Hurricane Irene has everyone talking as well as packing.  As you back your emergency bag, make sure to add a few books to keep you busy.  I recommend at least three books.  Here are some suggestions:

First, we had a new addition to the book club this month.  It was actually nice to get a fresh opinion in the group.  Not that I don't enjoy listening to my current club members opinions, I always have a good time when we meet.  It's just that having someone new seemed to bring a new energy to the group.  It was fun.  I look forward to having her at more meetings.

Ok, now for the review.  We all enjoyed Will Grayson, Will Grayson and we all were in agreement about Tiny being our favorite.  He is such an awesome character.  One of us even wanted to see the musical for real.  I would definiately be curious to see what it would be like.  We also liked the ending and while it was not what we would have expected, we were glad it ended that way. 

Our next book is Lost It by Kristen Tracy.  It's about a girl who falls in love and has her first sexual experience.  This ought to be interersting.  As always, I will keep you informed.

I have been trying for weeks now to come up with something to talk about.  There are days where inspiration hits and I know exactly what to write and days where I have to struggle to find a topic.  Today, after weeks of struggling, it hit me.  The joy of getting out of your house to write.

I am blogging this from a bookstore in Boston.  It's a frequent meeting spot for my book club and today is our next meet up.  I was already in town and instead of traveling all the way home to come all the way back into the city, I thought why not work from the same location where we are meeting.  It's a perk of working from home.  Now that the official work day is done, I can spend the extra time working on my writing until 6:30pm rolls around.  I sit here with ideas formulating in my brain, ideas I haven't had for a while now and I began to wonder what was the difference and that was when it hit me.  The difference is I am NOT at home.

As comfortable as you can make your writing space at home to be, sometimes you just need to get out.  Sometimes you need to take your writing on the road and see what adventures may come.  Perhaps you will think of something your character can overcome just by drinking a cup of coffee in your favorite cafe.  Or a new scene pops into your head because you took your notebook to the park.  What I find, is that sometimes a change of scenery is just what the doctor ordered. 

So the next time you find yourself stumped like I was, try moving your location.  And I, will remember to do the same.

With books as good as this one, I never get the chance to write a half-way point blog.  I finish it so quickly, that by the time I have a moment to blog about it, I'm already done.  Needless to say, I really liked this book.

At first, when the book jumped from the first Will to the second Will, I didn't know what was happening.  One minute the chapter was grammatically written and the next it was in all lowercase.  I hadn't done any prior research on the book, so I didn't know that the two authors wrote each of the different Wills in alternating chapters: one writing the odd chapters and the other the even chapters.  Once I caught on, though, I was totally into it.

I loved the distinct voices of the two Wills especially when they were interacting with each other.  I loved how they were both assholes in their own way, one because of his rules and the other because of his depression.  I loved the truthfulness of the story despite the rudeness of it (though that makes it even more truthful).  But, most of all, I loved Tiny. 

I just loved the idea of this bigger than life character called Tiny.  He was the heart of the story and the heart of both Wills.  If it wasn't for him, I don't think either Will's plotline would have been the same.  He was definitely my favorite character.

No date yet as to when the book club is meeting, but as always, I will keep you informed.