An Unusual Beginning
Dru Jaeger’s journey to becoming a published author was unusual. Seven years ago, while working in a social impact business he co-founded, he was approached by Dorling Kindersley, part of Penguin Random House, to write a book. The result was How To Be A Mindful Drinker; published in 2019.
Dru says, ‘to this day, I am in the extraordinarily privileged position of not knowing how to pitch a book or deal with rejection letters. Instead, I was thrown headlong into content planning, iterating drafts, editors’ notes and PR strategies. I still occasionally get emails from readers who stumble across the book in libraries and bookshops, and in places as far-flung as Albania and Australia. Words on a page have a life of their own, reaching people long after I have written them.’
In my Author Library series, I introduce writers who are doing remarkable things in the world of nature, home and place writing. This month, meet Dru Jaeger—walker, druid, animist, and the voice behind Substack’s Pilgrimagic.
I asked Dru about his writing life. Some of the answers to my questions might well surprise you.
The Importance of Journalling
Dru has multisensory aphantasia, meaning that he cannot conjure images, sounds, smells, sensations or tastes in his imagination.
‘I also have severely deficient autobiographical memory (SDAM), which means I’m unable to mentally time travel to relive my past experiences or imagine future scenarios. I am eternally rooted in the present.’
What must it be like to be in the present all the time? What does having multisensory aphantasia mean for a writer who values living in a sensory world when research suggests this is a silent, scentless, soundless experience?
Dru finds that writing is a method of coping. In fact, writing is an essential survival tool. He says, ‘by closely observing myself and the world around me, I create a trail of words that record a life that I can revisit. I can only make sense of who I am, as a being that persists through time, by telling myself stories.’
Creative Influences
Dru’s bookshelves carry an eclectic mix of books; he sometimes buys books just for their covers. He compares them to fine wine adding, lightheartedly, that they may improve over time if you lay them down to mature.
A big influence on Dru’s life is the writing of Henry David Thoreau, especially his book, Walden (1854), which details the author’s experiences of living with nature over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a woodland cabin. For Dru, Thoreau’s observation of the living world and his passion for walking are a constant inspiration.
I have to admit I haven’t read this book, it sounds like quite an important piece of literature; I’m adding it to my reading list!
Relationship with Place
Dru lives in a small town on the southern edge of Morecambe Bay, North East England; a place he describes as the ‘wild edge between the three realms of sea, sky and land.’ He has a Master’s degree in Environment and Sustainability and part of his research included walking with people to places of meaning for them, gathering their reflections along the way through conversation.
On one occasion, on Dartmoor, South West England, Dru walked with a female research participant who later went for a swim. Afterwards, as they sat on the riverbank, she cried as she remembered the regular visits she had made there with her grandmother. Dru comments, ‘her invitation to share the place with me felt as intimate and revealing as opening an inherited photo album.’
Describing his own relationship with place, Dru says, ‘I approach the world as someone invited to participate as an equal in a community of more-than-human beings. I’m interested in a sensory, embodied, heart-led experience of the living world. I may not know the species of a tree, but that doesn’t mean I can’t feel its presence.’
I think many of us who write about nature concur. I’ve often worried about not knowing the correct botanical name for plants, or not being able to identify insects and birds. But clearly, this isn’t of major consequence because we know we can write how we feel.
Walking and Wandering
Dru comments on the irony of writing about walking, because it entails time at the writing desk. ‘I’m incredibly grateful [for] my lovely rescue dog, Mera,’ Dru says because she ‘demands three walks a day’.
Similar to my own upbringing in south London’s suburbia, Dru’s was hardly one of spending long periods in nature. But after his son left home, he wandered for almost three years, making his home wherever he landed.
‘I walked, wild camped, lived in a rubble tower overlooking the sea, paddled on lochs and wandered in canyons. I woke up on beaches, in oak woodlands and on mountain sides. I had no resources to fall back on so life was a financial struggle, but I recognised that I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to find a new way to be in the world.’
I was interested to hear that Dru walked in Galicia, North West Spain, as it’s an area I’ve visited several times. The landscape is green and hilly with hamlets and towns routed in an agricultural history, where fishing is a valuable resource. I remember, I fell in love with a little blue and white house by the sea and was very tempted to buy it and move there.
At the heart of Dru’s wandering was a 200km solo journey in Galicia where he followed the Camiño dos Faros, a rugged path that connects the lighthouses of the Costa da Morte, (the coast of death), ending at Cape Finisterre (Fisterra), known as ‘the end of the world’. Describing the experience as ‘life-altering’, Dru says that all his writing is somehow inspired by that magical pilgrimage.
The Substack Experience
This year on Substack, Dru is experimenting with a new approach to his content planning, following a theme through different styles of articles over a month. He tries not to be obsessive about checking the stats for each post and is overjoyed to receive comments.
‘I write Pilgrimagic with three types of people in mind.’ he says. ‘People who are interested in post-secular spirituality, nature-lovers who appreciate the environment as a source of inspiration, and people interested in self-discovery and transformation. I hope that, wherever their path leads them, Pilgrimagic encourages them to take their next step.’
‘I love long-distance walking, but I’ve learned that presence with the path matters more than achieving a walking goal. Everything in Pilgrimagic centres on a simple idea, that the most profound experiences are about moments, not miles.’
It’s been such a pleasure getting to know Dru through Substack and learning more about his writing successes and challenges. Sometimes I struggle with words on the page—they don’t always come easy—and I know that for everyone who takes their writing seriously it’s always a project in progress.
How different would my own writing be if I suffered from the kind of sensory problems that Dru has to deal with on a daily basis I wonder. All credit to him. And as I often say on Substack Notes, I really enjoy his writing!
Credits, Notes and Links
Images are by Dru Jaeger, Pilgrimagic.
New subscribers to Pilgrimagic get a free soulful walking guide.
Jaeger, D. (2019) How to be a Mindful Drinker.
Thoreau, H. (1854) Walden; or, Life in the Woods.
Dru is a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, or OBOD, a Neo-Druidic order based in England. He has recently embarked on his druid grade studies and says it encourages him to write boldly about what matters most—developing a spiritual connection with the living world.
Do you have a story about someone who shared their grief with you on a walk, like Dru’s companion did on Dartmoor?
As ever, I look forward to chatting with you in the comments.
Thank you for reading! Kindly give this post a ❤️ if you enjoyed it.
As a backpacking guide it was amazing how many tears were shed on trails. Things I learned about clients that I was often amazed were shared with me - a nonconfidant turned confidant. Yet, that is the comfort outdoors can bring to people. An opportunity to evaluate and investigate. To dig into uncomfortable things to find the hopeful portal to the other side.
PS. For whatever reason, Walden is probably my least favorite book of all time. Still, how I love that it is embraced by so many people and has helped to direct their nature perspective. I'd love to read your notes after you read it.
Whenever I think of the outdoors, I am always minded of the Calvin and Hobbes strips where they are outside in the woods, presumably somewhere not far behind their house. And their conversations, which, while comical, were also very poignant. In the yard of our family cottage, as well as the little Manitoba town of Gimli in which it was located, there were several trees, or stands of trees that looked to me, as I put it, almost as good as if Jim Watterson had drawn them. Especially when the sun hit them the right way. I don't know much about Thoreau or Walden, but love especially those trees we called 'paper birches', and I know Calvin and Hobbes are out there in their little red wagon, somewhere just out of sight, where your eye can't quite catch them....