Featured Interview With Jane McGuinness
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Well, best you know first; I’m not a city girl. Born and raised in the country, I still yearn for wide open spaces from my North Vancouver home. It’s the traffic that I struggle with the most—I think one day I’ll live somewhere rural again simply to avoid other people’s cars. I love driving mine, I just don’t love when other people are in the way with theirs.
In my perfect world I’d visit a beautiful city occasionally. Take in a show, the food, the art, and then get the hell out. A cabin in the woods is a current fantasy (on heavy rotation). The snow falls, dreamlike, while my imperfectly perfect man lays with me on our oversized couch and we read together by the fire, while taking turns massaging each other’s feet. A cliché, sure. I don’t care. And I will let you know if this ever comes to pass. In the meantime, I’m seriously considering a kitten and a puppy. My children are all but grown, and quite frankly, I’d like the company. And why not both? In for a penny, in for a pound I say!
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
A voracious reader, a great deal of my childhood was spent devouring books. When very young I’d inhale those generic pre-teen books about babysitting that took an hour cover to cover and onto the next, wishing that my life in any way resembled theirs. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t.)
There was precious little to do where I grew up. In an outback mining town, one was required to make their own fun, and so I did. I’d go to the Australian equivalent of Walmart and head straight to the book section for the latest release. I soon graduated to the local library, desperate for exposure to minds and ideas not found in my small-town community. The library became my escape. Well, that and the kitchen. And yes, one was healthier than the other, given my propensity to emotionally eat (I was nothing if not emotional).
Now I must write, because I write and I’m alive. And because I have something to say—It’s that simple. Like a fire that burns steadily within, and impossible to extinguish. When I began Always Hungry it felt much like a dam burst. I wasn’t fully aware that I had so much to say and share and birth, and here I am. Like a woman possessed, I can’t stop, nor do I want to.
Sometimes I laugh out loud when I write, and that’s when I know I’m on to something. Perhaps I’m the crazy one? I don’t care. The most wonderful thing about being 47 is that I simply don’t care about most things anymore. I care about my children, other people I love, and about kindness. Well, and the planet (of course). But the rest of it? Don’t care. You get to age forty-seven and realize that most of it is insanity and matters naught. By God, that’s a good feeling.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love a good autobiography or a memoir! Perhaps I have to say that, as a memoirist. I’ve also just discovered Greek mythology. I read far too much non-fiction, a result of my ongoing fascination with human behavior. Then of course I get lost in a tale of heartache and tears and feel alive again. Madeline Miller is brilliant. Nothing if not eclectic in tastes, I’m currently working my way through Charles Bukowski’s volumes of poetry. I think I may be in love with the late, dirty old man of American letters. Anyone who can write with as much honesty as he does and remind me again and again that most things in life a) don’t matter, and b) are ridiculous has my vote.
Of course, I’m constantly inspired by fearless women who are far more brilliant than I. Think Glennon Doyle, Elizabeth Gilbert, Cheryl Strayed. The women who also get to that pivotal age and say fuck you to most things, as I did—God bless them. They paved the way, and I love them for their honesty and vulnerability; they inspired my own.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My pleasure! Always Hungry poured out of my soul in three months. I had a completed draft before me and the knowledge that this was imperative to publish and share, for a great many reasons. The discrimination while in a larger body (and the slim privilege that I now possess) alone constituted a book. Throw in my divorce, children (one neurodivergent) and what Carl Jung would call my necessary midlife crisis that we all must experience at around age 40, and I knew I had the makings of a decent book. I also knew that anyone who was going to spend around twenty of their hard-earned dollars on my book deserved the truth—and that a sanitized version of my weight gain and loss would help no one. Given that I had figured out on my own how to overcome my emotional and very disordered eating, I also figured that by sharing this tale, I may be able to help a few people who might also struggle with emotional eating. I realized that I wanted to help, speak out, and cut through the diet culture bullshit—because most of it is bullshit.
When you lose 100 pounds and keep it off for a decade, I believe that you earn the right enter the conversation around obesity and body image. If anyone disagrees with this statement, well, they are welcome to email me their protests. I may or may not respond. Just kidding. (I’ll probably respond.)
My new book is also my first, and for those readers who enjoy it, they may be pleased to hear that the second is coming along nicely.
Cheers and hugs from the Australian who has a lot to say,
Jane xo
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