Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also start getting Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode Lori and I discuss:

• How character, plot, and world are all connected.
• Using the iceberg technique as your write.
• Creating a setting that can take on a life of its own.

Plus, our #1 reading recommendation on how to weave your story’s world.

Link to Episode 469

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 469: Craft Jam: Weave Your Story’s World appeared first on DIY MFA.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA. You’ll learn more about how to write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community. You’ll also start getting Writer Fuel, our newsletter full of words of wisdom and resources to help you keep the momentum going in your writing. And you’ll be the first to hear about other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! You can sign up with your email at diymfa.com/join.

In this episode Lori and I discuss:

• Using method writing to get inside your characters’ heads.
• How to create balanced scenes using the TADA! method.
• The different types of voice and how to use each.

Plus, our #1 reading recommendation on compelling characters.

Link to Episode 464

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 464: Craft Jam: Create Compelling Characters appeared first on DIY MFA.

I was really excited about this book because I feel like you don’t come across standalone novellas super often and I was definitely curious about the form. Plus, it has an interesting path to publication. And then as I started reading, oh, my goodness! The characters! They felt so real.

In this interview, I got the chance to ask Jane about her writing process, how she creates such strong and vivid characters, submitting your work to contests, and so much more. 

I hope you enjoy it and I hope you learn as much as I did.

About Jane V Blunschi

Jane V Blunschi holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of Arkansas. She was a 2014 Lambda Literary Emerging Voices fellow, and her collection of stories, Understand Me, Sugar, was published in 2017 by Yellow Flag Press. Jane’s stories and essays have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and appeared in Bayou Magazine, Cream City Review, Paper Darts, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Foglifter, among others. Originally from Louisiana, Jane lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

You can follow her on Instagram.

About Mon Dieu, Love: A Novella

Set in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mon Dieu, Love is the story of Elise and Carrie Briggs, a pair of sisters stuck in a non-stop loop of relationship mistakes, attempts at sobriety from drugs, alcohol, and general lesbian drama, and accidental, unwelcome emotional growth. As Carrie works to make sense of her life post-divorce, Elise begins an affair with an older ex-nun amid a surge of confusing religious fervor and supernatural experience. Relief from the predictability of her already established long-term relationship is short-lived for Elise, who learns more than she’d like to know about fidelity, romance, love, and family.

Interview with Jane V Blunschi

Lori Walker: First of all, I’d love to hear more about your journey to becoming a writer. How did you get your start? What was that moment you knew?

Jane V Blunschi: My mother had a lot to do with this discovery. I remember being about 8 years old and already a bookworm with a huge imagination and I told my mom I wanted to be a writer. Her response was something like, “You should do it.” 

She has always encouraged me to move closer to my creative aspirations, which is surprising, because she also let me know, all the time, that she really wanted me to have a financially stable life with good health insurance. I know she’s worked to balance her concern for me with her unwavering support of my creative life.

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?

JB: I don’t write every day—I am more of a binge-writer, I suppose. When I’m at work on a project, I usually work in the afternoon into the evening, from about 3 or 4 pm until I am done for the day (until I feel done, at least!), maybe 9 or 10 pm. I am a morning person, but I’ve never been one to get up early to write or even make a daily commitment to writing. I focus on one project at a time, and abandon myself to the process.

LW: At what point did you know that Mon Dieu, Love was a novella as opposed to a short story or a novel? What were some of the clues that helped you figure it out?

JB: When I first began taking myself seriously as a writer, another writer encouraged me to focus on writing interconnected short stories and organize the stories into a longer work, rather than try to climb the mountain of a novel. This worked well for me because I have been writing about the lives of a handful of characters for quite a while now, and I have so enjoyed getting to know them by writing about them at different stages of their lives.

This was the approach I took in writing Mon Dieu, Love. I wrote the first chapter, “Anger Prayer” in 2019, thinking it was a stand-alone story I wanted to tell. Pretty soon, I realized there was more to explore, so I wrote the other chapters in April and August of 2021 and January of 2022. Revising meant connecting the more subtle threads holding it all together. 

LW: Sticking with this topic, what are some of the key differences between writing a novella and short stories? Does it affect your pacing or plot arc in any way?

JB: I don’t think about pacing or plot until I am in revision. When I’m drafting the stories, I surrender to the story and know that I’ll have a chance to make it all make sense later. I do like figuring out a way to make a stand-alone story out of a longer piece, though—that’s really fun.

LW: I looked at some blurbs and reviews of your other writing and you are known for writing strong vivid characters. What are some of your techniques for creating such well-rounded, deep characters?

JB: Mostly just living with them! Characters are people made of words, and getting curious about their lives is one of my favorite parts of writing. 

Most of the characters in Non Dieu, Love have been part of my life for a long, long time—Carrie, Elise, and Jody are among the first characters I ever created and I love them. Their choices are so dumb, but they make me laugh and they are my people. Of course, I run some of my own interests and preoccupations through the prism of their personalities, and I let them do things I would not do. 

Mostly, I let myself be open to their nudges—signals in my imagination that it is time to pay attention, because they have a new story to co-create with me. Does that sound too woo? I don’t know, it’s just the way my imagination works.

LW: One of the things that really struck me is the scope of Mon Dieu, Love. You explore a pretty deep range of relationships in a short amount of space, so I’m curious about how you pulled it off.

JB: Me, too! Even when I was writing it, I was like, NO MORE PEOPLE! No more new people at all! There was even another sister who had to step out of the story (I am hoping to write her into my next manuscript). 

The biggest surprise was Oliver. I’m not sure where he came from, but I wanted him to be in the story after I wrote the scene with Jody and him in the bar when he’s picking on her about her uptight therapy worksheets. He’s unlike any character I have ever written and he is definitely invited back for future stories. I’m not done writing about him, I believe.

LW: Mon Dieu, Love is the winner of the Clay Reynolds Novella Prize (congratulations!), which included a cash prize plus publication. Can you talk a bit about submitting your work for prizes like this? Like tips for finding ones to submit to, things to look for when submitting, how to know you’re ready, and any other advice for people who might be looking into this path.

JB: Hey, thank you! Finding places to submit work has taken a long time and there have been lots of little missteps along the way. 

I have submitted manuscripts two or three years in a row to presses or contests that like my work well enough—maybe the manuscript or story is a finalist or the editors send a kind and encouraging note—and I realize now that it’s probably best for me to step back after every season of submission and do a little work around acceptance and expectations. I can LOVE the work a press is putting out and envision myself on their author page, but sometimes, I have to accept that my work isn’t that great of a fit and I need to keep it moving.

When I first started submitting, I felt like I would never figure it out and crack the code of placing my work. Gradually, I began to get the hang of it. Following journals on social media and paying attention to where other writers whose work I admire is showing up has been a huge help.

As for the Reynolds prize, I read one of the winning novellas a few years ago, Blindsided by Chelsea Catherine, and started learning more about Texas Review Press. When I saw that the incredible Renee Gladman was judging last year’s contest, I decided to double down on polishing Mon Dieu, Love, because even thinking there was a chance that she would read my manuscript was totally thrilling to me. I admire her work so much, and it has been a great honor to have her choose my work for the prize. 

Texas Review Press has treated my work and me very, very well and my association with them is dear to me. I had a feeling this would be the case, because I could see the way they approached the work of authors they’d already published. They are really dedicated, sharp, caring people. They’re awesome.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. What books would you recommend to people after reading Mon Dieu, Love?

JB: This is a fantastic question! These, for sure:

Women by Chloe Caldwell (probably my favorite novella)

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco by K. Iver

Boyish by Brody Parrish Craig

Valencia by Michelle Tea

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post The Book Nook: Interview with Jane V Blunschi appeared first on DIY MFA.

I truly hope that it will help other memoir writers out there and that you’ll check out her memoir because it is amazing.

