I've had a couple of nice emails from people who have done my writing workshops in the past and have gone on to get themselves published and achieved great things with their writing. Adam Waldie runs the website surfingatlas.com and attended my workshop at the Sydney Writer's Festival earlier this year. He emailed me recently to say, " I can't thank you enough for inspiring me during your class. Since then, I have had my first article published in ASL, short stories published in Kurungabaa and I have a regular surf travel column starting on the Tracks website. I'm working on a collection of surfing short stories with cartoon illustrator Pat Grant at the moment as well as printed surf guides. Thanks Again, Tim."

As well, I was contacted by Walker Books recently to let me know that they are publishing the debut novel of another of my former students, Gerry Bobsien. "Gerry tells me she took a writing workshop with you and that it was you who inspired her to write (and successfully publish) her own debut novel! SURF ACHE is published this month and is suited for teenage girls," wrote publicist, Juliet Izatt. She passed on Gerry's own comments about the workshop, the first one I'd ever done, at the Hunter Writer's Centre, in Newcastle: "Tim Baker's surf writing workshop was a very timely push for my writing, inspiring me to turn a fairly average blog into a far more interesting novel for girls. Somewhere in amongst the excellent tasks we were set, Tim planted a seed and this turned into Surf Ache. The workshop was an immersive experience of water, culture and sport in all its drama and conflict. It was not just a workshop about the act of surfing. Tim's account of his own writing and experiences generated rigorous discussion around the potential of writing about identity, culture and the hearty narratives that emerge from sports drama. It set me off on a writing frenzy and I am very grateful to Tim for planting that seed." It's really exciting to know that the workshops have helped people achieve their dreams of getting their writing published. It's always tough getting a foot in the door of the world of publishing. Super stoked for these guys.