Hi Reader,

If you want to craft amazing stories, there’s no shortage of resources you can learn from. Books. Courses. Podcasts (like mine!).

But nothing beats getting expert feedback on your writing.

In fact, I’ve spent the last year gradually working my way through a course myself. It’s a training on how to coach writers through writing, editing, and publishing their novels.

And last week, I submitted my materials to apply for certification. (Yay!)

When I submitted, the form asked this question:

What was your FAVORITE part of this course?

And I had to pause and think.

Was my favorite part the lessons, where an expert book coach with decades of experience shared her tools and strategies?

Was it the examples, where I got to study the work of other book coaches?

Was it the practice exercises, where I got to write feedback of my own?

All of that was helpful and has made me a better book coach.

But my favorite part, by far? Feedback.

In fact, the part I’m looking forward to the most is still to come.

The certification team will review the feedback I’ve given clients. They’ll decide whether or not to certify me. And of course, I’m hoping they do.

But more than that, I’m so excited to hear any feedback they share on my work.

See, I can go a long way by studying and practicing on my own. And so can you.

But eventually, I’ll fall into patterns I don’t even see. I’ll rely on approaches that are easy, familiar, reliable. I won’t quite know if I’m using new and unfamiliar tools in the most effective way.

And so will you.

The way out of that isn’t through a course, or a book, or a podcast.

It’s through feedback. Because there’s just no substitute for a real person evaluating your work and showing you exactly what’s working and how you can improve.

This is why I decided to build a workshop instead of a course.

In the Scene Mastery Workshop, there are lessons and examples and practice exercises.

But the heart of the workshop is feedback.

Every week, I’m giving a writer in-depth feedback on a scene of their novel. Then, they revise it with my feedback and share it with me again.

And we’re having a blast!

I’ll be leading the Scene Mastery Workshop again this fall. If you’re interested in joining us, join the waitlist, and you’ll be the first to know when registration opens.

​Click here to join the waitlist »​

Because we can go a long way through self-study, you and I.

But nothing beats getting expert feedback.

Happy editing,

Alice

P.S. I received so many kind messages after my newsletter earlier this month. Thank you so much. I’m still working from the hospital, but things are more stable now than they were a couple weeks ago.

The podcast is still on hiatus for now. But don’t worry—I’ll be bringing it back soon!

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