The Institute of Children's Literature: Writing Career Opportunity
I never responded to those ads, often throwing them in the garbage regarding them as junk mail. When reading online, they also never gave a price for the course, which was also a big deciding factor for me. So I ended up searching online for things people had said about them and found a lot of information, just about all of it good.
I decided to do the writer's test online, and soon after I received the results in the mail, telling me that I had the potential to be a great writer. Again, more bad marketing. I came to the conclusion though, that I needed to start somehow and decided to fill out the card and send it back. A few days later, I had someone call me from ICL to discuss signing up.
I was told that the course would be $600 and that I could pay in installments or pay all of it upfront and receive a discount. I decided to pay it all upfront and gave them all of my contact information. A week or so later I received a big package in the mail that included the course binder with some of the lessons included, and a few books. I was very excited and decided to get started at it right away. That first package included all the materials to get started, and had 1/3 of the assignments in it. I would receive two more packages throughout the course that contained the rest of the assignments and also more course books.
It also included a letter from my personal instructor, who had formerly worked at Highlights for Children magazine, which was good for me because that was one of the markets that I had wanted to break into.
I got started right away and sent in the first assignment and a letter of introduction about myself. After that, the assignments were returned to me in about a month with constructive feedback and I was left to work on the next assignment and send it in.
There was a total of ten assignments and they had a broad range. The course is pretty open about being able to choose whatever topic you want to write about and it gives you plenty of alternatives if you'd rather choose to work on an existing story or start a new one. It also works with fiction and nonfiction and gives assignments based on both.
There is a website for the course which has a forum where you can talk to other students that are currently taking it as well. If you are stuck on an assignment, you can post a message to the forum asking for help or you can just browse through to see what people say about the various assignments.
I would definitely recommend this course to anyone that wants to get started writing and doesn't really know how to go about it. Every time I called the help center they were very friendly and had even let me extend a few of my assignments because of things in my life that had come up.
Sure it is a little pricey for the course, but it has taken me about a year to get through it. It gave me the motivation I needed to get started with writing.
Since then I have been published a few times with short stories, and I did end up breaking into Highlights magazine, they accepted one of my stories this past year for future publication. I've never had an assignment I wrote for ICL published, but it taught me the basics of writing a story and worked with me to make it successful.
Published by Diana Eid
I am the Innovative Arts blogger at http://inventorspot.com/blog/diana_eid. View profile
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12 Comments
Post a CommentSorry but I had a totally different experience with the Institute of Children's Literature. Being an English teacher I encouraged my daughter to pursue writing. She wanted to take a course through the Institute. I was not quite sure if the program was legitimate. After their reassurance that a student can leave the course at any time and won't be financially liable for further payments. I signed up my 16 year old . She stuck with it for 10 months but then it got to be too overwhelming for her. I kept on making the payments hoping she could continue in the course but realized it wasn't going to happen. I called to withdraw her. They talked me into merely suspending her involvement so if she wanted back in later she could start up where she left off. Well, that turned out to be a lie. They kept on billing me monthly even though my daughter quit the course. Now they have the audacity to turn my daughter over to a collection agency threatening legal action. She was only 1
This school is nothing but a scam. Years ago I took their writing test and they told me I should take their course. I sent in all the money I had, $65.00, to begin. They never sent me anything in return. I reported them to the postmaster and they tried told me the school was "uncooperative". They are nothing but rip-off artists and through the years I've turned a lot of business away from them by telling others of my experience. The only thing you'll ever learn from this phony "school" is not to waste your hard-earned money on scams.
Great article. I sent my aptitude test in and got a quick response back. Didn't expect it to be, but it was positive and reinforcing. Made me feel good. I began the course... paid my tuition in full up front. It wasn't much back then... This was over 15-18 years ago. The editorial staff was tremendous and very helpful. I was given a personal instructor to whom I was to submit my completed lessons. The course materials were more than satisfactory and lessons were easy to follow. They made me feel totally at ease. Unfortunately, as the course progressed, I began to have personal issues that interfered with my studies, delaying my lesson completion times. They were very understanding and gave me extension after extension, but eventually I had to drop out entirely, because of a "move" we had to make. I was too embarrassed to ask if I could continue... what with all the delays I'd caused prior to our move. So... my fault. I'd take the course over again
Thank you so much for the article. I am actually looking to sign up with them myself, as I felt the need to work on grammar, etc. I am now excited to get started after reading your article and the comments as well. Thanks, and have a great day! :)
Diane was very accurate. I was also a student of ICL and finished in two years. I was very impressed with the Course and support I got from them!
They are not a scam but I agree that they should hire a professional graphic designer to build a nicer web site!
Isabela
Thanks a million for your lovely article. I also was afraid that this was just a scam. Appreciate your help and wish you all the best in the future. Actually, I will be a new follower and hope you can follow me back. Regards, Diane
http://www.scari.org/seuss.html
I graduated from the children's literature course earlier this year and was recently invited to take the advanced writing class. I have not been published yet but did send out two non-fiction pieces that were returned. Thanks for the interesting artilce.
I really enjoyed reading your article. I also studied with The Institute of Children's Literature and finished my course back in 1992. The instructor I had was very helpful. However, when I took the course I had no computer and just saw the ad in a magazine. I have had a few publishings in books and online since then. I wish you all the best in the world of online and offline writing.
I studied at home with The Institute of Children's Literature a while ago under Gail Jarrow, I just recently purchased another one of her books. Fortunately,
for some other student she still teaches at ICL.
I find that developing the confidence to begin submitting work for publication starts with whether the writer feels ready to begin submitting work. But you have to begin. I earned my certificate in 2007 and haven't published anything as of yet. Still I write and add to what I've learned. Anyone who becomes a student of ICL, I believe will be in good hands. If you happen to see this Gail, "The Penny" was my exiting piece. Oh, and to those who have gotten published as a result of their efforts, well done.