DIY MFA Radio

Do you set goals only to lose momentum after a few days or weeks? Don't worry, I've been there and I know how you feel. In this episode I share my go-to productivity tool that has helped me get my pr…

Crazy fact: Did you know that while 45% of Americans make New Year's resolutions, only 8% actually achieve what they set out to do? Here at DIY MFA we want to see you rock your New Year's resolutions…

I used to hate outlines, but now I love them. In this episode I share my five go-to outline techniques: mind maps, scene cards, story mapping, story sketch and mood boards. I'll give you the inside s…

Today we have Daniel Milnor, photographer at large for Blurb, Inc., joining us. Dan and I talked about how the book has evolved, what it means for something to be a book, and what these changes mean …

It's December and if you did NaNoWriMo, you've probably got a big pile of pages that need shaping and editing. But where do you start? This episode will give you a simple 3-step process to help you t…

If you're like me (and most writers) you probably love acquiring new books. But how do you know if a writing book will teach you what you need to know? Or will it just collect dust on your bookshelf.…

As a follow-up to our previous episode on Writing Groups, this time we discuss how to give useful critiques. The key to giving critique is to be specific, and to think of the critique relationship as…

This is a very special episode for DIY MFA Radio because it features a wonderful writer--and one of my writing heroes--Jane Yolen. Known as the "Hans Christian Andersen of America" Jane Yolen has wri…

In our Halloween episode, we talk about creative monsters and how to evade them. I'll share was to trick (or treat) your way around these monsters so you can stay confident and creative. The key to a…

Inspired by the Kubler-Ross five stages of grief, this episode walks you through the five stages of how writers process and get through writer's block. Just as people might grieve a loss, when writer…

When new writers join DIY MFA, one of the biggest challenges they face is finding a writing group, and what to do when they finally join one. I've been in several writing groups so I thought I'd shar…

Do you love to read? If you're at all like me, chances are your list of books TBR (to be read) is much bigger than the number of books you could ever read in a lifetime. This means that your reading …

Sooner or later you're going to have to ask for something. Whether it's asking readers to buy your book, or asking someone to help you promote it, at some point you'll find yourself in a place where …

I came to poetry fairly late as a writer, and now I'm on a mission to bring other writers to poetry as well. In this episode, I interview poet and children's book author extraordinaire: Marilyn Singe…

We often think of writing purely as an art but when it comes to POV, there’s definitely a science to it. When I first started writing I had no idea what POV was all about so I created a nifty POV che…

When it comes to building a writing community, Karen Dionne knows where it's at. Co-founder of Backspace--an online community for writers of all genres--and organizer of many conferences, Karen knows…

The first five pages are super-important for setting the tone of your novel. In those pages, you make five key promises and delaying or breaking those promises will create tension in the story. In th…