14. My Backyard is a Fairy Garden & A Shoe Fell Out of the Sky
Creative writing prompts, Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a genius, and a book recommendation from a good friend of mine!
Enjoy two writing prompts from the fall (unedited!) that showed me that I’m able to write this newsletter and - maybe one day - a book. Try these prompts, and let me what you create!
Describe exactly what you see/smell/hear/etc right now. Include objects, people, and anything else in your immediate environment.
Sometimes I think my backyard is a fairy garden. The way the light spills through the trees. The pure greenness of the grass. How my dog bounds across the field, ears flailing, mouth open in an impossible smile. The slight breeze that tickles my skin, edging the weather a half degree towards cold. The fresh scent of the outdoors. The lightly changing color of the leaves, edges slowly turning orange and red and yellow as we slip into October. Mostly, though, because my skin always gets goosebumps and the spike in my creativity. As if these magical creatures in this magical space are creating magical ideas in my magical brain. Sometimes I think my backyard is a fairy garden because it makes nothing seem impossible. Even writing a novel at twenty two with little to no writing experience. Only qualified as a reader for my entire life, ideas in my head, creatively stubborn, and this ache in my gut that dares me to try. I sit here, in my magical backyard, on my laptop, music in my head, dogs smiling beside me, goosebumps ghosting across my skin, and I dare to try.
A shoe falls out of the sky. Justify why.
“Huh,” the old man says. In all his days, he’s never seen this.
Slowly, he reaches down and picks it up in his hand. It’s a shoe. A formerly white converse sneaker. The sole is beginning to come off of the bottom. And it looks to be about a size seven women’s sneaker. (He worked in retail, back in the day.) The man looks around, but he’s alone. The only person on his bench. A few stragglers somewhat around, but all appear to have their shoes accounted for.
“Oh gosh! I’m so sorry, sir!” A young woman’s voice calls from … above?
Idly, the old man wonders if his time has come. If his angel, on their way to pick him up, accidentally dropped their converse sneaker right in front of him. Ah, well. He’s had a good life. He looks up.
A teenaged girl with a cherub face, blonde ringlets, and blue eyes looks down at him in mortification. Her face is bright red, hand covering her mouth. And most importantly, sitting on a branch in the tree above his head. Well, at least his wife won’t be pissed at him for dying today.
“It’s alright, miss,” the old man says as he attempts to get up and give it back to her.
“Oh please don’t move!” the girl calls as she scrambles down the tree.
The man smiles, thinking of his teenage days and how he spent hours outside, just like her evidently through her climbing experience. She’s holding a book in her hand and her other converse sneaker - equally worn - is hanging untied off of her foot.
“I’m so sorry. It just slipped right off! Did I hit you?” the girl asks as she takes her shoe from the man.
“No, no. It’s perfectly fine.”
She plops down next to him and slips on the shoe.
“I’m Maddie.” She says, holding out her hand.
“John.” He responds, taking hers in a firm grip.
And thus, a friendship was born.
We have a full week of fantastic releases! Check out a few below. Personally, I’m adding all of these to by TBR.
A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated #1) by Danielle L Jensen (Fantasy): Feb 27, 2024
Lore of the Wilds (Lore of the Wilds #1) by Analeigh Sbrana (Fantasy): Feb 27, 2024
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange (Historical Fiction): Feb 27, 2024
Three-Inch Teeth (Joe Pickett #24) by CJ Box (Mystery/Thriller): Feb 27, 2024
Fate Breaker (Realm Breaker #3) by Victoria Aveyard (Fantasy): Feb 27, 2024
Where the Dark Stands Still by AB Poranek (Fantasy): Feb 27, 2024
Books I’ve compiled from B&N Top 100, the NYT Bestsellers List, and Amazon Bestsellers in no particular order. I’ve decided to simply add the books I haven’t before, since I’ve caught up to the new additions. If you’re curious, last week’s post can be found here.
Crosshairs (Michael Bennett #16) by James Patterson and James O. Born (Mystery/Thriller)
Fangirl Down (Big Shots #1) by Tessa Bailey (Romance)
Life After Power by Jared Cohen (History, Nonfiction)
What Feasts at Night by T Kingfisher (Horror, Fantasy)
The author of the week is someone who I read books by religiously when I was younger. She fed into and fostered my spy teenage phase. It’s Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
I already knew she was an incredible author, but Jen is also a literal genius. She’s written many books, including The Naturals, The Inheritance Games, Raised by Wolves, The Squad, Debutantes, Tattoo, and Golden as well as a few standalone novels. Personally, The Naturals and The Squad defined a year of my life, and I’ve loved diving back into her worlds through The Inheritance Games.
Jen is incredibly smart. She has a graduate degree from Cambridge University as a Fulbright Scholar and a PHD from Yale. She wrote her first novel at nineteen and proceeded to publish five more while still in school. Jen has also written pilot scripts for TV shows and is a literal leading expert on the psychology of fandom and the cognitive science of fiction and the imagination. What?! I would genuinely love to sit down for coffee with Jen and pick her brain.
Jen continues to write (of course) and is an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma. Jen, don’t be surprised if I show up to your office in the least creepy way possible. Her books were a huge part of my life when I was younger, and now I am deeply fascinated with her field of study!
You can find more about Jen on her website (where I also gathered this info!) as well as her Instagram.
Just a reminder to submit any books you think others will love on the R&R page or to my email: thesundayreads@gmail.com!
Today’s recommendation comes from a good friend of mine, Paola! You can find here on her Instagram and Threads! She’s a fantastic writer and incredibly funny. Her recommendation is A Power Unbound by Freya Marske.
This book is actually the third in a trilogy, The Last Binding, but she read it as a standalone (lol) and wasn’t confused! Besides having a beautiful cover, this book is described as a historical fantasy. Fantasy, magic, a cutie romance, a thief, history, and stopping a plot to seize power … what more do you need? I will certainly be picking up this trilogy!
That’s all for today! Much love.
Izzy
LOVE THIS! Those 2 prompts at the beginning are you kidding! We want to see more fiction Izzy ♥️
Also if you do pick the series up, pick the first one up! 😆