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Young musician dies weeks after writing final song

Cat Janice has died aged 31 with her family by her side. The young musician, who had a large following on TikTok, had been battling cancer since January 2022 when doctors diagnosed her with sarcoma, a rare malignant tumour. She was declared cancer-free on July 22 that same year, following extensive surgery, chemo and radiation therapy. The mum-of-one was sadly re-diagnosed with cancer in June last year and despite fighting hard in the second round of her treatments, Janice told fans in January that her cancer "won" and that she "fought hard but sarcomas are too tough". Janice's family have announced her passing in a statement shared to her Instagram. "From her childhood home and surrounded by her loving family, Catherine peacefully entered the light and love of her heavenly creator," they said. "We are eternally thankful for the outpouring of love that Catherine and our family have received over the past few months." Before she died, Janice publicly announced that all her music would be signed over to her 7-year-old son, Loren, to support him in the future. Just weeks before her death, she released her final song Dance You Outta My Head in the hope it would spread "joy and fun". "My last joy would be if you pre saved my song 'Dance You Outta My Head' and streamed it because all proceeds go straight to my 7-year-old boy I'm leaving behind," she said, before the song was released. The song went viral, and took he number one spot in several countries and the number five spot on the Apple Itunes globally. Her family have said that the love she received for her final song, was unbelievable parting gift she could have ever received. "Cat saw her music go places she never expected and rests in the peace of knowing that she will continue to provide for her son through her music. This would not have been possible without all of you." Images: Instagram

Caring

How to write a memoir

How to start a memoir My Story by Russell Durling is my 85-year-old father’s account of the highlights of his life. He is writing and editing it, by hand, in several notepads I gave him as a Christmas gift to encourage the memoir project he had talked about for years. In it, my dad shares stories of summer jobs when he was a teenager, breaking up log jams on the Saint John River near his hometown of Meductic, New Brunswick. He’d move from log to floating log to reach shore again safely – and he loved every minute of this adventure, even when he’d land in the water. Reading an early draft, I learned new details of his history, like how when they were children, his cousin Clara had a pet crow. He also wrote about lessons learned from his Royal Canadian Mounted Police career, which was spent mostly in Nova Scotia, and shared insights about how to retire well. Pro tip from my father: to add a decade to your life, ditch the city (if you can). This memoir will be a treasure for our family, and I’m glad my father was finally able to start writing it, after spending a long time talking about wanting to. And I get it. Writing your life story can feel like a daunting project. But it’s worth it, both to the writer and their potential readers. If you’re having a hard time putting pen to paper, here’s advice on how to start a memoir. First, ask yourself why you're writing a memoir Esmeralda Cabral is a writer who works with people who wouldn’t normally consider themselves writers through her workshop, Writing Your Life. Often, she helps people create written treasures for their families, and sometimes they’re writing just for themselves. To her, and those she teaches, memoir writing can be a way of remembering and reflecting on experiences both positive and negative. “There is a clarity that comes when you put something down on paper,” says Cabral. “Remembering and writing helps us make sense of things. If you don’t write it down or tell it, it’s lost. And that’s a shame.” Begin by jotting down your reasons for writing your story. You could summarise those reasons on a Post-It and stick it on your fridge as an encouraging reminder to stay motivated. After all, there are many good reasons to write: to remember and reflect on your past, to capture your adventures, to share life lessons with family and friends, or maybe even to be published. Consider sharing your plan with a friend or family member who can check in and cheer your progress. Where to start You don’t have to start a memoir with day one. In fact, as much as your future readers love you, they may find that approach less than gripping. In her workshops, Cabral helps people to start a memoir by using a photo that is meaningful to them. She asks them to imagine sitting down with a good friend and telling them the story behind it. Or begin your writing with an event or story you are particularly interested in sharing. What grabs you as a big moment? Select a vivid memory and start there. “Plug your nose and jump in and write down all your memories as truthfully as you can,” summarises New York Times bestselling author Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Maybe start with a birthday party you remember, or your first-grade classroom. Try writing at the same time every day, so you can build a routine that will keep you putting words on the page. Write what you want In every life, there is light and shadow, joy and grief. If you are hesitant to write your memoir because you have difficult stories that might hurt others, there is a solution. First, “You don’t have to write about everything,” says Cabral. “It’s okay to have secrets that go with you to the grave.” Simply knowing you have the freedom to not go to the darkest of places in your writing can lift you over those psychological hurdles of hesitation. However, writing often takes on a life of its own. If you find yourself standing outside a door you had marked as “Do Not Enter,” consider Cabral’s advice: “Write about the hard things as if the person you are writing about is reading it. Be as kind as you can. Leave them with dignity.” Who is your audience? If you’re writing for your eyes only, as a kind of personal therapy, then you may be purposely opening doors and exploring what’s on the other side. That’s okay, too. You are creating a treasure for yourself, and that can be very healthy. Besides, whether the writing is for you or for others, you can always hit the delete button or visit the paper shredder later, if you wish. For now, just get it down. Stop yourself from sticking to rules Avoid letting worries over style or structure stop you from writing. If you care enough about grammar, you can ask someone you trust to read it over later on, or even hire a freelance editor if you’re really fretting over verb tenses. Remember, perfection in writing is not your goal. Readers are interested Writers also might hesitate to share stories because they fear they are boring. “I hear a lot of people say, ‘Oh no, that wouldn’t be interesting to anyone but me,’” says Cabral. But our life stories are of interest to others, whether they feel ordinary to us or if they really are extraordinary. They remind us we are all in this together. Writer Pauline Dakin, author of the award-winning 2017 memoir Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood, was surprised how much the unusual story of her childhood on the run connected with readers. She’s since heard from hundreds of people. “They often begin by saying, ‘My family wasn’t nearly as crazy as yours, but…,’” she says. “They are relieved to hear my story. It makes them feel they are not alone.” We are all far more interesting than we know, she adds. It’s just a matter of believing we have a story to tell. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/uncategorized/how-to-write-a-memoir" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

Books

Why you should encourage your grandchildren to write stories

In an article published in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41405103" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Language Arts</a>, educators who were interested in encouraging children to write were asked why it was important for children to be encouraged to write. Their reasons were varied and interesting, and worth considering for anyone who has a young child in their life – let’s take a look at some: 1. To entertain As humans, we tell stories for many reasons, but perhaps the foremost reason is that we want to entertain one another. By encouraging children to write their own stories, they can discover what entertains them, as well as what entertains others – well-told, engaging stories. 2. To stimulate the imagination By creating from nothing a story full of characters and original plots, a child’s imagination grows and develops. 3. To search for identity When children write their own stories, they can use the conflict and characters to take their first steps on their search for identity. The power simple stories can have on a child’s self-development is remarkable. 4. To improve reading and writing skills Children need to read and write, so we may as well find a way to make it more interesting for them. Not only will writing help kids learn how to read, it can also help them understand literary devices (suspense, twist, dramatic irony, etc.), and grammatical structures. Now that we’ve explored some of the reasons creativity in writing in our kids, let’s find some ways to help get them started: 5. Inspiration exploration When you’re spending time with your grandchildren, make a game out of looking for fun story inspirations. Interesting newspaper headlines, a unique-looking house, a colouring-in book. You could even keep a box full of story inspirations to explore together with your grandchildren. 6. Unblank the page Anyone who has ever sat down to write knows there’s nothing more intimidating than a blank page. To help kids out, try giving them the opening line to a story. You can create these yourself, find a list of opening lines on the internet, or even borrow the opening line of a book on your own shelf. 7. Work all of the mind If you find that your grandchildren have difficulty focusing on just words, encourage them to explore other aspects of their own creativity by using visuals. Storyboards, illustrations, or even writing the story as a comic book can help stimulate storytelling. Image credit: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

