Maybe you are already meeting your reading and writing goals for the summer. But maybe not. Fortunately, at DIY MFA we have some posts that will help you read and write more this summer.

Six Ways to Write Through the Lazy Summer Days

A lot of people like to take a break during the summer. I think this is partly because we’re conditioned from kindergarten through twelfth grade (and even into college) to view those 12 weeks as the only bit of freedom from the drudgery of daily life that we get. I get it.

But I think you can still take a break from the daily grind and get some words on the page. Former DIY MFA columnist Bess McAllister first shared this article in 2014 about how you can write through the dog days of summer without losing your cool. This post is all about maximizing the fun that summer has to offer while still meeting your writing goals.

#5onFri: Five Hacks to Help You Write More This Summer

This #5onFri from former columnist Savannah Cordova offers even more tips on how to get the most out of summer and meet your goals. This post walks you through how to get your writing done early so that you can reward yourself with some pool time and a nice cool, refreshing drink (or however you like to reward yourself).

I think rewards are an excellent way to help find the motivation you need to knock out the work. Yes, writing is fun and that’s why we do it, but—let’s face it—it’s also work, so be sure to reward yourself accordingly.

Four Ways to Build Accountability into Summer Reading

I’m sure I’m not the only one here who knocked their library’s summer reading program out of the park each year! Summer is just made for reading. Whether you’re hanging out poolside or beating the heat with a nice book inside, books are a great companion. They keep your brain engaged and provide hours of entertainment.

Summer is a great time to make some headway on your mountainous TBR pile, but sometimes a little accountability helps. Check out this post by former DIY MFA columnist Terri Frank on how to meet your reading goals for the summer.

Prepare Your LGBTQ+ Summer Reading List with Ten Must-Reads

Maybe you’re wanting to get a bit more diversity in your reading list, but don’t know where to start. Let me suggest this amazing list of LGBTQ+ books put together by current DIY MFA columnist, Adam W. Burgess. 

He’s done a great job of assembling a list of books across genres for your reading pleasure. Really! There are novels, graphic novels, poetry collections, and non-fiction books on this list. Plus, with each title on the list, he provides a bit of an explanation on why it’s recommended reading.

June 2022 Leisure Learning

OK. This post just came out, but I wanted to highlight it nonetheless. Each month, columnist Melissa Haas puts together suggested resources to engage your creative brain. The things highlighted in these posts run the gamut from documentaries to digital collections and even literary video games that you should check out. I can’t tell you how much I love this fabulous monthly resource that she puts together!

The items in this list are ones you can access at home during a staycation or perhaps even use to plan a literary trip. She even includes a family-friendly pick each month for something people of all ages can enjoy. Check it out!

Be Well, Write Well: Embrace Your Season

All of the resources so far focus on the season of the year, but this post by former DIY MFA columnist Leanne Sowul is all about your season of life. Maybe summer isn’t inherently more or less busy than the other seasons of the year. That doesn’t mean you can’t develop habits and routines that help you meet your goals.

This is a great post for anybody who is considering putting together a new routine for themselves. Truth be told, it’s a reflection post I need to work through as I am on the verge of a new start and am figuring out how to structure my days so I can live the life I want to live.

Tell us in the comments: What are your summer reading and writing plans?

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.

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Fiction

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

I’ve often said that the best kind of book is the book that teaches while it entertains. Perhaps not surprisingly, YA novels tend to fall into this category. They make for lovely and usually simple reading, perfect for stressful times when we need escapist leisure (hmm… why is that so appealing right now?). Yet, they are also often quite instructive; at least, the really good ones are. Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After is a good LGBTQ+ Summer Read. Felix’s story, the story of a young trans black man, is a particularly important and powerful one right now. It is a story that needed telling.

Don Juan in the Village by Jane DeLynn

Jane DeLynn’s novel is a classic of lesbian fiction. It follows the escapades and sexual conquests of its female protagonist, a lady Don Juan, as she travels the world and sleeps with as many women as she can. The narrative spans the course of 20 years, beginning sometime in the 1970s and ending sometime in the 1990s. There is a clear and stark, sometimes painful, contrast between the freedom of the post-1960s sexual revolution and the advent of what the narrator labels, “the plague.”

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian

Like A Love Story is not only a beautifully written YA novel, but it is a historically and socially important one. Nazemian reminds the reader just how hard gay and lesbian people had to fight to win their freedoms and equal protection, a fight that continues to this day and that is constantly under attack. 

The author includes several important historical lessons, weaving them seamlessly into the story of these characters’ lives so that readers who give this work a chance will find themselves learning critical history that is often overlooked, forgotten, or under-appreciated, while at the same time enjoying an excellent story. At the heart of it are themes of friendship, forgiveness, and first loves, as well as first losses.

