June Newsletter & Upcoming Courses
 Welcome to our June Newsletter. We’re thrilled to share with you that three of our Novel and Script writers have debut novels being published either this month or very soon.
We always stress to writers in our courses, that the writing has its own reward and not to get obsessed about the end result. Rather, focus on what you have control over, the writing and creating the best story you are capable of writing.
As Robert McKee, whose book ‘Story’ is considered a classic, said, “Unrecognised genius is a myth. For writers who can tell a quality story, it’s a seller’s market. Always has been. Always will be.”
It is good to bear this in mind wherever you’re at in your writing journey. Whether that be in our 4-Week Unlocking Creativity writing course or our Novel and Script courses. Focus on doing the work and enjoying the journey. It is the best gift you can give yourself.
Check out our writers’ books below, and commit to doing the work and making your writing dream a reality too.
Maya Linnell
Maya Linnell’s debut novel ‘Wildflower Ridge’ published by Allen & Unwin, has just been released this week and is now available to purchase.
“I always knew I wanted to write a book, but the idea of a framework made me more confident to start the journey. My tutors were my cheerleaders throughout the process. The course gave me a great insight into the classic novel structure, with great hints, tools and suggestions along the way, and the all-important accountability.”
Penny McIntyre loves her life as an ambitious city professional, with a marketing team at her fingertips and a promotion just within reach. So when she’s floored by a mystery illness, and ordered back to the family farm for three months’ rest and recuperation, she is horrified to find her perfect life imploding.
Within days, Penny has to leave her much-loved job, her live-in boyfriend, and her beloved city apartment … to return to the small country town in which she grew up. Back to her dad and three sisters, one of whom has never forgiven her for abandoning her family. And to her ex-boyfriend, Tim Patterson, who was the biggest reason she ran away in the first place.
When Penny’s father is injured in a farming accident and Tim campaigns to buy the property, she must choose between the city life she loves and the farming dream she buried long ago.
To purchase Wildflower Ridge, and see what Maya is up to: click here
Cait Duggan
Cait Duggan’s debut novel ‘The Last Balfour’ (published by Harper Collins) will be available for sale on 22 July.
“The Writers’ Studio provides a pathway to getting a novel both started and completed. The Writers’ Studio has a proven methodology to get you writing. They provide a fantastic framework for commercial fiction writers that works for all genres. The Last Balfour is now being published by HarperCollins Publishers Australia. It really is a dream come true.”
Magic and fire are kindred things … Iona Balfour’s life is turned upside down when her beloved aunt Grizel is executed for the crime of witchcraft. Before she dies, Grizel appoints Iona as guardian of a precious family bloodstone and tells her she must flee their village and deliver the stone to the mysterious Guild of the Green Lion.
Accompanied by a new friend, Cal, Iona soon realises that she’s awakened the powers of the bloodstone. But it promises to be a perilous journey. The wolf month is no time to be on the road. And there’s a witch hunter on Iona’s trail, who has a strange obsession with the stone. When a devastating betrayal throws her into the hands of her enemies, Iona soon finds herself in the fight of her life. Will she suffer the same fate as her aunt, or will she escape the witch hunter and fulfil her destiny?
For all pre-sale information: click here
Sarah Thornton
Sarah Thornton’s debut novel ‘Lapse’ published by Text Publishing, will be launched on 6 August.
“I didn’t know if I had an imagination left after twenty years in corporate legal work. Unlocking Creativity showed me I did—a tiny shriveled peanut of a thing, but it was still there. It was a hallelujah moment. I went straight into the Novel & Script course which helped me to understand the novel’s backbone, the spine upon which the entire body hangs. Practical, example-rich guidance and the push and support you need to keep writing until ‘The End’.”
“All it took was a lapse…a momentary lapse, to bring Clementine Jones’ world crashing down. Now she’s living like a hermit in small-town Katinga, coaching the local footy club. She’s supposed to be lying low, but here she is, with her team on the cusp of their first premiership in fifty years—and the whole bloody town counting on her, cheering her on.