Chatbots set their sights on writing romance

Although most would expect artificial intelligence to keep to the science fiction realm, authors are facing mounting fears that they may soon have new competition in publishing, particularly as the sales of romantic fiction continue to skyrocket. And for bestselling author Julia Quinn, best known for writing the Bridgerton novel series, there’s hope that “that’s something that an AI bot can’t quite do.” For one, human inspiration is hard to replicate. Julia’s hit series - which went on to have over 20 million books printed in the United States alone, and inspired one of Netflix’s most-watched shows - came from one specific point: Julia’s idea of a particular duke. “Definitely the character of Simon came first,” Julia told BBC reporter Jill Martin Wrenn. Simon, in the Bridgerton series, is the Duke of Hastings, a “tortured character” with a troubled past. As Julia explained, she realised that Simon needed “to fall in love with somebody who comes from the exact opposite background” in a tale as old as time. And so, Julia came up with the Bridgerton family, who she described as being “the best family ever that you could imagine in that time period”. Meanwhile, Simon is estranged from his own father. Characterisation and unique relationship dynamics - platonic and otherwise - like those between Julia’s beloved characters are some of the key foundations behind any successful story, but particularly in the romance genre, where relationships are the entire driving force. It has long been suggested that the genre can become ‘formulaic’ if not executed well, and it’s this concern that prompts the idea that advancing artificial intelligence may have the capability to generate its own novel. ChatGPT is the primary problem point. The advanced language processing technology was developed by OpenAI and was trained using the likes of internet databases (such as Wikipedia), books, magazines, and the likes. The BBC reported that over 300 billion words were put into it. Because of this massive store of source material, the system can generate its own writing pieces, with the best of the bunch giving the impression that they were put together by a human mind. Across the areas of both fiction and non-fiction, it’s always learning. However, Julia isn’t too worried about her future in fiction just yet. Recalling how she’d checked out some AI romance a while ago, and how she’d found it “terrible”, she shared her belief at the time that there “could never be a good one.” But then the likes of ChatGPT entered the equation, and Julia admitted that “it makes me kind of queasy.” Still, she remains firm in her belief that human art will triumph. As she explained, “so much in fiction is about the writer’s voice, and I’d like to think that’s something that an AI bot can’t quite do.” And as for why romantic fiction itself remains so popular - and perhaps even why it draws the attention of those hoping to profit from AI generated work - she said that it’s about happy endings, noting that “there is something comforting and validating in a type of literature that values happiness as a worthy goal.” Images: @bridgertonnetflix / Instagram

Books

"Writing songs is my therapy": Ed Sheeran reveals further heartbreak

In the wake of the tragic news of the <a href="https://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/tragedy-strikes-ed-sheeran-tour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heartbreaking loss</a> suffered by his co-writer and touring partner, Ed Sheeran has taken to Instagram to share his struggle following a series of life-changing events – and how this has altered the course of his new album, Subtract. The singer shared how he “spiralled” into depression last year after his wife, Cherry, was diagnosed with a tumour during her second pregnancy, which couldn’t be treated until after she gave birth. The star explained that he was "trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album" for almost a decade, when the series of events changed everything. “Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. “And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts," he captioned. “Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route to treatment until after the birth. “My best friend Jamal [Edwards], a brother to me, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety. “I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air". <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpPY7qyI6XB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpPY7qyI6XB/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos)</a> </div> </blockquote> The four-time Grammy award winner shared that this album was a "trapdoor" into his soul, and a way for him to make sense of everything he's been through. Sheeran announced the birth of his second daughter, Jupiter, in May of last year.Subtract will be released on the 5th of May 2023, through Asylum/Atlantic. Image: Getty

Caring

The 5,000-year history of writer’s block

Ann Patchett, who has written eight novels and five books of nonfiction, says that when faced with writer’s block, sometimes it seems that the muse has “<a href="http://www.annpatchett.com/titles#/thisisthestoryofahappymarriage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gone out back for a smoke</a>.” It doesn’t matter whether you’re an award-winning novelist or a high schooler tasked with writing an essay for English class: The fear and frustration of writing doesn’t discriminate. My most recent book, “<a href="https://broadviewpress.com/product/a-writing-studies-primer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Writing Studies Primer</a>,” includes a chapter on gods, goddesses and patron saints of writing. When conducting research, I was struck by how writers have consistently sought divine inspiration and intercession. It turns out that frustrated writers who pine for a muse or help from above are adhering to a 5,000-year-old tradition. <div data-id="17"> </div> <h2>The first writers look to the skies</h2> The first writing system, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/cuneiform" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cuneiform</a>, arose in Sumer around 3200 BC to keep track of wheat, transactions, real estate and recipes. Scribes used clay tablets to record the information – think of them as early spreadsheets. Originally the Sumerian goddess of grain, <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Nisaba/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nisaba</a> became associated with writing. She was depicted holding a gold stylus and clay tablet. As it was common for people to adopt a god or goddess for their professions, a new class of scribes latched onto Nisaba. Practice tablets from <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/367648" target="_blank" rel="noopener">schools that trained young scribes</a> invoke her name – “Praise be to Nisaba!” Poets trumpeted her influence and <a href="https://twitter.com/anctxtmodtablet/status/1097890316458360832" target="_blank" rel="noopener">credited her for giving beautiful handwriting</a> to diligent students. Her Egyptian counterpart was <a href="https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/seshat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seshat</a>, whose name <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Seshat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">translates to</a> “female scribe.” Identifiable by a stylized papyrus as her headdress and a stylus in her right hand, Seshat guided the reed pens of scribes as priests communicated with the divine. Writing was all about communicating with the gods, and the Greeks and Romans continued this tradition. They turned to the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, known collectively as <a href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/nine-muses-0013523" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Muses</a>. Calliope stands out most notably, not only because a musical instrument was named after her, but also because she was considered the foremost of the sisters for her eloquence. The Muses <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124242927020125473" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have since evolved</a> into one overarching “muse” that serves as a source of inspiration. <h2>Global gods and goddesses of writing</h2> Gods and other legendary figures of writing are not limited to Western civilization. In China, the historian Cangjie, who lived in the 27th century B.C., is said to have created the <a href="https://www.ewccenter.com/cangjie-and-the-invention-of-chinese-characters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">characters of the Chinese language</a>. Legend has it that he was inspired by the pattern of veins on a turtle. (Back then, the Chinese <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Oracle_Bones/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">often wrote on turtle shells</a>.) A <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Fu_Xi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">competing story</a> says that cultural folk hero Fuxi and his sister Nüwa created the system of Chinese characters circa 2000 B.C. Yet it is Cangjie’s name that lives on in the Cangjie Input Method, which refers to the system that allows Chinese characters <a href="https://www.cangjieinput.com/?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to be typed using a standard QWERTY keyboard</a>. In India, writers still invoke the elephant-headed Hindu god <a href="https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/blog/ganesha-chathurthi-birth-elephant-headed-god" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ganesha</a> <a href="https://www.thestatesman.com/features/common-writing-rooms-well-known-authors-lord-ganesh-1502544876.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">before putting ink to paper</a>. Known as a remover of obstacles, Ganesha can be especially meaningful for those struggling with writer’s block. There’s also <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Sarasvati/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saraswati</a>, the Hindu goddess of learning and the arts, who’s renowned for her eloquence. In Mesoamerica, Mayan culture looked to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Itzamna" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Itzamná</a> as the deity who provided the pillars of civilization: writing, calendars, medicine and worship rituals. His depiction as a toothless and wise old man signaled that he was not to be feared, an important characteristic for someone promoting an anxiety-inducing process like writing. <h2>Enter the patron saints</h2> In Christianity, <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-patron-saints-and-why-do-catholics-venerate-them-148508" target="_blank" rel="noopener">patron saints</a> are exemplars or martyrs who serve as role models and heavenly advocates. Various groups – professions, people with a certain illness and even entire nations – will adopt a patron saint. Within the Catholic Church, a range of patron saints can serve as inspiration for writers. <a href="https://theconversation.com/st-brigid-the-compassionate-sensible-female-patron-saint-of-ireland-gets-a-lot-less-recognition-than-st-patrick-176659" target="_blank" rel="noopener">St. Brigid of Ireland</a>, who lived from 451 to 525, is the patron saint of printing presses and poets. A contemporary of the better-known <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-things-to-know-about-the-real-st-patrick-92253" target="_blank" rel="noopener">St. Patrick</a>, St. Brigid established a monastery for women, which included a school of art that became famous for its handwritten, decorative manuscripts, particularly the <a href="http://www.kildarearchsoc.ie/the-book-of-kildare/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Book of Kildare</a>. Following St. Brigit in Ireland is St. Columba, who lived from 521 to 597 and founded the influential abbey at Iona, an island off the coast of Scotland. A renowned scholar, St. Columba transcribed over 300 books over the course of his life. The influence of patron saints dedicated to literacy – reading and writing – continued long after the Middle Ages. In 1912, the <a href="https://www.css.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">College of Saint Scholastica</a> was founded in Minnesota in tribute to <a href="https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/whatley-saints-lives-in-middle-english-collections-life-of-st-scholastica-introduction" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scholastica</a> (480-543), who with her twin brother, Benedict (died in 547), enjoyed discussing sacred texts. Both Italian patron saints came to be associated with books, reading and schooling. <h2>Objects charged with power</h2> Some writers may think supernatural figures seem a bit too far removed from the physical world. Fear not – there are magical objects that they can touch for inspiration and help, such as talismans. Derived from the ancient Greek word telein, which means to “fulfill,” it was an object that – like an amulet – protected the bearer and facilitated good fortune. Today, you can buy talismans drawn on ancient Celtic symbols that purport to help with the writing process. <a href="https://www.moonlightmysteries.com/pewter-talisman-for-poets-writers-and-actors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One vendor promises</a> “natural inspiration and assist in all of your writing endeavors.” Another supplier, <a href="https://www.magickalneeds.com/product/talisman-for-poets/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Magickal Needs</a>, advertises a similar product that supposedly helps “one find the right word at the most opportune moment.” Others turn to crystals. A <a href="https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/831873886/healing-crystals-for-writers-writers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writer’s block crystals gift set</a> available through Etsy offers agate, carnelian, tiger eye, citrine, amethyst and clear quartz crystals to help those struggling to formulate sentences. <h2>What makes a writer?</h2> What drove the creation of divine beings and objects that can inspire and intercede on the behalf of writers? To me, it’s no mystery why writers have sought divine intervention for 5,000 years. Sure, tallying counts of sheep or bushels of grain might seem like rote work. Yet early in the development of writing systems, the physical act of writing was exceedingly difficult – and one of the reasons schoolchildren prayed for help with their handwriting. Later, the act of creation – coming up with ideas, communicating them clearly and engaging readers – could make writing feel like a herculean task. Ironically, this complex skill does not necessarily get easier, even with lots of practice. The romantic image of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/genius-in-the-garret-or-member-of-the-guild-60175" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writer in the garret</a> doesn’t do justice to the tedious reality of churning out words, one after another. In his memoir “<a href="https://stephenking.com/works/nonfiction/on-writing-a-memoir-of-the-craft.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">On Writing</a>,” Stephen King reflected, “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” At the suggestion of a friend, the writer Patchett attached a <a href="http://www.annpatchett.com/titles#/thisisthestoryofahappymarriage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sign-in sheet to the door of her writing room</a> to ensure she wrote every day. No matter how accomplished a writer, he or she will inevitably struggle with writer’s block. Pulitzer Prize−winning author John McPhee, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 1963, details his writer’s block in a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/04/29/draft-no-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2013 article</a>: “Block. It puts some writers down for months. It puts some writers down for life.” Another famous writer for The New Yorker, Joseph Mitchell, was struck by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-32602862" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writer’s block in 1964</a> and simply sat and stared at his typewriter for 30 years. I’ve even wrestled with this article, writing and rewriting it in my head a dozen times before actually typing the first word. Poet and satirist Dorothy Parker <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/obituaries/archives/dorothy-parker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">once said</a>, “I hate writing; I love having written.” You and me both, Dorothy. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-5-000-year-history-of-writers-block-190037" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Books

