Overview

A collection of ten regretful incidents for you to reflect upon and then burn.

Background

Ten Regrets is a collection of short texts which invite the reader to reflect on past mistakes. Each regret is rolled into a tube and collected in a box shaped like a cigarette packet. Each paper has blank spaces for the reader to write on and personalise it to their own specific regret. When this is done, the reader is encouraged to roll the paper back up and burn it in order to break the hold this past event has over them.

I also think it’s interesting that the reader is asked to burn the pages of this book. Although they are not bound in the same way as a regular volume, I’m interested in whether people will actually go through with the burning part. Obviously, book burning is an emotive issue. While I don’t want it to seem like I endorse it on a macro level, there’s also the fact that once you’ve bought it, you can do what you want with it.

There’s a specificity about the shape of a ten-box that puts my mind in a specific period of my life. The fact that the packet of ten is no longer available for sale also places it in a particular place in history, a pre-modern era that no longer exists and therefore adds an element of nostalgia. Nostalgia’s a tricky thing. It’s not accurate recall and in that way it’s similar to the process of looking back with a rueful eye about the things one should or should not have done in the past.

The regrets are taken from incidents in my own life, but hopefully are relatable to most people’s experiences to a greater or lesser extent. This kind of writing always feels like treading a fine line and I hope I’ve managed to make an emotional connection without it feeling mawkish or manipulative.