I am constantly learning about the process of writing. I believe writing well is a skill that can be learned, and like any art form, the key to mastery is to practice regularly over time, and to find great tutors.

There are many brilliant writing tutors out there. I’d recommend the works of Donald Maass, James Scott Bell, Randy Ingermanson, and Blake Snyder, to name a few.

Shawn Coyne is a master at story structure – something I have struggled with due to my pantser writing style. I’d recommend his Story Grid book and workshops.

But for me, Margie Lawson offers the best teaching programmes for learning how to write unputdownable, page-turning prose. I was blown away by the first Margie course I took. I had read many books and attended many workshops over the years, and had learned small insights into improving my work. But taking Margie’s classes was like opening the floodgates.

Margie’s courses teach multiple ways to add power to your work. You’ll learn how to edit your work to cut out the dross and to empower the bland and the boring. You’ll find dozens of practical tools you can apply immediately to vastly improve your writing. Margie has worked with hundreds of writers and many of her alumni have gone on to become best-selling authors.

If you want to take your writing to a whole new level, I would recommend starting with Margie’s Big Three courses: Empowering Characters’ Emotions; Deep Editing, Rhetorical Devices and More; and Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues Like a Psychologist.

They are available as Lecture Packets, or as online courses providing one-to-one feedback on your work – currently taught by… yours truly!! I was greatly honoured when Margie asked me to stand in for her to teach her awesome lecture programme – she is simply too busy these days to teach the classes herself.

Here’s what students say about her classes:

• I am so glad I didn’t rush ahead and self-publish any of my children’s books. This month I have learned so much and become aware of how much better my work can be.
• The feedback on my work and that of the other students was wonderful.
• I’m really excited to use everything I’ve learned – it’s like I can see my writing in a new way.
• The material is fantastic – an entire new set of tools to apply to my writing and boost me off this writing plateau where I’ve been moiling around for some time.
• I have learned so much in the last month, and I am a much better writer than I was 30 days ago. I am excited to take my work to the next level and I have both you and Margie to thank for that. 
• I’ve learned so much in just a month! I didn’t realise it was possible to actually assimilate so much so fast, but keeping the EDITS system in mind, I wrote an epilogue for my WIP last week – and just got a ‘wow’ reaction. 🙂 🙂