Write to Celebrate, Heal, and Free the Wild Woman Within In her years as a writing coach, Judy Reeves has found twin urges in women: they yearn to reclaim a true nature that resides below the surface of daily life and to give it voice. The longing to express this wild, authentic nature is what informs Reeves’s most popular workshop and now this workshop in a book. Here, you will explore the stages that make up your life, from wild child, daughter/sister/mother, and loves and lovers, to creative work, friendships, and how the wise woman encounters death. Both intuitive and practical, Wild Women, Wild Voices responds to women’s deep need for expression with specific and inspiring activities, exercises, and writing prompts. With true empathy, Reeves invites, instructs, and celebrates the authentic expression — even the howl — of the wild in every woman. “Master teacher Judy Reeves’s fortifying, fascinating, liberating exercises reach down to the place where the deep howl resides.” — Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander “Judy Reeves unites the discipline of writing with the unruly and uncontainable impulses that make us want to write in the first place.” — Laurel Corona, author of The Four Seasons and The Mapmaker’s Daughter “Wild women, we’ve been waiting for this....It is a book to buy, tuck under your arm, and head out toward life with, expressing your true self along the way.” — Tina Welling, author of Writing Wild “Judy Reeves has become a virtual guru for writers everywhere. In Wild Women, Wild Voices , she offers her patented inspiration, exploration, and encouragement. Her passion for writing is evident on every page. We are so lucky to have such an enthusiastic and assured guide on the journey that is the writing life.” — T. Greenwood, author of Bodies of Water , Grace , and Two Rivers “A thoughtful and inspiring read full of tools to help women celebrate, heal, and free the wild woman within....This is a book, not about editing and grammar or placing any restrictions on word-flow, but instead inviting women writers to tell their stories and their truths from a place that is deep and true. It’s not about making nice....Highly recommended, especially for women who want to express themselves through writing but don’t know how to begin.” — Sage Woman Judy Reeves is a writer, teacher, and writing practice provocateur who has written four books on writing, including the award-winning A Writer’s Book of Days . In addition to leading private writing groups, Judy teaches at UC San Diego Extension and at San Diego Writers, Ink, a nonprofit literary organization she cofounded. Wild Women, Wild Voices Writing From Your Authentic Wildness By Judy Reeves New World Library Copyright © 2015 Judy Reeves All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-60868-295-9 Contents Introduction, One. Maps for the Journey, Two. Claiming Wild Woman, Three. Wild Child, Wild Girl: Initiation and Forgetting, Four. Body Writing: The Voice of the Senses, Five. Family: Fact and Fiction, Myth and Mystery, Six. Writing Place: The Geography of Our Lives, Seven. Loves and Lovers: Journey into the Heart, Eight. Friends and Companions: Finding Your Tribe, Nine. Artist/Creator: Authentic Expressions of Wild Woman, Ten. Life Journeys: Adventures, Explorations, Quests, and Pilgrimages, Eleven. Where the Wild Things Are: Illuminating the Shadow, Twelve. Dreams and Synchronicity: The Intuitive Wisdom of Wild Women, Thirteen. Death, Loss, and Legacies: Wise Woman, Epilogue: The Road Home, Appendix. Call of the Wild: The Making of a Wild Women Writing Group, Acknowledgments, Notes, Permission Acknowledgments, Recommended Reading, Index, About the Author, CHAPTER 1 MAPS FOR THE JOURNEY Once upon a time ... Long ago and far away ... In a land that never was and a time that could never be ... I remember ... Ever since human beings invented language, these words, or words like them, have signaled the approach of a story. We have always been story-telling creatures. From the beginning, myths, folktales, and fairy tales have told of human flaws and frailties, of meeting and overcoming threats and challenges, and of human transformation and redemption. You and I tell stories of our daily lives. We can't help ourselves. We meet a friend in the grocery store and stand beside the bananas for fifteen minutes, telling stories. Our children come home from school and say, "Guess what happened?" Ask someone, "How was your day?" and prepare to settle in for a tale. We tell stories to give shape to experiences, to entertain, to process, to grieve, to heal, and to share our perspective on the world. Our stories reside in place, in things, in relationships and events. And, oh, the stories in our families ... "The fact is that anybody who has survived childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days," Flannery O'Connor tells us. By story, I mean a narrative rather