Teaching

As a published author, experienced editor, and passionate creative writing teacher, I offer inspiring programs for writers and illustrators of all ages and experience levels. Whether you’re looking for a one-hour webinar, a two-hour interactive workshop, a full-day intensive, or a multi-session course, I can create an engaging learning experience tailored to your audience.
I also offer specialized programs for young writers, schools, libraries, and community groups, as well as creative workshops for birthday parties and other special celebrations.

From in-person and virtual school visits to hands-on workshops at conferences and retreats across the United States and the Netherlands, the possibilities are endless. Every session is designed to spark creativity, build confidence, and leave participants inspired to keep creating.

All workshops and courses are available in both English and Dutch.

Prefer a shorter format? Every workshop can also be adapted into an engaging one- or two-hour webinar.

A SELECTION OF LONGER COURSES

[Mina] approached memoir from a unique standpoint that I had not heard before, and that made a lot of sense to me and created a lot of progress in my writing skills. – an OLLI participant

Crafting the “I” in Memoir – A Six-week course for memoir writers

In memoir, the “I” on the page is never just the person who lived the story—it is also the character who tells it.

This course explores how to shape that narrative “I” with the same craft tools used in fiction: voice, characterization, scene building, and emotional arc. You’ll learn how to step back from lived experience and shape it into compelling narrative art—one that feels honest, layered, and alive on the page. Through guided readings, discussion, and writing exercises, you’ll develop a stronger sense of how to write yourself as both narrator and protagonist.

For in-class conversation and inspiration, I regularly invite guest memoirists in this course. For the UC Berkeley’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute guest memoirists were Dorothy Lazard (What You Don’t Know Will Make a Whole New World) and Adam Hochschild (Half the Way Home: A Memoir of Father and Son).

Mina is exceptionally well organized with engaging and highly educational PowerPoint presentations generating materials we can save and refer to later on. Her preparation was stellar. She added to the depth of the program by bringing in two published authors to speak. – an OLLI participant

Weaving Stories Along the Silk Route – A Six-week BEGINNERS course

This imaginative introduction to creative writing takes inspiration from the Silk Route—a path of exchange, discovery, and storytelling across cultures.

Each week, you’ll experiment with different forms of writing, including poetry, short prose, travel writing, columns, and blog-style reflections. Along the way, you’ll be introduced to the essentials of storytelling: structure, character creation, tension, voice, and revision. This course is designed as a creative journey—inviting you to explore multiple genres while building a strong foundation in the craft of writing.

Writing Young Adult Novels – Six-week advanced course

Young Adult fiction demands honesty, urgency, and emotional depth—and this course is designed to help you bring all three to the page.

We will focus on the core elements of writing compelling YA fiction: identifying conflict and inciting incidents, shaping narrative structure, building memorable and believable characters, and developing a strong, distinctive narrative voice. Through targeted writing exercises and craft discussions, you will deepen your understanding of how tension and pacing drive a novel forward, while refining your own work-in-progress or developing new material.

IllustWriter – A Six-week course on writing picture books

This course is designed for illustrators who want to tell their own stories—and for writers who want to deepen their understanding of picture book craft.

We explore what makes a picture book work from the inside out: how text and image interact, how to shape stories for young readers, and how to build characters, rhythm, tension, and narrative structure within a limited space. Through practical exercises and guided feedback, you will develop your ability to create picture book manuscripts that are both visually and narratively compelling.

A SELECTION OF SHORTER WORKSHOPS AND WEBINARS

Fictionalize Your Memories – a three-hour workshop

Some of the most powerful stories begin close to home.

In this workshop, you’ll learn how to draw from your own memories to create emotionally rich, believable fiction that allows readers to step fully into your protagonist’s world. One of the greatest challenges in this process is finding the right distance: how do you transform real experiences into story without becoming trapped by “that’s not how it happened”?
Through guided exercises and practical techniques, you’ll discover how to shape personal memories into compelling narrative material—infusing your writing with authenticity, while freeing it from the constraints of literal truth.

Aristotle’s Cat – A Three-hour workshop

Your characters are vivid, your voice is strong, your prose is polished… and yet something still feels off. Somewhere along the way, the plot slipped out of focus. Every story, whether a gentle picture book or a bold young adult novel, needs a solid structural foundation. Without it, even the most beautiful writing can begin to wobble.

In this hands-on workshop, we explore what makes a plot work. Using two different theories of story structure, we’ll break down how narrative tension is built and sustained. Reading and writing exercises will help you reconnect with the engine of your story and strengthen its overall design.

“Thank you again for the fantastic plotting workshop you led for SCBWI … Using the methods you shared, I’m finding new connections in my current manuscript.” –Colleen Riordan

Aristotle’s Cat – Going Deep – Daylong intensive for writers with a full draft

This intensive is designed for writers ready to dive beneath the surface of a completed manuscript. Together, we will examine your story’s structure in detail: identifying key plot points, mapping narrative beats, and uncovering potential gaps or inconsistencies. Through discussion and targeted feedback, you’ll gain clarity on how to strengthen your story’s spine and elevate it into a compelling, page-turning read.

IllustWriter – A Three-hour workshop for picture book creators

You are an illustrator with a distinctive visual voice—now you want to bring stories to life on the page.

This workshop explores what it takes to translate visual talent into a fully realized picture book. We’ll look at age categories, character development, narrative tension, worldview, and the essential elements of story structure and plot. Whether you aim to illustrate and write your own books or deepen your understanding of picture book storytelling, this session will help you bridge image and narrative with confidence.

The Hero’s Journey – A Two-hour workshop for TEENS AND TWEENS

Stories are everywhere—but what makes them work?

In this engaging workshop, participants explore storytelling through the lens of twelve key stages of The Hero’s Journey. Together, we’ll uncover how stories are built and why certain patterns resonate across cultures and generations. After this interactive exploration, participants will embark on their own creative journey, using guided writing exercises to begin crafting their own story inspired by the structure they’ve just discovered.

Crafting Characters through the Enneagram – A Three-hour Workshop

Great characters feel real because they are layered, complex, and driven by recognizable human patterns.

In this workshop, we use the Enneagram—a system of nine personality types—to explore what shapes human behavior. We’ll look at core motivations, emotional patterns, strengths, and fears, and translate these insights into multidimensional characters. The result: richer, more believable people on the page who surprise both writer and reader.

Energize Your Prose – ATwo-hour Workshop

Your story works. Your structure holds. Your characters shine. Now it’s time to refine the language itself.

This practical revision-focused workshop helps you strengthen your prose at the sentence level. We’ll tackle common challenges such as information dumps, weak phrasing, and overly long sentences, while exploring ways to bring energy, precision, and rhythm into your writing.

The goal: to turn a solid draft into a compelling, engaging read that keeps readers turning pages.

CONTACT:

Dutch schools, international schools, and libraries based in the Netherlands can contact me through De Schrijverscentrale. Schools in the US, as well as writers looking for a mentor, may contact me through the contact form below.