“How do you write to your Queen?” Helen Mirren reveals contents of special letter

Helen Mirren has revealed the secret letter she wrote to Queen Elizabeth when the actress was playing Her Majesty in the 2006 biopic The Queen. The Hollywood legend reflected on crafting the letter in an interview with the <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/radio-times-new-issue-cover-helen-mirren/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Radio Times</a>, saying she felt compelled to write after realising the intensity of the Queen's role firsthand. "I realised we were investigating a profoundly painful part of her life, so I wrote to her," she said. "How do you write to your queen? Was it Madam, or Your Highness, or Your Majesty?" "I said: 'We are doing this film. We are investigating a very difficult time in your life. I hope it's not too awful for you'. I can't remember how I put it. I just said that in my research I found myself with a growing respect for her, and I just wanted to say that." The 76-year-old actress won an Oscar and a Bafta for her portrayal in the film, which is set during the time Princess Diana tragically died. While she never received a response to her letter from the Queen, Mirren said she did receive a letter from the Queen's secretary. Upon opening the response she confessed, "I was very relieved subsequently that I had written that letter." Earlier this year, the actress told <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/helen-mirren-interview-f9-golda-meir-1235097461/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hollywood Reporter</a> that she believes the Queen has watched the biopic. "At the time, it had never been done before, playing the queen. It was quite nerve-racking because I didn't know – no one knew – how the public would receive it, let alone the establishment in Britain," Mirren reflected. "But I got the sense that it had been seen and that it had been appreciated. I've never heard directly, and I never will," she added. Image credits: Getty Images

