Hello, everyone!

Today, I am excited to announce the relaunch of my blog/website! For a long time, I wasn't sure if I would continue blogging since I had lost a lot of fire for the blogging world. But I wasn't convinced I wanted to give up. 

So, I decided to make this blog my author website and a hub for all updates, news, posts about writing, publishing, book reviews, and mental health. These are all topics I'm passionate about and want to blog about. 

Don't worry, I'm sure there will be a short story or poem here and there, just like in my old theme. 

If you're new here, welcome! My name is Brooke, and I'm the author of the dystopian/contemporary young adult novel, How We Rise. HWR is my debut novel, and you can find more info about it here. 

I self-published How We Rise on May 19th of 2020. Book two is under edits by yours truly before I contact my editor again.

- I started writing in 2014, when I was 15. I started writing How We Rise in August of that same year. And for the years until publication, I constantly rewrote the book, trying to find my voice, my sense of who I am as an author and writer, and what message I was trying to convey. The book itself was inspired by a conversation I had with my dad. 

- I am 21 years old

- I am an INFP, which means I am in a constant state of feeling things and wanting to express those feelings through more tangible outlets. (Aka, I'm bad with speaking what I feel hence why I write.)

- I am a 4w5 with enneagram, but I don't know much about what that means besides the fact it reinforces those INFP tendencies such as wanting to be creative and unique from the world, yet feeling misunderstood.  

- I love music. Spotify is my happy place. The app feels so safe. 

- My music ranges from Starset to Shy Martin to Fleurie to The Score. I listen to a lot of different music and I always have song recommendations. 

- I am a southern girl, born and raised. 

- I love God. I love Jesus. I don't write Christian fiction, as my books will have some dark content, but there will always be hope in my books, as well as morals. The classic Good vs. Evil themes. 

- Writing: things I've learned, tips I have, my own writing process, short stories, poems, book reveals, and more.

- Indie Publishing: considering it's the only publishing I know, I will be talking heavily on Indie publishing and why I chose Indie. I will also be giving you some insider tips for KDP, KDP Print, and Ingram Spark.

- Books: I am a book lover and crazy about books, which means I'd love to do reviews of books, talk about books in general, and more.

Mental Health: I have anxiety and depression and that can affect a lot of things, including writing, but even just every day function. A lot more people are talking about their struggles, but I want to talk about mine from the prospective of an author, dealing with things such as imposter's syndrome and the real feelings I had after publishing my first book. (Hint, they weren't all warm and fuzzy feels.)

If any of that sounds interesting to you, I'd love for you to stick around! I'm excited to begin this journey and to share it with y'all.