Amanda Willimott was working in marketing, a job she enjoyed but saw as just that – a job, not a career. Her true passion lay in writing, but she wasn’t sure where to start. After discovering the Australian Writers' Centre, Amanda went on to complete ten courses over eight years, and ultimately became a published author.

Amanda's debut novel Winter of the Wolf has now been published by Penguin Random House.

“I'd always hoped I would become a published author one day, but I never dreamed it would actually happen! It felt so far out of my reach and about as likely as me wanting to grow up and become a unicorn,” Amanda told us.

Bridging the knowledge gap

Amanda had long harboured a dream to write, but felt she lacked the necessary skills and knowledge. “Although I did go to university, I studied anthropology and history, not creative writing or literature. I'd been a voracious reader my entire life, but I didn't know how to write,” Amanda says.

That's when she decided to invest in herself and her writing dream. She started by completing History, Mystery and Magic followed by nine more courses. “AWC has a wide variety of courses, so I was able to pick and choose which courses best suited my needs at the time,” Amanda explains. She found the self-paced courses particularly useful, allowing her to listen to lessons and complete exercises at her own pace.

“The information was practical and easy to follow. It explained both what you needed to do and why you needed to do it, which really helped it stick,” Amanda says. “Because I had tried and failed to write an entire book so many times in the past, I knew this time I needed to do something different. I decided to play to my strengths. In my day job, I’m known for my organisation and structure – and my passionate love of spreadsheets. The first thing I did was create a plan. I already knew that I wanted to write a historical fiction novel, and I set a target word count of 100,000 words. I set aside a chunk of time to research my book, relying on books, journal articles, maps, artwork, anything I could get my hands on.”

After completing the research and plotting her novel, Amanda created a writing routine – 500 words on a weekday and 2,000 words on Saturday and Sunday – and followed it until she reached her goal. “When I reached the end and hit those 100,000 words, I printed out a copy of my manuscript to celebrate! And then I completed the AWC Cut, Shape, Polish course and self-edited my book. I spent six months doing my own structural and copy edits and proofreading. After that, I sent the manuscript to two friends for their feedback.”

A new way of life

Amanda's debut novel, Winter of the Wolf, is inspired by a real werewolf trial in 16th century France. “It blends history with paranormal and feminist themes and has a moving queer romance at its core,” Amanda explains. “Set in a time when women’s lives were not their own, and to be different was to be suspect, Winter of the Wolf is a sweeping tale of family secrets, betrayal and the abuse of power, the redeeming power of friendship, and finding your true home.”

The journey to publication was not without its challenges. Amanda faced numerous rejections but persevered, even completing a mentorship to improve her manuscript's structure. 

Her hard work paid off when Penguin Random House Australia accepted her novel for publication.

Now, writing forms an integral part of Amanda's life. “I work full-time as a communications specialist for an international disability charity. I'm lucky that I can work from home, which means that the time I would normally spend commuting I can instead spend writing,” she says. “I needed to make writing a part of my everyday routine, so that it would become absorbed into the regular rhythm of my life.”

Amanda credits the Australian Writers' Centre for her success. “The AWC courses literally taught me how to write! With every course I took I gained not only knowledge but also confidence in my own ability. I was learning and growing as a writer. There's no doubt in my mind that if it wasn't for the courses I took through the AWC I would not be a published author today.”

Courses completed at AWC:

• Plotting and Planning
• Fiction Essentials: Characters
• Fiction Essentials: Scenes
• Fiction Essentials: Structure
• Build Your Author Platform
• Inside Publishing
• Cut, Shape, Polish
• Historical Fiction
• Creative Writing Stage 1
• History, Mystery and Magic

“Becoming a published author was always in the back of my mind, but it was a dream which seemed out of my reach. AWC has helped me so much to gain confidence to write stories that are worthy of publication. My dream has now come true,” Brigitte told us.

Investing in herself

Brigitte had long harboured a dream to write and had even started a few manuscripts, but was unsure about plotting, characterisation and point of view.

“The lack of training and insight into what potentially creates a great story was frustrating. That is when I decided to look for a creative writing course. I came across Australian Writers’ Centre,” Brigitte says. “It was just what I had been looking for. Affordable, online and enough time to complete the course. The rest is history and I have now completed nine courses with the AWC.”

Brigitte found the combination of audio recordings and written notes was comprehensive and user friendly. Being online meant she could complete the work in her own time, while the feedback from tutors was supportive and helpful.

“Doing the courses made me realise that writing was very important to me. I finally felt confident putting words on paper and creating engaging stories. I love the challenge of finding inspiration and then turning an idea into a manuscript. It involves patience and a lot of problem solving. I now sleep with a notepad next to the bed, because I do a lot of my plotting and thinking at night.”

The realisation of a dream

Brigitte’s debut picture book, Wanda Needs a Haircut, was inspired by her three-year-old grandson.

