We’ve all been there before: Your car’s fuel meter hits E with no gas station in sight, a night out on the town wreaks total havoc on your bank account, or your stomach is left doing somersaults after consuming questionable meat products. Maybe you’ve even crashed a parent’s car in your driveway, or absentmindedly forgotten to thaw a turkey dinner for twelve. When these or other similar embarrassing situations arise, it’s nearly impossible to feel anything but mortified. Newly published author and C of C alumna Ashley Glenn Miller is here to tell you that she too has been there, but that there is no reason you can’t look back on those moments with a smile. Her witty and hilarious debut Common Senseless is a recap of her years spent in Charleston, where she demonstrated her smarts in the classroom, but fell a tad short on common sense during her day-to-day life.
The book, described as “a contemporary Clueless written in the raucous vein of Chelsea Handler,” is a collection of relatable essays that will have readers laughing along with Miller as she navigates throughout her undergrad years in Charleston. She may have stumbled along the way, but Miller shows us how she never failed to pick herself back up, embracing her “common senselessness” while laughing, learning, and always being herself. I sat down to talk with Ashley about Common Senseless, her career plans, and of course her alma mater, C of C!
Ashley Glenn Miller
Book: Common Senseless
Website: www.commonsenselessgirl.com
Twitter: @Common_Senseless
Year of Graduation: December 2010
Her Campus: Welcome back to the C of C campus! Living in fridgid Connecticut nowadays, what do you miss the most about Charleston and college life?
Ashley Glenn Miller: The easy answer to that question would be the weather! As for college life, I think most people my age would say being out in the real world is tough, having a 9-5 job, but my situation is not like that. I have this very traditional, unique path, so I still have a lot of freedom. I miss my friends, because not all of them have that freedom! As for Charleston specifically, I miss the city, because where I live right now isn’t like this. I wish when I was here, I took advantage of a lot more, but thankfully I feel like I’ve been able to come back and do a lot of the things I feel like I missed out on when I was here. The great thing about C of C is that it’s a school that you want to go back to, it’s not in the middle of nowhere, so there’s always a reason to come back and get a taste of the college life.
What led you to choose Communications as a major?
I guess you could say I decided on the major sort of by default. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to limit myself. I figured that regardless of what I wanted to do, a Communications degree could help me get there. I was also a Business minor as well, sort of by default too. I had to take some business courses as a Corporate Communications major, and I realized I loved the classes! I will be attending Babson College in the fall for my MBA.
In your book, you talk about all different Common Senseless situations you found yourself in throughout college, and what you took away from them. Could you share one defining moment in your undergrad career, common senseless or not and tell us what you learned from it?
I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that there is no one defining moment. Looking back at everything that got me to where I am today, I realize that when you’re in the thick of things, you don’t realize how much everything your doing and experiencing shapes you. I didn’t plan on doing what I am doing now, but all of my previous experiences, every little one, shaped me for this and prepared me for this.
Have you always envisioned yourself as an author, or was it these situations that inspired you to begin writing?
Absolutely not, I did not always see myself as an author. It was because of all my experiences that got me to this point, which led me to writing this book. I wanted to be a writer when I was younger the same way I wanted to be an actress, or a comedian or a teacher… I wasn’t really sure exactly what I wanted to do though. Because of this, I knew I didn’t want to pick one path and give up on other things that I loved. But with being an author, I get to do many things that I love. I get to write and I do motivational speaking, which is performing, and I get to be funny in my book. So I am getting to do everything I wanted to do, and authoring Common Senseless has made that happen.
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Suppose Common Senseless was made into a movie, who do you envision playing you?
I feel like I would play myself. I don’t mean that in a sense of “I’m the best actress, no one can play me!”, but I feel like with some practice, I could act myself out best.
Who are your inspirations as an author, and as a common senseless young woman?
As an author, I would say Chelsea Handler for sure, I think she is hilarious. Also just to generalize, I really look up to any young woman who has made a name for herself just by being herself. Mindy Kaling and Lena Dunham, I think they are great.
What was the creative process like for you when writing Common Senseless how did you go about becoming published?
I am a huge planner, so the first thing I did when committing to writing Common Senseless was to make a plan for how it was going to happen. I set up dates to have brainstorming, research and chapters done by, but nothing ended up going according to plan. That’s how it all started; I also did interviews with my family members and friends, asking them what kind of commons senseless mistakes they have made. I sifted through my responses to find the ones that were most common, mistakes everyone has made, and the funniest ones. I did self-editing and had people close to me edit my work before I actually sent anything in to be edited. During the entire process I constantly editing, adding and taking away stories.
In terms of publishing, I did a ton of research and I spoke to lots of people about self-publishing versus working with a publishing house. I ended up choosing self-publishing, because I wanted to publish the book quickly and efficiently. I worked with CreateSpace to help me through the process, and they are oddly enough based in Charleston! They have a very straightforward and easy process that I feel anyone could navigate. People say to me ‘You wrote your own book, I could never do that!’, but I always tell them that the only thing stopping you is yourself. The tools are out there for anyone to succeed.
In 10 years, do you still see yourself authoring books, or is there another career path you would like to venture down ?
Common Senseless, the book, has inspired me to create Common Senseless, the company. There’s so many different paths I could see it taking. The path I am most hoping for is to do motivational speaking geared towards a certain demographic, such as high school seniors going off on their own for the first time. I want to go to Babson and earn my MBA to figure out where it is I would like this growing company to go. I hope to build a brand and become the Common Senseless girl.
You give some awesome general life advice in the last chapter of your book, such as “Don’t rush your life” and “Dream bigger than reality”. What was one piece of advice you wish someone had told you during your undergrad years?
It’s hard for me to answer this question, because through all of this, I’ve realized it’s important not to have regrets, and that making mistakes often brings you to where you want to be. For example, I could say that I wish that people told me to go to the Career Center, because I wish I had more of a path or because I wish I was more on top of finding out what I want to do, but it’s because of all this that I am doing what I love today. The biggest thing I can tell people is that no matter if you have a plan or not, you have to be open minded. You have to have open eyes and open ears as well, there’s something you can take from every conversation and every person you meet.