Movies

COVID changed travel writing

In 2019, international travel and tourism was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/01/global-tourism-hits-record-highs-but-who-goes-where-on-holiday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a $1.7 trillion global industry</a>. A new cruise ship with space for <a href="https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/articles.cfm?ID=3443" target="_blank" rel="noopener">6600 passengers</a> was launched. And dog friendly holidays in the French Riviera were seen as the next big <a href="https://www.luxurytravelmag.com.au/article/these-are-2019s-top-travel-trends/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tourism trend</a>. On social media, travel influencers and bloggers vied for commissions and audiences, while the more “old school” travel writers and journalists continued to report from all corners of the world. The grey area around ethics and sponsorship was murkier than ever – and there was of course, an environmental cost: from the carbon footprint of frequent flyers to the social and cultural impact on <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/29/the-airbnb-invasion-of-barcelona" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over-touristed destinations</a>. Still, the industry was booming. Then, along came COVID-19. For more than a decade, I had made my living as a travel writer, contributing to publications in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and the UK. I’d visited 72 countries on the job. I’d paddled a kayak across the <a href="https://www.traveller.com.au/alone-in-the-isle-seat-auou" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tongan Vava’u archipelago</a>; written about Myanmar’s temples and <a href="https://meanjin.com.au/essays/borderlands/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tijuana and the Mexican border</a>; been hosted on numerous “famils” (familiarisation tours) around the world and met the woman who would become my wife in a Buenos Aires bar while on an assignment to write about the <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2012/07/the-new-australians-of-south-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“New Australia”</a> utopian colony in Paraguay. When news of a virus emerged from a wet market in Wuhan in early 2020, all that stopped. As I slipped into the first of many lockdowns, initially I mourned for the travel life I couldn’t live anymore. Once upon a time, my editor would ring on a Friday afternoon to ask if I could fly to Vietnam on Tuesday. But during my enforced time at home, I realised the travel writing genre I was part of needed some serious re-thinking. The warning signs of a hubristic industry were hard to ignore. In 2019, for instance, the relaxation of regulations for climbers of Mount Everest had resulted in a <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/mount-everest-chaos-at-the-top-of-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“conga line in the death zone above 8,000 metres”</a> of people waiting to summit the peak. The image went viral. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Traffic Jam at the top of the world. A unique situation emerged near balcony when almost 236 climbers rushed to summit Mt Everest on 22 May,2019 following a short summit window. This has environment impacts as well <a href="https://twitter.com/ExplorersWeb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ExplorersWeb</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ClimateReality?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ClimateReality</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/UNFCCC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UNFCCC</a> @climateprogress <a href="https://t.co/mHR37ycfvw">pic.twitter.com/mHR37ycfvw</a> — The Northerner (@northerner_the) <a href="https://twitter.com/northerner_the/status/1131506158781517824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2019</a></blockquote> The notion that the genre might have finally reached its nadir after thousands of years of exploration, exploitation and discovery is not a new concept. But the sheer volume of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/7-ways-travel-listicles-are-ruining-travel-writing_b_5a2d9455e4b04e0bc8f3b5f2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listicles</a>, luxury reviews and Instagram journeys masquerading now as legitimate travel writing is alarming. Pandemic enforced lockdowns got me thinking about how the experience of immobility wasn’t unique. Wars, pandemics, shipwrecks and even prison walls had prevented others from travelling in the past, yet many still managed to travel internally through their own <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Creative-and-Non-fiction-Writing-during-Isolation-and-Confinement-Imaginative/Stubbs/p/book/9781032152516" target="_blank" rel="noopener">isolation</a>. More than two and a half years later, I now believe that despite the angst borne from lockdowns and closed borders around the world, this pause due to COVID-19 has ultimately been a good thing for travel writing – and perhaps the broader travel industry. It has allowed us time to stop and take stock. <h2>A history of re-thinking and re-imagining</h2> Travel writing is one of the most ancient and enduring literary forms. Evidence of the travels of Harkuf, an emissary to the pharaohs, is written on tombs in ancient Egypt. Indigenous Dreaming stories <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-travel-writing/introduction/4CF0BFA6F65A206D5CEBCC35F3AD2A5F" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“spoken or sung or depicted in visual art”</a> date back thousands of years. As Nandini Das and Tim Youngs write in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40165322-the-cambridge-history-of-travel-writing?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=UjsOKwdkaJ&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Cambridge History of Travel Writing</a>, <blockquote> Travel narratives have existed for millennia: so long as people have journeyed, they have told stories about their travels. </blockquote> In a literary sense, travel writing can be traced to the emergence of commerce and movable print technology in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. It went on to flourish in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Romantic Era</a> of travel and exploration, from the late 18th century to mid 1850s. During this time, western travel writing was embroiled in the colonial project. The journals of Imperialist explorers such as William Dampier and James Cook were enormously popular, along with writers such as Richard Francis Burton and James Bruce who recounted their fantastical journeys to the public back home as they sought to conquer lands for “the mother country”. Travel writing continued to shift, changing forms and attracting different readers. The Grand Tour pilgrimage increased in popularity. Mark Twain’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innocents_Abroad" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Innocents Abroad</a> (1869), about his voyage on the “Quaker City” cruise ship, was the century’s best selling travel book. “People have been asking the melodramatic question, ‘Is travel writing dead?’ for the best part of a century,” notes contemporary travel writing scholar Dr Tim Hannigan. During the first world war, British travel literature seemed a requiem for a distant era. The war, observes cultural and literary historian Paul Fussell, “effectively restricted private travel abroad. The main travelers were the hapless soldiery shipped to France and Belgium and Italy and Mesapotamia”. But the end of the war, in fact, led to a significant re-thinking of the travel writing genre. Borders reopened, new countries and alliances had formed. People emerged from the isolation of war curious to see, hear and experience what this “new world” was like. This golden era of travel writing in the 1920s and 1930s was chracterised by a new inquisitiveness. Modernist and experimental styles emerged and, as literary scholar Peter Hulme writes, <blockquote> travel writing could become the basis of a writing career – perhaps because those who had just fought a war felt the need for the kind of direct engagement with social and political issues that travel writing and journalism seemed to offer. </blockquote> After the second world war, travel writing became more questioning of authority, with a quality of restlessness. Notable works incuded Eric Newby’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118141.A_Short_Walk_in_the_Hindu_Kush?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=GkIrolRIA7&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush</a> (1958), Wilfred Thesiger’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/825419.Arabian_Sands?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Js8VkeOG67&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arabian Sands</a> (1959) and John Steinbeck’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33617956-travels-with-charlie-in-search-of-america?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=fwygWdt9sG&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Travels with Charlie in Search of America</a> (1962), about his three-month journey across the US. In 1960s and 1970s, new books showed how travel writing could evolve again while still displaying the “wonder” central to its appeal: presenting narrated inner journeys, adventure and a richness and complexity that had not been seen before. Peter Matthiessen’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/764165.The_Snow_Leopard?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=MfFMUKo9xS&rank=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Snow Leopard</a>, Robyn Davidson’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/78895.Tracks?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Ky3md4s1Az&rank=4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tracks</a> and even the creative voice embodied in Bruce Chatwin’s controversial In Patagonia, (a postmodern blending of fact and fiction), showed how travel narratives, rather than offering insular and superior perspectives, could be subjective, creative and affecting. This new era of travel writing post-COVID, I’d argue, has the potential to adapt to a changing world in the same way the genre changed after the first world war. Environmental concerns, Indigenous presence, awareness of the “other” (and of being the “other”) and an acknowledgement of benefits and pitfalls of technology are all central concerns to travel writing today. <h2>New ways to think about travel writing</h2> The work of South Australian based literary academic Stephen Muecke is an interesting example of a different kind of travel writing. Muecke has had a long career of adopting co-authorship practices, embracing Indigenous and diverse voices within his narratives to highlight that there is always more than one perspective worth considering. In Muecke’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13645145.2007.9634820" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gulaga Story</a> he writes about an ascent of Gulaga, or Mount Dromedary in southern NSW. Local Yuin Aboriginal people take him up the mountain to learn aspects of its Dreaming story and the totem of the Yuin. Muecke’s writing includes interviews with anthropologist Debbie Rose and sections of Captain Cook’s journal, from when Cook travelled along the NSW coast in the 18th Century. The latter offers a contrast between Cook’s initial surface appraisal and the deeper meanings of Indigenous knowledge. Muecke writes: Travelling whitefellas tend to think in lines, like the roads they eventually build and drive along, like the chronological histories they tell. Yet there are alternatives: being multiply present, for instance, as if by landing up in someone else’s somewhere, you still remain somewhere else. Maybe other people have been where you come from too; you arrive in their place and they tell you they have seen your city or your country. In <a href="https://re-press.org/books/reading-the-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reading the Country: Introduction to nomadology</a>, Moroccan artist Krim Benterrak, Muecke and Nyigina man Paddy Roe demonstrate how a co-authored, overlapping narrative from three distinct perspectives allows us to appreciate travelling along the northwest coast of Western Australia. Paddy Roe was from Roebuck plains, an area once inhabited by Indigenous people, though now it is silent except for the vast cattle studs. The three examine the different meanings of place in Roebuck Plains and how different people see and interpret it. Central to the book is the premise that their method is not the way of interpreting Roebuck plains. Their nomadology is an “archive of fragments”. Another more reflexive writer of place, English author James Attlee, wrote the book Isolarion while merely travelling along his street in Oxford. His is an example of <a href="https://theconversation.com/great-time-to-try-travel-writing-from-the-home-134664" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vertical travel</a>, where the travel writer focuses on the close-at-hand details, rather than far-off experiences. Such books acknowledge the fraught nature of the travel writer who arrives from a western country or culture to write about other people and their sophisticated cultures. Attlee’s book is also a creative response to travel writing’s long carbon footprint. Will it still be appropriate for future travel writers to fly around the world on junkets (“famils”) racking up carbon miles amid a climate crisis? I think writers and editors should “go local” much more, as Attlee has, not just from an environmental point of view, but also from an authenticity standpoint. Of course, that doesn’t mean writers can only write about their home cities and states, but it would be a logical place to start. <h2>The new travel writing – 5 of the best</h2> Encouragingly, there are already many recent examples of travel writing that can further engage readers in this shift. Here are 5 of the best. <ol> <li> The Granta travel edition: <a href="https://granta.com/products/granta-157-should-we-have-stayed-at-home-new-travel-writing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Should we have stayed at home?</a> presents a diversity of modern voices and stories, ranging from Taipei alleyways, the history of postcards and an Indigenous perspective of South Australia. </li> <li> <a href="https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/zero-altitude-helen-coffey-book-review-emma-gregg/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zero Altitude: How I learned to fly less and travel more</a> by Helen Coffey explores the world without stepping inside a plane. Coffey uses bikes, boats, trains and cars to seek unexpected adventures while deliberately addressing the impact of how we travel. </li> <li> <a href="https://www.bradtguides.com/product/minarets-in-the-mountains-1-pb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe</a> by Tharik Hussain explores a “different” Europe to that of most travel writing of the past. Hussain travels through Eastern Europe with his wife and daughters encountering the region’s unique Islamic history and culture. </li> <li> Cal Flyn’s <a href="https://www.calflyn.com/nonfiction-books/islands-of-abandonment-nature-rebounding-post-human-landscape" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Islands of Abandonment</a> doesn’t look for places or experiences that might fit in a top listicle of summer holiday experiences. Instead, it explores the “ecology and psychology” of forgotten places such as uninhabited Scottish islands and abandoned streets in Detroit to observe the slow movement of nature when unchecked by human intervention. </li> <li> In <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/wanderland-9781472951953/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wanderland</a> Jini Reddy, an award winning travel writer who was born in Britain, raised in Canada, and whose parents are of Indian descent, decides to “take her soul for a stroll” away from office job in London in search of wonder, meaning and magical travelling on a random journey of inspiration “ricocheting” through Britain. </li> </ol> In much the same way that we’ve adopted little things like keep cups at coffee shops, and an awareness of ethical food and fashion choices, it is much easier today to find travel writing challenging the genre and exploring diverse perspectives. We’ll just have to do this writing alongside the Instagram influencers. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-changed-travel-writing-maybe-thats-not-a-bad-thing-183814" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Travel Trouble

To read or not to read? Is that the question?

