Writers Need a Team: Meet the Team at DIY MFA

Writers are solitary creatures. We choose to isolate ourselves in imaginary worlds of our own creation for hours, months, years at a time. We often feel protective or possessive of our projects, hoarding our words away like Gollum with his “precioussss.” These are survival skills we learn as writers. We have to seclude ourselves and… Read more »

Turning Your Writing Resolutions into Reality

This is the last installment from the DIY MFA holiday archive (first published in December 2011). In this article, learn three easy steps to help you turn those writing resolutions into reality. Let’s start 2014 off with a bang! When it comes to actually reaching our goals, we have to remember one thing: no matter… Read more »

Making Writing Resolutions that Stick

From the archive: some tips to help you get motivated and stick to your New Year’s Writing Resolutions. (This article first appeared at DIY MFA in December, 2011) Have a wonderful, writing-filled New Year! I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had a hard time with New Years Resolutions.  I make these loooong lists… Read more »

New Spin: The Graphic Novel of “Miss Peregrine”

Every month or two, DIY MFA’s Wendy Lu will be hosting “New Spin,” a column that covers everything that falls within alternative storytelling: literary mash-ups, books that put a new spin on classic stories, and “meta-books” that use new media, graphic illustrations, and interaction between words/design for an enhanced reader experience. Supernatural, eerie, weird. These… Read more »

How This Writer Gets His Groove Back

There’s a secret that most published, self-published and otherwise noteworthy writers know. If all first-time authors knew this secret, the collective blood pressure of the writing industry would go down by about 20 percent. Here it is. Even the best writers in the world still get off track. From time to time, legitimate, professional writers… Read more »

The Amateur’s Guide to a Professional Book Package, Part One

Have you waded into the murky waters of indie publishing? You’ve probably noticed advice everywhere. Do this. Don’t do that. No wait, do the other thing. You’ve spent a year, or two, or ten, crafting words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs. Angsting over every detail. Now it’s time to hit that giant shiny PUBLISH button…. Read more »

Ask Becca: Finding Your Voice

#askbecca: Most of my writing now is news articles about video games, but I guess I have a hard time consolidating “professionalism” and “goofiness.” How do you let your voice shine through when it might be more appropriate to tone it down?  – Cooper S. There’s more than one way to skin a turkey (and… Read more »

When You Finish a First Draft

NaNoWriMo is officially over. And you’re probably officially wiped out. And officially the owner of a very new, very messy, but very finished first draft. Or not. Maybe you’re the owner of 50,000 words, and you still have a ways to go before you bump into the words “THE END.” But if you’re a writer,… Read more »

A Writer’s Holiday Survival Guide: Part Two

We’re T-minus two days from Thanksgiving. If the holiday hustle and bustle hasn’t started already, it’s about to. Writing time is about to get as scarce as a flat-screen on black Friday. If you’re not taking the next six weeks off from writing, but you still want to make time for family, friends and celebrating,… Read more »