Revive your creativity
Imagine a creative practice that is both disciplined and pleasurable, satisfying and joyful.
I’m here to help you make the creative life you want.
“Sarah’s approach, which helps writers get outside themselves and learn to see what’s on the page (and what’s missing), is truly one of a kind. It’s a way of showing you yourself.”
— Serena Simpson
Here’s who I’ve coached:
People starting a creative practice or project but don’t know where to begin.
Published novelists who are adapting to a new life condition or challenge.
Visual artists who want to write about their art.
Parents juggling care-taking, work, and creativity.
Live-lit performers who are ready to get back into their community.
Poets who are writing and developing fiction or non-fiction manuscripts.
Working writers who feel stuck or uninspired.
People who want to take their creative hobby to the next level.
People who think the idea of just having a creative hobby sounds great.
People who want to rediscover the pleasure of their long-practiced artistic discipline.
People who haven’t picked up a brush, a musical instrument, or a pen in twenty years—but want to.
The process:
Get in touch with your desires and your artistic sensibilities.
What do you love? What inspires you to create? We’ll start by identifying your desires, values, worldview, aesthetics, self-care needs, and goals. I’ll use a questionnaire with creativity exercises to design your coaching sessions.
Uncover your challenges.
Through inquiry and active listening, our session will allow you to define the challenges you’re facing in your creative life. Once we know what those are, we’ll collaborate on strategies that allow you to redirect your energy in a way that is purposeful and aligned with your goals.
Tap into your joy.
Engage with your creative practice in a way that is refreshing, pleasurable, and open. You’ll receive innovative creativity exercises and accountability goals personalized for your life and desires.
Find endurance in creative devotion.
When you make something that you love, it’s easier to commit to a long-term creative practice or project. You’ll learn how connect your artistic work to your worldview and values so that you can support your creativity for the long-term.
My Offerings
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1:1 coaching that marries the practical and the intuitive.
Revive your creative work and life. I use inquiry and active listening so that you can get in touch with your own creative desires and process. I’ll help you identify areas for growth and create accountability goals. I provide strategies, exercises, and resources that will invigorate your creative practice.
Gentleness and rigor are not contradictions. I’ll give you feedback that is kind, honest, and working in collaboration with the vision you have for your creative life.
During the 45-minute coaching sessions, you will receive:
A preliminary questionnaire with reflection exercises that will help us both identify your desires, values, worldview, aesthetics, self-care needs, and goals. I’ll use this questionnaire to design your toolkit and coaching session.
3-5 creative prompts personalized for your challenges and interests. These prompts may involve writing, doodling, photography, experiential learning, and mind/body meditations.
Resources and reading materials, curated especially for you, that will inspire your work and help you overcome obstacles.
45-minutes of 1:1 guidance from an accomplished writer and professor who teaches at Northwestern University and StoryStudio, a creative writing center.
Optional direct instruction on any craft topic related to writing fiction, essays, memoir, and book-length manuscripts.
The rate for coaching is $85 for forty-five minutes.
Want to see if we’re a good fit? Contact me for a free 15-minute discovery session.
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Feedback on your manuscript based on your own artistic vision and aesthetic. Includes a 1:1 meeting and an editorial letter.
Grow your writing into the vision you have for it. Consulting sessions begin with a few questions about your manuscript, where you think it currently stands, and your ambitions for your work. Based on your answers and after carefully reading your piece, I will give you collaborative feedback on how you can take your manuscript to the next level.
I’m a voracious reader who loves something from every genre and style, although I’m especially partial to character-driven literary fiction, magical realism, stories with a deep sense of place, and personal essays. You can read some of my own work here. I enjoy helping writers who’ve faced rejection or who are working on an MFA portfolio.
The rate for a manuscript consultation is $125 per hour. This includes a twenty-minute 1:1 meeting.
You’ll receive:
A brief questionnaire that identifies the goals and concerns you have for your manuscript, as well as your values and aesthetics as a writer.
An editorial letter with feedback based on the vision you have for your work.
Line edits on the manuscript to increase meaning, beauty, and clarity.
A 1:1 twenty-minute debrief to ask any questions about the feedback and next steps.
Insight and guidance from an accomplished published fiction writer, essayist, and teacher who has taught at Northwestern University and StoryStudio, a creative writing center.
Want to see if we’re a good fit? Contact me for a free 15-minute discovery session.
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Reflection and support for your wildly radiant, creative self.
