What’s it like to learn with AWC?

I wanted to kickstart my writing and felt that this 5-week course was a good way to start without overcommitting myself.

I was delighted with the course. For such a short course the amount of information and learning was quite extraordinary. The course exposed to me many of the traps, tools and techniques of writing that I hadn't been aware of.

I found Bernadette's feedback incredibly helpful. It was instructive and delivered in a really thoughtful manner.

It got me writing! the weekly assignments gave me a purpose and a deadline!

I have so much more awareness of what I need to be considering in my writing. I have a better understanding of POV, structure, character development etc.

This course is a great way to both kickstart your writing and learn more about the craft of writing.

A big thank you.

I've already thanked Bernadette Foley for her generosity and gentleness. I found myself eagerly looking forward to getting feedback from her. It felt personable and caring and was unfailingly spot-on.

I enjoyed the pacing, delivery and feedback. I suppose, for me, that all comes back to my tutor.

Any concerns I had were prior to enrolling for the course. Willingly exposing myself, my thoughts, and my creations to another's critical assessment was a bit challenging for the ego. However, I quickly discovered that I was in expert and very capable hands. Once I'd begun the course, all of those concerns disappeared. That's a testament to the design and delivery of your course.

The experience of being in the company of someone who so clearly cares about words. Hallelujah! I guess you can call that a profound experience? When you find just the right word, that's an 'aha!' moment. And when someone pin-points the word or sentence that you knew should have been written differently but were too lazy to change, that's also an 'aha!' moment. So, two 'aha!' moments for the price of one.

My online tutor was extremely helpful and thoughtful when giving feedback on my assignments and was engaged with us all during the course

I enjoyed all of it, to be honest.

It has empowered me to be able to continue with writing my novel

AWC courses are amazing, collaborative and supportive of all new writers.

I learnt a lot of technical skills which I really needed but, most importantly, I now feel confident about starting to write. I had zero confidence about starting to write and I have not really tried to learn anything new for a very long time so it was a big step for me.

I thought Bernadette knew what she was talking about. While being kind she was also constructive with her feedback.

I enjoyed writing the assignments and getting feedback.

I have started writing a book! I never thought I would do that. I am really enjoying being creative. My goal is to enjoy the process not necessarily to publish.

It is enjoyable. If you have no idea how to start creative writing this is just the thing.

Bernadette has been very generous with her feedback and her encouragements. With the kindness in her tone of voice I reckon you'd still love her and respect her even with the harshest of criticism! She also was very much to the point, brief and clear, which makes her feedback sound very professional and easy to grasp. I'm very grateful to have had Bernadette as a tutor.

It definitely has had some impact. I'll always remember doing this course, and I'm pretty sure I won't forget some of the tips and feedback I have received. Also it's boosted my confidence. I feel like it's helping me in giving myself permission to write. I just hope I don't lose momentum and manage to commit to keep writing.

It's a very informative, friendly, professional course and I reckon that most people would find something to their liking, it's a good use of your time and although the commitment isn't huge (3-4h a week, a reasonable price), it feels like it gives somewhat of a base (more like a trampoline, because I feel one could probably take off from here) to any type of writing. I recommend! I hope I keep writing. If I do, I'm pretty sure I will revisit some materials from the course. If I don't, I think I may sign up for another course to get another injection of motivation!

I have loved every minute of this course! I have been fuelled with so many useful resources to be able to start my journey as a writer. I can't wait to enrol in the next one!

I loved that it was online, relatively short, and self paced. I loved the opportunity to get feedback from the tutors and interact with other students.

Bernadette was great - really responsive to questions and helpful with her feedback.

I loved how each week's assignment instructions were different and we got to flex different writing muscles. It felt very structured, but there was also a lot of room for us to write what we wanted. I also loved the option to do Words at Dawn with Nat. Whilst I wasn't able to jump on as frequently as I would have liked, the times when I did join the session I absolutely loved it and benefitted a lot from it.

It has truly been drummed in that the number 1 reason I won't be published is because I haven't written my book. I know that if I'm disciplined and put in the work I CAN write a book and I CAN get published. A lot here is in my control, and I have this course to thank for showing me that!

This course is a lot of fun and you should do it regardless of your goals and simply for your love of writing!

I have always loved reading and writing and wanted to learn more about the craft of writing. I was intrigued as I have heard many good things about this particular course and thought it would be a great foundation to decide whether or not it would be within my reach to pursue the goal of becoming a published author myself.

I really appreciated the way Margaret was very honest in her approach to reading and critiquing our work. I found her feedback immensely useful and encouraging, and definitely feel that my writing has improved already. I enjoyed seeing her instant reaction to my work on her video feedback format. I thought that was a great, authentic way of showing the reaction of a reader to a piece of written work and it was exceptionally helpful.

I loved all of it. I would listen to the audio modules on my drive to work and read the handouts at night when the rest of the family were asleep. The flexibility of the course was great. I thoroughly enjoyed receiving feedback. I was definitely nervous to put myself and my work out there for others to read and critique at first, but towards the end felt very comfortable with it. I found myself very excited to hear Margaret's feedback which I found invaluable.

It has really encouraged me to pursue writing and given me a glimpse of hope that with effort and hard work, I may be able to publish a book myself one day.

Being new to learning the craft of writing, things like when to cut out 'filler' words has already helped me improve the impact of my writing. The 'aha' moment for me was realizing how much I was doing that, and how much of a difference it made when I became aware of it and edited those sections! The importance of setting was another one, as simple as it may seem, it didn't really occur to me how important setting the scene was to a story.

