Katie Delahanty | The Real Story Behind IN BLOOM

My debut novel IN BLOOM was an accident. When I started writing it I wasn't trying to write a book; I was trying to save my job. I never set out to be a writer—I was always a reader, but writing my own stories never occurred to me. No, I wanted to be a fashion designer, and that was the path I followed after college, landing a position as an assistant designer for a new dress line being started by Diane Samandi, an established lingerie designer. We were just beginning to have some success—selling to stores like Anthropologie, Barney's, and Nordstrom—when the economy collapsed. The dress line went under and the lingerie line merged with a larger company. I was given a lingerie design position at the new firm, but it soon became apparent that my design skills weren't congruent with their more technical systems, and it was suggested that I try something else entirely, like starting the ecommerce website for In Bloom Intimates.

Building an online business from scratch was completely new to me and I tried to
learn the ins and outs of SEO, PPC and Facebook fans, but again, I couldn't
quite meet expectations. The numbers weren't good enough and I felt like I was
failing. My self-worth was at an all time low and things got even worse when
Google accused me of selling mail order brides and banned me from advertising.
In a last effort to drive traffic to the website, I decided to start a blog. The
problem was, I wasn't an expert in lingerie, and I had no idea what to write
about. In Bloom is predominantly a bridal lingerie line and I knew I wanted to
use lots of wedding keywords, so my solution to my content problem was to write
the blog as a fictional serial about a girl who worked for In Bloom and was
engaged. The blog was to be her live wedding journal. As I started to write,
though, I realized I couldn't plan her wedding without knowing how she fell in
love with groom...who was this guy anyway?

And it began. Relying heavily on my personal experiences for inspiration, I
started to tell Olivia Bloom's story. My real life leading man, my husband
Jason, was immersed in the Los Angeles music scene, and in the years post
college we'd had a backstage view as some of our friends' bands went on to
become world famous, while others, despite their success, couldn't keep it
together and broke up, and still others never got off the ground. Being a part
of this creative crew, but terribly shy, I was adept at hiding in corners at
celebrity parties, wondering how I got there.

And that was the basis for my story. I started writing about recent college
grad, Liv, who moves to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a costume
designer, but ends up designing lingerie instead. Along the way she is spun into
an It girl by her Hollywood-insider neighbors and a chance meeting with her
favorite rock star, Berkeley Dalton, ignites a whirlwind romance. I put all of
the emotion that stemmed from my own dreams and recent feelings of inadequacy
onto the page and the story took over. It started waking me up at night,
demanding to be told, and as Olivia Bloom fell in love with Berkeley Dalton, I
fell in love with storytelling.

For nine months I posted two chapters a week to "The Bloom Blog", live tweeted
in real time as eight of the characters, and eventually turned the whole thing
into a book with the intention of self-publishing it. But that was easier said
than done. I was having terrible bouts of self-loathing and I wasn't confident
in the story I'd written. I wanted another set of eyes on it before I sent it
into the world so I found an editor online that I wanted to work with me on it.
But I was scared. I was afraid she'd tell me I wasn't a good enough writer, and
I wasn't sure I could handle that, so I stalled—and made
excuses—until finally I decided enough was enough. Giving up fear, I took
a deep breath, and emailed her.

I'm so glad I did—she changed my life. Because of her, some crazy magic
swirled, and I ended up with an agent and a three-book deal. My head is still
spinning.

At its heart, IN BLOOM is about following your dreams and never giving up, even when it feels like you're failing. This experience has taught me that what seems like failure may just be life nudging you toward the right path. Be brave. Keep going. Dreams can come true...and in ways you never expected.