🥳 Happiness Sprinkles (my favorites/things worth smiling about this month)
🔦 Protagonist Spotlight - celebrating what you’ve been reading and writing
📚 Reminder: Our Book Club will reconvene in October. More info here.
🤓 What I’m Reading This Week
The unanimous vote in our Chat group was that you’d be interested in knowing what I’m reading (books, Substacks, articles, etc.), so here’s what caught my eye this week:
The Good Part by Sophie Cousens - (novel, women’s fiction) - I loved this book about a 20-something woman who wishes she could skip to the “good part” of her life where she’s figured everything out, and suddenly wakes up in her 40s.
I thought it would be a light rom com but it turned out to be a beautiful look at motherhood, friendships, and the importance of every day life. Highly recommend!
Of Blood and Fireby Ryan Cahill - (novel, epic fantasy) - Ryan was one of the other authors at the Danish Fantasy Festival, and he’s such a nice guy that I immediately recommended his books to Tom.
“It’s a Good Time to be a Ghostwriter” - (article, Substack) - an interesting piece about the authors behind celebrity memoirs, etc., and what it takes to land a job as a ghostwriter
🥳 Happiness Sprinkles: Things Worth Smiling About in September
I was just in Denmark for a book festival, so I took a bunch of photos of things and places that made me smile. Enjoy!
Western Denmark
Esbjerg is a city in the western part of Denmark, about three hours by train from Copenhagen. The festival organizers took us on a sightseeing tour of this beautiful area.
These giant sculptures are the “Men by the Sea” (they are facing the beach, which is just out of the shot.)
Fun fact—they don’t all have the same number of toes. One of the men has six toes on each foot. Another man has a four-toed foot and a five-toed foot. (The other two have five toes on each foot.) Why? Not sure…
We also went to a Viking reenactment village, where I got to try archery (I was very, very bad at it.)
And of course, I had a Danish (which are obviously not called Danishes in Denmark, haha.) This one was a cinnamon snail. It was pillowy soft with just the right amount of sweetness.
Book Festival
Then the festival began! It was two days full of author talks and book signings, plus lots of amazing book-themed events.
Look, I was a Guest of Honor! My name and face were all over the place—on the streets of Esbjerg and even inside the mall. It was so wild.
Here’s me and author Ryan Cahill, looking very professional with our mics:
And here’s a photo of all four Guests of Honor: Ryan Cahill (Of Blood and Fire series), Taran Matharu (Dragon Rider), Angie Sage (Septimus Heap), and me!
Copenhagen Canals
After the festival weekend, I headed back east to Copenhagen. The first thing I did when I got to the capital was hop on a canal cruise along the gorgeous waterways.
Happiness Museum
As luck would have it, the Happiness Museum was just a 2-minute walk from my hotel! The Danes are some of the world’s happiest people, and this interactive exhibition based on the science of happiness was both fascinating and joyful.
“Happiness is not decreased when shared - it’s happiness, not pie.”
Hoptimists
These “Hoptimists” were so darn cute! Of course I bought the smiling yellow one to put on my desk. It bounces and bobs on its little spring and will be such a happy reminder of this trip.
The lady at the cashier told me she used to have one as a child. Hoptimists really are a Danish fixture that goes back decades.
If you want one but you’re not in Denmark, they sell them on their website and lots of other places (just google “Hoptimist”).
These were written by the CEO of The Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen (which sponsors the Happiness Museum). I grabbed a copy of each (for possible research for a future novel!), but they’re also available online pretty much wherever you want to buy books.
Chat for More Small Happinesses
In between posts, I hang out with our community in our online Chat Space, so pop in and say hi!
This past month, we shared our favorite TV shows, as well as book recs and some random little things that made us smile.
🔦 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:
Brian Weisfeld has published a new middle grade book, You’re The Boss: A Kid’s Ultimate Guide to Starting Your Own Business, the first ever how-to-start-a-business book for kids from a major publisher. Brian is the founder of The Startup Squad Foundation and has dedicated his career to teaching kids about entrepreneurship. Happy Release Week, Brian!
Nōn Wels and artist Ess Crossley have partnered to make Feely Cards, described as “an affirmation (and action!) deck that empowers kids and adults to engage more meaningfully and intentionally with the superpowers of empathy, vulnerability and emotional curiosity.” Congrats,
Want to share something that you’ve recently read or written?
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Such colorful houses! Like the Painted Ladies in SF. And I now want a Hoptimist, Thanks for sharing that link.
Thanks for sharing about The Feely Cards!!!