Cathy Shuter - Talking To Children About Death And Dying

Many writers touch on ‘big themes’ in their fiction – life, death, loss, etc. – but it’s another thing entirely to write about them without characters to hide behind. Cathy Shuter has done just that with her latest book: 100 Free Ways To Happier Days! 'Talking To Children About Death And Dying.'I caught up with her in cyberspace to talk about her work.



Hi Cathy, thanks for joining me. I can see from your Amazon page that your latest book is part of a wider series. What prompted you to write specifically about death and dying for children?

I work with children and young people in my role as a Wellbeing Caseworker. Quite a number of them have experienced relatives and friends being very ill and dying. They find that their parents and carers avoid talking to them about what is happening and this often leads to them feeling anxious and afraid. 

Talking to parents and carers revealed that many know they really should talk to their children when their loved ones are seriously ill but they don’t know how to bring the subject up. They want to shield their children from being upset.

I thought that a book offering tips on how to tackle this subject would be useful. 


Did you approach writing this book in a similar way to your previous works?

Yes. My books offer 100 free or very inexpensive tips that people can use to help them tackle a variety of issues. Other themes my books have covered include: coping with anxiety, how to approach Menopause, how to feel happier working in schools, and how to deal with transition to college from school. 

Each book is designed to be quick and easy to read. People can try the tips that appeal to them and skip the ones that don’t. 


Were there any particular challenges in creating this book?

One challenge was making the tips relevant to all ages and stages of development. Children develop at different rates so I wanted to ensure that the tips would be helpful to all ages. 


What are your goals for 100 Free Ways To Happier Days! 'Talking To Children About Death And Dying'?

When I wrote the book, I wanted my writing to be accessible, quick to read and the ideas easy to apply. My goal has been to create a book that is helpful to as many parents and carers as possible. I have produced it as cheaply as I can so that cost is not a barrier. 


Were there any influences or defining experiences that made you want to become a writer?

I love reading personal development books and have learnt a lot from them so I wanted to share what I have learnt with others. I have an informal writing style that can appeal to people that don’t usually read personal development books. 


What have been your highs and lows in independent publishing?

For me, publishing my own books is thrilling. I love that a book can be created just from ideas that pop into my head. The thoughts and ideas get translated into sentences that I type using my laptop and the book is drafted. If someone buys my book it gets printed and sent out. My thoughts have become a thing!

The lows are connected with marketing. I am not very good at selling myself! 


Reading your Amazon page I get a sense of a spiritual core or impetus to your work. Could you shed any light on that?

Yes, I would consider myself to be a spiritual person. I believe we are all connected and on this planet to learn from and help one another. My books are based around that core belief. 


You’ve written two books that have a connection to Autism Spectrum Disorder. What would you most like people to understand about ASD?

I would like people to understand that no two people with ASD are the same. Each individual has their own unique challenges but they also have their own unique gifts to share with the world. 


How important is a connection to Nature for you as a person and as a writer?

I find being in Nature very grounding. When I walk the dogs in a wood, I feel incredibly peaceful. I like wild places such as The New Forest. I believe that we all benefit from visiting wild places. 

Many of my books touch upon the importance of using our senses, living in the moment and surrounding ourselves with Nature as often as possible. 


What book are you working on at the moment?

I am working on another ‘100 Free Ways To Happier Days’ type book. This one is intended to help children and young people to feel safe and benefit from being online.


Where can we find out more about you and your writing? 

My Trusty Life Coaching Facebook page features my writing and has some Facebook Live videos that talk about them:

I also have a page called ‘Reading And Writing About Life’ that features all things book related:

I have a blog that includes my Cloud Thoughts Blog. This has links to all my writing to date:

All my books can be found here:

What books and authors have inspired you?

The first personal development book I read inspired me so much. It was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I find Sonia Choquette’s books inspiring too. The Book Of Joy by the 14thDalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu stopped me in my tracks. It is simply beautiful. 