“He was quite afraid of having his hair cut and it was a real challenge for any hairdresser to go anywhere near his hair. Haircuts are a challenge for many young children. I decided to write a funny and relaxed story about this and show children that haircuts are not so bad after all.

“Wanda is a sweet little witch whose hair just keeps growing because she thinks a haircut will hurt. Hattie, her hat, is getting worried that she won’t fit on Wanda’s head anymore. Luckily Hattie comes up with a great idea to have Wanda’s locks snipped.”

Brigitte has now retired and moved with her husband to a small country town, and writing forms a major part of her life.

“I start with an idea, an inspiration, a ‘what if’ thought. I just write down random thoughts, characters, settings, etc. From that I start writing my first draft. It may take four or five drafts before I am happy with my manuscript. When my final draft is complete, I start writing a blurb, a synopsis, a letter to publishers. Researching publishers is important, as not all publishers publish all types of books. I thoroughly read their submission guidelines and follow these to the letter.

“Everything I learned in the AWC courses finally paid off. It inspired me to write more and more and I am loving it.”

Courses completed at AWC:

• Your Author Website
• Fiction Mentorship
• Novel Writing Essentials
• Writing Children's Novels
• Writing Chapter Books for 6-9 year olds
• Writing Picture Books
• 2 Hours to Scrivener Power
• Anatomy of a Crime: How to Write About Murder
• Creative Writing Stage 1

“I wish I could tell my ten-year-old self that this would happen. I had always wanted to be an author, but as I skidded into my 50s, I began to worry that it was a bit of a pipe dream,” Troy told us.

The course that helped him fix the story

When Troy realised the middle of his first draft wasn’t working, he knew he needed help.

“I liked the setup and act one, and the last quarter, but I felt like there wasn’t enough tension or momentum in the middle section. It was like I was treading water, holding back until the big events of act three. As I was writing detective fiction, I needed to keep the story going, pursuing different suspects, cranking up the tension, while obfuscating the identity of the true villain until the big reveal,” Troy says.

When he looked at the AWC courses he was particularly drawn to FOCUS ON… The Second Act with Pamela Freeman.

“It was the course’s subtitle that really grabbed me: ‘How to avoid the saggy middle and write a page-turning story'. A saggy middle was exactly what I had, so I knew this was the right course for me.”

Troy found the clarity of how structure works and the various elements and how they come together very helpful.

“I specifically remember finally understanding how a ‘pinch point’ could change a characters' beliefs and be a stepping stone to move them forward in the story.”

An award-nominated debut

Troy’s debut novel, Gus and the Missing Boy, has been shortlisted in the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards for Best Debut Crime Fiction. It follows Gus Green who is a true crime enthusiast and doesn’t feel like he belongs.

“Gus’s life is flipped on its head one day when he finds a missing persons website with a digitally aged picture of a missing boy who looks eerily like him. Could he be a kidnapping victim? It would explain a lot about his patchy background, but what would that make his mum – his kidnapper?”

Troy works as a marketing and communications consultant at the University of Melbourne, so he’s writing most of the time in his day job.

“I find it relatively easy to flip between writing for work and writing for me. I think using different laptops helps as I literally shut one and open the other.”

The journey to publication wasn’t straightforward. Troy initially wrote the story as an adult psychological thriller, but a chance encounter at a “speed dating with publishers” session led him to rewrite it as a YA novel. He then entered competitions and won a place in the Hachette Manuscript Development Program, where he met his agent.

“It was brilliant news when I heard from Wakefield Press! It was a strange time for publishing during the pandemic. I'd had a couple of ‘no’s’ from publishers, so I was trying to manage my own expectations around the process. I told myself that finishing writing a full novel was achievement enough, which I still think it is.”

Troy says FOCUS ON… The Second Act gave him the tools to keep his story moving.

“The course helped me make my book more logical and dynamic. This is particularly important in detective stories, where new clues need to be uncovered, authentically leading the detective from one suspect to the next.”

Course completed at AWC:

• FOCUS ON… The Second Act

“Life lesson learnt: do the work, show your work and share your work no matter how bad or unfinished you think it is, because you never know who is watching,” Sarah Jane says.

But with the contract also came the doubt that she didn’t quite know what she was doing. 

“Following the joy and a jubilation quickly came the fear and overwhelming sense that I didn't deserve it. Impostor syndrome had entered the chat,” Sarah Jane admits. “This inevitably led me to take charge of that feeling and make myself feel more qualified and deserving. Hello AWC. I enrolled in the Writing Picture Books course to learn as much as I could about the industry I was entering and build on my confidence and capabilities as an author. I'm so incredibly grateful that I did.”

With her newfound skills and confidence, Sarah Jane spent ten months working on her manuscript and illustrations. Her debut picture book Down the Road, Little Bee was published in 2021 and her latest picture book When Dinosaurs Roamed Australia is out now.

