 When she’s not marching her grown children across Spain on the Camino de Santiago or navigating the shitshow that is perimenopause, this recovering emotional eater can be found avoiding Tinder sex-pests, preferring the company of Leo, The World’s Most Awesome Cat. Jane McGuinness is an author, registered psychotherapist, hiker, and former 1950s housewife who decided to set her world on fire beginning with her divorce. The blaze continues to burn this summer as the intrepid Aussie packs her life into a storage unit and sets out across the globe in search of adventure. How does Jane McGuinness use humor—especially dark, self-deprecating humor—to navigate and reframe deeply painful experiences? From an early age I learnt to use humour to diffuse tension in my childhood home. What was once a survival mechanism evolved into my ability to navigate awkward social situations; I became the fat, happy friend, hiding behind this persona for decades—until I didn’t. What does the title Always Hungry reveal about the difference between physical hunger and emotional longing? My title speaks to hunger that was never truly for food. Recognising that my hunger was born from unhappiness and rooted in shame and a lack of self-worth, my healing journey began when I finally understood that I’d been looking for love in all the wrong places, because it sure as hell wasn’t going to be found in the fridge. In what ways do Jane’s early experiences with family, patriarchy, and discrimination shape her relationship with food and self-worth? These early messages, received from my small-town patriarchal world, were instrumental in contributing to my dysfunctional, disordered relationship with food and my body. From an early age I had internalised some extremely damaging messages around my physique and self-worth. It was the 90s. Emaciated bodies were glorified and I received but one message from society: you are too big. Sadly this criticism of my sturdy frame by everyone from my grandmother to the school bullies crushed my self-esteem and led to years of dieting insanity. I guarantee, if there was a new diet of the month, my mother and I would try it, with predictably woeful results. Still today, we see our patriarchal society continue to demand that women everywhere conform to impossible beauty standards. I personally don’t find an emaciated body at all beautiful to behold. On the contrary: I find the current shift back to ultra-skinny utterly heartbreaking. And it sure as hell isn’t healthy—this I know for sure. Some are naturally built this way, and I refuse to judge anyone (after all, none of us possess that right), however most women aren’t genetically programmed to display protruding ribs and collarbones. By virtue of our biology, we are built for reproduction (like it or not!), and if mother nature had wanted us all to look any other way, then surely she would have made us so. How does the memoir challenge societal assumptions about weight, identity, and personal responsibility? My memoir challenges people to see the soul, not the shape, and reminds everyone to reserve judgement. Ultimately, another person's body is none of your business. More often than not, when someone is in a larger body, they are struggling both mentally and physically with challenges that we know nothing about. None of us have the right to judge another. Thanks to societal norms, our identities are greatly shaped around our physical bodies. Not for our values, what we stand for, not for our passions or talents, but for how we present to the outside world. We’re a damn judgemental bunch, and this needs to change. I do advocate personal responsibility, and my journey and memoir demonstrates this, while recognizing that healing from disordered eating takes time, self-compassion, persistence, and a good therapist if you recognize that inner work needs to happen! What role does major life change—divorce, relocation, returning to school—play in Jane’s transformation and self-discovery? Mine is a story of lifelong growth, healing, and evolution. The divorce was instrumental in discovering and stepping into my power and autonomy as a woman in her late 30s, with three young children. Returning to post-grad study was both empowering and fulfilling, as my identity grew far beyond that of wife, mother, daughter, friend. Somewhere along the way I found myself, and through healing, discovered the whole, complete, and confident woman that I am today. While not the case for everyone, for myself steel was indeed forged in the fire—transformation, inner peace, and joy are the spoils. How does motherhood influence Jane’s decisions and her journey toward healing and independence? Soon after the birth of my third child I had something of an epiphany—that moment of reckoning when my health was no longer negotiable. Positive (and permanent) change was necessary for both myself and my three young children who deserved a healthier, fitter, and ultimately happier mother. They deserved a better role model and I deserved to make my health and wellbeing a priority. It was time to put on my own metaphorical oxygen mask, because Lord knows, at this point in my life, if our plane went down, so to speak, I was in no position to help anyone onboard. As for independence, I was forced to ask and answer some very difficult questions. Would I want my children to remain in an unhappy union, choosing financial security, safety