In June this year, a six-month-old interview went viral. Sarah Underwood is a 23-year-old British author whose debut YA novel, <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780008518097/lies-we-sing-to-the-sea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lies We Sing to the Sea</a>, has been described as a “<a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/lies-we-sing-to-the-sea/sarah-underwood/9780008558536" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sapphic reimagining of the Odyssey</a>”. In an interview with a student magazine at Imperial College London, Underwood said that she had never read the Odyssey. No, not even in translation. Mockery ensued. Underwood was declared “Twitter’s main character” for the day. In a tweet liked by 11,290 people, the literary writer Brandon Taylor shared screenshots of the interview, commenting: “Some people should not be allowed to write books.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Some people should not be allowed to write books <a href="https://t.co/WIBaDDA272">pic.twitter.com/WIBaDDA272</a> — Brandon (@blgtylr) <a href="https://twitter.com/blgtylr/status/1537175245530046465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2022</a></blockquote> Taylor’s acerbic takes are always a delight, and to any lover of reading the response to Underwood’s statement is understandable. But there is another way to look at it. Declarations of not-reading are not just complacent admissions of ignorance. Not-reading is not a simple absence of reading, a blank space where a text should be. It can be a mode of engaging with a text. After all, the decision not to read a text is based on a belief that we already know what it contains. We know (or think we know) what we are choosing to read or not read. In the case of the Odyssey, there is a lot of material to base that decision on. The orally-composed ancient Greek epic poem, first fixed in written form around the late 8th century BCE, is referenced in thousands of poems, stories, songs, films, video games, and other art forms. These works have been created over millennia, across hundreds of countries, languages and cultures. The Odyssey has been translated, rewritten, reimagined and riffed on in a myriad ways; it has meant many different things to many different people.The Odyssey is not the only text that has, as the author Geoff Ryman puts it, “kept on growing […] gaining meaning with each repeat”. More recent examples include multiple retellings of Jane Austen’s novels and L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), the subject of Ryman’s luminous novel of not-reading, <a href="https://www.hachette.com.au/geoff-ryman/was" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Was</a>. The long, broad, multiplicitous reception histories of texts like these burst the boundaries of their “original” forms. As Ryman observes, they grow, fragment, and spread as “a thousand icons scattered through advertising, journalism, political cartoons, music, poetry”. Through ongoing engagements with these fragmentary, second-hand Odysseys, Sarah Underwood has constructed an image of the Odyssey. In his book <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Translation-Rewriting-and-the-Manipulation-of-Literary-Fame/Lefevere/p/book/9781138208742" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Translation, Rewriting, and the Manipulation of Literary Fame</a> (2016), Andre Lefevere says this is exactly what “the majority of readers […] mean” when they “say they have ‘read’ a book”. They mean “that they have a certain image, a certain construct of that book in their heads”. Pierre Bayard, the world’s funniest literary theorist (and one of the sharpest), takes this argument further in <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/how-to-talk-about-books-you-havent-read-9781596917149/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read</a> (2007). He says that after a person has read a book, they have only the memory of it, an image in their head. But a person who hasn’t read the book may have a very similar image of it in their head, gleaned from second-hand sources, in much the same way that Albrecht Dürer drew his <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/356497" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Rhinoceros”</a> without ever having seen a real rhinoceros. Reading (or not-reading) is a fuzzy phenomenon that, as Bayard observes, “does not obey the hard logic of true and false”. <h2>Filtered interpretations</h2> But isn’t there something to be said for going directly to a text, rather than looking at it through a filter of other people’s interpretations? This idea also turns out to be a mirage. Even if Sarah Underwood had read the Odyssey in the original Greek, she would not have been accessing it directly. The text she read would be compiled by a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/work-and-the-reader-in-literary-studies/F9FD2AC33A78BCF5A670BE71C9A7045E" target="_blank" rel="noopener">modern-day editor</a>, who has made thousands of interpretative choices, adjudicating between conflicting manuscript versions. Underwood’s reading would be guided by the introduction and notes in the edition she chose, and by her access to multiple other modern-day interpretative aids, such as dictionaries and commentaries. When the distinction between reading and not-reading is so blurry, an open declaration of not-reading can be seen as a rhetorical device, a position statement. In this context, Sarah Underwood is in good company. There are many other famous not-readers of the Odyssey, including the filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, who claimed they had only read the classic comics version before making <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-coen-brothers-wacky-odyssey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">O Brother, Where Art Thou?</a>. In his epic poem <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374523503/omeros" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Omeros</a>, the Nobel Prize winner <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/derek-walcott" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Derek Walcott</a> has his poet-narrator address the spirit of Homer and admit I never read it Not all the way through. Through this deliberately irreverent statement, Walcott positions himself at a subversive distance – not so much from Homer himself as from the appropriation of Homer’s work by a <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/classics-and-colonialism-9780715633113/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conservative, colonial tradition</a> of reading Homer as the wellspring and property of “<a href="https://pharos.vassarspaces.net/2021/08/25/greek-myth-pharos-surveys/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Western civilisation</a>”. Walcott’s claim to have “not read” Homer is actually a claim to have engaged with his work in a deliberately improper manner – that is, on terms other than those of the dominant culture. Instead, Walcott tells us, he has encountered Homer through the living voice of the author, through his complex reception history, and through the landscape and people of the Caribbean. By not-reading, Walcott <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/~andrewf/CONCEPT2.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blasts Homer out of the continuum of history</a> – out of the meanings assigned to him by a Western colonialist tradition – and gives him new life in a rich new context. Just like reading, not-reading can be simple or complex, reactionary or progressive. It can be complicit with a dominant culture, or resistant to it. The question of whether Sarah Underwood has or hasn’t read Homer is a red herring. What matters is whether she recontextualises the old stories in a way that responds to our contemporary concerns. And ironically, to find that out, we will have to read her book. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-read-or-not-to-read-is-that-the-question-185393" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Books

Cafe won’t let guests leave until they finish their work

If you struggle a lot with procrastination then the only thing left for you to do is to book a ticket to Japan and head to this one cafe. Unless you procrastinate that too, but hear us out. Manuscript Writing Cafe in Tokyo is the one-stop destination for procrastinators looking to get their work done. There are 10 workstations and people are allowed to leave ONLY when they have finished their work. And the staff will make sure you have completed your projects as they come to check in on you at least six times an hour. They also bring with them free snacks, tea, coffee, water and high-speed wifi. Once you have completed all your tasks, you are given a paper with an orange stamp and you are free to leave. The video was shared to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@leanneinjapan/video/7095383871398694149?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> and has been viewed more than 624,000 times and has received around 120,000 likes with many commenting about how they need to be at the cafe all the time. “Yup, I definitely need to work there.. ah.. maybe later,” one wrote. “Kindness and torture at the same time,” someone commented. “I guess I'm bringing a sleeping bag,” another joked. “I’ll go later,” another joked about procrastinating their visit. “So essentially I'd be living there,” read another. Images: TikTok

International Travel

“Smooth” barista writes secret message to customer

A woman joked that she would not go back to Starbucks after the barista left her a compliment on her coffee cup. Captioning her <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chance_twins/video/7072141664227200261?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> video “AHAHAHA never going back there” the woman shared with her followers the barista’s message. On her coffee cup, the words “secret message” were written on the cup with an arrow for her to turn and follow. There the barista had crossed out some words from the warning message so instead it read, “Careful you’re extremely hot.” The video has already been viewed more than 10 million times and received almost two million likes, with many supporting the barista’s “smooth” move. “That was smooth though not gonna lie,” one person wrote. “Be glad someone made their shot. It’s rare these days!” another commented. “Be careful, coffee, she’s too hot,” another joked. “Spill it on yourself and sue Starbucks because the safety info was blocked. Use the money for your honeymoon,” someone else suggested. Images: TikTok

Relationships

Four ways to improve health through journalling

As clichéd as it might feel, writing in a journal or private diary can help us feel better both physically and mentally. Writing about our emotional experiences <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/click-here-happiness/202109/how-start-journaling-practice" target="_blank">is thought</a> to have these benefits because it prevents us from suppressing our thoughts and emotions, which is bad for our health. Journalling privately also allows us to express thoughts and feelings that we might not be comfortable sharing with others. To help you get started with mindful journalling, here are four different methods to try. 1. Gratitude journalling Several studies have found that keeping a gratitude journal can help people sleep better, improve their relationships with others, and sleep better. Gratitude journalling may involve writing about the experiences we are grateful for, creating gratitude lists, or creating a collage of pictures. 2. Reflective journalling Putting pen to paper and reflecting on our real-life experiences can help us learn from and find meaning from them. To start, journalling about the details of an experience can lay the groundwork for interpreting what happened and how we feel about it later on. 3. Health journalling Keeping track of current health issues we may be experiencing can have similar benefits to writing about other emotional experiences, such as a decrease in mental health issues such as anxiety or depression. It can be <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentID=4552&ContentTypeID=1" target="_blank">just as effective</a> in monitoring our mental health, acting as a place to recognise triggers, identify negative thoughts and behaviour, or reduce stress. 4. Goal journalling Though this form of journalling is less free-form than other methods, goal journalling can be beneficial in helping us set goals, and plan and track our progress in meeting these goals. Writing about our goals can also help us see our accomplishments and the ways that our progress has paid off. Experimenting with different journalling styles can help us identify what does and doesn’t work, and help solidify expressing our feelings as a regular habit. Image: Getty Images

