Dollars and Sense

[Editor’s Note: This is published author Lauren Sharkey’s first column at DIY MFA. She will be focusing on the business side of writing. We are so excited to add our new columnist! You can also check out Lauren’s recent DIY MFA Radio episode here.] In an episode of Sex and the City, Carrie says she… Read more »

Beyond the Writing: How to Build a Well-Rounded Author Life

Hey word nerd! Jeanette the DIY MFA Curriculum Unicorn (aka Curriculum Director) here. I’ve been a fellow word nerd since early 2018 when I ran across Gabriela’s Stop Dreaming, Start Doing video series. At the end of the videos, I flipped to the next blank page in the journal where I had furiously been scribbling… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Marketing Tips for Indie Authors

Does the idea of marketing yourself and your books make your head hurt? You are not alone! While writing books comes naturally to us, marketing seems so vague and complicated. And yet it’s a necessary evil that must be overcome if we want to be successful indie authors. We scour the internet, listen to a… Read more »

Interview with Ausma Zehanat Khan

[Editor’s Note: As a part of DIY MFA’s ongoing missions to promote unique voices, regular columnist, Sara Farmer, has been conducting a limited series of interviews featuring authors with unique and diverse voices. You can check out her past interviews of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Marcie Rendon.] About Ausma Zehanat Khan Ausma Zehanat Khan is the… Read more »

Poetry Can Change the World

Can poetry change the world? Just ask Andrei Voznesensky, a Russian rock-star poet who sold out stadiums for his poetry readings in the 1960s. Yes. Stadiums. Voznesensky said, “If you want to change the world’s spirit, I will suggest that only poetry can do this.” Poetry Is Play Poetry, for the most part, is playful,… Read more »

Honoring Your Writer Identity

For some writers the very act of calling themselves a writer feels like an accomplishment. For others it feels like an act of defiance. Others still can’t bring themselves to acknowledge their talent and how far their hard work has gotten them. I recently watched an episode of The Comedians (it’s not a new show,… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Tips for Creating Your Villain

Somehow bad guys and gals are in many ways more challenging to create than our so-called heroes or heroines. This is an area of your writing that invites you to stretch yourself, to play with multiple violations, remembering that you will fall in love with this character, and you will have to manage, at the… Read more »

DIY Writing: Are you giving yourself a chance?

I have wanted to write for as long as I could remember. … No, that’s not really the truth. I’ve wanted to express myself for as long as I can remember. … No, that’s not it either. I’ve wanted. Now we’re getting somewhere. I want. Yeah, right there. Writing is another form of digging all… Read more »