over independence? No, I would not. What does the memoir suggest about the connection between emotional healing and physical health? Both are inseparable, and I don’t believe that anyone can permanently heal from any type of disordered eating without doing the inner work; the emotional healing. This was essential to my long-term physical weight loss and maintenance, and in my clinical experience, I have witnessed the same need for healing from within. Whether we like it or not, often internal disorder is reflected externally. It certainly was in my case! How do Jane’s travel experiences, like hiking the Camino de Santiago, function as both literal and symbolic journeys? My passion for travel and adventure speaks to my hunger for self-discovery and continued growth. The camino was deeply symbolic, as I walked towards a deeper knowing of myself as a woman, increasing my physical fitness, while also deepening the relationships with my children. It was nothing less than the ultimate gift, and I can’t recommend this experience enough. We are already planning future multi-day hikes together. And if you have teenagers, I can tell you right now that I’m yet to find a better way to get them off their phones! In what ways does dating after divorce (especially through apps like Tinder) reflect broader themes of vulnerability and self-perception? While horrific at the time, the Tinder dating was another opportunity for growth and deeper understanding of myself. It’s an extremely vulnerable experience, when photos of your smiling face are floating about the ether for all to see. The whole thing was quite strange. On the upside, I emerged with a stronger sense of my worth—and far less tolerance for any man’s crap. Like everything in my life thus far, I’m stronger for the lessons learnt. And I’d also rather endure a root-canal without anesthetic before downloading a dating app again. Surely there must be a better way to meet a good man?! At its core, what is Jane ultimately “hungry” for, and how does discovering that reshape her understanding of fulfillment and identity? I was the girl of one thousand hungers—none of them physical. Hungry for independence and autonomy after an early marriage and babies. Hungry for travel, joy, and adventure. Hungry for love, approval, and acceptance from a world that told me I was too big, too loud, too much—and the ultimate lesson: this could only be found within. I didn’t need approval or acceptance from anyone else, it was inside all along. Lost and now found. I also learnt that my self-worth never had anything to do with the size of my thighs—the world told me otherwise, and the world was wrong. And discovering this? Best. Feeling. Ever. Website: https://www.janemcguinnesstheauthor.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janemcguinnesstheauthor/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janemcguinness Links to purchase the book: Bookshop.org Amazon
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 After graduating from Loyola Marymount University with a BA in Technical Theater, Michele Kwasniewski spent over fifteen years in film and television production. Starting out as a film set assistant on movies such as INDEPENDENCE DAY, FACE/OFF, PRIMAL FEAR, and EVITA, Michele eventually switched to the small screen and worked her way up the ladder to production manager, gaining experience on television shows such as BIG BROTHER, ADOPTION STORIES, EXTRA YARDAGE and MEET THE PANDAS. She is also a proud member of the Producers Guild of America. Michele’s colorful experiences in the industry inspired her to write THE RISE AND FALL OF DANI TRUEHART series. Michele lives in San Clemente, California with her husband, their son, and their disobedient dachshund. How does Dani Truehart’s journey highlight the tension between pursuing a dream and questioning whether it was ever truly her own? Sometimes we get so caught up in our daily routines that we never stop to think about why we do the things we do; they simply become a matter of habit. Though fifteen-year-old Dani Truehart has spent more than a decade training to sing and dance, she never once questioned the long hours, missed birthday parties or blistered feet. Her love of entertaining is so genuine, she never thought to suspect why her mother insists she work so hard. She truly believes her mother only wants her to be happy. But when Dani is offered a recording contract by a famous producer, her daydream becomes a hard truth and for the first time Dani realizes how dramatically her life will change if she pursues a singing career. She must decide if her love of entertaining is worth leaving behind her home, family and friends and giving up her life as she knows it or will she regret passing up a once in a lifetime chance to be a star because she was scared. The question of whether being a pop star is truly her own dream or her mother’s is an issue that resurfaces throughout the series as Dani experiences the rewards and pitfalls of fame In what ways does parental ambition—especially her mother’s—shape Dani’s identity, and how does she begin to separate her voice from that influence? While Dani has always loved to sing and dance, it was her mother’s obsession with fame and fortune that pushed her into endless dance and vocal lessons from the time she could walk, often pulling her out of school in order to practice. A natural people pleaser, Dani