“I loved the course and got so much out of it. Having the opportunity to flesh out ideas and receive feedback from the course instructor as well as the peers was wonderful. The course really helped me understand the key elements of picture books as well as the process that goes into creating and publishing one.”

Kickstarting a love of writing
Inspired by author and illustrator Graeme Base when she was younger, Sarah Jane knew that that’s what she wanted to do as well. She has always loved art and illustration and has built a career for herself as an artist, so moving into picture books seemed like a logical step. But the actual writing part had taken a back seat.

“I've always been focused on drawing. I think about drawing all the time. Not a day goes past where I don't illustrate in some way. Whether it's for my full time job as a textile/graphic designer or for an upcoming exhibition or pet portrait commission, I'm obsessed,” Sarah Jane says. “The course opened the door for me to channel ideas into writing instead of drawing. It really triggered something in me that I didn't realise was there. I enjoyed writing but previously I saw it as a means to getting to the good part, the illustrating. After learning all about the formulae and methods used to create a picture book manuscript and then putting it into practice I became hooked. I love writing and tinkering on words just as much as illustrating now and that's something I wasn't expecting after completing the course.”

Sarah Jane had been visualising the moment she would be a published author since she was five years old, so when she got the contract confirming she was going to be published, she was over the moon.

“I started jumping up and down and literally screamed out loud. I didn't know where to put all my excited energy so I just started dancing and skipping. I couldn't believe it, I was so happy.”

After signing the contract with Affirm Press and completing the Writing Picture Books course at the Australian Writers' Centre, Sarah Jane had to then put in the hard work of finishing her manuscript and illustrating it.

“Affirm Press was amazing. I loved working with them so much. My editor was incredible. She was so good at pushing me to get the manuscript and illustrations to where they ended up,” Sarah Jane says. “The entire process took about 10 months from signing the contract to handing over the finished art. The illustration took the longest and in the beginning I did quite a few roughs as I was learning the intricacies of picture books. Once all of the rough pages were signed off I got stuck into the final art which was a mammoth job but also a lot of fun. So much love and dedication goes into picture books and the process from start to finish was challenging but so rewarding in the end.”

In Down the Road, Little Bee, readers go on a search for pollen across the Australian suburban landscape, from flowering gums in January to Jacaranda in December, exploring the wonders of nature that can be found just outside the door.

Onwards and upwards
Having realised her publishing dream, Sarah Jane is now building her illustration portfolio so that she can work on more picture books, while also still working full time for fashion brand Peter Alexander. 

“At the moment my focus is on generating ideas and filling my notebook with characters and story prompts. Once an idea swirls around in my head long enough for an aha moment I'll put everything else aside and write it down.”

When we asked Sarah Jane if she had any advice for other aspiring picture book author-illustrators, she didn’t hold back.

“DO IT!!” she responded. “I loved this course so much. It not only gives you an immense amount of knowledge for picture book writing it highlights so many different aspects of the industry that you may not have considered. It also gives you the opportunity to make friends who share a common goal and interest and create a support group where you can bounce ideas off and encourage each other's progress. 10/10 would recommend.”

Course completed at AWC:
Writing Picture Books

“I phoned my husband in tears, read the email another half a dozen times in disbelief, then had two glasses of red wine and a profiterole for dinner.”

Craving creativity

Lisa had always been a keen reader and, in her forties, started writing in secret as a creative outlet. 

“I craved creativity, and as a lifelong reader, I eventually found my way to writing as a hobby. But with a type A personality, it was never going to remain just a relaxing pastime,” Lisa told us. “When I began to take my hobby more seriously, I sought out courses to learn about the publishing industry and the craft of writing, and the AWC courses fit the bill.”

She had finished writing a manuscript but wasn’t sure what to do with it, so started out with Inside Publishing at the Australian Writers' Centre.

“I had no author friends, I wasn’t on social media and had no writing credits to put in a bio. That self-paced course set me on the path to building a career as a writer. Although my first novel manuscript will never be published, the course gave me practical tips that led to me becoming part of the writing community, and for that I will be forever grateful.”

After completing her first course, Lisa realised she had a lot more to learn about writing and the publishing industry. 

“I live in a regional area and fit writing in around work and parenting, so the online self-paced AWC courses were perfect for me. I could gain knowledge in my own time without having to travel from my regional centre to a major city for face-to-face learning, and I could target areas of weakness with focused short courses. In that first year, I also did three other courses: Build Your Author Platform, 2 Hours to Scrivener Power and Short Story Essentials. I guess you could say I was hooked.”

Lisa was inspired by those courses to build her author platform. She developed a website, interacted with other writers on social media and attended events. And of course, she kept writing!

