Creating Your Logo, the Arts & Crafts Way After some enjoyable downtime over the summer, I’m back building my small business with renewed energy. So, I decided to start with tackling some of the areas that I’ve had resistance with in the past – primarily setting up my first website and drafting and designing the… Read more »
Happy Autumn, word nerds! Fall has officially arrived and in just a few days, we will be entering perhaps the most magical month of the year: October. Can you feel the sparkle in the air? My cat and I certainly can (see bio). While not everyone celebrates Halloween, October is a particularly special month for… Read more »
The main character in my novel, Andrea Hoffman Goes All In, is an institutional equity salesperson. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t know what that is. Neither did I until I became one. But it is important that my readers understand the basics of the job and some facts about the stock market and investing… Read more »
Someone once asked me at a reading what I would say to an aspiring writer, and I answered “craft your pain.” I believe a story can uplift, amuse, and encourage, but no matter how lucky you are, by birth or chance, everyone experiences grief. Everyone knows loss, and everyone needs, at one time or another,… Read more »
Today, Lori is interviewing Helen Scheuerer. They’ll be talking about some of the lessons in her new book How to Write a Successful Series. Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from… Read more »
Notes of a Desolate Man by Chu T’ien-wen was translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-Chun Lin. In my search for gay Asian literature, specifically, I discovered several compelling texts, translated to English from writers of Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, and other nationalities. Notes of a Desolate Man is Taiwanese, which I thought an appropriate place… Read more »
The creative life is filled with magic, passion, and adventure. This is the truth. Writing, like reading, transports a soul. This is also true. Even if you’re only in it for the money and fame (ha, ha), if you keep at it, you will discover things about yourself and the world you could know in… Read more »
Previously on Worldly Wise, we talked about what can make great hooks for your speculative fiction novel. Now, if you’ve got some idea of how you’re going to grab your potential reader’s attention, shall we work on how to retain it? There are a lot of things you can do to produce an ideal first… Read more »
A great novel is like a well-made house: it needs a sturdy structure, or it will eventually collapse. Unfortunately, that structure doesn’t just happen all on its own through some sort of divine story magic (boy, wouldn’t that be convenient). Instead, structure must be developed and applied with great care. Some authors create this structure… Read more »
Disclaimer: DIY MFA does not provide legal, tax accounting, or financial advice. In making decisions regarding whether and when to file intellectual property (IP) protection or other decisions that may have legal and/or financial ramifications, we strongly urge you to speak to a licensed IP attorney for the most accurate information. Have you ever wondered… Read more »
