I once took the Meyers Briggs personality test and although I can’t recall the exact results, I do remember that I landed right on the line between introvert and extrovert. I treasure my quiet creative time, but I also love to introduce my books to readers and hear their responses to the worlds I’ve created.
In the days when I traveled to promote my novels for children, I often gave three power point shows a day, took questions and signed hundreds of books. Except for the travel itself, I loved getting out of my study and talking to readers of all ages. Often, I would be placed on the stage in an auditorium in front of as many as 500 middle schoolers. I learned very quickly that silence was my best friend. The audience chatter, the squeak of folding chairs, the buzz of settling bodies soon quieted when it was clear that I had no intention of saying a word until I had complete silence. For a familiar adult like a teacher or principal, that might not have worked. But for this unknown, unpredictable author, it was a time-tested tool. And I never hesitated to use it.
With the introduction of Skype and Zoom, I’ve learned that a school appearance can be less programmed and more spontaneous. When it comes to the Q and A, students will ask questions like these:
“Can you show us the view from your study window?”
“Who’s that in picture behind you?”
“How far is it from your bed to your desk?”
“Why is your desk so messy?”
And all along, I have met with book clubs, often in person and now, just as often, by Zoom. Book club members can be a bit mystified by my approach. We all settle into our chairs, in somebody’s living room or each of us in our spaces looking at one another on screens. The members sit back, expecting me to start the discussion. But as I explain to them right away, I’m there to listen. What could be more helpful and energizing for a writer than to listen to readers who have just finished her book, discussing what they liked or didn’t, which character appealed to them, and which drove them crazy? I want my audience to forget I’m there and often, if I stubbornly keep my mouth shut and wave away their questions, they do. And that’s when the discussion heats up and I learn what they really think.
“It drove me crazy that Anna didn’t just leave the island straight away. Why did she take Erin shopping in that mall?”
“I get it. They hadn’t been off the island in months.”
“But she must have known her husband would follow her.”
OR
Buy Counting on Grace on Amazon
“Grace’s mother was nasty. How could she have ripped up that one photograph of her daughter? And why did she push her so hard in the mill?”
“What choice did she have? If Grace didn’t keep the spinning frame running, they would all have been thrown out of mill housing.”
When people ask if I like to meet with book clubs, I respond with an enthusiastic YES. Bring it on.
You can go here to find my website page for book clubs who wish to discuss any of my books, but most especially my new memoir, Daughter of Spies: Wartime Secrets, Family Lies, and here you’ll find a list of suggested discussion questions.