About Eden Boudreau

Eden Boudreau was born and raised in a small rural area just outside Halifax. In 2016, she relocated to Ontario with her husband and three sons. As a bisexual, polyamorous woman who has survived her fair share of adversity, Eden’s work draws on her life experiences to inspire vulnerable and relatable stories. Her essays have been featured in Flare, Today’s Parent, and Runner’s World, amongst others. She is the host and creator of the podcast, Dear Lonely Writer, aimed at destigmatizing mental health struggles during the writing process. Boudreau lives in Georgina, Ontario. Crying Wolf is her first book.

You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow her publisher, Book*hug Press on Twitter and Instagram.

About Crying Wolf

It’s a tale as old as time. Girl meets boy. Boy wants girl. Girl says no. Boy takes what he wants anyway.

After a violent sexual assault, Eden Boudreau was faced with a choice: call the police and explain that a man who wasn’t her husband, who she had agreed to go on a date with, had just raped her. Or go home and pray that, in the morning, it would be only a nightmare.

In the years that followed, Eden was met with disbelief by strangers, friends, and the authorities, often as a result of stigma towards her non-monogamy, sex positivity, and bisexuality. Societal conditioning of acceptable female sexuality silenced her to a point of despair, leading to addiction and even attempted suicide. It was through the act of writing that she began to heal.

Crying Wolf is a gripping memoir that shares the raw path to recovery after violence and spotlights the ways survivors are too often demonized or ignored when they belong to marginalized communities. Boudreau heralds a new era for others who were dismissed for “crying wolf.”

After all, women prevailing to change society for others is a tale as old as time, too.

Interview with Eden Boudreau

Lori Walker: First of all, I’d love to hear more about your journey to becoming a writer. How did you get your start? What was that moment you knew? In chapter three of Crying Wolf, you talk about how you had wanted to be a writer since you were a kid, but you took a longer route to get there. Walk us through that a bit.

Eden Boudreau: I used to think that I had a sort of unconventional journey to publication, but the more I talk to other writers, the more I’ve realized that we all found our way here when and how it was meant to happen.

As you mentioned, I’ve said before that I have wanted to be a writer since I was just a kid but money was not something we had in surplus when I grew up and university was out of the question after I graduated high school, so I took the route that made the most sense financially and went into the beauty industry. But after over a decade of working in that career, relocating from Halifax, Nova Scotia to just outside Toronto, Ontario and the life-changing aftermath of my assault, it felt like the right time to start finally pursuing my real passions.

In Crying Wolf, I dedicate a good portion of the latter half of the book detailing how I went from journaling to blog posts to a whirlwind writers retreat with Margaret Atwood, so I won’t spoil it for any readers but the thing that really got me started on my road to publication was writing personal essays about some of my life experiences. It was not only cathartic, but it allowed me to hone and refine my practical skill as a self-taught writer and my individual voice.

And after a few years of freelance work, and working with a terrific writing mentor, Chelene Knight, I felt ready to start sharing my story on a larger scale. Which is when I approached the publishers at Book*hug Press with my proposal for Crying Wolf.

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?

EB: Well, I’m a mom before a writer so, my day generally starts with a full cup of coffee and the happy chaos of getting my three sons up and out the door. After they are off to school, I will generally split up the day between my freelance marketing clients and writing. Like many of us, I’m not at the stage yet where I can write full time yet, which means I have to be very dedicated and precious about the time I set aside for it or it could easily get pushed to the back burner.

When it comes to writing time, usually early afternoon or late evening, I sit down at my desk with my laptop, a notepad, and headphones. Being diagnosed late in life with ADHD, I have always struggled with focusing on tasks and not feeling incredibly overwhelmed by big projects. So, two things are very important when I write: Having my pink noise playlist in my headphones and breaking my writing up into small, manageable chunks for each day.

Instead of giving myself a lofty word count or even planning to tackle a chapter a day, I break everything down into really bite-size pieces. I might make a goal of finishing only two scenes that I’ve been working on or going over just two pages of line edits. When I’ve accomplished them, I cross them off a list in my notebook and add two more goals.

It may seem like a slow progress, but since my brain can so easily get overwhelmed and delights in the serotonin boost of accomplishing something, these small tasks actually make my writing process significantly quicker than if I attempted to just attack the project as a whole.

LW: You open Crying Wolf with an author’s note about the reliability of memory and truth, and how some people will remember events differently, but it doesn’t invalidate your own truth. Why did you think that was important to include and how does it tie into your overall goal for writing this memoir?

EB: For me, it was important to make this note for two reasons. In Crying Wolf, I get really honest about my childhood and family dynamics, and how they contributed to some of my internalized trauma as an adult. And I don’t think I’m alone in having experienced conversations with family members who remember certain life events entirely differently than you do, but that doesn’t mean that those moments didn’t impact you negatively and being allowed to own that truth is one of the first steps toward healing.

It was also, in a way, a direct message to any survivors reading my book. I was telling them, “I believe you.” Because so often survivors of sexual violence will have every single detail of their story, no matter how benign pulled apart and twisted in a way that fits the narrative of the perpetrator and it was important to recognize how backwards that is from the very beginning.

LW: Sticking with the topic of memory, what was your process for collecting and organizing your memories around this very traumatic experience? And how did you keep it from becoming overwhelming to relive these experiences?

EB: In the beginning, it was a daunting process. Thankfully, I had a very wonderful therapist who had kept quite detailed records of our conversations, which proved to be incredibly helpful when I was looking back at that time. Using those records along with journals and letters I had written to myself, during some of the darkest times, I was able to create a sort of patchwork timeline that I could work off of when I was initially drafting the memoir.

Being that I wrote Crying Wolf so closely after it happened in 2017, I think that contributed to being able to access those memories with such clarity. However, that didn’t make the process any less difficult emotionally.

Throughout writing it, I had to make a concerted effort to reach out or lean on my support system when it felt overwhelming, as well as giving myself the permission to walk away from the page when I needed to.

LW: I think something a lot of memoir writers, myself included, struggle with is dialogue because we don’t have a transcription of past conversations. How did you approach recreating scenes and conversations in Crying Wolf?

EB: Dialogue is probably the most difficult part of memoir because it’s not a place that you can take liberties with, not only for legal reasons but for ethical ones too.

What I found to be the best approach when it came to dialogue was, less is more. If I came to a conversation that I knew was really important to the scene or chapter, I would first reach out to the person involved (if possible) and try to piece together what we both remembered of what was said. If that option wasn’t available or too many chunks were missing from my memory, I would turn inward and instead show what I was feeling in that moment. How what was said made me feel and how that would affect the trajectory of my story.

LW: One of the things that really struck me is the voice. It is so open, relatable, and approachable. I felt like I was having drinks with a friend and hearing her story. A lot of people don’t necessarily think about this when it comes to writing a memoir—that you have to craft the narrative voice the same way you do for writing fiction. How did you create that for the page?

EB: When I first started writing, there was a lot of imitation, especially when I was working on the multiple fiction projects that will never see the light of day. I would write in similar styles to what I was reading because I didn’t know what my own voice was yet. But when I was writing the personal essays and having to be really vulnerable about difficult topics, I realized quickly how imperative it was that I write in a voice that made my reader comfortable, otherwise the material might just be too hard to digest.

I want my writing to be a conversation in a way. Something that probes the reader to think deeper about what they are reading and allows them to grow their perceptions along with the story.

LW: Crying Wolf is your first book. You also have had a number of essays published in various publications, and you host a podcast about writing and mental health. Can you talk a bit about how all of these things work together in your writing career and where you want to go from here?

EB: Advocating for better mental healthcare has always been an important issue for me. As someone who grew up in a province with very high addiction and self-harm rates, as well as having seen the generational trauma that can be caused by lack of access to support, medical care and open conversations surrounding mental health, sharing my personal experiences in my essays and book felt like a necessary use of my skill as a writer.

And starting the podcast was my way of giving other creatives a safe platform to have an even broader conversation about sort of taboo topics like imposter syndrome, financial struggles in the early stages of publication, family/work/life balance, etc.

It’s a theme that I hope to continue exploring with my writing in the future, whether it be memoir, podcasting or fiction.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. What three or so other memoirs would you recommend to people after reading Crying Wolf?

