I’ve decided to add a new blog feature, just to inject a little happiness into the world. Every month, I’m going to give you a few things that have brought me joy in recent weeks. Maybe you’ll love them, too. Maybe they’ll inspire you to find other joyful things more suited to your tastes and temperament. And I’d love to hear from you — in the comments below or by email — what’s making YOU happy lately?
Thing 1: I made a mess in my kitchen, making six dozen cupcakes for my mother’s 80th birthday
This was pretty exciting for lots of reasons. Mom doesn’t usually go in for parties for her birthday, but for this one, she went ALL in, and invited So Many People to come celebrate with her. Family came in from out of state, and LOADS of her friends from her community showed up to tell us how much they love her, too.
And yeah, my kitchen is still kind of a disaster, four days later. Worth it? Totally worth it.
Thing 2: I had a very specific reading experience that I’ve been missing
The last several years, I’ve been reading a lot of contemporary fantasy (or urban fantasy, or magical realism, or lots of other similar sub-genres). And I’ve been reading non-fantasy novels, and non-fiction, and short stories in various forms. But one of my FIRST reading loves was the huge honker of an epic fantasy novel with a beautiful cover, and a map at the beginning, and a glossary of terms, and an index of character names.
Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I sat down on the couch with a new-to-me epic fantasy novel that met ALL of those requirements. It was like coming home again, and I actually sighed in contentment as I settled down to sink into a world THAT big. (It was The Mask of Mirrors, for those that are curious)
Thing 3: In the last 7 weeks, I’ve bought myself two fountain pens, and I’m hooked
I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, because SO MUCH of my creative process involves writing by hand, and I go through pilot g2s at an astonishing rate. So I finally bought myself a fountain pen and a jar of ink. A few weeks later, I realized that I needed to have at least two pens inked in different colors at the same time, so I bought another one. I’m holding myself steady for now, but I can TOTALLY understand how people quickly go off the hobbyist deep end with this game. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s NO LONGER better for the environment if I buy more pens and more ink than I can realistically use.
So – those are my three favorite things for February. What are yours?