We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Heather J. Bennett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Heather, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’m not sure, if you’re hoping to be any good, that you ever finish learning your craft. There’s always something new, something that suddenly clicks, a different point of view to see. It’s what makes the process so interesting, especially when I go back to read something I’d written a few years back. I can see such progress and the entire process of how I work has changed. I’m constantly growing, and it’s exciting sometimes to see where you’re headed.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m happy to share a bit about myself. I’m a newly published author, but not new to writing. I’ve been doing that for as long as I can remember. I was always interested in music. So much so, that when I went to college, initially, I started out as a Communications major because I really wanted to be a dj in Manhattan. However, as the months rolled by, and I the beginner courses were thoroughly uninteresting. I did not care about the ions and how the music was transferred to the tower… I just wanted to play the music and meet the rock stars. In my spare time, I was writing – poems, short stories, novels, 10-page letters. Writing, writing, writing. That’s when it clicked that I should be an English major and I added a concentration in Creative Writing.

As it happens, life and bills tend to get in the way, so what I ended up doing career-wise was not become an overnight successful best-selling author. The day job in Marketing for an awesome Native-American owned engineering company lets me use my creativity in other ways and I get to hang with some fantastic people every day.

But, in between college and now, it’s been a roller coaster. I kept my fascination with rock stars and delve into their lives in books now, creating stories that go beyond the cliche ‘sex, drugs, and rock and roll’ and try to focus on the lifestyle of that kind of success, what that rock star is doing off-stage, how they grind out the hits, how they balance life and loves. I am still interested in how an individual finds the kind of stamina and courage to chase that kind of life. It’s not all glamor and I concentrate my stories on making the rock star human.

‘Letting Go’ is my first novel. When my then-job was suddenly dissolved overnight, I used the time in between job hunting to focus on writing, editing, and creating the story. It was definitely a learning curve, but overall, I’m proud of the story and just gave the cover a refresh.

‘Expecting to Fly’ came about during COVID. Again, the company I worked with dissolved my role. Looking for work in a pandemic was petrifying, so I kept myself sane by writing about a rock star that had to come to terms with his band breaking up and it blossomed from there. This one also got a new cover recently.

Then the rock stars kept talking! I found a fantastic new job here in Texas and dove into life here in Dallas with both feet. Once I made the move, I decided that I was done putting my writing on the back burner. I considered that if I wasn’t going to take this seriously, no one else would. So, I found an amazing critique group locally that has helped tremendously in tightening my craft. And I’m part of an online community that meets every second Saturday for a full day on Zoom to talk books, characters, craft, workshops, and everything in between. Both are immensely supportive and have a wealth of knowledge to share.

I used that knowledge to create my third novel, ‘Flipping the Record’ that was released in September 2023. And now that the world is open, I reached out to local independent bookstores like Talking Animals Books in Grapevine, and Patchouli Joe’s in Denton. Both were welcoming and invited me to have a book signing. That kind of encouragement and community support makes all the difference to someone who’s not really all that confident in the process yet. I’m thrilled to say ‘Flipping the Record’ has been my most sold book to date and has received some wonderful reviews, including an ‘Editor’s Pick’ with Publishers Weekly BookLife.

And I’m not done. I’m hoping to release my fourth novel, ‘Helplessly Hoping,’ this Spring.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

One of the most rewarding aspects of being creative is watching the characters and world and story you create come to life. One day, I get a flicker of an idea about some random character who entered my brain somewhere and made themself comfortable. Months, heck, years later, I’m holding a book. These random thoughts and ideas I had are a psychical object that others can now absorb and enjoy. Those characters get to live in their brains now. When someone tells me my words made them laugh or cry – there’s no better feeling in the world.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Oh, social media… I struggle with this as do most creatives. I know some make it look so easy, but for me, it’s a constant slog. My advice is to keep grinding at it. It’s a necessary part of getting your name out in the world and for people to find you, so keep at it. Be authentic.
Find what you’re comfortable with, doing the things you’re comfortable doing.
Just because someone says they got a gazillion followers doing a video doesn’t mean you have to do a video. Don’t just hock your wares – share things that are interesting about the topic you’re creative about, and keep building.
Don’t let the consistent changing algorithms break you and don’t, under any circumstances, spend more than you can afford.

I’m still building my platforms, so if you’re interested in seeing what I’m doing, feel free to give my Facebook and Instagram pages a like and head over to my website to get notifications (promise no spam) about upcoming releases.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://heatherjbennett.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heatherjbennett_official/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heatherjbennettnovelist/