“I was amazed at the personal attention Margie gives each student in her deep immersion class. Her one-on-one sessions transformed my approach to editing. So many light bulbs went off in my brain it felt like a paparazzi attack. WARNING: you may need a seven day nap afterward just to absorb it all. I picked up tools and techniques I’ll use for the rest of my career.

Margie Lawson teaches new writers the high level skills they need to write masterful prose, but she also works with strong experienced writers to help them become even stronger. Not only that, but Margie taught me to trust my instincts. That was huge and I’ll be forever grateful.“

Immersion is one of those things that's hard to describe. You really have to experience it to understand how absolutely mind-blowing amazing it is. Margie teaches more than just editing techniques. She teaches how to breathe a soul into your manuscript.

Two days of Virtual Immersion with Margie refreshed what I learned from the core classes and added a good deal of new material.  I am excited to use it all! The one-on-ones with Margie were enjoyable and educational. She showed me specifically how to improve my ms and gave me great guidance on how to improve my writing. My writing mind is full and happy and my skill set is empowered. 

Wow. Just wow. I have witnessed the magic of Margie. There are so many classes offered through Lawson Writer's Academy, so many I plan to take, and so many to take again. It’d be crazy to go a month without one.

Why?

Because my writing has gone from ordinary to extraordinary, from forgettable to fantastic, from kindergarten to college, just like that, in seven short months, including a virtual immersion class.  

My critique partners are top of the heap Margie grads, grads who GET IT, grads who push me. Gratitude.

When I started writing, I was happy with everything I wrote. Then I joined a critique group and found I had problems I didn’t know I had. One member of the critique group, Laura Drake, led me to Margie Lawson.

Before taking her Immersion Class, I stumbled over the same problems again and again. Most slips related to avoiding writing about characters’ emotions. Her Immersion Class helped me to identify where my problems were and how to fix them.

But it didn’t stop there. Her courses are chock full of tricks and tips I never would have thought of and hadn’t found elsewhere. When you take her Immersion Class, keep a notebook on her ‘Easter Eggs,’ asides she doesn’t have in her written courses. You’ll be glad you did.

If you want to put the 'wow' factor, or the OMG in your novels, this is the place to learn how. Margie's classes take you from decent to excellent with her EDITS system, Visceral Response, Body Language, and Dialogue tags. Amazing how simple changes that aren't always easily seen can take you from plain to outstanding. Thank you Margie for teaching me how to be that writer I knew I could be but didn't know how to get there.

Margie, I hear you in my head and I use your lessons.

Here are some ways I apply your lessons:

• When I know a scene isn't working and I don't know why, I get out my multiple highlighters and EDITS the hell out of it. That always tells me why it's "wrong."
• When the emotion of this memoir is too much for me, I think about all the families that need this story, and suck it up.
• When I want to be lazy or I hate a sentence, I hear your voice telling me that cliches and boring sentences are an invitation to readers skip or put down a story.
• When I don't want to write, I hear you in my head saying "NYT! NYT!" and it draws me to the keyboard to "earn me some of that."

"I learned more at Immersion then I have in years of conferences and classes. Margie taught me how to revise and edit effectively and efficiently. Immersion on the mountain gave me an award winning first chapter and my Immersion sisters gave me insights, brainstorming sessions, and the chance to connect with an amazingly talented group of writers."

I’ve attended several of Margie Lawson’s immersion classes. They are a game changer. Her instruction made me not only look at the overall story, but also each individual word so they delivered the punch I needed to make my work stand out. A title I worked on during my first Margie Lawson immersion class was recently picked up by a Dutch Publisher. Thank you Margie for making me want to be better and do better.

"I just completed my second immersion master class, this one on the advanced side. Margie doesn't write your book for you, nor does she teach the cliche show don't tell. Margie teaches you to show AND tell AND all the while let's you learn for yourself what you are capable of as a writer."

"Since June of 2013 Margie Lawson has a special label on all my drafts—AM—meaning After Margie. Margie’s Immersion Classes have changed my writing style. Forever. Her deep editing has enabled me to detect errors before being ripped to shreds at weekly edit group. My husband (who hates to spend money and formerly hated seeing a piece of type written words in my hand) now asks to read or listen to my latest rewrite. Thanks, Margie!"

“Margie Lawson’s courses taught me how to bring out my voice, stand out from other authors, and sell!  After taking several courses and graduating from Immersion, I signed a 3-book contract based on a three paragraph outline and seven pages of the first book.  Here’s what NYT’s best-selling author Jayne Ann Krentz said about my latest single title release, Blue Rules:  Sharp, sassy, modern version of a screwball comedy from Hollywood’s Golden Age except a lot hotter.”

"Margie’s online courses and Immersion Master Class have strapped me into a skill-building machine for writers. With her help, in one year I moved from a can’t-write-a-fresh-line beginner to a Daphne finalist. Wow!"

“Having completed an on-line writing course which was beyond disappointing, I swore never to waste my money and do another on-line course again. I was reading Randy Ingermanson’s book and he recommended Margie’s lectures, and I trusted the man, so I bought one.

I was still reading lecture one when I went back on Margie’s website and bought two more packs and signed up for my first course. I knew immediately Margie was a unique teacher. So I have evolved from POV shifts, linear load issues, vagueness, clichés, accidental rhetorical devices and echo words, to backloaded sentences, scene themed descriptions, empowered passages, fresh writing, using rhetorical devices such as zeugmas and anaphoras, and using my ear for cadence driven sentences.

Thanks to Margie, I now call myself a writer. I was at Margie’s Immersion class when the bones of the story for Ten Seconds came to me. It may be my story, but I credit Margie for giving me the craft to write a story which won a contest.

Thank you Margie, and I’ll be back to your house on the mountain as soon as I can!”

"Margie Lawson's Immersion Master Class immerses writers in tips and techniques designed to deliver depth and emotion and richness to the stories we love to write. I now read and write on a new level that makes every story a new excitement."