What’s it like to learn with AWC?

I had the idea to write a picture book for 5 years and thought I'd finally learn how to do it!

I really liked Cathie. She was very encouraging in her feedback and I appreciated how detailed it was. I also appreciated that she was very patient.

I enjoyed the assignments and that there were lots of opportunities to actually write the short stories. It was really well done, and I definitely know 1000% more than I did before about writing picture books.

It was really helpful in setting the foundations on how to write a picture book. I liked that I could do 20-30 minutes every day and feel accomplished, it wasn't a whole heap thrown at once, and you're not thrown into the deep end.

I feel like I can actually start writing my children's book!

I wanted a place to start, after years of not writing. This course was motivational.

I realised that after all my false starts, I can actually do this.

I'd say that the Australian Writers' Centre has a course for almost anyone who wants to start writing, and I wouldn't look anywhere else.

The course was so informative and challenging. It really got me thinking and I learned a lot through the writing drafts and feedback received

Cathie was great! I loved her directness when providing feedback. She was encouraging but also good at explaining areas for improvement or consideration.

I loved writing the stories and the anticipation of Cathie's feedback. Gaining a broader understanding of the rules of writing was invaluable.

This is a broadly informative and positive course. A great place to start on understanding the requirements of writing, especially when considering publishing. This course has helped me cut through my procrastination and shift into action.

The exercises and handouts are great. I appreciate and take onboard Cathie's professional feedback. I like that she is upfront and thorough.

I enjoyed having a go at writing my stories and then receiving feedback.

The course is well structured. Not too long or too short and it covers quite a lot. It has made me feel more confident in my writing and more determined to succeed.

The course was an avenue for me to extend my creativity and fit perfectly in to my schedule at the moment. I like that it is run by highly accredited tutors.

Cathy was encouraging but also very honest in her feedback. It is clear she is a master of her craft and I valued all the feedback she gave me.

I joined this course for my own enjoyment and development, but now have aspirations to one day actually publish a picture book.

If you have ever had an interest in writing a picture book, this course is a great way to not only develop your writing skills but also to gain insight in to how to present it to publishers.

I love that I have become energised from doing this course and keen to keep writing. The teaching modules are so helpful. I am very grateful for the opportunity to do the course.

Nat was great! Very constructive and positive in her feedback, and always offered suggestions of things to try out to improve our writing. Conversational and self-disclosing at times made us feel we were all part of one big family.

I most enjoyed listening to the modules and getting the gist of each week's writing task, along with the satisfaction of submitting something at the end of each week. Experiencing the odd moment when a line or phrase just flowed during the writing task was pretty special too!

It's inspired me to write a memoir about my life which is providing a whole new focus for this time in my life (I'm 76).

If you want to learn the craft of writing in a short course, this course is excellent.

I enjoyed it all. Nat was excellent, very thorough on her feedback and relatable.

The course encouraged me to keep going and that I was on the right track.

If you are thinking of finding your voice this is a great starting point.

I wanted to learn some of the intricacies of writing. I want to tell my story. Regardless of whether it would ever be published, I felt it would help me to make sense of my crazy life. Initially, I was concerned about the expense, but the price is actually very reasonable. And in hindsight, so worth it! I wondered about the online lessons but the tutorials and honest feedback have been amazing.

Nat is amazing. Warm, smart, funny, insightful and incredibly helpful. Thanks, Nat!

Valerie's lesson package is very engaging. I enjoyed the process of attempting to embed the techniques and strategies into my writing.

The course has given me the impetus to start taking my writing more seriously. And to strive to find better ways of expressing myself. Thank you for helping me get started.

I feel more confident with the characters I have created. I also have more techniques to make them more interesting and unique.

I would say it is very worthwhile.

Every course I have completed with AWC has been a revelation. I am 78 years old, a retired administrator with approx 60 years of experience and known in all my workplaces as the 'expert' on writing and knowledge of grammar, punctuation and spelling. You'd be surprised at the number of senior male managers I worked for who couldn't spell and relied on me to correct their correspondence. Despite this, I found that writing corporate speak and creative writing are very different. My courses at AWC are filling the gaps between these two worlds.

