Up Close With: Jane Cormack
Meet the wonderful writers and patrons behind LWS.
Imagine being at one with nature and using your words to find yourself once there. This is the type of inspiration Jane Cormack finds with her writing practice and encourages you to do the same.
Jane Cormack
- Based in Scotland; it is my current country base but I don’t have a permanent base within Scotland at the moment — I’m a mover!
- Writing includes: 1) a non-fiction creative/spiritual book called, Language of the Feminine — Awaken the Source of your Creative, Intuitive & Sensual Self. 2) Poetry, some of which I include in my Substack posts and long-form formats, including my book. 3) A Substack newsletter for women who write called Cycles, Psyche & Soul (For Women Who Write) on themes of writing, self-discovery, creativity, nature and spirituality that connects us more to ourselves, each other and the planet. 4) A very long-term project — a fiction novel I began many years ago that I’ve returned to. 5) Content for my creative writing and self-discovery workshops and courses.
What are you working on right now?
I write my Substack pieces and I regularly write in my journal. I also keep a dream diary which I’ve done for over 25 years. It’s a constant source of inspiration for other writing pieces. I write poems when they come to me. I’m always writing course and workshop content, and as I mentioned, I’ve returned to the fiction novel I began many moons ago as it’s calling me back.
Where and when do you write?
In many places! I write in my dream journal as soon as I wake up. If I haven’t had much dreamtime, I might do some journaling. I’m currently semi-nomadic, after having spent 4 years in the highlands of Scotland so I have no permanent writing spot at the moment.
I write on my laptop at a desk, sometimes at the kitchen table, or a local café. And I’ll go out to nature with my writing journal and allow the environment to inspire my words. I tend to be most alert for writing in the afternoons through to the evening. I’m generally not an ‘early morning type’.
How do you write?
Depending on what I’m writing, I use my laptop and also write by hand. I’ll take my journal out to nature somewhere with a flask of green tea to get away from the screen. When I’m outdoors, I tend to write poetry, ideas for workshops and courses, as well as scenes and snippets for fiction. Then, I’ll sit at my laptop to input and organise what I’ve written in my journals and to write on Substack. I use Scrivener for book projects.
Why do you write?
I write to discover myself, to connect with and discover the people and world around me and to feel my connection with the energy of everything. I write for joy, to figure things out and to tap into the magic of life. I write to share what I’ve gathered on my life journey and to access the wisdom that’s in there somewhere and reveals itself when I put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard!).
What inspires your creativity?
The natural world, travel and culture, people and synchronicities — keeping my body moving through dancing and exercise. I do a lot of walking and hiking in nature — I’d say this is my biggest inspiration at the moment — being by the rivers or lochs or walking in a forest or along the coast. I wrote a piece about this just last week, called ‘Communion with the Creative — As an Act of Love’ on my Substack, Cycles, Psyche & Soul (For Women Who Write).
What’s your favourite book?
An impossible question! My favourite books change during different life stages. A book that I have by my bedside that I find timeless and can dip into for deep wisdom is The Gift: Poems by Hafiz, The Great Sufi Master — translations by Daniel Ladinsky.
What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?
Begin…
What’s the one thing you would tell other/aspiring writers?
If you have the desire, the impulse to write, then something wants to be written and discovered by you, perhaps by others too, so…begin.
How can we discover more about you and your work?
Substack: janecormack.substack.com
My Book: www.janecormack.com/book
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jane.cormack
Website: www.janecormack.com
Jane’s writing view.
