Newsletter subscribers get a sneak peek at these essays before I post them. They can also help crowdsource this column, by replying to my emails or sharing their perspectives in our Facebook community. Want in? Click here to join.

Dear word nerd,

“Dream big, execute small.” These were the words of Leah Busque, TaskRabbit founder and speaker at the 99u conference in 2013. While I don’t remember the minutiae of her presentation, this message stood out. In fact, it’s probably one of the few direct quotes I still remember from the entire conference.

In light of everything that has happened these past weeks, I have clung to these words now more than ever. Right now, emotions are running high. I have people I care about on both sides of the political divide, and I have a hunch that regardless of where you stand, you’re likely feeling angry, hurt, or unsure of what will happen next. Like many I have found myself asking: Where do we go from here and what’s my role in our world going forward? I have been wanting to write to you about this all week, but it’s taken me until now to find the words.

A lot of of my colleagues in the entrepreneurial or writing space have gone forward with business as usual. I respect that. There’s something comforting about picking up and going forward regardless of a political outcome. But for me it would be disingenuous to act like nothing has happened and everything is back to normal. Whatever your political beliefs, I think we can all agree that this election has been like no other (at least in my lifetime) and as a storyteller I can’t help but think that we have crossed a significant threshold, a “point of no return” in the narrative of human history.

This week has sent me into an introspective tailspin of sorts. While on the surface, I’ve kept my political opinions fairly private and played my cards close to the vest, there’s been a lot of internal turmoil that only those closest to me have been “lucky” enough to witness. These last few days I’ve ping-ponged between two poles. One minute I’m thinking: “Let me grab the world by the balls and change the status quo!” Then, next moment: “What’s the point? I’m just one person. What could I possibly do?”

This is when I stop, breathe, and say to myself: “Dream big, execute small.”

While I might be an idealist, I’m also a pragmatist at heart. I know that where I am right now, I can’t change the whole world, but I can take one small step. So that’s what I’ve done this week. I’ve gone back through my inbox and answered notes that had long been pending. Instead of hopping on my soapbox and blasting my opinions at the top of my lungs, I’ve focused my energy on serving individual people, one at a time.

Service is the operative word here. In the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing something new with you, a new program I’ve created to help authors build their platforms. Over the past few months, I’ve faced a huge shift in how I see my own platform and platform-building in general. I used to think it was all about marketing and selling books. Now I realize that when you have a mission and a message you must share, platform isn’t about sales. It’s about service. My goal at DIY MFA is simple: I want to serve my word nerds in the best way I can. Everything else is secondary.

I am writing you today to tell you that you matter. Your voice matters. Your story matters. Hold fast to that and don’t ever, ever let go.

I also want to say thank you. Thank you for being a word nerd. Thank you for allowing me to serve you and help you grow as a writer. Thank you for trusting me to lead this community. It is truly a privilege, and also a responsibility I do not take lightly.

And if you have found value DIY MFA–be it the website, the podcast, or the newsletter–if these resources have served you and helped your writing, then I’d like to ask you a favor. Please share this website with one person who could use a boost right now. I’m not asking you to tweet it out to the world or post about DIY MFA on Facebook. You don’t need to tell dozens or hundreds of friends.

This is not about BIG. It’s about taking one small meaningful action to lift up and encourage another writer. Imagine the impact we could have if we each focused on serving just one other person today.

Finally, if you’ve stumbled on this website through social media or because a friend told you about it, I would love for you to join our community. Sign up with your email to get an invite to our private Facebook group. There you can connect with other likeminded writers.

Remember that the world needs your voice. Keep writing, keep questioning, and keep using your words for the power of good.

Loads of literary love,

The post Writer Fuel: Dream Big, Execute Small appeared first on DIY MFA.

Today I’m delighted to welcome Todd Harra to the show. It seemed fitting to have Todd as our guest for our Halloween episode, since he is the author of Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt and Over Our Dead Bodies: Undertakers Lift the Lid.

As writers’ we’re often advised not to quit our “day jobs,” usually because people think having a sensible, reliable profession is safer than trying to have a creative career. In this episode, I speak with an author who not only hasn’t quit his “day job” but his profession is part of the inspiration behind his books, and helped get his start as a writer. And for the record, no, his “day job” is not in publishing or a field related to writing. This author happens to be an undertaker.

In this interview we’re going to talk about drawing inspiration from our “day jobs,” using writing to process what we experience in our jobs, and–most important–how we as writers can use our words as a way to honor the lives of others.

