Lisa Fuller

My professional life for the past twenty years has been devoted to helping parents create healthy relationships with their kids through coaching and teaching. During my deepest moments of struggle while raising my three children, I’d open my notebook and write it all out in as much detail as I could to more clearly see the messy truth. Being able to spill all my pain, guilt, and questions on the page gave me solace and sometimes even clarity about what was going on and how I could best move forward. I sometimes shared my parenting stories on my blog and found that my honesty both surprised parents and helped them feel less alone. I discovered the power of messy stories to capture what Laurie calls the “ugly and the beauty,” side by side.

The threads of Wild Writing and parenting weave together beautifully as they are both practices where we’re called to be our imperfect selves. In 2021 I completed Laurie’s Wild Writing Teacher Training program because I knew I wanted to integrate this transformative writing practice into my coaching work with parents and others in the world.

I’ve been leading writing circles on Zoom since 2021. In addition to studying Wild Writing with Laurie, I have a Masters in Social Work, am a Certified Co-Active Coach, a Daring Way Facilitator, and a Positive Discipline Trainer.

Susan Vespoli

I am a devout believer in the power of writing to heal/transform/illuminate. After many years running a Montessori school, I earned my MFA in poetry and nonfiction.

In 2018, I discovered Laurie and the Wild Writing method and thought, eureka! This is what I’ve been looking for. I so believe in the power of this practice. After finishing the Wild Writing Teacher Training in 2019, I began to lead virtual writing circle workshops based on Wild Writing for writers.com. I love watching people bloom as they let their words flow unedited into their journals.

I continue to write my own essays and poems, most of which emerge in rough form via the Wild Writing technique. My work has been published in Rattle, Nailed Magazine, Anti-Heroin Chic, Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse, and others. I have three poetry books, Blame It on the Serpent (Finishing Line Press, Jan. 2022), Cactus as Bad Boy (Kelsay Books, Aug. 2022), and One of Them Was Mine (Kelsay Books, July 2023).

I live in Phoenix, Arizona with three mostly mellow rescue dogs: Frida, Sasha, and LuLu.

Mollie McNeil

The day I wandered into Laurie Wagner’s Wild Writing class ten years ago in Berkeley, California, a new career for me as a writer, teacher and workshop leader was jump-started. Initially, I found riffing off lines of poetry and sharing my fresh words with others daunting and uncomfortable. I was a self-conscious perfectionist and my doctoral program in English left me bruised from nonstop critique. But once I relaxed and trusted the nonjudgmental format of the class, beautiful things began to happen. Writing quickly forced me to let my hair down, explore new ideas, joke around, ask questions and take risks. Soon, writing became easy, fun and freeing. By the end of the class, sharing intimate stories in community became as energizing and creative as dancing or singing.

Through Wild Writing, I found my authentic voice, zeroed in on key personal themes, and eventually turned my emotional truths into fictional characters.  I have now published seven short stories, a personal essay and am just finishing up a novel. None of this would have happened without the confidence I gained in my Wild Writing classes. And as a side bonus, I made good friends who have shared their flourishing writing journeys with me.

Kimmy Moss

Up until discovering Wild Writing in 2020, I spent the majority of my life sprinting around a soccer field or track, in pursuit of high performance and peak physical fitness. 

During the 2022 Wild Writing Teacher Training, Laurie nicknamed me “Teenage Sunshine in a Bottle.” About that… it’s so accurate it’s pretty funny. I’m a high-voltage human with an infectious spunk, a lover of language and public speaking, and a fierce protector of holding interpersonal space. All this to say, no amount of trophies or titles I’ve ever accumulated are worth a fraction of the peace of mind I unlocked when I finally retired from perfectionism, thanks to Laurie’s guidance, and the magical practice that is Wild Writing.

About perfectionism… in a world intoxicated by it, I feel pretty punk rock and privileged to get to share Wild Writing. From my perspective, it’s a practice that truly punches performance in the face and reminds us all about the power of participation. I like that. And I like how it strengthens the relationship we have with both ourselves, and the communities we’re in. Writing is the most impactful, nourishing, and best contributor to holistic health that I’ve ever come across. I look forward to sharing it with you.

Anna Guest-Jelley

I practice Wild Writing because I want my writing to feel more alive — and I want that for myself, too.

I practice Wild Writing because I want more opportunities to loosen my inner story that I’m not a “good enough” writer to do anything remotely writing-related.

I practice Wild Writing because it’s been a long journey to learn to tell the truth about my life, and I now take every opportunity I have to keep building that muscle.

I believe we have deep knowing within and that we need doorways to help ourselves access the wisdom that is already here. I know in my bones that Wild Writing is one of those doorways, both on the page and off.

I have been a yoga teacher for fifteen years, and what I love about it is creating space for people to move through yet another doorway and meet themselves in this moment exactly as they are. I also have an MA in English, and I am the co-editor of Yoga and Body Image: 25 Personal Stories About Beauty, Bravery & Loving Your Body (Llewellyn, 2014) and the author of Curvy Yoga: Love Yourself & Your Body a Little More Each Day (Sterling, 2017).

I live in Portland, Oregon, with my husband, kiddo, and Golden Retriever, Henry, who is a very good boy. And yes, I like all the rain.

Tammy Delatorre

I love writing – it’s my most natural mode of expression and solace during dark times. Whenever something difficult is going on, the blank page serves as my reliable confidant. I found Laurie Wagner in 2010, and I’ve been inspired by her Wild Writing technique, using poetry to open us up to our own stories.

I grew up on the Big Island of Hawai’i  and now live in Los Angeles. As an Asian American, I find culture and a sense of place are important to my writing. I’ve taken many musings that I started in Wild Writing and shaped them into poems, essays, creative nonfiction, memoir, short stories, and hybrid pieces.

I’ve completed and sold my first memoir and am now working on my next book projects. I earned a Steinbeck Fellowship, a grant from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, a partial fellowship to the Summer Literary Series in Tbilisi, Georgia, and a Writing by Writers Residency. Author Cheryl Strayed selected my essay, “Out of the Swollen Sea,” for the Payton Prize. I am a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and twice recognized for Notable Essays in the Best American Essays. My writing has appeared in Los Angeles Times, Good Housekeeping, Salon, Vice, The Rumpus, and many other venues.