“The courses have impacted my life and my writing in many ways. Craft-based courses like Creative Writing Stage 1 and Short Story Essentials reinforced the essential elements of story structure and offered invaluable professional feedback on my work. After applying the feedback from Cathie Tasker to the short story I wrote for the Short Story Essentials course, that story was published in a literary journal, and my author bio began to grow.”

A stunning debut

Lisa’s debut novel is All You Took From Me, a thriller brimming with great characters and nail-biting tension, set between the Blue Mountains and a Sydney hospital.

It follows anaesthetist Clare Carpenter who has just lost her husband and her memory in a single-vehicle accident, who finds herself being followed by a stranger. After questioning patients about their dreams, she becomes convinced that an anaesthetic drug might help her access missing memories. But there’s no way to be certain without jeopardising her career or her life.

As unexplained threats escalate, Clare must take matters into her own hands to learn the uncomfortable truth about her secretive husband, his connection to a mysterious club and what she did to trigger a stranger’s crusade for vengeance. But how far will she go?

The manuscript started life during Nanowrimo, a yearly challenge to write 50,000 words in a month.

“I wrote 50K words, which astonished me because I’m not a fast writer. At the end of November, I had half a first draft, then I promptly collapsed in a heap. It took another eleven months to finish that draft, so about a year in total. After that, I spent another eight months self-editing the manuscript based on feedback from beta readers before engaging a freelance editor to undertake a structural edit.”

During this time, Lisa was also attending writing conferences, and taking part in pitching opportunities such as the Australian Society of Authors virtual speed dating events.

“I also entered unpublished manuscript competitions and was delighted when All You Took From Me made the Richell Prize longlist in 2020 and was runner-up in the 2022 CYA conference competition.”

While those prize listings opened doors, it took another three years of submitting and revising before an offer finally came through for that manuscript.

“The publishing offer came through when I was in the Blue Mountains on a solo writing retreat to work on a different manuscript, having almost given up on finding a publisher for All You Took From Me. But amazingly, only two and a half weeks after sending my manuscript to Transit Lounge’s open submissions with zero expectations, my publisher emailed to tell me that he’d like to publish my novel.”

Lisa now works part time and devotes two days per week to her writing. She also goes on regular writing retreats and squeezes writing time into her workday whenever possible. 

“I prioritise writing and reading over other activities; that’s how I get the work done,” she says. “There were many days when the dream of being published seemed like it would never become a reality, but the warmth and inclusivity of the Australian writing community kept me going through the inevitable rejections and disappointments. Watching friends who had been on a similar trajectory to me become published and hearing their stories on podcasts like So You Want to be a Writer made becoming an author seem possible and kept me motivated to keep trying.”

Courses completed at AWC:

• Cut, Shape, Polish
• Inside Publishing
• Fiction Essentials: Characters
• Short Story Essentials
• Build Your Author Platform
• 2 Hours to Scrivener Power
• Pitch Your Novel: How to Attract Agents and Publishers
• Creative Writing Stage 1

Cassy Polimeni always wanted to become an author and even studied creative writing at university. She followed this with a career in magazines and publishing, while putting her own creative pursuits on the back burner. But while he was on maternity leave, she took the opportunity to enrol in a course at the Australian Writers' Centre, which came highly recommended from writer friends. That investment and commitment to her craft paid off: Cassy has now published two books for children with another on the way.

“Being published was the dream since I was about seven years old, and is something I have always been slowly working towards – although it took me a lot longer than I imagined it would back then!” Cassy told us.

The course that changed everything

Cassy was working from home as a freelance editor and proofreader when the Australian Writers' Centre course caught her eye.

“Going on maternity leave gave me a chance to do a hard reset on work and life and figure out what I really wanted to devote my time to. Online courses were an easy, focussed way to dip back into that while I was at home with my little one.”

She particularly liked that the course offered flexibility, but also had deadlines to meet and feedback on the finished story.

“Without restrictions and external pressure I tend to flounder a bit. I liked that it was designed to be done in weekly sessions over a few months, and the fact that you were working towards submitting a finished short story. The opportunity for personalised feedback from the course tutor was probably the biggest incentive of all. Feedback from writers at all levels can be really helpful, even if you don’t take it all on board it can help you interrogate your own writing and work out what you’re prepared to defend and what you might need to work on, and shine a lot on any blindspots,” Cassy says. 

Establishing an author career

Making time for her craft has led to publishing success for Cassy, whose debut picture book, The Garden at the End of the World, came out in 2023. Published by UQP and illustrated by Briony Stewart, it is a fairytale adventure to the real-life Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway.

She has recently published a chapter book for five to eight year olds, Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra.