In this episode Todd and I discuss:

• How he got started in his “day job” and how he connected with his co-author.
• The collaborative process of writing not one, but two books together.
• Why persistence pays off, and why it’s so important for writers to be flexible and try different approaches.
• How the structure of his day job affected the structure of these particular books.
• How he uses writing to process his experiences in his “day job” and how his “day job” also fuels his writing.
• How he learned the business of writing, and how writers can educate themselves about the industry.

Plus, Todd’s #1 tip for writers.

About the Authors

Todd Harra has been working in the funeral profession since 2004. He is a fourth generation funeral director, working for his uncle at McCrery & Harra Funeral Homes and Crematory in Wilmington, DE. His great great great grandfather was a cabinet maker and tradesman undertaker in Milford, Delaware prior to the Civil War.

Todd graduated from Elon University and the American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service. He received certification in Advanced Post Mortem Reconstruction from the Fountain National Academy of Professional Embalming Skills, and is a Certified Crematory Operator.

Todd appeared on the cover of the 2008 “Men of Mortuaries” calendar, a fundraiser for the KAMM Cares breast cancer foundation, where he met Ken and they decided to collaborate on a non-fiction mortuary series. He is currently working on several fiction based projects. To learn more about him and his writing, visit his website, www.toddharra.com.

Kenneth McKenzie first became interested in the death care industry at the age of twelve, following his father’s suicide. He has been a funeral director for over 22 years and a funeral home owner for 14. In 2007 Ken created and published the well-received Men of Mortuaries calendar, also the inspiration for this book, to benefit Breast Cancer Awareness, and he received California's Outstanding Funeral Director of the Year Award. He resides in Long Beach, CA. For more information please visit www.MenOfMortuaries.org.

Links and Resources

If you want to check out both of Todd’s books, visit the book websites below. You can alsopurchase them via our Amazon affiliate links (where DIY MFA gets a small commission at no cost to you). As always thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

• Mortuary Confidential: Undertakers Spill the Dirt  |  Book Website: www.mortuaryconfidential.com
• Over Our Dead Bodies: Undertakers Lift the Lid  |  Book Website: www.overourdeadbodies.com

Link to Episode 118

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 118: Don’t Quit Your Day Job — Interview with Todd Harra appeared first on DIY MFA.

People have all sorts of positions and opinions about NaNo. Some people think that the word-count oriented, fast writing that NaNo encourages leads to sloppy writing. And they’re technically not wrong. When you’re pushing yourself and letting the words flow through you uninhibited, you’re probably going to end up with something of a mess by the end of it. But is that necessarily a bad thing?

It’s like Anne Lamott says in Bird by Bird, “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft.”

The camp I fall into sees NaNo as a way to silence your inner critic and get the hard part of writing (the drafting) out of the way. The only way to improve at something is to practice it. And NaNo, for a lot of people, is a really intense form of practice. It’s a way to push your comfort zone and see what you’re really capable of. It’s a way to get your words out onto the page so that you can craft them into the story they’re meant to be.

Here are five ways NaNoWriMo makes you a better writer.

1) You practice working with deadlines.

Maybe you’re like me and you need a little extra accountability in your life to get you motivated. NaNo offers you a solid deadline (50,000 words in 30 days) as well as mini-deadlines (1,667 words per day) to help keep you on track. Nothing explodes and no one will shame you if you ultimately don’t make your deadline, but the public commitment to your writing adds a layer of accountability. Seeing a project through, and not giving yourself an excuse to be late with it, will help you be more successful in the writing world.

2) You push your limits.

Because the goal is so lofty, you’ll have to push yourself to write, even when you don’t really feel like it, even when the muse isn’t ready and waiting. You’ll have to plan some, and wing it on the days when the plan goes horribly wrong. Dedication and versatility are essential skills in your writer’s toolkit. Building those skills can be stressful and scary, but it can also be exhilarating and rewarding. You’ll be afraid you can’t make it and you’ll want to give up, but once you push past the initial fear you’ll find you can do more than you thought you were capable of.

3) You collect data on your writing process for 30 days.

Thirty days can seem like a long time, but it’s really not. You know how most people give up on New Year’s Resolutions before the year is half-over? NaNo offers you a shorter timeline for a reason. It’s not about permanently changing your habits, it’s about trying something radical for 30 days and finding out what you learn by the end of it. During those 30 days, experiment with writing in the morning or at night, in private or in a public place like a café, with music or without. The possibilities are endless! And by the end, you should know what makes you the most successful and productive version of your writerly self.

