Unleashing the ‘wild’ writer – A Twitter chat with Bridget Holding

On July 22nd, we chatted to a creative writing tutor, psychotherapist and 'wild' writer Bridget Holding. She is the founder of Wild Words and The Society of Writers-In-The-Wild. She is a writer, UKCP registered psychotherapist, and tutor of creative writing for The University of Exeter and The Open University in the UK.

There were a lot of questions around ‘Wild Writing’ and whether it was for everyone. Although it’s different for every writer, ‘Wild Writing’ is about connecting from an instinctual creative space. Bridget reassured us that the concept of the ‘wild’ writer has something for almost every writer, pre-published or professional. As she tweeted, “There's a misconception that writing 'wild words' is scary, big and extreme. Writing 'wild words' is about finding connection, being in tune, that's safe for everyone.”

As one of this year's short course leaders at Swanwick, we couldn’t resist asking Bridget about what to expect from her sessions. She told us she will be revealing how to “bring power, passion and aliveness into your writing, through exercises in nature to re-find the instinctual writer.” A questioner asked whether anyone can become a ‘wild writer’, even if they like the indoors? Bridget revealed that the qualities of the wild are found indoors as well as outdoors. As she said, the qualities “are found in ourselves, in the grain of wood in the dining room table, as well as outdoors. Start small. Set yourself up to succeed, not fail.”

Apprehension is also part of the ‘wild’ writer’s journey for “when we see what we dislike or fear, we see what we're afraid to put on the page.” Being a ‘wild’ writer is about utilising the whole of our body and mind, not just our minds. Animals in the wild have much to teach us (even writers!) about functioning well and connecting the experience that comes via a ‘gut instinct’, and changing the balance between the thinking mind and our instinct. 

We finished off asking Bridget what is the most important thing writers need to do? She answered that her message is to encourage writers to “trust their innate ability to tell great stories, then take control of the process.” 

Once again we’d like to extend our thanks to Bridget Holding - please follow her (and us!) on Twitter - and to all the tweeters who took part in the discussions. The chat was moderated by Benjamin Scott. We hope you can join us for our next #AskSwanwick session with Curtis Jobling. We hope our Twitter chats offer a sweet morsel of the tasty goodies in store for us in August!