Your June Creativity Mini-Challenge + New, Exclusive Short Story by Me!
A quick, 5-minute creative hit to take you into the weekend
Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
🤓 Reader’s Corner: What I’m Reading this Week
🎉 5-minute Creativity Mini-Challenge
✍🏼 A new short story by me (published exclusively here on CREATIVE. INSPIRED. HAPPY)
📸 Where is the photo from?
🤓 Reader’s Corner: What I’m Reading This Week
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab - (novel, general fiction) - School is officially out here in California, which always signals Summer Reading season to me (even though I’m not a student, so the school year shouldn’t matter, haha). Anyway, I am so ready to immerse myself in Victoria’s gorgeous prose and worldbuilding again. Really looking forward to cracking this book open.
“Artist of the Beautiful” - (article, Wall Street Journal) - This is a lovely look at one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s lesser-known works, which examines the misunderstandings between an artist and those who live in his town. Why do we isolate the “weird” when it might, in fact, be beautiful?
“When Did Human Language Emerge?” - (article, MIT News) - Yes, I’m a big nerd and I love language. This interesting piece explores new findings that indicate we began using language a lot earlier than previously thought.
🎉 5-minute Creativity Mini-Challenge
It’s a common myth that creativity has to be a huge undertaking. I actually believe we can spark it with just small moments, and anyone can do it, not just professional artists.
Also, these little bursts of creativity can lead to larger inspiration or simply bring a smile. Both are wonderful and enough in their own ways.
So here is your Creativity Mini-Challenge for this month. It’s based on a picture from my life and will only take you five minutes. (Below, you’ll find my take on it, although I admit time gets away from me once I get going.)
Look at the photo below (alt text available for accessibility).
Tell yourself a super short story or doodle something about it.
(optional) Share your story in the Comments below!
REMEMBER—This is supposed to be whimsically rough! It’s not about perfection. It’s five minutes to dream—just for you. Have fun!
CREATIVE.INSPIRED.HAPPY is a warm, vibrant community of nearly 25,000 readers and writers who believe that EVERYONE can spark creativity and build an inspired, happier life.
✍🏼 A new short story by me (published exclusively here on CREATIVE. INSPIRED. HAPPY)
Mike had finished with painting twenty spaces in the museum parking lot with the word “Visitor.” There was one more to go, but then, part way though the word (V-I-S-I-T, so close!) he ran out of paint.
He called his friend Luis, who was working on a different section of the parking lot. “Hey man, you got any black paint left? I don’t want to go all the way back to the maintenance shed to get a new can. I’ve got, like, literally two more letters to paint.”
“No worries, I gotcha,” Luis said. “Just leave the stencil and I’ll take care of it in a few minutes when I head that way. It’s almost time for lunch anyway. You wanna take off and get a place in line at the food truck before it gets crowded? Grab me a cheeseburger?”
“Cool, sounds good.” Mike left his paintbrush and stencil and walked off toward the outer driveway, where a couple food trucks always came around 11:30.
Luis joined him ten minutes later, just in time for the burgers coming piping hot out of the truck. As he took his lunch from Mike, Luis showed him a photo of the parking space.
“All good?” Luis asked.
Mike’s eyes widened. The O-R in “Visitor” was sloppy, like it was hand-painted by a kid and not stenciled on. It was also bold and slightly crooked.
Then Luis started laughing. “Just kidding, that’s a photo I doctored. Here’s the real one.” He flicked to the next picture on his phone, and that was a perfectly standard VISITOR paint job on the parking space.
“I hate you,” Mike said.
“Nah, you love me,” Luis said, taking a giant bite of his cheeseburger.
Mike smiled, because it was true. They’d been friends since elementary school, through bullying and puberty and breakups with girlfriends, but no matter what, they’d always had each other’s backs.
“Centenarians or bust,” Mike said, offering a fist bump to affirm the oath they’d made on their first day of kindergarten—that they would be best friends until they were a hundred years ago.
“Centenarians or bust,” Luis agreed with a crooked grin.
Mike knew that Luis would be messing with him till the day they died.
And he was more than okay with that.
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📸 Where is the photo from?
I saw this recently in a parking lot and it made me laugh. I know it isn’t intended to be funny, but somehow, the hand-painted, crooked “VISITOR” struck me as having personality. So I snapped a picture because I wanted to see what you would come up with for our VISITOR.
In case you missed it, you can RSVP now (it’s free!) for my virtual launch party + origami workshop, where I’ll teach you to make 2 paper roses inspired by my upcoming book.
Late again but hey, it's not two months this time.
Who Are You?
Someone has defaced me. I no longer match the rest of my family. I have marks on me. I do not know what they are, what they mean. I do not like it.
Visitor 1
There is a car parked in front of me and people standing on top of me. So rude. I can hear everything that is being said through the human’s sobbing. The words: hospital, accident, and family stand out. I do not understand why they have to be wearing dirty shoes and stand directly on top of me while they talk. There is a perfectly good section of grass a few feet away. They really should use that instead of me.
Visitor 2
Unlike the first humans who stood on top of me, upset about some accident, the next group of humans are happy. They seem to be celebrating. It is a different group. I will likely never know what happened to the first group. This second group, I like them more. There is something about them that feels lighter than the first group. They are happy about something. Again, I hear words: remission, holiday, life. And once again, once they leave, I will never know what becomes of them.
Visitor 3
These humans are the worst yet. There is crying, there is yelling, there is stomping. It hurts. If I could talk, I would tell the big humans to pick up the little humans and leave me in peace. There are two little humans and more words, mixing together from both: ice cream, crack, mother, back. Then it happens. Something cold lands on me and the smallest human lets out a scream that must hurt human ears. The human is picked up and they leave. No one cleans me.
Love this short story