Mind

What you need to know before preparing your will

Image: Getty Creating or updating our Wills is one of those things it is easy to put off. However, the peace of mind you’ll have knowing your affairs are in order and your loved ones will be taken care means everything. Even if you hate paperwork, it is also so much easier and quicker than you might think. Here’s what you need to know. <div id="firstFloatAd"></div> Everyone needs a Will, no matter the size of their estate It’s time we all start thinking of Wills as an essential part of any good financial plan for anyone over the age of 18. A Will is something everyone should have in place, regardless of your marital status, how much money you have and whether or not you are a parent. A properly drafted Will ensures your wishes will be carried out even when you aren’t around to make sure they are. It will help minimise unnecessary costs and ensure your gifts and things you care about are given to those you want to receive them. If someone does die without a Will in place this is called “dying intestate”. This person would not have an executor in place who ensures your wishes are indeed carried out. There is a risk that assets would not go to the best people as the state decides where assets and all property goes. People with beloved pets can ensure their trusted friends are taken care of in their Wills. Unfortunately, even our most loved animal companions can’t actually be a beneficiary. However, it is possible to leave a pet to a trusted friend or loved one who can also be allocated funds in your Will to help care for them for the rest of animal’s life. Of course, if you do have children under the age of 18 it is extremely important you have a Will, even if you don’t have many assets. This allows you to nominate a testamentary guardian who will save the decision of who looks after your children if their parents pass away being made by the family court. Key questions to ask yourself when preparing your Will Before you are ready to put your Will in place, make sure you are aware of all of your assets, including superannuation, cars, special jewellery or items of sentimental value and have decided who your beneficiaries will be. Also, consider if you have any special requests you would like carried out. Remember, you can alter your Will whenever you choose to as long as it is printed out (even if you are using a digital Will), is signed, witnessed and kept somewhere safe. It’s important to not be afraid to talk about our Wills where relevant. Encourage healthy discussions to ensure everyone you love also has one in place. Clever money saving hack to create a legally binding Will These days there are so many options when it comes to doing your Will. In fact, you can create your legally binding custom Will in less than 20 minutes at home. For example, Australia’s leading online estate planning platform Willed has been created by lawyers, and is a simple to use, intuitive and secure platform to create a custom legal Will. While typical legal fees could cost you anywhere from $600 to $6,000, Willed is an affordable, accessible and secure option for all Australians as you can get a legally valid will for just $159. Clever, right? How to continue your legacy in your Will through charity bequests It is important to remember that it is possible to pass on some of your assets to a charity or a cause which is close to your heart. Ryan Solomon, co-founder and Head of Legal at Willed, says, “Think of it as an important way to celebrate your legacy with a positive contribution to an important charity of your choice.” The most important bit of admin is to ensure you include specific wording such as the charity’s business name and ABN. However, it’s much easier when you go with an online platform such as Willed who pre-fill all of this information for you and allow you to simply choose your favourite charity from the Fundraising Institute of Australia’s database. This makes it so easy to outline your request and ensure the causes you care about are supported. Solomon adds, “It is up to you if you decide to let your chosen charity know of your wishes in your Will or not. However, many charities appreciate being able to thank you now for your generous bequest.” This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with Willed. This article is written in partnership with Willed and first appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/what-you-need-to-know-before-preparing-your-will">Readers Digest</a>.

Legal

“I just find horror very funny”: RL Stine opens up on writing career

There have been a lot of rumours circulating about RL Stine, the man behind hundreds of children’s horror books. Rumours that he’s dead and that he’s a collection of writers using the same name are not true, but what about the claim he was once writing a new book each week? “That’s not true either,” he told the BBC. “It took two weeks.” The 77-year-old writer behind series such as Goosebumps, Give Yourself Goosebumps, Fear Street and Point Horror has said even he doesn’t know exactly how many books he’s written, or how many copies have been sold. According to Wikipedia, it’s upwards of 400 million, but he believes “that’s got to be a made up number - who counted that?” <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIs4FjSFKyE/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CIs4FjSFKyE/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by R. L. Stine (@rl_stine1)</a> </div> </blockquote> As for the latest adaptation of his work into a Netflix trilogy, he has a warning for anyone planning to watch them: “My books were PG-rated. These movies are definitely not.” Netflix’s Fear Street Trilogy consists of three slasher films set in 1994, 1978, and 1660 that are set to be released over three weeks. Stine said it was a “shock” seeing his work adapted for a grown-up audience, but it’s content doesn’t scare him. “I don’t get scared from horror movies,” he said. “There’s something missing in my brain. I just find horror very funny.” With the Goosebumps series celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Stine’s impact on the horror genre is clear - and he’s agreed to write another six books. “I don’t know how I did it,” he said. “Back in the day I was writing a Goosebumps and a Fear Street book every month. “I’d been writing for 20 years and no-one had noticed - and then to suddenly have that kind of success was exhilarating. It just kept me going. “I’ve definitely topped 300 books now. How crazy do you have to be to write 300 books?” With two of the films already available to watch, Netflix will likely be monitoring how Fear Street is received - with so much RL Stine material to go off, it could be the start of a series of spin-offs. Image: RL Stine / Instagram

Books

Cancer surgeon writes his own joke-filled obituary before dying

A US surgeon has jumped the gun and written a quirky obituary about himself before he died at 48. Dr Thomas Lee Flanagan passed on April 27, but his cause of death is not publicly known. In a post published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/toledoblade/obituary.aspx?n=thomas-lee-flanigan&pid=198520306&fbclid=IwAR08jHG4hN-UFNjxvslLCmYy1YpR-XK5gFKXnFVh5LEzQX7epBPWJglLDss" target="_blank">Legacy.com</a> - a website dedicated to obituaries - he jokingly described himself as the “Ginger God of Surgery and Shenanigans”. “Yes, I have joined the likes of Princess Diana, John Belushi, and Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter in leaving while still at the top of my game as an iconic superhero who seemed almost too good to be true,” he wrote. According to the post, the army veteran and father of three said he married his wife Amy so he could make husband jokes, then had three children so he could make Dad jokes. “It did not disappoint,” he wrote. “The jokes I mean, but Amy and the kids were pretty good too.” Flanagan writes that his time “was magical” and “saw some other delightful things in my time here - Hawaiian volcanoes, Egyptian pyramids, and even the advent of air fryers.” Though he “dabbled” in a few things, including serving his country in the army and saving lives as a surgeon and MD, his real legacy is the bad Dad jokes and Facebook memes he’ll leave behind. “What was I to this world if not a beacon of light shining upon those who couldn’t scan the internet for their own hilarious and entertaining comic relief?” he wrote. “I guess what I am trying to say is that you’re welcome and you owe me big time.” He ends his obituary announcing he is riding off into the sunset “after re-enlisting with a new unit.” He continued, “Due to the unknown and cosmic nature of my next mission, this will be our last communication. It will self-destruct in five minutes.” Though his whereabouts “are now top secret” he has made new friends called Elvis and Kenny. “The Church of Tom is closed for business, but please continue to worship me, light candles, and send money. You know the deal,” the obituary read. Tributes to Flanagan also flooded in on the online condolence page. “You meant so very much to me. The world is dimmer without you in it,” a former patient wrote.

Caring

Starbucks worker under fire for writing 'ISIS' on Muslim customer's coffee order

A Muslim advocacy group is demanding an employee of Starbuck’s he fired after they were caught writing “ISIS” on a customer’s coffee cup. The incident took place at a store in St Paul, Minneapolis in early July. According to a Muslim customer, she told the employee her name when first asked but the employee chose to label the cup “ISIS” before she was finished. ISIS is a commonly-known acronym for terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The employee has claimed they misheard the woman’s name, which is Aishah. <img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7836845/isis-starbucks.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/e5f19eff67ae4c23b3452d0a9f7f65a3" /> The Council on American-Islamic Relations, however, believe the incident is a result of Islamophobia and is demanding the worker be fired. “After noticing the writing on the cup, she asked the employee why ‘ISIS’ was written on the cup,” it said in a statement. “The employee claimed that she had not heard her name correctly. “Later, a supervisor told the Muslim customer that ‘mistakes’ sometimes happen with customers’ names, suggesting that this is not the first incident.” The Starbucks, which is operated by a Target store in Minneapolis, have since apologised for the incident. According to local outlet Pioneer Press, it says the incident was “not a deliberate act but an unfortunate mistake”. “We are very sorry for this guest’s experience at our store and immediately apologised to her when she made our store leaders aware of the situation,” a spokesperson told the publication.

