I have always considered myself a master procrastinator. Especially when it comes to do doing things like working on my writing projects. Then I realized something. It’s not that I procrastinate working on them, it’s that I don’t have a deadline. I tend to go through life at Mach 5 with my hair on fire – at least that’s how my dad describes me. I am constantly doing something, if not 2-3 some things. Writing projects, home projects, organizational projects, art projects, I think some of my projects even have projects. I will never understand how people can be bored. I have so many things on my to-do list right now that I’m set to stay busy for months (not counting the additional tasks that I’ll come up with).

Therefore, when I come to a line on my to-do list that doesn’t have a deadline, it will often get bumped to the next day in lieu of something more immediate. Sadly, this is the category that my novel has fallen into for a very long time. Which also explains why it isn’t finished. So being the problem solver that I am, I have fixed the problem by giving myself deadlines in the form of a book club. Okay, I’ve been calling it book club, one of the participants more accurately described it as a literary salon. Basically I looked through my local friends and picked out a group of people that fit two criteria.

1. I respect their opinions.
2. They fall into my prime demographic.

Then I invited them over, gave them cheese and wine (it is a literary salon after all!) and we read a couple of chapters and then discussed. Three weeks later, we did it again with the next two chapters. To be honest, if this idea had done nothing but start a fire under my butt to finish my novel, I would have called it a success.  What I have gotten is so much more! Yes, it’s given me deadlines and that has definitely increased my productivity and kept my novel from perpetually dropping down the never-ending to-do list, but what I wasn’t expecting, and what has been absolutely invaluable, is listening to the conversations. With the exception of asking questions, I try to stay out of the discussion completely and simply listen and take notes. It’s fantastic. Someone will throw out a comment, and sometimes people will chime in agreeing, but even better is when people disagree. Listening to the different interpretations on the same text is fascinating. Especially when somebody is right along the same lines of my own thinking for the character or scene and defending their viewpoint using the same argument that I would have made. It’s amazing! And it’s also scary, hearing the direction that some people’s thoughts are going, and then wondering if I should change something to steer them in the right direction, or if I should trust in the story that is already down on the page to steer them to where they need to be.

I love it and it’s driving me nuts all at the same time, because I want to blurt out and answer their questions and explain where the story is going. But if I did that I wouldn’t get to see the realizations and discoveries, so I’m keeping my mouth shut. Despite the fact that we’ve only met twice, I can honestly say that I don’t think I will ever produce a product like this again, without taking the time and effort to read it aloud with a group. The dynamic and the feedback are so much better than if I had asked each person to read the book individually and provide comments when they were done.

The funny thing is that I don’t think I would have been able to do something like this when I was younger. I don’t think I had the self-confidence to sit in a room and watch people as they hear my words for the first time and then discuss them. Especially since they are all well aware that my goal is to improve the text, so they’re looking at it with a critical eye. That being said, I really wish that I could go back and tell the younger me, to get over myself, suck it up and to start sharing my work as soon as possible. Writing is definitely a solitary pursuit, but for it to be good it has to be shared and critiqued. I’m really coming to realize that that is the only way to truly improve. I am also coming to realize, that when you get to pick the people you share it with, it’s not nearly as scary as you think it will be.