EB: Ooooh, great question! I would have to say, Still, I Cannot Save You by Kelly S. Thompson. It is an honest, funny and heartbreaking memoir that explores Kelly’s relationship with her older sister, Meghan. Tested by addiction, abuse, and illness, the sisters’ relationship crumbles, only to be rebuilt into an everlasting bond. 

Also, Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart by Jen Sookfong Lee, which is a beautifully intimate memoir-in-pieces using one woman’s life-long love affair with pop culture as a revelatory lens to explore family, identity, belonging, grief, and the power of female rage. 

And last but not least, Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation and Non-Monogamy by Rachel Krantz. It is an unprecedented exploration of polyamory and gaslighting, from an award-winning journalist chronicling her first open relationship with unflinching candor as she explores this fast-growing movement.

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post The Book Nook: Interview with Eden Boudreau appeared first on DIY MFA.

In this interview, I got the chance to talk with Rochelle about why we love characters who are seeking a fresh start, how to incorporate our past lives into our writing, the all-important meet cute, and so much more. 

I hope you enjoy this interview!

About Rochelle Bilow

Rochelle Bilow is a food and romance writer who previously worked as the social media manager at Bon Appétit and Cooking Light magazines. A graduate of The French Culinary Institute, she has also worked as a line cook, a baker, and a wine spokesperson. Her first book, The Call of the Farm, a swoony farming memoir, was published in 2014. Raised in Syracuse, New York, Rochelle now lives in northern Vermont.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

About Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year

When a thirty-something American food writer moves to a Scottish village for one year to fulfill her dream of writing a cookbook, she finds more than inspiration—she meets a handsome Scotsman she can’t resist.

Ruby Spencer is spending one year living in a small cottage in a tiny town in the Scottish Highlands for three reasons: to write a bestselling cookbook, to drink a barrelful of whisky, and to figure out what comes next. It’s hard to know what to expect after an impulsive decision based on a map of Scotland in her Manhattan apartment—but she knows it’s high time she had an adventure.

The moment she sets foot in Thistlecross, the verdant scenery, cozy cottages, and struggling local pub steal her heart. Between designing pop-up suppers and conversing with the colorful locals, Ruby starts to see a future that stretches beyond her year of adventure. It doesn’t hurt that Brochan, the ruggedly handsome local handyman, keeps coming around to repair things at her cottage. Though Ruby swore off men, she can’t help fantasizing what a roll in the barley might be like with the bearded Scot.

As Ruby grows closer to Brochan and the tightly held traditions of the charming village, she discovers secret plans to turn her beloved pub into an American chain restaurant. Faced with an impossible choice, Ruby must decide between love, loyalty, and the Highlands way of life.

Interview with Rochelle Bilow

Lori Walker: First of all, I’d love to hear more about your journey to becoming a writer. How did you get your start? What was that magical moment you knew?

Rochelle Bilow: I wanted to be a writer—or perhaps I knew I was one—in college. But for a long time, my focus was on food writing. I spent years working as an editor and writer at Bon Appétit and other food magazines. 

It wasn’t until I went freelance and felt a bit adrift that I began dreaming about novels. I never thought I was “good enough” to write fiction, but my agent encouraged me to look into the romance genre. She instinctively knew it would be a good fit for me, and she was so right.

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?

RB: When I’m drafting or revising, I prefer to do so in intense, immersive bursts. That’s not to say I don’t write at home or in shorter spurts, but typically I block off week long periods and book myself into a hotel or Airbnb. That way, I can entirely live in my characters’s worlds and work without distraction. 

Those days are wild; I roll out of bed and find some way to get coffee into my belly, then begin writing. I like to start each writing day at a proper desk or table, but by noon I’m sprawled on a couch or bed, where I stay until nightfall. 

Every once in a while, I may come up for air and take a short walk or do some stretches, but for the most part, it’s all writing, all the time. Then I come home, bonk, and don’t touch the manuscript for another week.

LW: How do you know when a nugget of an idea has the legs to become a full-fledged book or story? What is your process for getting it there?

RB: My agent, Sharon Pelletier, is crucial in this process. She’s so smart, and so good at developing ideas. I’ll share a concept or pitch with her, and she’ll tell me whether it has potential or not, and what it’s lacking to get there. Getting that kind of feedback is like a deep tissue massage; it hurts in the moment, but feels great afterwards.

LW: One of the things I love about Ruby is that she’s sold all of her possessions and moved to Scotland for a fresh start (and to “become the sort of person she wished she was”), which by normal standards is pretty drastic. Yet readers love books like this. Why do you think that is?

RB: It’s a living vicariously thing, I think. Because there’s so much about Ruby that readers can relate to, it’s not hard to imagine themselves taking those big, drastic steps. Reading, especially in the romance genre, can feel like a delicious escape.

LW: You have a past life as a food writer, which you incorporate into your fiction. What’s your advice for writers to bring their past experiences to their writing without writing autobiographical fiction?

RB: I love this question! Use your knowledge to add detail and set the scene, but consider your characters to be outside that sphere of influence. 

Because we shared careers, I could write about the logistics of Ruby’s life well, but we’re very different in terms of personality. It was important to me to write a character that had different motivations, fears, and goals than I did.

LW: In every romance, one of the most important scenes is the meet cute because it sets up the whole rest of the story. What are some of the qualities of a good meet cute and how did you use them in your own meet cute between Ruby and Brochan?

RB: I think a great meet cute has to feature physical attraction—even in an enemies-to-lovers story! In Ruby and Brochan’s case, we get to witness her “shaken-to-the-core” attraction to his physical appearance in a way that reveals more about her personality (she can be impulsive and “all in,” to a sometimes-detrimental degree). 

I also love a meet cute that has a tinge of awkwardness. In this one, Ruby’s trying and failing to use an electric drill for the first time ever, unaware that Brochan—a handyman—is watching her with amusement.

LW: How did you weave together the emotional and dating history of Ruby so that it was complex, rich, and relatable?

RB: If you’re in your thirties and you’re single, your romantic experiences have run the gamut. I wanted Ruby’s past to reflect the good, the bad, and the indifferent that comes along with dating. So she’s experienced big-time love, shattering heartbreak, and a whole lot of the “meh” stuff that happens in between.

LW: If you could go back to the beginning of your career and give yourself one bit of advice, what would that be?

RB: Stick it out when things get hard. I struggled with living in New York City, and left my full time food writing job before I really felt ready to. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had kept at it, through the challenges. That said, I’ve finally learned the lesson. Now that I’m a novelist, I’m not going anywhere—even if the going gets rough.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. What three books would you recommend to people who are interested in Ruby Spencer’s Whisky Year?

RB: Much Ado About You by Samantha Young This book has aaaall the cozy UK-centric vibes you could want and more!

The Summer Seaside Kitchen by Jenny Colgan Nobody does charming Scottish small-town like Jenny Colgan.

My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella Another UK-based romcom, this one featuring a fun city vs. country push-pull.

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post The Book Nook: Interview with Rochelle Bilow appeared first on DIY MFA.

Read on for this fantastic interview!

About Amy Wallen

Amy Wallen is the author of How To Write a Novel in 20 Pies: Sweet and Savory Tips for the Writing Life, the Los Angeles Times bestselling novel MoonPies and Movie Stars, and the memoir When We Were Ghouls: A Memoir of Ghost Stories. 

As writer-in-residence at Ocean Discovery Institute, Amy teaches personal storytelling to young people traditionally excluded from science due to race, income status, and educational opportunity. She also facilitates and co-teaches manuscript workshops in San Diego and France (at which she serves pie). For several years, Amy was associate director at the New York State Summer Writers Institute, and a novel writing instructor at UCSD and UCLA Extensions. 

She is also the creator of Savory Salons—literary salons with pie—a day of discourse with successful authors on the writing life, and the founder of DimeStories—three-minute stories told by the author and featured on NPR.

