Write the wild, raw truth of your heart.
Writing workshops and coaching for creative souls with stories to tell.
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Are you longing to write?
DO YOU HAVE STORIES CIRCLING WITHIN YOU, LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO LAND?
Do you sometimes feel, within the stress and bustle of daily life, that you’ve lost touch with an essential part of yourself?
Do you love to write but never seem to find the time?
When you sit down to write, do the voices of your inner critics stop you in your tracks?
Do you have several half-finished drafts but need deadlines, structure and support to complete them?
Have you finished a draft of your memoir—huzzah!—but need feedback and guidance to deepen it and make each sentence sing?
I’m Tanya Shaffer, an award-winning playwright, author and teacher. Wherever you are in your writing journey, I’m here to help.
Off-Leash Writing Workshops
ONLINE OR IN PERSON
Come home to yourself on the page.
In this liberating workshop, we write fast and wild, to get ahead of our planning minds and leave our inner critics in the dust.
Whether or not you call yourself a writer, this is a transformative practice for discovering or reconnecting with your authentic voice.
Discover the Liberating Power of Writing
Whether you’re looking to explore your life in words or polish your raw drafts into sparkling gems, I’ve got you covered!
Memoir & Fiction Workshops
ONLINE ONLY
Polish your raw, gorgeous nuggets into finished work.
Get the structure and support you need to take your work to the next level.
Craft exercises and detailed, actionable feedback help focus and sharpen your work into its most vibrant, compelling form.
1:1 Coaching & Editing
ONLINE OR IN PERSON
What do you need to bring your project to fruition?
Looking for a sharp-eyed editor to fine-tune your draft? A brainstorming buddy to talk endings or structure? A cheerleader to help navigate that internal or external obstacle? An experienced colleague to develop a submission list? I’m here for it!
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"Tanya's workshops gave me everything I needed to break free from my years-long writers block."
"I've been in dozens of writing groups over the past twenty years, and Tanya's was the most inspiring and transformative one I've ever had the privilege to be a part of.""
-Nicole Morris
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“I remember being 9 and 10 and loving the words I wrote because they were mine."
"There was so much permission...Thank you, Tanya, for reminding me that I started writing not to make something practical but because the act itself brought me unabashed joy."
-Elena Felder
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“Without Tanya's workshop, my stories would still be pulling at my heart, aching to breathe."
"Working with Tanya made me believe in myself and have trust in the words that want to come out. It's one of the best decisions I've made for myself in a long time. I keep coming back for more."
-Aaron Schmaltz
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"Tanya’s feedback has been invaluable in moving my project towards completion."
"Tanya is generous with her constructive and actionable feedback. This was my first foray into publishers and agents... I feel so much more confident having revised based on her feedback."
-Jane Buyers
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"The last piece I wrote was the hardest and most naked I'd ever written.”
"Tanya provides a comfortable environment for us to delve deep inside ourselves with our emotions as well as our intellect. She gave me the confidence to expose the day that changed my life.
-Anne Bartley
Ever have trouble sitting and staying? Believe me, I get it!
Download this free guide for some hard-won strategies.
I have the skill and experience to support you.
Each of these books holds a piece of me. Let’s get your pile going!
• Author of the critically acclaimed travel memoir Somebody’s Heart is Burning: A Woman Wanderer in Africa.
• Former travel writer and frequent contributor to Salon’s Wanderlust section.
• Stories and essays published in more than a dozen anthologies, including several “Best Of”s.
• Plays produced Off-Broadway and in major regional theatres such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks, and San Diego Repertory Theatre.
• Plays toured to more than forty cities in the US and Canada and published by Samuel French, Inc.
• Former Playwrights’ Foundation resident playwright.
• Appeared on year-end Top Ten lists in major press outlets such as the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, and KQED.
• Won Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Awards & Dramalogue Awards. Nominated for National Theatre Critics Association’s Steinberg Award.
• BA in Creative Writing, Oberlin College.
• Teaching Certification in Amherst Writers and Artists Method and Wild Writing.
• Over the past seven years, helped hundreds of writers free their authentic voices, transform their relationship to creativity, and get their work out into the world.
Whatever life throws at you, writing can help you navigate it.
I started keeping a journal when I was eight years old, following my parents’ separation. At camp that summer, I kept my flashlight on inside my sleeping bag long after lights out, scribbling away.
As I wrote, the tangled threads of my thoughts and emotions began to unravel. It felt as though I were writing myself to a place of clarity.
I learned that summer that writing could help me make sense of the world. To this day, I sometimes don’t know what I think until I see it on the page.
Get to know my writing!
On my Substack, I share stories and essays on everything from creativity to travel to parenting to Buddhist spirituality.
Whatever topic I’m writing about, I’m really writing about the human experience, the ten thousand joys and ten thousand sorrows, this remarkable journey we all share.