Every tutor I have had has been professional, helpful, friendly and encouraging. All the feedback from all of them has been clear, correct and very useful. I have changed my work in progress accordingly and I can see the improvements.

Like many retirees will tell you, I am so busy that I now wonder how I had time to work. Being able to access a classroom without having to leave home and still get the same learning experience is absolutely the best incentive for me to keep learning.

Don't hesitate. You will have a wonderful, uplifting experience.

I thought the course was sooooo good! I really liked the structure and delivery. As I have some experience with writing and getting published, I still felt the course was relevant and practical for me.

I loved Carli Ratcliff's delivery and her expertise and experience were so relevant and interesting - and helpful. I thought she was really generous and looked forward to the sessions.

I've pitched the idea we've been working on during the course already! And have some more 'foodie' ideas forming. I feel a lot more confident about writing on food and have some resources to help.

I've done a few AWC courses now and they've always been really practical and helpful. I keep using what I've learnt in previous courses and referring to resources.

Thank you for putting out these courses and supporting writers!

I'm thrilled to have ended up with a starting chapter. It's made me more confident in my ability to actually produce words!

Nat was fantastic, lovely sense of humour, very honest and helpful feedback and lots of tips and links for things like tenses and grammar.

The course has given me confidence in my imagination and ability.

I was impressed with the rigour and thorough delivery of each module. The amount of resources offered was extensive and the writing tasks covered the depth and breadth of the genre.

I really appreciated the practical nature of the course, including samples from reports/forms/ statements which were used as springboards for the great writing tasks.

The course was delivered in an engaging way and was very practical and hands-on. The self-pacing approach is a real winner as you can revisit topics of discussion and revise sections after periods of time between sessions.

I really enjoyed the practical advice on tenses, signposting, and making sure that the focus of the flashback/memory is always on what the reader needs to know at that moment in the story.

I have greater clarity on how to write flashbacks and memories, as well as when they should and perhaps shouldn't be used. Also useful to have further information on some of the pitfalls of prologues (if not used well).

In addition to the helpful information on flashbacks, memories and dual timelines, I found Pamela's definition of entertainment in storytelling useful: the evocation of emotion and intellect.

Go ahead. The courses are well structured and practical.

Thank you. This was a very useful course.

So much information, resources and easy to follow. The whole process from crime to jail.

Great value, easy learning. Just do it.

I really enjoyed the course, in particular, I found the videoed feedback of all the written submissions from Nat Newman really worthwhile. I'd like to have a glass of wine with her one day - maybe when I'm published!

The AWC courses on Historical Fiction and Memoir Writing are really worthwhile doing if you want to have a go writing in these genres.

I felt my dialogue was too clunky and I need to learn techniques to improve it.

I now have the understanding and language to explain the choices I made when I wrote my manuscript. The course confirmed things that I got right and also confirmed my suspicions of things I got wrong. Then the course gave me techniques to address weaknesses in my manuscript.

It was fun, motivating and very useful.

Nat was generous with her feedback to the group each week. She had a lot of relevant experience to share which she did freely. Much appreciated.

I loved the structured process we were taken through. It was an interesting journey.

I have committed to writing - something I have wanted to do forever.

As someone who works 9-5 during the week, I appreciated the self-paced learning style of the course. I found it accessible and easy to complete. Being able to do one module a day to complete the course over the space of a week helped me get it done without feeling overwhelmed. Valerie was also an excellent presenter. Very informative, supportive and I could tell she meant every word of what she was saying given her own reinvention as a writer!

I've been working as a lawyer for the past 10 years so contemplating a drastic career change is a bit daunting. However, doing this course made me realise that I don't have to blow up my life completely in order to take action towards becoming a writer. I can take small baby steps and run my own race, which is very reassuring.

I am motivated now to start writing and to look at engaging in other AWC writing courses to explore the types of writing that I might be interested in pursuing.

In order to be a writer, you need to write! Writing isn't just a matter of waiting for inspiration and creativity to hit. You learn to write by developing the necessary skills and tools in the same way you would for any other career. It sounds obvious, but very true!

I would tell anyone who is interested in writing to go for it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The content was very good and will propel my writing further. Pamela was an excellent teacher.

It's made me see how I can really make my writing much better and richer and what I was not doing until now.