A Lovely Time Was Had

I went to the writers' group. They were all nice people. None of them were giant snobs or otherwise unpleasant. There was a bit more philosophical discussion than I would have liked (this makes me wonder if I would enjoy going to a philosophical group or if I would hate it), but I had a good time and will try to go back next week. Because next Saturday I've already committed to going to tai chi, I am a bit concerned that I will run out of energy, but I _think_ I can do it. My plan is to not join any other groups, as three activities will be enough (which makes my thought about the philosophy group pointless anyway). I will not do any outside the house activities on Fridays, except for a short walk, in hopes that this will keep my Thursday and Saturday activities from overwhelming me. We'll see how this goes. I'd really like to be able to do these groups regularly.

In other news, I've started a new, recently released fantasy/alternate history book. It is okay, but I don't love it. Before this, I started another recently released sci-fi/fantasy book and hated it. I can't tell if I am just being old and stodgy or if these very well-rated books are well-reviewed because people are so excited to find fiction that checks certain boxes that they are willing to overlook that the books aren't actually pleasant to read. On the other hand, I get the impression that a lot of recent sci-fi that even old, stodgy people would normally like isn't actually pleasant to read either. There certainly are plenty of websites on writing that tell you that you don't have to make likeable characters. Oh, and now I remember other well-reviewed fantasy novels that I hated. I should really stop reading any fantasy that Joel doesn't vet for me.