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Sandy Novack-Gottshall

SANDRA NOVACK-GOTTSHALL (Pen name: Sandra Novack) will have her literary novel, Precious, published by Random House in February 2009 and her short story collection published a year later. Her work has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Gulf Coast, Descant, The Mississippi Review, Paterson Literary Review, Northwest Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Descant, and South Carolina Review, among others. Work in The Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, and The Chattahoochee Review has been nominated for Pushcart prizes. Stephen King selected Memphis (a story written in 2003) for inclusion in Best American Short Stories 2007's "Distinguished List." Her work also appeared in the anthologies: Tartts: Incisive Fiction from Emerging Writers, and Tartts 2. She was the runner-up in the Iowa Review Award for 2006.She has judged numerous awards and headlined at writer's conferences. She holds an MA in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Vermont College. She has taught at Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of Cincinnati, and local arts institutions. Her areas of interest include the literary short story, the literary novel, and playwrighting.

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Comments from Students

Sandy is the best instructor I have ever had for any course. Her insightful comments have consistently assisted me improve my fiction writing. I consider her an invaluable asset. -- Jill Stegman

[The class] offered a focused and constructive environment that actually stimulated me to write without fear. It was the best $270 dollars I have spent in a long time. Sandy was positive, critical, reliable, focused - everything one could want in a writing tutor...I have already recommended writers.com to several friends. -- Heather Walmsley

It is the best course I have taken online. Sandy's lectures were detailed and informative. Her critiques were right on. She puts a lot of time, energy, and heart into her critiques and her courses as a whole. I feel after this course I can truly say I am a writer... [Sandy is] the best. I like her direct manner. She gets to the heart of your story tells you what works, what doesn't, and provides examples and recommends other author's writings that help elucidate what she feels you need. Her lectures are, without a doubt, the most detailed and helpful I have come across since taking online courses. -- Leonard Hardy

The lessons provided an enormous amount of material to digest but they were clear and concise, very well constructed. I copied them all and expect to refer to them again and again. Sandy was a wonderful critic. I know she took time and gave careful thought to all the assignments. She went above and beyond in giving examples and suggestions for further reading... I have recommended writers.com to friends and will continue to do so. -- Lois Sarvetnick

The class was excellent! I was very happy with the lessons and assignments. Sandy was an excellent teacher - I will definitely take any other classes she chooses to offer. She was enthusiastic, informative, and made the class fun. This class, with Sandy and the other students, was one of the best sessions I've had with writers.com... I've already recommended you to a number of people. I'm looking to sign up for another class next month (at last count, I've taken six classes with you so I think it's safe to say I'll take more...*grin*)... Recommendations?...Keep doing a great job! -- Shelly Hazard

Sandy was terrific. She communicated often and regularly, not only on the writing but in general. She was available and always let us know when she could and could not be online. She was very dedicated and available more than I had expected. Her responses to our writing were prompt and very detailed. She offered praise first and encouragement; her feedback was detailed, specific and relevant. Sandy also offered references to other reading to help support her suggestions and strengthen our experience... Sandy could not have done any more than she had. She was supportive and understanding...I am currently taking another class now, and I have recommended your classes to my writing group and to many others. I am very pleased with the content of the classes, the professionalism, attention and availability of the instructor as well as the calibre of students taking the course. -- Cheri Valentine

Very happy with the class content and the assignments. The teacher was great! Her comments were always very well thought out and supportive. She showed a lot of faith in my writing efforts and was a wonderful cheerleader, yet gave constructive criticism so that my work could improve... Sandy understood that sometimes we needed to focus on our current story rather than take our eye off the ball and write an unrelated assignment. I also liked the fact that she offered a variety of assignments so that if something wasn't quite our cup of tea, there was something else there that we could get our minds around... I have recommended you to a couple of friends ... I mention your classes a lot -- I am currently in my third class with Writers.com and feel confident that I will take more. It really fits into my life (due to real world situation, I am unable to commit to a class in the physical world - this is wonderful because I can participate at midnight if that's the only time I can find the time). ... I am very interested in taking another class with Sandy -- if she does a Part 2 to this class, I would LOVE to take it. -- Shelly McIntosh

Sandy was great. She was supportive and generous with her feedback. I felt the class offered a great deal towards helping me as a writer. I would definitely take another class with Sandy. -- Barbara F Ladner

The lectures were useful in that they made practical sense. Often teachers of writing provide general, vague and over-arching material that does not give you specific, useable direction. Sandy's lectures were comprehensible and applicable to my work. The assignments were great. Not only were they useful tools in practicing certain styles and approaches to writing, but they allowed me new insights and approaches to things I've been working on. Also, as a result, I now have outlines to new stories I hadn't even considered..... Sandy was the most thorough writing teacher I've ever had. Her feedback and advice were useful because her approach was practical. She has a talent for getting at the heart of the work, and for providing specific, comprehensible critiques. -- William Young

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Yes, the lessons were very insightful and the assignments were appropriate to the lessons and challenging. [Sandy] was fantastic! As a teacher myself, I was amazed at the amount of time she was willing to give to each and every assignment. Not only did she write lengthy commentary, she provided in-text comments which were always helpful. Her manner throughout was both support and constructively critical -- just what a fledgling writer needs!! In short, I could not have been more pleased. I am already signed up for a second course that will begin in a week or so. -- Jeff Namiotka

I think [Sandy] goes above and beyond the call of duty. She is very encouraging and affirming and gives very useful feedback and suggestions in ways that are easy to hear. I'm sure I'll take another class with Sandy and I would heartily recommend her classes to others. -- Sara Perry

I was very happy with the class content. I learned a great deal. The lessons were exceptional. Over the years I've collected a good number of writing books, but Sandy's class made me want to just toss them. She explained everything in a clear, concise manner. Sandy put a great deal of herself into the class. The classes weren't just thrown together, but had been considered thoughtfully and were very informative. Sandy's insights into writing are exceptional as well. I came away with a solid knowledge base as well as the belief that maybe I CAN write! ..... I just wanted to add that I've taken several writers.com classes and that Sandy's class is by far the best I've taken, even beyond writers.com. She's an excellent teacher. -- Cathy Paul

I was both impressed and amazed with the class content. Sandy gave us tons of info and lots of choices for writing assignments. She was also very flexible about what we sent in for the assignments. Her lectures were informative. Sandy must spend days going over all the homework assignments.... I found her critiques to be thorough and informative. She took the time to give us lots of help, both grammactically by suggesting changes in the text and with a summary piece of her overall impression and more suggestions. She took the time to answer our questions, even giving us some extra material to go with her answers. -- Sherry Tuxbury

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