Welcome to The Dream Side

We are friends and writers who want to enter the act of creation from the dream side. Our dream is a collaboration that allows us to teach, learn, and grow together. We want to share with you the ideas, strategies, and approaches that have deepened our own writing practices, while providing opportunities to foster artistic friendships of your own. More than a writing course, The Dream Side offers a new entry into your writing practice, and encourages living creative communities. We want to invite you into the wilderness of creation and share with you the resources that will allow you to play fearlessly there. 

We offer retreats and courses, both in-person and online, that create a protected space for you to take risks and generate new work, revitalize, nurture, and deepen your creative life, and help you become the writer you dream of being. 

You may be an experienced writer. You may have only begun to explore this side of yourself. You might be somewhere in between. See you on The Dream Side. 

Beliefs and Principles

We believe that there are as many ways to create a meaningful piece of writing as there are writers themselves. We believe that craft exists to give shape to the wildness of our dreaming. We believe that the act of writing is the act of paying attention: it is not trivial, but joyously essential. We believe that we work best entangled in the world and embedded in community. We prioritize curiosity, openness, and kindness. We practice generosity toward ourselves and others. We believe exercising our imaginations is necessary for societal change. And we are guided by playfulness and pleasure. Dreaming is hard, fun work. 

Our teaching philosophy is inspired by June Jordan's Poetry for the People, Ruth Asawa’s community art engagements, Liz Lerman's “Critical Response Process,” and our own experiences as working artists and perennial students. Our offerings are unique, exploratory events that aim to inspire connection to yourself, one another, and the wider world.