Travel Trouble

Creating writing: 3 tips to start

Always wanted to write, but had no clue where to begin? It can be daunting to get started and put the first sentence on that blank page. Author and creative writing lecturer Ronnie Scott shared some tips to help you get on track to writing your first novel. Start where you are Looking for inspiration? Take notes – the best ideas might just be waiting in plain sight. Scott advised aspiring writers to carry a notebook and get into the habit of writing down what they see in their surroundings. “It gets you into the habit of thinking, thinking visually, and then translating that into words,” he said. Apart from improving your writing skills, these notes can also help spark ideas and develop the seed for your future stories. Allocate time for research Research is important to provide your story with rich details and authenticity – but it can also distract you from writing the story itself. Scott recommended separating the research stage from the creative parts of the work. “Allocate yourself an hour of research, for example,” he said. “Then for the next days of your work, you are absolutely just going to play in the document … you’re going to write down anything that comes into your head.” Challenge yourself If you have a great story idea but don’t know how to put it into writing, take on small challenges. For example, you can try creating a 200-word version of the story or allocate an hour to get as many words as possible on the page. Even if the end result isn’t satisfactory, the exercise could yield new learnings. “You [might] have something bad on the page,” Scott said. “You can come back to it tomorrow. You can read it critically, you can think, ‘Okay, what was I trying to do here? Why didn’t it work out?’ “You unfortunately have to probably go through a bit of creative discomfort to get yourself to finish something, but once you do that, there are really great things waiting on the other side.”

Books

A thousand yarns and snapshots – why poetry matters during a pandemic

Why do we have the arts? Why do they seem to matter so much? It is all very well muttering something vague about eternal truths and spiritual values. Or even gesturing toward Bach and Leonardo da Vinci, along with our own Patrick White. But what can the poets make of, and for, our busy, present lives? What do they have to say during grave crises? Well, they can speak eloquently to their readers for life, in writing from the very base of their own experiences. Every generation has laid claim, afresh, to its vital modernity. In the 17th century, Andrew Marvell did so with witty lyrical elegance in his verse <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44688/to-his-coy-mistress">To a Coy Mistress</a>. Three centuries later, the <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rene-char">French poet René Char</a> thought of us as weaving tapestries against the threat of extinction. Accordingly, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1668153.Hypnos_Waking">he wrote</a>: The poet is not angry at the hideous extinction of death, but confident of his own particular touch, he transforms everything into long wools. In short, the poet will, at best, weave lasting, memorable, salvific tapestries out of words. The poems in question will come out live, if the poet is lucky, and possibly as disparate as the sleepy, furred animals caged in Melbourne Zoo. What is truly touching or intimate need not be tapped by elegies, for all that they can fill a mortal need. Yet the great modern poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/w-h-auden">W. H. Auden</a> <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Iae_YsTmAT8C&pg=PA231&lpg=PA231&dq=%22only+one+object+in+his+world+which+is+at+once+sacred+and+hated%22&source=bl&ots=Ib10mT6Q8x&sig=ACfU3U38Y8tHrdfsSqHYljJa1Rz9RdHG8Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwipmZGf4rTpAhVF7HMBHU2NDFkQ6AEwAHoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false">wrote in memory</a> of poet, writer and broadcaster John Betjeman: There is one, only one object in his world which is at once sacred and hated, but it is far too formidable to be satirizable: namely Death. As William Wordsworth and Judith Wright both well knew, in their separate generations – and quite polar cultures – the best poetry grasps moments of our ordinary lives, and renders them memorable. Poetry can give us back our dailiness in musical technicolour: in a thousand yarns or snapshots. Poems sing to us that life really matters, now. That can emerge as songs or satires, laments, landscapes or even somebody’s portrait done in imaginative words. Yes, verse at its finest is living truth “done” in verbal art. The great Russian playwright Anton Chekhov once insisted “nothing ever happens later”, and the point of poetry in our own time – as always, at its best – is surely to shine the light of language on what is happening now. The devil is in the detail, yes. But so is the redemptive beauty, along with “the prophetess Deborah under her palm-tree” in the words of the Australian poet, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/glutton-for-words-crafted-rare-prose-20120702-21d2a.html">Peter Steele</a>. Poetry sees the palm tree, and the prophetess herself, vividly, even in the middle of a widespread epidemic. Modern poetry is an art made out of living language. In these times, at least, it tends to be concise, barely spilling over the end of the page: too tidy for that, unlike the vast memorised narratives of the Israelites, the Greeks or even the Icelanders. But what it shares with the ancient, oral cultures is its connection with wisdom, crystallising nodes of value, fables of the tribe, moments or decades that made us all. In the brief age of a national pandemic, poetry’s role and its duties may come to seem all the more important: all the more civil and politically sane. The poem – even in the case when it is quite a short lyric, even if comic – carries the message of moral responsibility in its saddle bag. Perhaps all poets do, even when they are also charming the pants off their willing readers. Written by Christopher Wallace-Crabbe. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-thousand-yarns-and-snapshots-why-poetry-matters-during-a-pandemic-138723">The Conversation</a>.

Caring

Great first time to try: Travel writing from the home

While many are cancelling treks to Nepal, putting dreams of Venice on hold and wondering what we can substitute for a tropical beach escape, it is worth remembering we’re not the first who have had to rethink the notion of travel. There is a precedent for thinking about journeys in a more imaginative sense: travel and the near-at-hand. Vertical travel and travel writing – where we immerse in the spaces around us in greater detail, peeling back layers of history, botany and culture – goes back to the late 18th Century in Turin and a man named Xavier de Maistre. De Maistre wrote <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/328696.Journey_Around_My_Room_and_a_Nocturnal_Expedition_Around_My_Room">A Journey Around My Room</a> while imprisoned in his bedroom for six weeks after he was caught fighting a duel in the north Italian city <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/04/journey-around-my-room-review">in 1790</a>. Rather than sulk through his imprisonment, he decided to challenge the popularity of imperialist travel writing and he wrote a travel book about the contents of his bedroom. De Maistre observed his surroundings, detaching and looking with new eyes to give the reader an alternative perspective on what travel could mean: <blockquote> What a comfort this new mode will be to the sick; they need not fear bleak winds or change of weather. And what a thing, too, it will be for cowards; they will be safe from pitfalls and quagmires. Thousands who hitherto did not dare, others who were not able, and others to whom it never occurred to think of such a thing as going on a journey, will make up their minds to follow my example. </blockquote> De Maistre’s room became a place with latitude and topography. He immersed in the scenes of the paintings on his walls and saw his bed as a vehicle for imaginative transportation alongside his dog, Rose, his trusted travel companion. De Maistre was so taken by the journey that he subsequently wrote <a href="https://archive.org/details/anocturnalexped00maisgoog/page/n6/mode/2up">A Nocturnal Expedition Around My Room</a> to “revisit the country which I had formerly so delightfully travelled through”. Writing of a microcosm There were many inspired by this new style. Heinrich Seidel <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo13345214.html">refocused</a> his apartment into a microcosm where each item had a history and an interconnected story. Similarly, Alphonse Karr produced two volumes and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4516782-a-tour-round-my-garden">700 pages</a> focused solely on his garden where he lived in Montmartre with his pet monkey Emmanuel. In Henry David Thoreau’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16902.Walden?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=nlaVV5Nqqh&rank=1">Walden</a> (1854), the author lived alone and in seclusion in a log cabin at Walden Pond; George Orwell meticulously captured the intricate details of weather, vegetable production and an egg count in his <a href="https://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/26-4-40/">domestic diary</a> from the early 1940s. This notion of rethinking space and valuing the mundane as an ethical and creative choice acts as a counter to the assumed importance of distance with many travel(ling) writers of the era. This has not diminished in the modern era. In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/649680.Isolarion?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=INXscYSn06&rank=1">Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey</a> (2007), James Attlee extends the notion of close travel or “home-touring” as he walks along a solitary Oxford street. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6718808-a-week-at-the-airport?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=MFOKECzsHE&rank=1">A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary</a> (2009) sees Alain de Botton at a desk in the departure hall of London Heathrow’s Terminal 5, confined for the duration of his stay, to understand the airport both as a destination in itself and as a location with a distinct culture. Meg Watson’s essay <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2014/10/03/another-life-paris-thanks-airbnb/14122957881047">Another life in Paris</a> for The Saturday Paper focuses on her experience inhabiting another person’s space as an Airbnb guest in Paris: <blockquote> On my first night in Canelle’s bed, I watch Midnight in Paris and drink rosé from one of her stained teacups. In a classic display of unabashed French nonchalance, the bedroom door is nothing but a clear panel of glass. </blockquote> Within the intimacy of the apartment, Watson shows the reader a closer and more nuanced perspective of Paris. Simultaneously, the voyeurism of this approach also allows the reader to appreciate the sameness of many travel experiences. Tips for your own close travel Look intimately Take a closer look at the items around your house. Especially if you have things from previous travels, take the time to reflect on the item’s journey, write its story, or look through the photos of that period– it might even involve some research of your own, discovering what the pattern on your Moroccan mirror means, or the significance of the Easter Island statues on your bookshelf. Smell deeply Stroll through your garden. Take a closer look at all the plants, the soil and the trees. Look closer again. By sifting through my own soil I discovered shards of 100-year-old-bricks which prompted <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/crow-eaters/">my journey</a> towards a better understanding of the history of my state. Remember the outside world Look out your window. Just as many have in Wuhan, Barcelona and Rome, conversations with new encounters, impromptu music performances and shared meals and experiences (even over a fence or across a road) are much of what we search for in conventional travel. This new dimension can bring surprising togetherness.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134664/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ben-stubbs-1007399">Ben Stubbs</a>, Senior Lecturer, School of Creative Industries, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/great-first-time-to-try-travel-writing-from-the-home-134664">original article</a>.

