First Rule of Book Club: You Do Not Talk About Book Club

I have awesome friends.

No, really, I can prove it. How, you ask? Don’t question me, hypothetical reader. Wait, I didn’t mean it. Come back. Look, here’s how I know I have awesome friends:

They started a book club to discuss my novel.

To clarify: they did not decide, at an existing book club, to discuss my novel next. They formed a new book club, willed it into existence, ex nihilo. That right there is the kind of thing that could inflate a writer’s ego, if it weren’t already the size of Texas. (Which you’ll note is only the second-biggest state.)

The new book club’s first decision: the author should not be present for discussion. They kicked me out. Which is an excellent idea. Nothing spells disaster for a free exchange of ideas like someone hovering over your shoulder the whole time.

So they discuss in private, and then, like some reality TV contestant, I’m summoned into the room to receive their judgment. (Book club says: you are not the father!)

And these awesome friends of mine, they are awesome not only because they’re doing this in the first place, but also because they are honest about their feedback. Yeah, don’t worry, they don’t like me that much. Which is great even when it’s just one person, but a group is even better. When you get feedback from a group, you can ask questions like, “Did the whole group think this or just one person?” Looking at which points people agree on, and which they don’t, helps separate the more objective advice from the more subjective – although of course it’s not an absolute rule.

So, yeah. Awesome friends are awesome.

All right, three-day weekend is over, back to work. Joke’s on them, though, it’s a four-day week. HA!