My American based friends and peers seem to have access to many workshops with name writers and editors. I always see someone I know who's off to learn the finer points of writing at the feet of these masters. But here?
Clarion South has been in hibernation for a few years. Writers Victoria offers SF specific courses every couple of years, while their general short story courses seem to run only during working hours. Even then they tend to be run by people I've never heard of, although I'm sure they are quality writers and teachers.
About 18 months ago I attended a once-a-month workshop with Jack Dann. It was pretty good and I learned a lot, although I would have preferred it to have been more of a masterclass rather than a beginner's course.
I've done a couple of online workshops, which I found extremely beneficial, but in many ways I'm an old fashioned learner, and like to have face-to-face contact and teaching.
Those American based workshops look great, but it's hard to justify for myself when I have to add airfares and accommodation and time off work and so on. Maybe we should just convince some of those guys to come out here and teach us.
Or convince some of our homegrown talent to run a few for us.
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