Yes. The answer is yes. I give you permission to be creative. If you’re looking for a sign, this is it. I grew up a few hours’ drive from cozy PEI, the crags and cliffs of Newfoundland, and the bustle and hustle of Halifax, Nova Scotia. People from this part of the world pride themselves… Read more »
Today, Lori is interviewing Helen Scheuerer. They’ll be talking about some of the lessons in her new book How to Write a Successful Series. Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from… Read more »
The 6 Creativity Killers lurk around every corner. They steal your time, drain your energy, and stop your writing cold. What follows is a reconnaissance report on these enemies. Read with caution, write with bravery, and arm yourself with these little-known defenses against the 6 Creativity Killers. Killer #1: Self-Criticism Defense: Conquer your inner critic… Read more »
Growing up, we all read stories that ended with every problem resolved and neatly tied up with a bow. Damsel meets prince, they fall in love, they live happily ever after. Unfortunately, real life does not work like that. In real life, there are difficult, sensitive subjects and issues that may or may not ever… Read more »
Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Sophfronia Scott. Sophfronia is a novelist and essayist whose work has appeared in Time, People, O: The Oprah Magazine, as well as many other outlets. Her first novel, All I Need to Get By, was nominated for best new author at the African American Literary Awards and Sophfronia… Read more »
It’s Fall! And for most people, that means Pumpkin Spice Lattes, sweaters, Chai Tea and crunching leaves. But for writers, it also means November–or, more specifically, NaNoWriMo–is just around the corner. In November, thousands of writers take a pledge to write 50,000 words on a book. It’s a fantastic exercise that can yield all kinds… Read more »
In today’s episode I want to talk to you about writer’s block. Specifically, the 5 stages of writer’s block, inspired by the Kübler-Ross stages of grief. If you’ve ever experienced writer’s block, you know that you have to get through all these stages to be able to get back to writing. Writer’s block is painful,… Read more »
People think creativity exists only when options are endless. The truth is that infinite possibilities can be paralyzing. There’s research to support this: that when people have too many options, they’re much less likely to take decisive action. But setting limits for your writing can be a good thing. It’s only in limiting your choices… Read more »
We’ve been talking a lot about writing challenges here at DIY MFA lately. Last week Becca shared 29 reasons why you should do them and earlier this week Melinda talked about what results you can get from a challenge. Not sold on the concept? Here’s how a writing challenge can help you write more, write better, and write smarter. 1) Write More Most writing challenges… Read more »
I’m a journalist by day and a creative writer by night. This double life started in my sophomore year of college, when I enrolled in two classes: Introduction to Fiction and News Writing. Every week, I would spend my mornings and afternoons typing up news articles using the inverted pyramid. Evenings were dedicated to creative writing:… Read more »
