BELIEVE IN YOUR STORY
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BELIEVE IN YOUR STORY *
Hello, I'm Judy
I believe in writing our stories and that our stories connect us as human beings. Our stories have impact; they can change one person’s life or entire communities. We seek to find our voice, to tell our truth, and share our experiences; writing is the gift we’re given so that we may do this—each in our own unique, authentic, and personal way.
When I was eight years old I decided I was a writer. I had a crush on Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter, whose adventures I followed on the pages of the Sunday comics.
The other thing I loved was making sentences using the spelling words assigned us third graders by our teacher, Mrs. Chairs. When I think about it, those spelling words were like the writing prompts I use to this day to get the ink flowing and my hand moving across the page.
At eleven years old I formed my first writing group with my sister and my best friend. Fortified with Cokes and my mother’s delicious chocolate chip cookies, we’d settle in with our notebooks and our pencils and write stories that we’d read aloud to each other. And here I am, all these years later, leading writing groups where we write our stories and read them aloud. These days I’m usually fortified with caffeine.
Whether I was emulating Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter or off on a search of my Muse, after more than twenty-five years in a variety of writing-related day jobs (newspapers, radio, television, public relations, advertising, marketing), I chucked everything except my notebooks and booked an around-the-world airline ticket.
But like Dorothy, the yellow brick road that went all the way around the world led me right back to my own back yard—San Diego, where, in 1993, I co-founded The Writing Center, a nonprofit literary arts organization. The Writing Center didn’t have a long life, only five years, but it was a palimpsest for the creation of other gathering places and writing communities. In 2004, I cofounded another nonprofit organization, San Diego Writers, Ink, where I teach many of my courses.
My books include A Writer’s Book of Days (named "Best Nonfiction" by the San Diego Book Awards and a “Hottest Books for Writers” by Writer’s Digest), Writing Alone/Writing Together, The Writer’s Retreat Kit, and Wild Women, Wild Voices. My memoir–When Your Heart Says Go, was released in 2023. My work has also appeared in the San Diego Reader; Connotations Press; Serving House Journal; Waymark, and other journals and anthologies. I previously taught at UCSD Extension. I’m on the faculty of the Southern California Writers’ Conference, teach at writing conferences internationally, and serve on the Council for the International Association for Journal Writing.
Honors & Awards
Awards and honors include San Diego Writer’s Monthly “Woman of the Year”
The Odin Award for Community Service from the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild
In Recognition of Your Creative Gifts and Service to the Community of Artists Children and Patrons from the African American Writers & Artists Inc, San Diego
Community Leader Award from the San Diego Writing Festival
Mayor Jerry Sanders proclaimed July 24, 2010 “Judy Reeves Day” in San Diego
Random personal details
I was born in St. Joseph, Missouri and have lived most of my life in San Diego, with experiments in a few other places including Barcelona, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Born under the sign of Libra (Sagittarius-rising), I consult the Tarot on occasion. Much as I love cats I’m currently without a pet, a living situation I hope will change someday.
A daily journal writer, yoga practitioner, and walker around my neighborhood and nearby Balboa Park, I can also be found at any number of local cafes where I meet friends for coffee or take a book to read or my notebook to write.
My favorite library in San Diego is Central Library. In every city or town I visit, I pay homage to a library, an indie bookstore, and a local café. With publication of my memoir, I have turned to writing the next book, which I hope to finish in a shorter time than it took to write the memoir.