“It’s particularly for fans of books like What Zola Did, Violet Mackerel and Lemonade Jones. It’s the first in a four-book series all about friendship, conservation and frogs,” Cassy says. “I like to call it the story of a girl, a frog and a rescue mission without a prince or princess in sight. It’s about a girl, Ella, who moves house and isn’t happy about it. She misses her old home and school and her best friend who lived next door. But then she discovers a secret frog pond in the neighbours’ backyard filled with an orchestra of frogs and starts to think her new home might not be so bad after all. At her new school she befriends Mai and learns about the school frog bog, and when renovations threaten the frogs’ habitat at home, she and Mai have to come up with a plan to save it.”

Cassy also has a narrative nonfiction picture book coming out next year with CSIRO Publishing, focused on science and wonder.

“I guess there is a bit of an accidental theme emerging. Science and wonder and nature are magic!”

Embracing the creative process

Now that her daughter is at school, Cassy can find time to write during the day, but her previous manuscripts were written in whatever snatches of time she could find.

“My best writing hours would be after bedtime, as it was the only time I knew I could get a solid block of uninterrupted writing time and build up some momentum. I learned to write in the cracks too, of course, but sometimes you need a longer stretch. My daughter is at school now, which means I have more time during the day, and I’m trying to set boundaries about when I take on freelance work or do household chores to make the most of that time. I find writing the first thing after drop off works best, that way it’s done before I have time to overthink it or waste time waiting for the perfect conditions. When I get stuck I try to write in a different location, like a library or a different room of the house. I’d love to be a cafe writer, and have attempted it, but I’m far too self conscious and easily distracted!”

Having achieved her publishing dreams, Cassy recommends the Australian Writers' Centre to anyone looking to pursue their own creative writing journey.

“Courses are a great way to keep you on track, and add to your writing toolbox. They can help you kickstart (or get back into) a writing habit, get unstuck or fill a gap in your writing knowledge. Enrolling in a course can also be a sign to yourself that you’re taking your writing seriously, and that alone can open up all sorts of possibilities. The flexibility of AWC’s online courses make them very easy to slot into your life, so really, why wouldn’t you?”

Course completed at AWC:

• Short Story Essentials

Discovering the magic PING!

Unagented and unpublished, Jenna felt she needed something to help take her writing to the next level. “I didn't know what that something was until I saw the Australian Writers' Centre’s Romance Writing course on Twitter. That was the moment I experienced the magic PING!”

After deciding to enrol, Jenna threw herself into the course. “I literally had nothing to lose. That was the attitude I took into the launch of Romance Writing. I listened and took notes and just threw myself at the pearls of wisdom being shared. The description of the course and what I thought it might give me – clarification around the romance genre, its constituent features and writing tools – ultimately encouraged me to enrol.”

Gaining invaluable knowledge

Despite already having written her novels, Jenna found the course materials incredibly useful. “I used the course materials as a ‘checklist' of sorts to edit The Italian Marriage before I sent it out on query to Jacinta di Mase Management, which eventually signed me. What I found most helpful was the content about the love interests and how to plot and plan for the dynamics that draw them together, pull them apart, or challenge them to grow and change. I also really appreciated the structural tips around plotting for action and tension at particular points of the narrative to ensure maximum interest and reader commitment.”

A transformative impact on her writing

Jenna's writing strengthened significantly due to the course. “My writing is so much stronger for those aforementioned points. Now, as I am plotting and scheming my books, my mind does go back to those key tips. I use them to really think about the connection between my love interests and use the tension tips to decide how to open my chapters and when to close them.”

At the core, Jenna's books are tributes to Italy. “Each is a celebration of language, culture, history, and food, and an exploration as to how these elements weave together to form the most perfectly imperfect ode to my beloved Italia.” Both The Italian Marriage and Love & Rome delve into themes of friendship, family, loyalty, and destiny, asking life's big questions.

The Italian Marriage is a “forced proximity marriage of convenience due to inheritance clause romp through the Umbrian countryside,” complete with villa renovation and endometriosis representation. Meanwhile, Love & Rome involves a “friends to lovers, love triangle, job hunting, searching for life's answers by the full moon adventure across Rome's cobblestoned streets,” with a rich overlay of art history. “In both books, you can expect lively characters, to laugh and cry, plenty of spice, and a healthy dose of destiny at play.”

An unexpected publishing journey

Jenna says that her agent, Danielle Binks, truly understood her book. “She just got it. She just got me. She got the work. She's really passionate about strong, smart romance that just moves and challenges ideas,” says Jenna.

With a firm belief in Jenna’s story, Danielle began approaching publishers. “Four weeks later, I had a three book deal with Pan Macmillan!”

The moment Jenna learned she was going to be published was surreal. “I still don't believe it happened! My agent Danielle called to tell me the news. In the moment, all I remember feeling was relief. I had queried for four years and had received around 160 rejections. That sense of relief was closely followed by joy and jubilation, and then determination. I was going to work my butt off to do the best possible job I could!”

