Latest reviews

This is my second class from Joan. I love her teaching style. It doesn't feel like a lecture, but rather a conversation. I learned so much about the senses and also when to use sensory descriptions. I also learned how to use sensory descriptions in effective ways. Joan's assignments are tailored to the lesson and are simple, yet instructive. She gives great feedback, both constructive and kind.

Since my genre of choice is mystery I was especially pleased to find it would be the subject of this Flash Fiction. There were a larger number of entries this time as well, which would indicate the level of interest among the members. Perhaps add more of this genre to the list.

One other suggestion about future contests, instead of using a photo for the prompt, consider having a basic plot that authors must use in their flash fiction story. An example might be, "Blair had been looking for months for the perfect house, and when she finally found it..."

This class was exactly what I was looking for. The lectures were well-paced, the assignments were engaging, and the instructor was so encouraging!

This class was excellent. It gave me ideas on where and how to add sensory elements and also made me pay attention to the places I had already written them.

Fantastic in-depth yet applicable knowledge of our seven senses and how to then take this knowledge and apply it to our writing at the line level. I was somewhat disappointed that examples of integrating the seven senses from printed books were taken from such a narrow genre cross-section of books. I do not write genre romance or speculative fiction, and I would've liked to have seen how acclaimed authors from a wide variety of genres are integrating the seven senses into their work in not just commercial writing, but literary and upmarket fiction as well.

Great contest as usual. So many variations on the theme this time and they were enjoyable reads too!

I very much enjoyed the challenge and reading others' stories. Lots of fun, and always cool to see how people take a prompt in all different directions. And there was a lot of talent in the contest!

That said ,there was not a lot of voting, perhaps because of two issues. First, I found it extremely hard to locate the contest and the voting on the website, and I don't think I got any emails promoting it (other than those I received as a participant). Not sure how many people really knew about it. Second, because there were quite a few entries (a good problem to have!) I think it may have discouraged people who are very busy these days from committing to reading all the entries and voting. I don't know if there is another way to break it into smaller chunks.

Thanks a lot for running the contest!!

Good fun and excellent writing practice! I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I found the content and homework gave me confidence in my preparation for a podcast where I am speaking on an uncomfortable topic as a survivor/writer. Amy talked about how I may protect myself when looking for podcast shows to be a guest on and how to manage any questions I may not want to answer. Etiquette is something I appreciate. Even though I have a podcast show myself I learned what I could expect of my guests and will apply to my podcast prepping with guests in future. The intro, conversation guidelines and the closer were interesting to see set out in writing. The critique exercise, live with Amy, showed me I do know my subject and what kinds of questions I might be asked. It showed me how I can feel like I'm answering a question but when I reviewed the recording - I could do better at staying on topic! Interestingly, where I was going to talk on my book's topic, there is also an audience who will appreciate my writer's journey, sharing a survivor story, and all I learned along the way. I hadn't thought about being a podcast guest in terms of it being a writer's healing journey. Overall, it was great value for such a low cost! Thank you Amy for making yourself available to help me shape a podcast pitch a few times; and for the live interview practice.

I thoroughly enjoyed Brenda's teaching style. I learned what I'm doing right and some new information as well. I recommend this class and will be taking another from Brenda as soon as I can.