Book clubs

My wife has been in a book club for several years. It meets once a month and has been around for 13 years. It's called the Saturday Ladies Book Club. Usually, although not always, the book is either by a black author or it is a book with a black theme. (They have read both The Help and 50 Shades of Grey. Go figure.)

It's a group of mostly highly educated, professional black women, most of whom are married and on their first husbands, and, says my wife, there's absolutely NO drama in the group. They all get along. It's nothing like "The Housewives of . . . "  Twice a year -- in the summer for a cookout and in December for a Christmas party -- they have an event and invite husbands. Both are wonderful events.

The way it works, a different woman hosts the club once a month, picking the book to read and picking up the tab for food and beverages, whether hosting at home or some place else. Although the entire contingent never comes, it can easily be 15 or more people, which is a nice group for picking up the check.

Back around Christmastime, my wife mentioned that she was scheduled to host the January meeting and hadn't picked a book yet. Jokingly, I suggested one of my manuscripts. When she agreed, I almost died from panic. But we picked which book it should be -- in this case, An Untidy Affair -- and I made a PDF copy and shipped it off.

I was nervous about what they'd think but when I went to the meeting to discuss it with them I got loads of praise. They loved it. They asked good questions about the story and the writing, and, with the exception of one woman, were surprised by the ending. They found it engaging and fun to read.

And I was on Cloud Nine. (Plus, since we were paying for it, I enjoyed some great food. It was in a black-owned New Orleans restaurant.)

I happened to see one of the ladies last night at a fundraising event and she loved my first novel so much she wanted to know when I would give them another one to read. Not ready for that yet, but we will see.

So, when I finally get a publisher, I am going to try hard to find all those ladies book clubs. Can't hurt.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.