Hello folks, welcome to the twelfth (12th) writing club update. Just to pick a random book off of my shelf, chapter 12 of Foucault’s Pendumul Umberto Eco begins with
Sub umbra alarum taurum
Which apropos of the topic of that book, is the Rosicrucian motto. Something about being under the protection of God’s wings–anyway, among other things, they were like a religious puzzle group that loved leaving little hints for fellow obsessives to follow.
Speaking of obsessed brainiacs…!
As always, all are welcome to participate in the writing club, but these are our current roster of regular participants. Those who do battle against the great enemy indolence, by their pens, pencils, or keyboards. I look forward to hearing your updates!
Sorry for missing last month, it was the end of the school year and that’s always a bit chaotic getting packed up and prepping the classroom for summer.
I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading and have written a few book reviews, as well as personal journaling. Its nothing super creative, but its kind of my standby mode to stay writing. Summer has been nice so far, I’ve gotten many of the house projects I had on hold all school year finished & am finally about to get my office space set up. I really think having a dedicated work space will help me get into a better work flow. Basement life & living out of boxes has really taken a toll on my creative process lol.
Hopefully next month I’ll be able to share more & will make some headway into my larger form projects that have essentially been on hold for the last year.
Great to hear from you!
Ooo I love book reviews, although I generally don’t read a real, like, “full” review until after I’ve finished reading the book–I consider it like a little treat for finishing, to dive into the meta discussion. There are so many different types of reviews: teaser/no-spoiler, blow-by-blow (just explains the plot beats), recommender (try to communicate what kind of people would like the book), thematic deep-dive, meta cultural super contextual zeitgeist spiderwebs, highly academic, highly personal (how someone related to the story–love these), etcetcetc. It’s like as infinite and myriad as there are people who have lived.
Definitely understand this “standby mode” phenomenon. I suspect for many writers it’s the default mode.
My reviews tend towards being discussions of the themes of the book and thoughts on what did or didn’t work well. I also have one or two sentences recapping the plot. They’re mostly for my own records so I can jog my memory of the book later on. Or so I can find the title of something I vaguely remember lol
I do love spoilers though, so I often read reviews before going into a book lol. I enjoy knowing where things are headed so I can appriciate the journey there. I can fully understand having them as a post book treat though :)
I love these kinds of reviews! I’ve been reading so many books that either botch the ending or disregard their core themes in the last few years, that at this point I look for such reviews before putting in the time and effort to read the book itself. Avoids so much frustration!
Same! Endings are the hardest part & soooo many books just completely miss the mark.
Nice. I can also understand liking spoilers. I love rereading books for this reason. Sometimes it’s even better after you know what to expect.
Kind of an aside, but I wonder aloud if there’s a book version of “doesthedogdie” for very light spoilers regarding like content triggers. I’ve certainly got one of two that will make me put a book down.