What’s it like to learn with AWC?

I have wild ideas every day. The course has provided a great outlet and enabled me to put those ideas into a format. Really appreciate it. Thank you! The course provided an opportunity to put ideas into motion.

The tutor was excellent. The honesty was very much appreciated. I had one dud week, and I knew it. Always constructive. When praise was in order, Zanni provided it. Very appreciative. Honesty is the key here. So thank you.

I enjoyed exploring ideas and getting them out of my head. Having a great laugh along the way!!

The course was awesome - get onto it! The more the merrier. You will be supported and really get to the grit of learning.

After a lot of thought in 2020, I had committed to studying Journalism in 2021 - then the fees were released. After being deflated and shocked by the 133% increase in fees, I began looking for other options. I quickly came across the AWC online and decided to begin in November 2020.

I was surprised at the level of detail shared, and felt it was all very valuable and well set out.

I have enjoyed the comments Cat has provided, and her feedback has helped me rework some ideas. I enjoyed learning about writing profiles, and receiving industry insights from Valerie.

I feel more confident to write for publications and I am more inspired to continue courses like this instead of university.

I'd say that it's a comprehensive, professional and affordable way of harnessing skills in communication to assist in many areas of business. It's not just for freelancers. Thank you.

I enjoyed this course and the feedback. I think it’s the right length too, and the requirement to complete an assignment each week works very well for me and to maintain a discipline of 'doing'.

It was very informative and covered everything from the structure of books to the potential earnings and practicalities of getting published. I also found the links to societies of writers super helpful.

I wrote two stories! Amazing indeed.

There is a lot of information packed into a short and punchy schedule. Easily understood and well structured. I'll be signing up for another course soon!

I’ve wanted to be a writer since childhood but never knew where to start. I liked the idea of having a structured course and lessons with other participants who were also learning with me. The online component worked well, especially with the current Covid-19 concerns. I also liked not having to make a set time to attend - I could make it fit my schedule each week.

I was quite nervous about putting anything up for review or comment by anyone else, especially never having done any kind of writing course before. However, both the tutor and other participants were really encouraging but also gave specific feedback and suggestions which were quite helpful.

I was surprised by how much more I got out of the course by reading everyone else’s pieces and giving them feedback, as well as the expected feedback on my pieces. I also found it helped to see the feedback others gave each other.

I thought Pamela was great; she didn’t focus on tiny little spelling or grammar issues so much at the beginning until later on, which I thought was quite helpful. It encouraged myself and possibly other nervous newbies to gain confidence and just keep writing. I felt that was a good way to learn and gain experience. I appreciated Pamela still giving her time and feedback when I sometimes didn’t hit the exact brief of the assignment (eg. myself and some others struggled with the word count limit). I think this was important for new writers in a beginners-type course to help encourage them and grow.

I liked being given a set task to complete, or a scenario to describe, as this really helped me to just start writing. Having a deadline each week pushed me to submit something at least. I was very nervous initially getting feedback but found I really enjoyed it, both the positive and negative, probably as I stayed open to learning and taking it all on board. Also, we didn’t need to write a whole complete story, it was just a short scene or description, so there was less pressure which I liked.

It gave me a craving to write more regularly which is great, and I feel I’ve learnt so much just from these few weeks of assignments and feedback. I wish I’d done a writing course much earlier - I’ve already signed up for another one and given a voucher to my Mum for her to start her writing journey too :-)

If you’ve always wanted to write but never thought you could, this is a great way to jump in and learn great skills and gain confidence. Especially if you think you’re a complete novice, but I think it’s also for anyone who’s written or done courses before but are stuck. I’d also recommend being quite active, reading everyone pieces and giving feedback, and pushing yourself just to get something in by each deadline. I couldn’t wait to get feedback and it helped encourage me and gave me confidence to keep writing.

I had completed a couple of self-paced AWC courses and felt they'd really improved my writing and knowledge of how to write a novel. They also got me started on writing my first chapter. I thought this course would be great to get me started more seriously on my manuscript.

