Caroline’s courses are fantastically stimulating, motivating and, importantly for beginners, a safe place to share their writing. I hadn’t written any fiction for 21 years when I joined her week-long Introduction to Fiction class on Waiheke Island, in January 2013. I couldn’t have chosen better – the course was immensely enjoyable and energising. Caroline has a gentle approach and not only encouraged and motivated us, but helped us learn from our frustrations and self-doubt.

Her writing and teaching expertise was evident in the well-designed curriculum, which included varied examples of literature and exercises to stimulate creativity. It enabled us to experiment with a number of genres and techniques over five days, without feeling rushed.

I also took her Introduction to Poetry course in 2014 on Waiheke, which was another fantastic class. As with the fiction course, Caroline taught us as much about the art of reading and critiquing work, as she did about writing. All the participants felt they made great progress over the week and there was a wonderful sense of camaraderie; many of us are still friends today.

 Caroline also supervised my work on several short stories and poems. Her guidance was supportive and her advice spot-on, and I had a short story and a poem published in a literary journal. When she suggested another short story had the potential to be a novella, it was the inspiration I needed to begin a novel. I was recently awarded the Winston Churchill McNeish Writer’s Fellowship to travel to Norway to research and complete my draft of this work. I also entered the opening chapter and synopsis in British novel competition, Flash500, and was placed third.

 I’d highly recommend Caroline to any writer – beginning or advanced – who would like some personal supervision, or a course designed for a specific group.