Ashley Diers
YA Marching Band Rom Com
OUT OF STEP 89,000 words
Ashley Diers is an illustrator and letterer who received her BFA in graphic design from Iowa State University and did not yet notice a pattern in her teachers commending small pieces of her writing throughout the years. However, she found herself writing a novel after the notion of writing the
book you want to see refused to leave her head.
After leaving her hometown of Iowa to move to Colorado, she designed movie title typography for Netflix in a myriad of languages (none of which she speaks) while wishing the mountains were just a little closer to Denver. She’s also illustrated for craft fairs, galleries, YouTubers, book boxes, and authors.
She officially became an author herself when her short story “Just Another Heartbreak Plot” was chosen and published as part of the YA anthology All the Ways a Heart Burns: A Voyage YA Anthology.
When not writing or creating art, Ashley is on a mission to attend as many concerts from her teenage favorites as possible, since they never came to her hometown. She once visited four separate bookstores in a single day, the first of which she got married in—one of the others was home to a sweatered cat, who obviously comes up in conversation far more often than the whole wedding thing.
Ashley currently resides in Minnesota, where she can be found wandering local bookstores, exploring state parks, or drinking entirely too much iced chai, even in winter. OUT OF STEP is her debut novel written during NaNoWriMo and inspired by her own four years of playing flute in high school as well as her artistic background. She would love to illustrate the comics mentioned in the book and her
art is showcased on her website https://ashleyndiers.com/art
Pitch
A Senior Year List challenges an anxious artist to overcome art block by embracing off-field marching band moments in hopes of ending her anonymous webcomic on a high note, but using her adventures as inspiration threatens to unravel her new relationships and her heart.
Opening Lines
When I’m on the field, I know I'm exactly where I am meant to be.
I know my place in the world, starting five steps outside the 30-yard line, ending six steps inside the 40, traversing nearly every space between. Marching under stadium lights surrounded by a family of comfortable acquaintances.
Comp Titles
The Getaway List by Emma Lord
Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter