thiessen the best? [muwahaha...jk]

A: Didn’t we tell you that we wouldn’t answer questions like this? Well, truthfully, I don’t love MATT THIESSEN. Well, that’s a lie. Well, not really. Yes. I like Matt Thiessen, because I like Relient K. But I really love Cale O’Connor. Which, Matt is his cover model. But yeah. I love Cale more than Matt.
S: Which actually makes NO sense. But since we don’t know Matt Thiessen, we can’t say we love him. Which would be awkward anyway. But I would say I like Matt Thiessen a lot, probably more than Ashley does, because she only likes Cale. And Cale is different than Matt, because Cale is our character. They just look a LOT alike.
A: And you call me confusing?
S: It’s really hard to explain something like this. Why don’t we just keep it simple and say we both like Matt Thiessen in general?
A: And we both LOVE Cale. Okay. Next question.
S: Next question is from Hannah, too. :P

3. What sort of things inspire you two?

A: Ohh...there are so many things that I could write about here. But I definitely would say music. I almost always have music on. Oh, and other authors. Anyone who has had a book published, inspires me. I would love to be published one day, so they inspire me a lot.
S: Well, my answer will probably echo Ashley’s. I am a music addict, so people like Matt Thiessen, Adam Young, and the Stellar Kart guys inspire me too, through their music. Also, published authors inspire me, just because I too want to be published (how ironic!). Ashley and I always dream about publishing our novels. I have respect for lots of authors (with a few exceptions) for getting a book published. That’s a LOT of work. If you can write, and get published, then I’d say you’re pretty well off. Other authors that inspire me are J.R.R. Tolkien, Jenny B. Jones, C.S. Lewis, Donita K. Paul, and lots of others. Including the musicians I mentioned earlier. Plus my parents and my family members. Sheesh, what a mix. Okay, I’m done.
A: I just remembered something that I seriously wanted to add here, but can’t remember what it was. Never mind...
S: Well, if you remember, let me know...
Hannah’s next question:

4. What else do you two do besides write, photograph, and play guitars?

A: Uh. Nothing? Kidding. Sorta. I sometimes feel like those three things are the only things that I find myself doing. Although, I do love reading. I just got an Amazon Kindle and have been having a lot of fun reading books on it. I also enjoy listening to music - which, if you people didn’t know that, you haven’t been reading the blog near enough! I also do lots of school. Especially lately. We’ve been trying to get ahead lately and school has been a lot of hard work. I’ve just gotten a job too, so every Thursday, I get up early and go to work. I do anything from putting data onto the computer to filing paperwork.
S: What she said. Just kidding. Sorta. Everything she said was what I was gonna say. But I do write on my blog a lot, and Ash and I both tweet. So if you have Twitter, go check us out. @ashleystrawser, @lovehascome, & @ashenskylife. I do a lot of school too, and I listen to music all the time. My parents have joked that my earbuds could be surgically implanted into my ears. Ashley and I also babysit on a regular basis, which is really fun and interesting all at the same time. I also like to talk on the phone and chat with friends. And I read a lot, when I’m in the mood. Currently I’m in a phase where I’m loving Karen Kingsbury’s books.
A: Oh, yes, I love babysitting. And my earbuds are implanted in my ears most of the time too! Oh. And I also love Karen Kingsbury books. Anyways...next question.
S: See, this is why we’re friends. Okay, so we have one more question from Hannah Grace.

5. Can you give away blackberries? <3 those. Muchly so.

A: I don’t know, usually Sky figures out what to give away. Can we give away blackberries today, please?
S: Of course! I was wondering what we would give away this time around. So, help yourself to some blackberries, people! Ash, do you have any other ideas as to one more thing we could give away? Preferably non-food-related?
A: Mmmmmmmmmm. We gave away Converse...how about Toms? ;)
S: HAHA... yes. Let’s do it. Today’s free virtual gifts are blackberries and TOMS. Could it get any weirder?
A: Yes. But let’s not go there. Next question please.

S: Okay. Now we’re moving on to the next comment. The next questions are from iGirl @ iDream.

