Rejection. Nobody likes it—most writers experience it. The rejection tallies of famous books are something of a Holy Grail for writers: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected 14 times Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind was rejected 38 times George Orwell’s Animal Farm was rejected because “It is impossible to sell… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Natasha Scripture. Natasha is an author, poet, humanitarian, and former aid worker. As a spokesperson for the United Nations, she covered humanitarian crises around the world and before the UN she worked for a variety of organizations, including the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera English,… Read more »
In the article before last, I shared the tale of one of the lesser-known Irish mythic figures, Tlachtga. This time around I’m delving into my Finnish heritage for some mythic inspiration. The Kalevala is the national epic poem of Finland, compiled and edited by scholar Elias Lönnrot in its final form in 1849. Professionally, Lönnrot… Read more »
One piece of platforming advice I feel strongly about is that every author should have a newsletter. And yes, this is still true even if you are not yet published! I cannot say this enough. Any author who wants a readership—even if that’s a future readership–should have an author newsletter. I often hear authors worry… Read more »
When it comes time to start on a new writing project, one of my favorite things to do is create a playlist (I call them “soundtracks”). It’s fun to imagine the music that would play in your story’s future film or television adaptation. Above all, having a soundtrack on the ready on those days you… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! You might be doing a double-take right now because this episode is airing on a Thursday and not on Wednesday like our usual schedule. In fact, this is a bonus episode to celebrate the 5-year of podcasting at DIY MFA Radio. That’s right… exactly five years ago today, we announced this… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to our guest, the award-winning journalist, essayist, and poet Marybeth Niederkorn. In this interview, we talk about her first full-length poetry collection, Times Knew Roamin’, and how she used poetry to capture emotion and mental space. We also teaching writing and how to… Read more »
Attention romance writers with a desire to create the next exciting, best-selling, jump up and slap your pappy, inspirational (Inspy) romance novel. No, you don’t have to go back and reread that last sentence. Inspirational romance sells and you need to climb onto one of the fastest growing subgenres with a breakout novel or can’t-put-it-down… Read more »
Why do you write? If I were to take a survey of all of you right now, I bet I’d get some similar answers. Writing gets the stories in my head out into the world. I write to express emotions. I write because I want to see my byline. I do it for the money…. Read more »
As I home in on the pub date for my second novel (THE NINE, She Writes Press, August 20), there is excitement whirring in my mind as well as the anxiety that comes with keeping track of a to-do list. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to some underlying trepidation, as well. Having launched… Read more »