You can follow Amy on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies

Providing comfort food and inspiration for the aspiring novelist, How To Write a Novel in 20 Pies offers novelist and writing coach Amy Wallen’s insider secrets on living the writing life. Filled with chapters about writing, revising, submitting to an agent, and book promotion, this book combines Wallen’s experienced writing advice with the brilliant illustrations of Emil Wilson, including recipes for literary success and the full recipes for 20 sweet and savory pies.

As a novelist, memoirist, and associate director of the New York State Summer Writers Institute, Amy Wallen has a few things to say about the writing world, many of them irreverent and snarky. From her perspective as a teacher, mentor, and published author, her belief is that the way to survive the hard knocks of writing a book and trying to get published is to bust a gut working, laughing, and eating pie.

With chapters including “Oh Agent, Where Art Thou?”, “Revising, Rewriting, and Reimagining,” and “The Joy of Rejection,” Wallen balances out the challenging stages of the writing process with both sweet and savory goodness, featuring recipes for chocolate pecan pie, salmon and portobello pie, and the recipe for the best cherry pie ever.

Throughout the book, Wallen demystifies the vagaries of the publishing business, providing delicious recipes that will keep your belly full even when you’re staring at an empty page. Her writing advice is neatly paired with the brilliant illustrations of Emil Wilson, who shares her sharp wit, sardonic look at the demands of the writing life, and her mad love of pie. Combined, the stories, lessons, images, and recipes will provide encouragement and camaraderie for the novel-writing journey, from putting pen to page, to finding an agent, to celebrating publication—all with a piece of pie.

Interview with Amy Wallen

Lori Walker: First of all, I’d love to hear more about your journey to becoming a writer. How did you get your start? What was that magical moment you knew?

Amy Wallen: So many authors answer the same, but I’ve always written stories. When I was a child my family traveled around the world living in places like the Southern US, Africa, and South America. 

My first “book” was “self-published” (Scotch tape and Big Chief perforated tablet pages) when, at the age of 7, I wrote a few lines about each place we had lived, and I drew a picture of each place. Colored pencil was my medium. I suppose that was my first illustrated book. When I was 12, I wrote a book of short stories collected in a Snoopy spiral notebook for my brother for Christmas one year. 

But my start came later when I was asked to be a member of Janet Fitch’s writing group. For four years I drove to Los Angeles every two weeks for her read & critique group. She was one of my toughest and best teachers who I felt gave me the answers to all the questions about writing that I didn’t know I had. 

The magical moment when I knew I was truly a writer was when my first novel was published and when someone asked me how it felt, out of my mouth came, “I feel legitimate.” 

LW: You’ve written a novel. You’ve written a memoir. Now a craft book. Can you tell me a bit about why you’ve chosen to write in so many genres and how you pull it off?

AW: I’m not sure any of my books were a choice. I don’t mean to get woo-woo about the process, but each book happened by happenstance. 

The novel started when I was doing morning pages. I mostly journaled and one day was tired of complaining and meandering on and on about my woes. I was tired of listening to myself, so I took a character who I had created a few weeks before in a workshop and let her write my morning pages. And off we went. She started telling me her story, which I thought was going to be a short story, and 300 pages later was a novel. I’ve always thought of Ruby as the writer, and I was just the typist. 

My memoir happened because I went to grad school so I could get those letters after my name in order to get a teaching job. Since I had a novel published I decided I would study creative nonfiction instead and hone my ability to write essays. A lot like my first novel, I had one essay I was working on and 300 pages later it became my creative thesis and then my published memoir. Maybe I just don’t know when to put my pen down. 

This third book came to me while standing in front of my novel writing classes. All the students sit looking up at me as though I have the secrets to writing a novel. I figured that’s why they signed up for the class, so I wanted to share all my secrets. I took my class curriculum and personal stories I share in all my classes and put them together to encourage all writers that the secret is persevering. 

Writing my books and seeing them published has been living my dream. And, I wanted to help my students and other writers to live their own dreams. 

How did I pull off writing three different genres? I guess I pulled a Nike and Just Did It. I didn’t think about the fact that I was writing different genres until I got to the other side of them. I just keep writing what wants to come out. I just write. 

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?

AW: Every day seems to be different. I love editing and revising as much as I love creating a new story, so when a story grabs me I can be at my seat for hours. But when the book throws up an obstacle, I find myself up and about more. I walk my dog more than she wants to go out, I ride my bike on every errand I can think of, and I make more pies. 

Sometimes, yes, this can be procrastination, but usually for me, it’s when I’m percolating ideas. I don’t walk with anyone but my dog because she doesn’t interrupt my thoughts, I don’t ride my bike with anyone else in tow, and making pies is pretty solitary, except for the eating part. 

Then, when I’ve got the book at a place where it needs polish and shine, I am at my desk for hours at a time again, and my bike tires go flat, my dog whines to go out, and my husband loses his pie belly. 

A typical day of writing starts first thing in the morning. Post-dog walk, I take a big jug of water and climb the stairs to my attic office, I open the work-in-progress document, reread the last couple of pages, and set to writing. 

I don’t write an outline, but I do make lots of lists and as my fingers move across the keyboard and my head thinks of what’s to come, I jot down notes of what I don’t want to forget to include. So, my desk is an utter rainbow of sticky notes of all my reminders-to-self. If my typing slows, I’ll scan the notes for what I wanted to make sure to include, and then I include it.   

I feel writing is a 24/7 job. Even when I’m at the grocery store I’m thinking about a story or ideas. 

LW: I love the unique decision to weave a craft book with one of the timeless procrastination methods, baking. I think for nonfiction writing, be it memoir, essay, or even this craft book, coming up with the structure can be difficult. Can you talk about how you came up with the structure?

AW: Procrastibaking. That’s the term I’ve heard a lot. I love the word, but not sure I believe procrastination is what I am always doing. I could very well be lying to myself, and it wouldn’t be the first time. But, I consider cleaning out my fridge as procrastinating, and pie baking is more of a meditation for me. It’s where my mind settles and I can revisit something that, prior to baking, I couldn’t figure out for the story. 

A lot of people, Mark Twain for one, and me, go for walks to let the story percolate or simmer, or what it feels like to me is that the scenes settle. Baking is where my ideas can finally settle rather than floating around inside my head not knowing where to fall. It’s like I leave my desk, and my ideas can find a seat as the music of musical chairs stops. But pie is twofold because it is also comfort food. 

Yes, structure can often be one of the hardest parts of writing a book-length manuscript. I think memoir may be the hardest to figure that out, but maybe that’s my own experience, or maybe the nature of the beast since it can be hard to determine what sets the story off on its trajectory, because it’s the specific story and situation we want to read/write about, not the chronology of the life (that would be autobiography). 

So, where does this story begin and/or end is a common question when writing memoir. Obviously, the author hasn’t died, so the life hasn’t ended but the story to be told needs to have an ending. That’s a part of the examination of what the writer wants and needs to tell. My memoir started in the middle and the story fanned out from there, but it took me a few drafts to figure that out. 

For this most recent book I naturally felt it should be structured in the order it takes to have an idea, write a solid book, find an agent, get a publishing deal, and have a book out in the world. Each of those require consistent persistence, and I wanted to help writers to keep going no matter how long it seems it takes to realize their aspirations and achievement of each of those steps. 

Of course, the order of the pies was another structure that had to lie parallel to the narrative about writing and publishing. The recipes and the personal essays that go with each recipe have an overall arc as well. The theme of the book is perseverance, and the recipes build in momentum and difficulty. I wouldn’t say any are difficult, but they do get fancier, because after all don’t each of the steps toward finishing and publishing deserve celebration pies?

LW: So, your title says “How to Write a Novel,” but you also include advice on writing memoir in this book. What are some of the similarities and differences between fiction and memoir?

AW: Yes, the title, like the rest of the book, is irreverent. The book tackles all types of creative writing, and it focuses on how to pursue the writing life. 

There are many differences and similarities between memoir and novels, but I’ll share a couple of my own personal experiences when switching genres from novel writing to memoir. 