6. What is your favorite genre to write or read?

A: Christian non-fiction.
S: This is new... Like what?
A: Huh?
S: I didn’t know you liked to read Christian non-fiction... what books are your favorites?
A: Whoops. I meant Christian Fiction......
S: Okay, I was wondering. For reading, I’d have to say the same. I like Karen Kingsbury. Some more of my favorite book series’ are The Katie Parker series by Jenny B. Jones, & The Hollywood Nobody series by Lisa Samson. Both of which I read on a regular basis, as well as the Lauren Holbrook series by Erynn Mangum. I read all of them every few months or so. I also like fantasy, but it’s getting harder for me to find good fantasy books to read. And as far as our favorite genre to write... Ash, your thoughts?
A: Oh, definitely Christian Fiction. It’s the same as we read, definitely. :P
S: Yeah, probably like chick-lit or Young Adult Christian fiction, with a touch of romance.
Next question!

7. What are each of your writing styles like (It'd be cool if you described each others :)?

A: I think if one of our writing styles is described, so is the others. But of course, I think of Sky as a better writer than me, because well....she is. But anyways. She has an amazingly funny, creative, quirky, easy to read and listen to, type of writing style. Reading what she has written always makes me happy.
S: Okay, okay. I’m seriously blushing here. But truthfully, I think Ashley is a better writer than I am. She has a hilarious sense of humor, and the relationships between her characters are always so unique and amazing. Her guy characters are also awesome, which is a plus, when I’m reading romance. And while she used too many commas when she first met, I can safely say that habit has been broken. ;)
A: Tehe, you stop that! ;) Yes, I did used to use commas way too much, but thanks for letting everyone know that I have broken that! ;) I actually love writing WITH Sky more than writing ALONE. But that’s just me.
S: I like writing with Ashley so much. My stories aren’t the same without her. I do enjoy my own stories, but asking me to compare the two - my stories with Ashley and the ones without her - just isn’t possible. They both have their own different quirks about them, and that’s what I love.
A: Yes, definitely. I like doing both.
Next question!!!
S: Haha, this question is going to be fun to answer.

8. Do you have a song that you like to listen to together?

A: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! YES! “Nuisance” by John Reuben and Matt Thiessen.
S: That probably takes the number one spot. And you can find it at the very top of our sidebar. Seriously, if you haven’t heard it yet, please do. It just makes me happy, no matter what. Also, we like a ton of the same music artists, like Owl City, Stellar Kart, Relient K, Thousand Foot Krutch, and FM Static.
A: Yes you just named all the bands that we both like! ;)
S: Haha. Oh, and tobyMac. Ashley has introduced me to a lot of the bands I like, and I’m the one who got her started on Owl City. It’s a win-win situation.
A: Yes. Win-Win.
S: Also, you can check out more songs we like in the playlist on our sidebar. A lot of them are related to our books, so if you want to know the story behind a certain song on there, just ask!
Nexttttt questionnnnnnn.....

9. Do you think that sparkle is a color?

A: Yes. As easy as that. Although, when I see Sparkles, I get easily distracted. “And then they said..hey! sparkly!”
S: I never really thought about it before, but if sparkle isn’t a color, it should be. I like sparkles because they remind me of all the good things in life... princesses, fireflies, stars, Jesus, and Tinker Bell.
A: HAHAHAHAHAHA! Tinker Bell. Okay I’m good now.
S: I seriously did NOT even catch the irony behind that. Inside joke. Moving on. Now.

10. If you could make one wish to change the entire world, what would it be?

A: That everyone would be able to see how amazing God’s love is for us, and if they only accepted Him as their Savior, the world would be a much better place.
S: Wow. This is seriously a hard question to answer. Honestly, I would like to change all the suffering in this world. But then I realized that without suffering, we don’t need Jesus. If we didn’t have to deal with the pain everyday, we wouldn’t need to turn to God to help us through it all. So I wouldn’t take away suffering. Instead, I would change the world so that everyone knew about Jesus, so that they could turn to him in the midst of their pain. That’s what it’s all about.
A: Of course it is!
S: Now, I’m sort of trying not to cry... :P
A: Nexttttt quessstiiionnnn.
S: Okay, so we’re done with iGirl’s questions. Thanks for submitting them, iGirl! It was tons of fun! :D