I really enjoyed having Bron as our tutor. She was an astute commentator on our work and tailored her feedback to each of our pieces and styles. She also combined positive and encouraging feedback with more critical feedback to enable revisions. She was very generous with her time and I had a separate conversation with her about a dilemma I was having in writing true crime/memoir where she gave me some very useful tips and, most of all, encouragement to continue writing this story.

I enjoyed the workshopping component- both by the students and tutor. It really opened my eyes to some of the flaws in my writing and gave me concrete ideas on how to revise it. Workshopping others' stories and reading others' comments gave me the skills to critically appraise a piece of writing. It also made me aware that some feedback is subjective or inappropriate and needs to be evaluated by the writer with respect to overall intention and instinct. Judgement on what to change and what to keep is a skill I will need to keep honing!

I now have over 10,000 words written and I have a draft structure with an idea of my POV characters that feels right for me at the moment. Starting to write seriously has also thrown up a whole lot of ethical and legal questions on writing true crime/memoir about people that are still alive. It has shown me how important it is to read widely in this genre to understand where the boundaries lie between fiction and non-fiction. My goal over the next few months is to saturate myself in creative non-fiction writers and techniques, while continuing to write my first draft. I have also enrolled in the creative non-fiction self-paced AWC course.

It's an amazing course, especially if writing fiction, that will set you up with the skills, discipline and community to begin your manuscript.

I guess the most important thing for me, which surprised me, was that the course didn't attempt to give me a formula for how to write. Rather, it gave common sense general parameters and the encouragement to write in my own style and then relevant feedback.

The tutor was first class; very direct at times, but encouraging, which is the best style for this sort of endeavour.

It’s a funny thing to say but I found I just loved writing and the course forced me to write and not to be afraid.

I have had a story in my head for twenty years and now I'm confident it will be written. I have enrolled in the Write Your Novel course.

The section on creating an editorial plan got me excited about turning my writing into a business. It gave me the 'how-to' structure my time and planning.

I have all the information I need now to start creating my blog. There are no excuses anymore!

AWC has a wide range of relevant courses that are affordable, with strong content that will give you everything you need to start your writing business.

I went into the course with no expectations really but I have come out with a direction on where I want to go. I was umming and ahhing about freelance writing and blogging and whether they were for me but this course opened up various aspects of freelance writing I hadn't considered and that I am very interested in.

I enjoyed hearing from people who had worked through AWC courses and how they were applying these to their lives - what work they have secured because of the courses.

I have a direction in freelance writing that I had not previously considered and, when I develop my knowledge in those areas, that will allow me to reduce my work hours in my day time job.

If you are considering writing as a career option or a way for extra income or a hobby, then you won't regret doing one of these courses. They are very informative and will open up avenues you haven't even considered.

I would say that the course is great in providing practical, up to date information on not only writing feature articles, but the business side of becoming a freelance writer.

I recently sent my first pitch to Essential Baby. I followed the instructions on the module on following up and I'm happy to say they published my article. This would not have happened if I hadn't have done the course.

Thank you, Valerie and Sue!

I have an interest in copywriting and looking at shifting into the area to supplement my income. I have completed various courses with the AWC and know they are great. Our tutor had a very solid background in this area so there was no doubt it would be worthwhile.

Our online tutor was excellent. We had great constructive feedback on all assignments, as well as additional tips and tricks and valuable handouts and information to move forward in this area. Greatly appreciated.

I enjoyed all of it, but I would say applying what we had covered in lessons to the assignments was really rewarding. Then getting the feedback on those was great.

It has made me realise that I am capable of taking up a path in Copywriting after completing this course, and just need to get out there and do it.

I thought that the feedback that Bronwyn gave was excellent. She was very thorough and constructive and went into great detail too with lots of good suggestions.

It was great to see the way that other people write. Our "stories" were all so varied. There was never one that was the same, so it was interesting to read genres that I would not normally read.

Creative writing is a passion of mine and I've always been interested in learning to write for young children. The course overview seemed very comprehensive and exactly what I was interested in learning. I work in environmental education and one of my 2021 projects is to develop two digital picture story books about conservation issues in Victoria. This course seemed like a fabulous starting point to learn more about the structure of picture story books and to practice writing :)

Zanni is very approachable and provides such thoughtful and constructive feedback. She made me feel very comfortable presenting assignments, having a go and trying again. It was a good experience being able to listen to an expert in the field :)

I enjoyed seeing how different everyone's writing style/topics were and being able to learn from each other in the feedback sessions. I also thought it was pretty cool that you could see a massive difference in your writing when you compared week 1 to week 5 assignment responses!

