Write It! Wednesday #1: What’s Your Logline?

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 »

How to Write a Killer Logline

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 »

What Are Your Writing Fears?

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 »

Boost Your Creativity: Ideation Techniques for Writers

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 »

Idea Stormers: Creativity Q&A with Bryan Mattimore

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 »

Writer Igniter: The Story Behind the Web App

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 »

Creative Power Tool #3: Humility (and Hope)

Every writer needs a healthy dose of humility. Having a humble outlook is what lets us realize that we still need to work on our craft. That we should never rest on our laurels because our writing is never as good as it could be. That there’s always room for improvement. Humility is what makes… Read more »

Creative Power Tool #2: Silence

Last week we talked about the power of words and how we must use them with precision, and today we consider the counterpart of those words, the silence. After all, it’s not just what we choose to say, but what we choose not to say, that matters. To illustrate my point, I would like to… Read more »

Mobile Apps for Writers

In today’s mobile society, it can sometimes be a challenge to keep your thoughts organized. This is very important if you are a writer. Inspiration can hit you at any given moment, but thankfully there is an app for that. There are plenty of smartphones and apps out on the market today that can help… Read more »