What’s it like to learn with AWC?

I wanted to know if I was on the right path with the formation of my book. I now have the tools I need. The path has been cleared so that I can weave my tale and bring my story to life.

Clear concise communication with wonderful examples. Very enjoyable course.

Mark was kind and informative in his feedback videos. He always focused on the positives and sandwiched any constructive feedback.

I enjoyed completing the assignments and listening to the assignment feedback - it was a good opportunity to test the waters and learn the basics.

It is an easy, pleasant course that doesn't require much of your time (for me, approx. 3 hours per week). The assignments are very small, manageable and well explained, so nothing felt overwhelming. It has opened a door for me to explore copywriting as a career / side job.

Like all the other courses I've done, it's great. I like that it's in smaller chunks, making it easier to contemplate and absorb, and then apply to my writing.

I enjoyed the actionable aspects. i.e. colour-coding the elements of scenes, matching scenes to story questions by colouring. My manuscript is a WIP but I'm listing my scenes to check on variety. When I come to my second edit, I'll be colour-coding elements in scenes for the trickier ones.

Great courses! Very practical.

I enjoyed learning about insights into internal obstacles within characters and how these can be used to drive the plot. It has given me some fresh angles to ponder.

Definitely give it a shot; the AWC offers so many different ways to explore writing techniques.

The tutor was very nice and knowledgeable. She gave very honest and constructive criticism to help us improve.

The course has given me the confidence to continue writing and hopefully publish a novel/story one day.

If you want to be around a group of amazing supportive people while improving on your writing skills, definitely come do a course here!

Thank you so much Jennifer and to all the Australian Writers' Centre team!

I have been dabbling in creative writing for the last year or so and wanted to take the next steps in my writing journey. This seemed like the perfect jumping-off point!

I put it off for a while because of my own personal worries. I didn't think I'd have enough time in the week to commit to the work, but this is exactly what I needed! I loved that I could do the materials at my own pace, and I loved the extra exercises and handouts, information I will definitely be able to take with me.

Jennifer was lovely and warm, very insightful and provided some wonderful comments and extremely helpful feedback.

In every lesson, I learned something new. A new writing term or a style of writing I hadn't heard before. I've been writing largely in fanfiction with characters that already exist, so even just reframing my thinking around characters is a game-changer.

I had such a great time! Now I'm trying to work out which course I want to do next!

If you are looking to kickstart your writing journey, this is the place to do it.

I enjoyed learning so much in such a short time. Before the course I'd started writing a book. The course has helped me understand where my writing was deficient.

It's brilliant.

I enjoyed understanding what is involved in self-publishing. Gaining so much knowledge is priceless.

Loved it. Tutor was great. The feedback was relevant.

I enjoyed creating the characters in my mind using the techniques I've learned.

I am really excited to go on with my next novel. I know how to make my story believable and interesting. I hope!!!!

A great tool to help you learn how to write.

I love the way Pamela explains things to us and doesn't expect that we are stupid, and her explanations are clear and simple and hit the mark for me.

I have had a story idea for about ten years now in my head. I don't know how many times I have started and thrown out what I want to say. After doing some of the courses over the last few years, I now have a book of ideas which is getting larger by the week and I have shelved writing the story until I have completed all the courses I want to do. I am learning so much from Pamela and now want to wait so I can just sit and write without thinking, 'oh how do I do that' as I will already have the tools there and can just write, write, write until the first draft is complete.

Awesome. Just do it!

I love writing and I wanted to improve my writing and gain new skills which I can use in more stories.

I really liked my online tutor. She made the audio lessons fun and gave a lot of tips and advice to writing that I hadn't known. I really enjoyed working on character developments and learning more about how publishing works.

I feel like I now look at writing and planning my stories in a whole new way and have learnt so much in how to improve my writing.

This course has re-inspired me to want to become a writer in the future and has motivated me because now I have some tools and techniques to help me. Thank you!

AWC have great writing courses that you can do anytime you like and learn so much more about writing.

Nat is a very engaging presenter, which is also fun for her adult audience.

I now have ideas for presentations and a better understanding of expectations and potential pitfalls.

This is a great course with lots of information, fun, and easy to follow along with. Very useful.

The documents and resources I now have to keep for ongoing reference are high quality. I felt as if Kate was talking directly to me and never did she say that her way was the only way to plan and plot.

The way Kate distilled her lifetime's experience of writing stories into a comprehensible structure was invaluable.

Kate provided a way to sort out what I am doing with my story. Rather than having a vague idea, I can now use her experience to make sense of how to organise my projects. Not knowing how to start was always a problem for me. You can use a logical approach to organising a project without losing the creativity of writing a story.

Thoroughly professionally presented and organised course. The Centre's technology was easy to use and made working through the modules simple.

I've pretty much pivoted in my job. I have been in marketing for years, but I do a bit of everything. I wanted to focus on the writing. This course has helped me do that.

