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Wild Women, Wild Voices: Writing from Your Authentic Wildness
Write to Celebrate, Heal, and Free the Wild Woman WithinIn her years as a writing coach, Judy Reeves has found twin urges in 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.
269 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 24, 2015
29 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 25, 2015
I've very much appreciated Judy Reeves' books on writing in the past and was definitely keen to read her new one. Wild Women, Wild Voices has resonated with me because I've been part of women's writing circles for twenty years and that sense of writing in community is remembered fondly.
Reeves has based her book on Wild Women writing workshops she has been leading for more than two decades. She was inspired by Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes as many of us were—and continue to be. Other writers quoted and referenced are Mark Nepo, Susan Wooldridge, Jamaica Kincaid, Diane Ackerman, Mary Oliver, Anne Sexton, Eudora Welty, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rumi, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Toni Morrison, Virginia Woolf, Sue Monk Kidd, and Maxine Kumin.
Excerpts from the writing of women who have attended Wild Women Writing Workshops are also included and they help to create that sense of a community of writing women throughout the book. You realize you're not alone as you embark on your writing journey.
Thirteen chapters invite explorations into the varied aspects of women's lives: looking at ourselves as girls, our initiation into womanhood and remembering and acknowledging ourselves "as artists and creators and as adventurous travelers of inner and outer landscapes."
As for the term "exploration," Reeves said in an interview that the explorations "refer to following a path laid out by the voice and the language to a destination that isn't fore-planned... So we don't write to learn a certain method or technique; we write to discover our story."
Writing about the body; family; the geography of our lives; loves and lovers; and friends and companions are among the chapter themes.
In the "Artist/Creator" chapter, Reeves suggests "a map of creative expressions." Using different colored pens, a large piece of paper can be filled with statements, words, or images. Those words can then become a list of pleasurable ways one was creative. Painting a room, creating a collage, dancing the two-step could be among such creative pursuits.
Reeves recalls a time when she was in kindergarten and a high school troupe performed for the school. She felt transformed by the theatrical performance of "Aladdin and His Magic Lantern" and recalls others times when she feels like a participant in the making of art.
The fact that Reeves shares her own story in each chapter adds a comforting support from a respected writing mentor.
I appreciated the list of intentions Reeves created one year instead of making New Year's resolutions. One of them: "to be open to wild imaginings and receptive to the charm of the ordinary."
For "Life Journeys," Reeves suggest a "scatterpage" on which memories scattered on a page become a source for writing rather than a chronological list. Then you can go back to one memory of a pilgrimage for instance and "let your pen take you on this journey."
The book continues with "illuminating the shadow," "intuitive wisdom," and a final chapter called "Death, Loss and Legacies."
Each chapter is full of prompts for "further explorations" and questions about the journey thus far. She calls the writing we do "Journey Notes."
The Appendix gives some guidelines for creating your own Wild Women writing group. I like Reeves' idea of creating a chapbook of writing from the group and offering readings to family and possibly, the general public. Reeves refers to the "brave and beautiful women" reading their work. And of course that bravery has been honed by facing the page too. Judy Reeves is a very encouraging guide and in sharing her own story throughout, gives us support and inspiration for telling our own.
by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Reeves has based her book on Wild Women writing workshops she has been leading for more than two decades. She was inspired by Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes as many of us were—and continue to be. Other writers quoted and referenced are Mark Nepo, Susan Wooldridge, Jamaica Kincaid, Diane Ackerman, Mary Oliver, Anne Sexton, Eudora Welty, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rumi, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Toni Morrison, Virginia Woolf, Sue Monk Kidd, and Maxine Kumin.
Excerpts from the writing of women who have attended Wild Women Writing Workshops are also included and they help to create that sense of a community of writing women throughout the book. You realize you're not alone as you embark on your writing journey.
Thirteen chapters invite explorations into the varied aspects of women's lives: looking at ourselves as girls, our initiation into womanhood and remembering and acknowledging ourselves "as artists and creators and as adventurous travelers of inner and outer landscapes."