never questioned her mother’s ambitions to make her a star as anything other than a mother helping her achieve her dream. Dani accepted the diets, long hours of training and the push to succeed without question, assured that her mother loves her and has her best interests at heart. Her father Don never questioned her mother’s drive for Dani’s career, so she assumed nothing was wrong. But Dani catches a glimpse of her mother Jodi’s motivations while they review the recording offer she receives from Jenner Redman. Her mother’s unvarnished greed and anger at the contract’s safeguarding of Dani’s future earnings, forces her to examine her mother’s reasons for pushing Dani so hard. Her father’s inability to stand-up to his wife causes Dani to question his love for her. As her career gains momentum, Dani realizes just how much she has given up in order to pursue her mother’s dreams of fame. How does the transition from a normal teenage life to the high-pressure music industry impact Dani’s sense of self and belonging? Having barely attended school as she trained to be a star, by the time Dani signs her recording contract, she is already alienated from a normal teenage life. But once she leaves her home and loved ones behind to record her debut EP, her sense of self and connection to her old life slowly slip away. From dawn into the dark of night, Dani’s days are filled with vocal rehearsals, dancing, tutoring and maintaining peak physical condition to prepare for her upcoming career. Without her sister, boyfriend or best friend to ground her, surrounded by strangers making decisions on her songs, costumes and more, Dani feels increasingly isolated and has trouble hanging on to who truly she as she is reinvented as a star What role do Martin Fox and Jenner Redman play in Dani’s development, and how do their conflicting motivations complicate her path to success? Martin Fox saw Dani’s star potential the minute she stepped into his dance studio years ago. He knew introducing her to his former band manager, Jenner Redman was the best way to make her a star. After experiencing Jenner’s managerial tactics firsthand as a teen member of one of Jenner’s 80’s boy-bands, Martin has no illusions that Jenner would care for Dani’s emotional development and goes to great length protect her. While Martin has the best of intentions, he is not a parent and his troubled history with Jenner at times prevents him from being a good guardian to Dani. Washed up and desperate for a comeback, Jenner Redman is surprised when his ungrateful former protégé reaches out with a lead on the next big pop star. After her stunning audition, he offers her a contract, too blinded by Dani’s earning potential to see her as anything but a second chance at a retirement plan. But as Jenner comes to know Dani and faces the hard truths of how he failed in managing Martin and his former bandmates, the callous music maven develops a bit of a conscience which changes the trajectory of Dani’s career in ways he cannot imagine. How does isolation—being removed from friends, family, and familiarity—affect Dani’s emotional resilience and decision-making? When Dani leaves home to record her EP, her isolation from her friends and family sends her into a depression which she is unable to fully articulate or understand. While she knows how lucky she is to be actively chasing her dream, she is the lone teen in a world of adults looking to make her into a profitable star. Missing out on school activities, unable to hang out with or speak to her friends and family only increase her anxiety. Her reactions are emotional and often she is unable to logically think through her emotions and issues because she has never been given the tools by her parents. Her isolation from everything she knows makes recording her EP an exciting, but emotionally unstable time for her. What does the novel reveal about the cost of fame, particularly for someone so young and still forming their identity? Rising Star brings to light the importance of parenting and boundaries in the pursuit of childhood fame. As talented as a child or teen may be, they do not possess the critical thinking, life experience or ability to make financial, legal or moral decisions for themselves in regard to legally binding contracts. While a child might be working as an actor or singer and earning millions, they still need the same guidance, education and unconditional support any child needs as they mature. Managers, agents or tutors are not adequate replacements for engaged parents. Just as you wouldn’t trust a dog to watch your porkchop, it is not realistic to allow a manager or guardian who is on a child-star’s payroll to make the best decisions in that child’s welfare which might run in direct contrast to their own financial interests. A parent who does not profit from their child’s earnings has the best shot of making decisions that will ensure the physical and emotional safety of their child and not force them into situations that are exploitative or too mature for their age. How does Dani’s struggle to “find her voice” function both literally as a singer and metaphorically as a young woman? Finding her voice something Dani grapple with throughout the series, both as a singer and a maturing teen. In Rising Star, Dani’s stage fright threatens to derail her pop star dream. A prickly lyricist makes Dani too nervous to perform as does