Happiness Sprinkles + Book Club ZOOM Link
A steampunk heart, mesmerizing cake decoration, a wacky faux silent film, and more
Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
🥳 Happiness Sprinkles (a.k.a. things worth smiling about this month)
🔦 Protagonist Spotlight - celebrating what you’ve been reading and writing
📚 Reminder! Our Book Club meeting is this Sunday, February 23rd at 8pm ET / 5pm PT
» Book Club ZOOM Link at the bottom of this post
🥳 Happiness Sprinkles: Things Worth Smiling About in February
Here are a few delights that I enjoyed in the past month. I hope they bring a smile to you, too!
Steampunk Heart - Because I love celebrating creativity in all forms, I couldn’t resist sharing the steampunk heart that Tom recently made. He spent months on this, and I am always so impressed by his artisan dedication to excellence in anything he takes on!
Ann Patchett x Ina Garten - I love desserts and I love listening to writers talk about their processes, so this was a real treat! Award-winning novelist and bookstore owner Ann Patchett visited Food Network star Ina Garten to chat about writing, all while cooking together. It’s like this podcast episode was recorded just for me!
Stunning Cakes - Honestly, if I didn’t have books to write, I might just watch these mesmerizing mirror glaze videos all day…
Hundreds of Beavers - Think: black-and-white silent film meets Wile E. Coyote but a bit dark, and you’ve got “Hundreds of Beavers.” (You have to be in a wacky mood to watch it, haha.) What I loved was that I could feel how much fun the filmmakers had when they made this—and isn’t that half the joy of being an artist?
🔦 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:
Savannah Chandler just published her poetry collection, Too Soft For All Of It. She says: “It’s a collection of poems I wrote during my darkest days that slowly began to lighten. With special significance to those who feel too deeply, take everything to heart, and cannot bear to let anything go, this is for you.” Congratulations on publishing your first book, Savannah!
Evelyn Camu says: “I just had published online an essay about a creativity and wellness retreat I went to last year hosted by Elizabeth Gilbert. I would love for other writers to know about it. It was a wonderful experience, and she's hosting another retreat in May.” Thank you so much for thinking of other writers in our community, Evelyn!
Joshua Dyer wrote: “I had one of my short stories published in Jerry Jazz Musician magazine back in November. ‘Melody and Counterpoint’ is currently on the recommended reading list for a 2024 Nebula Award in its category!” Congrats on the publication and Nebula Award list, Joshua!
For a book recommendation, Diana Wilson read and enjoyed Cabin by Patrick Hutchison. She said, "I laughed SO HARD that I thought the neighbors might begin to worry I'd finally lost my mind." To learn more, Diana wrote about the book and other things that recently tickled her fancy over on Wit & Wisdom. Thank you for the book rec, Diana!
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 the craft of writing. 🤓 Come nerd out with us!
Feel free to come even if you haven’t read the book. (Just be prepared for spoilers.)
Book:
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Time:
Sunday, February 23rd at 8pm ET / 5pm PT
During the book discussion, we’ll chat about:
the pros and cons of immersing the reader so deeply into a confused protagonist, that the reader is also confused
how to plot mysteries
book titles and how they affect our perception of a book (and whether we decide to buy it)
During the writers’ hangout portion, we will talk about:
Plotters vs Pantsers: Do you outline or do you write by the seat of your pants? Is one method better than the other?
Do you have any tricks for coming up with good book titles?
Foreign sales:
How do books get published in other countries?
How much do those publishers get to change (title, book cover, etc.)?
How much input does the author have?
I think this is going to be a wonderful conversation!
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
Note for Introverts:
If you’re comfortable being on camera, I’d love to see your smiling faces!
But if you prefer to have your camera off or to change your display name on Zoom, that’s totally ok! (before you sign in to the meeting, go to Zoom and change your display name in Settings/Profile/Display Name).
ZOOM LINK BELOW:
💛