One similarity in fiction and nonfiction is both have a main character in a particular situation, which sets the character off on a journey. All characters have wants and needs. 

One area where the two genres differ is the main character in a memoir has two voices—voice of experience and voice of innocence. The voice of experience is telling the story. The voice of innocence is to whom the story is happening. 

As a novelist, this was hard for me to get my head around. I could hear the little girl telling the story, me as a child. But I couldn’t figure out how to bring out the older, more experienced me examining the situation from a distance, from experience. 

It took me reading many memoirs and examining how others had done it, and the description in Fearless Confessions by Sue William Silverman. It wasn’t that I didn’t already analyze and think about my childhood and have an adult perspective, the difficulty for me was seamlessly allowing both voices to exist side-by-side in a scene on the same page. 

In fiction, this had always been a shift in point of view and worked either inside the point of view character, or from a more distant perspective within the same point of view. Eventually, it clicked for me, and I was able to not just tell the story of my peripatetic childhood, but could reveal how it made me who I was and who I am. 

Both genres need conflict, tension, suspense. And, both genres require the writer to use their imagination. Memoir is not just the transcript of a recording of your life. Memoir is a litany of memories, but memories come from our imagination and the “creative” part of creative nonfiction is how to put the story together, how the story develops. This is true of fiction as well. 

As mentioned above, the structure of a memoir, as in fiction, plays an important part. In fiction, this same building of the story is done by fully understanding the motivations of the characters. So, in some ways that’s what a fiction writer does as well—examines the whole of the character—how they got to be who they are now.

The best writing is when none of these building blocks and character developments are seen. We can just read the story and not think about whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, just that it’s a story that transports us to another experience by another human being.  

LW: How do you know when a nugget of an idea has the legs to become a full-fledged book or story? What is your process for getting it there?

AW: If a character in a story has much more to reveal than just what happens in one short story, then the writer should keep going. Every character has a want and a need. When these are resolved, then that’s when the story is complete. One story may turn into a novel because there is more to what the character needs to learn. 

If it’s just an idea about where a story might go, writers have different ways of testing it out. Some sit down and write it and see where it takes them. This is me—I write from the seat of my pants. Curiosity keeps me digging. If I am not curious after a few pages, I know the idea won’t intrigue anyone else. 

Others prepare an outline. This is a great way to see if the story can be plotted out. My third book was sold on proposal, so I wrote it after I got a book deal. But the chapter outline I wrote to sell the book were all chapters I was certain I could solve for X. I felt confident the trajectory had a beginning, middle, and THE END.

LW: What is one of the biggest mistakes that you see beginning writers make and how can they avoid it?

AW: Not writing from their gut. I’ve seen too many writers try to follow what they think is supposed to be done instead of reminding themselves of their own hopes and desires for the story. I’ve seen too many writers try to follow everything their writing group or early readers tell them to do. They end up confused about what they even meant the story to be in the first place. 

On the other hand, some writers only listen to their ego and don’t take any advice, and this also gets them no place but a book that is about one thing with very little depth. 

To sum up, beginning writers would do best if they took in advice, considered the source, their original intention, and how the two mesh. Can that scene that the group said to get rid of be rewritten from a different perspective? There’s a reason it was written in the first place. But listen to your gut. If it feels right to let it go, then hit Delete. 

LW: I want to know all about the illustrations! Why did you decide to use illustrations? What was the process of working with an illustrator like? How much creative control did you have? How did you collaborate with Emil Wilson on the artwork?

AW: I always saw this book as illustrated with whimsical characters. My friend Emil is mentioned in the book as a friend in our Janet Fitch group. We are both pie bakers and I knew his illustrations, so I reached out to him to see if he would be interested in collaborating. He was very much interested. I already knew our senses of humor connected, so that was no issue. 

I sent him my proposal and because he is an art director in advertising he was able to help put together one of the most top-notch proposals. My idea and narrative, along with his whimsy, set off to the agents and publishers hand in hand. 

As far as creative control, I wrote and he drew. I handed him what I had written and he always came up with something I loved. We meshed well. It was a partnership in creativity. 

I learned later that most writers have an illustrator assigned to them, but that wasn’t the case with this book, so I guess I was very lucky to know Emil would be a good fit.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. I know How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies is a craft book, so maybe what are some of the top books that you recommend to people?

AW: The first song I would want to go with this book is “I Can See Clearly Now” because this is a book on perseverance, on how to keep pushing through all the obstacles, riding over bumps, and going around detours in the writing life, from putting your pie butt in the chair all the way through to publication, and hopefully, by the end, the reader can see their path and at least know they can return to the book for more pushes and nudges and pie, that I’m there for them when the going gets tough.  

But you didn’t ask for songs, you asked for books. 

For me, what got my foot tapping was Annie Lamott’s Bird by Bird. I got up and started to dance when I read Ralph Keyes’ The Courage to Write. 

To help my novel-writing students learn to boogie, I teach them the basic steps with The Plot Thickens by Noah Lukeman. 

But to really jive and get down, we do exercises in What If? edited by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. We rock out and go deep inside our writing with Naming the World edited by Bret Anthony Johnston. 

For any wallflowers who come to my creative writing workshops, we work on stepping out with Now Write! books, both the fiction and nonfiction editions, edited by Sherry Ellis. 

Sue Silverman’s Fearless Confessions answered many questions for me about the voice of innocence vs voice of experience when writing my memoir, and it’s a wonderful waltz through the corridors of revealing truth and finding metaphor and beauty in moments of life. 

I also believe that one of the best dance partners to have is other books, not just how-to, but being the apprentice to the author of books one loves. The best way to learn the steps is to take the arms of someone else and follow what they do. Then learn how to lead. 

I love quirky off beat stories, and some of my all-time favorites that inspired my own were Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Greeley, and Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje, and Claire DeWitt’s crime novels as I’m working on my next novel which is about a menopausal Nancy Drew, so I’m trying to figure out the crime/mystery drama. Here I go working on a whole new genre again, a whole new melody.

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post The Book Nook: Interview with Amy Wallen appeared first on DIY MFA.

Every person has their own way of finding focus. But every now and then, it feels like the old ways stop working and I need something new to regain my focus, creatively or even in the work setting.

Fortunately, DIY MFA has you covered with tons of tips on how to find or regain your focus. Just in time for the holidays with all of their disruptions and distractions and in time for the new year with its set of lofty goals.

1. Overwhelmed? Overworked? Over-Committed? How to Keep Focus in 2014

This is truly an oldie but a goodie! It’s a month out from being nine years old! But the information that Marcie Flinchum Atkins shares about goal setting is still applicable today. She breaks down how you can narrow your focus in quarterly, monthly, and weekly segments. Check it out if you are in need of some general order.

2. Episode 31: Finding Focus in Your Writing

This episode was back when Gabriela was primarily doing solo shows on the podcast. Here she walks listeners through her process for deciding where to spend her writerly energy. Inspiration is everywhere and there are shiny new projects around every corner, but we can’t write all the things at once. This episode will help you narrow it down.

3. #5onFri: Five Tai Chi and Yoga Techniques to Help With Writer Focus

Physical movement is a great way of expending excess energy, which then allows us to return to the task at hand with a clearer mind and sharpened focus. Columnist Ambre Dawn Leffler walks you through five exercises to help relieve stress, reduce mental clutter, and fuel your creativity.

4. Lose The Mental Clutter and Find Your Focus

Remember several years ago when we were all Marie Kondo-ing our possessions to get rid of clutter? Well, former DIY MFA columnist Leanne Sowul walks you through five steps that will help you Marie Kondo your mind and get rid of mental clutter. Once your mind is freer, you’ll be able to return to the open page with more clarity.

5. Episode 293: Find Your Creative Focus — Interview with Jessica Abel

Jessica Abel is a longtime friend of DIY MFA and in this episode, she talks about taking the creative process from beginning to The End. Jessica is all about helping writers find the structure and processes they need to cross that creative finish line, but it all starts with finding focus and taking control.

