Brooke Riley | author | bookworm: writing

Writing Update: June 2022

June 04, 2022

Hello and welcome back to my humble little blog!

Before we begin, let me address the elephant in the room. My blog name, URL, and appearance has changed a little. I needed something more neutral and this is my author blog. I talk about my books, writing advice, and a little about my life. While I'm not entirely sure I won't go back to Everglow (I have an identical blog header made with the title "Everglow" instead of my name just in case), I want this place to be like an author website. This is where you'll get more in-depth content that I don't post on social media. I loved having my blog named after a Starset song, but this change feels necessary.

But I'm going through a season of changes. So I don't know what I might decide in a week or two. It's truly hard to navigate what I want with my branding right now. So bear with me on that. Now... onto the writing update!!

The last time I made a writing update was in November of 2021 so I felt like it was high time I gave y'all an update. As you know, I have two young adult dystopian books out called How We Rise and United We Fall. I am currently working on the third and final book to the RISE trilogy, called Here We Stand.

Currently, my critique partner is reading through my book to give me feedback. I'm going to go through it when she finishes it, go over her comments and overall feedback, and edit some chapters that I know need some work. Then I'm going to work on scheduling my editor. And hopefully, this book will be ready before the year is over. Because I'm ready for it to come out into the world. I'm also ready to fix up the other two books and their formatting errors.

In terms of a timeline... I don't have one yet. It's harder for me to put down a timeline when a lot of the big steps to making a book a reality have not been put in place. I truly want this book to be out this year.

This book hasn't been the easiest to write. Endings are hard to finish. Goodbyes are hard to give. These characters have been a constant in my life for many years. Letting them go is a struggle. Yet at the same time, I've grown as a writer. My voice has changed over the years.

The other issue is I have expectations, not only from myself but from my readers as well. And it's made me super scared to get this book wrong. It was recently that I finally decided that this book has to be what I need it to be. Because if I don't write it how I want it to be written, I will never be happy with it. And while it's hard to deal with writing these characters for the last time, I know that I'm finally on the right track with this book.

If you follow me on Instagram (which you totally should), you'll have seen some quote posts from the third book. I love posting quotes from my books because they help remind me that there are good lines among the ones that I feel need help or fixing.

So that's basically it for the writing update. I know this was short, but it's all I have for now. If you'd like to keep up with my writing journey, follow my Instagram. I post frequently and I'm always posting to my stories.

Until next time...

Keep Rising <3

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author

rebranding + updates again and perhaps a small rant

March 23, 2022

Okay, so I'll point out the obvious. We have a new look around here that I am absolutely in love with. I stumbled upon this blogger template by accident and loved that it let me keep my lowercase letter aesthetic on the sidebar.

Now that my blog is looking spiffy, I want to talk about how I'm going to be rebranding.

This blog will serve as a place for me to get my thoughts out and connect with my readers. If you're new, hi, I'm Brooke and I'm the author of YA dystopian novels How We Rise and United We Fall. My brand of dystopian is a bit different from what is usually found. If you're interested in my books, you can find links under the "my books" tabs.

But I am actually working on reformatting my books and fixing some errors that happened in the publication process. Because yes, I am an indie author and that means a lot of the workload falls squarely on my shoulders.

I take my writing seriously, as well as publishing, which means I go through the most professional route possible. I have a lovely editor and a wonderful cover designer, but all the formatting and final processing of files fall on me. And I'm a human being who makes mistakes. So if you want the first editions that will eventually be gone from publication and perhaps worth a lot of money when I'm a rich and famous author... 👀

In seriousness, these books are my heart, despite the minor flaws inside them. I know a lot of readers get annoyed with indie authors having any errors, no matter how minor, but we're trying our best I promise. Not all indie authors are equal in what effort they put into their books so don't judge us all by those who don't put effort into making their books professional. There are a lot of us who are working on changing the industry and making professional books.

For instance, Abbie Emmons and her sister, K.A. Emmons. You've probably heard of 100 Days of Sunlight. 😌 A lot of people have no clue it's an indie book.

Anyway, indie author rant aside, welcome to my rebranded blog. I'm leaving my old posts up as they are part of my journey to this point.

This new space is going to be where I talk about the things on my mind, about writing books, sharing about my current projects, and just ranting in general. Sometimes I may post poems or short stories, or even just Pinterest images that make me feel something.

This blog is going to be a random and wild place for me to express myself in words. Kind of like the good old blogging days. (If you remember those, you're a rock star.)

I'll also probably share some thoughts I have on being an indie author and advice for any aspiring authors who aren't sure if they want to pursue traditional or indie publishing.

I'm open to suggestions also, so if any of these posts are of interest, or if you have suggestions, comment them down below!

I think that's it for now.

Keep rising, friends <3

11 Comments

aesthetics

{ w o r d s } thoughts and feelings I didn't know what to do with

February 03, 2022

I think we as humans have forgotten how to process our feelings before screaming them into the void that is the internet. We don't let them sit in our minds. We speak before we think. Journals are a thing of the past. We type away on our computers and phones, taking the broken-hearted energy we've built up so the moment we see something we don't like, we scream at the stranger on the internet, who is only ever going to chalk us up as a hater or troll.

We don't let ourselves feel all the things we need to anymore. As children, we scream and cry when we've had enough. As adults, we bottle up every hurt, storing it in the jar of our hearts. Every word, every action, we let it add up in the jar like money for swears.

We don't let ourselves cry or scream into our pillows anymore. We just keep going until the moment someone online sparks the match to the brush built up around us.

Then all we are is fire and smoke, embers and flame. Burning, Burning, Burning until all that's left is ruin and ash, a disaster. We don't feel better, but at least our misery has company, right?

