Bay Area BusinessWoman
www.babwnews.com
May, 2007
Writing Women Go Wild
—By Serena Bartlett
Carla dedicated many childhood years to learning how to fix machines. Cathleen was raised with Southern values below the Mason Dixon line. Pamela's nose was always in a book about some exotic land. Jacqueline dreamed of the Paris she saw in films. Lisa studied 17th and 18th century explorers and mythical animals and plants. Today their diverse paths cross in San Francisco as a groundbreaking literary group: The Wild Writing Women.
It all began at a travel writing class at the Ritz Hotel in the early 90s. Cathy Miller found herself surrounded by experienced writers and she wanted to be one of them. She offered to cook full course dinners, complete with champagne and patΘ, so these professional writers piled into her home to form what would become the Wild Writing Women.
What these talented ladies have done is formed a supportive and creative environment not only for one another, but for the Bay Area's writing community at large. For instance, when Miller was traveling alone in Africa, her fellow Wild Writing Women were just a phone call away and came in handy with helpful tips and encouragement.
On the first Wednesday of every month, presenters from every corner of the business, from agents to editors, authors to publishing experts, arrive at the welcoming lobby of the Monticello Inn to share a glass of wine and their pearls of wisdom.
This free monthly salon is open to anyone, beginning writers or professionals, men and women. Each of the five Wild Writing Women take turns hosting the salon, inviting a different guest each month.
"We are completely committed to creating and supporting a writers community in the Bay Area," says Lisa Alpine, who took her first journey to Paris at 18 when she was encouraged by a family friend who said, "Write Blondie, write!"
"Our event is free and our speakers are fantastic, plus we provide schmooze time before the speaker goes on which allows writers to connect," she says.
In 2000, the largest incarnation of the group, at 12 members, put together an anthology of their travel tales, each in their own unique voice. Pamela Michael's son had been to Europe three times before she finally went. In the last decade she's been to more than 30 countries, traveling solo to places like Beirut and Peru. "The truth is, most people are to be trusted, especially if you treat them with respect and are genuinely interested in their cultures," she says of her experience.
They collaborated talents Alpine was a model for the cover art, Carla King worked on the technical side of things until their self-published book, Stories of World Travel was complete.
Their collective journey from idea to widely-selling travel book now published by Globe Pequot Press has been followed by many aspiring authors. "Many publishing companies think of self-published books as a test market, and are looking to pick up books from such motivated authors," remarks Miller. "It is a lot of work to self-publish."
Wild Writing Women also offer Taking Flight, an online magazine that won the North American Travel Journalist Association (NATJA) award in 2004, which provides helping advice and empowerment to women solo-travelers.
In addition, the group also won the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation Lowell Thomas Gold award for their website from the Society of American Travel Writers the same year.
The current members all want to communicate the joys and traveling and living in a new culture to others. And they have succeeded there. King, a creative writing teacher who has taken solo motorcycle trips across three continents, explains that their desire to write, and a common commitment to the craft and breaking through barriers, is what got the group together and kept them growing as writers.
"We decided early on that we didn't want to do business in the traditional, male-oriented manner of competition, but in a more female-oriented paradigm of cooperation and support," she says.
Many of the women have embarked on their own solo projects since banding together Miller's working on a biography about UN leader Dr. Sadik on the realities of female genocide worldwide, Alpine teaches writing classes and contributes regularly to Pacific Sun and Lonely Planet, Michael produces her own travel radio show at KPFA and co-founded a youth creative writing group, River of Words, Jacqueline Harmon Butler co-authored the sixth edition of The Travel Writer's Handbook, and King has created her own small press, Motorcycle Misadventures but all still focus on their undying passion for travel and breaking down the gender stereotypes.
At this year's San Francisco Writers Conference, an intent audience took copious notes as these women shared their knowledge and experience. As their presentation came to a close, King had one more thought for the road: "I kept thinking that people are different somewhere, but, funny thing, I keep finding that we're the same everywhere though our lives may differ drastically, we all care about the same things."
For more information on the organization and to view the current issue of Taking Flight, visit .
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