If you have a blog, then you need an editorial calendar. Sure, it’s good to leave a little room for flexibility and spontaneity and you could even get away with winging it for a while. Sooner or later, though, if you want your blog to be an effective part of your author platform, you need… Read more »
This past weekend, I had to do something that pained me at my very core: I decided to remove blogs from my Google Reader. I realized I had been following so many blogs that I had no chance of actually reading them all (the number was upwards of one thousand, I think). For some time,… Read more »
Some writers embraced it from the beginning. Others of us have been skeptical, but we can’t fight it anymore. Like it or not, social media has become firmly entrenched in the lives of writers, and it’s here to stay. It can be an overwhelming proposition to jump into social media or try out a new… Read more »
While I was in grad school for my MFA, I spent the first year working on campus literary magazine. For the staff, the primary responsibility was to read submissions and decide what went in the magazine. That year, I learned a lot about submitting work to literary magazines, and applied what I learned when submitting… Read more »
Publishing is a subjective business. It’s easy to forget this. Writers often get so caught up in fear or rejection that they avoid submitting work altogether. This is understandable, of course. It’s much less frightening to tinker with one’s work until it’s perfectthan it is to send the work out into the world. It’s a… Read more »
This week we’ve been talking about using images to spark ideas and capture the heart and soul of your story. In keeping with this theme, DIY MFA is now on Pinterest, a online pin board that allows you to collect and share pictures that you love. I’ve decided to use Pinterest to create a library… Read more »
There are four main areas in Intellectual Property (IP) law: patents, copyrights, tradmarks and trade secrets. Each of these areas protects a different type of intellectual property. Patents: Protect an invention by preventing others from copying a specific mechanism or process. Copyrights: Protect artistic expression by preventing others from copying the substance of an artistic… Read more »
This week at DIY MFA, we shift gears a little to talk about why writers need community. There’s something about writers that makes them flock together. Like if you put two writers in a crowded cocktail party, they will inevitably find each other, almost like they have this fine-tuned writing radar. A “wradar” as it… Read more »
Today, I wanted to give you a short introduction to the program and answer some frequently asked questions, or FAQs, including the biggie: What is DIY MFA all about? Those who are familiar with the DIY MFA program probably already know the answers to most of these questions but for those who are new to… Read more »
Are you looking for an alternative to the traditional Master’s Degree in Creative Writing? Fear not. There is another way. It’s called DIY MFA. You are dedicated to your writing, but you also have a full and busy life. You would like to go to graduate school, but the cost or the many responsibilities in… Read more »
