THE WRITERS BUREAU
STUDENT STORIES

It was a newspaper ad that caught my eye, so I sent off for a prospectus, and was immediately hooked. The desire to write has always been there, and now seemed the perfect time, with the children a little older and less demanding.

Becoming a student again was a daunting prospect, but I was reassured to know that I could study at my own pace. I would be working full time so this was important to me.

I set myself a personal goal to earn my course fees back before Christmas – a tight timescale of ten months, and something I secretly thought was unrealistic. You can imagine how thrilled I was when my Certificate of Competence arrived in the post at the beginning of December. It is now proudly displayed on the wall, and gives me encouragement when I need a boost.

The first piece of work I submitted was my second assignment - a story about my two cats, and I was delighted when it appeared as an illustrated article in Your Cat magazine. Over the next few months I sent off four general interest articles to The Lady, and was amazed when they accepted three for publication.

The content of the course is excellent and the constructive criticism of my tutor invaluable. I have learned so much already, particularly about how the industry works. I have just submitted Assignment 6, which includes a travel article and now realise my photographic skills leave a lot to be desired. I am tempted to pursue this study route in parallel and know I can do this without having to worry about timescales and deadlines.

I have found writing tremendously rewarding and a real confidence booster. There’s nothing quite like the thrill and excitement of seeing your work in print, and hopefully, this is just the beginning.

If someone had told me a year ago what I would have achieved to date, I would not have believed them. None of this would have been possible without the help and guidance from The Writers Bureau.

Carol Bore, UK.

When I enrolled in Writers Bureau, I had some apprehension about the claim made by them – that by the time I finish the writing course, I would have already earned back my fees for the course. But, today I am confident that I will be able to do so and the claim made by Writers Bureau is not merely a marketing statement.

My letters to the editor in magazines and dailies have become a regular feature. In the month of September 2008 four of my letters were published in magazines of national repute, including Reader's Digest, Frontline and The Sunday Indian. In October '08 I wrote a letter to People which was judged as the prize winning letter. I am awaiting a digital camera, worth Rs. 9,000/-, as my prize. I also wrote a letter to Chandamama which was also picked as the prize winning letter for which I received Rs.250/-. I was successful again in The Sunday Indian with my letters in the October, November and December issues.

All this is happening because of the analytical and focussed approach suggested by my tutor Alex. So far I have finished only four assignments, mainly because of paucity of time. However, I have started to take some time to browse through magazines, offering my reactions to the important articles which I then mail to the editor. Seeing my name in print in reputed magazines gives me a high and now the recent successes with reader’s letters propels me to explore new markets.

My latest achievement is again in this month’s issue of The Sunday Indian. The letter I sent has been chosen as the winner of Rs.3000/- award!

Now, I wish to graduate from a letter writer to an article writer. I understand this is a challenging task but, with Writers Bureau's guidance, I am confident that I will achieve my goal to become a sought after writer!

Madhukar Mohan, India.