Welcome to our June Newsletter.
We hope everyone is staying warm and cosy as we head into the winter months.
Tomorrow, we will welcome a new intake of Unlocking Creativity writers into our Live-in-Studio course in Bronte. Thank you for joining us!
The Writers’ Studio believes everyone has talent. It is just a question of how you foster, develop and nurture that talent. Bearing in mind, writing is an art and a craft that takes time to master.
If you are dreaming of far away places and adventures for your imagination and soul, we have a few places left in two upcoming courses, our 4-Week Unlocking Creativity Online Course starting on the 19th of June, and the 10-Month First Draft Online Course starting on the 17th of June.
For many writers, writing a novel or screenplay is the most rewarding creative journey of all and we are delighted to see some great stories emerging from the current courses.
Stories help us make sense of the world we live in and enable us to explore and discover what is important to us. Stories help give our lives meaning, take us on a meaningful emotional journey and nourish our spirit.
To write your story, whether it be a novel, short story or a screenplay, you have to listen to that still, quiet voice within and take a leap of faith in yourself and the story inside you, waiting to get out.
By following a step-by-step creative, yet practical process, most writers experience a transformation and blossoming of their creativity and see their writing and stories come alive, way beyond their initial expectations.
To embark on this creative journey, requires an act of faith in ourselves, our stories and what truths we have to share with the world.
As Natalie Goldberg says, “I’m not saying that everyone is Shakespeare, but I am saying everyone has a genuine voice that can express his or her life with honesty, dignity and detail. There seems to be a gap between the greatness we are all capable of and the way we see ourselves and, therefore, see our work. This happens all the time. People fail to recognise who they really are. We are slow to realise the greatness inside ourselves.”
Our motto has always been: If your dream is to write, our courses will get you doing it.
Jo Skinner recently emailed us after her novel, The Truth About My Daughter, was picked up to be published (see details below). “I wanted to say thank you to the Writers’ Studio for introducing me to the world of writing and creativity. It has been a life changing and thoroughly enjoyable journey that I intend to continue for a long time.”
If you want to learn more, read our article on How to Write the First Draft of a Novel or Screenplay.
Intensive 6-Week Short Story Course
Starting on the 10th of June, the 6-Week Character Development course will keep your writing process alive and inspired as you learn some key story dynamics that will develop your characters, writing and storytelling skills. Last week to enrol!
It also gives writers considering the 10-Month Novel & Script First Draft course an excellent opportunity to explore ideas and characters before embarking on the longer journey of writing your novel or screenplay.
This comprehensive course is designed for writers who have completed our Unlocking Creativity course and are looking to continue their creative journey.
Success Stories
The Truth About My Daughter by Jo Skinner
Congratulations to Jo Skinner, an alumna of the Writers’ Studio, whose debut novel is coming out this year! The Truth About My Daughter will be released on the 14th of September, 2024 by Hawkeye Publishing.
Sisters Fin and George navigate their love/hate relationship growing up in a highly dysfunctional family. Will Fin finally fulfill her dream of parenthood, or will her family’s needs once again prevail?
‘Steinbauer family history was rewritten even while it was happening until it became difficult to recall which bits were fabricated or embellished.’
Click here to pre-order The Truth About My Daughter
Share the Good News!
If you’ve earned recognition for your writing in competitions or received awards, we’d like to showcase and celebrate your accomplishments!
Please share a brief note along with relevant details or links to wstudio@writerstudio.com.au with the subject line “Success Stories.”
We look forward to showcasing your achievements.
Giveaways!
Downstream
Thanks to Echo Publishing, we have 4 copies of Writers’ Studio alumna and tutor, Annika Johansson’s debut novel, Downstream, to give away!
Downstream is a story about the forsaken dreams and buried secrets that lie below the surface of our everyday lives – until they reappear in the aftermath of trauma and disruption.
With compassion and humour, Annika Johansson explores what ‘marriage’ and ‘home’ really mean, when you are faced with the prospect of losing them both.
For your chance to win a copy of Annika’s novel, email with your name, address, the book title and your mobile number to: rsvp@writerstudio.com.au
Babylon Berlin SERIES 4
Thanks to Acorn Media, we have 5 DVDs to giveaway to upcoming acclaimed German Noir, Babylon Berlin SERIES 4.
Set in 1930s Berlin, SERIES FOUR follows detective Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) and colleague Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries) amidst the Great Depression and the Nazi rise to power. Gereon’s investigation leads him into the boxing scene and dangerously close to Hitler’s supporters, while Charlotte risks her career to aid her homeless sister, struggling on Berlin’s streets.
Rating: MA15+ – Strong themes, sex scenes and violence
You can watch the trailer here
For your chance to win, email with your name, address, the series title and your mobile to: rsvp@writerstudio.com.au
Recent Course Feedback
Some snippets of the wonderful feedback that we receive back from recently completed courses. We update these each newsletter.
“I must start by honestly admitting that this course has been one of the best things that has happened over the past few days. It got me to develop a discipline on something I kept postponing for days. I loved the structure of the course, it was well manageable in the format set out. The best part of the course was being able to connect with a little virtual community of fellow writers who I may not ever meet but it’s like we shared a secret journey together which only we all knew about. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone joining in. It has been an absolute pleasure.” Sneh, Unlocking Creativity
“The urge and desire to write runs deep for me and I have been grateful to have the structure of the writing course to make writing happen in my life even when I am maxed out creatively.” Annie, Writers’ Gym
“I undertook the course as a prerequisite for the 10 month novel writing course. Before commencing Unlocking Creativity I considered it akin to something I had to knock out of the way before sinking my teeth into the main event. I was mistaken and pleasantly surprised. I doubt I could finish a novel without the lessons I’ve learned in this course. It has been a brilliant, life changing experience. Writing has become a compulsion that I need to satisfy daily. I highly recommend you sign up immediately. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself.” Monica, Unlocking Creativity
“I just want to express my gratitude to the Writers Studio for making my creative writing journey an illuminating and immensely satisfying one. This course has enabled me to fulfil a childhood dream and find confidence and purpose in my voice.” Christine, First Draft Online
“I have done writing courses before and read lots of books on writing and structuring short stories but none have given me the structure like Unlocking Creativity. It helped me immensely. I now feel like I can write short stories-well a lot better than before-by using this structure. It just seems to work. I know this was a writing course, but it is hard to express in words just how much I loved it. There was pressure, especially at the start, to write a lot each week but this gave me the push and motivation I needed. It was most definitely worth the effort. I can’t wait to do another course or two in the very near future with The Writers’ Studio and would thoroughly recommend it to you if you want to write.” Gill, Unlocking Creativity
“This is my fifth course at The Writers’ Studio and I must say, the First Draft Novel/Screenwriting course did not disappoint! The Writers’ Studio has really fabulous courses that are structured well and hats off to the incomparable Kathleen and the whole team for all their hard work. Time and again, when life got a tad overwhelming, I turned to creative writing and The Writers’ Studio, and without fail, it helped reset my internal GPS and made me rediscover beauty and purpose through words. What I’m saying is, you’re not just a creative writing studio, you’re a sanity-saver!” Rahnee, First Draft Online