4) You shut out your inner critic.

No, you have to shut out your inner critic. When you’re writing 1,667 words a day, especially if you have a day job, you have a limited amount of time to spend getting the words on the page. You have no time for your inner critic to worry about whether the quality of your writing is up to par or whether that plot point is cheesy. In NaNo there’s no deleting. So if you read what you wrote the day before and hate it, that’s ok. The words are written. They still count. You can work on them in December. There’s a time and a place to critique and edit your work, but not in the drafting phase, especially if it keeps you from making solid progress.

5) You become fluent in your story’s world.

The best way to become fluent in a foreign language is to immerse yourself in it. When you have no other options for communication, you learn more quickly how to convey your meaning and your ideas to those around you in the language that they speak. Well consider NaNoWriMo your immersion into the world of your story. For thirty days you can eat, breathe, sleep, dream your story and the characters that inhabit it. By the end of thirty days, you will know your story and characters inside and out. You’ll probably have tried a few things that didn’t work, but you’ll also have tried some things that did. You learn how to communicate for your characters, to tell their story, understand it, and even enjoy it.

At the end of 30 days, you’ll have a giant pile of 50,000 words (or more!) to show for your effort. Sure, it’s probably not perfect, but that was never the point of NaNo. You’ll have proved to yourself and your inner critic that you can do this thing called ‘novel writing’. And you’ll have honed your skills as a writer. You’ll know your writerly sweet spots (how many words per minute/hour/day/week you can do comfortably, what time of day you write best, etc.). Most importantly, you’ll know your story better than you ever did before.

Elisabeth Kauffman is a freelance editor in California. Her favorite genres are YA fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. She regularly obsesses over board games, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter. Come share your ideas with her on Facebook and Twitter and on the web at www.writingrefinery.com. Also, check out her author website and her author page on Facebook.

The post 5OnFri: Five Ways NaNoWriMo Makes You a Better Writer appeared first on DIY MFA.

The fact that the play being parodied was Romeo and Juliet clinched it for me. Why? Because Romeo and Juliet is perhaps Shakespeare’s most overrated (and ridiculous) play. On one hand, this play features one of Shakespeare’s most complex, interesting and all-around badass characters (i.e. Mercutio). On the other hand, this play also centers around the star-crossed lovers–Romeo and Juliet–who might just be the two most banal, boring characters in all of literature. (In case you haven’t noticed, have very strong opinions about Shakespeare.)

I simply HAD to see how Ryan was going to apply his choose-your-own-path model to this particular play. Let’s just say, the result did not disappoint. In fact, it was even more awesome than I anticipated.

If you aren’t familiar with Ryan North’s work, he is a NYT bestselling author and cartoonist, and his first choose-your-own-path Shakespeare book, To Be or Not To Be, became Kickstarter’s most-funded publishing project when it first launched. Now with Romeo and/or Juliet he has crafted a story with over 40 quadrillion possible journeys for a reader to take. It’s sort of like a book-meets-video-game with over one hundred possible endings and original illustrations from amazing artists.

In this episode Ryan and I discuss:

• The power of memorizing poetry
• Choose-your-own-adventure and the art of storytelling
• Shakespeare’s big mistake
• Keeping track of everything when your story has many moving parts
• Making sure that your characters have choices that feel real and have an impact while coping with the reality of the world they live in.
• Engaging readers in with the text

Plus, Ryan’s #1 tip for writers.

Romeo And/Or Juliet

In this choose-your-own-path version of Romeo and Juliet, you choose where the story goes every time you read! Romeo and/or Juliet has over 40 QUADRILLION possible journeys for a reader to take. Readers can choose to play as Romeo or Juliet, as Romeo and Juliet together, as Juliet’s nurse, or even as an unlockable fourth mystery character. All of the endings—there are more than a hundred—feature original illustrations from incredible artists.

Written with the unique humor that fans of Dinosaur Comics and the Adventure Time comics know and love, Romeo and/or Juliet turns the Bard’s beloved play into fodder for madcap comedy. Shakespeare has never been this entertaining, or this weird. We can’t think of a better way to… “celebrate” the 400th anniversary (2016) of Shakespeare’s death.

To learn more about Ryan, visit his website or follow him on Twitter. If you want to get a copy of Romeo and/or Juliet (and you totally should because it’s hilarious!) we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where DIY MFA gets a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 104

(Right-click to download.)

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• Learn about their strengths and their weaknesses.
• Find out how to develop stories that create the most dramatic conflict for these archetypes.
• Discover how to implement these ideas to create memorable stories that resonate with your readers.

