Happiness Sprinkles + Book Club ZOOM Link
Soothing Japanese art, a forgotten message in a bottle, the antidote to cynicism, and more
Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
🥳 Happiness Sprinkles (my favorites/things worth smiling about this month)
🔦 Protagonist Spotlight - celebrating what you’ve been reading and writing
📚 Reminder! Our Book Club meeting is this Sunday, January 26th at 8pm ET / 5pm PT
» Book Club ZOOM Link at the bottom of this post
🥳 Happiness Sprinkles: Things Worth Smiling About in January
Here are a few delights that I enjoyed in the past month. I hope they bring a smile to you, too!
Soothing Japanese art - Maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s the craftsmanship, but I love this so much! I really appreciate the care and detail that goes into making beautiful art.
A Little Girl Dropped a Message in a Bottle Into a Lake. Her Daughter’s Classmate Found It 26 Years Later.
Oh my gosh, this story!! (I linked to it earlier this month but it is worth repeating, in case you missed it.) If you don’t think magic exists in the world, this will cure you. It’s not big magic like wizards and warlocks, but it’s the beautiful, small magic of real life and unexpected connections. Read the whole thing here.
Tsundoku is the Japanese word for the stack(s) of books you’ve purchased but haven’t read yet. This was an interesting piece in Big Think about “anti-libraries,” tsundoku, and the desire to read and learn endlessly. Also—owning a lot of unread books prevents your ego from getting too big!
The Antidote to Cynicism - I listen to a lot of podcasts, and this was a lovely one about the joy of giving and lifting up others. At first I wasn’t sure if it would be relevant to me as a writer, but it turns out that if you’re a good person who wants to make life good for others—even in small ways—this episode will put a big smile on your face.
🔦 Protagonist Spotlight—You’re the Hero of the Story!
Every month, I feature a few of our community members to celebrate books, essays, or other projects that you have loved or written:
👏🏼 Stacy Alderman's true love story, Comet is Cupid, was recently published in the anthology LoveNotes! by 71st Street Books. She attended a reading in Reading, PA where she got to meet editor Heather Christie and several other contributors.
👏🏼 Jodie Hewson says, “‘Who would I be if I wasn’t trying so hard not to fail?’—I recently decided to take storytelling into my own hands and started a YouTube channel of cinematic vlogs. My first vlog series is called Worthless. It is the story of how I “lost it all, to find it all” in my thirties and reclaim all the things the world tells us are worthless.”
👏🏼 Allegra Huston published 50 Imaginative Storm Writing Prompts - Provocative images plus 30 words/short phrases to go with each one, coil-bound so it lies flat when open. She says: “It's also a downloadable PDF and an e-book, but the full-color paperback is what I'm really proud of.”
Congrats to all of you! I’m so proud of this community and your endless creativity!
Want to share something that you’ve recently read or written?
Just reply to this email or drop a comment below with a 1-2 sentence description. I can’t wait to hear from you!
📚 Book Club for Writers & Curious Readers
THIS SUNDAY - ZOOM Link below
Our Book Club is for our community members who want to dive even deeper into writing craft. 🤓 Come nerd out with us!
Feel free to come even if you haven’t read the book. (Just be prepared for spoilers.)
Book:
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Time:
Sunday, January 26, 2025 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT
During the book discussion, we’ll chat about:
Techniques for re-training our brains from a culture of distraction
Embracing “boredom” in order to spur creativity
How non-fiction is structured to be maximally persuasive, balancing evidence and inspiration
During the writers’ hangout portion, we will talk about:
How has the first month of 2025 gone for your writing (or reading)?
Did you stick with your creative intentions?
What roadblocks did you hit, if any? Or were there pleasant surprises?
Do writers need to be on social media?
Does it conflict with what we just learned in Deep Work?
How do we balance writing and building an author platform?
To prevent Zoom-bombing from not-nice people, the Zoom link is below the paywall.
This also allows us to keep our members’ book discussions private from the general internet; it’s nice to have a cozy, totally private space for just us!
If you’d like to join us in the Book Club, you can upgrade to a paid membership here:
or:
Get a complimentary paid subscription when your friends subscribe:
1 referral = one-month paid subscription, comped
2 referrals = three-month paid subscription, comped
3 referrals = one-year paid subscription, comped
ZOOM LINK BELOW:
💛