Writers Bureau courses

I have a friend who started one but didn't finish it. IIRC, she was impressed by the feedback she got from the instructor, but didn't find the course materials particularly brilliant.

I am currently doing a Writers Bureau creative writing course, and I think its quite good. I have heard the same from a couple of other people. The only reason that I am doing this course is to find where my strengths and weaknesses lie as a writer, and to find a niche I could specialize in.

I suppose the course materials might not be good for someone with alot of experience, but for a beginner they are good. I still refer to my course books for alot of things, ranging from writing query letters to writing short fiction (which is an area I am still struggling with). The feedback from the tutors is very helpful to me, which was another reason why I joined up - I needed an experienced writer to tell me where I might be going wrong.

Hi. I started the course way back in 1998, but for various reasons (not to do with the course) didn't get beyond completing the 1st assignment. I've picked it up again now and would like to carry on with it but the materials are a bit dated as they were published in 1996. For example, it says to format your manuscript in Elite type (unfortunately I'm old enough to know what that means!) I wondered if it's been updated or if people who've recently signed up are also using '96 material.