Graphic Novels

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Somewhere amidst all the very heavy reading that I was doing last summer, I apparently needed a break. That break was found in Jen Wang’s delightful graphic novel, The Prince and the Dressmaker. The story is about a young man, a prince, who sometimes likes to dress in women’s clothes. He hears of a brilliant young dressmaker and hires her to be his own personal designer. 

The story is charming—delightful, really—and fresh in the way it bends gender roles separate from sexuality. The art, too, is simply wonderful. The story has its ups and downs, of course, and nothing goes entirely smoothly, not even for a prince, but the ending is a dessert worth waiting for. 

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

The heart of this graphic novel is three fairy tales, including two versions of Cinderella (the German and the Vietnamese) and The Little Mermaid. Also incorporated into the plot are concepts such as traditional coming out and coming of age in America, the immigrant experience, colonization and empire, post-war identity, and so much more. 

What on the surface might look like another wonderfully illustrated children’s story, is in fact a powerful, delicate, and uniquely rendered story about a queer, Asian American boy’s life, his family, and their heritage, not to mention language itself. I was utterly captivated by this one. The Magic Fish has found its place on my forever shelf.

Poetry

The Tradition by Jericho Brown

This collection contains three parts. Running through all three is a series of poems titled “Duplex.” Each one grows considerably sharper and more poignant as the collection roars forward to its conclusion. Somehow, Brown creates beauty where none should exist. His poems make explicit the horror we have grown accustomed to in our daily lives, but they do so in the way “Ganymede” promises from the outset: When the speaker asks us, who doesn’t want to be loved by God, we see the answer in the very craft of poetry. And what have we sacrificed for it? 

“I begin with love, / hoping to end there,” Brown writes in one of his “Duplex” poems, and I must cheer him for succeeding. This collection and every poem in it, whether it is tackling issues of rape or terror, mass shootings, workplace struggles, or the intimacies of the bedroom, is filled with love. Crafted with love. Expressing love in every word and line, in every syllable and caesura.

Fire to Fire by Mark Doty

This collection is a kind of “greatest hits” from a National Book Award-winning poet. It gathers the “best of” Doty’s previous seven poetry collections (pre-2008) and adds some of his more recent uncollected pieces. What it proves is that Doty is one of America’s greatest contemporary poets and certainly a standout for gay poetry. I responded most to his poems about loss and about the painful but necessary act of moving forward.

The Malevolent Volume by Justin Phillip Reed

This one speaks directly to the current movement and to the violence that has been perpetrated against black bodies for too long. Reed uses a full arsenal in his exploration and call to arms, from mythology to modern cinema, from pop culture to classical poetic forms. At its core, this is a critique of exploitation, an expose, and while it often looks outward at the populations of marginalized people, it is also personal, intimate, and revolutionary. 

Reed’s style of free verse is deeply informed by formal structure. His poems are always in conversation with other poems, and other poets. This is likely to become a well-cited model for emerging poets.  

Non-Fiction

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

If I’m not mistaken, this is the first text in the “revisionist history” series, and it’s a decent inaugural text for that project. Although this study ends in the 1990s and could therefore use a new edition, the book is exactly what it says it will be, an illuminating and detailed history of queer people in the United States, from its founding to the AIDS crisis. 

Those new to LGBTQ+ history will learn a lot from reading this book, some of which will be surprising. If you’re hoping to add depth to your characters’ backstories or to write historical fiction, this is going to be a helpful read.

Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America by Christopher Bram

In the years following World War II, a group of gay writers established themselves as major cultural figures in American life. Truman Capote, the enfant terrible, whose finely wrought fiction and nonfiction captured the nation’s imagination. Gore Vidal, the wry, withering chronicler of politics, sex, and history. Tennessee Williams, whose powerful plays rocketed him to the top of the American theater. James Baldwin, the harrowingly perceptive novelist and social critic. Christopher Isherwood, the English novelist who became a thoroughly American novelist. And the exuberant Allen Ginsberg, whose poetry defied censorship and exploded minds. Together, their writing introduced America to the gay experience and sensibility; and changed our literary culture. What writer doesn’t love reading about other powerful and history-making writers?

Thinking About It

This LGBTQ+ Summer Reading list of course just scratches at the surface of a brilliant and ever-developing “canon” of LGBTQ+ literature in the United States and elsewhere. I could write for pages and pages about other writers, like Ocean Vuong and Emily M. Danforth, who deserve to be read.

If you have other great suggestions for LGBTQ+ summer reading, feel free to leave them in the comments!

