DIY MFA Radio

Today’s episode is our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Christa and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building, and more.

In this episode, Christa and I discuss:

• Key aspects and meth...

Today’s episode is our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Christa and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. This month’s episode is a deep dive into Conferences.

In this episode Christa and I discuss:

• <...

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Kathy Reichs. We’ll be talking about her book The Bone Hacker and how to craft a bestselling thriller series.

Kathy Reichs’ first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. To date, she has written twenty-two novels featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Kathy was also a producer of Fox Telev...

Today’s episode is our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Lori and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building, and more. This month’s episode is a deep dive into Draft Zero.

In this episode Lori and I discuss:

We’re back for another episode of our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Lori and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. This month’s episode is a deep dive into how to weave your story’s world through world building.

In this episode Lori and ...

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...

Today we have another monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Lori and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. This month’s episode is a deep dive into how to perfect your plot.

In this episode Lori and I discuss:

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 u...

Today, Lori is interviewing Mary Pascual. They’ll be talking about her debut novel, The Byways, and creating multi-dimensional characters.

Mary Pascual is a writer and artist who believes finding magic is only a matter of perspective. She loves stories about characters with heart and fantastical settings that are more than meets the eye. She grew up in California and enjoys reading, art, traveling, exploring outside, and building e...

Today’s episode is our monthly Craft Jam. This is a new feature at DIY MFA, where once a month, Lori and I will be jamming about the craft. In these episodes, we’ll be doing a deep dive into various craft topics like character development, story structure, world building and more. 

This month’s episode is a deep dive into how to create compelling characters.

In this episode Lor...

Today, Lori is interviewing Daniel Weizmann. They’ll be talking about his neo-noir mystery, The Last Songbird.

Daniel Weizmann got his start at 13 under the nom de plume Shredder, writing for the legendary Flipside Fanzine. He went on to write for the LA Weekly, LA Times, Billboard, the Guardian, and others. He contributed to several books, including Drinking with Bukowski, Hardcore California, Too Cool, Timothy Leary'...

Today, Lori is interviewing Jolene Mcilwain. They’ll be talking about Sidle Creek and centering a short story collection around a place.

Jolene McIlwain’s fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and appears in West Branch, Florida Review, Cincinnati Review, New Orleans Review, Northern Appalachia Review, and 2019's Best Small Fictions Anthology. Her work was named finalist for 2018’s Best of the Net, Glimmer ...

Today, Lori is interviewing Ginny Kubitz Moyer. They’ll be talking about how she started writing her debut novel, The Seeing Garden, with the setting.

Ginny Kubitz Moyer is a California native with a love of local history. A graduate of Pomona College and Stanford University, she’s an English instructor and avid weekend gardener. 

Her articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including Bella Gra...

Today, Lori is interviewing Neely Tubati Alexander. They’ll be talking about Love Buzz and the importance of listening to your intuition when crafting a novel.

Neely Tubati Alexander is a first-generation Indian American mother of two. Originally from the Seattle area where Love Buzz, her debut novel, is largely set, she seeks to tell lighthearted, female-driven stories with diverse characters and strong women who purs...

Today, Lori is interviewing Anne Marie Wells. They’ll be talking about her poetry collection, Survived By: A Memoir in Verse, and using poetry as a method of dealing with heavy emotions.

Anne Marie Wells (She | They) is an award-winning Queer poet, playwright, memoirist, and storyteller navigating the world with a chronic illness. She is a faculty member for The Community Literature Initiative through the Sims Library ...

Today, Lori is interviewing Donnaldson Brown. They’ll be talking about Because I Loved You, and about how her background in screenwriting has influenced her prose.

Donnaldson 's debut novel, Because I Loved You, is due out in April 2023 with She Writes Press. An attorney and former screenwriter, she worked with Robert Redford’s film development company for several years. Her spoken word pieces have been featured in The...

Today, Lori is interviewing Leslie Karst. They’ll be talking about weaving past experiences into your writing and her new book Justice is Served. 

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst waited tables and sang in a new wave rock band before deciding she was ready for a “real” job and ending up at Stanford Law School. It was during her career as a research and appellate attorney in Santa Cruz, Califor...

Today, Lori is interviewing Danielle Mitchell. They’ll be talking about the methodology of writing and reading poetry.

Danielle Mitchell (she/her) is an intersectional feminist, poet, and teaching artist. She is the Founding Director of The Poetry Lab, an online learning platform that rallies in service of working-class writers around the globe. Danielle is the author of Makes the Daughter-in-Law Cry, winner of the Clo...