Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Carol VanDenHende. Carol VanDenHende is an award-winning author who pens stories of resilience and hope. Her debut novel Goodbye Orchid recently won the American Fiction Award for urban fiction, the Pinnacle Book Award for multicultural fiction, and was listed by Buzzfeed as one of its 12 Most Anticipated… Read more »
You may imagine that the age categories for kidlit are neatly defined. Here at DIY MFA we’ve laid out what the boundaries typically are, to give writers a guideline. But we have to admit: there’s an awful lot of wiggle room. Dividing books by age is an imperfect measurement, because kids vary so widely in… Read more »
In my previous article, I took you through the steps of starting a daily routine that will help you become more aware of yourself and your Writer’s Intuition. I want to tell you a secret about my own experience with this exercise. When I first started, I had a grand plan of taking my daily… Read more »
I am an alumna of Pixels to Platform and DIY MFA 101. In my writing and life as a writer, I incorporate practices from my teaching as a certified Breath Qigong Yoga and Tai Chi instructor. I am also studying to be certified as a WELL Accredited Professional for health and wellness in building design…. Read more »
If someone had told me in my twenties, I’d write a memoir about my mental illness, I’d have replied that they were crazy. Having been diagnosed with mental illness since I was a kid, it was something I’d always felt the need to hide. It was shameful, ugly, and not for polite company. Certainly, not… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Fish. Dwayne Booth (Mr. Fish) has been a freelance writer and cartoonist for twenty-five years, publishing under both his real name and the pen name of Mr. Fish. His work has appeared in numerous publications including the LA Times, LA Weekly, Village Voice, The Atlantic, The Nation,… Read more »
In How to Write a Romantic Comedy Novel, Part 1, I spoke of the highly recommended, must have at your fingertips tools to gather prior to writing a romantic comedy. Among those tools, a styptic pencil rated at the top of the list. Why? The secret is out. Each word is bled, drop by precious… Read more »
The sticker on my laptop reading “I am silently correcting your grammar” might make me chuckle, but it is not, in fact, true. As an editor, people sometimes send me screenshots of misspellings and grammatical errors that they found funny. Again, I may chuckle, but before I declare that writing “wrong,” I must first make… Read more »
So, you want to write about your dysfunctional family. Well, good for you. (And if you’re one of the lucky few who wants to write about your functional family, I’m not your Huckleberry). Family dynamics are difficult enough to grasp, let alone write about. But when properly explored, they make for powerful stories. Here’s a… Read more »
Word nerd, what makes your heart sing? I have a confession: I love personality quizzes! For the 16 Personalities, I’m an INTJ all the way, and according to the Four Tendencies, I’m definitely a rebel (surprise, surprise). But my favorite personality test of all is the Sparketype Assessment, developed by Jonathan Fields of the Good… Read more »
