BUILD WRITERS

WHO DON'T

NEED YOU

I give research mentors a method for teaching scientific writing, so their mentees become strong, independent writers.

If you mentor graduate students or postdocs, you know the pattern. The science is sound, but turning it into a convincing paper is the hardest part to teach, so you end up writing the paper yourself.

A convincing paper rests on three decisions: what the paper claims, why that claim matters, and which evidence backs it up. Reaching those decisions takes careful thinking. Most mentors learned that thinking slowly, by writing paper after paper until the decisions came on their own. Once the thinking becomes automatic, it's hard to notice, and that makes it hard to teach. That's why they teach the way they were taught: show a mentee a strong paper, talk through the decisions behind it, and hope the thinking sinks in. But a mentee sees the finished paper, never the moves that built it, and can't reproduce what they can't see.

My method changes that. I break the thinking into steps a mentee can follow, and I give you the examples and language to teach each one. The moves a mentee used to catch by luck become steps you can show. The thinking stays just as deep. What changes is that it now transfers to every mentee, not only the ones who would have reached the decisions anyway. Once your mentees can reach those decisions themselves, the writing comes from them, not from you.

The steps take the thinking a mentee can't see and lay it out in order, each decision building on the last. From the first decision, the paper's central claim, the mentee works toward a single, convincing argument. Each step is one decision, with the reasoning behind it made visible, so the mentee decides instead of guesses.

Building that argument is one kind of decision. Putting it on the page is another, and the steps cover both. A strong argument gets a paper past review, but even a strong argument can be lost in the writing. Technical writing is easy to mistake for clear writing, and a paper dense enough will lose even the specialists it was written for. The mentee learns to write so the argument comes through: to readers in the field, who can then check the technical content, and to readers outside it, who can see why the paper matters even where the details are beyond them. Written that way, a paper doesn't just get published. It gets read, and it gets cited.

What the steps do

Ways to work together

Both are built on the same method. The difference is whether you learn to teach it on your own, or with me beside you.

The Book

The whole method, in thirteen modules, from the paper's central claim to the cover letter that gets the paper past an editor. Each module walks your mentee through the steps and hands you what you need to teach them: the assignment, a worked example, and the language for feedback that lands instead of stings. Nothing to design, nothing to invent. You open the module and teach. Work through it at your own pace, and your mentee comes out able to write the next paper without you.

The Book With Coaching

The book puts the method in your hands. Coaching is where I make sure it sticks. I've led a funded research lab since 2013, and I'm a certified coach. I know how to write work that gets funded, and how to teach someone else to do the same. With me alongside you, you learn to see what your mentee can't yet: where the argument slips, why a draft won't come together, which feedback will actually move it. I catch it, then I show you how to catch it
yourself.

‍ ‍Format - Twelve weeks, for you and up to three mentees, working on your real manuscripts.

‍ ‍Meetings- Six sessions along the way, to work the steps and refine the argument.

You bring the questions the steps raise, and I help you teach the thinking behind them. By the end, you can guide the next mentee without me, the same way your mentees learn to write without you.

Preview Contents

Coming in 2027!

  • Working one-on-one with Tanya was genuinely transformative for me as a professional and leader. She helped me process rejection in a way that was constructive rather than draining, and guided me through clear, realistic goal setting that actually led to meaningful progress. Together, we crafted a detailed, actionable plan for achieving a very important professional goal, and her structured yet flexible approach made the process feel both manageable and empowering. Beyond goal achievement, Tanya provided helped me navigate the transition into a new role, dealing effectively with difficult people, and strengthening my executive presence and communication. One of the most impactful aspects of our work was learning to recognize the difference between a growth response and a survival response, a shift that fundamentally changed how I show up in challenging situations. Tanya’s coaching is thoughtful, grounded, and deeply effective; I came away more confident, more strategic, and better equipped to lead with clarity and creativity.

    Ana M. Ortega-Villa
    Associate Director of Biostatistics
    Biogen

  • I enjoyed your coaching so much! You are so thoughtful, caring and super fun! Your curious questions and comments during the session are excellent, and these stay with me in the following days and months, allowing me to reflect more deeply. Thank you so much!

    Daniela Sotres-Alvarez
    Professor
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  • Tanya has been a wonderful steadying force for me during a very difficult time for public health scientists. During our time together, she has helped me navigate the loss and destabilization of much of my federal funding portfolio. Without her coaching, I would have rushed into a range of activities and commitments that I would likely have regretted. I appreciate her calm, measured approach to career development--she asks great questions and provides thoughtful guidance and redirection. I'm incredibly grateful for our work together.

