June Happiness Sprinkles + Book Club ZOOM Link
Music that Slows Time, Borrowing Backyards, and Summer Mocktails
Hello, Protagonists!
Welcome to June’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 creating.
In this post, you’ll find:
🌸 Happiness Sprinkles
🔦 Protagonist Spotlight - You’re the Hero of the Story
📖 Book Club Details + Zoom Link
Reminder! Our “Reading with Wonder” Book Club meeting is this Sunday, June 28th at 8pm ET / 5pm PT
Zoom Link at the bottom of this post
💕 Joanna
🌸 Happiness Sprinkles
A few quiet delights we’ve loved this month—and hope you will, too.
Music designed to slow down time: Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel is a masterclass in the neuroscience of musical stillness. “The composition is built on a pristine geometric trap: the piano maintains an unhurried, looping triplet rhythm, providing a safe cognitive framework, while the cello performs slow, rising, and falling scales that inevitably resolve back to the same note.” I get chills every time I listen. My body loves this music.
Summer Mocktails! I’m enjoying all the emerging mocktail accounts. It’s so fun to have such a variety of fun recipes that leave me feeling refreshed and alive. And they are just so beautiful! What has been your favorite drink this summer?
Borrowing a Backyard: These urban flower farmers trade lawn care for space to grow beautiful blooms in their neighborhoods. I am so inspired by the courage to ask for collaboration and the community it created as a result. Neighbors are connected, and so much beauty is shared. Would you be willing to share your backyard?
Summer Reading Parties: I just learned about Reading Rhythms, a group that organizes and hosts reading parties across the country, connecting passionate readers and redefining how we experience books together. I want one in Berkeley so bad! Has anyone been to one of their gatherings?
🔦 Protagonist Spotlight
Every month, we love highlighting what you are creating. Here are a few wonderful projects from our community:
🕵 Neal Lipschutz has a new mystery novel, Long Arm of the Past, due from publisher Tucker DS Press in August (available for pre-order now). It follows the July 2025 release of his debut, No Write Way to Die.
✍🏽 After almost three years of tireless writing, J.C. Ardent finished his debut novel! The dedication of writers is truly amazing. Go J.C.!
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.
📖 “Reading with Wonder” Book Club — This Sunday!
You’re invited (even if you haven’t read the book):
🗓️ Sunday, June 28th at 8pm ET / 5pm PT - ZOOM link below
📚 Book: These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
The “Reading with Wonder” Book Club is for our community members who want to dive even deeper into how great books work. Come nerd out with us! 🤓
💬 During the book discussion, we’ll chat about:
Constraints - MacLean uses the “one week on an island” premise as a creative constraint. Did the bounded time and place make the story feel tighter, more theatrical, more artificial, or more emotionally pressurized? Is the container of the book the island, the will, the storm, the week, Alice’s return, or the family reckoning?
Birth Order - In our podcast interview with MacLean, she talked about taking pleasure in turning birth order tropes on their heads. How well did she accomplish this? Which characters transformed and which characters failed to transform?
Posthumous characters - MacLean also talked about her decision to never have Franklin alive on page, so the character is absent but still structurally powerful. How did she keep a dead character active in the plot?
Reveals - Which secrets landed because they were carefully seeded, and which surprised you through timing or emotional context?
Wealth - The Storm family’s wealth creates spectacle, but also emotional distortion. How did the book make you feel about family wealth?
Career Transitions - This novel is a transition for MacLean, going from Historical Romance to Book Club Fiction. Did this feel like a debut? Where did you feel her romance-genre roots most strongly: banter, pacing, emotional legibility, sensuality, character arc, or payoff?
Do you perceive traditional publishing as supporting or inhibiting the creative evolution of authors?
What other authors have successfully transitioned to other arenas?
💬 During the Mini Creativity Coaching portion, we will talk about:
MacLean stands for the power of pleasure and joy in our world. How does pleasure have power in your creative life? How can you invite more pleasure into each day?
In our podcast interview with MacLean, she talked about her admiration of Jennifer Lynne Barnes (whose most popular series is called The Inheritance Games) and her advice to find your “id buttons,” which are the small and big things that you adore, and fill your book with them. We will take time to list our personal “id buttons” in writing and life.
We think this is going to be a super fun conversation!
Zoom link is posted below the paywall to keep our gathering cozy and private.
(This also prevents any non-book-loving Zoom crashers!)
If you’d like to join us in the Book Club, you can upgrade to a paid membership here:
or:
Refer friends to receive complimentary months:
1 referral = 1 month free
2 referrals = 3 months free
3 referrals = 1 year free
✨ Note for fellow introverts:
You are welcome to come as you are—cameras on or off, display names changed or unchanged. No pressure, just presence.
📹 This session will be recorded for those who can’t attend live.