All about the novel The Trouble with Love and Ink
Who is Harriet Ashford?
Harriet lives in Houston with her husband, two boys, and a rambunctious blue
heeler. When she’s not reading, writing, or herding the boys, you can find
her embroidering semi-inappropriate messages onto her latest cross-stitch project.
What is The Trouble with Love and Ink about?
Emily Lane is supposed to be on vacation. Instead, she’s in
a meeting where a new hire steals the promotion she’s been slotted for. To make
matters worse, the promotion thief is a bit of a jerk both inside and outside
cubicle walls.
Needing an escape, Emily takes on her sister’s dare to work
for her calligraphy company. After all, Emily has been perfecting her pointed
pen skills for over a decade. The only caveat: she will have to pretend she’s
her sister while finishing the projects for a high-profile client’s wedding.
It’s all going according to plan until Emily discovers the
client’s brother is none other than Beckett—Beck—Atteridge, office jerk and
promotion thief. He will keep her true identity a secret on one condition, she has to be his fake date for the wedding in Costa Rica.
As lines are blurred between what’s fake and reality, this
vacation will either be the escape Emily’s been looking for or a heartbreak she
doesn’t need.
Interview
What was your inspiration for The Trouble with Love and Ink?
I’m not a good example. I was working on my second fantasy, and I was in a bad place. The plot wasn’t working, the characters weren’t behaving, and I was stuck. Bitterly, I scrolled through Facebook, and a friend had posted about a rom-com she’d read. I scoffed. I stuck my nose in the air. How easy, I thought. When writing a rom-com, you don’t have to build magical systems. You can keep things light, cute.
That’s when a little voice in my head said, If it’s so easy, do it then.
And thus began the journey of me pulling every contemporary romance/ rom-com off the shelf, so I could research the genre. Two things happened: I read a lot more books (which naturally made me a better writer), and I fell head-over-heels in love with rom-coms.
What drew you to writing?
When I was in fourth grade, we had “Writer’s Workshop” where we had to sit in the cafeteria and write for an hour in preparation for standardized testing. Kids would cry, fake illnesses, anything to get out of it. But I LOVED it. I got to write a story exactly how I wanted it to be. I could be the hero. I could be the villain. Anything was possible, and I just remember feeling like I’d learned magic. The feeling stuck with me. I never planned on becoming published. Writing was just going to be my escape hatch when life got bleh, but as I neared my thirties, I realized I wanted to hold my own finished book in my hands, wanted to be able to pluck it off the shelf, so here we are.
How did you choose which character to centre the story around?
I see a lot of women struggling with doubt and imposter syndrome (I know I do), so it made sense to have a character, Emily, who has to get out of her comfort zone to reach her goals. She makes a lot of growth in this book.
What was your process for writing The Trouble with Love and Ink?
After pantsing my first (unpublished novel) and having to redo the entire thing, I’m committed to creating in-depth outlines before I start drafting. Even still, with TTWLAI, I started on the outline for it in November of 2022. I thought I was finally ready to draft by February 2023, but I quickly found it needed reworking. It wasn’t until May 20th that I was able to start drafting. I had that first draft finished by August 14th and I haven’t looked back since.
What is your approach to world and character building?
With my characters, I usually start with big scenes and work my way backward. What would get them to that point? What would make them break? My main characters always have a thorn in their heel that they’ll have to pull out before they can move on. Usually, it’s some embedded childhood trauma.
How would you describe The Trouble with Love and Ink in five words?
Flirty, sassy, tropical, tense, intimate
Did you have a favourite moment in the book to write?
It’s hard to pick just one. Without giving too much away, I think it was the scene where Beck bloodies his knees to keep Emily from hitting the ground. That scene has a lot of tension, but it’s also very tender.
What was your favourite book growing up?
Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris
Do you have a favourite genre to read?
It used to be fantasy/romantasy, but now I adore a good contemporary romance.
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