Daily Inspiration: Meet Whitney Amazeen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Amazeen.

Hi Whitney, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi and thank you so much for having me! My name is Whitney Amazeen and I write romance novels for teens and adults. I’d like to say I always knew I’d end up writing, but it’s not true. My road to becoming an author is actually a quite funny one. I grew up with a hairdresser for a mom and spent a lot of time in salons with her. It only seemed natural that I would follow along in my mom’s footsteps. Though I’ve always been a voracious reader, I never considered anything literary for myself, despite my love for English, books, and writing.

When I was in cosmetology school, I often volunteered to work in the laundry room so I could sit and read, and sometimes write. I spent hours devouring novels instead of working on clients. I couldn’t help it. I enjoyed being transported to another world so much, I couldn’t quite seem to return to my own.

Eventually, I worked in several salons while also taking general education classes at my local community college. I took a creative writing class for fun and the instructor liked my writing so much that she encouraged me to write a book. I thought her words were nothing more than a compliment, but when I returned to my car after class, I sat and contemplated what on earth I would write if I were to ever draft a novel. I scribbled down some ideas, spent the next three years drafting a practice project, and completely fell in love with storytelling.

After that, I couldn’t stop writing. I released my first novel, One Carefree Day, in 2021 and I haven’t stopped writing since.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Aside from the process of writing a novel is an inherently challenging task, my largest obstacle so far has been the content covered in my novels.

One Carefree Day is a novel about a teen girl with OCD finding love while learning to manage her compulsions. It’s an Own Voices novel, and many of the experiences the protagonist, Willow, faces are inspired by my own. Writing about obsessive-compulsive disorder was a very triggering process for me, and though it felt good to breathe life into a topic with not nearly enough awareness, I’m relieved to move on from writing about rituals.

Something Bright and Burning is my second novel and it covers a number of dark topics. It’s a romance at its core, but the main character, Everly, is dealt quite a heavy dose of misfortune. She’s inspired by all the amazing, tough women I know, and I’m honored to give a character like her a voice, but her story was incredibly hard to write.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m an independent author who likes to write romances in which the main character is a traditionally underrepresented one–a character I would have related to and liked to read growing up.

As a young biracial child with OCD, it was hard to find many I could relate to. My hope is to reach young readers who might be able to find themselves in my characters and stories, to show them that they matter and they’re not alone.

My other goal is to shine a light on circumstances that might otherwise be kept hidden in the dark so I can bring awareness to important topics and reveal the truth about them, or at least a truth I have personally experienced.

What makes you happy?
As an optimist, there are SO many things that make me happy. I could break out into songs just thinking about it.

God and my family top the list, and I also feel my best around dogs, books, Disney movies, and almost every creative hobby in existence.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.WhitneyAmazeen.com
• Instagram: @WhitneyAmazeen
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhitneyAmazeenBooks/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WhitneyAmazeen
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@whitneyamazeen