Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
🎥 The video replay of our October meeting
📚 Your invitation + discussion questions for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, our next Book Pick
💛 RSVP & Zoom link (below the paywall)
xo,
Joanna & Evelyn
“Read Like a Writer” Book Club is for our community members who want to dive even deeper into how great books work. Come nerd out with us! 🤓
🎥 Replay: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
If you missed our last Book Club meeting, you can now watch the full replay above.
We strayed from our original discussion topics and instead talked about these parts of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street:
Genre definitions—magical realism vs. speculative vs. fantasy
Also, what is historical fiction? historical fantasy?
LGBTQ relationships in historical context
What do Grace’s chapters reveal about women’s independence in Victorian society?
The literary trifecta: (1) rich plot & pacing, (2) deep characters, and (3) vivid setting & ambience
Is it possible to be good at all three in a single book? Or do you necessarily need to sacrifice one or two to do the others well?
During the “behind the scenes of writing” portion, we explored:
When is the podcast/author interview series coming back?
How do you keep going as a writer when there is no external validation and when the publishing industry is so hard to break into, and to maintain success in?
And other creativity coaching topics for our community in 2026
As always, the replay is available to paid subscribers to keep our discussions cozy and private.
📚 Bookish Holiday Party: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
How do book nerds party?
With cookies and a book club!
Get yourself some hot cocoa, a plate of cookies, and pull up an armchair—you’re invited whether you’ve read the book or not.
Our next Book Club pick is:
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Sam and Sadie—two college friends, often in love, but never lovers—become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.
If you’re thinking, Nah, video games aren’t my thing… Hold on!
This book isn’t really about video games. It’s about friendship and how it changes over time as we grow up, and about how life molds us and interrupts us and turns everything upside down. And yet, there’s always tomorrow…
Meeting Date:
Sunday, December 7, 2025
8pm ET / 5pm PT
Zoom link below
💬 During the book discussion, we’ll chat about:
Consider the decision to center a non-romantic love story.
How does removing the “will-they/won’t-they” trope change tension architecture?
How does Zevin code friendship on the page (beats, callbacks, micro-conflicts) so it reads as high-stakes as romance?
Optional exercise: mark the first specific that signals this is a story about collaboration, not romance. What would a lesser opening have done?
How does the three-act scaffolding reveal itself (inciting incident, midpoint shift, crisis and resolution)?
Or think of it another way: If you mapped the book to a video game’s level progression, where are the boss battles?
Do you see parallels between the video game industry and book publishing?
How are funding, publishers, critics, and audiences portrayed?
Does the novel romanticize or accurately mirror creative industries?
💬 During the “behind the scenes of writing” portion, we will talk about:
What we were proud of accomplishing this year—both reading and writing
Our hopes for our creative practice next year
✨ Introverts welcome: Cameras on or off. Your presence is enough.
I think this is going to be a wonderful conversation!
🔐 RSVP & Zoom Link
To protect the privacy of our discussion space and prevent Zoom-bombing, the RSVP and Zoom link are posted below the paywall.
If you’d like to join us in the Book Club, you can upgrade to a paid membership here:
Or refer friends to receive complimentary months:
1 referral = 1 month free
2 referrals = 3 months free
3 referrals = 1 year free
💛 💛 💛 💛 💛
Use this link to RSVP. This invite also has the ZOOM link already in it, if you want to add it to your calendar.
