Hello, Protagonists!
Welcome to this month’s edition of Happiness Sprinkles—a soft, joyful roundup of small things worth smiling about and a few wonderful things you in this community have been reading and writing.
In this post, you’ll find:
🏵️ REMINDER: Virtual Launch Party / Book Club Open House + Paper Rose Origami Workshop
This Sunday, August 17th at 8pm ET / 5pm PT
🌸 Happiness Sprinkles
🔦 Protagonist Spotlight - You’re the Hero of the Story
REMINDER: Virtual Launch Party / Book Club Open House + Paper Rose Origami Workshop
I am so excited to invite everyone to an “open house” book club!
Usually our “Read Like a Writer” Book Club is for paid subscribers, but we’re flinging open the doors on August 17th for everyone, for free.
Why?
We’re going to celebrate the two years of love and hard work that went into my novel, The Incredible Kindness of Paper, which is finally in bookstores now!
BONUS: I will also teach you how to make two kinds of paper roses, just like the ones in The Incredible Kindness of Paper.
💛 JOIN ME ON AUGUST 17th:
If you’ve ever wondered what our Book Club is like
or you just want to celebrate with me!
» More details about the Book Discussion topics HERE.
🌸 Happiness Sprinkles
Fun fact: Three iterations of “Happiness Sprinkles”—
(1) Tom first coined the term “Happiness Sprinkles” to mean a shower of small kisses rained onto a face (for example, when kissing little kids all over their chubby cheeks).
(2) Then I adopted “Happiness Sprinkles” for this recurring column in our newsletter, where I share the little things that have made me smile in the past month.
(3) The third mention of “Happiness Sprinkles” is in The Incredible Kindness of Paper. If you find it while reading, drop a comment below or send me an email and tell me what page it’s on. It will make me grin every time another one of you finds it, because most readers won’t know the origins of the phrase—but you are in the know!
Speaking of Happiness Sprinkles v.2, here are few quiet delights I’ve loved this month—and hope you will, too.
My Playlist of Upbeat, Feel-Good Songs - I put together a playlist of favorite songs that make me smile and feel like life is gonna be more than just okay… it’s gonna be GREAT:
A hundred paper roses in the kitchen - Tom and our daughter always do something special to mark my book releases. On Tuesday morning, I woke to a hundred yellow origami roses covering the kitchen island, each with a word tucked into it—the idea being that we could play with the roses like refrigerator magnets to create our own little positive messages!
In-person Launch Party at Books Inc. Palo Alto - Earlier this week, I had the best time chatting with the inimitable Alka Joshi (The Henna Artist; Six Days in Bombay) at my local indie bookstore. I felt so much love and warmth from the audience, which was full of family, friends, and readers both new and old!
And it’s not an Evelyn Skye party without book-themed cupcakes! Thank you to my talented daughter for the beautiful buttercream roses:
Poison Books - Did you know that some books are literally poisonous to the touch? This fascinating article unveils a part of book binding history that I knew nothing about, and which keeps modern-day librarians and literary historians on their toes.

Art in Miniature - I really, really love tiny things, so Tom knew this piece about miniature art would be right up my alley. These are so intricate and joyful!
Human vs Violin - Every proper edition of Happiness Sprinkles must have a little sprinkling of silliness. Enjoy:
🔦 Protagonist Spotlight
Every month, I love highlighting what you are creating. Here are a few wonderful projects from our community:
🙌🏼 Kristin Fellows launched her own indie publishing house, Octopus & Garden Press. Way to go, Kristin!
👏🏼 Debbie Liu published her book in Australia! Congratulations, Debbie!
👏🏼 Elizabeth Prats signed with a literary agent after 10 years and 5 manuscripts. Way to keep the faith and finally reap the rewards!
🫶🏼 Irvin K: “I did a launch party in Krakow for the Polish version of my book, and got to meet a handful of really lovely fans!” Congrats, Irvin!
👏🏼 Canon Robertson finished their stage play and received the first printed copy. Well done, Canon!
🫶🏼 Jessica Shelley: “I poured my heart into this one. And it’s so joyous feeling like I'm beginning to call in and connect with kindred spirits now.”
Want to be featured in a future post?
Just reply to this email or leave a comment with a 1–2 sentence description of what you’ve been working on. Or, hang out in our community chat, where we share our recent smiles and successes every Monday (with other fun questions on Wednesdays and Fridays).
OMG! So many pretty, happy photos in this one, I love it!
🫶🏻