The Memoir Coach
Retreat Dates Change Yearly, Check back if you don't see the latest listed.
Discover connection with your inner essence and rediscover who are you are meant to be! Hello! Let me introduce myself! I am Tammy Coia and I have been leading group and private retreats for over 15 years.
I am a mom, a bubbe to 6 absolutely beautiful grandchildren, I am a daughter, sister, friend and a fierce protector of all things!
I have a gentle way of listening intuitively to things that need to be brought forward in your life. I use writing as a tool to bring about transformation and healing in your life.
Women from all ages and walks of life have experienced a renewed energy and feelings of clarity after attending a retreat with me.
Tammy's 2019, 2020, and now 2021 Retreats are Reviewed in
Author Susan Shain reviews 37 great retreats including TLC Writing Retreats with Tammy Coia in her article, “55 Incredible Writing Retreats to Attend in 2021“.
Meet the Memoir Coach Tammy L. Coia

“And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” ~ Anais Nin
Feel the warm atmosphere that Tammy has created in the beautiful area of Palm Desert, California.
Join author Tammy Coia for the journey of a lifetime!
Writers Retreat Testimonials
From the moment Tammy picked me up at the airport … it was so easy, the conversation, the way she made me feel welcome, safe. Then a home cooked dinner and a long peaceful night’s sleep.
We spent the next days, me sharing my stories and Tammy listening unconditionally and suggesting prompts that encouraged me to go deeper. I wrote and wrote- gaining clarity as I discovered and understood the complexities of my life. Tammy supported my process. She embraced ‘me being me’.
In Five days… I was transformed. I left with a lightness (of being). Not the same person I was when I arrived. It’s been almost a month now… and my transformation and lightness continue to evolve. They show in my writing and in the way I live my life. Thank you Tammy, I am grateful.

Wanted to tell you how much It meant, encouraging me to build on my thoughts of how "life's ironies" have contributed to my success in life. Your suggestions to build on this theme throughout my story, immediately released me to do exactly that.
Additionally, a piece I recently wrote concerning this and read to you because I wasn't sure where it belonged, you cleared the air and suggested it should be the final chapter, as it reflected my concluding thoughts, a summarizing statement acknowledging the empowerment of life's lessons ...

We strolled around the garden and we’d gotten as far as the front door of the Yellow Cottage, when she asked me, “So what have you heard from him?” – the subject or is he the object – of my memoir. And I knew I was in for a heart-to-heart girl talking time.
We curled up in the little front parlor with its fieldstone fireplace and Titian red walls (the paint job really was inspired by our host’s trip to Italy) and I was off. I just poured it all out – the sorry tale of me and the men in my life and finished a little embarrassed I had just told her all that – stuff I’d never told anyone. And I asked her, “So do you hear stories like mine a lot?” She said “All the time.”
So began a refresher course in myself in the careful hands of teacher, mentor, confidante, counselor, priestess Tammy. She just let the story of my life unfold while smoothly weaving it in with lectures on how to build memorable characters, how to use backstory, how to create an emotional response in the reader, how memoir is a healing process, and dotting those with writing exercises that teased the memory and plumbed the depths of my life in word plays. Then she’d disappear and scrounge up scrumptious one-pot meals. How’d she do that? We’d start pretty soon after breakfast and go all day and even into the later evening. She adapted herself to my circadian rhythm, giving me free rein to write as and when suited my timing . . .
