Writing Fitness - Book Club
Starting today, I begin my writing power workout. 'Writing power'—simply put, it's the strength to write. I love writing and think it's the most fun thing to do, yet somehow it feels burdensome. I feel like I have to prove myself through writing, forcing myself to write. There have been many recent occasions where I felt I had to do just that. I wonder if I've already exhausted my reserves of writing power, so I've decided to start this writing power workout. The rules are simple. Write one piece every day and publish it on Brunch. Weekends, holidays, and vacations are off. I'll write only on workdays. The topic will be whatever keyword comes to mind that day, but since some days might be dry, I should stockpile some keywords in advance. Anyway, today's topic will be 'book club'. It might seem a bit old-fashioned, but book clubs have always been my favorite thing. Starting with 'Ddeokkeulbbat', a university-wide book club I joined even before entering college, where we read one book a week, wrote essays, and drank together; then 'Tolerance', a weekly gathering within my school club; and 'Philosophy Study', a small group within the club; and 'Amsohat', where we read feminist books. There was 'Arche' for philosophy books, and 'You Too, Country' which evolved from Arche to study Korean philosophy. There was 'Jang Kang-myeong Made Me Do It' for Korean novels he recommended, 'North Seoul' formed with neighborhood friends, and 'Subuk' which I tried to run somewhat systematically. After joining a company, I joined 'SAT' for reading SF books, and 'Yeni-less Yeni Meeting' with fellow Pangyo office workers. My current book club, 'Morule Book Club', formed from people doing a morning routine challenge. I started my first book club at 20, and now I'm 28, so I've been part of 12 book clubs over about 8 years. Actually, there are a few clubs I didn't mention here, but since it's already proven I've been in at least one book club per year, I'll stop listing them. Why do I love book clubs so much? Well, I like people. I like when people gather, and I like talking with people even more. And my favorite hobby is reading books. Combining those two is just perfect. My favorite moment in a book club is when you feel everyone gathered around a single book on the table. The group I'm in now only meets via Google Meet due to the pandemic, so it's a bit disappointing we don't have that same feeling anymore. Still, there's a certain flavor in reading one book and then freely jumping between the various stories that branch out from it. I want to have a book club again where we sit at a table without masks, put a book on the table, and talk endlessly. And I will definitely set a few rules before we start the book club. I want to revive and develop the self-questioning practice I wrote about in Subuk (2016). I have plenty to do right now, yet here I am writing this instead—already thinking about starting new projects. Yeah, yeah… That wraps up today's writing exercise. If I keep practicing writing, I'll eventually develop the skill to wrap things up well, right?