This is a great story. I can—of course—relate. I'm glad you had the experience, even though I also think it sounds like the course was a bit scammy. You made something of a bad situation! Thanks for sharing it!
And I felt like I’d been scammed. Yet the company has been around since 1993, located in Manhattan, right around the corner from Port Authority. The majority of the instructors have published a novel or three. Of course, none of this legitimizes the courses, but it does make them look more appealing.
I recently had a pitch from a couple guys who claim they'll 10x my podcast listenership. I WANT THAT SO BADLY!!! They also claim they can make the podcast a money maker. If I work with them, they'll charge me 20k, but they are confident I can earn 40k over that same period. They have the proof and results with other clients, the testimonials. But I have to develop a low-ticket course to sell.
And the reason I'm going to say no is because I'm not going to sell courses. I will mentor writers along the way, but I won't charge anyone for that. My mentoring will be by choice, and it will be my gift to the community. I never want to be enriched by preying on people's hopes and dreams.
You’re right, Jody: there’s always something to be learned from these situations. The trouble is overcoming the frustrations and losing the negative outlook so you can change your thought pattern and reassess the program or class and recognize the lesson you learned.
I was disappointed by a writing class that I took during the pandemic’s early stages while facilitating my daughter’s remote education. Because I was so busy learning how to teach third grade on the fly and acting as a school psychologist on the side, I opted for the less personal online class instead of the live one with twice-weekly Zoom meets.
The upset happened when the first lesson was emailed, a facsimile of chapter one of the company's book published over a dozen years prior, which I bought because it had been recommended and I wanted to be such a great student. I read the book in a day. The course, Fiction I for beginners—because you can’t take two without taking one and so on—was three months long.
I was annoyed and bored.
There is more to the story than this, including other disappointments, but there’s no constructive reason to list them all.
The course wasn’t for me. So what? It exists for anybody interested in writing fiction—not just me.
A few weeks after the course ended, once my ego had exhausted itself on the matter and pretended to be invisible, I was revising a short story when I realized that I owned a more critical eye. Every writer writes in a tunnel; only they’re decorated differently. Mine was now perforated. Being less purblind, I became a better writer, though sometimes, now, I am too critical of myself.
What I learned in the class came not from doing the exercises or writing but from evaluating others’ work and submitting reviews. Of course, I despised doing this at the time, and it gave me the most value. I now enjoy criticizing others’ work and still learn from it.
This is a great story. I can—of course—relate. I'm glad you had the experience, even though I also think it sounds like the course was a bit scammy. You made something of a bad situation! Thanks for sharing it!
And I felt like I’d been scammed. Yet the company has been around since 1993, located in Manhattan, right around the corner from Port Authority. The majority of the instructors have published a novel or three. Of course, none of this legitimizes the courses, but it does make them look more appealing.
I recently had a pitch from a couple guys who claim they'll 10x my podcast listenership. I WANT THAT SO BADLY!!! They also claim they can make the podcast a money maker. If I work with them, they'll charge me 20k, but they are confident I can earn 40k over that same period. They have the proof and results with other clients, the testimonials. But I have to develop a low-ticket course to sell.
And the reason I'm going to say no is because I'm not going to sell courses. I will mentor writers along the way, but I won't charge anyone for that. My mentoring will be by choice, and it will be my gift to the community. I never want to be enriched by preying on people's hopes and dreams.
You’re right, Jody: there’s always something to be learned from these situations. The trouble is overcoming the frustrations and losing the negative outlook so you can change your thought pattern and reassess the program or class and recognize the lesson you learned.
I was disappointed by a writing class that I took during the pandemic’s early stages while facilitating my daughter’s remote education. Because I was so busy learning how to teach third grade on the fly and acting as a school psychologist on the side, I opted for the less personal online class instead of the live one with twice-weekly Zoom meets.
The upset happened when the first lesson was emailed, a facsimile of chapter one of the company's book published over a dozen years prior, which I bought because it had been recommended and I wanted to be such a great student. I read the book in a day. The course, Fiction I for beginners—because you can’t take two without taking one and so on—was three months long.
I was annoyed and bored.
There is more to the story than this, including other disappointments, but there’s no constructive reason to list them all.
The course wasn’t for me. So what? It exists for anybody interested in writing fiction—not just me.
A few weeks after the course ended, once my ego had exhausted itself on the matter and pretended to be invisible, I was revising a short story when I realized that I owned a more critical eye. Every writer writes in a tunnel; only they’re decorated differently. Mine was now perforated. Being less purblind, I became a better writer, though sometimes, now, I am too critical of myself.
What I learned in the class came not from doing the exercises or writing but from evaluating others’ work and submitting reviews. Of course, I despised doing this at the time, and it gave me the most value. I now enjoy criticizing others’ work and still learn from it.