Adam W. Burgess is a Professor of English at the College of Southern Nevada. He has a Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University and is pursuing a post-doc writing certificate at the University of California, Berkeley. He loves engaging in all topics related to LGBTQ literature and craft. You can find Adam on his website or follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The post Prepare Your LGBTQ+ Summer Reading List with Ten Must-Reads appeared first on DIY MFA.

It is also the most fleeting season. As quickly as night turns into day, so too will this summer pass. Don’t lose the opportunity to read memorable books that will stay with you for a lifetime and mold your own writing. Make a plan for your summer reading now. Accountability is a writer’s best friend. Here are a few fun ways to build in accountability and make that TBR pile shrink this summer.

Public Libraries

You may have fond memories of participating in your local library’s summer reading program as a child. Did you know public libraries now have those same contests for adults?

Pick up a reading log or bingo card from your local library, track your reading and be entered for weekly drawings for gift cards, electronics, and literary swag. A bigger library usually means bigger prizes. For example, the New York Public Library gave away Yankees tickets one year and the Indianapolis Library screened free outdoor movies with refreshments provided by a local brewery.

It’s easy to find out if your hometown library has such a program. Visit their website, give them a call or stop in. As a librarian, I can tell you we’re all about encouraging lifelong reading and learning. Don’t feel guilty about getting rewarded for your reading. If adults don’t sign up, these prizes go to waste.

Bookstores & Restaurants

A number of independent bookstores and restaurants offer fantastic summer reading programs for adults. It can take some sleuthing to find these, but keep your eyes open for signs the next time you’re frequenting your favorite establishments.

One such program is at Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins, CO. Participants have the opportunity to attend weekly book talks, book clubs, and prose readings. In-store gift cards are raffled off to those who track their reading. Murder by the Book, a large well-known mystery bookstore in Houston, hosts summer reading nights where participants get a sneak preview of hot reads complete with wine and appetizers.

Likewise, independent restaurants and coffee shops are increasingly getting in on the fun. A local restaurant near me offers a free appetizer or dessert to adults who read at least five books each summer. Coffee shops often sponsor additional poetry jams or author readings during June, July and August.

For kids, “A Frugal Chick” blog offers this excellent compilation of bookstores and restaurants that hold free summer reading programs. And, The New York Times has a summer reading contest for teens that could prove very rewarding for young writers.

Breweries

The greatest growth of adult summer reading programs, however, is occurring in breweries.  Brewery Becker, in Michigan, has partnered with its local public library to offer a summer book club for the 21+ crowd. Monthly discussions take place over a frothy glass of the brewery’s latest creation. The Books & Brews chain in Indiana invites local book clubs to meet at their locations. Books inspire everything from the decor to the literary names of the drinks, plus 10% of profits go to support literacy efforts. You could even use their menu to plan your summer reading. Sip on “Cream & Punishment” as a reward for getting through the Dostoyevsky classic or “Charlie” for reading a Roald Dahl title.

To find such a group near you, google breweries AND (book clubs or summer reading).  Add your city or state to narrow the results. Doing a similar search with “wineries” will point you toward vineyards pairing books and beverages.

Virtual Reading Challenges

The beauty of online summer reading programs is that they can be done anywhere and anytime. In addition, some of them are just darn fun. One of my favorites is the annual Literary Escapes Challenge. Take a vacation right from your Kindle while you read a book set in each of the 50 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia. Earn bonus points for reading books set in other countries. Stay in touch via the Literary Escapes Facebook group and learn about prizes to be announced later in the year. Writers are encouraged to blog about their progress.

I also adore the Book to Movie Challenge. Read from a list of books about to be adapted to film or TV. Be ahead of the curve. Think about how much fun it will be to see the movie preview while bragging to your seatmate, “ I read that book.” Follow along on social media using #Gather2Read and check the aforementioned website for other creative reading contests.

Finally, review my article about PBS’s The Great American Read  that began last month. A handy checklist has been added to the companion website and voting is now open.

I heard someone say recently that our goals don’t make things happen. It’s our daily habits that do. Before I’m writing about great autumn reads, select one of the above contests and get some summer reading done. Your work in progress will thank you!

Terri Frank is a professional librarian and holds a Master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working in a library, she’s probably visiting a library with her husband and two kids. Her current writing projects include a novel about a tuberculosis sanitorium.

The post Four Ways to Build Accountability into Summer Reading appeared first on DIY MFA.

Select Your Contenders

The series’ 100 List offers an excellent opportunity to reinvigorate your reading life. This is your chance to read those paragons of fiction your English class skipped. The series’ companion website even offers a quiz to test how well-read you are.