suffocating imposter syndrome and fears letting both Jenner and Martin after they have worked so hard to give her the opportunity to record her EP. But Dani must find her voice across her professional and personal life, learning to speak up for herself, which is hard for a people pleaser girl. From coming to terms with her overbearing, jealous stage mom, the antagonistic dynamic between Martin and Jenner and keeping the relationships going with her boyfriend and best friend Dani must go beyond just trying to make the people around her happy and tell themhow she really feels or risk being bulldozed over on the road to fame. In what ways do trust and power dynamics influence Dani’s relationships with the adults managing her career? Trust and shifting power dynamics with the adults managing her career are a crucial theme throughout The Rise And Fall Of Dani Truehart trilogy. In order to create a pop singing sensation, every adult shepherding Dani toward fame inevitably drops the ball in safeguarding Dani’s mental health. Dani’s stage mom Jodi scheduled her childhood away with daily dance lessons, vocal training, diets and a shameful amount of missed school days. The result is a lack of critical thinking and emotional intelligence children develop in the classroom as well as on the playground. Dani’s blind trust in her parents, her vocal/dance coach Martin Fox, and her manager Jenner Redman are not only the key to her landing a recording contract but make her more compliant in the recording studio. Dani never questions the grueling rehearsal or recording schedules, the isolation from her friends and family or any demands her mother, her vocal/dance coach or her manager. Not realizing she is being pushed to the brink of mental health, she naively believes the adult advisors her have her best interest in heart and any distress she is experiencing will be worth the fame she eventually achieves. Once stardom is achieved and she’s earning millions, Dani finally starts to push back at the restrictive management of the adults around her. Forced to choose between trying to discipline the out-of-control teenage pop star they created or risk losing their paycheck, the power dynamic eventually shifts in Dani’s favor, but can she handle it? How does the story explore the idea that success on the outside doesn’t always reflect fulfillment on the inside? From the very beginning, Dani is urged by first her dance/vocal coach Martin to guard herself against her future fans and develop a stage persona because he knows from his own career as a former member of an iconic boy-band, that fans who love to raise up a celebrity to the heights of popularity, inevitably love just as much to watch their downfall. However, being so young at the start of her career, Dani can’t conceive of a moment where her fans will turn on her and gets caught in a self-destructive loop of not only believing her own hype in the press, but believing the rules of life don’t apply to her because of her fame. Later in the series, she comes to terms with her personal accountability, not only to herself, friends and family, but to the world at large because of the public platform her fame affords her. She must decide whether she wants to continue on a path of selfish attention-seeking or perhaps use her influence to shape the world and it’s future. At its core, what is the novel suggesting about the importance of agency—especially when the world seems determined to define your future for you? Throughout the series, Dani Truehart grapples with finding her voice. Trusting to a fault, her only hope for self-preservation is to figure out what she wants and find a way to articulate that in a meaningful way to her management team, family, friends and also to the world at large. While most of us will not become world famous singing sensations, each one of us is challenged to live by our own morals amid the pressure of friends, family, and whatever society deems right and just. We all must strive to live by our conscience, make the hard choices which are not necessarily the easy ones. Teens are just beginning to find their voice as they start to think and act more independently from their parents and explore how they see the world. Dani must do that in the public eye without the benefit of close friends or supportive parents to guide her along and she succeeds and fails many times before she figures out how to be her own best advocate. Website: https://michelekwasniewski.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author.michelekwas/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MicheleKwasniewskiAuthor X: https://x.com/michelekwas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-kwasniewski-b943b097/ Purchase the book here: https://a.co/d/05ZcEiv7  I didn’t get here by playing it safe. My background is rooted in fighting, discipline, and putting myself in environments that force growth. Over time, that evolved into something deeper. Understanding how the mind works, how the body holds stress, and how most people are operating far below what they’re capable of.Like a lot of people, I’ve had to face my own patterns. Ego. Distraction. Avoidance. The things that quietly hold you back if you don’t deal with them.What I’ve learned is simple.You don’t change your life by thinking about it. You change it by doing hard things consistently and telling yourself the truth.Now my work is