Claire is also the author of Summer Blowout, Life's a Beach and three other novels.
ReadingGroupGuides.com: In The Wildwater Walking Club, Noreen takes up walking and is soon joined by neighbors Tess and Rosie. Why do you think walking together encourages camaraderie? Have you walked along with any book clubs or walking clubs?Claire Cook: When women walk together, there's usually at least as much talking as walking going on. I have a theory that all those endorphins being released into the bloodstream simply loosen everybody's lips! In any case, lives are shared, but what's so interesting to me is that it's often very self-contained. While researching The Wildwater Walking Club, I talked to women who'd walked together for decades, sharing everything they'd gone through --- divorces and cancer and kids growing up and moving out and back in again --- and yet they almost never saw each other except to walk. So, in one way, they were really close, but it as if they'd created a separate little walking world.
Both book clubs and walking clubs have been reading The Wildwater Walking Club. Lots of them have been discussing it while they walk, and some of them have taken field trips to join me at one of my bookstore walk 'n' talk events. I've had such a blast walking with them all! I've also done lots of phone chats for Wildwater. At one they even passed me around on a cell phone while they walked the beach! (Click here for book club and walking club guides.)
RGG: Your own story as well as snippets from one of your reinvention workshops appeared in a segment about creative ideas for reinvention in a tough economy on the Today Show. The idea of women reinventing themselves resonates in your novels, including The Wildwater Walking Club. What appeals to you about using this theme in your writing? What interesting conversations has it sparked among book club members?
CC: Reinvention is the story of my life! After a lifetime of fear and procrastination, I wrote my first novel in my minivan outside my daughter's swim practice. It was published when I was 45, and at 50 I walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the adaptation of my second novel, Must Love Dogs. I'm now 54 and the bestselling author of 6 1/2 novels. I love sharing my story, because I think it gives hope to so many women out there with buried dreams of their own.
The characters in all my novels are trying to find their own next chapters, too. I think it's such a strong theme in my own life and the lives of the women I've met, it just naturally found its way into my books. Teaching free reinvention workshops for women has become my way of sharing what I've learned and giving back to my readers for supporting me. Someone who hosted one of those workshops told the Today Show about me --- as one of my characters says, karma is a boomerang!
As for book club members, what I hear all the time is that my books have given them some great ideas for their own reinvention!
RGG: What other real-life issues have your discussions with book clubs about The Wildwater Walking Club touched on, such as losing a job and having a romantic relationship end?
CC: At the beginning of The Wildwater Walking Club, Noreen takes a buyout from the shoe company she's been with for eighteen years. When I was writing the book, I had no idea how cutting edge this part would be, but by the time I started talking to book clubs, everyone knew someone who had recently lost their job in one way or another. So most of my discussions with book clubs have touched on this awful economy. Forward-looking topics follow: How do you find yourself again after years of mistaking your resume for your personality? What was that thing you really wanted to do before life got in the way?
Noreen is also dumped unceremoniously by a colleague she probably shouldn't have been dating anyway, so that sparks some interesting discussion. Not that any of us have ever dated the wrong guy, of course, but we all know someone who has!
There's also a clothesline controversy in the book, so it's been fun to hear the debate between women who support the right-to-dry movement and find clotheslines both charming and a great way to lesson our carbon footprint and save energy, and those who think clothesline bans keep property values high. Lavender figures into the book, too, and the women in the book take a trip to a lavender festival outside Seattle. Some of the book clubs have served snacks involving lavender, everything from lavender margaritas to lavender chocolate --- and talked about planning their own book club road trip!
RGG: The Wildwater Walking Club takes places over a period of 32 days, with Noreen recording how many steps she's taken on each one. What made you want to structure the story this way? Did you lace up your athletic shoes and log miles on a pedometer while you were writing the book?
CC: Great question! I wanted the reader to take the journey with Noreen. Writing in the first person helps, but I thought the number of steps Noreen takes each day would add to the empathy, and as an added bonus, it might encourage readers to get out there walking, too. Eventually, I think those daily steps remind us that even big changes happen one small step at a time.
Yes, I laced up my sneakers, hooked on a pedometer, and walked 10,000 steps a day while I wrote the book. It made me remember that walking ALWAYS makes me feel better. As Noreen says in the book...
"Now I knew that the hardest part of any workout was just putting on your sneakers. Once you got started, all you had to do was keep putting one foot in front of the other, no matter what was or wasn't happening in your life, no matter how happy or sad you were. I'd taken that first step because I wanted to look better. I wanted my clothes to fit. But it hadn't taken me long to figure out that the biggest benefit was less about vanity than it was about sanity. Walking always helped."
RGG: What are some of the things you enjoy most about speaking with reading groups? What one or two especially memorable book club moments can you share with us?
CC: I love speaking with reading groups! After months spent glued to my computer, it's just so much fun to connect with women (and a few good men) again! Also, I think reader response is key: I never fully know what my books are about until I hear what resonates for readers. I've learned so much about my own writing from talking to reading groups. Also, hearing things like "I can't remember when I laughed out loud like that!" or "OMG, you're writing my life!" always get me psyched up to write my next novel.
I've had so many great book club moments, it's hard to choose. Book clubs tend to pick my novels after they've read something dark and depressing, and they're ready to have some fun. I just love hearing about the book-related food and drinks, the decorations, even the crafts. Groups have painted clotheslines for The Wildwater Walking Club and made sea glass jewelry for Life's a Beach. They've done group makeovers for Summer Blowout. This doesn't mean they don't have serious discussions about my novels, but I think we all need more play in our lives, so I always love hearing that my books have inspired some!
