I have called myself a writer for almost twenty years, yet somehow the madness of NaNoWriMo managed to elude me until this fateful November, 2015. Over the summer and even more in October, I started seeing posts about something with a weird nickname that was making people crazy on an international level. “NaNoWriMo?” I thought… Read more »
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that November is National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short. What you may not know is that it’s also Picture Book Idea Month—PiBoIdMo! Tara Lazar created PiBoIdMo for picture book writers who want to get in on all the zany fun novelists have in November… Read more »
Now, you can find writing advice anywhere, but here on DIY MFA, we’ve got some words of wisdom you just gotta take to heart. Each one of these amazing writers have something to share with you: a lesson learned, a friendly pat on the shoulder, good old fashioned experience, tips we wish we knew before… Read more »
Deciding to attend a writer’s conference for the first time is like deciding to visit a foreign country. You Google, do your research, and learn a new language (words like “pitch,” “logline,” “platform” and “query”). By the time you get to the conference you’re competent that your knowledge of genres and age groups is enough… Read more »
OMG Writer Igniter Con is just one week away! One of my favorite things about this online conference is that you can get real-time feedback from agents so you can learn to pitch your book. Of course, with the conference just around the corner, my team and I have been getting some questions what a pitch actually is, why writers… Read more »
If you’re anything like me, when you’re in the throes of the creative process you end up throwing everything at the page and the kitchen sink, just trying not to stifle your muse or leave anything important out of the story you’re trying to tell. When you finally finish it’s tempting to just close the… Read more »
Happy Fall, Word Nerds! Summer is over, and I’m not mourning. I’m a little too busy anticipating the first Chai Tea Latte of the season, sweaters, and cozy writing days. But boy, was this a busy and wonderful few months! Summer is high conference season, and as we prepared for our own writing conference this… Read more »
The 2015 Writer’s Digest Conference may have been a few weeks ago, but I still keep thinking about it. That’s how incredible it was. Three days of learning about the craft and business of writing, and being surrounded not only by literary agents, editors, and published authors, but hundreds of other writers who share your… Read more »
Military history is often an underappreciated genre supposedly filled with stuffy biographies, or a litany of dates and battle names. When I took on the project of writing Flying Colors, even I approached the genre with the same perspective. As I would with any new project, I began with exploring possibilities and took to reading…. Read more »
The blogosphere is full of advice for writers about self-promotion, building online relationships, self-branding, creating a platform, and more. But the truth is, if you ask most agents and editors what they’d most like to see from a new writer, the answer is almost always, “Great writing.” With that in mind, here are five ways to pursue excellence. 1…. Read more »