With a writing process that is unique and non-linear, she starts with the first and last scenes and then pieces the rest of the book together. “Once it's ‘done', I take a lot of time and care editing the manuscript, really focusing on things like tension and timeline consistencies.”

Jenna recommends that aspiring writers enrol in courses at the  Australian Writers' Centre. “I recommend the Australian Writers' Centre all the time! I love how flexible the courses are, especially the work-at-your-own-pace courses. It's a really smart investment in your career and skill set. I have all my notes and scribbles from the Romance Writing course and often refer back to them.”

Course completed at AWC:

• Romance Writing

“I hate to sound cliché, but that was the course that changed my life,” Jess says.

Her debut picture book, Bernie Thinks in Boxes, is out now with Affirm Press.

“In true working parent style, I celebrated that evening by making dinner, showering the kids and cracking open a bottle of non-alcoholic wine. I later posted a reel to my Instagram page, sharing my real-time reaction to the news. I’m so pleased that I filmed it because it was such a special moment.”

Getting out of the parking lot

As a proper grown-up with a job and kids, Jess had put her childhood dream of being a published author in the same parking lot as being an astronaut.

“I mean, kids want to be magic and visit Mars and turn every inanimate object into a snack buffet,” Jess told us. “But it turns out that a parking lot of unmet childhood dreams is an excellent place to go digging when you want a new hobby.”

When a friend suggested she enter Furious Fiction, Jess gave it a go. But she knew that if she were to give her writing a proper chance, she needed to learn the ropes, and enrolled in Creative Writing Stage 1.

“For someone who had never formally studied writing, starting with basics was great,” Jess says. “I found it helpful to learn about character development, point of view, scenes, and narrative structure. These were things I had a vague concept of, from reading books and studying English. But prior to this course I always wrote what sounded good to me, without knowing why or how to improve it. The Creative Writing Stage 1 course opened that door for me.”

After that first course, Jess decided to try writing picture books, but found them harder to write than she expected.

“As someone who knew absolutely nothing about the KidLit world and had never heard of the concept of a ‘pitch’, I probably wasn’t best placed to go sending off picture books to publishers. Of course, I tried anyway, because how hard could picture books be, right? Ha! When the publisher didn’t immediately snap up my first manuscript (which I didn’t even know was called a manuscript at the time), I decided perhaps another course was in order.”

And then her life changed …

Enrolling in Writing Picture Books was, Jess recalls, life changing.

“If you want to save yourself a whole bunch of bumbling around and wading through conflicting sources of information, then this is the course for you!

“One of the most valuable lessons I learnt was that picture books have rules. Like most rules, I’m fully aware they’re there to be bent. But I thrive on rules, so having a bunch of them to provide some order in an otherwise creative and seemingly unstructured game was a wonderful thing. These rules included things like the rule of three, show don’t tell (I love that one!) and the three-act structure.

“Another eye-opening discovery I made in this course was just how many words you could chop out of a story. And not only that but how much better a story could be with far fewer words than this wordy brain of mine likes to conjure. I also learnt about a handy thing called drafts, and how picture books need more than one of them (gasp!).

“Finally, the Writing Picture Books course taught me the importance of giving and receiving feedback. The class was a safe place to test those murky feedback waters and discover just how much this enhances your learning. I still give and receive feedback regularly and the process has been my best source of continued learning.”

Thinking out of the box

The manuscript that landed Jess her first contract was one of many she had been working on, and it was also the one that had taken her the longest to write. After going through seven drafts, she knew that it was something special and that she wanted to see it out in the world. But she gave it some breathing space while she worked on other projects.

“During the time I left this manuscript, I worked on many other submissions and immersed myself in the wonderful KidLit community. I believe this time of growth and learning helped shape and polish my manuscript when I returned to it. When it was finally ready, I booked my first editor assessment at the CYA conference. I knew exactly where I wanted this manuscript to land.

“When I met with the editor and she told me she loved my story, I was over the moon. Receiving positive feedback on something I had poured my heart into was gratifying. The process between that assessment and receiving the letter of offer for a contract was around three months and felt incredibly long to endure!”

Jess’s debut picture book Bernie Thinks in Boxes is about an autistic girl who thinks in boxes, and how she overcomes a challenging, ‘out-of-the-box’ situation.

“It’s an ‘own voices’ narrative that provides a relatable analogy of a dichotomous thinking style that many neurodivergent folk experience,” Jess explains. “I hope that when kids read this book, it will broaden their awareness of different ways of thinking and encourage them to put their own needs ahead of social norms and conformity.”

Juggling writing with life

Jess continues to find time to write in the chaos of life as a working mum.

“As many working parents could attest to, fitting writing into your life is almost impossible. And yet, if you love it, you make it happen. I continue to work a full-time job in four days per week. I do drop-offs and make dinners and ignore the washing on a daily basis. And sometimes, I write.

