Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Anna Harwell Celenza, a music professor of Georgetown University where she teaches courses in music history, radio journalism and the music industry. She has written several scholarly books, is a writer/commentator for National Public Radio’s Performance Today, and her work has been featured on nationally syndicated radio… Read more »
Life has ups and downs, and often our writing path follows them. When I was pregnant with my son, I had a horrible first trimester. I was sick, tired, and depressed for what felt like every minute of the day. My writing suffered. I stopped working on my novel; I didn’t blog for two months…. Read more »
Agents read hundreds of query letters every week, not to mention sample pages. It takes hours to get through them all, and it’s easy for the queries to start to run together. So how do you make your query stand out? A flashy font? A goofy intro? The truth is, the best queries are the… Read more »
Hello, hello word nerds! I’m so excited to share this DIY MFA Radio episode with you. Today, I’m speaking with Anders Ericsson and his co-author Robert Pool about their new book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise (affiliate link). In this book, they delve into the subject of expertise and try to figure out how some people can… Read more »
Symbolism is a tricky element for writers to master. Its ability to represent ideas and qualities requires deeper thought than other literary elements do. But when symbolism is used effectively, it can make a story even more powerful and unforgettable. Plus, its purpose can serve as another way of nurturing literary themes. Today, we’ll look… Read more »
Every career has specific traits that only others in the same profession can relate to, like my husband, who is a service technician in the Tel-com industry. When he’s around other techs, they speak in code, T-1, PRI, and VoIP. When we’re in public he tells me the phone system each business uses, “That’s a… Read more »
Hey there Word Nerds! This is our last solo show before the Storytelling Superpower Summit and online book launch celebration in June. How exciting is that? To get things going, we just rolled out the Storytelling Superpower Quiz to help you discover your unique abilities as a writer. In particular, we’re focusing on figuring out what type… Read more »
After I signed my book contract, I thought I’d have a few weeks to let things sink in before editing began. I mistakenly thought I’d have a month or more to do nothing but pound out the first draft of book two. Nope. The discussions on editing and the cover began within a week, and… Read more »
Like many writers, I got the idea for my book, A Keeper’s Truth, in a dream, that four am buzz that had me giddy, watching the scene play out in excruciating detail, the characters as real as life, voices clear and strong in my head. Jotting the scene on paper wasn’t a conscious choice, but a necessity…. Read more »
Hey there Word Nerds! I’m so glad you can join me for today’s interview with YA and middle grade author Jen Calonita. In this episode, she and I talk about writing what you know (and what you don’t know) and also how to make the shift from one writing niche to another. We dig into the… Read more »
