#AmReading Should Be #AmWriting

My work-in-progress, NUMBERS NEVER LIE, a romantic suspense is coming along well. I'd tell you to look to the right to see my progress, but something screwy happened to my site. This morning, the widgets (with percentage of progress) were gone and those weird "things" in their place. If anyone knows how to fix this, please tell me.

As I started to say, I'm in the last 18% of my WIP. Not celebrating yet, but the end is near. In fact, I've already written the end (15 years ago), but it's quite sketchy. That's where the last 13,000 words come in. My plan is to have it finished by Sunday. Come back for next Monday where I'll announce that I finished . . . or not.

As the title of this post says, I've been reading instead of writing for the past several days. Why, when I'm so close to the end? Tomorrow is book group, and I hadn't read the book. Not because of procrastination, mind you. I was waiting for my turn to borrow the ebook from the library. On Friday, I checked, and there's still three people ahead of me. I broke down and bought the book, Same Kind of Different As Me.

I was in such a hurry to read the book, I didn't take time to note the authors. And because I like to read a book without prejudice, I didn't read reviews or even the blurb. I assumed the story was fiction (don't ask why). When I got to a particularly heart-wrenching segment, I thought, wow, this author must have gone through something similar to write so vividly. Duh. It wasn't fiction. It was a true story. I almost feel ridiculous admitting this. (That's what happens when I'm in a hurry.)

Same Kind of Different As Me (if you aren't familiar with the book or movie) is the story of two men and the woman who brought them together and bound them to each other. Ron Hall and Denver Moore were two men who should never have met, except for Ron's wife Deborah. Wealthy--really wealthy--the Texas Halls had everything they could ever want. Denver grew up an extremely poor Louisiana sharecropper, spent time in prison, and was homeless most of his life. The book reveals how those two men met and changed each other's lives.

Some people believe strongly in sharing their religious beliefs. For me, religion is a private thing, so I'm uncomfortable around evangelizers. Too often, those people spout the Bible, but their actions say just the opposite. Not Deborah Hall. One day, she decided that they should volunteer at a homeless shelter one day a week, where they became known as Mr. & Mrs. Tuesday. These do-gooders were regarded with suspicions, like the people who only came on holidays then disappeared the rest of the year. Over nine years, the Halls influenced many people by their example of doing God's work. The one person they had the most influence over was Denver Moore. At sixty, he'd seen a lot of trouble, some of his own making. More suspicious than most, he resisted their caring, assuming they were talk only. How the three became friends, family even, is a powerful story.

Book groups have always "forced" me to read outside my comfort zone. I love fiction. I write fiction. But book groups have introduced me to new authors, new genres. I've never found true stories, especially triumph over adversity, of particular interest. I wouldn't have chosen Same Kind of Different As Me to read. I'm glad I did. There should be a lively discussion tomorrow night. I'll add a comment about that.

Book Groups

Over the years, I’ve belonged to several book groups, usually part of a newcomers’ group. When we moved two years ago, the book group was the first one I joined. Why? Because I knew it would introduce me to books I didn’t normally read. I tend to read in genres I like. So a book group would challenge me.

This group is different from other book clubs I’ve belonged to. The local library provides books to reader groups. That’s turned out to be good and not-so-good. Not-so-good in that the participants don’t get to choose the books. Good in that we don’t have to buy the books. Which is doubly good because then I don’t feel guilty when I don’t finish a book.

I know many people always finish the book they started. Not me. I have too many books (free or otherwise) on my Kindle to waste time on a book I don’t like. And there have been several since I joined this book group.

Last month, I mentioned we’re reading Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. Since there’s a lot of controversy over this book, I decided it was high time I read To Kill a Mockingbird. I finished it last week and really enjoyed it. I had to get past the frequent use of the N-word. I know it was written in a different time—time when that word was commonly used. Still, I cringed.

Another thing that bothered me—and probably only bothers a writer—was the point of view. Scout, from ages six to nine, tells the story. Most of the time the story reflects the thoughts of a child. That was good because viewing the events through the eyes of an innocent made the story much more powerful. Yet some of the vocabulary is that of an adult. I know, a nit-picky thing, but it yanked me out of the story.

Now I'm eager to read Go Set a Watchman. If only to see her writing style. Did it change with Mockingbird?

 Have you read a classic--a prize-winning book--with elements that bothered you?