“To discipline something, in the proper sense of the word, does not mean to repress it, but to train it – to encourage it to grow, and act, and be fruitful, whether it is a peach tree or a human mind.”
Ursula Le Guin
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"Talk Story" Consultations
​and Coaching 

Talk story is a method I use to help writers discover and to deepen their stories and to overcome blocks. It's a simple, effective, and collaborative process that combines storytelling and deep listening and is useful at any time in the writing process. Sometimes, to hear your story clearly, you must be heard.  Writers schedule these sessions as needed. 

Developmental Coaching  is for writers who need personalized editorial support throughout the writing process. I help you conceptualize and clarify your artistic approach, identify your audience, and strengthen the dramatic structure of a story, be it long or short form, fiction or nonfiction. Each writer also receives developmental and structural editing on excerpts of their work and on guided writing exercises. The frequency of these sessions depends on the needs of the writer, but are typically monthly or bimonthly. ​

A limited number of coaching sessions are available each month. Please contact me here or at maryvolmer(at)gmail.com to inquire or to schedule a free consultation.

Query Letter Coaching is for anyone preparing to submit to a literary agent or editor. I help you craft, refine, and edit your query letters so that they are irresistible to potential editors and agents.

Seminar Style Discussion Classes for Serious Readers ​

A series of facilitated discussion courses for anyone who craves the chance to read diverse and compelling texts and then to converse deeply on the ideas, philosophies, and cultural assumptions inherent within. This is not a lecture course. Your instructors - long-time faculty members of the renowned Collegiate Seminar Program at Saint Mary's College of California - will facilitate honest, open, and respectful discussions on a wide array of topics and texts. Never mind consensus or resounding agreement. Our goal is to gain a greater, more expansive and generous understanding of history, of ourselves as human beings, and of the living and nonliving world of which we are part.  

Click HERE to discover upcoming classes and to propose topics for study and discussion.   
This community welcomes people of all races, religions, genders, ethnicities, and economic circumstance.  And, yes, all genres! 


This community welcomes people of all races, religions, genders, ethnicities, and economic circumstance.  (And, yes, all genres!) ​
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Maker, Mentor, Muse was founded in 2022 by Mary Volmer, Maw Shein Win, and Dawn Angelicca Barcelona. Hailing from three distinct cultural backgrounds, generations, and spiritual traditions, we believe community is essential to building a satisfying and sustainable literary life, and that true success requires balancing all three roles: maker, mentor, muse. We are building a place where artists embrace practices that honor process, spiritual growth, collaboration, and community. Join us this April for our first course offerings. Inquire here. 

Small Seed, Big Harvest
led by Elizabeth Costello
Sunday, February 9th - 4pm-5:30pm PDT
Zoom Is there an image or an idea that comes to you when you ask yourself "What is the story of my family?" Perhaps there is an object, a fragment of cloth, a tchotchke on the mantel, a line in a letter that you found in a drawer. A gift that was given when you were a child that you have been unable to part with. Such objects or images or even ideas have tremendous power for you, they might be a kind of chorus in the song of yourself that you are always singing, consciously or unconsciously. So how can they serve you in your work as a writer? How can you share that power? In this salon, we’ll work together to turn the small potent things that mean so much to us into plotlines or throughlines for stories and poems (or songs or dances or...). Let’s get together and make a big batch of soup from these symbolic soup starters! Price for this salon is on a sliding scale: $15-$45.  RSVP HERE: bit.ly/smallseeds

Remember to use the code winter50 to receive 50% off any ticket for this upcoming salon!