Today we’d like to introduce you to Brooke Bentley.
Hi Brooke, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Just like the heroine Blake in my novel Sideline Confidential, I dreamed of becoming a sports reporter. I grew up cheering for the Houston Rockets and watching Lisa Malosky anchor coverage of the team. My high school senior yearbook predicted, “Found in 10 years: reporting on the sidelines.” I decided to pursue my master’s in journalism at the University of Southern California. After graduate school, I landed my first sports media job back in my hometown of Houston. As I tried to navigate both the exhilarating and exhausting demands of sports journalism, I thought about writing a novel like the Devil Wears Prada set in professional football. This novel had been percolated in my subconscious for years, but I was too immersed in the sports media world to write it. It wasn’t until after the birth of my first child that I got the motivation to start typing. The time away during my maternity leave and the challenges I was facing as a new mom with a demanding reporting schedule gave me a new perspective. Over the next few years, I wrote the manuscript intermittently while also having a second child. Then, I shelved it. I was busy “mommying” and working. It wasn’t until news broke about disturbing harassment allegations in professional football that I decided to revisit the novel with a new lens. I started with a blank page and renewed determination to detail the sexual politics women face in sports journalism. Be pretty but not too sexy. Know your sport but don’t outsmart the men. Be a great mother but don’t take time off from work. It can feel like an impossible tightrope. That’s what I set out to capture.
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?
There were definitely bumps in the road. Literally and figuratively. Navigating motherhood with the demands of sports reporting was challenging for me. I reported from the sidelines in the Texas heat during both pregnancies. Battling waves of nausea in 100% humidity while trying to appear polished in front of the camera tested me, but it was nothing like the early stages of motherhood. I grappled with little sleep, uneven hormones, and a layer of baby weight (which people are quick to point out when you work on camera.) Still, the hardest part was working the opposite hours of my family- at night, on weekends, and over holidays. After my second son turned a year old, I decided to take a break from sports journalism and work in nonprofit. I wanted to spend more time with my young children and husband and feel more connected to the community. Creating that distance from sports media ended up giving me the mental space to publish my first novel, which I consider to be the greatest accomplishment of my career so far.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I worked in sports media for over a decade, including two years as a media personality for the Houston Texans. For the last few years, I’ve had three jobs- nonprofit grant writing and fundraising, mommying, and writing. I wrote Sideline Confidential balancing those three commitments. Earlier this year, I began moving my career toward full-time writing as I poured my heart and soul into finishing and launching this novel.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
It took an abundance of determination and the selfless support of former colleagues, talented editors, and my beloved family and friends to make this book a reality. My former television co-host and longtime radio host, John Lopez, mentored me in the different stages of my career. He took the time to read and edit the first draft of my novel and assured me that “I had something here.” That gave me the confidence to forge ahead with the book. After the advance reader’s copies were printed, I sent one to legendary NFL writer and radio personality John McClain. When he told me how much he had enjoyed the book and hoped I would write a sequel, I took it as one of the most valuable endorsements of my work. I’m incredibly grateful to have that kind of professional support. But this novel wouldn’t have made it to the finish line without the encouragement of my ride-or-die besties and my amazing husband, Jeff Gunst- he never let me give up on this dream, and he has cheered me on every step of the way.
Pricing:
- Sideline Confidential is available on Amazon for $16.95
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.brookebentley.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brookiebentley/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bentley.brooke
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookiebentley
- Other: https://linktr.ee/brookiebentley
Image Credits
Al Torres
