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Hey Reader,

Have you ever seen Manet’s painting In the Conservatory?

Up close, I mean?

It’s of a woman sitting on a bench, and a man with a fine moustache is leaning over the back of said bench and invading her personal space. The woman is clearly absolutely stoned out of her box on laudanum and no longer cares for the social niceties that say that we have to pretend we find boring men interesting, and is simply staring into space and presumably watching pink elephants dancing Swan Lake in the middle distance.

But that’s not why I want you to look closely at that painting.

If you look really closely at that painting, you can see that the whites of the woman’s eyes aren’t really white paint at all; they’re the canvas showing through. Manet painted so fast, his coverage was what I’m sure some people today would call “sloppy”… but it works. He captured so much of her state. Either that, or his technique gives the impression of a woman under the influence.

Either way, it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRrzvNqzLB8

When we take the time to just look at stuff, the world gets really interesting.

Make some time today to do it. No, don’t tell me you’re too busy. Don’t tell me you “can’t” because I find it hard to sit still, too.

Just humour me, and give it a go.

Choose a piece of art on a wall. At home or in a gallery or in a café.

Stare at it, unceasingly, for 10 minutes.

Do not look away, or write notes, or play music.

Just focus on the art.

What do you start to see when you stop skimming across the surface?

If this kind of quick ‘n’ dirty creative exercise floats your canoe, stay tuned. Because I’m running my famously fun Uncaged challenge again in November-ish.

One month of silliness, play, and creative prompts that will bring you some delight in these dark, dank days.

Speaking of delight… here’s this week’s Goodie Bag. Strap in and start unpacking these:

Austin Kleon’s typewriter interviews

Austin Kleon (yes I am a huge fan of his) is my King of Creativity and he has a regular feature in his newsletter: typewriter interviews. He has an old typewriter and he types out questions for people and posts them. The recipients reply. Sometimes on their own typewriters; sometimes with pens; sometimes in the form of cartoons! I love that he took an established format — the quick interview — and added his own quirk.

This very grumpy porcupine

Inspired by Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar, Zeppelin Moon made a short story about a porcupine. I cackled. It’s great.

Also can HIGHLY recommend following this person for their creative genius and wit.

The first solo woman balloonist

There’s something about olde-timey women and hot air balloons but I like the combination. Jeanne Geneviève Garnerin was a French balloonist and parachutist. She was the first to ascend solo and the first woman to make a parachute descent (in the gondola), from an altitude of 900 metres on October 12, 1799. What an absolute badass.

This street librarian

Libraries are magical places but not everyone can use them, so how do you get books to people who otherwise might never get to read a book? By becoming a radical street librarian like Storybook Maze, that’s how! She makes books magically appear where books are scarce and I reckon we could all become a little bit of a street librarian.

Next time you’ve finished a book and you don’t want to keep it, why not leave it in a park or under a bridge or somewhere where people who don’t have access to books could find it?

This exploded song by Lizzo

The podcast Song Exploder is brilliant because it pulls one single song apart and shows you how it was made. Where the idea came from, who was involved, all the layers, the early experiments. I love it because it busts this idea that successful artists are these magical people who wake up with an idea fully formed and then just make it, perfect, first time. You get to see the real magic: creative brains at work.

There are also “key change” episodes where famous people are interviewed about a favourite song of theirs, and in honour of James Acaster’s Traitors performance, here’s what he has to say about Outkast’s Hey Ya.

What I’m reading

Having just finished the brilliant and fascinating Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson, I was at a bit of a loss. I started Jostein Gaarder’s The World According to Anna but abandoned it because it was really preachy and kind of depressing. I’m now just a few pages into An Unreliable Man by the same author, and I’ve not really got into it yet.

I feel like maybe he’s not for me (although I loved Sophie’s World as a young adult) so maybe I should just abandon and read The Moor’s Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie which I’ve had out of the library for a couple of weeks now. I’ve never read any Rushdie before. Have you? Do you think I’ll enjoy it?

What I’m writing

Some new material for a few comedy gigs I’ve got coming up: Birmingham’s The Stand Up Start Up on November 4, Hereford’s Laughed Orders on November 12, and Ledbury’s Comedy on the Cobbles on November 25. I had a good idea in the shower and did not write it down on my waterproof notepad and now I’m being punished for it. Something about vibrating leg hairs. I’ll get back to you.

Word of the week

shindig.

Isn’t that a great word?

It means a dance, a ball, a rowdy party, or lively gathering, and first appeared in 1851 in America.

The word may have sprung from the earlier slang word shindy, meaning “a spree, row, disturbance, merrymaking.” It’s also the name of an early game that resembles hockey. Possibly it came from shinty which is a Scottish game that is hockeyish.

Have yourself a merry little shindig this weekend. Or, do what I’ll be doing, and light the fire and curl up under a blanket with the Traitors final and then a good book.

Quote of the week

I feel this way too. But I’m doing my best to experience as much of everything as possible.

What new thing can you do this day?

TTFN,

Vicky 🫡

p.s. Want to nab my single remaining coaching spot before 2026 bows out? Enter my Book Breakthrough Lab here.

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