Category Archives: Book Club

Books All Writers Should Read?

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One thing I’ve really loved about throwing myself back into fiction writing is learning about it (again).

I say “again” because I learned some in high school, as we all did, and learned a lot in college, as an English major, but since then, I let the “learning” aspect slide for years and years.

The book club, of course, helped: When I finally moved from scanning Parenting magazine in 15-minute intervals to sitting down and enjoying entire novels again, I started the book club with my friend Barbara and got to jump back into reading/learning again and — JOY! [I say that in my imagination like a chorus of angels. …]

But when I started writing fiction again a few years ago, I upped my learning game. Wow. Continue reading →

The Writer’s ‘Day Job’

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As an aspiring romance writer, I’m one of those who loves to scour authors’ web sites for “how I got started” stories.

I love the tales of “well, I was an accountant for 14 years, and decided to write this story that wouldn’t leave my mind …” or “I was a high school English teacher who had an active imagination …”

These stories always lead me to think about day jobs – the ones the writers had, the ones they might have – and wonder what might be the perfect one.

Is it easier for an author to be the writer in a PR company – where you’re writing all day and 2,000 words is absolutely no problem? Or is it easier to be something that has nothing to do with writing – someone who stares at spreadsheets all day, for instance, and can’t wait to get home to whip up some great dialogue? Is it helpful to work with plenty of people for inspiration – a library, perhaps? Victoria’s Secret? A doctor’s office? Or does it help if you have some off-beat, interesting job – like an archeologist or a member of the Peace Corps? Maybe it’s nicer to work at home in solitude, where you can switch to your novel file at a moment’s notice? Continue reading →

Eichler Homes: Loveliness in Walls of Glass

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So awhile back, I said I was going to write in more detail about some of my favorite houses, since I’m quite smitten with homes for some reason.

One of the really cool ones I’ve had the pleasure of entering is Bookclub Lauran’s house, which is an original Eichler home.  It’s everything “midcentury” that Superman loves and everything “outdoors-in” that I love – we might have to try to move to an Eichler neighborhood someday. (That’s going to be us, in that picture above … once I, er,  lose 50 pounds and die my hair brown. …)

Joseph Eichler was a homebuilder in the 1950s and 1960s. He was not a designer, but a builder (much like William Lyon of today), but was the first of his kind, creating entire tracts of homes in a new industry called “merchant building” to meet the housing rush brought on by postwar need.

Eichler built throughout the country, but focused most of his communities in California, where he built more than 11,000 homes, both in Northern California (San Francisco, Marin County, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, etc.) and in Southern California (Orange, Thousand Oaks, and Granada Hills). Continue reading →

The Basics of Critiquing: The Protagonist and the Goal

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Interesting discussion the other day on how we all critique. It really made me think about how I approach a story and when I think a book is “good” or if it leaves me feeling flat. Do you ever read a book and just feel “flat”? And maybe your friend just LOVED it, so you wonder what you missed, or didn’t get?

(Yeah, me too. …)

Lauran left a similar comment the other day when we were discussing how we critique  about how, even when reading a book for book club, she sometimes finds it difficult to express what specifically she likes and dislikes. (I hear ya, sister.)

But here’s the deal: It probably comes down to the most basic of reactions to the most basic beginnings of critiquing. It probably has to do with your reaction to the goal.

What’s that?

The most basic plot of any story is that there is a protagonist. And, as the book opens, he has a goal. Every novel, every movie, every short story, is simply watching the protagonist try to get his goal. … Continue reading →

How Do You Critique?

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So my friend Patti and I are critiquing the hell out of her story. …

I’ve spent the last several weekends on her book – I’m holed up in front of my computer, and my brother-in-law keeps coming by and asking if I’ve seen the light of day yet. But it’s a lot of fun. (And she returns in kind, by the way – she’s given me some of the best advice I’ve ever received on my books.)

Writers — Do you have a great critique partner? How do you help each other?

Readers — Have you ever critiqued for someone? Or maybe done a beta-read? What do you like to read for most — theme? characterization? plot holes? something else?

Please share! I love to hear others’ experiences!

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