Plume’s upcoming August/September mailing will feature Judy Reeves, a dynamic writer, teacher, and writing practice provocateur. Judy has been a delight to work with, and we’re so excited to share her writing with you! Check out our interview with her to find out why she’s a writer you don’t want to miss!
Plume: When did you know you were a writer?
Judy Reeves: I remember the first thrill of using words to create story when I was in elementary school. The brief sentences scrawled from spelling words in my Big Chief tablet gave me my first taste of “writing.” Then I knew I would become “Brenda Starr, Reporter” and travel around the world, finding stories and writing my adventures for a newspaper. Then it was in high school writing plays and poetry and winning a place in a city-wide student poetry workshop, then it was a career as a commercial writer in newspapers, radio and television, then PR, marketing, and advertising. But it wasn’t until I was fifty years old and committed to a daily writing practice that I could say the words, “I’m a writer.”
P: Where do you get your ideas?
JR: Sometimes ideas come during writing practice sessions when characters just show up, other times an image—the woman alone on her high-rise balcony watering her plants, the mother with her newborn infant in a Target parking lot, the stranger I met on a train. Voyeuristic walks in my neighborhood at dusk when the cats come home and the lights come on. Dreams. Memories. Eavesdrops. A photograph. A line in a poem.
P: Where do you write?
JR: Mostly I write at home, first draft, by hand, usually at my kitchen table. But I am also a writer-in-community, so I will often meet writing pals at a cafe or a study room at the library or we’ll go away to a retreat place where we’ll write alone/together.
P: Do you have any writing rituals?
JR: Before I begin my morning writing practice, I light a candle, read from an inspiring book or some poetry, journal a page or two, and then begin. So there’s much settling in and setting up. I remember long ago reading One Continuous Mistake—Four Nobel Truths for Writers, by Gail Sher, in which she suggests, “Before you being each writing session, dedicate your writing and your intention to write. Offer up the effort and the fruit of this effort so that it no longer belongs to you.” I try to do this, mostly to get out of my own way so the writing can come through me.
P: How supportive is your local community for writers?
JR: We’re so fortunate in San Diego to have a lively, supportive, diverse community of and for writers. We have several nonprofit literary organizations that offer classes, workshops, groups, and gatherings for writers; four regularly scheduled writing conferences and symposiums; a library system that both celebrates and supports writers and offers platforms for readings and book displays; an annual “Book Awards” contest for local writers of both published and unpublished work; countless open mic readings—prose and poetry, and performance and storytelling and– and– and–. I know I’m leaving so much out here, but truly, San Diego is for writers and shows it in so many ways.
P: What are some of your self-care practices?
JR: Almost daily morning yoga, plus longer sessions when I can. Walks out and about—we have many beautiful parks, including Balboa Park. And then there’s the ocean. I also “refill” by attending readings, going to art shows and performances, theater and other events that stimulate and evoke. Lucky me, one of my closest friends invites me to her ranch for long weekend retreats. And then there are the books. One of my favorite “rewards”: an open Sunday afternoon with a glass of iced coffee and a good book. Friends and laughter, daily servings of each.
P: What is your favorite book about writing?
JR: This is such a hard question to answer. You asked, “book” singular and I have so many favorites. Naming a favorite also depends on what I’m working on at any given time. Right now I’m knee-deep in books about writing memoir. A couple of current go-tos are Beth Kephart’s Handling the Truth and Thomas Larson’s The Memoir and the Memoirist. I love flash fiction, flash nonfiction and prose poetry, and the intersection of those genres. The Rose Metal Press Field Guide books to these forms are gems.
P: What are you currently working on?
JR: My current work-in-progress is a memoir. Shortly after my husband died, I bought and around-the-world airline ticket and set off on a solo journey with a single suitcase and no agenda. The six months of travel is the container for the story in which the outward journey becomes an inward exploration. Solitude and loneliness will do that to you. The working title is En Route. I don’t have the subtitle yet. These days I’m transcribing/editing the notebook draft into manuscript format.
If you’re interested in reading Judy’s featured letter and creative nonfiction essay (Seriously, they pack a punch this month!) you still have until this Friday, August 17th to sign up for the latest edition of Plume.
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Judy’s been leading writer retreats with our group in Mexico for four years now. Another coming up in December. It has always been a wonderfully productive time. And fun.
So lucky you are!! she’s been my mentor for years!