I truly believe it's a great first step to anyone who wants to begin to write professionally or to polish up their writing. Everything is explained so clearly and in depth in such a short amount of time. The feedback is invaluable and I know I'm a better writer for it.

Just a pleasure learning. I will enjoy enhancing my knowledge and experience as I do my next course

The tutor was excellent.

Learning about how stories are developed and the insight I have gained now allows me to look at movies/stories in a more informed mind. It has opened my eyes to what I can do.

I have recommended it. Broaden your mind... Looking forward to my next course.

The tutor was very clear, concise, motivating and affirming.

I enjoyed all of it!

I am determined to become a published author and to share my recovery story first as my memoir followed by a fiction novel about Family Violence. I have ideas for poetry and four other books. This course has helped spark my creativity.

I got even more from the course than I expected - the Pamela Freeman session was also a real bonus.

The tutor was very encouraging and supportive.

I enjoyed the pace and progress of the course and the practical writing assignments. Given me more confidence and a greater understanding of the writing process.

You will make real practical progress really quickly.

The content is fabulous. The fact that I can now go back and do some of the exercises at my own pace and have access for a year, is great! Love the handouts too, very helpful.

I enjoyed Valerie's beautiful voice! Modules are very well constructed. Pamela's weekly practical and honest feedback. And, the encouragement to keep going!! THANK YOU!

Feel so encouraged to carry on and put in the work now needed to complete my novel. Thank you, Pamela and Valerie.

If you want to write for fun or to get published, just give it a go. Start small if you need to with one of the seminars or jump into a course that interests you. You feel part of a community that cares and understands.

Just a big thank you for your encouragement.

I've always wanted to write and have been on platforms like Instagram and, recently, my blog. I'd never learnt the specific techniques though and wanted to gift this course to myself to learn more about the craft of writing.

The deadline for submissions is an excellent strategy to get some work done for feedback. I learnt so much more from that along with the modules of course.

Pamela was really good as our tutor and her feedback has been very helpful.

I enjoyed the opportunity to write within a certain construct especially the word count because I've always felt restricted with those things. I learnt how to work with them rather than hold myself back.

I've already noticed a shift in my writing. I have taken out 'feeling words' and use shorter and succinct sentences or phrases. A lot of things like names, scene building, point of views and character-specific issues have been very helpful tools.

Using our own interests and passion to give momentum to our writing was a great learning experience because somewhere along the line, I'd started to believe we need to write certain stories to be published. Thankfully that's changed for the better. I found the point of view lessons really interesting too.

If you love writing and want to give it a shot, definitely enrol in this course.

I just want to thank you again for creating this platform. I'm so glad I came across it and was able to give myself the opportunity to learn and enjoy the experience.

Absolutely blown away by this course and by how much I have learnt already.

Pamela was amazing and her feedback was outstanding. After taking her advice and going back over my work, I was so much happier with it. Incredible teacher.

I found it easy to submit assignments and interact with the teacher/classmates even though I'm on the other side of the world.

I've learnt so much from this course and have already applied my learnings to my first novel.

Outstanding course, highly recommend!

The tutor was lovely. Very encouraging. Gave some great tips. Loved the handouts.

I have more motivation and I have more writing tips under my belt.

I have already recommended the Centre because I follow them on Instagram and I am soo impressed about how many of their graduates get published!!!

Hopefully I will be one of those graduates 😊

I've enjoyed Margaret's positive attitude to our work, and how constructive the feedback has been.

Being able to interact with fellow students and give feedback to each other has been really inspiring. I hope we are able to keep encouraging each other along on our journeys.

It's reminded me that I do indeed have the time to write, and that I may even be able to make something of it in the future.

If you want to learn in a friendly, supportive environment, this is the place!

Great feedback and Nat was very natural delivering the positives first, the improvements and end with a positive or two.

I understood the lectures which helped the assignments speak to me. This gave me the confidence to go on with writing.

An aha moment for me was that the redrafting over and over was not a confirmation that I was bad at writing, but each one another opportunity to make the story better.

I loved the course and learned so much about writing structure.

Nat's feedback was fair and constructive. She made me think of alternative ways to write the same words to improve the story line.

There was enough time each week to address the online lectures and do the assignments.

I would say this is a very informative, practical and useful course for any aspiring writer. The course has given me confidence that 'I can write'.

I really wanted to push myself into writing again after a very long time away. I enjoyed the assignments and the opportunity to workshop.

Nat was fantastic and I really valued not only her feedback but her Words at Dawn sessions as well.

It has given me a sense of confidence to write again.

I found Nat Newman authentic and approachable.

I enjoyed learning and realising that I could in fact write. It has ignited my creative desires and changed the way that I now read and watch movies/shows.

Pamela provided excellent feedback. She was very balanced and always made sure she gave you strong recommendations for how to improve while also highlighting what you did well. I feel all her suggestions helped improve my writing, even in the short 5 weeks.

I enjoyed the weekly deadlines and seeing what everyone wrote and how they approached the assignments differently.

I feel that it helped me make connections between what I thought I needed to write a book vs what I actually need. It helped explain ways to bring out your writing in subtle ways that don't require huge change but help bring the writing to life. Basically, just the way it broke down the writing process and made me feel it was more achievable than I did before.

It's an easy course, assignments are light and fun (not HUGE assignments), the groups are encouraging, the feedback is valuable, and it really helps motivate you if you've always wanted to write that book!