So, I’ve been working on this project. A writing project. Ever since I went to Writer Camp, I’ve been little Pollyanna with keeping my internal demons at bay and have trucked through 18K words of new fiction in two months.
Ok, I know Nanowrimo people poop that out before lunch, but for me, that’s a huge freaking deal.
You want to know my secret? A freaking Google document. Yes, I know, I preach about SMART goals all the time, but it never occurred to me to apply it against writing, which is such a hippy dippy, scarf and feathers kind of experience that the left brain kind of goes to sleep so as to not scare the muse or some crazy shit. Anyway, one Google spreadsheet and a mapped set of benchmarks later and I’m on a freaking roll. I expect to be looking at a mostly complete first draft of an N word by the end of 2011, amazingly enough.
(And to give you a peek inside my fucked up brain, you should also know that I’m about 5K behind my own schedule right now, so instead of being happy that I’ve written about 17K more words than I would have during the summer, I’m tsk tsking about how I’m behind fucking schedule. Ok, still progress to be made on the internal demon thing. (Someone smack me.))
I’m also doing a lot of careful reading of fiction novels. I love reading, but I tend to read not as a reader but as a writer. It’s possible that my creative writing graduate program broke me or maybe I just need to get my head out of my ass.
However, to that end, I’m starting up the That’s My Bix book club again, just in time for Back to School! No need for number 2 pencils or even a book bag (although if you want an excuse to buy those things for yourself, be my guest), we do it all via email discussions.
Last time, we read Liam Callanan’s All Saints (brilliant brilliant BRILLIANT book) and this time I have similar high hopes for Susanna Daniel’s Stiltsville. She is a first time novelist, a graduate of the writer factory that is Iowa Writer’s Workshop and she is also on twitter as @SusannaDaniel surprisingly enough. The book was named one of Amazon’s Top 10 debut novels of 2010 and it also earned won the Robert Bingham PEN American award last week. She also debuted at the One Story Debutante Ball this past spring and they published a very cool interview with her. I chose this book because she lives in Wisconsin and then it won the Bingham, so I’m now actually going to do it.
Want in? Simple!
How this book club will work: read the book by Sept 15 and then participate in the discussion on this email list. Simple, right? So, some people like to write long responses and some people just get a lot of enjoyment out of reading those responses and saying “Yes, me too” which is fine as well. There is no pressure, this is supposed to be fun! Leave a comment on this entry and I’ll add you to the super secret book club mailing list. You’ll need to leave the email address you want to use for the discussion list, but don’t worry, I’m the only one who can see your email address and I promise the spam bots can’t get at it.
Also, there are already 20 or so participants signed up from previous book club participants and also, I mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook, so the number of comments on this post are not indicative of the number of participants.
30 Comments
If I can get a hold of the book in time I’d like to participate in the book club…
I would love to participate!
Sounds like fun! I’ve heard wonderful things about Stiltsville and I’m looking forward to reading it and discussing it with you!
I would love to participate.
I would love to join! 🙂
Can I join in?
I love your reading recommendations. After reading your post about Dan Choan at Writer’s camp, I went to the library and checked out all his books. Loved them all. I stayed up last night reading all of Stiltsville, and would love to be in on the discussion. I may end up being one of the “me too” commenter’s but am interested in hearing what all the rest of you have to say.
You’re added to the list! You should have gotten an email from the book club mailing list, explaining the dealio, etc. Let me know if you didn’t.
You’re hooked up!
Got your bio! Thanks!
I’m so honored that you liked my reading recommendations! I can’t wait to hear what you thought of Stiltsville. You’re all signed up for the mailing list, so let me know if you didn’t get your welcome email.
Count me in. Sounds like fun!
Add me please as this sounds cool. Thanks.
Add me too, please! Thanks 🙂
Count me in! A reading group and I can wear my pyjamas – just my kind of thing.
It’s super secret? Please sign me up!
Susan, you’re signed up!
Elizabeth, you should have received the welcome email to the book list email group! Please try it and let me know if it doesn’t work!
You’re added! Let me know if you didn’t get the email.
Added! It is indeed cool!
You’re added! It is fun!
I’m in. I love reading and talking, so this should be great.
Amy, you should have gotten the welcome email and now have posting permissions to the list.
yes, please.
Charla, you should have received the welcome email, but if not, let me know.
So, could you share the secret of how the Google Doc helped?
Sounds fun. Please count me in.
Sign me up!
Susanna Daniel was my writing teacher in college. A wonderful writer, compassionate teacher, all around awesome! And Stiltsville is great! I recommend it.
(wrong website link in the comment above. This is the right one.)