Your November Creativity Mini-Challenge + New, Exclusive Short Story by Me!
+ A quick, 5-minute creative hit to kick off your weekend
Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
🤓 What I’m Reading This Week
❓ Poll: Are you doing a November writing challenge (NaNoWriMo or similar)?
🎉 5-minute Creativity Mini-Challenge
✍🏼 A new short story by me (published exclusively here on CREATIVE. INSPIRED. HAPPY)
📸 Where is the photo from?
🤓 What I’m Reading This Week
I am currently reading a critique partner’s manuscript, and it is such a delight to get to bask in new words from her.
If you’re looking for critique partners/beta readers for your own work, I’m going to do a Critique Partner Matchup here in a couple weeks. Stay tuned!
“There’s a Place for Everyone - or, Fantastic Niches and Where to Find Them” - (article, Substack) - Too often, we feel like we have to pursue a cookie-cutter path in life in order to be “successful.” I really enjoyed the perspective in this piece that reminds us that we’re all wonderfully weird in our own ways.
Pumpkin Bread - This is not an article, but I was in the mood for baking and had a can of pumpkin in the pantry, so I added chocolate chips to this recipe and voila! I thought you might like to try it, too, if you’ve got a craving for pumpkin spice that isn’t in pie or a latte form.
❓ Poll: Are you doing a November writing challenge?
I’m curious if any of you are doing a novel-writing challenge this month, like NaNoWriMo or otherwise?
(I know there has been some controversy over NaNoWriMo this year because of their stance on AI, so some writers are opting for their own writing sprints instead of NaNoWriMo. But regardless of how you’re writing this month, we’re here to cheer you on!)
*Tech glitch: Some subscribers aren’t able to vote in the poll, while others can… I’m not sure why! I am asking tech support to look into it. In the meantime, feel free to give your answer in the Comments if the poll doesn’t work for you.
🎉 Your November 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 I took 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 of the stone building below (alt text available for accessibility).
Tell yourself a super short story or doodle something about it.
(optional) Share what you came up with 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 thousands who believe that EVERYONE can spark creativity and build an inspired, happier life.
✍🏼 My whimsically rough, super short story
When Andrea was a little girl, she dreamed of living in a castle. Even before she could read, she’d hungrily collected photos from travel magazines, tearing them out surreptitiously from copies in dentist’s waiting rooms and off her mom’s friend’s coffee tables. There was one castle in particular that Andrea fell hardest for—a gray stone beauty with a lone, spired tower, nestled just behind a bridge over a calm river. A fountain statue of a woman driving bulls welcomed guests as they arrived.
Now, at twenty-five years old, Andrea stood before that exact castle. Except it was actually a church, and she felt very, very stupid.
Not that it was a surprise. She’d had to research the castle to find it. Decades ago, it would have been impossible, but with Google image search these days, a long-time mystery had been solved in an instant.
Regardless, standing in front of this building that she’d fantasized about for twenty years stung more than Andrea had expected. If she were being truly honest, she’d still half-hoped that a handsome prince accompanied by herald trumpets would be standing on that bridge to greet her.
Instead, tourists milled all over the place, the air filled with the clicking of camera shutters and warnings not to climb into the fountain and tour guides explain-shouting (in various languages) the history of the church.
This was the sound of Andrea’s childhood smacking face-first into the reality of adulthood.
Her shoulders slumped, and she turned to go.
Just then, a man beside her let out a long exhale. “Huh. I had imagined it more like a castle.”
Andrea looked up. The man smiled sheepishly. “Never mind me,” he said. “It’s just that, I had a picture of this place torn out of a magazine when I was a boy, and I’d always told my parents that one day I’d grow up and become a prince and live there. Silly, huh?”
“Not at all,” Andrea said. “But maybe sometimes, childhood dreams are meant only as bridges to get us to where we’re supposed to go. Speaking of which… you don’t happen to be free for a coffee right now, are you?”
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📸 Where is the photo from?
If you’re curious, I took the picture above in Copenhagen in September of this year. It’s St. Alban’s Church, and I saw it along my canal walk to the Little Mermaid statue.
Thank you for the great op to just write!! so much fun.
Gefjun
The woman sighed looking at the bullocks in front of her, endlessly pulling the plough to nowhere. She too was stuck, frozen in motion, the view to her right never changing and the squawking voices of the parade of tourists rattling in her ears often out of view to the left.
How had this happened, she wondered for the millionth time? How had she been convinced by some hansom, big-moustachio'd, sharp-eyed artisan to be the model for a Goddess in a fountain? That was it, she recognized - again. Goddess. Myths and legends. What was not to fall for?
The bullocks didn't care, they were happy stuck in place pulling nothing. She, on the other hand, wanted to be free! What is the point of being a Goddess if you're stuck in place, with no say over your future?
She had heard there was a group of 'Women Against Iconography'. She took that to mean, overhearing some heated discussions at the foot of her fountain, that when women are put on pedestals, even in honor, it diminishes them. Setting them above human aspiration and feelings, means they are in danger of falling into disrepute.
Furthermore, those statues of old, continue to affect women today as men long for the good old days - whores, mothers or goddesses. Wishing she could drop the whip, sit down and maybe even have a nap, the Geflin/Goddess/Model was pulled from her usual hopeless reverie by the noise of raucous shouting and a rattling truck - or was it - was it?
Unable to turn her head she could only hope and sure enough rumbling in on her right, a massive military fighting vehicle with turrets and all. It stopped and out popped 3 fierce looking Danish women. Harking back to their Nordic roots these modern Valkyries had nothing to lose in the fight for female equality.
Shouting their slogan 'Valkyries Forever' they aimed the long-nosed fat gun directly at the fountain with the Goddess and bullocks. A whistling sound careened toward her with a flash of light and smoke. The last thing she heard was 'Free The Women' as she shattered into a million free-flying pieces.
I love that picture! And relate to Andrea a lot. I still want to live in a castle. I want a huge round tower that's a library with a spiral staircase.
Here's mine:
A Child's Wish
Isabella, Bella to her family and friends, can’t remember when she first became obsessed with the castle-esque old church. Maybe it was from all the walks her mother used to take her on, walking past the church almost daily. Also daily, her mother had to call her name or take her hand to get her to continue walking until she could no longer look back and see the church. Each time, she swore to her mother that she would get married in that church in the biggest, poofiest dress, and each time she mother smiled at her and told her “of course, Sweetie.”
Her love of the church was well-known among her peers. She had even done a school project on its history. In high school, her boyfriend set up a scavenger hunt for her that ended at the church with a prom-posal. Of course, she said yes. They even took prom pictures on the nearby bridge and Bella thinks it’s the best she’s ever looked – until today.
She’s standing at the back of the church, dressed in white, and even with all the pews between them, she can see the tears in her fiancé’s eyes. They match her own. Through the years, her vision of her perfect dress changed, less poofy, more fitted, more dramatic, less dramatic. The one constant was the church.
She’s still not sure how Aleister managed to get permission for them to have their ceremony at the church. When she’d inquired about it, the day after their engagement, she’d been told the church is no longer in use and therefore, unfortunately, her request had to be denied. She’s not sure if she even wants to know how he did it. It feels more magical for it to be a mystery, like it’s always been meant to be for her.