Of course,  classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and Gulliver’s Travels made the cut, but if the classics of yore aren’t your thing, the 100 List is chock full of contemporary novels, too. Ghost, released in August 2016, is a middle grade novel by Jason Reynolds about a middle school sprinter. There’s also Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah (often credited as the first urban fiction novel), and even Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James.

When reviewing the 100 List, keep in mind– The Great American Read is not a writing contest.  It’s more of a popularity contest. That is, what books have Americans read and liked? Only fiction books were accepted, but an author could hail from any nation as long as their book was published in English.

Read and Connect

At DIYMFA, we preach reading with purpose and building your community. The Great American Read offers opportunities for both. You might approach the 100 List as a comparative tool for your current work in progress. If you’re writing science fiction, read all the sci-fi books on the list (Dune or Foundation anyone?).

Another method is to choose books based on an upcoming episode. To make the list more manageable, books will be grouped and discussed by theme. A few of the themes announced so far are:

• What We Do for Love
• Heroes
• Villains and Monsters
• Other Worlds
• Who Am I?

The American Library Association offers some insightful questions to ponder while reading novels from each theme. With upcoming episodes serving as de facto deadlines, you’ll have built-in motivation to finish your selections. Nationwide discussions in bookstores, libraries and online will provide meaningful, interactive community for readers and writers.

Vote for the Finalists

The Great American Read website says viewers will be able to vote by several methods. At first, viewers will vote by logging on to the PBS website, visiting Facebook, or using a hashtag on Twitter. Voting options will expand to include phone lines and text messaging near the series’ conclusion.

Origins and Alternative Lists

In 1996, Oprah Winfrey launched Oprah’s Book Club to get people reading again. Similar to The Great American Read, the medium of television allowed readers, authors and celebrities to connect with books in a new way. You can find a list of Oprah’s Book Club picks here.  Many people are unaware that she’s reinvented her book club for the digital age. Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 is currently reading An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.

Librarian Nancy Pearl conceived  “If All of Seattle Read the Same Book” in 1998. She chose The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks and held book clubs around the city. The idea spread worldwide and continues to this day. You can search for a “One Book, One Community” program in your area via the Library of Congress. There is also The Big Read begun by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006 and the Great Books Foundation that traces its nationwide discussion groups all the way back to 1930’s Chicago.

At the turn of the millennium, Modern Library polled readers about their favorite books published during the twentieth century. The 100 Best Nonfiction Books and the 100 Best Novels lists are still available for you to peruse.

Finally, our Canadian word nerds will be familiar with “Canada Reads” — a book reality show that’s been airing there on radio since 2002 and on television since 2010. Celebrities defend their assigned book at a rousing roundtable debate to keep it from being “voted off the shelf.”

Americans can’t see the live debates unless they live near the border and get Canadian television. However, you can find taped episodes on YouTube. The list of past winners is, of course, available to all and a great way to discover Canadian authors.

Whether you tune in to The Great American Read or choose books from another mentioned list, it should be a fantastic summer for reading–and talking about–books.

Terri Frank is a professional librarian and holds a Master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working in a library, she’s probably visiting a library with her husband and two kids. Her current writing projects include a novel about a tuberculosis sanitorium.

The post A Reality Show for Books? Yes, Please! appeared first on DIY MFA.

Since middle school, summer for me has always been synonymous with summer reading. Even now when my summer schedule is really no different from that of the school year, I always seem to find more time for reading during the summer months. This year I read six books (almost finished with the seventh) which is a far cry from the 25 I used to read as a kid, but is still many more than what I’m able to manage during the rest of the year.

For me, reading always tends to revolve around a theme, and this year the topics have been: creativity and entrepreneurship. This makes sense, of course, since these topics have been on my mind a lot (especially with the DIY MFA re-branding and web design update that’s coming this fall).

When I was in middle school, I’d get into this mode where I’d have to read ALL the books from one author or series because I simply couldn’t get enough. These days, instead of author or series it’s all about the topic. When I get locked in on a subject or an idea, I have to read I have to read every different perspective on that same concept. Right now creativity and entrepreneurship are the flavor of choice so if you’ve read books on those topics I’d love to hear your recommendations.

After all, summer’s not quite over yet.

In case you’re curious, here’s my Summer Reading Log for 2012:

You Are a Writer by Jeff Goins
It Takes an Egg Timer by Joanne Tombrakos
The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice by Todd Henry
Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
We Are Not Alone by Kristen Lamb
Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer
Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin (currently reading)

Of these books, I’d say The Accidental Creative was my favorite because of the straight-forward, actionable lessons I learned from it. I read it on my Kindle–which is my preferred format for breezing through a book– but now I think I might have to get a hard copy so that I can use it as a reference and look things up or review concepts as needed.

What books have YOU read this summer? What was your favorite?

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