Take control of the pen.

I offer classes and coaching services designed to help you reach your writing goals and develop confidence in your abilities.

I am committed to supporting the unique voices and artistic visions of my students from concept to creation.

"Dina is the teacher one dreams for.”

Before I became a teacher in 2015, I spent ten years recovering from a burn injury that had completely stripped me of my autonomy. Sitting in this chair, I am reminded of the four physical therapists who guided me into an upright position for the first time after I’d spent months on my back, in and out of a drug-induced coma, unable to remember how I got hurt or to see the extent of my wounds except through narcotized glimpses between bandages changes, without a voice to ask questions. A calendar from 2005 that hangs above my desk reminds me, in someone else’s handwriting, that my first guided attempt at sitting, ten days after my seventeenth birthday, lasted “five minutes.”

Again and again, I felt the hands of others pushing me up to eat, lay, roll over, wipe my excrement and tears, stand, smile, strap a pen or paintbrush to my hand, high-five, no, high-three, walk, bathe, dress, wheel me to the operating table, pray for a miracle. I still remember the day my sister refused to tie my shoes for me, insisting I try not to be helpless.

These years spent in total dependence and obedience to the goals others had set for me, and in learning, slowly, that I was not so powerless I couldn’t find ways to adapt, especially to the act of holding and operating a writing utensil, directly inform my approach to the classroom and coaching sessions with other writers.

I would describe my teaching style as versatile, yet focused, hands-off, yet exacting, and nonjudgmental, yet supportive. Above all, I am present to the insights my students already possess, and I make it clear on day one that they came in with all the expertise required to thrive. I want them to leave each class or coaching session having discovered (or else remembered) they are capable of doing more on their own, intellectually and creatively, than they had previously thought possible, and to feel witnessed inside their innate capacity and gifts.

Every aspect of my coursework and coaching is designed around the primary goal of honoring the agency of writers and helping them recognize and harness their potential to be their own source of wisdom, regardless of whether they are trying creative writing for the first time. I have often found that students come in believing they must earn their literacy or prove their right to participate. To convey the message to students they have come fully equipped, I invite them to set their own goals for their learning trajectories.

I recognize that some of the most meaningful breakthroughs happen when a writer is governing their own choices, free of the pressure to conform to expectations. So, I encourage my students early on to trust their instincts by designing and responding to their own writing prompts. At the same time, students lead all discussions of their writing and/or assigned readings, even co-design the curriculum and/or coaching agreement with me. I frame every conversation in response to their previous ideas, so each class or session unfolds as a shared inquiry, spontaneously generated by them instead of pre-conceived by me. Signature to the experience of being my student is that you will write periodic self-evaluations, charting the development of your ideas and their execution.

If you are ready to take control of the pen and discover how to tell your story in the way that only you can, you may choose to book a free consultation with me, or else get started now on receiving my coaching services.