ashestarling96

Today comes with a major update for my journey here on Wattpad.
          
          To start off, I'm happy to announce that not only did It Lies Within qualify for the ONC Longlist, but it officially found its way onto the SHORTLIST as well! To say I couldn't be any happier is an understatement. This has far exceeded my goal for this year's ONC, and puts me one step closer to potentially achieving an ultimate goal of mine; to WIN the ONC one year.  It's a long stretch, and just this alone feels like a major accomplishment in its own right.
          
          Now, for my writing journey going forward. 
          
          I'm currently working on two manuscripts, of which only one will come here to Wattpad. The other is a piece I'm writing in the hopes of getting published one day; which may happen, and may not. Perhaps it'll show up here after all XD. 
          
          However, since my track record for finishing pieces here on Wattpad hasn't been great as of late, I won't start publishing it until I have a completed first draft--sometime in January of next year. That means it'll be months before you see my next full-length work. 
          
          Still, I have some smaller projects in the works to make sure I stay active here on Wattpad during the interim. Those should be up by the end of this month,  so I'm looking forward to some smaller, short-term projects to intersperse with my bigger pieces, and HOPEFULLY kill this writing bug of mine where I disappear from here for months on end. 
          
          Well, if you've made it this far, thanks for listening to my spiel! I cannot thank the team that worked on the ONC this year enough for even so much as considering my work.  If anyone is interested in reading my ONC SHORTLIST worthy story, the link is below!
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/407439206-it-lies-within-onc-2026

It Lies Within is officially completed! It reached a total of 25K words, and I'm more or less with how it ended up turning out. There's a few things I'd change along the way, but I'm happy to present a fully complete story. 
          
          Now all that's left is a final editing pass and to submit it to the ONC. 
          
          I'm definitely ready for a short break from writing now. >.<
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/407439206-it-lies-within-onc-2026

This week, I've managed to publish TWO chapters for Will of the Woods, and It Lies Within is steadily approaching 20K words! It's still got a ways to go before I consider the story complete, but I'm glad I'm slowly making up for lost time. 
          
          Will of the Woods has gotten a lot of attention this week, and I finally feel like the plot is in a decent place for me to go forward. I've been running into a wall with this story repeatedly, and its great to finally feel like I've had a break through. 
          
          Stay tuned for the next update, and in the meantime, happy reading. 
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/397402334-will-of-the-woods

FINALLY I was able to get my next chapter of my ONC entry up. That certainly took longer than I expected it to, and I definitely disappeared there for a little while. 
          
          In other good news,  It Lies Within officially qualified for Round 2! It has now matched last year's entry, and I'm really hoping this time we'll qualify for round 3....as long as I finish it in time!
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/407439206-it-lies-within-onc-2026

Hey ashe what’s ur discord? I’ll add u

Whew, It Lies Within reached 8k words today! 
          
          It took me longer than I expected to get two chapter for it out, but at least I'm (mostly) on schedule still. And if everything goes right, I've entered into the ONC and should have qualified for round one! (fingers crossed I filled out the dang form right, I'm always paranoid about that)
          
          I didn't quite get everything accomplished this week that I would have liked, but the plan still holds similar to last week: a chapter for WotW, and a chapter for It Lies Within. 
          
          See you this weekend!
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/407439206-it-lies-within-onc-2026

Hello! How have you been? Back in the writing grind I think? I figured I’d catch up! I think we haven’t talked since last year maybe

The next chapter of Will of the Woods is FINALLY up! I wasn't happy with it by  last weekend (and I don't know if i am now either) so i kept tweaking it till I got the story going in the direction I wanted it to. 
          
          Because of the delay, I've decided to publish two chapters of It Lies Within before the 28th, so I can focus on editing the first chapter and get it entered into the ONC, and then another for WotW this weekend (fingers crossed!) 
          
          See you then. 
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/397402334-will-of-the-woods

Here's a book club, for anyone looking for one right now!
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/401167092-%F0%9D%90%86%F0%9D%90%A8%F0%9D%90%A5%F0%9D%90%9D%F0%9D%90%9E%F0%9D%90%A7-%F0%9D%90%86%F0%9D%90%A5%F0%9D%90%B2%F0%9D%90%A9%F0%9D%90%A1%F0%9D%90%AC-%F0%9D%90%81%F0%9D%90%A8%F0%9D%90%A8%F0%9D%90%A4-%F0%9D%90%82%F0%9D%90%A5%F0%9D%90%AE%F0%9D%90%9B

Hi there! I’m a manager for an event hosted in the Dreamland Community Discord server called Write That Sentence. I just wanted to let you know that your book was used for this event where players are given the blurb of a book and try to guess its real first sentence. They’ll write what they think could be the opening line, and then everyone guesses which one is real.
          
          Only the first sentence of your story and its blurb are shared, and everything stays within the game.
          
          If you’d like to see what people came up with or just check it out, you’re more than welcome to join the server! I can provide the link, if you like. 
          
          No pressure at all — I just wanted to be transparent and let you know!
          
          - Cait