Happiness Sprinkles + Book Club ZOOM Link: Things Worth Smiling About in May
Love Frogs and Another Limited Edition Art Print!
Hello, lovelies!
It’s time for Happiness Sprinkles (my favorites/things worth smiling about this month—scroll down)!
I am also very excited about our May Book Club hangout. Feel free to come even if you haven’t read the book. (Just be prepared for spoilers.)
Book:
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett
Time:
Monday, May 27th @ 5pm PDT / 8pm EDT
Book Discussion (30-45 minutes)—What makes this book tick? We’ll talk about things like whether the plot worked and if not, why not? Where was the pacing great and where did the tension dip, and why? And why do some people love Character A but others hate him, while Character B is universally adored?
Bonus Writers’ Chat (30-45 minutes)—After the book discussion, we’ll have an optional hangout to share what we’re working on, ask each other for advice on writer’s block, finding a literary agent, doing book publicity, etc.
Zoom link:
To prevent Zoom-bombing from not-nice people, the Zoom link will be at the very bottom of this post behind a paywall.
Paid subscribers get full access to our Book Club for Writers & Curious Readers, as well as our private Creativity VIP chat group.
100% of paid subscriptions go toward funding our Scholarships for Aspiring Writers (more details here)
*I want to make sure that everyone can participate in our book club, so if you cannot afford a paid subscription, please email me at evelyn@creativeinspiredhappy.com and I will gladly set you up with a complimentary subscription.
Happiness Sprinkles: Things Worth Smiling About in May
Tom is the master of small delights, and he did not disappoint for my birthday. I woke up on my birthday morning to be greeted by this adorable little frog in the kitchen:
He invented a brand new species for me! The description reads:
Patagonian love frog (Atelognathus Amorus)
An extremely rare species, Patagonian love frogs are easily identifiable by their cheerful disposition and overall greenishness. Little is known about their habits except that they are drawn to areas of high concentration of love and affection. According to legend, they would only appear to a person when someone they loved was thinking about them. Very few individuals have ever been loved enough to see more than one of these magnificent creatures, so if you should see one, consider yourself very lucky.
Isn’t Tom the sweetest?
I naively thought that was the end of it. How silly of me! I’ve been married to Tom for six years… I really ought to know better by now.
The next morning, I started to find little Patagonian love frogs everywhere.
In the tomatoes:
On the power cables:
In the birthday tulips he’d bought me:
Even all the way out in the parking garage, inside my car:
I kept finding them alllll weekend. I laughed so much! Here are just some of the frogs I found and collected:
How lucky I am to be loved like this!
Another Limited Edition Art Print + Autographed Bookplate
The official announcement isn’t going live on social media until next week, but you’re very special to me, so I’m spilling the beans early!
Pre-order my next book, One Year Ago in Spain, from either Meet Cute Bookshop or The Ripped Bodice, and you’ll get the paperback book +
an exclusive art print of Matías painting Claire with honey and crushed berries (illustration by the talented Sally Pham)
a custom designed One Year Ago in Spain bookplate, autographed by me
I will not be offering these outside of the pre-order campaign, so get them while supplies last! (This email is running long, so I’ll link the book description here.)
Reader Spotlight
Every month, I’ll feature a few books or essays that you have loved or written. If you’re looking for something to read, check out these recommendations from your fellow subscribers:
- and I collaborated on a piece about the role of food in my writing and life. You can read “When a Food Lover Becomes a Novelist” over on . (There’s also another picture of Younger Evelyn—as a teenager—with a not-so-pretty-but-still-delicious cake I baked with my friends.)
Debbie Ho shared “The Ahhness of Things,” a beautifully poignant essay written by her friend Karen Maguy about the passing of time and the magic of sometimes being able to fold it, to bring past memory into the present and enjoy it in a new light.
- let me know that the author of Momma Zen (which I mentioned in my Mother’s Day book gift guide) has essays and dharma talks online! I can’t wait to dig in, since I’ve loved all of the author’s books. Thanks, Juniper!
- interviewed me for her “Mothers Who Make” series, a project where she is interviewing 100 mothers on how they make space for creativity. You can read that interview here.
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!