It really opened up my eyes to all the different ways you can write for children! Participating in this course has given me the confidence to continue writing and possibly even pursue writing for children in the future. It's also been great to feel a part of a community of writers :)

Australian Writers' Centre is a wonderfully supportive community that not only improved my understanding of writing for children, but made me feel comfortable to practice and present my work for feedback. My course provided me with real life examples, great advice/knowledge and a new network of like-minded people :)

Thank you Zanni for all your advice, tips and tricks for writing engaging stories. You're such an approachable tutor and your feedback was so thoughtful. Thank you for making the course so much fun :)

Bernadette is a true professional. She gives expert advice which really sticks with you - not only in the clear content she delivers, but also in her friendly, conversational tone. Her modules don't feel like stiff lectures at all, which I found really engaging and refreshing.

The downloadable audio format was great. I'm an auditory learner, so this suited me perfectly and really allowed me to get a lot out of the course. It also allowed me to listen to the modules any time - from train journeys to treadmill sessions - which was really convenient.

I've learnt to let go of the university essayist in me and be less "precious" about my writing. I now don't get so attached to what I write and I no longer feel the need to impress readers with big words and complex language. I've learnt that less is sometimes more and that plain English is more impressive than verbose academic English.

I'm looking forward to doing the Content Writing Course next and continuing to improve my writing skills.

I have had trouble with the correct use of commas, colons and semi-colons, and wanted a quick refresher course.

I learned far more than I expected. Or to put that another way, I didn't know as much about punctuation, grammar and tenses as I thought I did.

This is an ideal course for those who need to brush up on their use of punctuation; especially in the use of commas and the correct way to punctuate dialogue.

The course is informative, well-structured and provides the tools for you to write your picture book. I enjoyed learning throughout the course. At the start of my picture book journey, I would never have believed how much work goes into creating a picture book.

Thank you for creating the Masterclass course. The information I have learnt is valuable and provides me with the tools to create my picture book.

I liked hearing how the other authors manage to balance their jobs and families while finding time to write. It made me change my thinking and realise I am not the only busy person who wants to write. It made me examine my own time and strategies that would work for me.

I am actually writing again. My husband has overheard parts and I think he fully understands his role in helping this to happen!

If you 're having trouble getting started writing, take this course!

I had purchased this course some time ago but never got around to viewing it! However, now I have some projects that I want to start, I felt it was the best time.

Natasha was fantastic! She made it so easy to follow. I really enjoyed how she explained the different features of Scrivener and showed how they work using examples from her own projects.

This course is brilliant! In two hours, I learned so much. I am really inspired to use Scrivener for my writing projects in 2021.

I was attracted to this course because it has an experienced journalist as course presenter.

I enjoyed the friendly, knowledgeable presenter and the easy-to-understand modules.

The course gave lots of templates and examples of different media release types.

I love the Australian Writers’ Centre's self-paced courses.

I wanted to do this course to give myself a kick up the butt and write more. I just needed advice and some helpful tools to assist me as I have a busy and stressful job and family life.

I really enjoyed the course. I now have more words on more pages and am working on something I'm enjoying. I now write almost every day, whether it is 200 words or a couple of paragraphs or a page, I can do it. I've also managed to find time in a busy day to fit writing in.

One major learning moment was using tools I already have access to (Google suite) but tweaking their use. And how successful people overcame challenges similar to mine. It was inspiring to know I'm not alone.

I thought Bernadette was wonderful; her commentary was supportive, measured and extremely insightful. I appreciated her humour and how authentic the whole course was!

I enjoyed the practical aspects with current resources threaded throughout the modules.

I'd never considered this style of writing till now - after reading the reviews and doing the course - it's a real possibility.

I really liked all the resources that were provided - but again Bernadette was so easy to listen to - great presentations.

The AWC is a very comprehensive, professional organisation that provides you with so many potential opportunities - should you wish to take them.