Writer Fuel: How to Use Iteration in Your Writing

Writer Fuel: How to Use Iteration in Your Writing

Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite topics. Iteration is the process where you repeat something, making small, incremental changes. We’re so used to seeing iteration in the world around us, that we barely even notice it. For example, tech companies use iteration all the time. They produce software and release a… Read more »

Writer Fuel: Make the Most of Writing Resources

Writer Fuel: Make the Most of Writing Resources

I’ve been thinking a lot about all the writing resources that are out there on the web—both free and not free. This got me wondering: “How do we manage it all? How do we tell what’s good from what’s not? And how do we know our time and money will be well spent?” In other… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Tips for Narrowing Your Focus

Lots of people say they want to write a book about their life. Over the course of years and decades, they’ve amassed experiences and learned lessons that make for interesting reading and inspiration for others. That makes sense. We all have a story to tell – and really, more than one story. Which can make… Read more »

Tips and Techniques for Training Your Writing Brain

Writing is fraught. You worry about your imagination. You worry about your writing ability. You descend into navel gazing. “Is my writing engaging enough? Are my ideas interesting enough to hold a reader’s interest? Does my idea have enough substance to be a poem, short story, novel?” It all starts to spin out of control…. Read more »

Introducing our Podcast: DIY MFA Radio

DIY MFA is launching a podcast! OMG, right? Here at DIY MFA we are so excited to share this with you because it’s been secretly in the works for the last six months at least. Honestly, I don’t know if I could have kept the secret much longer. We’re scheduled to launch our first episode next… Read more »

Creative Writing Lessons from a Reporter

I’m a journalist by day and a creative writer by night. This double life started in my sophomore year of college, when I enrolled in two classes: Introduction to Fiction and News Writing. Every week, I would spend my mornings and afternoons typing up news articles using the inverted pyramid. Evenings were dedicated to creative writing:… Read more »

The Rewrite Rules!

In April of 2011, I hit a wall in my book. This was not a “I need a break” or “I’m tired” or “this is hard” wall. Writers don’t get breaks. We’re always tired. And writing is never not hard. This was a “this is not working” wall. There was a fundamental flaw in my… Read more »