Brooke Riley | author

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

2 Comments

growing up is 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤

April 27, 2022

3 Comments

honesTEA tag

April 23, 2022

I was tagged by the creator, Nie! I love the idea of this tag and I also love Nie's blog so please go check her out! She is very aesthetic. Also, she gives the vibes the OG bloggers did and I think we should try to bring that back, y'all.

Anyway, on to the tag!

Here are the rules, because what is fun without the rules. I copy and pasted these from Nie's blog.

THE RULES

- no lies allowed. if an answer is too shameful to expose you may substitute the answer with a gif/image of someone drinking tea.

- there are optional bonus additions to questions but these are not for the faint of heart. if you complete the tag having answered every question + the bonus additions (no gifs used), you are dubbed a certified tea chugger, and you deserve a badge to show the world that you are not afraid of a steaming hot cup of TRUTH. tag at least one other person (a tea party with just one is not very fun. trust me.) untagged persons are more than welcome to fill it out as well (nothing cooler than crashing a tea party).

THE QUESTIONS + ANSWERS

what is a 'bad' (generally disliked) movie that you actually love?

This is a good question. Truthfully, I don't watch a lot of movies or TV. But a movie that I know a lot of people complain about that I personally liked would be Frozen or even Frozen 2. I don't like Disney all that much, but I relate to Elsa a LOT. And also can we finally have a Disney princess that doesn't need a man.

what is your most shocking reading habit?

Maybe the fact that I never read anymore. I wish I read more. Time gets away from me. It's honestly a shame. But that's the worst I do. I don't dog-ear pages and I don't tend to eat when I'm reading. Although I'm not opposed to eating while reading. I also don't hate broken spines, but I don't ever try to break my spines. If it happens, I don't freak out.

tell us the number one lie you write in your posts.

That I'll post more frequently. *sighs* It's hard to post. It's hard to come up with post ideas. The good old days of blogging feel so far away now. It almost feels like this blogging world is silent. No one really comments and posts go unread way more often. But I still love blogging. So every time I reinvent my blog, I say I'll be back but then life gets in my way. I do always have the best intentions, though.

tell us the worst character name you've ever thought up. {bonus: share a character name you find ridiculous in a book/movie}

I named a female character Clarity. I don't think that's the worst name ever, but when I go back to rewrite that entire project, I will probably change most of the characters' names. I think the intention with the name was that I liked Claire as a name, but it was being used a lot, and I liked the song Clarity by Zedd so I just... yeah. And as for a character name I find to be ridiculous... I love How to Train Your Dragon, but some of those names... they're hard to look past at first glance. 🙈

what is the real reason you procrastinate writing your work in progress?

I feel like it's not going to be good enough. It always feels as though I'm not enough. I question everything I do in a project and I lose the love for writing very quickly when that happens.

what is a genre of music you secretly love?

I do love some pop music. Most people who know me know that my main genre is rock. But some pop songs HIT DIFFERENT. And it's not entirely a secret because I will share songs to my Instagram stories randomly. But sometimes I'm not in the mood for my heavy metal. Sometimes I need soft, melancholy songs for my depression. And when you like rock, you're supposed to be rock and roll all the time. Sometimes I'm soft and sad.

(Dustin Bates of starset do be a poet, though.)

if you're a plotter, what do you really think of pansters? and if you're a panster, what do you really think of plotters?

I am in between. I plot a little, I write by instinct mostly. There's a balance for me. But, no matter what, I think it's wonderful that everyone works differently. I like that we all don't have a one size fits all writing routine. Maybe that's the INFP Type 4 inside of me, but I think everyone needing different things is beautiful.

share at least three lines of dialogue from one of your first writing projects {bonus: give us the good stuff. your most gruesome butchering of the English language)

Ooooh wow. Unfortunately, a lot of my oldest writing isn't on this computer or accessible. I guess I will have to put a tea gif, but I would definitely share some older things if I could.

tell us the title & artist of the last song you listened to.