So why the hell would her star player quit on the eve of the finals? It’s a question she wishes she’d left alone. Other people are starting to ask questions too—questions about her. Clem’s not the only one in town with a secret, and as tension builds, the dark violence just below the town’s surface threatens to erupt. Pretty soon there’ll be nowhere left for Clem to hide.
For all pre-sale information: click here
Quick Course Round-up
Unlocking Creativity Online course will commence again on 19 June.
Unlocking Creativity Live will start on 25 July with only a few places still open.
Our next upcoming 6-Week course, the Character & Critique Short Story Course – Online starts on 17 June. (Unlocking Creativity is a prerequisite for this course and all of our courses. Please register early & reserve your place, as these courses book out.)
The 10-Month Novel & Script First Draft Online course starts 28 October for those who have not undertaken Unlocking Creativity. The 24 June course is still open for bookings, but you need to be undertaking, or have undertaken Unlocking Creativity to be eligible to join the June course. Please check that you are booking into the correct course when registering!
The next 10-Month Novel & Script First Draft Live course starting 7 September, with Roland, Kathleen & Richard is filling fast. Reserve your place early, this course has limited places.
The next Second Draft Online course starting 16 September is open for bookings.
The next Third Draft Online course will start on 19 August, with limited places in this course.
Third Draft Live will commence again this coming November.
Third Draft Extension Online with Kelly will commence on 11 November with limited places. (The July course is now booked out.)
Please contact the office on (02) 9386 4994 between 10.30am and 3pm Monday to Friday, if you have any questions at all about which course is right for you.
Recent Course Feedback
Some snippets of the wonderful feedback that we receive back from recently completed courses. We update these each newsletter. They show what a large variety of writers get out of our writing courses.
What a lucky find. These guys are the real deal if you want to write. I wanted to do the course in person, but I couldn’t make it fit around work, so I enrolled for the online course. What a rewarding experience, it exceeded all my expectations!” Darren, Unlocking Creativity
“An excellent and highly effective springboard from which to launch creative writing of any description! It’s been an amazing experience. My creativity has definitely been unlocked and unleashed!” Fiona, Unlocking Creativity
“It’s a really good 4 week course, and is affordable and has really helped me work out an approach to get a story completed.” Ben, Unlocking Creativity
“I have thoroughly enjoyed the structure. If felt like a guiding hand placed gently on my back guiding me foreword. I believe this course enabled me to put my writing at the top of the to-do list!” Sophie, Unlocking Creativity
“The online course materials I found really easy to use – the step by step process, numerous inspirational quotes and the video messages from Kathleen and Roland. And my fellow writers were so supportive with their feedback and inspirational with their words and diversity of creativeness.” Theodora, Unlocking Creativity
“This course is structured to teach you the craft of writing, is inspirational, and really does unlock your writing creativity. Truly. The feedback focuses on the skills you are practicing – it was positive and helpful and several times gave me ‘ah ha’ moments of enlightenment.” Ruth, Unlocking Creativity
“The course has really helped demystify the process of writing for me. I found the course materials really helpful. I have been pleasantly surprised by the results.” Edward, Unlocking Creativity
“I can tell you that each week my confidence and my skills increased as I followed the lessons. It was throughout the 4 weeks and amazing experience, not just ability wise, but really a time of growth and maturing for me personally.” Butch, Unlocking Creativity
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“The Writers’ Studio is my testing ground, and a place equipped with the finest mental technologies, which unlike the thousands of books on the subject, are designed to nurture the screenwriter through that arduous practice and discipline of animating a story step-by-step, day by day, and refining it so that it represents the best of what you are.” – Nico Lathouris, co-writer Mad Max IV Fury Road
‘I’m thrilled,’ says Alex. ‘By sticking with my story and to the principles I learned at the Writers’ Studio, and by getting lucky, I’ve realised a life-long ambition. Thank you Roland and Kathleen!’
