May 27-Book club. The topic: Cindy’s book. This was a dream come true for me, as for years I’d been telling my fellow book-lovers that I was writing a book. Once I read a scene for them from my manuscript. But today! Today all seven women arrived with copies of my book— corners turned down, neon pink sticky notes marking pages, handwritten notes stuffed into the book, quotes—both words I had penned and quotes I included in my book—recorded on smart phones. My nerves had been jittering up to the point when the first woman, a retired teacher said after a round of positive comments, “You didn’t know you were so good!” What amazed me was that each woman highlighted a different facet of the takeaways they got from reading the same book. The retired nurse commented that she, having been raised in the United church, and knowing my Pentecostal leanings, approached my book cautiously but when she noticed how open I was to the different faiths I encountered on my journey, she said she really appreciated how I examined other’s belief systems and accepted other’s could surrender to their God in their unique way. The retired archaeologist commented on how my book demonstrated that it is possible to move on and not stay stuck in negative situations. Another teacher said she was inspired to go on a travelling adventure. One woman mentioned that themes of attraction versus escape jumped out at her. We discussed the reason behind the way I disclosed a number of subjects I covered. They all mentioned how they loved my descriptions of the countryside, the interesting people/characters I met along my way. They also had some good suggestions about which words to italicize, i.e. only my thoughts and Spanish words, but not names of people or places for my next book. They all made me feel proud to know them, and I let them know how much I appreciated their support and positive response. They all said they are anxiously awaiting the sequel, and that gives me the courage to finish my second book, the last 3 months of my journey.
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