Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for April is Word Choice and Micro Craft, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Donnaldson and Lori discuss:

• The impact of secrets on multiple generations.
• Starting a project with an image and painting it into prose.
• Directing a reader’s imagination through clues and cues.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Donnaldson Brown

Donnaldson ‘s debut novel, Because I Loved You, is due out in April 2023 with She Writes Press. An attorney and former screenwriter, she worked with Robert Redford’s film development company for several years. Her spoken word pieces have been featured in The Deep Listening Institute’s Writers in Performance and Women & Identity Festivals, and in the Made in the Berkshires Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She’s been awarded several residencies.

A longtime resident of both Brooklyn, New York and western Massachusetts, Ms. Brown grew up riding horses on a family ranch in East Texas as well as in her native Connecticut. She is a facilitator and trainer with The Equus Effect, offering somatic-based experiential learning with horses for veterans, first responders and others struggling with PTSD, and is also certified to teach meditation and several forms of yoga. 

She is a proud mother, and loves to sing, cycle, and hike with her dogs. 

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

Because I Loved You

At sixteen, Leni O’Hare Dreams of escaping her family’s rundown East Texas farm to become an artist, but that means leaving behind both her grey mare, Foggy, and her beloved older brother, Foy. When she rescues and returns Caleb McGrath’s horse from a storm out on the chaparral, this second son of the largest rancher in the area catches her heart with his gentle nature and his own big dreams. Together they begin to imagine and plan a future beyond the limiting confines of their small town. But Leni’s hopes soon run as dry as the land itself, driven by a family tragedy for the O’Hare’s and a secret that Leni stores deep in her heart. Hastily, Leni makes a decision that she believes will protect Caleb’s future. Her ill-conceived and painful choice transforms not only their lives but impacts the next two generations.

In this epic love story and rich family saga, Donnaldson Brown takes readers from the East Texas chaparral in 1972, against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, to New York City’s vibrant downtown art scene in the mid-1980’s, to the (pre-pandemic) present day, and from dreams lost to dreams rediscovered. Brown weaves together a powerful story of abiding love—romantic love, parental love, and the kind of love that sets a person free to choose one’s own path and maybe, hopefully, return.

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!

Link to Episode 458

(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 458: Intuitive Writing: Capture Your Character’s Energy and Paint with Your Words – Interview with Donnaldson Brown appeared first on DIY MFA.

Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for September is International/Travel, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Khristin Wierman and Lori discuss:

• How to ensure each character has their own distinct voice and mannerisms
• Seeing the good in people and places you disagree with
• Untying the knots inside yourself as a path to fulfillment

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Khristin Wierman

Khristin Wierman spent twenty years rising through the marketing ranks of Fortune 500 companies, building a career that was lucrative, ego-boosting, and a little bit soul-crushing. So she quit. And had no idea what to do with her life. Writing novels ensued.

She was born and raised in a small East Texas town—which means she came into this world a Dallas Cowboys fan and ardently believes “y’all” is a legitimate pronoun.

Some things she enjoys are playing golf with her husband and stepson, poker, yoga, chocolate, the Golden State Warriors, and the daily adventure of life with an adorably imperfect cat named Rocco. She lives in San Francisco, California.

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

Buck’s Pantry

In a small Texas town, three women—Gillian, a former prom queen and furious juggler of her three children’s manic schedules; Lianna, a foul-mouthed East Coast banking super star; and Aimee, a woman capable of far more than her current life will allow—find their lives converging.

Gillian, reeling from the revelations her husband shared at a fundraiser she hosted just days ago, is suddenly grappling with what she has always believed about politics, family, and her own comfortable life—and aghast at some of the choices she’s made. Lianna is en route to close a deal and languishing in the August heat. Desperate to return to her beloved New York and a first-time visitor to rural Texas, she’s certain she has landed in one of the outer rings of hell. Aimee, though withering under the covert dysfunction and mental illness lurking in her family, still manages to shine in her low-level job and allows herself to dream of a life far away. When Gillian and Lianna stop at the same convenience store, they find themselves in an unthinkable situation. Aimee may be their only hope—if she can put the pieces together.

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!

Link to Episode 426

(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 426: Overcoming Differences and the Ability to Change in Novels – Interview with Khristin Wierman appeared first on DIY MFA.

Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter, especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for June is Young Adult, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Scott Gates and I discuss:

• Truth in a first-person narrative, especially when the protagonist is unreliable.
• The traditions of travel literature and including Classical structures in modern literature.
• How to balance writing and the research rabbit hole so you can maintain your momentum.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About Scott Gates

Scott Gates is the author of Hard Road South, published by Blue Ink Press. He is a magazine editor and a second-generation communicator for rural electric cooperatives. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Auburn University and a Master of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Scott grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and currently lives in North Carolina with his wife and three kids, where he enjoys a slower pace of life and reliable barbecue options. He and his brother share perspectives on Southern culture at incidentalist.com.

You can find him on his website or follow him on Facebook and Instagram. 

Gone, the Redeemer

Thomas Sparkman wasn’t looking for trouble. He never could have imagined being on a wanted poster, let alone becoming a notorious gold robber hunted in two states. But when Thomas sneaks off the Cuban front of the Spanish-American War with his sights set on returning to his pregnant wife in California, his path takes a series of unexpected turns. He’s joined on his journey by a mysterious mercenary, a runaway circus sideshow performer, and an Apache guide and her infant son.

As the group traverses the American West, they cross paths with rogues, loners, and hired guns—some searching for their own form of redemption, some working to stop him dead in his tracks. Thomas and his travel companions must stay two steps ahead of their pursuers, outwitting them at every turn, or Thomas may never see home again.

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!

Link to Episode 414

(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 414: The Travel Novel, the Unreliable Narrator, and Forgotten Slices of History – Interview with Scott Gates appeared first on DIY MFA.