All the Lies - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,30

two talked earlier in the night and I wasn't sure if you…”

She lets her voice trail off.

I shake my head vigorously.

“I'm not into guys, right now. Maybe not ever.”

I tell her this, but it’s a lie. That's the thing about a crush, it happens whether you want it to or not.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a crush, but there is something about Liam that has intrigued me. He has the kind of honesty that seems quite rare nowadays and I appreciate that.

Brooke points to her phone, but no new text messages arrive.

“Why would he just text me that and then not say anything else?” she asks.

“I have no idea.”

I forgot how much energy women spend analyzing text messages and what men have said or not said in them. Every comma, every emoji, or lack thereof gets analyzed for critical reasoning like an English paper quality standard assessment.

On the way back to her place, we pop into an Indian restaurant that makes the most delicious curry and put in an order to go.

While we wait, Brooke obsesses about Liam and I try to change the topic of conversation.

I pull out my phone and do some more research on D. B. Carter.

There are a number of Facebook groups devoted to discussing his work and I join all of them. There are also a number of forums that discuss his books and I make an account there to try to get some more information about where I can find him.

Once the Facebook group moderators accept me, I scour through the posts. Most of them are dedicated to gushing about the work, but there are a few people who wonder about the writer’s identity and how it is that he can put out so many books so quickly.

I ask Brooke about that and she shrugs and tells me that it's actually not that uncommon.

“Really? Do people really publish this many books?”

“Yes, you'd be surprised. Check out Bella Forrest or just about any other successful indie writer in the romance genre. Even Willow Rose, who writes thrillers. She has more than seventy-five books, at last count. Some people are really prolific and basically that's the thing that builds their brand and gets their readers to come back. Some people publish a book a month and they are quality, good books and their readers appreciate that.”

“Readers like you?” I ask.

She shrugs her shoulders and says, “Of course. You know me, I like to read a lot. It seems like nowadays, in the age of Netflix, what's the point of just reading one book if that's what you want to do for entertainment? The author I read has to have a big catalog so that I can really devote myself to their series.”

I agree with her. I hadn't really thought about the importance of publishing a lot in order to build a brand, but it makes perfect sense.

There's so much competition and there’re so many writers out there that the way to get people interested in you and to devote their reading time to your book is to have a lot of books published.

“Have you ever thought about writing anything?” she asks. “I mean besides articles?”

I shrug.

It would be a lie to say that I haven’t.

Of course I have.

A number of times.

I actually managed to write about 20,000 words of a novel before I couldn’t figure out what to do with the rest of the story and gave up.

“I know that you are a really good reporter and that you enjoy that kind of work, but I thought that maybe you would like to write some fiction as well.”

“Yeah,” I say, shaking my head. “It's kind of crazy to think about but why not, right? I'm just worried that no one would read anything that I would want to write,” I add jokingly.

“I think the attitude that you have to have is that you have to do it until.”

“Until what?”

“Just until. People will probably not like your first books. Hell, you’ll be lucky to even find anyone to read them, but if you take the long-term view and decide for yourself that you’ll keep going until then you’ll keep getting better. Better at writing. Better at marketing. Better at everything.”

Brooke pays for the food and I grab the bags.

She looks down at her phone to see if maybe Liam has texted back, but he hasn’t.

I let out a sigh of relief.

19

Liam

I don't have Emma's contact info, but I do have her sister's. We