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Creative Writing, Editing & Coaching

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A lover of words and speaker of many languages, I feel most alive when I am writing, closest to the divine, filled with clarity of spirit and purpose. In addition to plays and performance collaborations in the community, I have written essays and poems for literary publications (Seventh WaveThe Rush Magazine; Panorama Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature; The Indianapolis Review).  

 

I provide editorial services for grant writers, people seeking admission to college and graduate school, those composing policy papers, and other nonfiction. I take pleasure in running a fine-toothed comb through your work, reshaping the piece to let your voice sing, uncluttered.

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Writer’s Statement

I write at the point where nonfiction and poetry meet, relying on sense, image, and memory more than narrative arc or plot. I throw scientific fact, logic, and reason to the side, centering an emotional resonance that Audre Lorde references when she says “we learn…to cherish our feelings, and to respect those hidden sources of our power from where true knowledge and therefore lasting action comes” (Poetry Is Not a Luxury, 1985). I situate myself among spiritual writers who employ free verse in their poetry and fragmented sensory image in their prose, playing with multiple clauses to achieve a measured process of slowly peeling back layers of human existence. I admire Annie Dillard’s and Rebecca Solnit’s ability to simmer in the imprecise nature of things, mindfully and ever-lengthening letting us hang in the unknown while gradually uncovering the truth about the world. The flashes of insight creep up without realizing that the revelation is complete – I live for that final release of air, those goosebumps.  

 

I offer jaggedness next to the slick, with some discombobulated structure that represents my neurological landscape of head trauma. I invite my readers into a hall of mirrors, shining light on multiple facets of a story so that they experience a splintered whole, the fractalized aggregate more important than each constituent unit. As Gloria Anzaldúa writes,  “We don’t want to be /Stars but parts /of constellations.” I aim to represent this kind of web of collective consciousness through intimately personal narrative. I learned this technique through many authors and cherish Natalie Diaz’s talent, in particular, of taking a single moment to expose the complex and universal. 

Academic Credentials â€‹

   â—¦  A.B., Harvard University: Government and Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality

       Certificate in Social Anthropology of Human Rights 

       Served as a tutor with the Harvard Writing Center which launched my private editing practice  

  â—¦  Masters level coursework, California Institute for Integral Studies: Counseling Psychology and Drama Therapy 

  â—¦  MFA, Lindenwood University: Creative Writing 

  â—¦  Teaching Credential in Career Technical Education (industry sectors: Education and Arts, Media, Entertainment) 

​  â—¦  Playwriting Fellow, VONA/Voices 

 

Teaching & Faculty Experience

  â—¦  Lecturer, California State University East Bay: Dept of Theatre & Dance

  â—¦  Guest Instructor, California Institute for Integral Studies: Counseling Psychology and Drama Therapy 

  â—¦  Guest Instructor, University of California Berkeley: School of Social Welfare

  â—¦  Guest Instructor, California State University San Jose: College of Education

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"Tatiana is a true wordsmith! She made huge improvements on my essay and I highly recommend her to others struggling through the application process."           - PhD candidate at University of Chicago 

"Your piece gives me chills every time..raw and powerful and mysterious! You say so much with so few wordsthe weight, beauty, and tension is held by all that remains eternally unspoken and unable to be repaired."        - Star Finch, Playwright & Playwriting Teacher

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