Reflections on Writing

Writers create stories but those stories also reflect something back - sometimes it's insight; sometimes it's the fading outline of an event that really happened (give or take a few details like names, people, places and chronology). And sometimes, if we're really lucky and keep our minds still for long enough, stories suggest possibilities for other stories.

I've rarely met a writer who sets off on a creative journey with a detailed plan for a series safely stored away, along with their compass and rations. I'm sure it must happen, statistically speaking, but the writers I am fortunate to know look forward to the unexpected - the character who talks back to the writer (it happens more than you might think), the unplanned plot twist that leaves an answered question (even after 'the end'), or a detail that comes to light and begs to be explored. What do you mean, he has a sister?

As it is on the page, so it is in life. The unanticipated is opportunity in disguise. Maybe not the one we wanted, or even deserved, but time and again we read about the tragedy or triumph that sintered someone to write their story (or someone else's!). Who hasn't;t read about the rejected novel that led - circuitously, perhaps - to the one that was accepted? No guarantees of course, other than that the surest way for a writer to block all opportunity is to stop writing.

I've tended to pigeonhole myself as a writer, either by genre or whether it was, strictly speaking, creative writing at all. For example, you can tie yourself in knots over the creative merit of copywriting and still come out none the wiser. I spent years (I was tempted to put that word in bold) on a fantasy novel that then became a magical fantasy novel, and then struggled to see outside its bounds. There were short stories, hidden away in old exercise books and never shared, angst-ridden poetry that - regrettably - was shared and morphed into angst-ridden lyrics (I still know the tunes; I caught myself singing one of the songs last week), and some notes for a future transatlantic novel about real life. That novel is a story I'd never told because, frankly, I didn't think anyone would believe it. I didn't believe it and I was there when it happened. And then came one of those opportunities - a novel writing summer school that showed me how to unlearn my approach and miraculously unlocked new voices with their own stories to tell. Five novels later I'm not convinced their stories are complete, but that, as they say, is another story entirely.

My new novel stalled for months, interrupted by life and death. Well, death mainly, but let's not dwell on that - other people's stories and all... My protagonists haven't learned to trust me yet. Who can blame them when they were neglected for so long. We are strangers in the same room, forced to make polite conversation until we either build up a rapport or at least one of us leaves. But the price of that is a life unlived and a story untold. 

Meanwhile, the characters in that other novel, loosely based upon the past, look out across the mists of time and patiently their turn. I've done my part; now it's up to an agent.

I hope the writing journey continues to surprise me - success, or failure, or all points in between. No one ever really knows where anything will lead and that's part of the attraction. As I often quote myself: "The price of adventure is uncertainty." 

The Armageddon Complex by Richard Godwin



Close to the Bone's latest thriller, "The Armageddon Complex" by Richard Godwin, will be released January 29th, 2019. 

The city is being taken over by an organisation so secretive that no one has heard of them. British secret services scramble for information and a biochemist protégé works on an antidote that will save Britain from the lethal pathogen that is sweeping its streets. I

In a post Brexit Britain, the UK is falling apart, and it takes one man to stop it – meet Mike Banks: MI6's top agent 





About the author

Visionary artist, multi genre novelist specialising in crime and noir, poet, playwright, narrator, and revolutionary thinker – Richard Godwin is the critically acclaimed author of over 20 books, and has stories published in numerous magazines and over 34 anthologies. 

Born in London and lectured in English and American literature at the University of London, Richard is the founder of The Horus Club. 


Books: Apostle Rising, Mr. Glamour, One Lost Summer, Noir City, Meaningful Conversations, Confessions Of A Hit Man, Paranoia And The Destiny Programme, Wrong Crowd, Savage Highway, Ersatz World, The Pure And The Hated, Disembodied, Buffalo And Sour Mash, Locked In Cages, Portrait of An Assassin, Android Love Human Skin, Insincerity, Confessions of a Gigolo, Twisted Love, and The Armageddon Complex.