Be Well, Write Well: Interview with Karen Kaufman Orloff

Welcome to the third installment of our interview series on authors’ writing and wellness habits! Today’s interviewee is Karen Kaufman Orloff, author of several well-known children’s books, including the I Wanna Iguana series. Karen lives and works in the Hudson Valley, as I do, and I’ve known of her work for years but hadn’t had… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Reader Questions to Avoid

What is a reader thinking when he or she reads your work? We all experience an inner dialogue about the world around us. During reading it’s the same: consuming words wakes up the voices in our heads. What we really want is for our readers to be asking the right questions. Things like ‘what happens next?’… Read more »

Speculating Your Future: Five Steps to FIT Goals

I’m going a bit off theme with this article, but when I saw Gabriela’s on Why You Should Review Your Writing Year, I figured I was on the write track. You see, I’m not a fan of resolutions, at the beginning of the New Year, or at any time. There’s something too final about the… Read more »

Exploring the Theme of Legacy in ‘Station Eleven’

What does it mean to leave a legacy? Typically it implies that someone has handed down something of value to a successor or the next generation. That legacy can be tangible (wealth, property, artistic works) or intangible (influence on a field or industry, life lessons), and its impacts can sometimes change the world forever. In… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Ways to Conquer Deadline Anxiety

My writing habits tend to follow a feast or famine pattern. Trapped behind an invisible dam, my words dry up for days. When a gush of creativity bursts forth, I’m graced with thousands of words pouring from my fingertips with ease. I crank out several pitches and surf high on a wave of productivity and… Read more »

The Five G’s of Getting Libraries to Buy your Book

Getting libraries to purchase your book can have a big impact on your overall reach. But how do you get libraries to make that all-important sale? Here are five tips from DIY MFA’s personal librarian, Terri Frank. 1) Get Reviewed As a librarian responsible for purchasing, I read around 150 book reviews per day. These… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Ways to Find a Writer’s Group Online

Camaraderie. Feedback. The opportunity to vent. These are just a handful of the numerous benefits of joining a writers’ group. Writing is mostly a solitary endeavor, and it’s easy to feel isolated as you toil away day after day behind a computer screen. Whether you write novels, short stories, screenplays, or something else, it’s refreshing… Read more »

Why You Should Review Your Writing Year

Every so often, it’s important to pause for a moment and take stock of where you’ve been and where you’re going. I like to do this around holiday time, particularly around Thanksgiving, because it reminds me of all the things I have to be thankful for… things I’ve overcome in my writing journey as well… Read more »