Episode 169: Boost Your Creative Mojo — Interview with Grant Faulkner

Hey there word nerds! Today I am delighted to have executive director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and cofounder of 100 Word Story, Grant Faulkner, on the show! His stories have appeared in dozens of literary magazines, like Tin House and The Southwest Review, plus his essays on creativity have been published in places like the New York… Read more »

#5onFri: Pros and Cons of NaNoWriMo

It’s October once again, and a familiar question is floating around: Should I do NaNoWriMo? For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. In a nutshell, it is a writing challenge that takes place every November where the goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That comes out to… Read more »

How to Build Your Own Writing Habit

A lot of people like the structure of a traditional MFA program because it gives students rigid deadlines that they must meet; their grades depend on it. There are also writing challenges (such as NaNoWriMo) that give a similar motivation to get your butt in the chair and write. But what if we don’t have… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Productivity Hacks for Writers

I’m a self-described builder, a maker of things. I’ve been working on a tool to help my writing, it’s a notebook fused with workbook combined with productivity hack. I call it INDITE and it’s currently funding on Indiegogo. I’d love it if you could check it out right here. While working on this special writers… Read more »

#5OnFri: Five of Winter’s Gifts to Every Writer

Sometimes inspiration is hard to come by for us as writers.  Everyday living distracts and tires our imagination and focus. Why do you think there are so many memes and books written about writers getting on with the writing?  We know that getting to the writing is the hardest part of the effort.  (I see… Read more »

5 Easy Steps to Overnight Success

This is the first installment in a new post series I’m trying out. Every-other Thursday I’ll be sharing a “Dear Word Nerd” letter that first appeared in the DIY MFA newsletter. If you’re already an email subscriber, you can help me select the letters that get featured here by replying to the emails you loved most. If you’re not on… Read more »