Writing retreats can be a fantastic way to spend a weekend. Whether you’re starting a new project, finishing one up, or just needing a few days away from the hustle and bustle of life to really focus, they can be a great way to get a lot of good words on the page. And they… Read more »
Hey there, Word Nerds. Welcome to this week’s episode of DIY MFA Radio. Today I’m talking to Steven Rowley, the author of the novel Lily and the Octopus about an important–but often neglected–topic: voice. As writers, there are so many different voices we have to sift through: from authorial voice to characters’ voices to that critical voice in our head that… Read more »
For a lot of writers, the ultimate goal is to get picked up by one of the Big Five publishing companies. You know the ones: the ones with lots of $$$, the brand-name recognition, the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. Believe me, I get it, and if that’s what you want, more than anything, I wish you… Read more »
There’s no shortage of lists telling you how to use the latest writing app to complete your manuscript, but what are you supposed to do once it’s done? Well, it turns out many of those apps (and a few others) are also helpful during the revision process! Here are my top five apps and how… Read more »
Hey there Word Nerds! Thanks for joining me for this episode of DIY MFA Radio. You’re gonna love today’s guest. Today I’m speaking with one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction: Dean Wesley Smith. A USA Today bestselling author, Dean has published far over a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds… Read more »
When we write every day ideas flock to us like mosquitos. Unlike mosquitos though, we love collecting ideas. However, if we switch gears to repeatedly chase the newest, brightest idea we canlose focus. If we lose focus, our writing slows, then the ideas slow and then we’re pulling out a ladder to get over that… Read more »
Hey there Word Nerds! Welcome back for another episode of DIY MFA Radio. Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Jerry Jenkins, author of 189 books with sales of more than 70 million copies. He’s had 21 New York Times bestsellers, including the Left Behind series and he now shares his writing knowledge on his… Read more »
We’ve been talking a lot about literary themes here at DIY MFA. And while we’ve developed a better understanding of what themes are and how they emerge in our work, we’ve never touched on why certain themes creep into our stories. The reason for that “why” might be more simple than we think: The themes… Read more »
In my last Five on Friday post, I wrote about what I learned at Hippocamp 2016, a creative nonfiction conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was a smaller conference than those I usually attend, and I partially chose it for that reason. Here are five reasons to attend a smaller writing conference over a big one: 1)… Read more »
Today I’m talking with debut author Erin Petti. Her debut novel, The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee, us out now and it just might be one of my new favorites. Right away when I chatted with Erin, I felt like I had found a long-lost bestie. She lives in Massachusetts and loves to read about… Read more »
