DIY MFA Radio

Take your writing from average to awesome! Don’t waste any more time spinning your wheels or questioning your talent. Learn to write more, write better, write smarter. This podcast will give you tools and techniques so you can feel like a real writer, master the craft of fiction and finally finish that book you've always dreamed of writing.

485: Lesson 10 – Embrace the Journey 12/18/2024

484: Lesson 9 – Take Baby Steps 12/04/2024

483: Lesson 8 – Track the Money 11/20/2024

482: Lesson 7 – Practice, Practice, Practice 11/06/2024

481: Lesson 6 – Balance is Fallacy 10/23/2024

480: Lesson 5 – Choose Abundance Over Scarcity 10/09/2024

479: Lesson 4 – Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable 09/25/2024

478: Lesson 3 – Embrace the Power of Iteration 09/11/2024

477: Lesson 2 – Act “As If” 08/28/2024

476: Lesson 1 – Jump First, Build After 08/14/2024

475: Craft Jam: Get Your Story to “The End” 12/27/2023

474: Craft Jam: Nail Your Narration 11/15/2023

473: Craft Jam: Revise Your Writing Like a Pro 10/18/2023

472: Craft Jam: Conferences 09/13/2023

471: A Behind the Scenes Look at How to Craft a Bestselling Thriller Series— Interview 08/30/2023

470: Craft Jam: Draft Zero 08/09/2023

469: Craft Jam: Weave Your Story’s World 07/12/2023

468: Raise Your Story’s Stakes with Tension and Surprise - Interview 06/28/2023

468: Raise Your Story’s Stakes with Tension and Surprise - Interview Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing MT Anderson. We’ll be talking about his book, Elf Dog and Owl Head, and raising your story’s stakes. M. T. Anderson has written stories for adults, picture books for children, adventure novels for young readers, graphic novel adaptations of ancient French tales, and several books for older readers (both teens and adults). His satirical book Feed was a Finalist for the National Book Award and was the winner of the L.A. Times Book Prize. Both Time Magazine and National Public Radio have included it on their lists of the best 100 YA novels of all time. Another satirical science fiction novel, Landscape with Invisible Hand, has been turned into a movie starring Tiffany Haddish and Asante Blackk. The first volume of Anderson’s Octavian Nothing saga, The Pox Party, won the National Book Award and the Boston Globe / Horn Book Prize. The second volume, The Kingdom on the Waves, was a New York Times best-seller. The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge, a tragicomic spy story for young goblins written with Newbery-Honor winner Eugene Yelchin, was a Finalist for the National Book Award in 2018. Anderson’s nonfiction book Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad was long-listed for the National Book Award. He has published stories for adults in literary journals like The Northwest Review, The Colorado Review, and Conjunctions. Several of his stories have appeared in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror collections. His nonfiction articles and reviews have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Slate, and Salon. He has curated concerts that bring together text and classical music all over New England. You can find him on his or follow him on . In this episode MT Anderson and I discuss: Weaving events from your real life into a fantastical story Why you need to have rules for the magic you create in order for it to be fun. How to reverse engineer and perfect the opening of your novel. Plus, his #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: /episode/index/show/diymfa/id/27233205

467: Craft Jam: Perfect Your Plot 06/21/2023

466: An Inside Look at the Publishing Industry - Interview 06/14/2023

466: An Inside Look at the Publishing Industry - Interview Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Bianca Marais, CeCe Lyra, and Carly Watters. We’ll be taking an inside look at the publishing industry. Before diving in, I wanted to make a quick note. Our wonderful guests are the co-hosts of a fantastic podcast that has a particular word in its title. It would be impossible to talk about their show without saying this particular word, so consider this a heads up that there will be salty language in this episode. If you’re listening in public or have little ones around, now would be the time to put on some headphones. Bianca Marais is the author of the bestselling The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, as well as the beloved Hum If You Don't Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh, and the Audible Original, The Prynne Viper. She taught at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies where she was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award for Creative Writing in 2021. She is the co-host of the popular podcast, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, which is aimed at helping emerging writers become published. You can find her on her or follow her on . Cecilia (“CeCe”) Lyra is a literary agent at P.S. Literary Agency, representing adult fiction and non-fiction. A long-term strategic thinker, CeCe prioritizes the creative reach and sustainable longevity of her authors’ careers, and she is actively looking for clients with whom she can build fruitful, lasting relationships. As a mixed race Latinx immigrant, CeCe understands the power of seeing oneself reflected in books, hence her passion for championing under or misrepresented voices and narratives that contribute to a larger cultural conversation. The popular podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, for which CeCe is a co-host, has over one million downloads. You can find her on her or follow her on and . Carly Watters is a SVP and Senior Literary Agent at P.S. Literary and the sitting VP of PACLA, the Professional Association of Canadian Literary Agents. Carly Watters has a BA in English Literature from Queen’s University and a MA in Publishing Studies from City University London. Her masters thesis was on the social, political, and economic impact of literary prizes on trade publishing. She began her publishing career in London as an assistant at the Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency. Carly joined Toronto-based P.S. Literary Agency in 2010 and has sold over 100 books during her career. She represents award-winning and bestselling authors in the adult fiction and non-fiction categories, and select children’s books. She is known for her long-term vision for her authors and being an excellent collaborator with a nose for commercial success. She has close ties to publishers in the major markets, is a member of the AALA, and works directly with film agents to option film and TV rights to leading networks and production companies. Her clients’ books have been translated into 40 languages, optioned for TV and film, adapted into podcasts, and have been on every bestseller list from coast to coast, including the New York Times, USA Today, the LA Times, the Washington Post, the Toronto Star, and the Globe and Mail. Carly is also an annual judge for the Women’s Fiction Writing Association Rising Star Award. The popular writing podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, for which Carly is the co-host, has over one million downloads. You can find her on her or follow her on and . In this episode Bianca Marais, CeCe Lyra, Carly Watters, and I discuss: Common myths about writing and publishing and what’s actually true Writing groups, beta readers, and how to find them What happens after you sign on the dotted line Plus, their #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: /episode/index/show/diymfa/id/27055494