The Accountability Call:
Set creative goals and keep yourself accountable to them
Check-in with me (and yourself) about where you are at in your projects
Email me your pages or goals at a deadline that you set
Receive positive encouragement with a dose of reality
The Reflection Call:
Unpack the challenge you’re facing in your writing or creative life
Use inquiry and collaborative feedback based on the Critical Response Process to clarify your work and solutions
Understand your talents and strengths and how to play them up
Leave with tangible next steps
The Numinous Call:
Connect spiritual meaning and purpose to your creative work and life
Receive guidance through inquiry and reflection so that you can tap into your desires and existing resources
Leave with writing and creativity exercises to deepen the conversation with yourself after the call
The Ask Me (Almost) Anything Call:
Email me your question and then set a call where I deliver personalized feedback. I cover the following:
Moving past writer’s block and inertia
Applying to MFA programs
Pitching to magazines + adapting Substack posts to essays, and essays to Substack posts
Managing time as a parent and/or working person
Applying to residencies
Strategies for editing and revision
Planning a long manuscript or project
Tools for creating accountability
Working with internalized biases around your social identity
Performing and reading your work in public
Empowering yourself after rejection
Connecting your work to your worldview
Auditing your website and social media to enhance depth and message
Want to see if we’re a good fit? Contact me for a free 15-minute discovery session.
You already shine. Polish that brillance.
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Creativity Coaching
1:1 coaching that marries the practical and the intuitive.
Revive your creative work and life. I use inquiry and active listening so that you can get in touch with your own creative desires and process. I’ll help you identify areas for growth and create accountability goals. I provide strategies, exercises, and resources that will invigorate your creative practice.
Gentleness and rigor are not contradictions. I’ll give you feedback that is kind, honest, and working in collaboration with the vision you have for your creative life.
During the 45-minute coaching sessions, you will receive:
A preliminary questionnaire with reflection exercises that will help us both identify your desires, values, worldview, aesthetics, self-care needs, and goals. I’ll use this questionnaire to design your toolkit and coaching session.
3-5 creative prompts personalized for your challenges and interests. These prompts may involve writing, doodling, photography, experiential learning, and mind/body meditations.
Resources and reading materials, curated especially for you, that will inspire your work and help you overcome obstacles.
45-minutes of 1:1 guidance from an accomplished writer and professor who teaches at Northwestern University and StoryStudio, a creative writing center.
Optional direct instruction on any craft topic related to writing fiction, essays, memoir, and book-length manuscripts.
The rate for coaching is $85 for forty-five minutes.
-
Manuscript Consultions
Feedback on your manuscript based on your own artistic vision and goals. Includes a 1:1 meeting and an editorial letter.
Grow your writing into the vision you have for it. Consulting sessions begin with a few questions about your manuscript, where you think it currently stands, and your ambitions for your work. Based on your answers and after carefully reading your piece, I will give you feedback on how you can take your manuscript to the next level.
I’m a voracious reader who loves something from every genre and style, although I’m especially partial to character-driven literary fiction, magical realism, stories with a deep sense of place, and personal essays. You can read some of my own work here. I enjoy helping writers who’ve faced rejection or who are working on an MFA portfolio.
You’ll receive:
A brief questionnaire that identifies the goals and concerns you have for your manuscript, as well as your values and aesthetics as a writer.
An editorial letter with feedback based on the vision you have for your work.
Line edits on the manuscript to increase meaning, beauty, and clarity.
A 1:1 twenty-minute call to ask any questions about the feedback and next steps.
Insight and guidance from an accomplished published fiction writer, essayist, and teacher who has taught at Northwestern University and StoryStudio, a creative writing center.
The rate for a manuscript consultation is $125 per hour. This includes a twenty-minute 1:1 meeting.
-
Twenty-Minute Calls
Reflection and support for your wildly radiant, creative self.
The Accountability Call:
Set creative goals and keep yourself accountable to them
Check-in with me (and yourself) about where you are at in your projects
Email me your pages or goals at a deadline that you set
Receive positive encouragement with a dose of reality
The Reflection Call:
Unpack the challenge you’re facing in your writing or creative life
Use inquiry and collaborative feedback to clarify your work and solutions
Understand your talents and strengths and how to play them up
Leave with tangible next steps
The Numinous Call:
Connect spiritual meaning and purpose to your creative work and life
Receive guidance through inquiry and reflection so that you can tap into your desires and existing resources
Leave with steps to deepen the conversation with yourself after the call
The Ask Me (Almost) Anything Call:
Email me your question and then set up a call where I deliver personalized feedback. Here are a few examples: Creating routines and accountability, applying to residencies & MFA programs, starting newsletters, adapting work for different outlets and audiences.
The rate for twenty-minute calls is $40.
Reading a manuscript in 2021 with my youngest child.
My Creative Journey
As a kid, I always loved to write, but I received a lot of social messages that being an artist was selfish. In college I studied poetry. I thought I’d write poems on the side while I built a career in public policy or urban planning. I discovered that I loved to write fiction in my early twenties. At the time I was working as a bilingual (English/Spanish) elementary school teacher. My days were filled with happy-kid energy but my work hours were exhausting and long. I made time to write fiction on the weekends. Eventually I applied to graduate school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for an MFA in creative writing, where I devoted three years to studying literature and writing fiction. After graduating, I published work in highly-regarded anthologies and journals. My career in education continued as I worked as a nonprofit professional in literary arts organizations and as a university professor. Meanwhile, I’ve navigated life’s challenges while also creating: mothering young children, managing chronic pain, balancing career and creative work, facing rejection, and bereavement. I’m passionate about supporting other creative people when they encounter obstacles, so that they can continue to enjoy what they love and realize their dreams.