What’s it like to learn with AWC?

The information was incredibly helpful and not too detailed or overwhelming. It was nicely paced and structured.

Honestly, the world of publishing seemed too big and scary with no clear start points or directions... it was nice to know which steps to take and in what order before reaching out to publishers.

Kate approaches life and her writing from a different perspective. She adds that touch of fairyland, pixieland, elves and all things of another dimension. She is enthusiastic, dedicated and wants other writers to have joy in their work.

I enjoyed the beautiful graphics; the descriptions of other writers and poets and their lives; the way our writing works in the different parts of the brain; and doing the memory and secret writing exercises each week. The course demanded a certain amount of commitment without creating guilt if you couldn't keep up every exercise every day. Kate was encouraging and listened carefully to some of the writers who needed help.

I recommend AWC to EVERY friend and several completed courses with you and went on to write books.

At almost eighty I am taking a more relaxed approach to life and Kate's Dare to Dream was the perfect dash of fairy medicine I needed. Thank you Kate and thank you AWC.

Bernadette is a wonderful lecturer. The time she takes to give us feedback on all our assignments is priceless and she genuinely has a love for what she does which is infectious! The assignments were so useful.

I want to be a copywriter, and not just a copywriter, a GREAT one at that. I feel like it's possible after doing this course.

DO IT! If you love writing just do some AWC courses to be inspired!

I think your course is brilliant and it has opened up an opportunity I would like to pursue. I have never really written anything in my life and I have always wanted to do this. It has only taken me about 20 years to work up the courage to have a go. So thanks.

Have a go. You haven't got the free time, but you will make it and you will have a lot of fun.

I was not expecting the depth of information. The subject matter covered is really impressive.

The tutor was professional and super experienced. I enjoyed Bernadette's tutoring style – conversational, easy to digest the information and her guidance throughout the course was logical.

The course provided me with a lot more confidence to progress my love for writing and not put it off any longer.

If you've ever wanted to improve how you shape and sharpen your content, this is a great course to start with.

I knew a bit going in, but this course took my understanding of romance writing to a whole new level. What I enjoyed most was how vast the romance genre is! You can explore until your creative heart is content.

It made me look at my writing, and what kind of story I want to write, in a new light. I've been confining myself (and my story) to a box and now I feel free to explore in different ways.

I think this course is great for people wanting a greater understanding of the romance genre. DO IT! Your writing will never be the same again.

This is actually one of the best and most relevant courses I've ever completed. Often you leave a writing course feeling a little underwhelmed, but I can't say enough about this course or Bernadette. I've now started listening to her podcast - also really informative and engaging.

I've worked in corporate communications for 20 years but never once considered that I write copy. I'm looking to change pace next year and wanted to learn more specifically about copywriting and gain confidence to back myself - and to be honest, see if I really had been writing copy all that time!

I had no hesitation about enrolling, and was really excited, but I was also nervous about whether my experience in corporate writing was enough. Imposter syndrome is most definitely real!

This course has been brilliant - so practical, informative, and engaging. I'm really glad I found and decided to enrol. I've loved listening to Bernadette's insights, practical tips, brilliant advice and constructive feedback. Thank you, Bernadette. You've given me the boost I needed to get started on my freelance career.

The entire course has been really enjoyable, but I've really loved the tools and resources which have helped support the practical learning. It's all been fantastic. I'm about to enrol in two more AWC short courses!

Margaret was excellent in offering constructive advice and feedback. I feel very encouraged by her comments on my work.

It's just so meaty! I feel like I'll be digesting the info for weeks (months?). It covers far more, and in more detail, than I was expecting.

I'm feeling more encouraged and confident in my writing than ever before. It no longer feels like the road to publication is something only other people can do.

Margaret was absolutely lovely. Her feedback was always positive and constructive.

I loved the assignments, actually. The prompts made me think outside of the box and I loved reading what the other students submitted too.

Now I know how to go about my creative writing. Sure, I can just sit and write but now I know how to construct a scene and build and get to know my characters.

