Romance Book Club Podcast!
As many of you know, the lovely Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches Trashy Books interviewed me about the romance book club for her podcast. The interview was incredibly fun and the podcast turned out rather well, if I may ...
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As many of you know, the lovely Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches Trashy Books interviewed me about the romance book club for her podcast. The interview was incredibly fun and the podcast turned out rather well, if I may brag.
For my blog readers, I have a story that I didn’t think to tell Sarah, but which you may enjoy.
A couple years after publishing my first book (and so probably four years after the book club started), I was talking with one of the book club members about what we should read in the next couple months. She suggested that we read one of my books. Since I was a librarian and ran the book club, I thought assigning one of my books would be a conflict of interest violation.
When I told the book club member that I wouldn’t never assign my books, she said, “Oh, right. I’ll bet you wouldn’t want to hear what we have to say about it.”
At first I was shocked. That hadn’t occurred to me. The I laughed and said, “No, I just don’t think it would be appropriate for my book club to read one of my books.” She agreed and nodded.
Looking back, I’m pleased that the book club member’s first thought was what everyone might say about my book. The way the conversation unfolded, it was clear that she didn’t think anyone in the book club would hesitate to say something critical about my book, even though I would be there to hear it. To me, that means the book club space I created feels safe to the members–safe enough that they wouldn’t hesitate talking critically about any book I assigned them, even one I had written.
I’m proud of my book club, though very little of the safe space I created has to do with me. As I said in the podcast, the Romance Book Club women are incredible. They are supportive, fun, and engaging.
Thank you, ladies.