As for the term "exploration," Reeves said in an interview that the explorations "refer to following a path laid out by the voice and the language to a destination that isn't fore-planned... So we don't write to learn a certain method or technique; we write to discover our story."
Writing about the body; family; the geography of our lives; loves and lovers; and friends and companions are among the chapter themes.
In the "Artist/Creator" chapter, Reeves suggests "a map of creative expressions." Using different colored pens, a large piece of paper can be filled with statements, words, or images. Those words can then become a list of pleasurable ways one was creative. Painting a room, creating a collage, dancing the two-step could be among such creative pursuits.
Reeves recalls a time when she was in kindergarten and a high school troupe performed for the school. She felt transformed by the theatrical performance of "Aladdin and His Magic Lantern" and recalls others times when she feels like a participant in the making of art.
The fact that Reeves shares her own story in each chapter adds a comforting support from a respected writing mentor.
I appreciated the list of intentions Reeves created one year instead of making New Year's resolutions. One of them: "to be open to wild imaginings and receptive to the charm of the ordinary."
For "Life Journeys," Reeves suggest a "scatterpage" on which memories scattered on a page become a source for writing rather than a chronological list. Then you can go back to one memory of a pilgrimage for instance and "let your pen take you on this journey."
The book continues with "illuminating the shadow," "intuitive wisdom," and a final chapter called "Death, Loss and Legacies."
Each chapter is full of prompts for "further explorations" and questions about the journey thus far. She calls the writing we do "Journey Notes."
The Appendix gives some guidelines for creating your own Wild Women writing group. I like Reeves' idea of creating a chapbook of writing from the group and offering readings to family and possibly, the general public. Reeves refers to the "brave and beautiful women" reading their work. And of course that bravery has been honed by facing the page too. Judy Reeves is a very encouraging guide and in sharing her own story throughout, gives us support and inspiration for telling our own.
by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
September 9, 2015
Wonderful advice from writing group leader Judy Reeves on finding your own deeply authentic voice as a writer. Part writing guide, part workbook, Wild Women, Wild Voices is full of fascinating writing prompts and exercises to inspire a writer of any experience level to delve deeper into their own intuitive places to create poems and stories that resonate authenticity and meaning.
April 16, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Wild Women Wild Voices including all of the examples of wild women who have gone before us. I feel as if experiencing the explorations is like going back in a time machine to the beginning of my life up to the present. Working through this book is a must for every woman who wants to remember her past so that she can live a fuller and more creative future.
June 24, 2020
I DNF'ed this book. I might go back to it, so this is a soft-DNF rather than a hard-DNF. I respect the author as a writing teacher, but it was not my time to be able to do what this book asks for. There were a lot of exercises and I didn't want to take time to do them (I'm feeling way too busy right now) and didn't want something that was a rehash of the work Julia Cameron did in The Artist's Way series of books. In many ways it seemed like a copy-cat type effort with the expectation of journaling and the many exercises at the end of the chapters.
I was also frustrated by reading things that sounded too "new agey" for me. I left the new age thought patterns for something else about 7 years ago. The only reason I'm possibly going to give this book a second chance is that I very much love the author's writing prompt book, A Writer's Book of Days. Let's hope that someday I can finish reading this and write a good review.
I was also frustrated by reading things that sounded too "new agey" for me. I left the new age thought patterns for something else about 7 years ago. The only reason I'm possibly going to give this book a second chance is that I very much love the author's writing prompt book, A Writer's Book of Days. Let's hope that someday I can finish reading this and write a good review.
December 29, 2020
I've loved Judy Reeves' A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life for the longest time, because both the prompts and the advice in it is as genuine as Natalie Goldberg's beloved books. This book is definitely more of a non-fiction/therapy book that is aimed more at cis-women/women who want to get more in touch with their feminine side, but I've found it's been very useful during my time in quarantine. I don't know if I would use it as much as I do her other craft book, but it was enough to get me to copy down all of the prompts when it was time to give it back to the library!
