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I have Victoria to thank for teaching me to take an idea and map it out. She taught me the basics of story structure and the importance of knowing how to discover my characters. I would rewrite scenes over and over again whenever an idea popped into my head, wasting valuable writing time because I never knew how each story would end. I began stories but finishing them was another thing. Some people thrive on writing by the seat of their pants, but I finally realized that I’m not one of them. Even after reading dozens of how-to books, I couldn’t grasp the concept of cause and effect when it came to my characters and the storyline. Victoria listened to me, asked specific questions, and taught me how to plot out a solid outline. She personalized the process to my specific needs. I’m now in the revision stage of my novel. I’ve plotted out the next one and am a third into the initial rough draft. I couldn’t have done it without Victoria’s help.
Victoria is very passionate about her craft. Clear and direct, she doesn’t waste your time. Her guidance is filled with useful information that will help you navigate through the labyrinth of writing. A gifted and experienced writer herself, she knows what we need to succeed. And she will tell you straight-up, often with a pinch of humor too. She’s tenacious and untiring, practical and encouraging. She’ll offer you her support and she’ll challenge you, pushing you to improve your writing. If you’re looking for a writing coach, I can’t recommend Victoria enough!
I have attended many of the ongoing series of talks given by Verona in Second Life about numerous aspects of writing and how to get published. Each is attended by a large and appreciative audience.
The talks are based on her skills and experience as a writer and publisher and are informative, interesting, in-depth, well-structured, presented and explained. Each fully engages the participants, who clearly finds them enjoyable as well as informative.
I therefore have no hesitation in recommending Verona as writing coach, having personally learned a great deal of value from her.
I am writing this letter on behalf of Victoria Osborn, a long-time acquaintance and well known for her skills as an instructor I the art of creative writing. I first met her in December 2009 and have had many subsequent opportunities to know her better over the years. We first met I the online virtual reality world of Second life where she showed herself to be a reliable contributing and creative member of our community. After several years of our association, I was fortunate enough to meet with her in real life after which we became close friends, validating the high regard with which I had held her in that virtual realm.
Her role in this virtual reality of Second Life gave her the opportunity to become involved in many literary and educational enterprises such as Book Island, Bookstacks, Publishing Village, Second Life Community Education, Writer’s Guild and Virtual Writers, Inc. Already a successful author in her own right with such works as The Bankers of Zurix series, she expanded to begin her own Publishing Company, Azure Spider Publications which has had success in assisting budding authors to present their own works to the world.
More recently I have had the very good fortune to attend many of her online courses in creative writing. These courses attracted quite a few attendees as her reputation grew. Her presentations were well thought out and skillfully prepared. The detail she took to ensure the lessons were comprehensive enough to include the many complex facets of being a fictional author yet not so obscure the students were unable to apply the lessons to their own efforts to become successful authors. The more complex tasks were broken down into a step by step process with slide presentations distributed to better help the students envision the process.
It is my considered opinion that Victoria would be an excellent source of information and training for coaching those interested in writing as a career. This is evidenced by her own success in both writing and publishing. I highly recommend Victoria to any wanting to follow that path. Her support and encouragement are invaluable and her evaluations of another’s work are fair and unbiased, leading budding writers to produce high-quality professional works of their own. You may contact me via e-mail if you wish further information but I believe her professionalism stands well on its own merits.