Cozy to Cold-Blooded: Women and True Crime Podcast Fiction

Women comprise a large percentage of true crime fans. The most common theory behind this popularity seems to be that women read and watch true crime to face their fears.  As with many facets of real life, this phenomenon made its way into fiction. For the last few years, books documenting women solving cold cases… Read more »

Story Grid Scene Analysis: Something Borrowed

If you’ve been following my last two articles on scene analysis, you know how valuable I believe it is for writers to understand how to determine if a scene either advances the plot and/or develops the character(s). This is especially important if it is the opening chapter of a novel. Before I became a Certified… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Tips for a Mindful Writing Practice

As a writer, nothing is more frustrating than ending a writing session with a blank page. Sometimes outside distractions like family, pets, or social media cause us to lose focus. Or sometimes internal forces like worry, doubt, or anxiety that stop our fingers from adding words to the page. Either way, it’s frustrating. We’re writers—we… Read more »

How to Pitch an Online Blog (from a Web Editor)

The universe works in mysterious ways.  As I was trying to figure out what my next column would be about, I got a bit of a promotion here at DIY MFA. I am now the Web Editor (among other responsibilities). While reviewing the contact page and submissions guidelines, inspiration struck! I could write my next… Read more »

Mid-Year Check: Reassessing Your 2020 Author Platform Goals

So, we’re a little more than halfway through the year. And holy moly has it been a year.  A pretty tough one, and one that has upended just about all of our well-intentioned plans. How have you been doing with your author platforming goals through all this? Personally, social distancing totally took my March book… Read more »

Django Wexler

Episode 314: Magic, Politics, and Relationships: Using Fantasy to “Literalize the Metaphor” – Interview with Django Wexler

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Django Wexler. Django graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with degrees in creative writing and computer science, and worked for the university in artificial intelligence research. Eventually he migrated to Microsoft in Seattle, where he now lives with two cats and a teetering… Read more »