What Inspired Finding Zen
I do my best thinking in the shower. Yep, I said it. Not just a normal shower, though. I like to turn off all the lights and turn on Pandora and just let my mind wander in the dark. Sometimes I listen to the music, sometimes it’s just background noise while my mind wanders.
If I’m feeling stuck on a story or not sure where to go, I can always work out where I want to go next with this method. Maybe it’s unconventional, but so am I so it works.
I read like crazy. When I say that, I mean I read obsessively. Usually one or two books every single day. I like to find an author I like (currently Tessa Bailey is a fave!) and work through their entire written works before I move on to someone new.
Now that you’ve got some background, you’ll understand everything a little more clearly. Because I read so much, I knew I wanted to try my hand at writing a book. I knew I wanted it to be romance. I also knew I wanted it to be a series because those are my favorite books to read. I love when the story shifts to another new couple but you still get little updates on the couple(s) you fell in love with in past books.
Other than that, I had no idea what to write about. One afternoon I was taking one of my “thinking showers” and listening to Pandora like normal letting my mind wander. The next thing I knew, the song “The Hills” by The Weeknd came on (listen to it in the Finding Zen playlist here) and I found the lyrics intriguing.
The idea that this guy was a celebrity, a famous musician, and had all these hookups and was living this rockstar life was intriguing to me. The lyrics were crass and uncomfortable and that’s actually what made me dream up a story where a guy could go from saying things like “I only call you when it’s half past five” or “I just fucked two bitches before I saw you” to being head over heels in love with someone and sort of reformed in a way felt like a story I wanted to explore.
Because I knew I wanted Zen and Kennedy’s story to be the first book in a series (yes, I always bite off waaaaay too much when I dive into something new and writing is no exception) I knew that the story would be Zen’s but that he had to be in a band. There was too much to explore in the world of Shadow Phoenix to leave it at one book which felt just right to me.
The other side of the story is Kennedy’s and it’s a personal one to me. While her and I aren’t the same person AT ALL, we do have some similarities. I felt like it was important that the heroine of this story be strong and capable but experiencing her own struggle, one that I suffer with in my own life. It was cathartic writing the struggle from her perspective (which is not my own) and watching her fight her way through it has inspired me in my own life and shown me that I’m just as capable as her.
So there you have it, the inspiration behind Finding Zen. I hope you love it as much as I loved writing it. I’ll forever be attached to Zen and Kennedy because they both taught me how to do what I love most: Tell love stories.
Happy reading,
Heather