Last full song I listened to, considering I was skipping around a lot on my release radar, would be Antisocial by Sam Tinnesz. It was in my release radar. I don't know how I feel about it. But Sam Tinnesz has a lot of good songs, especially for writing so definitely check him out. He seems to be trying to break out into more of a rock era and I don't know how I feel about it. But some of his older stuff is really good. I've always liked to play with fire.

which beloved book/movie character do you dislike & why?

About to hurt some people here.

*ahem*
*pulls out list*

The Darkling (He's evil and abusive and Leigh confirmed he's based on her abuser)

Kaz Brekker (no, he is not a charming morally gray man. He is gross)

Nina Zenik (Loved her in the original duology. Can't stand her in the Nikolai duology. I skip. her. chapters.)

And there's a lot more I could list but because I'm an author, I have to play nice 😇 I can't go calling out some people and their characters. *sighs* I'm not just an author, I'm a reader with an opinion, but I don't feel like getting canceled today.

tell us the title & topic of a post you have left in draft.

growing up is chaotic is the title and it's a poem. I don't know if I'll ever post it.

what is a book you pretend you've read/would like to read but know you never will? {bonus: share a time when claiming you've read a classic/well-known book didn't end well}

Most of the classics. A lot of people get shocked when I say I've never read Lord of the Rings. and for the bonus, I've never pretended to read a book. I'm too honest about that kind of thing 🙈 I don't specifically mention anymore that I haven't read classics. It used to be my favorite pastime annoying people with that fact but now I kind of think we shouldn't shame people for reading (or not reading) whatever they want.

tell us the title & topic of the most embarrassing post you've ever written. {bonus: include. the. link.}

None of my more embarrassing posts are available to the public anymore, and I don't think it would be productive to talk about their content, so I shall include another tea gif

This was so fun! This made me think of the days of old in this blogging world. I had so much fun answering these questions. I will now tag my best friend, Faith.

Thank you, Nie, for tagging me. I loved this very much!

4 Comments

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

just a lil update about this blog and life in general

March 22, 2022

*sighs*

sometimes, I get into the groove of writing posts. Then I go radio silent for a while. I started making this blog more poetic and about my words... but I have a lot of thoughts that are too big for Instagram captions and that I want people to read.

I want to invest real time and effort into this blog. But sometimes, that time and effort require energy I don't have.

I have thoughts on the world and on writing books that I want to talk about. Sometimes I do just want to post poetry and words I've been writing down.

So it's time for a change of pace. I'm going to remodel this blog. This means it may be under construction when you are reading this post. So don't be alarmed if it's all wonky. I'm shifting my focus to writing and publishing whatever the heck I want on this blog.

It could be a post about opinions of on the world.

It could be about books and writing them.

it could be something else.

I don't yet know exactly what I'm wanting to do, except everything and anything. I need the freedom to just do whatever I feel like doing. I love writing poetry and making aesthetic posts and sometimes I have opinions I don't know what to do with.

Being an author has made blogging harder for me, personally, because I want to be professional but I also want to just post whatever is on my mind at the time.

I fear getting canceled if an opinion I hold is too controversial but then again, I don't know how many people are going to read my blog. Maybe I'll bring in some new readers or maybe it will be my loyal tribe that's been here since day one.

Either way, there are more things coming.

I'm not dead and considering it's been a minute since I've posted, I'm sure y'all were wondering if I had taken up being a ghost, ready to haunt the world. While that sounds absolutely amazing at the moment, I am still a fleshy human being who has emotions and thoughts and feelings and nowhere else to put them except here.

So yeah, that's about it for now.

The remodel is coming soon or may be taking place when you read this. And then I will start publishing posts on anything I want to post about.

keep rising, friends <3

8 Comments

aesthetics

{f e b r u a r y}

March 03, 2022

8 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.

10 Comments

Writing Update: June 2022

growing up is 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤

honesTEA tag

rebranding + updates again and perhaps a small rant

just a lil update about this blog and life in general

{f e b r u a r y}

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

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