This week, we are looking back to the best DIY MFA Articles of 2012. As you know, the DIY MFA consists of three components: Writing With Focus, Reading With Purpose and Building Your Community. All three of these elements are integral to building a writing life. Yesterday, we talked about the best articles to help… Read more »
Every writer wants something. Maybe it’s an extra hour in the day so you can be more productive. Maybe it’s an extra-special fountain pen or notebook. Maybe it’s having the cat stop chewing on the corners of your manuscript. We don’t ask for much, but when it comes right down to it, the thing all… Read more »
Ever wonder what literary agents look for when they read your first pages? While at the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar I had the opportunity to sit in on some small group workshops and observe how agents responded to the opening pages from different writers. By listening to agents give feedback, I got an inside look at… Read more »
When I was a kid, my local library did a summer reading challenge. You had to keep track of your books in a reading log, move your name tag across a giant game board with each book you read, and if you got to 25 books you’d win a T-Shirt. In middle school, I won… Read more »
We end our week-long celebration of Teen Literature with an interview today with the charming Elana Johnson. I began following Elana’s blog when I first started exploring the blogsphere for fellow writers. Immediately it became one of my go-to writing blogs because of her honest, no-nonsense advice and her generosity to other writers. She’s one… Read more »
Of all the books I read in a given year, I’d estimate 90% of it is young adult literature (YA). This hasn’t always been the case. In fact, I only started reading it a few years ago, when I was well past my teen years. The truth is, YA wasn’t very popular when I was… Read more »
To finish off our lists of favorites before tomorrow’s Blog Party, we’ve put together one last list: Top Book Picks. Every writer needs a personal library but even if you don’t have these books on your shelf, browsing a library or bookstore can be the next best thing. Next time you have a severe writer’s… Read more »
I struggled to come up with a perfect suggested reading list for this month’s Master Class on Short Fiction, but I kept finding myself hitting the wall. Some of you may have heard me lament the absence in the world of a perfect short story anthology . I’ve found ones that are OK but never… Read more »
The first step to creating your DIY MFA is to take stock of where you are right now. Some of you might be just starting out on your writing journey, while others may have been writing for years. Either way is fine. While some of you might have plenty of time to devote to this project, others… Read more »
DIY MFA is all about giving writers the tools and techniques to take their writing education into their own hands. This means each writer has the freedom to construct a learning plan that caters specifically to his or her needs and goals. There is a method to the madness, though, even with all this freedom…. Read more »