“I have a very long writing ‘to-do’ list and far too many projects in progress, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I tend to write in the evenings, and often because my laptop screen makes an excellent shield when watching scary Netflix shows. Occasionally, I take a day or two off work and head to my local café to spend the day writing (bliss!).

“Writing has changed my life in more ways than just giving me another task list. It has given me something to be excited about, something to look forward to, and a shared interest that has welcomed me to the beautiful KidLit community. Writing has brought me new friendships and a new sense of purpose.”

That new sense of purpose started with one simple entry into the Furious Fiction competition – which Jess has gone on to enter a total of 27 times!

“In my experience, the courses at AWC are detailed but succinct, well-structured, and fast-paced. They give you the information you didn’t know you needed! You know how they say, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.’? Well, the AWC people know the things you don’t know – let them tell you.”

Courses completed at Australian Writers' Centre:

• Laugh Out Loud
• Writing Picture Books
• Creative Writing Stage 1
• Fiction Essentials Characters

“The courses laid a foundation of self-belief that I could achieve the goal of being a published author one day, which clearly worked as that dream came true!” Paula told us.

Fulfilling a childhood dream

Despite the early encouragement at school, Paula didn’t pursue her passion for creative writing. All that changed when she realised she needed to go back to her childhood dream.

“I had been working in the film/TV industry for decades and was getting majorly burnt out. I had always wanted to be an author but had never given myself permission to do something for myself. I was in my forties and knew that it was now or never, so I signed up for various AWC courses in the hope it would give me the push I needed to take writing seriously.”

Paula was especially attracted by the specialisation offered by AWC courses.

“I liked that I could hand pick subjects that felt relevant to me, my aspirations, and my writing,” Paula says. “The courses promised what they delivered, without feeling overwhelming. Publishing and writing in general can be so daunting when you are first starting out, so finding courses that felt tailor made for me—with goal posts that were achievable—was such a godsend.”

Taking the plunge

With her newfound confidence, Paula threw herself into writing, completing five manuscripts in just a few years. She put the lessons learned in Pitch Your Novel: How to Attract Agents and Publishers to good use, pitching agents and publishers and refining her manuscripts, before being picked up by her current agent, Gwen Beal from UTA. Within two months, Paula had a two-book six-figure deal.

Well, that’s the condensed version. The reality is that Paula went through many rewrites, pivots and hard work to get to her final destination.

“At an age where I should be well and truly settled into my career until retirement, I decided to give writing a real shot,” Paula says.

She wrote her first manuscript, which would become Original Twin, and went out on submission, but was told that it was more suited to YA. She wrote a brand new manuscript for a YA audience and landed her first agent, but when that relationship didn’t work out, she tried for a middle grade novel, while also pitching her other manuscripts.

“I was exhausted, defeated. I wanted to give up multiple times. Not to mention I was incredibly burnt out from writing five manuscripts in a matter of years,” Paula told us. “Only, something exciting happened. An agent I had queried passed over my YA mystery to a colleague and this colleague loved it and could we get on a call? I mean, YES! This call would lead me to my current agent, Gwen Beal from UTA. I knew I had finally found my advocate and it was well worth the wait.”

Working with Gwen, Paula pulled out that original manuscript for Original Twin, and rewrote it again.

“I still kept my late-teen protagonists but I wrote it for an adult market. I did this during the pandemic, while going through a divorce and couch surfing (1/10 do not recommend).”

With this newly polished manuscript, Paula secured her publishing deal with Thomas and Mercer.

“I think I went from joy to tears pretty quickly because of how hard the journey was and the absolute relief of finally knowing all that hard work was worth it. Even now that my book is out, it still doesn’t feel real. Sometimes being comfortably numb is as good an emotion as any. LOL. So the hustle and pivoting was worth it—but yikes what a journey to get here. (Insert ‘it was 84 years’ meme here.)”

A page-turning thriller

Paula’s debut novel Original Twin is an adult/crossover thriller about twin sisters May and June who couldn’t be more different. May is quiet, self-conscious, withdrawn; June is boisterous, beautiful, magnetic…and missing. It’s been a year since June disappeared, a year of May waiting for her to turn up with an explanation of where she’s been and why she left. But with the discovery of an old newspaper article comes a secret: their mother once vanished, too, on the same date when she was nineteen years old. Just like June. This was no coincidence. June was investigating this buried family mystery, and she left May a series of clues to pick up where she left off. Now, if May wants to find June, she’ll have to retrace her footsteps through their mother’s past. The more answers she digs up, the more questions May has. And the biggest one of all: When her sister’s trail of breadcrumbs runs out, what or who will she find?

Seeing her novel on bookshelves and garnering rave reviews has been a dream come true for Paula.

“I didn’t debut until I was 50 so there were many decades in between. I certainly imagined it and knew that if I worked hard enough and never gave up that I could turn my dream into a reality.”