    Erika Sabbath
    Associate Professor
    Boston College

  • Working with Tanya has been truly transformative as I define the next chapter of my life. Transitioning away from a demanding corporate career toward paths that offer true financial and operational freedom has been a major shift, and Tanya has been an exceptional partner throughout the process. She is not only an incredible listener but also possesses a unique ability to ask the kind of incisive questions that challenge old assumptions and limiting beliefs. Her guidance has helped me shed patterns that no longer serve my future, which has been absolutely invaluable. Thank you, Tanya, for your support!

    Kathleen

  • Tanya's book and coaching on “Mentoring Scientific Writers” helped me design a whole course for our graduate students on manuscript writing. Her method is the most actionable one I've come across for working with students. It taught us how to organize our manuscript around core questions: what problem in the field we are trying to solve, what our work contributes to solving it, and what impact it'll have for the broader community. It also taught me how to help my students write more clearly, with cleaner flow and less jargon. After working with Tanya, my own writing became more focused and my thinking became clearer, which made it easier to give my students the kind of feedback that actually helps them grow. Since using her approach, my students have gotten noticeably more independent as writers, and I've gained a lot more confidence as a teacher. I can't recommend working with Tanya enough!

    Jennifer Simkin
    Assistant Professor
    University of Kentucky

  • Working with Tanya changed how I think before I write. She helped me clarify my ideas so that my papers could carry a real narrative thread instead of just a list of results. I feel much more confident in my ability to write convincing statistical methodology papers. One technique that stuck with me: how to reframe drawbacks as forward-looking opportunities rather than backward-looking doubts, without sacrificing honesty.

    Rajan Shankar
    PhD Candidate
    The University of Sydney

  • Tanya is an amazing coach - she is warm, perceptive and empathetic and she brings all of this wonderful energy to her sessions. She is a keen student of the human mind and also inspires with her creative flare which she adds to her coaching style. I highly recommend her.

    Beenish

  • Tanya’s coaching is heartfelt and welcoming while being objective and focused. She has helped me think about my challenges in ways I can independently move forward with more confidence and joy. Her encouragement and belief in my abilities has made all the difference.

    Pear U

  • Five years ago I came to Tanya straight out of undergrad with limited writing experience but with a lot of motivation. What helped me grow most during my time with her was that she always treated me as a colleague, and that treatment gave me the confidence to believe my ideas were important. During our time working together, Tanya and I developed what we jokingly called "sparring sessions": we both knew we were on the same team (she was my PhD advisor), but we'd push back on each other's ideas until we landed on the most correct one. That dynamic is what taught me to think and write like a scientist, not just do what I was told. The other thing that sets Tanya apart is that she never says no to an idea. Instead she asks when you have time to sit down and write out a solid-detailed plan to make it happen. She goes hard for the details (no joke), and those granular steps have turned my half-cooked ideas into a PhD in Biostatistics, publications and papers under review at International Statistical Review and Statistics in Medicine, two major funded grants (an R01 administrative supplement and a Johns Hopkins Provost's postdoctoral fellowship), and an invitation to submit a full proposal to the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Tanya didn't just mentor me through a PhD. She showed me, through five years of sparring and planning, what it looks like to do great and exciting science, and to lead people at the same time.

    Jesus Vazquez
    Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Tanya brings a powerful combination of patience, kindness, and genuine care to her coaching. Unlike much of the coaching world, her approach is rooted in evidence and scientific rigor, making her guidance both thoughtful and practical. Most inspiring of all, she leads by example, actively pursuing her own goals with courage and integrity. Do yourself a favor and book a session with Tanya!

    Lina

  • Working with Tanya has had a transformative influence on the writing and thinking process of one of my PhD students. In developing a recent paper, she helped him plan and structure his ideas, sharpen the central message, improve the clarity of the writing, and decide what to emphasise. Her guidance ranged from high-level framing to careful feedback on individual sentences, delivered with warmth, enthusiasm and genuine respect for his ideas. The final paper was substantially stronger as a result, but the greater benefit has been the development of a more thoughtful, deliberate and confident researcher. I was particularly impressed by Tanya’s approach to AI. She teaches researchers to use AI tools ethically and practically to clarify their ideas, test the logic of an argument and communicate their work more effectively. Tanya combines an excellent understanding of academic writing with a supportive coaching style that strengthens both the work and the researcher.

    Garth Tarr
    Associate Professor