A couple of years ago, deep into my journey for spicy romances that don’t center heterosexual relationships, I stumbled upon what I hold up as the gold standard of romance: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, published in 2021. I loved it. I read it first on my Kindle as a library book, then went… Read more »
Outside of social media, would you walk up to people you don’t know while grocery shopping and say, “I love your shirt.” Here’s what I ate for breakfast.” I traveled to Paris too!” “I’m reading this book now. What are you reading?” You wouldn’t. And yet that is what you essentially do on social media…. Read more »
Word nerds, thank you for joining me in what is my most favorite post of the year: Leisure Learning: Spooky Edition. This month, readers can peruse Mary Shelley’s (actual!!) Frankenstein notebooks, become unmoored by art inspired by Poe, and hopefully, add one of the best darkly academic podcasts to a playlist or two. Since we… Read more »
Earlier this week, a query response popped up in my inbox. I’ve been shopping around my second novel for almost a year, and even though I’ve sent back a revise-and-resubmit to an agent, it’s been hard to stay optimistic. Naturally, I steeled myself for the worse as I clicked that ominous bold subject. It was… Read more »
Writer’s block, that dreaded situation many a writer encounters when the words just won’t flow. The ideas are bad. The scenes you’re forcing out dead end into nothingness or tedium. You’re totally uninspired. And the longer it lasts, the worse you feel. And the worse you feel the harder it gets to bust through the… Read more »
What’s a Love Story Without a Few Bumps Along the Road? When last we left you, we were extolling the virtues of our critique group. Nothing has changed on that front, but it’s not the whole picture. We have our dysfunctions and challenges. Several challenges were logistics out of our control: managing four time zones;… Read more »
Today’s episode is our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Christa and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. This month’s episode is a… Read more »
I can’t encircle the trunk with my arms or see the top. Douglas Fir trees are like that. 500-year old giants, they stretch straight to the sky, snag clouds, and create their own weather. The bark smells of cinnamon and moisture, and if I am not careful, it will leave a scratch or two on… Read more »
You’ve finished your manuscript, congratulations! Now what? After all these months or years spent on your book, you’re fairly close to the material and it can be hard to objectively assess your own work. So, it’s time for others’ feedback. TIME FOR FEEDBACK Feedback will help you make the book the best it can be…. Read more »
Writing through thick and thin is not easy. Every writer’s life has thin stretches which overwhelm the importance of writing. Illness, death of a loved one, financial disaster, and now in climate change, weather related disasters: all overwhelm. All terrible, all distracting. Life has thick stretches too, joyous events such as marriage, childbirth, raising happy… Read more »
