Students today are facing a huge problem.
They need their voice, but don’t know how to find it.
They need it to:
…tell their stories on school admissions essays.
…express their feelings in personal relationships.
…create narrative driven business pitches.
The list goes on!
Because voice-driven writing is rarely taught past fifth grade, however, students often:
✏️ Get stuck before they’ve even started writing.
✏️ Get trapped in perfectionist mode, stifling their ideas and creativity instead of freeing them.
✏️ Lack strategy for tackling a prompt.
✏️ Don’t understand how to revise, and instead write with a one-and-done approach.
✏️ Feel impatient with the process of writing, and seek AI or a quick turnaround—regardless of quality or authenticity.
As the founder and primary writing coach at Write Well Brooklyn, I aim to fill the gap in classroom learning, to teach students the tools and strategies to access their voice and creativity—and create truly excellent writing.
With former students on a book tour stop in 2022!
My Story
When I was a kid, I knew I longed to express myself in a BIG WAY, but wasn’t quite sure how. Then, at age 12, I got up the courage to audition for a musical—but when I opened my mouth to sing, no sound came out.
Eventually, the kindly accompanist suggested that the other kids start the song with me. While their support helped me eke out the tune, it was the opposite of that “big” self-expression I’d craved.
Decades later, I finally committed to expressing my voice in a big way: I left a steady high school teaching job in Austin, Texas to write my first novel, and supported myself with private tutoring.
Amid the many missteps of my early foray into business ownership, the 1-1 rapport with young people was a powerful constant.
Whether writing an essay for English class or writing a college admissions essay, students often got stuck before they even began, caught in patterns of fear, doubt, and perfectionism.
The more I worked with them, the more I realized my “tutoring” involved something deeper and more long-lasting than academic support alone.
My students were learning to access and express their voice—exactly what I’d struggled to do at their age.
As my students grew, I did too. I completed my novel, The Crocodile Bride, which became a New York Times Editors’ Choice in 2022—a huge high water mark for my writing career. I moved from Austin to New York, where I started Write Well Brooklyn.
Today, creative self-expression is a part of my everyday life. I know first-hand how it can empower and heal not only ourselves, but the world around us.
At Write Well Brooklyn, I want to help your kids and teens find that power, too.
In my days as a high school teacher, 2012.
A Writing Coach Means a Positive Support System.
“On a scale of one to ten, with ten being you want to be an author when you grow up, and one being you’d rather slither into the New York City sewage system than write anything, where do you land?”
I love posing this question to students the first time we meet—and it’s a good example of the openness, curiosity, and humor I bring to every coaching session.
As a writing coach, it’s my job to meet students wherever they’re at in their growth as a writer (and their mood that day).
So why “coaching” and not “tutoring”?
I left classroom teaching in 2014 to finish writing The Crocodile Bride and support myself by tutoring—but “tutor” always connoted a dry, academic vibe, rather than the nurturing, tuned-in, humor-filled guidance I offer.
My sessons go beyond specific homework assignments or grammar rules alone. They include:
✏️ a supportive, joyful 1-1 dynamic
✏️ teaching in ways that connect with the student’s learning style
✏️ understanding and embracing my unique Messy Model
✏️ feeling empowered, seen, and heard
In such a positive environment, students achieve the transformation writing has helped me experience, too: finding their voice, and expressing it!
That’s me with a longtime coaching student in Austin, Texas, in 2017. (Used with permission.)
Personality is probably the most important factor in deciding on the right coach for your kid or teen.
You can get a sense of my vibe in this video—along with a tip for writing procrastinators of any age (and I know, because I was a chronic writing procrasintor….).
Can Write Well Brooklyn brag just a bit?
My student achievements are insanely impressive—and a testament to the skill, confidence, and authenticity students acquire through their coaching work with me:
Finalist in The New York Times Summer Reading Contest.
Entry into competitive NYC high schools, including Hackley, Beacon, Avenues of the World, Spence, LREI, Poly Prep, St. Ann’s, Dwight Englewood, Columbia Prep, Fieldston, Trinity, Berkeley Carroll, Grace Church, Riverdale, & more.
Entry & scholarships into competitive colleges, including Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, Boston College, Sarah Lawrence, Babson College, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Texas at Austin, New York University, Parsons, Savannah College of Art & Design, & many more.
Publication & awards in Stone Soup, a children’s literary magazine.
Completion of 20,000-60,000 word fiction & poetry manuscripts.
Scholastic Art & Writing Contest awards.
Want learn more about how WWB’s coaching programs can help your kid or teen access their voice and creativity?