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If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 104: Gaming Shakespeare – Interview with Ryan North appeared first on DIY MFA.

Today I’m interviewing the New York Times bestselling thriller author, Brad Taylor. We’ll be talking about the fiction vs. reality. As writers, we’ve all been told to “write what you know” but as with everything, there are pros and cons to incorporating our real-life experiences into our stories and novels.

Brad Taylor’s novels are a great example of finding that balance between fact and fiction. A former member of the Special Forces and now a security consultant, Brad uses his knowledge both of the military world and obscure international news, to craft thrillers that seem almost to anticipate real-world events. In this episode, he shares insights about his process: how he gets inside the skin of his characters and brings readers into the world of stories, making that world feel totally real.

In this episode Brad and I discuss:

• Writing what you know and balancing fiction and reality.
• How to get into the shoes of your character.
• Deciding which details and information to unpack for the reader.
• Plotting versus pantsing.

Plus, Brad’s #1 tip for writers.

About Brad Taylor:

Brad Taylor served for more than twenty years in the US Army, including eight years in 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, commonly known as Delta Force. He also holds a Master’s of Science in Defense Analysis and, in addition to his writing, he serves as a security consultant on asymmetric threats.

Brad pays close attention to obscure international news stories before mainstream media picks them up, so his books can read like prophecies, almost anticipating real-world events. He is a trusted and mediagenic expert who has been called to comment on breaking news for FOX, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera America, and Newsmax on stories as diverse as the Charlie Hebdo attack, ISIS, the Sony hack, the death of Osama Bin Laden, and Tom Clancy.

Brad is the New York Times bestselling author of eight previous Pike Logan novels. His latest book The Forgotten Soldier, is a fascinating departure from this series, where the characters (a close-knit group in a military Taskforce) face their most emotional challenge yet—hunting one of their own.

To learn more about Brad and his books, you can follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit his website.

Link to Episode 79

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 79: The Fact of Fiction – Interview with Brad Taylor appeared first on DIY MFA.

In this episode, I’ve decided to share some mindfulness tips that turned my approach to writing on its head. I call this my Mindfulness Manifesto for Writers.

This was a very tough episode for me. I had been resisting the idea for a while. You see, I’m very pragmatic and my creative process is very linear. Plus (how do I put this nicely) I always felt like the whole idea of mindfulness, of meditation, all that mind/heart/soul was a little to “woo woo” for me.

The thing is, being intentional about where your thoughts go is really important to writing. This skill is the essence of mindfulness and challenging myself to be open to it has changed my writing for the better.

I used to really hate meditation. I thought that sitting and breathing and clearing my mind was so boring. What I didn’t really realize then was that mindfulness is more about being present, about not thinking about what is coming or what has passed (I call this time travelling). And being fully present can be exciting. Especially when you’ve got a lot going on.

Five Mindfulness Axioms

• Honor your reality.
  I did an entire episode on this that you can find here. The most important thing you can do is recognize your limitations and work with them to reach your goal. Don’t try to force yourself to be different than you are.
• The only best practice is what works for you.
  There are a lot of people willing to give you a lot of advice on how to be a writer. And advice is good. But your process is unique. Don’t beat yourself up if someone else’s practice doesn’t transform you into the writer you always thought you were. Try anything for a little while. But only keep the pieces of advice that work for you.
• Resistance is a sign that a project matters.
  Resistance is usually a result of fear. It indicates that what you’re facing is important. The next time you feel fear or resistance, take a moment to mindfully consider why you are avoiding a particular project. Sometimes you need to press yourself to push past the fear and take the next steps in your project. And sometimes you need to mindfully put the project aside to give yourself time to figure out what comes next.
• It is counterproductive to compound failure with guilt or angst.
  You can’t change what has already happened. Don’t ignore the feelings that come from being rejected or failing at a particular part of a project. But don’t wallow in those feelings. Failure happens when you’re a writer. It’s important to redirect the energy you use feeling guilty to moving on with  your writing, either revising or starting something new. Learning to ride out your emotions is key to being productive as a writer.
• Instead of panicking, ask how.
  Writing and life are forms of problem solving. Things go wrong sometimes. Instead of panicking when something goes wrong, regroup. Work on shifting your thoughts from “I can’t…” to “How can I…?” Take tiny steps forward and eventually you’ll find you’ve come through the problem or that you’ve left it behind.

