My tutor has been excellent: wise, astute and generous in his support and encouragement of us all. He also gave us the wonderful gift of a precise set of tools with which to proceed. The whole experience has been very instructive.

The course is really well thought out and I found it incredibly stimulating to have to consider the different genres. I loved having to read things I would not have ever considered and feel it has really helped me to extend my writing. Thanks to my tutor for so many constructive and encouraging comments. I…

Without doing this course, I wouldn’t have the idea for a crime novel, so this is interesting territory for me (as was the sci-fi, which may also continue in stages over a longer time). I’m going to continue this crime novel now while finishing the first draft of my historical novel, which was the original…

Thank you Heidi so very, very much for all your support and feedback during the course. I really appreciate you critiquing my work and also giving recommendations on how to proceed and improve my couple’s story. The course has been great. I’ve enjoyed it.

I found the range of people enrolled on the course created an environment filled with all sorts of skills, levels and genres, which created a brilliant forum of critique. From the first post, I felt accepted in the group and happy to share my work.

I have really enjoyed the course and working with the group. In particular Heidi’s input to the course exceeded my expectations — it’s been a great opportunity to learn from someone who really is an expert in the genre.

I wanted to improve my online business presence, including social media to increase interest and also for online sales — plus I’m starting a new strand of my business and wanted to go into this with the right tone for a new market.

Being shown examples of marketing writing, and reasons why some are good and some are bad — this made the descriptions and tasks much more relevant. Having a systematic approach to really working out what I’m striving towards — learning how I can improve my writing skills and thinking more about the context of what…

The discipline of writing something every week, then having other people read it and give their thoughts has helped me to become a better editor of my own stories.

Well it was quite terrifying showing other people my work – that’s a first for me. But the feedback I received was really helpful. It was as useful being able to see the comments on other people’s work. That’s a great learning tool. I feel much more confident about my writing now.

I’d never thought about the importance of point of view or narrative voice before starting this course. It’s been a bit of a revelation if I’m honest.

The Short Story course materials and structure would be difficult to better. Most importantly, the quality of Mark’s evaluation and feedback on the work submitted has been both encouraging and almost forensically helpful. He unfailingly provided useful guidance on how to work through problematic areas and did a great job of encouraging peer feedback. I…