So much useful and practical advice. I completed most of the course a while back. However, I hadn't completed the final module. I wish I had. I've been working in copywriting now for a few months, and I wish I'd listened to the advice about pricing and presenting the work to the client before now. Would have come in handy.

Great practical courses, and good value for money.

This course has blown the roof off my head. Just amazing. Big thanks to literally everyone involved. And I mean literally everyone - from Valerie Khoo and her easy-to-listen-to, articulate voice, to Cathie's feedback, to the accountant who processes the pays for people in charge of keeping the website bug-free, to the people who designed the website, to the people who managed to make an online course so interesting (including encouraging students to talk to each other)... just everyone. The whole course was so impressive.

Cathie is amazing. Her feedback was so good and really helped me understand the material I'd been learning. Having this feedback made all the difference between reading information / listening to the audios thinking "ah yep, I get it" and then being like, "ohh I hadn't actually got it at all, but now I know why." I just appreciated this feedback a LOT. So much so that I wish Cathie lived up the street from me and would pop in for a cup of tea and offer to read my manuscripts and give me feedback every week for free. I'd give her biscuits in return. Sometimes homemade, but more often than not probably Arnott's Monte Carlos. They just dunk better in a hot drink.

I liked having encouraging classmates. I liked Cathie's feedback. I liked the handouts. I liked having a list of children's picture books recommended to me. Do I really have to pick one thing, or can I just say that I found it all enjoyable? Imma go with 'all of it' as my final answer to what I found most enjoyable.

The only time I didn't find it enjoyable was when my preschooler had to stay home one day and every time I tried to listen to an audio he'd ask for a snack, or interrupt to show me the tower he built, or tell me that he needed to poo... but I think all of that was out of AWC's hands, and so we're back to my 'most enjoyable part of the course' being 'all of it.'

I'd previously spent a lot of time googling information about how to write a children's picture book. I knew it was 32 pages, I knew some other stuff, so I really wasn't sure what else I'd learn. I knew that there was a lot I didn't know, but hoo-boi was there A LOT I didn't know. ALL of the information in the course was fascinating, mind blowing, and interesting. It was all new information for me. I seriously cannot wrap my head around how deceptively simple picture books are. The information in the course, and the way it was presented, just scratched an itch I'd almost become numb to.

I did a course with AWC, and it was AMAZING. It was so good. Go and do a course with them. I mean you literally will not regret it. It will be impossible to regret it. Just enrol. The quality of both course and content is incredible. It is superior. Thank me later.

I enjoyed the simplicity of the course, the logical format, and that the lessons can be saved for future reference.

I've already edited my short stories and flash fiction pieces! I can now send them out with confidence that I have the basics right.

Go for it: school was a long time ago! Absolutely nothing to lose.

I enjoyed all aspects of the course, particularly the different options available as a writer. Excellent starting point, if thinking about becoming a writer. Course delivery was clear, concise and logical and delivered with integrity.

I needed a refresher on my grammar and punctuation. I understood the basics (that much I knew), but I always felt I was missing the confidence behind my words. This course helped with that. I now have a greater understanding of why we use certain punctuation that we do, which is immensely helpful for someone who wants to pursue writing and/or editing for their career.

The course boosted my confidence to continue writing the draft for my first book. It reaffirmed my choice in past tense - I often worried that it was a mistake and learning that most fiction is written in past tense sets your mind at ease. It was even interesting to learn that writers in present tense could move up and down depending on whether it was a memory or flashback.

If you are struggling with your writing and need a comfortable place to improve your skills, then joining the AWC community would be the place to do it.

The resources that were offered were excellent and helped alleviate a lot of the stress about how to present my work should I decide to go through the traditional publishing method. At the moment I am considering self-publishing but I will consider traditional publishing as well. I now feel I have the tools to do so.

I enjoyed how the course was delivered. The recordings were supported by the downloads with examples, and I could do parts of the course and come back to it with the right mindset. The information was clear and the terminology used for a new writer was excellent.

I have the self-belief now to continue writing and to know that I have access to people who have the knowledge and experience to help me progress my writing.

For anyone interested in writing, I would suggest to undertake the course to have a solid foundation of knowledge and experience to guide you. I was resistant to doing a course initially because I was nervous about not being good enough or that the course would be laborious and that I wouldn't enjoy it - that I wasn't skilled enough to do it and that I wouldn't cope with the feedback. I was wrong! I would encourage my friends to do this course.

The course helped to reaffirm that the creative/fiction area is exactly where I want to be, and has also opened the idea/possibility of linking my extensive knowledge, skills, and experience in Early Childhood Education with a writing career. Mainly through freelance feature writing for childhood development/parenting websites and magazines.

I enjoyed the case studies. It's so inspiring to see and hear from people who had regular day jobs and turned their passion for writing into their day job. And they've done it from all walks of life at different stages of their life. It highlighted the notion that it's never too late to make the change. There is literally no boat to miss unless one does not apply themselves.

Invest in yourself and go for it; there is nothing to lose and so much to gain.