With the release of HEARTBEAT just over a month away, I think it’s time I revealed the extreme lengths I have gone to for this next instalment of my Hollywood Hearts series.
I joined a rock band…
Let’s get two things out of the way first up:
- No, I’m not joking and yes, that really is me
- And no, I’m not having a mid-life crisis!
I’m in a rock band in the name of book research
This is partly true, anyway. You see, aside from books, my other love is music, and there was a time in my life when I was singing, writing and playing music with free abandon (you know when you were a teenager and there was this thing called Free Time?)
After I finished HEARTBREAKER, I’d hit a wall. Burnout, some may call it. Well, whatever it was, I just didn’t feel like writing and I suffer from what a good friend has coined ‘The Creative Curse.’
Yes, all you creative types out there, this is PROVEN thing (not that I believe in curses, not really).
I’m only happy when it rains and other 90s hits
At the beginning of this year I wasn’t really up for starting another book, but my delicate creative disposition was crying out for an outlet . . . which was when I decided it was an entirely reasonable and rational idea to join a rock band.
And so did fifteen other people my age! *pumps fist*
I’m very lucky that a music studio near me runs something called ‘The School of Rock’ for both adults and kids. For adults, it’s basically about getting a group of people together who can already play an instrument or sing, on a weekly basis, to play some tunes.
Then, after about 15 or so weeks of jamming, we put on a kick-ass show! And the thing that settled it for me? The rock genre was 90s ALTERNATE ROCK!!!!!!
Yes, I’m showing my age, but I finally time for me to live my dreams of being Shirley Manson in Garbage.
I got to sing some great hits from Garbage, the Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, and more, and we all had a blast! The best thing is that I met a great bunch of people and a few of us now get together each week to jam now that the School of Rock is over.
SO WHAT DOES PRETENDING TO BE A (MIDDLE AGE) ROCK STAR HAVE TO DO WITH BOOKS AND WRITING?
So much, it turns out. All along, I planned for Chloe Kemp, my gorgeous coming of age childhood Hollywood star, to fall for a rock star. And said rock star is in one of America’s hottest bands.
In HEARTBEAT, you’ll get to meet an interesting cast of new characters who are the other members of this rock band. I had so much fun writing them into Chloe’s story and I can’t wait for you to meet the band. (Only 38 days to go!)
ROCK ON!
Belinda Williams 