From late nights working in the club to bottle feeding his children in the early-morning hours after his shifts, owner of Ball & Chain, Zack Bush, channeled his new gig as a father into one as a writer. Bush’s debut children’s book, Made for Me, is out this spring and explores the bond between children and their fathers. “From the second my oldest was born, I was so overcome with emotion that I had to get it out somehow,” says Bush, gushing over his inspiration: his three-year-old son, Ace. Since then, another inspiration came, too—an infant daughter, Ava.
The book project came as a surprise to those who know Bush from his many years in the Miami nightlife industry. But just as he used his musical ear to revive the jazz club in Little Havana, he dialed into his hidden talent as a writer to make Made for Me happen. “I think I always had it inside me to write a children’s book. I just remember thinking it was so cool that kids had books dedicated to them, which always resonated with me,” he says. But venturing into the publishing world was, he admits, “one of the most challenging things I’ve ever accomplished.” While many people dismissed his idea as a whim, the harshest critics were fellow parents. “I must’ve had 10 mothers tell me, ‘Yeah, I tried that, too, it’s a phase,” says Bush, who was determined to write something special for fathers. “I wanted to get out my experience of oohing and aahing as a dad over the simplest things, and let it be known that it’s okay for a father to love the same way we usually see a mother love.”
Made for Me is out Mar 1 and is available to purchase on amazon.com.
