Anyone involved with Suffolk Writers Group has probably met Jane, either in person at one of the Wild Words Suffolk meetups, or else online in the Facebook group where she sets the regular Tuesday challenge. Jane is also the main administrator of Suffolk Writers Group and, over the last two years, has supported me in ways too numerous to mention.
In September 2024, she told me of her idea for Wild Words Suffolk, to help encourage creativity and well-being across the county. Jane then designed and decorated the bespoke Wild Words box which we have taken to a wide variety of community settings including schools, libraries, pubs and cafes. To find out more about Wild Words Suffolk, click the icon below.
Jane is very modest about her writing but, besides sharing her work regularly on Facebook, she writes songs, has three poems in SWG’s anthology A Tapestry of Poetry and, as I recently discovered, her personal journal and poetry feature on Cancer Support Suffolk’s website.
Q & A with Jane Spencer-Rolfe
Hi Jane, can you tell me what you enjoy most about writing?
I’m interested in all forms of self expression. I feel that creativity and writing is good for general well being, being able to freely express myself, without focus, or being in ‘the spotlight’.
What do you find the most challenging?
Performance; feeling self conscious that people might not understand or be interested in what I am doing. Maybe because my creative pursuits are all amateur, and mostly spontaneous, a need within me to express something – and they ‘help’ me?
What achievement are you proudest of?
Helping with Suffolk Writers Group, and feeling a ‘part of it’, as a regular challenge setter, and assisting with some admin. tasks in the group. Also, I had the idea for and then set up the Wild Words Suffolk Project. Oh, and I have written two songs, which I play on the piano and sing.
What advice would you give to new writers?
Join a supportive writing community, like Suffolk Writers Group. And, basically just start writing, all sorts of things. Get in the habit, and build confidence.
What other creative interests do you have and how can people find out more about you?
I enjoy all sorts of creativity. I founded Let’s Bop! a social group for women to get together and dance just for fun, nostalgia, friendship, and of course self-expression. There is a website with information, for anyone interested.
The Wild Words Suffolk project has social media Facebook and Instagram galleries; I am hoping to get some of the wild posts read on the YouTube channel, when time permits. I wrote a Blogpost for a local cancer charity when I was unwell with cancer, a few years ago, in the hope it would help others walking a similar ‘Rocky Road’.
Thank you for agreeing to be the focus of this week’s blog Jane.
Readers can find a link to Jane’s blog post and the Wild Words Suffolk project in my earlier introduction and, if you’d like to find out more about Let’s Bop!, click the words just below.
Thank you to all the readers of this blog post. I hope you enjoyed finding out more about Jane Spencer-Rolfe.
Next time I’ll be featuring poet, performer and tireless poetry promoter Amy Wragg.
Previously Featured on Suffolk Spotlights
Sue Thompson – Author, Poet and Performer
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