Your January Creativity Mini-Challenge + New, Exclusive Short Story by Me!
+ A quick, 5-minute creative hit to take you into the weekend
Hello, Protagonists! In this post, you’ll find:
🤓 What I’m Reading This Week
🎉 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
Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson - (novel, historical fiction) - Atkinson is a master at weaving complex narratives together. This story about a woman-helmed nightclub empire in post-WWI London is fascinating for how different each character’s point of view is. I’m loving how this is like an invitation into a risqué world that I’d be too timid to step into in real life.
“The Long History of the Figurative 'Literally'—and 8 Great Writers Who Used It” - (article, Mental Floss) - Oh my god, I am one of those grammar snobs who sniffs at people who use “literally” wrong… except it turns out that even Jane Austen did it??
“A Little Girl Dropped a Message in a Bottle Into a Lake. Her Daughter’s Classmate Found It 26 Years Later” - (article, Smithsonian) - Absolutely delightful story about unexpected human connection!
🎉 Your January 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 from my life 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 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
Joon was an expert baker. He’d been educated at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and worked in various patisseries in the same glamorous city for ten years, before coming home to Korea to open up his own shop.
Here, he baked the same flaky, buttery delights that had sold out every morning in France.
But here, they just sat on the shelf, unbought, untasted, and thrown away at the end of each long day.
I’m not doing anything differently, he thought. So what’s the problem?
One Saturday morning, he had an errand to run, so he asked his younger cousin, Binna, to mind the bakery for him. She was eighteen and would probably be on her phone the whole time, but it didn’t really matter, did it? No one ever came into the shop anyway.
When Joon returned two hours later, though, he found a line of new patrons out the door. The trays in the window displays were almost empty. And Binna and three of her friends were smiling and rushing around behind the counter, ringing up orders as fast as they could.
Joon pulled Binna aside for a moment. “What happened? Where did all these people come from? How is this possible?”
Binna grinned, pulled up her phone, and opened one of the video apps she was always on. “You just needed some modern guerilla marketing, Joon. I filmed a bunch of close-ups of your pastries and some behind the scenes stuff about the bakery—oh, sorry, I hope that wasn’t, like, secret? Your giant ovens are pretty cool.”
Joon shook his head in wonder at his little cousin. How he had underestimated her! And she had even called in her friends to help.
It was amazing how sometimes, just a tiny shift in perspective could make all the difference in the world.
🥰 Want more of my writing?
Buy one of my books for yourself or a reader in your life!
THANK YOU for supporting my work! I write these books for you. 💗
📸 Where is the photo from?
The photo above was from my trip to Seoul, South Korea last year. I have a massive sweet tooth, so I have to visit multiple bakeries during any vacation! These strawberries-and-cream croissants were too pretty not to photograph, along with most everything else in the shop!
Best I've got in 5 minutes
They looked like friendly dinosaurs, Sylvia thought as she squatted down in front of the cabinet to look at them more closely. Beautiful, crispy pastry segments each slightly larger than the one before. Only where you might expect to see a head, there was a puff of cream. Red, prickly strawberries placed along the cakes’ spines reminded Sylvia of the dragons she’d fallen in love with watching How to Train Your Dragon cartoons on lazy Saturday mornings.
And this Saturday morning, she hoped Alain would fall in love with her, even if she had to seduce him with French pastries.
Linda Y - Happy weekend all
My heart swelled as I looked at the beautiful pastries. So much time. So much love.
I wiped my hands on my dusty apron as I gazed out the store window. This was my dream. Baking delicious treats for others to enjoy. I didn't realize how much heartache it would cost me. Moving thousands of miles from the family and friends to chase down an opportunity almost too good to be true. A brief conversation at the end of my culinary class with a visiting professor and here I am - making these gorgeous treats in another country - all on my own.
They said I wouldn't go. They said I was stupid to think he would hold up his part of the deal. They said I would be running home with my tail tucked between my legs in six months.
Six months.
Well, today is my year anniversary. And I am here to stay.