After securing her deal with Thomas and Mercer, Paula can now write full time. It just goes to show, you should always follow the advice of your grade four teacher. But it’s also never too late to follow your dreams.

“Sign up to an AWC course immediately! There is something for everyone, no matter where you are at in your writing journey.”

Courses completed at AWC:

• Reinvent Yourself
• Anatomy of a Crime: How to Write About Murder
• Pitch Your Novel: How to Attract Agents and Publishers

“With a tauter, more suspenseful narrative and much more at stake for my two main characters, I began to approach agents. Sally Bird from the Calidris literary agency took me on and secured a publishing deal with Echo. They have been a joy to work with and as a result my first historical crime novel, Murder in Punch Lane, is coming out in July,” Jane told us.

Back to basics

Jane has had a successful career as a journalist. She also reviews books and has published two novels and a nonfiction book.

“So you’d think I’d know what I was doing, right?” she says. “Wrong. I was having trouble with my third novel. It was going to be a literary coming of age story set in Melbourne in 1868. I’d done a heap of research and I’d spent years and years writing it, draft after draft, and I’d had lots of valuable mentoring and feedback from readers. Yet somehow it just wasn’t coming together.

“The penny finally dropped when I realised I was writing something that didn’t want to be a literary coming of age novel at all. It wanted to be a crime novel. Somehow I had never realised this, even though there was a murder in the story, and a hunt to find the murderer.”

Despite being an avid crime reader, Jane felt she didn’t know how to start writing one, so she enrolled in Crime and Thriller Writing with LA Larkin.

“Louisa took me back to basics, and that was what I needed. The different kinds of crime novel, the difference between a crime novel and a thriller. This gave me a much more focussed picture of what my book wanted to be. She stressed the importance of building and releasing tension, creating a high-stakes world for my characters. Of course these things are important in any novel, but I hadn’t quite realised how crucial they would be for a crime novel.”

A new direction for her characters

The course also highlighted to Jane that she needed to change her initial characters to fit into the crime narrative she was building.

“Character was vitally important. I realised that yet again I would have to rethink my two main characters. I’d begun with a story centering on a naïve young man, a journalist, and a worldly young woman, an actress, who form an unlikely alliance to track down a murderer. My naïve young man was my protagonist and my worldly young woman was his sidekick.”

But after the course, she changed tack and made the young woman, now named Lola, her protagonist.

“Despite all her courage, she had more dangers to face than any man because 1868 Melbourne was a viciously hierarchical and misogynistic place, and actresses were at the bottom of the pile. It’s her best friend, also an actress, who is murdered,” she says. “And the naïve young fellow, much as I loved him, had to go. His replacement was Magnus, a smooth-talking, rakish man about town who tries straight away to seduce Lola. He drives her mad. And they are working together as amateur sleuths? Oh boy, I’d have some fun writing this. In the end, I loved the maddening Magnus even more than the naïve fellow he replaced.”

With her manuscript now in better shape, Jane started sending it out to agents and publishers. 

“Several were keen to see the manuscript and the emails that came back were enthusiastic, but there was always that word ‘But…’ which meant another rejection. When I got an email back from Sally Bird at the Calidris literary agency I had to read it several times before I realised there was no ‘But’. She wanted to sign me up! From there it was a matter of weeks before I found a publisher. Both Sally and the Echo people have been a dream to work with and I really feel my novel has found its rightful home.”

A mystery set in history

Murder in Punch Lane is set in the heady gold rush era of 1868 Melbourne. When dazzling theatre star Marie St Denis dies in the arms of her best friend, fellow actress Lola Sanchez, everyone believes it was suicide. Everyone except Lola. On the brink of stardom herself, she risks everything by embarking on a quest to find Marie’s killer. Journalist Magnus Scott, writing as “The Walking Gentleman”, publishes a compassionate obituary about Marie, so Lola decides to seek his help. A fraught attraction develops between these two amateur detectives from opposite sides of society, and their volatile relationship soon begins to compromise their investigation.

“Although I made up the story, and both Lola and Magnus are fictional, I’ve used real events, places and characters based on the real powerful people who ran Melbourne, a brash goldrush city of wealth and poverty, piety and vice and hypocrisy, orgies and opium dens and all kinds of violence.”

Jane is still working as a freelance journalist. But having now published her third novel, and her first crime novel, Jane is keen to keep learning and also enrolled in the Historical Fiction course. “I’m particularly interested in finding out more about how to research.

“I think what I've learned generally from this experience is that it's not just beginners who need help. Whatever your level of experience and success, there's always more to learn, whether craft or the practical business of finding a publisher.”

Courses completed at AWC:

• Crime and Thriller Writing
• Historical Fiction
• FOCUS ON… The Second Act
• Your Author Website