Dear Writers:

Combining my love of travel, communication, and flexibility (physical, psychic, and emotional), I have taught the two disciplines of English and Yoga in Canada, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, and the United States. I have been a fortunate member of the faculty at such institutions as the Center for Integrative Medicine (Tucson), Institute of American Indian Arts (New Mexico), Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health (Massachusetts), Simon Fraser University (Vancouver), the University of Arizona (Tucson).

No matter what I am teaching where in the world or for which institution, as a teacher entirely devoted to authentic expression—yours and mine—I offer private and small group mentoring, community workshops, and university courses.

Private & Small Group Mentoring                                                                                                 

I offer support to individual writers, as well as small groups. The mentoring support I offer meets the writer where they are on their writing path and seeks to serve the writer as they discover and write toward their goals, e.g. writing individual poems, stories, memoirs, blogs, etc., completing a chapbook- or full-length manuscript, embarking on a course of reading and study, etc. May I be of service to your writer’s education? Write to me and let’s open a conversation about possibilities.

Monthly Writing Subscriptions—Ongoing!

This approach is one of many wherein the focus is to keep the writing engaged in their practice. There are several ways this approach can be arranged such that it meets the writer’s goals. One way the Monthly Writing Subscription has been arranged is Weekly: the writer sends me their writing on a prearranged day; I return the writing in the next week with comments. Bank and forth writing and comments go. Page and fee amounts are flexible and can meet the writer’s budget.

Contemporary Poetry & Creative Writing Courses

While in Canada, I have taught for the English Department (2005-2010) and the summer writing program, South Bank Writers Program (2012-2017) at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Currently, I am faculty in the Creative Writing Program in Simon Fraser University’s Continuing Studies, offering elective courses to the The Writer’s Studio cohort and to writers at (and writ!) large in Vancouver’s vibrant literary community, and since the COVID-19 pandemic, across Canada.

The following two SFU courses recur yearly.

Write Write Write 

At SFU in February online and in August in person, this five-day writing intensive extravaganza meets daily to enliven your writing practice! Using a balance of in-class discussions and exercises, as well as take-home practices and missions, you will pursue the stories, poems and memoirs within you. 

More Info: http://www.sfu.ca/continuing-studies/courses/cpw/write-write-write.html

The Poem’s Intention

At SFU in October to November, this eight-week course focuses on the ways a poem asserts its own emotional, thematic, and narrative intention, poets taking this course will learn new strategies for composing and revising poems. By distinguishing the writer’s intention from the poem’s intention, writers will learn how to do the following:

  • Look at poems in new ways—based in both re-visioning and revising
  • Make intentional, disciplined decisions toward revising poems
  • Read all styles of poetry with interest, sympathy, and imagination
  • Be unbound by previous definitions of poetry

More info: https://www.sfu.ca/continuing-studies/courses/cpw/the-poems-intention.html