Brooke Riley's Blog, page 3

books everyone should read at least once in their life

Books shape everything for me. I wasn't always a writer. I didn't start off at the age of seven knowing I wanted to write. In fact, I HATED writing.

But I loved books.

I loved reading. Be it for school or for fun, I loved to read.

There are books that I remember from my childhood and books I've read recently that have changed me. The thing about literature is that it can rewire the brain.

I'm currently reading a nonfiction book in part of a challenge I am doing that started in May and ends August 1s...

stop chasing algorithms, chase authenticity

what do you see the moment you open your eyes in the morning? what awakens you to the world outside your room? I know more often than not, a lot of us will fall prey to the cell phone sitting on our bedside tables, looking for a quick hit of dopamine. Sure, the self-help books and videos tell us not to use social media within the first hour of waking up, but it’s just this time, right?

Besides, I’m tired and I didn’t sleep well and I just want to take a moment to rot in bed before I have to force...

Generative AI, BookTok Drama, and Other Book-Related News

Sometimes I ponder why we can’t have a calm, normal time on BookTok, but I am reminded that such a thing does not exist. Because social media breeds drama. It desires to bring the negativity to the surface and make you forget outside, there is a world of human beings, of nature, of grass that possibly you should go touch.

Let’s just dive right in.

Generative AI And Why I Hate It.

It is no secret that I hate any form of AI.

I am tired of AI being normalized in today’s culture. But I am not here to g...

Why The Clean Fiction Movement Is Ruining Great Fiction

*Disclaimer: The following article is a matter of opinion. We are all entitled to our own opinions and this one is mine. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to scroll on by. But I feel like this is something that needs to be said in the current culture of the book community. No hate will be tolerated in the comments.

It’s finally here! This long awaited post that I’ve been talking about writing for months now! I know quite a few of my readers were very excited to hear my thoughts on this topic. ...

Stop Comparing Every Dystopian Novel To The Hunger Games

Time to get ✨controversial✨ about dystopian novels.

I feel like I have a bit of expertise in this genre, and I’m not saying that because I published a dystopian trilogy. I’m saying that because I genuinely LOVE dystopian. I eat, breathe, sleep dystopian literature.

Is it messed up to constantly read, write, and consume dystopian content when the literal premise is a world going bad and over-arching government oppressing it’s people? Probably. But I eat it up.

So, because I have spent a lot of time...

Books and Birthdays

This book is turning FIVE today! On May 19th, my birthday, five years ago I hit publish on my first novel. A YA Dystopian Realism novel about fighting for what you believe in and protecting the ones you love at all costs.

But this book was born long before it was introduced to the world.

One August evening, as we were outside in the Texas summer heat, my parents were watering the yard. I was fifteen and had just begun to discover my love of writing. I wrote short stories based off a website that ...

Announcing My Current WIP

Hello.

It’s been a little bit.

To be honest, it’s been chaotic. I went on vacation and then I got sick. I’m working on a post about why the marketing and push of “Clean” Fiction is ruining the publishing industry. (A controversial topic I’m scared to publish…)

But I’m starting to finally push through this cold, and push past the fog of returning to every day routine after vacation. Kind of sucks, but it’s okay.

However, that’s not why I’m here today. I’m here because I’ve decided that you all should...

one month without Instagram update

Yep, it’s a little more official.

I removed Instagram from my linktree.

But here we are, a month without Instagram as a marketing tool. And where do I stand at a month without Instagram?

Well… I’ve not been good about staying off entirely. I keep logging into my personal account. Sometimes, it’s hard when there may be things you want to share with the people you know in person and not with followers on other platforms.

But I’m hoping that in the coming months, I can detangle myself entirely from bei...

twenty-something

it starts when you’re twenty, but it doesn’t feel like you’re twenty.
it feels like you’re eighteen.
it feels like nothing has changed and you’re scared of the world.
the world wants to cave in and you don’t know how to fight it.
it’s the anxiety to figure it out because if you didn’t figure life out at
eighteen
nineteen
you’re twenty now, you should know something.

and now you’re twenty-one and things change.
maybe you drink those drinks, maybe you don’t
either way it doesn’t matter because you’ll feel ...

yet another rebrand?

I know, I know.

How many times am I going to rebrand my substack?

There is a method behind my madness… most likely. I tend to rebrand a lot. But the reason this time is that “Ramblings of an Author” was a very niche place. I was writing for writers and authors. And there is nothing wrong with that.

But I have more to talk about than writing and being an author. There is so much on my heart that I want to talk about with this substack. I don’t want to fit myself into a shape, into an idea of what I ...