The AWC is a great place to learn what you want to know about writing without doing a full-on tertiary degree. You get the right education and support for your work.

Vivienne is a great teacher. Not every expert knows how to share their knowledge, but Vivienne used explicit examples to scaffold our learning.

Although the concept of homework was a shock at first, it was a great opportunity to apply our new learning at each step. Vivienne's feedback was detailed and supportive.

My 'aha' moment was that it's okay to feel passionate about your opinion piece subject matter. I'm far more aware of how to structure an opinion piece.

It was so full of information and it is an amazing feeling that I have learnt enough even at this foundation level to be able to go out and pitch and write stories.

I really feel that at 49 years of age, having worked so many years in education as an administrator, I can finally within five weeks begin the transition to writing and perhaps even doing this full time. I cannot imagine what a change this would be to my life to have a flexible, creative, career where I actually get to think and not just assist someone day in and day out. I feel I can begin turning my dream into reality. I mentioned in the group chat that I envied Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City... now I feel I might be able to be like her. I admired many writers for International Flow magazine and I can see myself now writing like them. Thank you.

Within 5 weeks, you could learn and develop the skill to actually change your life and live your dream.

How I write my dialogue has improved greatly which was the goal, but there were a couple of tidbits in the course that have really helped: know your characters, don't be embarrassed by making a dialogue scene 'more' and finally just keep writing without worrying about redrafting until the first draft is complete.

Dialogue isn't all about speaking, but everything that goes around it. I now have tools to play with when writing dialogue.

I found Suzanne gave incredibly useful feedback in a manner which allowed me to improve my writing and move forward in my quest to become a published picture book author. My knowledge of many aspects of children's picture book writing has increased beyond measure.

If you would like to increase your knowledge on the skills needed to become a children's picture book writer, then this is the course for you!

Bernadette was encouraging and a wealth of knowledge. Somehow, she answered my questions before I even asked them.

I have applied my newly found knowledge directly to my emerging business.

I was very impressed with the content and how much we got through in a short time.

Vivienne was generous on all fronts, on Zoom, in the content, sharing herself, and in her feedback and comments. Very organized, handled the time well. We were in good and capable hands.

Vivienne's ability to present, inform and encourage was amazing. Just superb.

Learning things completely new to me was refreshing. Meeting and learning from others in the group was also enjoyable - so many lovely personalities with so many passions.

I was impressed by the structure of the course and the range of materials, authors referenced and links provided. Valerie Khoo's instructions were practical and realistic about the multimedia world children and YA are living in today. Hearing what publishers are looking for was invaluable.

Bernadette is an excellent presenter. She has a very warm, encouraging presence, and she is a master of giving constructive feedback without any judgement. She's clearly very knowledgeable and very generous with this knowledge. I'd look to do a course with her again.

I found the online platform very well explained and very easy to navigate. The content was very well laid out and well presented. I liked the mix of pre-recorded and live feedback - the latter is definitely what makes the course worthwhile.

I was doing the Copywriting Essentials course and enjoying it, so figured if I was serious about moving into this industry I needed to gain business knowledge as well.

Bernadette is an outstanding teacher - she is generous with her industry knowledge and cuts through to the nuts and bolts of what you really need to know. Suits my practical nature.

Lots of practical, useful advice to get started and build a business, and wonderful advice on mindset. I think I'll have that presentation on replay quite a bit over the next few months.

I would say it's excellent value for money and you are learning from people who have successful, real-world experience in the field.

I got a lot out of this course. I tried out a lot of the new techniques (e.g. I wrote one scene in 6 different voices) and used the templates to help me figure out more about my characters and structure my work. I also valued the feedback I got and was surprised what I learned when commenting on others' work.

I like that Pamela chats with us in the comments section, and for my synopsis I very much appreciated the feedback on my work. I'm looking forward to further comments tomorrow.

I enjoyed reading other people's stories and meeting like-minded people.

If you're stuck creatively and want some direction, go here.