Hello and Happy New Year, everyone! The start of the new year is always so exciting for me. I love how it feels fresh and new and filled with infinite possibility. But this new year is especially exciting because, as you may have already heard, this year I’ll be writing the DIY MFA book! I… Read more »
A few months ago, I went on a big vacation. I knew I would not be online much during this time, and since I was out of the country, my smartphone, which I usually rely on to keep up with social media, was not going to be an option. To keep my short story website… Read more »
Happy New Year! As you can see from this week’s podcast, we’re big on resolutions here at DIY MFA. They can be a powerful tool for motivation, and also for building your community. Studies have shown that the mere act of writing down a goal makes you more likely to achieve it. Telling it to… Read more »
Happy New Year, everyone! Since it’s the last day of 2014, I thought we’d talk about writing resolutions. But first, let me start with a crazy fact. According to a University of Scranton study, only 8% of people actually achieve their New Year’s goals. For many people the new year begins with all the best intentions for making… Read more »
We usually need to read a novel in order to identify its themes. However, what if the title and the blurb (a.k.a. jacket copy) could suggest potential themes? It’s not a stretch sometimes. In today’s edition of Theme: A Story’s Soul, we’ll explore how both items can reveal a great deal about the ideas and… Read more »
We’ve had an incredible year here at DIY MFA, with a lot on the horizon for 2015. We’ve expanded our team to include five new columnists and a podcast producer. We introduced DIY MFA radio and saw it jump to the top of the iTunes Arts section. We hosted a writing challenge and virtual writing retreat with… Read more »
Hello and happy holidays! Thanks so much for joining me this week for our holiday episode of DIY MFA Radio. I’ve always loved the Santa Claus story. This is my favorite time of year and I love how festive and bright every thing is (even though, in NYC the weather is usually dark and grim)…. Read more »
Joining my first writing group last year may be the best thing I’ve ever done. (Aside from marrying my husband.) Exaggeration? No. Beginners luck? Sure. A lot of people try writing groups, and hate them. They have mediocre experiences, sometimes traumatic ones, and never go back. Many are fearful of sharing their work. Others live… Read more »
If you’re like me, this holiday season you’ll probably see at least one version of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, and if you’re really like me, this might send you into a spiral of Victorian nostalgia. Well, good news! The nineteenth century saw the rise of the novel, so there are plenty of excellent books… Read more »
Hello and thank you for joining me today! In this episode–titled Outlining Demystified–we’re going talk about outline techniques particularly geared for writers who hate outlines. When I first started writing, I hated outlines because I thought they were too constricting. Then I discovered these five techniques and a whole new side of writing opened up… Read more »
