Welcome to another episode of my podcast.
Yesterday, I sat in on my first gathering of a book club. It was so much fun, I want to join one. That is a common feeling for a reader, who loves books and just wants to read and talk about what was read. These ladies (and yes, it was all ladies) really liked the book that had been read, and the author was present, so they got a good chance to ask her questions about the book that they wanted answered. The author was delightful and well, you should know, she is a friend of mine, and a fine author. NO wonder they loved her book. I love her books too.
Now for those of you asking, this is what a book club is and what they do:
A book club is a reading group that chooses a book to read once a month and then they get together and discuss it. IF they are lucky, like the case I am telling you about here, they have the author in and get to learn more deeply about the writing of the book, what inspired the author and what she felt when she wrote certain scenes.
I only aspire to this height. I haven’t yet been the subject of a book club gathering, but I hope to one day. I love readers. Heck, I am one! I think that reading groups and book clubs are just the bees knees.
You can find them all on the internet if you are not able to get to a library. I think getting together with a face to face group would be just super fun though. Libraries and community centers usually have something along these lines, so check all the possible places. And like I said, if you cannot find anything local, then look online. There are many online, I know because I just went out and looked into it. I am seriously considering joining one, just because I love to read so much.
Well, maybe that’s a job for another month, though. I just got two of the author’s books at the meeting yesterday, so I am full of new books to read right now. In fact, my to-be-read pile is about to topple over.
One of the final and wonderful things that the moderator said yesterday was for the readers to be sure to go out and rate and review the book for the author. I was so pleased to hear that. Authors need ratings and reviews to keep them on top of their game. I received a bad review one time. It really hurt my feelings, but I have since learned that you won’t always hit the mark with every reader. It’s cool. They don’t mean any harm by telling you that you fell short of the mark. That bad review should make you good and mad, so you go out and do better. I know it affected me that way.
And good reviews? Oh my. Those make an author’s heart sing, and sends us right back into that writing chair to turn out another book. Good reviews are as addicting as a drug that is only taken once and is sought after with a vengeance every day thereafter.
Well, I guess, that’s about all I had to talk about this time.
I am going to be working on my next book soon, and no not through Nano. I don’t guess I will ever do Nano again. Nano is short for Nanowrimo or National Novel Writing Month and it is all in November. I have done it many years, but nah…not this one. But I still need some encouragement to finish this book I’m writing, so please remember to pat me on the back once in a while. It’s so hard to make myself sit down and write these days. I find avoiding the writing chair a very easy feat and that’s only because basically I am lazy, but also, well, since my hubby died, I just don’t have much inspiration or motivation aside from normal life things. I think I need a book club. It would get my lazy butt moving in the right direction.
What do you think?