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HER STORY Ashley C. Ford reflects on her journey from student to bestselling author.
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09.16.2021
ASHLEY C. FORD, PHOTO PROVIDED; KAMRYN TOMLINSON, DN
Taylor Smith Editor-in-Chief Discovering Her Words Ashley C. Ford was nearly 10 years old when she felt it might be true she had an inclination toward writing. Ford was sitting in her third-grade classroom during poetry week, and there were two new movies on Ford’s mind that she was “obsessed” with, both starring Leonardo DiCaprio: “Titanic” and “Romeo + Juliet.” “I wrote a poem about the Titanic called ‘That Big Ol’ Ship Went Down,’’’ Ford said. “My teacher was like, ‘This is amazing. You have such a knack for writing and for poetry.’ I took her opinion seriously. I think it just always stuck.” Ford, 2018 Ball State alumna and New York Times bestselling author of “Somebody’s Daughter,” always knew she loved reading, she said, so the idea that she could write something somebody else might like reading gave her a lot of confidence and made her feel “special.” But, while writing was something Ford held
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I’ll never be able to tell myself again that I have no idea if I can write a book. That’s really the best thing I gave myself with this book, was that, if I want to do it again, I’ve got enough confidence to try.” - ASHLEY C. FORD, 2018 alumna and New York Times bestselling author of “Somebody’s Daughter”
onto tightly, paving her path to becoming a writer was challenging. For the first 33 years of her life, Ford said, she had undiagnosed ADHD, which made it difficult for her to apply herself to just one interest of hers. “College was wild for me because, at one point, it was so stimulating that I wanted to do everything,” Ford said. “While I was at Ball State, I had somewhere between six and seven different majors, but English — creative writing, specifically — was the only major that I didn’t want to give up on. It was the only one that I was like, ‘I can’t wait to take this next class.’ That alone is what helped drive me through that program.” Since sitting in Ball State classrooms more than a decade ago, Ford has achieved becoming a host of five different podcasts, guest-writing for publications including The Guardian, ELLE and New York Magazine and being named one of Forbes Magazine’s “30 under 30 in Media” in 2017. As of June 1, she has added New York Times bestselling author to that list.
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