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 »
I am so unbelievably excited to share this news with you today. As of late last week it is official: DIY MFA will be a book and Writer’s Digest Books is going to publish it. The contract is signed, sealed and delivered, and in Spring 2016 the DIY MFA book will be coming to a bookstore near… Read more »
Last week’s challenge was to write a 100 word story to share how you got your name. Here’s mine: They weren’t big on surprises, my parents. They wanted to know right away. The suspense wasn’t fun, or sexy, or something they wanted to prolong. “Girl.” Repeated again and again, to family members, friends, and complete… Read more »
Christmas shopping can be tough, especially when you want to give special gifts that make the recipients smile, assuring them that you know them, and you’ve been paying attention. Writers are one of the easiest groups of people to shop for, but for some reason, people are often stumped. They have no idea what a… Read more »
Welcome to another awesome interview episode of DIY MFA Radio! Today we have Daniel Milnor, photographer at large for Blurb, Inc., joining us. Dan and I talked about how the book has evolved, what it means for something to be a book, and what all these changes mean for authors. In particular, we discuss different publishing… Read more »
Here’s a little word association exercise: What pops into your head when you here the phrase “Target Market”? If you’re like I used to be, you instantly get some kind of negative image. Mine was a sleazy movie exec fanning himself with money and pouring over a copy of the latest census report. What is… Read more »
Before graduating this spring with my bachelor’s in creative writing, I was faced with a difficult decision: follow my passion or get a job. The unspeakable amount of student loan debt weighing on me ultimately swung my decision towards employment, and I am grateful to have a steady full-time job at the same university where… Read more »
Hello and thank you for joining me today! This episode covers one of my favorite topics: revision. A lot of people (mostly non-writers) think revision just means running your story through spell-check, change a few words here and there, then poof! Your manuscript is ready to submit. We writers know better than that. Revision is… Read more »
Perhaps you’ve already heard, there’s a new social network in town. Ello launched publicly in August, and the site has caused a ton of buzz with its users-first, no-advertising promises. Which is all well and good, but what does Ello mean for your author platform? Let’s take a closer look. First Things First: What is… Read more »
I’m geekin’ out. Guys, science fiction and fantasy is bigger and better than ever. Check it out: Almost everybody knows at least something about Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Avatar, Ender’s Game… The list of TV and movies for us genre fans just keeps growing, and I couldn’t be happier. But some… Read more »
