Tuesday, February 27, 2007

An Experiment

I've decided to start a bookclub with a new friend, a fellow mom from my son's 1st grade class who, like me, doesn't like the idea of sitting around discussing serious, literary, often times dreary books with a group of women. We do, however, like the idea of having a couple of 'girls-hours-out' dicussing hip, modern, funny books we all enjoy. So, we're planning our first meeting in March. The book we selected (really I selected and then got approval) is The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne. I LOVED this book! (Yes, I've already read it). I wanted to suggest the sequel Little Lady, Big Apple but didn't as it is considerably less accessible. The libraries in our area don't have it yet, and it's only out in hardback. So I'm re-reading TLLA and loving it anew.

Ms. Browne starts with a little character bio, which I tend to do when I'm writing, and I think it works great (at least for her). When I get critiques on my work, people always tell me I'm not moving to the action quickly enough, but I don't get it. So many books start with little tidbits of information that are interesting and provide a hook without the every-popular dialogue or moment of action. Sometimes I think romance writers follow too many rules. And when you connect yourself to romance writers (really lovely people!), you find yourself getting nudged into following right along. At this point I'm trying to decide how to run with my opening paragraphs: alone or with the pack. Tricky, tricky.

9 comments:

Angela/SciFiChick said...

I read Little Lady Agency & loved it too! How fun!

Beck said...

Hey, I want to join your Fun Book Club, too! I'm in a gloomy politically correct bookclub right now, whicih should be called the No Fun Book Club.

Stephanie J said...

I thought the book was great too! I bought the sequel just last week and plan on reading it soon!n Good luck with the club...I've always wanted to do that but don't know a lot of people in the area. I hope to hear how it goes!

(ps. LOVED your book...finally got it in the mail and thought it was fantastic!)

Alyssa Goodnight said...

Thanks so much, Stephanie! I'm so glad!

My original pie-in-the-sky marketing plan was basically an offshoot of the Egoiste (sp?)perfume commercial: 'And they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and on and on...'. So if you wanna get that started... ;)

Stacy said...

Your book club sounds like fun :)

Kari Lee Townsend said...

I love book clubs. Sounds like fun.

Kat said...

I'll have to r4ead those. I finished your book and I really enjoyed it. it was fun, well thought out and I loved the characters! Keep writting, I can't wait to read your next book.

Stephanie J said...

Of course you can bet that I've already gotten that started! I've been telling everyone to go get it!

Alyssa Goodnight said...

You are too sweet, Stephanie!
Thank you, thank you!