about helping others do the same. Whether that’s through breathwork, retreats, or coaching, the goal is always the same. Get clear. Build discipline. Move forward. You write that most men don’t lose their way all at once, it’s a slow drift. When you look back at your own life, what was the moment you realized you were drifting, and what did that feel like internally? I think for me, I realized I was drifting from the man I wanted to be and the man I wanted to become when I saw myself headed in the same direction as a lot of the men around me. Feeling like I was doing “good enough.” I was making okay money, I enjoyed my job, I had a good relationship with my kids, etc., but something just felt lacking or incomplete. Like, is this really what it’s all about? You made a bold move leaving the U.S. for Costa Rica. Was that decision driven more by clarity or by discomfort, and what did that transition strip away that comfort had been hiding? I would say at first I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice. Because of COVID, I had to make a decision. And as much as I loved my gyms and my life in Tennessee, I never felt the same in my body and soul as I did in Costa Rica. I had been hiding for years behind staying busy and conquering the next thing. Here, I learned to be comfortable in the stillness. The idea of “the war within” is powerful. What does that war actually look like on an average Tuesday, not in theory, but in real life? This daily war starts as soon as the eyes open in the morning. The stories we start to tell ourselves about how well or poorly we slept, what our body feels like, and our projection of what the day holds or what will unfold. And all of that happens before we even have the internal battle about whether we have time to stretch, go for a walk, or get to the gym. You talk about alignment between values and actions. What’s one daily habit you believe reveals more about a man than anything he says about himself? His discipline. Whether it’s the morning practice, going to the gym, or making his bed. If he makes a commitment to himself or others, he follows through. Gratitude is often seen as soft, yet you position it as a strength. How did your relationship with gratitude evolve from something abstract into something operational in your life? I started my gratitude practice when we introduced the morning practice as part of the Balanced Man Retreat. I was supposed to be meditating, but I found it hard to just sit and not think. So I turned it into an opportunity to start verbalizing internally all the things that I am grateful for. And the list just keeps going. It made me realize just how blessed I truly am. When you start your day this way, it’s hard to have a bad one. There’s a constant tension between ambition and surrender in your work. How do you personally know when to push harder, and when to let go? Typically, I’ve learned it’s when I feel resistance doing something, whether it’s a business deal, a sale, or any kind of project, I ask myself, “Why am I doing this?” Is this about ego or a greater cause? Is this the usual amount of adversity, or is God trying to send me a message? Does this really need to happen now? This usually sets the tone for the level of determination I approach things with. You’ve built businesses, trained physically, and led men’s retreats. Which of those arenas has been the most confronting for you personally, and why? Definitely leading the men’s retreats. In the other arenas, I was typically operating from a position of knowledge or power. With the retreats, I feel like I’m a participant who is learning and growing right alongside the men I’m supposed to be leading. Ego versus humility is a theme many men struggle to balance. Have you found a way to measure when ego is leading versus when it’s serving you? I personally get clarity on things when I do breathwork. The breath puts me in a state where I can truly listen to the answers inside me and be honest with myself. The book is a 30-day field manual. What is one challenge in the book that tends to create the biggest breakthrough, or resistance, for men? I would say creating the Manifesto. Most men think they want things, a new car, a new relationship, or more money, but until they write it down and get clear and specific about what it is and why they want it, for most men it never evolves into reality. 1If a man finishes your book and does nothing else… What is the one shift in thinking or behavior you hope stays with him long after the 30 days are over? That they are the architects of their life. They have more control than they realize. They get to, and have to, choose between the light and the dark in every moment of every day. Website: https://www.terrybullman.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebalancedman.life/ Purchase the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Balanced-Man-Manual-Winning-Within/dp/1968668187/ |
AuthorJane Ubell-Meyer founded Bedside Reading in 2017. Prior to that she was a TV and Film producer. She has spent the last five years promoting, marketing and talking to authors and others who are experts in the field. Archives
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For more information contact: [email protected] 917 848 3353
Media
Privacy Policy
Terms & Refund Policy
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Bedside Reading® is a Registered Trademark