6. #5onFri: Five Tips for Narrowing Your Focus

Choosing a topic for a book can be a pretty daunting task. We want to tell ALL THE STORIES! But we can’t do that in a single volume. So how do you choose? Well, this guest post will help walk you through Lynne Golodner’s process for narrowing down your possibilities until you find that one topic you’re excited to write about. Then you save the other ideas for your next project—nothing is ever wasted!

7. #5onFri: Five Ways the Vagus Nerve Helps Writers Focus

Sometimes we need a little grounding in order to get back on track. When we get stressed, our brains kick into fight-or-flight mode and they don’t always know when to come out and resume normal operations. But guest poster Brittany Capozzi shares her secret weapon—the Vagus nerve—and how you can harness its power to get grounded.

Regardless of what kind of focus you are trying to gain—be it organizational, creative, or momentary—I hope these resources help you out.

Happy creating!

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. She is also the producer and co-host of DIY MFA Radio and editor-in-chief of DIYMFA.com, among other roles. Lori is a copyeditor for Amanda Filippelli and collaborating fellow for The Poetry Lab. She writes personal essays and memoir in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post Find Your Focus Round-up appeared first on DIY MFA.

I hope you enjoy this interview!

About John Matthew Fox

John Matthew Fox helps authors write better fiction. He is the founder of Bookfox, where he provides editing and creates writing courses, and his books include The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel’s Key Moments and the story collection, I Will Shout Your Name (Press 53). He gives writing tips on Tiktok and Instagram.

About The Linchpin Writer: Crafting Your Novel’s Key Moments

In every novel, there are pivotal places that can make or break a book. Write them well, and you’ll have your readers begging for a sequel. Write them poorly, and your book will get scathing reviews and sell only a handful of copies. These pivotal places are “linchpin moments,” and in this book, you’ll learn how to nail these moments.

Based on real advice from editing hundreds of novels, John Matthew Fox guides writers through the process of creating a novel that soars in the reader’s imagination. After reading this book, you’ll be a better storyteller, a better self-editor, and a better writer.

In this book you’ll learn how to:

• Flood your readers with strong emotions
• Create memorable beginnings and endings
• Describe characters for the first time
• Make readers swoon in romantic scenes
• Kill off characters (without enraging your readers)
• Harness the element of surprise

Interview with John Matthew Fox

Lori Walker: First off, I’d love to hear a bit about how you became a writer. What is your journey as an author?

John Matthew Fox: I was a professor of writing for a decade, but gave it up to take care of my twin sons when they were born. While trying to figure out what my next step would be, I put in a lot of hours writing (during naptimes) and ended up publishing first my short story collection, I Will Shout Your Name, and now this book of advice for writers, The Linchpin Writer.

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like for you?

JMF: I wake up at 5:30 and write for an hour before shuttling the twins to school. Most of the rest of the day is spent editing other people’s books, offering boot camps for writers, and coaching writers.

LW: What is the number one mistake you think beginning writers make and how can they avoid it?

JMF: They don’t put in enough hours. The writers I know who are successful write for five hours a day. I don’t know how they do it. It’s difficult for me to write for an hour or two before working on Bookfox.

Plenty of writers are intelligent. Intelligence is spread out quite generously in the writing community. So it really comes down to hours in the chair. A mediocre writer who spends double the time writing ends up being more successful than a talented writer who just can’t get his butt in the chair.

LW: How can your advice in Linchpin be adapted for writers of creative nonfiction?

JMF: Creative nonfiction uses all the techniques of fiction, so I would say almost everything in the book works for them.

I mean, in the book I’m talking about techniques for dialogue, description, chapter endings, death scenes, sex scenes—which creative nonfiction or memoir writers use in extremely similar ways to fiction writers.

LW: Which of the linchpin moments that you cover would you say is the most important for writers to focus on? And what’s the best nugget of advice you can give for that moment?

JMF: Oh, you’re making me choose just one! How torturous.

But I would say nailing the ending is the most important part of your book. A wobbly ending means that person won’t really remember your book and won’t recommend it to anyone.

A good technique for an ending is to make it bittersweet. You don’t want an ending with complete and utter despair, but most books shouldn’t have a 100% happy ending, either.

It’s best to have the protagonist succeed in one thing, yet fail in another. It feels more honest and more like life itself.

You have to ask yourself: what’s the overall tenor of my ending? Is it all droopy and tragic? Does it end with magical rainbows and pots of gold? And then tweak the storyline to have a precise overall effect on the reader.

LW: A lot of the advice in Linchpin involves studying how other writers do it, which requires reading in a different way than you do for enjoyment. How can writers read more deeply so they can dissect and analyze books? 

JMF: The trouble with most writers is that they’ve been trained to read like English majors. That’s because most of their training in reading books has been from English teachers, who were trained as English majors.

But how an English major reads is often diametrically opposed to how a creative writer reads. The English major is looking for the secret beneath the prose. They’re looking to crowbar the story open and extract some “themes” they can use in a paper. They’re looking to enrich themselves and appear intelligent at the expense of the author.

Reading as a creative writer requires valuing the author’s intent. It requires studying how they made you feel an emotion. It requires borrowing from their dialogue techniques and description techniques. It requires you to figure out how they created an effect in you, and then mimicking them.

In one of the chapters of the book I talk specifically about strategies to help authors create emotion on the page. It’s the most fundamental aspect of fiction writing, and yet writers don’t talk about it enough. I don’t think an English major would ever read looking for the emotional effect upon the reader, but it’s the best way to read as an author.

LW: At what point in the process should writers begin focusing on these linchpin elements? I know one of them specifically refers to the second or third pass, but are they things writers should keep in mind from the beginning or only upon revision?

JMF: You should keep them in mind from the beginning. You won’t achieve them perfectly in the first draft, because no one ever does. But you’ll write a better first draft if you keep them in mind.

And of course, the book is super helpful as a revision guide as well. It just points out all these areas in your novel that you want to revisit and shape and reshape.

Ultimately, Goodreads has your answer: about half of the reviews of the book mention it being helpful as a drafting guide, and the other half are using it as a revision guide.

LW: In addition to lessons on reading and writing, Linchpin also holds a lot of advice on living the writing life. Were there any tips about the writing life you wanted to include, but had to leave out? If so, what were they?

JMF: I think every writer is three or four writers. You change radically over the course of your career. Perhaps you start off writing for the sake of money and fame, and then you change into someone who writes trying to get the approval of critics. Maybe you start in one genre and then end up switching to a completely different genre that you never imagined you would try.

I know a lot of writers that end up giving up the novel dreams and slide into writing-adjacent careers—editing, ghostwriting, copywriting, literary agent, publishing, writing entrepreneur, etc.

In the end, I think young writers need to understand how their current goals as a writer are likely to shift radically over the next ten or twenty years.

For instance, for a long time, I wanted to write high literary books. But I’ve softened and changed, and now I want to write more accessible books. Think of the difference between Cormac McCarty’s Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men. It’s almost a completely different author.

Be nimble. Be agile. Be able to pivot and to swerve. If an opportunity comes, write hard at it. But also understand when you’re banging your head against a wall and find an alternative route to get to the writing life.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. I know The Linchpin Writer is a craft book, so maybe what are some of the top books that you recommend to people?

JMF: The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes is a book I recommend to everyone. It’s such a helpful, thoughtful, well-researched book dealing with all the hang-ups and psychological foibles of writers.

I would wager it’s impossible to read that book and not walk away with your fingers itching and your brain on fire, ready to sit at the keyboard and roar.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. Though she’s fallen off the wagon as a writer, she’s hoping to return to writing essays (perhaps even a novel!) through her involvement with DIY MFA. She is also Launch Manager, Web Editor, and Podcast Producer for DIY MFA and a Book Coach. She resides in Smalltown, Oklahoma, with her husband and their cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post The Book Nook: Interview with John Matthew Fox appeared first on DIY MFA.

I hope you enjoy this interview!