Mindfulness is all about bringing yourself back to this moment right now, to solving the problem at hand and to responding to the task in front of you. If you practice it regularly you will be able to use it when you need it to take that one small step that moves you forward toward your goal.

Link to Episode 58

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 58: A Mindfulness Manifesto for Writers appeared first on DIY MFA.

It’s our ultimate goal, isn’t it? Selling enough books to quit the day job.

I’ve been testing the theory over the last four weeks on an extended break from my day job, and I have to confess, I’m not sure if it’s my ultimate fantasy anymore.

I know. I know. You’re probably going, seriously? For real? I’m wondering too, am I so spoiled that I can’t appreciate the gift of full time writing? Have I become jaded and fallen into a case of “the grass is always greener”?

Maybe. Caveat, I love writing. It is my BAE, before-anything-else, my number one favorite thing to do each day. What I’m not so sure about is whether doing nothing but writing 6-8 hours per day every day is what I really want. Does this sound awesome or heavenly to you? Perhaps for a few days or even a week, but for four weeks? A full year?

Here are some of the tribulations I’ve encountered while writing full time over the last month. The results of my full time writing experiment.

Obsession

I’m obsessed with writing even when I’m doing it part time, but full time, I’m verily addicted. It becomes my life. I use writing as an excuse to avoid doing daily things like housework and errands. It’s a compulsion. I quit talking to people, quit moving and interacting with the world. I become a computer zombie.

Loneliness

I turn into a social hermit. And the only time I see my work colleagues, my fellow writers, is when I meet up with my writer friends in the evenings when they’re off work, which equates to maybe four hours per week. That’s a lot of professional isolation time, and it results in awkward social deficiencies when I do see people. How do I create conversation when the only thing that’s happened all day is what’s happened to my characters in my novel?

Sedentary

My body starts to ache. Knee aches, back aches, neck aches, sitting in one position for hours at a time is painful. This may be no different from some day jobs, but writing alone, I have no reason to get up except for water, food and the bathroom. I could take as few as two hundred steps a day, if I don’t conscientiously schedule exercise time.

Stigma

People who aren’t writers think I sit around doing nothing all day. I keep my pen name pretty private given the stigma that comes with writing genre romance. When I have to tell people who don’t know I’m a writer that, “I’m not working,” it feels like a gross misrepresentation of my work. To the non-writers, it appears I’m sitting on my bum all day. Well, I am sitting on my bum all day, for many hours a day, but that doesn’t mean I’m doing nothing. And just because I’m not making money (yet!) doesn’t mean I’m not working.

Pressure

When writing is all I do, my life rotates around the deadlines I make for myself. They’re arbitrary sure, but when it’s all I’m thinking, those arbitrary deadlines loom like clouds with life and death consequences. They swing all day in my head like heavy pendulums.

The most recent deadline I set for myself—finish working through my draft by the end of the month—I was a week late in meeting. The final week was a race against the voice in my head, “I’m late! I’m late!” alla the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. I did finish, but the stress of being late, given that I had nothing else to worry about in my life, was stomach twisting. And when I did finish, after I sent it off to my crit partner, I got about an hour of euphoric relief.  I did it! Until the truth sank in: “it’s over”. The thing that had been driving me daily and motivating my “entire life” was over.

And since the deadline was something that I created for myself, no one else gave a damn that I’d finished my draft.

My despondency was thick and consuming. If I had my day job to go to the next morning, would I have felt that severe sense of loss and depletion? My draft was done, but my days off of work were not. What was I going to do all day? The idea of starting another project felt as meaningless as finishing the last draft. No one but me cared if I wrote more.

But that’s not true.  My writing friends care.

Now, when I think of that dream, selling enough books to quit my day job and write full time, I’m not so sure I completely want that anymore. Maybe having a half and half, part time writing, part time day job, is a little healthier for my sanity.

Though once I’m back to my full time day job, I’m sure I’ll disagree with myself and start moaning again about how badly I wish I could write full time. “The grass is always greener.”

Anybody else? Have you ever tried writing full time? How did you manage? Better than me, maybe!

Robin Lovett, also known as S.A. Lovett, writes contemporary romance, and her debut novel, Racing To You, will be released July of 2016. She is represented by Rachel Brooks of the L. Perkins Agency and has a forthcoming series releasing with SMP Swerve in the summer of 2017.

She writes romance to avoid the more unsavory things in life, like day jobs and housework. To feed her coffee and chocolate addictions, she loves overdosing on mochas. When not writing with her cat, you can find her somewhere in the outdoors with a laptop in her bag. Feel free to chat with her on Twitter.

