May 2016 – Liana Brooks

2016 May

Go Ahead And Trash It

I’m a firm believer in wearing clothes you can trash. Everyone needs at least one set of super comfy clothes for lounging in all day while reading a book, and one set of clothes for trashing. We call them Grubbies. During the first week of summer break the first project…

You Will Be Rejected (a reprint)

Originally Posted 7/15/13 Not: You might be rejected. Not: You’ll have a few rejections. Not Even: Well, if you’re only mid-list worthy you’ll have at least twenty rejections. You want to get published? Fine. You need to accept that every single day of your career will have rejection. Everything you…

Summer Is Coming

IT’S SUMMER BREAK!!!! You’d think that with four kids I’d be dreading summer break, but I’m not. During the school year I have anywhere between 8 and 12 alarms going off every day reminding me to do drop-off, pick-up, mandatory school volunteer work, homework, and chauffeuring to school events or…

It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledge That All The Great Novels Have Subplots (a reprint)

Originally Posted 1/17/13 Forgive my abuse of beautiful Jane Austen quote, but it is the truth. Every bestseller out there that I’ve read (which does exclude a few with sparkling undead and men named Grey) have subplots. Think Dresden, LOTR, Price of the Stars, Lost Fleet, or any of the…

Working In Groups

Raise your hand if you hate group projects. Raise your hand if you always take over a group project -or- do all the work because no one else will. Me? I’m both. I don’t play well with others because I do have a dominate personality, a strong idea of what…

Scientist Working To Develop a Phone That Can Send Messages Back In Time

“….one scientist believes that time travel is possible – and he has the design for a working ‘time telephone’, which he believes will receive messages from the future.” No, that’s not a quote from THE DAY BEFORE. However, that is exactly Dr. Emir’s plan in the Time & Shadows opening…

Yes, Virgina, You Need A Critique Group (a reprint)

Originally Posted On 2/5/13 Over the years I’ve taken a middle-of-the-road approach to critique groups. I waffled. I tried to see and accept opinions that I didn’t entirely agree with. And now I give up. You need a critique group before you publish. When you make the choice to move…

Broken Window Theory

Originally Posted 2/21/13 There are days where turning off the computer feels like a defeat. I turn off the computer at the end of my daily writing goals. Sometimes I have a number of words to write, sometimes I’m looking to edit a certain number of pages, sometimes I’m sending…

The Strange Emptiness of Success

You wouldn’t think there was a sadness attached to success. There should be elation. Perhaps celebration. There should be parades, and trumpets, joy! But as I clean my desk tonight and tuck away the notes and scraps and post-is associated with DECOHERENCE I realize I’m burying the corpse of Jane…

The Oldest Blog Post

I thought I would spice up this summer’s blogging with older posts from my previous blog (which you can still find at lianabrooks.blogspot.com). And then I read through. It was like the archaeology of my career digging through those old posts. Updates on the first draft of EVEN VILLAINS FALL…