About Sara Bennett Wealer

Sara grew up in Manhattan, Kansas (the “Little Apple”), where she sang in all the choirs and wrote for the high school newspaper. She majored in voice performance at the University of Kansas before deciding she had no business trying to make a career as an opera singer and transferred to journalism school, where no one cares if you can hit a high C or convincingly play a Valkyrie. She went on to become a reporter covering everything from house fires to Hollywood premieres.

These days, she writes event scripts and marketing copy while the sun is out. By night, she writes books for young adults. Sara lives in Cincinnati with her husband, two daughters, two dogs and four cats, and she still sings sometimes when her schedule allows. When Sara is not writing or running around doing Mom Things, you’ll find her at the ballet, or obsessively watching ballet on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Grave Things Like Love

Elaine lives in her family-run 1800’s funeral home that she’s set to inherit, so she’s used to being around a dead body or two. Only no one has asked her if she wants to take over the family business. Enter Xander, the new boy in town with a passion for ghost hunting who makes Elaine feel like she’s transforming from Funeral Girl to Fun Girl. But not everyone is thrilled to see her changing, least of all her childhood best friend, Miles. When Xander convinces Elaine to ghost hunt in the funeral home Elaine must face her fears, in more ways than one.

Interview with Sara Bennett Wealer

Lori Walker: First off, I’d love to hear a bit about how you became a writer. What is your journey as an author? What drew you to YA?

Sara Bennett Wealer: My mom was an English teacher, so I grew up watching her read books and the writings of her students. I especially remember Sunday nights watching Masterpiece Theater on PBS. Mom’s specialty was British Lit, so I got the whole Austen/Bronte/Shakespeare immersion at a young age. I don’t remember what prompted me to start writing, only that I felt an urge to do it and filled up notebooks with stories. I won a big award in 4^th grade for one of them, which encouraged me even more.

Writing was always something I knew I could do well. So when I decided my first choice of college major—voice performance/opera—wasn’t going to get me a career I could live on, I switched to journalism. I thrived in feature writing, especially when I could write about arts and entertainment. But when I ventured into the working world as a newspaper reporter, I found myself getting assigned municipal beats or transportation, or sitting at the city desk on weekends listening to the police scanner and racing out to house fires. One evening I had a revelation: If I didn’t write something that came from my own creativity—something not assigned by an editor and due at the end of the day about a topic I really cared nothing about—then I was going to have a mental health crisis. I literally stood up from the couch, went to my computer, and started writing my first novel. (It never went anywhere, BTW. It was my training book, and [it was] awful. But writing it saved my sanity.)

The voice that came out of me that night was a teen voice. And I honestly can’t explain why I’m drawn to YA except to say that I find many adult conflicts boring. Young adulthood is filled with choices and obstacles and hope and fear and fun, plus so many opportunities to make mistakes that help build you into the person you’re just starting to become. I love exploring all of that, as opposed to writing about career angst or failed marriages or strained family relationships. (I’m not saying that’s ALL adult fiction is about—obviously! But it’s all I can think of when I think about what I might write in that genre, which probably tells you all you need to know about why I don’t write it!)

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like to you?

SBW: I don’t make my living writing novels—I do marketing, so I sort of mash it all together as I’m able. I get up and get my daughter to school, then come home and spend a couple of hours on whatever work needs to be done for my day job. Most days I do a half-hour weights and HIIT workout at home, then I walk the dogs and get a little lunch.

In the afternoon, I do more day job writing, until it’s time to get my kid from school. Then it’s dinner and spending time with my husband and helping with homework until I’m able to sit down and do some novel work. If I’m drafting, I try to get at least 500 words done a day. If I’m editing, I go until I run out of steam. I decompress watching comfort shows on TV (The Office, Dark on Netflix, whatever new thing is out or new seasons of Only Murders in the Building, Umbrella Academy, House of the Dragon, etc.) or YouTube videos of people cooking or thrifting or whatever other rabbit hole I’ve gone down, before heading to bed. It’s all very exciting!

LW: Your bio says that by day you write event scripts and marketing copy. How do you manage to find the bandwidth to write creatively at night? Any advice on juggling both?

SBW: Being a newspaper reporter was great training for writing on command and on deadline, staying fresh and finding ways to keep going even when you don’t really feel like it. Each day I had a story to write that was due by 5 p.m. I turned it in to an editor who would give me feedback in real time (often with not a lot of regard for my feelings—we had work to get done, and I could cry later at home if I needed to). That kind of work ethic has followed me. I know I can’t wait for inspiration from “the muse.” I can’t wait until I feel like writing. The only way to write a novel is to write it, which means sitting my butt down and doing the work.

Now… how do you do that when you’ve got two kids of varying ages and a day job plus other grown-up worries and responsibilities? My advice is to set a daily word count. I tell myself I can stop after 500 words, and I don’t put any pressure on myself to make those 500 words good. I just need to get them done. And I’ve found something interesting happens… once I start writing, I often can do more. Ideas start flowing. The muscle gets stronger as I exercise it. Even when those 500 words feel like a massive struggle of suckiness, I’ll go back the next day and see that what I’ve written wasn’t half bad. And even if I barely made it through those words, and they did truly suck, well, 500 words builds up if you do it every day, and before you know it you’ve got something you can work with to make better. You can’t improve something that hasn’t been drafted yet!

To help with creative bandwidth, I’ll seek out things that inspire me—books, TV shows, my “rabbit holes” of topics to explore on YouTube. It helps to see what other people are doing, what they’re passionate about, how they tackle creative problems and express themselves.

LW: As I read more and more YA, I realize that at their heart, most YA books are coming of age tales that have elements of different genres pulled in—in the case of Grave Things, romance. And YA appeals to teens and adults alike. Why do you think the coming of age tale resonates with such a wide variety of audiences?

SBW: Like I mentioned earlier, young adulthood is the time when we sort of have permission to try and fail and grow and stretch. I think it’s often more fun and hopeful and engaging to spend time with someone who is evolving and just starting out in life vs. someone who’s seen a lot of it already. YA lets younger readers see that they’re not alone, and I think it helps adults appreciate where they’ve been, while also giving a glimpse of what could still be.

LW: Grave Things Like Love has paranormal romance elements. Your novel Now & When seems to have some sci-fi elements in that she can communicate with the future. And your first two novels, Rush and Rival focus on friend relationships. These are pretty diverse types of stories! What is your process for generating ideas for a new story?

SBW: Most of my story ideas come from situations I’ve been in or relationships I’ve had, or a topic that’s captured my imagination. That’s not to say any of my books are autobiographical; those ideas have more been a jumping-off point to explore all sorts of “what ifs?” And the “what ifs” occasionally lead me to some out-there places. In Now & When, it went in a time-travel-ish direction. In Grave Things Like Love, I wanted an element of fun to balance out what could have been a pretty heavy setting and topic, and in brainstorming a romance, I found a ghost-ish story taking shape. (I say “ish.” because the paranormal and sci-fi in my books are often more like fun elements than the whole story. In general, I see all of my books as contemporary, sometimes with a little extra “something” sprinkled in.)

LW: Fun fact about me, I used to work in a funeral home. So I’ve seen the behind-the-scenes stuff and totally get the desensitized feeling of being around bodies and that guilt over being disappointed when my plans would get derailed while somebody was living the worst day of their life and you did a great job of capturing it. I’m curious what your research was like for this novel. You had to have spent quite a lot of time around a funeral home.

SBW: I got the idea for Grave Things while working one of those newspaper jobs I hated so much. I stumbled upon a family-owned funeral home in one of the communities I covered and thought it would make a great feature story. The family was kind enough to let me spend a good amount of time with them, soaking up the atmosphere, talking about the business, etc. I left town for a different job before I could write the feature, but I kept the idea of a book about a teen growing up in a funeral home setting. I’m glad it rang true for you!

LW: Does writing YA affect your social media strategy in terms of what you post and how you interact with followers? If so, how?