The post Writing Full Time: When Writing Is Your Life appeared first on DIY MFA.

I usually only share this technique with my DIY MFA 101 course, but in light of a question I got from a listener, I felt like it was especially important to share on this podcast. This game-changing lesson has helped so many writers I have worked with achieve balance between their writing lives and their real lives. I hope it can help you too.

First off, I want to give a shout out to one of our listeners, Erin, whose question inspired this episode. A few weeks ago, Erin emailed me and shared this about her writing life:

I am a stay-at-home mom with two small children and I am struggling with my writing career. I want to take my writing more professionally, but I feel lost on how to do so. I only have a few hours each day that I’m not running after my kids, making sure dinner is ready or the laundry is done, etc. I try to make sure I write every day as well as read and connect with other writers but I am still not feeling like an actual writer. Am I ever going to feel like one? Are these feelings just something that naturally evolves over time? I fear that I am missing an important task that I should be doing or that I’ll just have to wait for my kids to be in school to have a little more free time to devote to my writing.

Thank you so much, Erin, for sharing your struggle to find balance between real life and your writing life. First and foremost, you are not alone. I know lot of writers can relate to this exact same thing. I know I can relate because have two small children at home (my little girl turns one tomorrow!) and it’s a very real struggle for me because I can’t just put my life on hold to write. My kids won’t let me.

Part of doing DIY MFA means embracing the fact that you have a real life, that you can’t just be immersed in  your writing. Somehow your writing has to co-exist with that real life (and good news: It CAN!). The most critical thing you need to do as a writer is Honor Your Reality.

A lot of experts spout “best practices” for being a writer. They will prescribe a certain number of words per day or tell you to write every single day, as though giving you a formula for how to be a writer would help you write better. Here’s the cold, hard truth: it won’t. This is why I don’t believe in a formula. I believe in doing what works.

The only “best practice” is the one that works for you.

The way that works for you may be very different from what works for anyone else. There’s only one “formula” that can capture all the individual differences, challenges, and experiences of different writers and that’s honoring your reality. This means honoring who you are and where you are in your life, and choosing methods and techniques that will work for you.

I never like to give a rule across the board. I don’t like to say “write this many words per day” or prescribe specific schedules because each writer is different. Instead, I like to give suggestions and it’s on you to decide which of of these ideas and techniques to put into action.

Let’s look at the phrase: “Honor Your Reality.” What does it mean?

It means you’re going to respect what’s going on in your life. It’s not about “if only” (“if only I didn’t have two small kids…”, “if only I didn’t have a day job…”, etc.). Honoring your reality means looking at your life with all of the good, the bad, the ugly, the messy, the difficult, and also the beautiful and the easy. Your life would not be the rich experience that it is without the good and the bad together.

Honoring your reality is about embracing the struggle. It also means recognizing that writing is part of your reality. You can’t ignore it. Honoring your reality means finding a way for your real life and your writing life to co-exist. They’re not competing. They can work together. This is NOT to give you an excuse to be lazy and avoid writing. That would not be honoring your reality either because writing is part of who you are, just like everything else.

When you’re not writing, examine why you’re not writing. Is it because you honestly do not have the time? Because that’s ok! You honor your reality by recognizing that you have other things on your plate. At the end of the day, the writing will still be there, waiting for you to pick it up again.

Now if you find that everything else is always requiring time from you, that you’re using “Honor Your Reality” as an excuse not to write, then that’s not honoring your reality. You have to dig deep, to look at your life and decide, “Am I honoring both my life and the writing that I need to do?”

“Life is short, but also wide.”

There is a certain level of flexibility to reality. You have to look at the width, the breadth of your life and see if there isn’t room to fit your writing in. Look for pockets of time (like during your daily commute) to fit in different aspects of your creative life. I like to listen to podcasts or read when I’m on the subway heading to meetings. This is hands-down my most productive reading time and the only time I can fit the Read With Purpose part of DIY MFA into my life.

There are plenty of great little portable productivity tools and apps available to help you fit your writing into your day. But the goal isn’t to give you tools and tactics. This isn’t a strategy or a magic bullet. Honoring your reality is all about understanding who you are, what is important to you, and what you’re going to invest your attention in.

Be mindful, be present, be here now.

When you are truly honoring your reality, that means you agree to be fully present in what you are doing each moment. It means recognizing that everything that is part of your reality not only is important but also contributes to your ability to write. This means you must be fully present wherever you are.

