For a while now, I have been wanting to make the experience a bit more interactive. I love giving you tips and how-to articles, but I also realize that you probably have a lot of things on your mind that you want to share, too. And I want to hear all about it! As I… Read more »
You’re at a your high school reunion and after exchanging pleasantries with your former classmates, someone asks that inevitable question: “You’re a writer? What’s your book about?” You stumble through a reply, explaining that it’s a character-driven coming-of-age story and that the main character is struggling to find love but finds herself instead… And then… Read more »
Ever wonder what literary agents look for when they read your first pages? While at the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar I had the opportunity to sit in on some small group workshops and observe how agents responded to the opening pages from different writers. By listening to agents give feedback, I got an inside look at… Read more »
Last week, I was inspired. Truly inspired. After several days of chaos and anxiety–worrying about and tracking down friends, family and colleagues–I finally ventured out into New York City to attend the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar. By some miracle, the hotel hosting the conference still had power (the blackout area started just a few blocks south)…. Read more »
Writers have a number of fears–fear of failure, fear of success, fear of doing what they love–but perhaps the most insidious fear of all is that someone might steal their ideas. There’s been a lot of talk about this in the blogsphere lately. A few weeks ago, one writer blogged about sharing an idea with… Read more »
This week, I want to talk about fear. Originally, I had planned this week’s articles to talk about fear as it relates to the spooky, trick-or-treat, Halloween spirit. Yet now, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and given some events that I recently learned about in the writing community last week, the fear I want… Read more »
Welcome back to our two-part Q&A on creativity with Bryan Mattimore author of Idea Stormers: How to Lead and Inspire Creative Breakthroughs. After hearing Bryan share his general insights on his approach to creativity I got really interested in finding out how writers might apply the techniques. So, mentioned a few different scenarios that writers… Read more »
As many of you know, I’ve been on a major reading kick, consuming as many books about creativity and entrepreneurship as I can find. So, when a colleague sent me a copy of Idea Stormers: How to Lead and Inspire Creative Breakthroughs by Bryan Mattimore a few weeks ago, it didn’t take long to get… Read more »
In less than two weeks, I will be attending the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar (Nov. 1 & 2) in New York City. I attended a Backspace conference once before–it’s actually where I first met my agent–and loved it. A newbie writer at the time, I appreciated the practical, no-nonsense advice I got on how to navigate… Read more »
The Writer Igniter is a writing prompt generator with literally millions of possible story prompts. It currently exists as a web app right here at DIY MFA, but it hasn’t always been this high-tech. Read on to learn about the process behind how the DIY MFA Team and I developed this new feature. It all… Read more »
