Welcome to Wild on Purpose! ✨
A newsletter and podcast from author, artist, and speaker Kelly Wilde Miller.
This publication is for curious, reflective, creative types. Join a growing group of nearly 1,000 people in this cozy digital nook.
👋 Hey, I’m Kelly…
I’m the author of the paradigm-shifting ‘5-day book’ — Creative Dysregulation: Why Your Creativity is Chaotic & What to Do About It.
I wrote and published V1 of this book in 5ish days after being challenged by a group of creative friends. I dubbed this “the minimum viable book,” or MVB. Within 24 hours of publishing, it was #3 in Amazon Creativity alongside The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and The Creative Act by Rick Rubin.
Writing this book changed my life and helped me recommit to sharing my voice here at Wild on Purpose.
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Why sign up for Wild on Purpose?
I’ll share essays, real-life stories, and advice-type columns on creativity, purposeful work, and well-being. My passion is to explore the art of living well and designing a life that fosters authenticity, full expression, and aliveness. Not only will I be writing, but I’ll also record audio versions of most articles for your listening pleasure 🎧 If you’re a writer or creative yourself, you’ll gain a front-row seat to a woman who is finding her voice, working through ideas for future books, and apprenticing to the art of creative expression. I think this is neat.
This publication is 💯 free and will remain so for the foreseeable future (save your money for a future creative adventure or donate to someone here).
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Why did I start this publication?
This originally started as just a podcast under the same name, but soon, I felt drawn to Substack as both a writing and speaking platform. I've been a communicator since I held spoons as microphones in my childhood living room, wearing onesies. With five planets in the communication-heavy sign of Gemini, speaking, writing, and storytelling have all been big parts of my life and sense of wholeness — from angsty poems as a teenager to being called “a compelling speaker” by Marc Randolf, former CEO of Netflix.
Yet, I’ve had difficulty sharing my voice consistently in the age of social media and have had to work through many layers of self-doubt, avoidance, and fear (aka creative dysregulation).
This publication is my outlet for exploring life and who I truly am on my terms. I write this publication, first and foremost, for myself. It’s a place to refine my thinking, understand what I truly think + feel, and clarify what matters to me. As a byproduct, my creations seem to help, inspire, or, at the very least, amuse other people.
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What’s with the name Wild on Purpose?
The name came to me after an 11-day wilderness-based vision fast with Animas Valley Institute in May 2021. I had already begun going by Kelly Wilde (my legal birth name is Kelly Benson) and felt infatuated with the word ‘wild.’ At the time, it was an important word for bringing me deeper into my authenticity and essence. It helped me shed layers of my inner ‘good girl’ who kept me in cycles of playing small, nice, and by the rules. I desperately wanted to feel liberated in my self-expression, and the word ‘wild’ helped me do that. To be ‘wild on purpose’ felt like an intentional act of rebellion against the domesticating forces of the world (e.g., modern schooling, power-tripping family values, and work culture).
As time has passed, the phrase 'wild on purpose' has evolved alongside me. It no longer represents a struggle against external or internal forces seeking to tame. Instead, it embodies an invitation to embrace our collective fullness, offering it freely to the world in a spirit of regeneration and mutual growth. Living ‘wild on purpose’ is a life of intentionality, creativity, contribution, and a desire for our individual and collective well-being.
When we are ‘wild on purpose,’ we look inward to heal and transform ourselves so that we may be healthy, generative stewards for one another and the planet — the ultimate creative act.
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So, who is Kelly Wilde Miller?
I’m a mid-30s Northern California girl living in the foothills of the Rockies (Boulder, Colorado) with my husband, Jonny Miller, and our beloved golden retriever, Lola. After a long and meandering journey to finding my ‘work in the world,’ I’m settling into the titles of writer and speaker. I believe my work is to stumble through life with a trial-and-error attitude, fall on my face repeatedly, and compose eloquent insights for others to enjoy. I don’t mind this job; it keeps things interesting.
I’m most curious about creative self-expression, finding and sharing your voice, living in harmony with nature, cultivating meaningful work, and intentionally designing a life that speaks to one’s soul.
I’ve authored one book (in 5-days) and am currently working on improving it for the finished, print-ready version (eta May 2024). I’m also beginning to draft my second book, Cyclical Creativity, to share how to surrender and align one's creative actions to the natural cycles that move through us.
Beyond worky things, I live in a small intentional community home (5 people, 3 dogs) in a quiet rural neighborhood. I’m devoted to sleep and go to bed by 9:30 pm 99% of the time, so I rarely get invited to parties and shows. I dream of being a ‘conscious' stand-up comedian someday who tells uplifting yet ridiculous jokes about the spiritual path. I’m part of a women’s group that meets 2x monthly — I can’t recommend this enough. I love shopping second-hand for most things, accumulating the perfect greeting card for future friends, wide-brimmed adventure hats, paper maps, hand-thrown ceramic everything, nude photoshoots with my husband, walking multiple dogs on dirt paths, hosting potlucks, learning financial literacy, silent meditation retreats, and becoming a better human every small change at a time. I’m generally quite happy and in love with my life, and am grateful to be alive during this time so I can share in these ways.
If you’d like to connect more, find me on X (Twitter) or my website.
I’m excited to meet you 💛