 Now we have questions from Lia over @ theDreamer. Hey, Lia! :D

11. What are your favorite sports?

A: I played soccer for 8 years (12 seasons, thanks for indoor soccer), basketball for 1, softball for 1. I like all of them. But I don’t play any of these sports anymore.
S: Umm, well I’ve never played sports officially. But one time our friends played an unofficial game of flag football, and I loved it. I didn’t love it enough to play full time, but it was still really fun. Over here, my brother & dad are football fanatics, so I’d have to go with that as my favorite sport, since I really haven’t been exposed to many others. I do like going to baseball games occasionally, though. *bursts out singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”* But other than that, I’m not really a sports kind of girl.
A: I used to love sports, from when I was 4 to when I was 12. But I stopped.
S: And became a girly-girl?
A: ANYTHING BUT! I still like to wear sweats and tees. I am not one of those girly-girls who wear skirts all the time. (Except for this morning...)
S: Hahaha. Ha. That did not make much sense... but still, I’m the same way. Want to move on?
A: Yeppppppppppppp.
S: Ah, here we go. Here’s the question we said we’d answer later.

12. How did you two meet?

A: How did we meet? Well, like I said, we first met on homeschoolblogger.com. But we met in person in November of 2010. Wanna tell more of the story, Sky?
S: Sure. Actually, it’s kind of an interesting story. I think we met in 2005, when I first started blogging - but we didn’t ever really talk or anything like that. I just knew that there was a person out there named Ashley. Well, Ashley stopped blogging for a while, but when she came back, I got to know her again, but still, I didn’t know her that well. One day she sent me a message asking if I had Yahoo or MSN messenger. Random, right? Why did you do that, Ash?
A: Why did I do that? I don’t even remember why I did that. I think that I was bored and just wanted someone to talk to. But anyways, she wrote me back, telling me that our moms actually knew each other. Ironic, right?
S: Very! So, since they knew each other, I was allowed to IM her, and a couple days later, we talked on the phone. We hit it off really easily. Like, REALLY easily.
A: Yep. That was really fun. We started writing our first story that summer. One, that under no uncertain terms, would we ever show anybody. It’s somewhere on my computer, hiding in complete and utter shame.
S: *laughs* It was terrible! We wrote a couple more stories, but none of them really got finished or turned out. They all pretty much stunk. But it was a start. That’s when we first started to write stories by alternating paragraphs. I think we both realized our stories stank and then took a while off. Then, we both got an amazing idea and couldn’t help but write it together. That story became Love Anyway, and we wrote it in 51 days with 73,000 words. That was only the beginning.
A: Now, together, we’ve finished two stories, but have plans for like....3 more series’ that we want to write together, along with random books here and there that need to be written. But of course, that’ll have to wait until later, because we have a hard time working on more than one story at a time. So right now, we’re working on Becoming Bekah, and then the other three books in this series.
S: And then, after that, who knows how many more books we’ll write? *grin* It’s our goal to get published. Anyway, so we were friends for two years before we met in person this past November. It was something we had both prayed SO HARD for, and it finally happened.
A: We had such a good time! I flew out to her house and we spent a week together, writing, talking, staying up late, and you guessed it, LAUGHING!
S: Oh my gosh, yes. We have so many inside jokes! Ash, do you want to show them a picture from when we met? So that we can prove we actually did meet? xD
A: Sure. We can do that...

(c) Ashen Sky. Photo credit goes to Sky's brother! :D

S: So, there ya go. The story of how we met.
Aw, this is the last question. :( This was too much fun.

13. What is your favorite food? (besides bacon :P)

A: I like pizza. And spaghetti. And lasagna. I like Italian food.
S: I like bacon. A lot. And Italian food, too. Pasta is my favorite thing ever. And I like ice cream, and I like coffee, although that probably doesn’t count.
A: Oh. I love ice cream too. And guess what? I like salad. It took me 17 years to try it. Now I love it.
S: Seriously? I remember you turning down salad at my house. Things have changed since then! Truthfully, I like salad too. :D

And our latest accomplishment on Becoming Bekah...

A: OH! One more thing before we go. We have officially hit 63,484 words in Becoming Bekah! Just knew we needed to say that before we go!
S: Here are some stats:

We started this story: 1.8.11
We hit 20K: 2.2.11
We hit 30K: 2.7.11
We hit 40k: 2.9.11
We hit 50k: 2.15.11
We are writing: Again, as fast as we can!

Thanks again for all your questions! We really enjoyed it! We’ll see you next week!
A: See ya later, everyone! We’ll be back next week with yet another typecast! ;)
S: Adios!
A: Ciao ya’ll.
S: Hahaha! Enjoy your blackberries and TOMS. Bye!