scenes I loved that had no job in the story" is the whole thing right there. I keep a little parking lot doc for those, and when I outline I only write down what each scene needs to get done, not how it goes down. Then the draft still has room to surprise me because the "how" is wide open.

Your club just proved the point without meaning to. The cold readers got to have a real fight about the chestnut trees because nobody handed them the answers first. Paying for a guide is fine if you're slammed that week, but the fun part is getting confused together and working it out. Forty minutes of arguing beats a list of themes every time. Half your club basically skipped the book club and went straight to the summary.

Those walk ins smell the open slot and swoop in lol