Here’s the thing. Human beings were not built to multitask. Whatever we’re focusing on gets 100% of our attention. “Multitasking” just means that you’re constantly shifting your attention from one thing to another. And when you jump from task to task, you’re actually less efficient.

When you honor your reality you ask yourself “What needs my attention right now?” and then you give it 100% of your attention until it is completed. That means that when you are writing you are writing (not checking Facebook or your phone), and you need to do whatever it takes to guard that time, to keep it focused on writing and protect it from interlopers.

Get rid of the “shoulds.”

Whatever you’re doing at the moment is what you’re supposed to be doing. There are no “shoulds” when you honor your reality. The great thing about applying this principle to your life is that it takes away so much guilt.

Here’s an insight that changed how I think about guilt and the should-monster: having extra guilt doesn’t make you any more efficient or prolific as a writer. If you need to take time away from writing, OWN IT and don’t feel guilty. Piling on extra guilt when you’re not writing won’t make words magically appear on the page. Instead, give yourself permission to focus on what you are doing right now and be present in that moment.

To be clear, by telling you to honor your reality I’m not giving you permission to be LAZY. I’m giving you permission to live your life. Remember that all of those rich experiences, the good ones and the bad, make you the unique, wonderful person that you are and that person will come across in your voice and in the stories that you tell. Give yourself the freedom to live your life.

When you embrace both your writing and your life together, you are creating a situation that is sustainable for the long haul, that you can keep doing for the rest of your life.

Finally this.

To wrap up, I want to remind you that you have a story to tell and that story is important. You need to write it and no one else can do that but you. Honor your reality, both the real life that makes you the amazing person you are and also the writing side of your life.

You can do this! It might be hard (trust me, I’ve been there), but it does get easier over time.

If you enjoyed this episode, please send me an email or comment below. I’d love to hear about the reality that you’re honoring, and how you’re going to balance that with your writing as well.

Link to Episode 47

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 47: Honor Your Reality appeared first on DIY MFA.

Five Tips For Creating a Writing Office

1) Clear Your Desk and Create Ambiance

One of the hardest parts about having a small space is having to get a tiny desk. Mine had to double as my chest of drawers, so I didn’t have any drawer space at all. But I learned that I actually didn’t need them. Most of us write on computers, and my laptop was the only necessity I had, in addition to a small jar of sharpies for revision. A smaller desk made the space seem less cluttered.

That being said, there are homey touches that can make a desk a lot nicer to sit at, and can also easily separate it from the rest of the room. I’ve found having a small candle on my desk helps me focus. It’s sort of like Pavlov’s dogs; I use the same scent, and only when I’m writing. So, once I’ve lit the candle, something clicks in my brain, telling me it’s time to get to work. A lot of writers also diffuse essential oils to help focus or stimulate creativity–writer Jodi Kendall has some great posts on which ones to use if you’re interested in learning more. Another option is a small house-plant. I personally have trouble keeping them alive, but if you’ve got a green thumb, they’ve been clinically proven to brighten your mood and improve air quality in any space.  Another thing you could add is a small speaker system–I like to hook my cell phone up to one. It’s not only better sound quality, but it keeps me from checking my phone when I’m working!

2) Create Sight-Lines

A writing nook shouldn’t feel like a desk just shoved in a corner. One way to differentiate the space from other parts of the room is to use create the illusion of walls. For example, in my bedroom, I hung a curtain. It’s not an actual wall, but it creates a differentiated area. Another way to do this is with twinkle lights strung around your desk, or shelves. In my little closet-office, I used both!

3) Build Shelves

A writing office doesn’t feel quite right to me without bookshelves, but they can take up a lot of space. In my first apartment, my walls were fake, so I couldn’t build on them. I set a tiny book-shelf on my desk, with room for only three or four of my favorites. It wasn’t ideal. In my new apartment (which is still quite tiny!), I still don’t have room for a bookshelf, but I do have an actual wall. With some floating bookshelves from Ikea, I was able to use my wall space without wasting any floor space, and still have a place to set my favorite books. One trick I like to use is to arrange them with some lying flat or facing outward. You break up the pattern and can also set nick nacks you love, but don’t want cluttering your desk space.

4) Make a changeable inspiration board

I live in an apartment, so I don’t want to fill my walls with nail and tack holes, but I do want to have writing inspiration on the wall. Hanging a simple bulletin board would work to fix this problem–there are a lot of different nice ones you can buy for relatively cheap, or paint to really make them pop. I wanted something a little different. After some perusal of Pinterest, I found a solution: clipboards. These allow me to post art and quotes that inspire me, or outlines for my books without poking holes in the wall. They’re also quite cute while still making a space feel “office-y”.