We don't tear others down to build ourselves up. We tear others down to not be alone in our misery.

If we knew how to feel, how to think, how to breathe, we'd start less fights, wage less wars.

There's always going to be injustice.
There's always going to be something wrong in this world. But hate will never solve the problem.

Words are powerful and there is a human being facing the screen. A person who feels. A person who will store up every word spoken to them online. A person who will go away broken, battered, bruised, and take their turn yelling until the fire has spread and devastation is all that's left.

Love is the firebreak

Love is the water

Love doesn't spread as loudly or as confidently as hate. Love is a quiet emotion, shown more in action than in words, making it hard to notice sometimes.

Love doesn't announce itself or demand recourse.

Love exists to heal the parts of our ever-broken hearts and make them a little less... well, broken.

It can be hard to love in a world of darkness and mayhem and pain. But love is the key to which we seek.

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author

hot topic: your book isn't going to write itself

January 05, 2022

something I struggled with in the majority of 2021 was taking my writing seriously. I let imposter syndrome fill my head up with doubts and insecurities about my writing. I hyperfocused on how my Instagram stopped growing and has not gotten above 435 followers. (and before you say "it's not about the follow count" I have a post coming up soon on why, as an author or a business owner, follower count does matter and why you shouldn't be shamed or shame others for that. so keep an eye out for that.)

I stopped believing in myself. It didn't matter that people told me they loved my books.

it didn't matter that my critique partner and best friend would read through some older manuscripts of new stories and tell me how much she loved them.

it didn't matter that I sold a lot of preorders for my second book.

it didn't matter.

none of it mattered.

I stopped believing in myself and my writing.

I stopped taking my writing seriously.

In 2021, I had nothing to show for my writing. I had a book published in September that I drafted originally for NaNoWriMo 2019. That book was a labor of a few years of work. Even though it was published in 2021, it was mostly done by the beginning of the year.

I didn't value my writing or my dedication to it.

Some days, I thought about quitting after I got my third book out. Because a promise I made to myself going into indie publishing is I would never leave my readers hanging. I would finish what I started.

A couple days into this year of 2022, I made a choice.

If I want writing to be career...

If I want my books to sell, to be known, to be loved by readers all around...

If I want to be able to make money doing the things I love to do...

I'm going to have to write. and I'm going to have to do it even on the days I'm not loving it.

I'm not saying I'm going to write every day. I'm not even saying I'm going to have a set routine because honestly, with my work schedule, and my life schedule, I can't have a super-specific time of the day to sit down for hours and write.

But I can carve out enough time on some days to chip away at my book.

I can write instead of watching a twenty-minute youtube video.

I can write in the five to ten minutes I'm cooling down from working out.

I can write thirty minutes before I go to bed.

I can write in the middle of the day.

I can and should write.

This is what I want to do with my life. And I wasn't taking it seriously because I felt like no one else was. And guess what? they probably weren't.

Because if I couldn't take my writing seriously... why should they? what trust or hope can they put in me if I'm just brushing aside my writing?

Writing Book Three has been a challenge. It's a challenge because last books in a series or trilogy are full of pressure. They either suck, or they soar. And obviously, I want mine to soar.

But I let my doubt and fears prevent me from even writing it or working on it too much.

If you don't write the book, it is going to suck because it's not going to exist in the first place.

So my challenge to you is this: if you want writing to be your career, be it part-time or full-time, if you want people to value what you have to offer this world, if you want people to take your craft seriously... you have to be the first person to do that. It can't be someone else. it's you in this journey, not them.

and the fear of bad reviews or people hating what you have to offer is hard. but it's also inevitable because no book is for everybody.

so go out there and write.

take your book seriously.

and take care of yourself.

drink some water and get some food and get off the fricking YouTube videos. Go create your future as a best-selling author.

11 Comments

aesthetics

{p o e t r y} i was lost

November 26, 2021

7 Comments

blogging

{w r i t i n g} post wip depression

November 03, 2021

I had a different post planned... but I'm writing this the night before you'll see this because... there's something I want to talk about.

I saw a reel on Instagram the other day about post wip depression and I've realized that it's affecting me deeply after finishing book three. I finished book three on October 30th. And it was exciting and amazing... but it also hurts.

those characters have been with me since I was in my younger teens. they've helped raise me. and as I take on a November writing challenge with a goal to write every day... I'm struggling. I did not add words to my wip today. I had no excuse, either. I literally sat in front of my computer for almost two hours total, doing other things when I could've been writing. and part of me is beating myself up for it. but part of me... hurts. I miss my beloved characters. and while I know I still have to edit the book like crazy and take time to perfect everything about it before it's published, the big part is over. the drafting is over. their stories have a definitive beginning and end now.

and my heart hurts from that.

and while I know I'm not ruling out spin-off books or short stories or other things, it's hard to really jump into a new wip, even one I'm excited to work on. because there's this lingering sadness from leaving behind a world I have been in for many years.

And so I wrote this post for anyone feeling that way as they jump into NaNo or whatever project they may have. it's okay to miss what you used to have. it's okay to miss the characters that helped you grow. it's okay to miss something you've grown used to and is now suddenly gone.

you'll find more worlds to get lost in. and no one is stopping you from going back to visit if you need to. it's okay to need time to process between wips. take that time to let the healing begin.

take care of yourself, friend. I know there's so much pressure in November to write a novel, but you don't have to put that pressure on yourself if you're not ready yet. it's okay to take time to yourself to process everything and say goodbye to the stories that raised you.

and remember, new worlds will always be here waiting when you're ready to enter them.

keep rising, friend. <3