International Travel

“I want to stare death in the eye”: why dying inspires so many writers and artists

It may seem paradoxical, but dying can be a deeply creative process. Public figures, authors, artists and journalists have long written about their experience of dying. But why do they do it and what do we gain? Many stories of dying are written to bring an issue or disease to public attention. For instance, English editor and journalist Ruth Picardie’s description of terminal breast cancer, so poignantly described in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/424646.Before_I_Say_Goodbye">Before I say Goodbye</a>, drew attention to the impact of medical negligence, and particularly misdiagnosis, on patients and their families. American tennis player and social activist Arthur Ashe wrote about his heart disease and subsequent diagnosis and death from AIDS in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/698054.Days_of_Grace">Days of Grace: A Memoir</a>. His autobiographical account brought public and political attention to the risks of blood transfusion (he acquired HIV from an infected blood transfusion following heart bypass surgery). Other accounts of terminal illness lay bare how people navigate uncertainty and healthcare systems, as surgeon Paul Kalanithi did so beautifully in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25899336-when-breath-becomes-air">When Breath Becomes Air</a>, his account of dying from lung cancer. But, perhaps most commonly, for artists, poets, writers, musicians and journalists, dying can provide <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25733900-the-violet-hour">one last opportunity for creativity</a>. American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak drew people he loved as they were dying; founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, while in great pain, refused pain medication so he could be lucid enough to think clearly about his dying; and author Christopher Hitchens <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Hitch_22.html?id=H6nbV6nLcWcC&redir_esc=y">wrote about</a> dying from <a href="https://www.cancer.org.au/about-cancer/types-of-cancer/oesophageal-cancer.html">oesophageal cancer</a> despite increasing symptoms: I want to stare death in the eye. Faced with terminal cancer, renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote, if possible, more prolifically than before. And Australian author Clive James found dying a mine of new material: Few people read Poetry any more but I still wish To write its seedlings down, if only for the lull Of gathering: no less a harvest season For being the last time. Research shows what dying artists have told us for centuries – creative self-expression is core to their sense of self. So, creativity has <a href="https://www.headspace.com/blog/2017/04/18/grief-creativity-together/">therapeutic and existential benefits</a> for the dying and their grieving families. Creativity <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jocb.171">provides</a> a buffer against anxiety and negative emotions about death. It may help us make sense of events and experiences, tragedy and misfortune, as a graphic novel did for cartoonist Miriam Engelberg in <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780060789732/cancer-made-me-a-shallower-person/">Cancer Made Me A Shallower Person</a>, and as <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MkcGiLeATe8C&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=%5BCarla+Sofka+and+Illene+Cupit+(eds)++Dying,+Death,+and+Grief+in+an+Online+Universe:+For+Counselors+and+Educators,+Springer+2012&ots=vdXYa_3cvU&sig=Od3eQ4A7_hadLwgIn4liIEoyo5c&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%5BCarla%20Sofka%20and%20Illene%20Cupit%20(eds)%20%20Dying%2C%20Death%2C%20and%20Grief%20in%20an%20Online%20Universe%3A%20For%20Counselors%20and%20Educators%2C%20Springer%202012&f=false">blogging and online writing</a>does for so many. Creativity may give voice to our experiences and provide some resilience as we face disintegration. It may also provide agency (an ability to act independently and make our own choices), and a sense of normality. French doctor Benoit Burucoa <a href="https://www.cairn.info/article.php?ID_ARTICLE=INKA_181_0005">wrote</a> art in palliative care allows people to feel physical and emotional relief from dying, and: […] to be looked at again and again like someone alive (without which one feels dead before having disappeared). A way of communicating to loved ones and the public When someone who is dying creates a work of art or writes a story, this can open up otherwise difficult conversations with people close to them. But where these works become public, this conversation is also with those they do not know, whose only contact is through that person’s writing, poetry or art. This public discourse is a means of living while dying, making connections with others, and ultimately, increasing the public’s “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29402101">death literacy</a>”. In this way, our <a href="https://www.thegroundswellproject.com/">conversations about death</a> become <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-end-9781742752051">more normal, more accessible</a> and much richer. There is no evidence reading literary works about death and dying fosters <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumination_(psychology)">rumination</a> (an unhelpful way of dwelling on distressing thoughts) or other forms of psychological harm. In fact, the evidence we have suggests the opposite is true. There is plenty of <a href="http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg/arts-and-palliative-care-dying-and-bereavement">evidence</a> for the positive impacts of both making and consuming art (of all kinds) at the <a href="http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/Briefings/WWCW.pdf">end of life</a>, and specifically <a href="https://spcare.bmj.com/content/7/3/A369.2">surrounding palliative care</a>. Why do we buy these books? Some people read narratives of dying to gain insight into this mysterious experience, and empathy for those amidst it. Some read it to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html">rehearse</a> their own journeys to come. But these purpose-oriented explanations miss what is perhaps the most important and unique feature of literature – its delicate, multifaceted capacity to help us become what philosopher <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/martha-nussbaums-moral-philosophies">Martha Nussbaum</a> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2026358.pdf?seq=1">described as</a>: […] finely aware and richly responsible. Literature can capture the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/apr/01/londonreviewofbooks">tragedy</a> in ordinary lives; its depictions of <a href="https://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2016/08/12/martha-nussbaum-on-emotions-ethics-and-literature/">grief, anger and fear</a> help us fine-tune what’s important to us; and it can show the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Love_s_Knowledge.html?id=oq3POR8FhtgC">value of a unique person</a> across their whole life’s trajectory. Not everyone can be creative towards the end Not everyone, however, has the opportunity for creative self-expression at the end of life. In part, this is because increasingly we die in hospices, hospitals or nursing homes. These are often far removed from the resources, people and spaces that may inspire creative expression. And in part it is because many people cannot communicate after a stroke or dementia diagnosis, or are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/01/how-do-people-communicate-before-death/580303/">delirious</a>, so are incapable of “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691628554/last-words">last words</a>” <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Final-Gifts-Understanding-Awareness-Communications/dp/1451667256">when they die</a>. Perhaps most obviously, it is also because most of us are not artists, musicians, writers, poets or philosophers. We will not come up with elegant prose in our final days and weeks, and lack the skill to paint inspiring or intensely beautiful pictures. But this does not mean we cannot tell a story, using whatever genre we wish, that captures or at least provides a glimpse of our experience of dying – our fears, goals, hopes and preferences. Clive James <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/01/clive-james-poem-story-mind-heading-obivion">reminded us</a>: “There will still be epic poems, because every human life contains one. It comes out of nowhere and goes somewhere on its way to everywhere – which is nowhere all over again, but leaves a trail of memories. There won’t be many future poets who don’t dip their spoons into all that, even if nobody buys the book.” Written by Claire Hooker and Ian Kerridge. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-want-to-stare-death-in-the-eye-why-dying-inspires-so-many-writers-and-artists-128061">The Conversation.</a>

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Young musician dies weeks after writing final song

How to write a memoir

Why you should encourage your grandchildren to write stories

Chatbots set their sights on writing romance

"Writing songs is my therapy": Ed Sheeran reveals further heartbreak

The 5,000-year history of writer’s block

“How do you write to your Queen?” Helen Mirren reveals contents of special letter

COVID changed travel writing

To read or not to read? Is that the question?

Cafe won’t let guests leave until they finish their work

“Smooth” barista writes secret message to customer

Four ways to improve health through journalling

What you need to know before preparing your will

“I just find horror very funny”: RL Stine opens up on writing career

Cancer surgeon writes his own joke-filled obituary before dying

Starbucks worker under fire for writing 'ISIS' on Muslim customer's coffee order

Creating writing: 3 tips to start

A thousand yarns and snapshots – why poetry matters during a pandemic

Great first time to try: Travel writing from the home

“I want to stare death in the eye”: why dying inspires so many writers and artists

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