5) Go Light

If painting your space is an option, I highly recommend choosing light colors, even on bookshelves. They brighten up a space, and make it feel more open and clean. Warm, rich colors can work well if you have a large area. For example, I love the photo of Tahereh Mafi and Ransom Rigg’s office, which has a dark wood desk, big, deep red rug and deep green couch. It works because the space is large and open. At work, I have a tiny office with built-in bookshelves from the eighties that were made for mass market paperbacks, in an institutional brown. I painted them white (which took a whole weekend!) but I think the result was worth it.

What do you love about your writing nook? Share your tips and pictures using the hashtag #5OnFri!

The post #5OnFri: Five Tips for Creating a Writing Office in Any Room appeared first on DIY MFA.

Today, I wanted to give a shout-out to Tobias, who wrote in with a question that inspired today’s episode, Get Motivated and Get Writing.

In fact, this got me thinking that If you have questions you’d like to hear answered on DIY MFA radio, send an email to the podcast team at podcast[at]DIYMFA[dot]com.

Here’s an excerpt of the message Tobias sent me:

“My problem is this: My writing is not going well and I’m thinking of giving up for good. I’ve been blocked for a long time. When I sit down to write I can only manage a few sentences… when nothing productive results from my writing sessions, I feel like a fraud, which gets me more and more discouraged.”

Thanks for sharing your struggle, Tobias. You should know that these challenges are actually super-common and most writers experience them at some point in their writing lives. Remember: you are not alone. Today I want to dig into those issues a little more deeply and give you some good ways to combat them. Tune in below for five tips to battle these challenges.

1. Fight against imposter syndrome. This is that feeling we get that we’re a fraud and people are going to “find us out.” But guess what? Everyone has it. At one point or another, everyone feels like they are just faking it and that one day everyone else will find out. It’s important to remember that though you may FEEL like the only one who is struggling, you are NOT alone.
2. Fake it ‘til you make it. Sometimes you have to pretend to be who you want to be before you can make it real. You may not have it all together quite yet, but eventually you will hit your stride and feel confident.
3. Build momentum. Sir Isaac Newton says “Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest.” If you are already writing on a regular basis, it’s easy to keep going. If not, it can be tough to rev up that motor and build up that momentum. Remember that you have to start somewhere in order to get moving. I recommend starting with something small and low stakes and then just keep going.
4. Make it a habit. It takes humans about 2 weeks to form a habit, so give yourself that time to build up your writing “muscle.” Start by writing just 15 minutes per day. The regularity will help build the habit, but by only committing to 15 minutes a day, you set yourself up for success. Give yourself something fun and easy to do, something to stretch those literary muscles and get you warmed up. Don’t worry about getting it perfect, just focus on getting it down on paper. Once you build up that momentum, you can move on to bigger projects. Try the Writer Igniter on DIYMFA.com for fun writing prompts to help get you going.
5. Keep the stakes low. It’s important that when you get back to writing you start small, so that you don’t discourage yourself. If you sit down to write the great American novel, you’ll likely freeze up. Remember that a writing habit is something you build a step at a time, not something that you wake up with one day. Better to take consistent baby steps than trying to do too much too fast and then giving up altogether.

Expert tip: Put the projects aside that you work on over these two “primer” weeks and don’t look at them at LEAST until the two weeks is up. This way you avoid judging your work prematurely and won’t derail your writing before you’ve had a chance to build up that habit.

Thanks again to Tobias for inspiring today’s show. To all my listeners: I hope these tips help you to get motivated and get writing this year! If you do try writing for 2 weeks, 15 minutes per day, please report back here and let us know how it goes. And of course, if you have questions you’d like to hear answered on DIY MFA radio, send an e-mail to the podcast team at podcast[at]DIYMFA[dot]com, and you just might hear it featured on the show!

Resources:

We have a couple of very exciting episodes coming up so make sure you subscribe via iTunes and hop on the DIY MFA email list so you’ll get all the updates. Next week, tune in to hear about how to get yourself motivated to write a book in 2015. Plus later this month, I’ll share an interview with Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick where they talk about their new book The Art of Social Media. They share some amazing tips about how to maximize your social media impact and I can’t wait to share those with you in a few weeks!

Link to Episode 25

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available. Also, if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please share!

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome.

The post Episode 25: Get Motivated and Get Writing appeared first on DIY MFA.