Turning the Page on Something Beautiful🍸📚

📚🍸 The Truth Behind Building The Cocktail Chapter & Wandering Novels ✨

I wanted to write something a little more personal tonight.

A lot of people see the photos, the bookshelves, the cozy aesthetics, the online store, the book club posts, and the “finished” pieces of everything I’ve been creating lately. But what people don’t always see are the late nights, the stress, the confusion, the tears, and the moments where I genuinely questioned if I could pull any of this off.

Building The Cocktail Chapter has not been easy.

Trying to create a book club where people feel comfortable engaging, showing up, talking, connecting, and staying involved has honestly been one of the hardest things I’ve done. You start wondering:
“Are people interested?”
“Am I posting enough?”
“Am I posting too much?”
“Why is engagement low?”
“Does anybody care about this as much as I do?”

And if I’m being real… sometimes that gets discouraging.

At the same time, I’ve also been building Wandering Novels both online and in person. What started as a dream with bookshelves inside a trailer somehow grew into a mobile bookstore, an online shop, and a community space I care deeply about. There were nights spent learning websites, inventory systems, shipping settings, domains, social media marketing, online storefronts, and honestly… half the time I felt like I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

But I kept going because books matter to me.

Reading has always been more than just reading.

I read to quiet my mind after hard days.
I read to travel to places I may never see in real life.
I read to feel something deeply.
I read for comfort.
I read to dream.
I read because stories remind me that people everywhere carry heartbreak, love, grief, hope, humor, fear, healing, and survival in so many different ways.

Books let us experience entire worlds while sitting in one quiet corner of our own.

And honestly? I think that’s magic.

That’s why I care so much about this club.

I don’t want The Cocktail Chapter to feel like homework or pressure or another obligation on somebody’s calendar. I want it to feel like the kind of thing you can’t wait to talk about with people. The kind of group where someone texts:
“DID YOU GET TO CHAPTER 14 YET?”
or
“I need to discuss this ending immediately.”

I want people to feel welcomed even if they didn’t finish the book.
I want conversations, friendships, reactions, laughter, wine nights, chaotic theories, emotional damage from fictional characters, and genuine connection.

So this next chapter of The Cocktail Chapter is going to be more interactive, more engaging, more relaxed, and more community-focused than ever before.

Weekly check-ins.
Casual virtual happy hours.
More conversations throughout the month.
Less pressure. More connection. 🤍

If you’ve supported me, encouraged me, joined the club, shared a post, bought a book, visited my little mobile shop, or even just liked a photo along the way… thank you.

Truly.

This community means more to me than you probably realize. 🌙