What’s it like to learn with AWC?

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 :)

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.

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.

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 had used Scrivener previously but found I struggled with the functionality so knew I needed direction from an expert. I liked that I had access for a year so I could do the course when I was ready.

Natasha is a great tutor and clearly knows her stuff when it comes to Scrivener (and writing)!

I enjoyed the fact that it was geared towards writers. I tried to use it for an academic project previously and did not enjoy it until I could see how it worked for me creatively.

I can see the corkboard explanation will be valuable for me as I write in a messy way. Natasha showed how I can do that and then organise afterwards.

AWC has writing courses and writing tools that cut through to the nitty-gritty of actually doing the writing.

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.

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 love and write Picture Books and have for several years. I have seen this course offered many times, but 2020 finally made me bite the bullet and spend the money needed to do the course.

Zanni was lovely. She was gentle, upbeat and positive, but was still able to highlight areas in our manuscripts and pitches which needed attention, making suggestions as to how to improve these, where appropriate. We learned from each other’s work.

I loved seeing and hearing what other writers were writing and having our work used to illustrate improvements we could all make. I found the online format extremely beneficial as I did not have to retain copious amounts of information. I could return repeatedly to sift for more PB writing gold and take as many notes as I liked because I could stop and start the audio and video as often as I needed, without having to use half my mind to hear what was coming next, so as not to miss anything important.

It was sooo detailed and well set out; easy to follow, too.

I enjoyed the clear and precise delivery of the course from Linda. I am going to finish all of my unfinished manuscripts and hopefully self-publish!

I enjoyed the encouragement and inspiration to have full control by self-publishing.

Absolutely do it! Such a fantastic centre to be a part of and learn through.

I enjoyed listening to the audio and completing the exercises.

It made me look at the little synchronicities within my story and cause and effect. The effect of an event on a character and then that effect to other characters and the tumbling effect onwards.

Excellent, practical and easy to follow content from experienced tutors. Always giving you many different approaches to problematic pitfalls.

I found the tutor very, very friendly, helpful and encouraging.

I enjoyed doing the assignments and getting the feedback on them.

The lectures were crammed full of information. There was a lot to take in. There is heaps and heaps of information that the course provides. In fact, all but one of the lectures took me literally hours to listen to as I would need to keep pausing to take notes. Thus, the course was exhausting, but worth it.

Thanks for providing such an informative course with such a friendly, encouraging tutor.

Cathie is an excellent tutor. Her feedback is always clear and to the point. She's not afraid to say when something isn't working. She is excellent at answering questions promptly and with lots of detail and infographics. I felt in safe hands with her.

I enjoyed the camaraderie amongst the group and the chance to read and feedback on other people's work.

I feel I now have a handle on the structure of a novel. My innate knowledge gleaned from years as a reader is solidified with a concrete understanding of the building blocks of structure, POV, characterisation, use of the senses, creating a setting and writing good dialogue. Whereas with this manuscript I have been feeling my way, I feel confident about getting into the next one.

A major learning for me has been using limited third person POV effectively. I had to figure out how to tell a story without head hopping and it's strengthened my manuscript immeasurably.

The AWC provides quality content through professional tutors in an easily accessible way.

Pamela was a great tutor and provided a lot of insights.

I enjoyed getting feedback on my assignments - although daunting and nerve-wracking, it was really helpful for me to see where my strengths and weaknesses were.

The course helped me to see the children's books industry in a way I've never seen before, and removed my misconceptions.

I would say it is very informative, teachers are very helpful and the workshopping is invaluable.

Bronwyn is an accomplished author and editor. I've downloaded her feedback for everyone in the course because there's a lot to learn from her in-depth observations. She gave comprehensive, insightful and incredibly useful feedback that will inform the rest of my novel. Thanks, Bronwyn.

I enjoyed Bronwyn's feedback and the online chat where some interesting topics were raised. Also, everyone's different points of view/opinions and some good reading recommendations.

It gave me the kick up the bum I needed to get started, yet again, on this story that has been knocking around in my head for a long time. I also received encouraging feedback from most of the group members, which is motivating as I have very little confidence in my writing. It's nice to know fellow writers liked my work (or at least I think they did!)

I would say, go for it. The course content is good, and I like the balance between the notes and the audio. It is also a bonus to have access to the course for 12 months after completion - I had to rush through it and I still haven't listened to module 8 and some bits of the other modules. Also, our tutor Bronwyn Parry was incredibly professional.

Overall the course was enjoyable. The participants were from all over the place and from all walks of life, which kept the chats lively. Their work was accomplished too. There's a lot of talent out there!

Lesley Gibbes is a great presenter with heartfelt belief in her topic which is then passed on to course recipients.

I enjoyed the enthusiasm within each module.

This is my second course and I have felt supported in my learning. I think I have found my genre.