SBW: I know it should, but I can’t bring myself to dive too deeply into creating content for things like TikTok because I think it’s worse to look like an old person trying to be cool for a teen audience. (My 13-year-old has drummed this fear into me by letting me know how cringey any attempts I’ve made so far are.) Basically, I try to be reachable and relatable wherever I DO post. So I’ve invested in a good website, and I post on Instagram and Twitter when I think I’ve got something interesting to show, tell or share. I know I should have a much more robust and well-thought-out social media strategy, but I also know social media only really works when it’s something you enjoy doing, and if I’m just going to look like I’m trying too hard, then I’d rather default to a more minimalistic approach.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. What books should people read after reading Grave Things Like Love?

SBW: Ooh! Well, if we’re talking about spooky season books, I can tell you I’m dying to read The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay. That’s next on my TBR list. Also, anything by Shirley Jackson will get you in the creepy fall mood.

As far as books I love that tell you a little more about my tastes, my all-time favorite is The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. I highly recommend a book of short stories by Nafissa Thompson-Spires called Heads of the Colored People. And for YA books, I love a good bit of subversive humor. Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews fit the bill there. For stories full of heart, I’m loving anything written by David Yoon.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon Affiliate Link where, if you choose to purchase via the link, DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. Though she’s fallen off the wagon as a writer, she’s hoping to return to writing essays (perhaps even a novel!) through her involvement with DIY MFA. She is also Launch Manager, Web Editor, and Podcast Producer for DIY MFA and a Book Coach. She resides in Smalltown, Oklahoma, with her husband and their cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post The Book Nook: Interview with Sara Bennett Wealer appeared first on DIY MFA.

I hope you enjoy this interview!

About Kristine Langley Mahler

Kristine Langley Mahler is a memoirist experimenting with the truth on the suburban prairie outside Omaha, Nebraska, a city ridging the backbone of the West and the Midwest. Her debut essay collection, Curing Season: Artifacts is out now. A second collection of essays, A Calendar is a Snakeskin, is forthcoming with Autofocus in spring 2023.

Kristine is the recipient of a 2021 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Nebraska Arts Council and her work has been named Notable in Best American Essays (2019 and 2021), received the Rafael Torch Award from Crab Orchard Review, won the Sundog Lit Collaboration Contest, and is published in DIAGRAM, Ninth Letter, Brevity, and Speculative Nonfiction, among others. She is the director and publisher of Split/Lip Press.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter.

About Curing Season

After spending four years of adolescence in suburban North Carolina, Kristine Langley Mahler, even as an adult, is still buffeted by the cultural differences between her pioneer-like upbringing in Oregon and the settled southern traditions into which she could never assimilate. Collecting evidence of displacement—a graveyard in a mall parking lot, a suburban neighborhood of white kids bused to desegregate public schools in the 1990s, and the death of her best friend—Curing Season is an attempt to understand her failed grasp at belonging.

Mahler’s yearning for acceptance remains buried like a splinter, which she carefully tweezes out in the form of artifacts from her youth. But it isn’t until she encounters a book of local family histories that she takes inhabitation and truth apart, grafting and twisting and imprinting her history on theirs, until even she can no longer tell the difference between their truth and her own. Using inventive essay forms, Mahler pries apart the cracks of exclusion and experiments with the nature of belonging, memory, and place. Curing Season is a coming-of-age memoir for anyone who grew up anywhere but home.

Interview with Kristine Langley Mahler

Lori Walker: First off, I’d love to hear a bit about how you became a writer. What has your journey as an author been like? What drew you to essays?

Kristine Langley Mahler: I’ve been a diehard essayist—though I’ve really leaned into using the term “memoirist” instead since it feels more accurate—since I was a senior in high school and my writing teacher gently pointed out that the thing I was writing was actually creative nonfiction—I literally didn’t know that there was a term for “short stories that actually happened.” This was the early internet era (1999)! I’ve been writing nonfiction ever since. 

I can’t make up worlds or stories to save my life, but I am so committed to and fascinated by looking at the ways we tell ourselves stories about our lives and trying to distinguish between truth and shaped-truth.

LW: What does a typical day of writing look like to you?

KLM: This is like the exact opposite of the writing advice most people give, but after years of experience, this is what it looks like for ME: I spend a lot, a lot, a lot of time NOT writing. A lot of time walking (without my phone), trying to pay attention to where I am, letting my mind wander. I spend a lot of time sitting on my couch and staring, letting the eyes go fuzzy, going into the subconscious brain. 

As a memoirist, I honor the knowledge that I am collecting experiences every day and that they are often not ready to be processed right away. In the same vein, I try to stay open to those memories/experiences which are making their way to the surface. When they do, that’s when I write. Sometimes it’s a phrase or a memory I want to write down, sometimes it’s an idea for an essay form. 

When I’m ready, I’m READY! And then it’s go-time—whenever I can grab a chunk of time in front of the laptop, and when I can’t, I’m voice-texting in my iPhone’s notes.

LW: You have a number of publication credits to your name, both essays and articles. What is your advice for writers wanting to make a career out of freelance writing?

KLM: I have a good number of publication credits, but I don’t have a very good freelancing career! Most of my publications have been in university-sponsored literary journals, which often don’t pay (or pay in author copies of the journal). I think I could count on ten fingers the number of times I’ve received an actual honorarium for my work. 

So take this advice with a grain of salt, but I would argue that as a writer, you need to consider your specific voice. If you are driven to write more experimentally in your non-paid work, using your time to write articles for a mass audience can deplete your creative energy. I say this as someone who has spent the past few months only writing articles or responding to interviews to help support Curing Season—I miss my creative energy! One really does come at the cost of another.

LW: Do you have a process for generating ideas to write about? What does that look like?

KLM: I’ve been writing toward my next book, which is a collection of essays about ancestry and the privilege of home, and so recently I’ve been looking at all of my homes and thinking about what I want to say about them. 

I’m kind of terrible at generating writing topics—my work drafts are the most surprising and interesting when I don’t know where they’re going—so rather than coming up with specific ideas of “what to write about” explicitly, I like to use prompts someone else has created because there are always memories or moments floating around in my head but they only come out to respond to a prompt.

LW: I’m always curious about the process of putting together a collection. Did you write a bunch of essays, then realize that there was a theme, or did you choose the theme of not belonging and write essays to fit it?

KLM: I’d originally thought Curing Season was a different book! I had written an essay collection all about home and belonging, but it wasn’t working so I spent the summer of 2020 taking the old book apart and bringing together a large subcurrent within the old book: all the essays about my adolescence in Pitt County, North Carolina. Once I saw them together, it was obvious that they were a complete narrative on their own.

LW: The Curing Season is an experimental collection. You have essays that take on the physical appearance of a shadowbox and a list, to name a couple. What can you tell us about your process for these experimental forms? How did you know the experiment would be successful? How did you come up with the form for the content of the essay?

KLM: Honestly, I was surprised by how many formal structures I ended up using in these essays. The essays were not written with each other in mind, and it startled me to realize that most of the work I’d written about Pitt County and my adolescence seemed to have almost REQUIRED me to use alternate forms to approach that subject matter. 

It’s clear to me now that I had to experiment with an essay’s shape because of how much I had both wanted to create structure out of that time and how much I felt constrained by the cultural structures I didn’t build. 

The specific forms are specific to the essays themselves—“Not Something That’s Gone” and “Mädchenfänger,” for instance, are both about a friendship that has a closure and the closed forms of the essays (looping phrases that enclose the narratives) echo that feeling.

LW: A lot of authors are creating playlists to accompany their books, but this being a reading column, I’d like to know what your “reading playlist” is. What books should people read after reading Curing Season?

KLM: Sleepovers by Ashleigh Bryant Phillips; Girlhood by Melissa Febos; Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood.

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. Though she’s fallen off the wagon as a writer, she’s hoping to return to writing essays (perhaps even a novel!) through her involvement with DIY MFA. She is also Launch Manager, Web Editor, and Podcast Producer for DIY MFA and a Book Coach. She resides in Smalltown, Oklahoma, with her husband and their cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post The Book Nook: Interview with Kristine Langley Mahler appeared first on DIY MFA.