Welcome to DIY MFA

Are you looking for an alternative to the traditional Master’s Degree in Creative Writing?  Fear not.  There is another way.  It’s called DIY MFA.

You are dedicated to your writing, but you also have a full and busy life.  You would like to go to graduate school, but the cost or the many responsibilities in your life make that impossible.  People have told you that if you were really dedicated to your writing, you could drop everything and make your graduate study happen.  And that hurts, because you are really dedicated, you just happen to have other things on your plate too.

DIY MFA could be a perfect fit for you if:

• You’re an independent thinker and love doing things in your own unique way.
• You’re good at following a plan and keeping deadlines, you’re just not sure how to get started.
• You’re looking for a completely personalized program, where you focus on your specific interests.

Here at DIY MFA, I LOVE to work with writers who are:

• not afraid to stand up to the establishment, even better if they do it in quiet, gentle ways.
• willing to look at their writing lives in new ways, even better if they challenge me to do the same.
• excited by the changes occurring in the publishing world, but also hold a special place in their hearts for the printed word.

I am Gabriela Pereira, founder and instigator of DIY MFA, the Do-It-Yourself Master’s Degree in Creative Writing.  I started DIY MFA because I wanted to give writers an alternative to the traditional MFA route.  Having experienced the MFA world first-hand, I strongly believe that writers of all genres and skill levels deserve the chance to deepen their study and become the best writers they can be.  Writers shouldn’t have to put their lives on hold in order to write.  The goal at DIY MFA is to help writers build their writing education into their existing lives.

DIY MFA offers an integrated approach that simulates the traditional MFA model but is personalized according to each writer’s individual needs.

How DIY MFA can help you:

• Blog, with each week focusing on one topic of DIY MFA
• Newsletter (launching in October), which will give you the monthly “greatest hits” from the blog, along with additional news and goodies
• Webinars (coming this winter) and DIY MFA courses (coming 2012), to give you an in-depth DIY MFA experience

To join the DIY MFA tribe, follow the blog and connect with me on the Facebook page and on Twitter.  I love hearing from other writers so join the conversation on Twitter with the hash tag #DIYMFA or leave a comment below.

I can’t wait to get to know you and learn more about your writing journey.