September 1, 2019
I have taken many writing workshops with Judy Reeves, but the one that I remember is the forerunner of this book: Hot Nights, Wild Women. I took it during the summer when it was hot and sultry and a room foll of women in a one-hundred year old building wrote sultry stories and laughed as we read them out loud.
When ever I'm stuck in my writing, this is my go-to book
When ever I'm stuck in my writing, this is my go-to book
November 23, 2020
Loved this book. It’s been a long time since I read a ‘writing book’ that inspired me to get to the page like this one did. My Word of the Year for 2021 is Discover, so I was pleasantly surprised to see how many times this very Word was mentioned. 5 stars!
February 7, 2019
Great book to use with writing groups!
December 10, 2019
2.5 stars
February 15, 2021
Great explorations of the writing process. Am using some of these in writing groups I work with.
March 18, 2021
Wonderful for prompts for woman’s writing group
May 14, 2019
Endorsements:
“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: A Novel of Vivaldi's Venice 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: Forming a Creative Partnership with Nature
“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
“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: A Novel of Vivaldi's Venice 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: Forming a Creative Partnership with Nature
“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
September 10, 2016
Het boek van Judy Reeves kreeg ik aangereikt via een dagboekgroep op Facebook. De titel sprak me direct aan, en bovendien is Judy Reeves de inspirator van mijn schrijfveren met haar boek A Writer's Book of Days. Ze baseert zich in dit nieuwe boek deels op Women Who run With the Wolves (De Ontembare Vrouw), wat ik zelf ook heb gebruikt voor Heldinne's Reis, vijf van de zeven verhalen die ik daarin gebruik, komen eruit. Ook The Artist's Way vormt een inspiratiebron.
Dus hoe kon ik dit laten liggen?
En toch.
Had ik het maar gedaan.
Na verloop van tijd heb je zoveel schrijfboeken gelezen en doorgewerkt, dat iemand al iets heel nieuws moet verzinnen om nog nieuwe deuren te openen. Ik heb het niet uitgelezen, want ik werd al vanaf het begin bekropen door een been there, done that-gevoel. Als je nooit eerder over je leven en je lijf en je liefdes en je leugens hebt geschreven, is het denk ik wel inspirerend. Maar als je Pinkola Estés en Cameron kent, voegt het niets toe. Integendeel, voegt het iets af. (Of hoe zeg je dat.)
Reeves heeft een bijdehandnemerig toontje dat me tegenstaat, zo van "nu gaan we over de vader schrijven" en "Jasmina schreef dit en Jantina schreef dat" en de Notes from the Journey aan het eind van ieder hoofdstuk zijn regelrecht van Cameron geroofd.
Dus hoe kon ik dit laten liggen?
En toch.
Had ik het maar gedaan.
Na verloop van tijd heb je zoveel schrijfboeken gelezen en doorgewerkt, dat iemand al iets heel nieuws moet verzinnen om nog nieuwe deuren te openen. Ik heb het niet uitgelezen, want ik werd al vanaf het begin bekropen door een been there, done that-gevoel. Als je nooit eerder over je leven en je lijf en je liefdes en je leugens hebt geschreven, is het denk ik wel inspirerend. Maar als je Pinkola Estés en Cameron kent, voegt het niets toe. Integendeel, voegt het iets af. (Of hoe zeg je dat.)
Reeves heeft een bijdehandnemerig toontje dat me tegenstaat, zo van "nu gaan we over de vader schrijven" en "Jasmina schreef dit en Jantina schreef dat" en de Notes from the Journey aan het eind van ieder hoofdstuk zijn regelrecht van Cameron geroofd.
September 18, 2023
This is the second time that I have read this book, first 2016. This book is for women who are lost and looking for a few guide posts, you'll find that here. Lots of useful quotes and book references. Each chapter finishes with encouragement to keep writing your journal, be honest, and questions and things to do to help you on your journey. You may even get to a point where you realise that you no longer need the help from the book as you have found your own wild woman.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews