DIY MFA Radio

DIY MFA Radio

Take your writing from average to awesome, and learn tools of the trade from bestselling authors, master writing teachers, and publishing industry insiders. This podcast will give you tools and techniques to help you get those words on the page and your stories out into the world. Past guests include: Delia Ephron, John Sandford, Steve Berry, Jojo Moyes, Tana French, Guy Kawasaki, and more.

Episodes

December 18, 2024 14 mins

Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode ends our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 10 – Embrace the Journey.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the "knowledge without the college." You'll learn mo...

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Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 9 – Take Baby Steps.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the "knowledge without the college." You'll learn mo...

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November 20, 2024 15 mins

Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 8 – Track the Money

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the "knowledge without the college." You'll learn mor...

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Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 482 – Practice, Practice, Practice

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the "knowledge without the college." Y...

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October 23, 2024 10 mins

Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson #6 – Balance is Fallacy.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the "knowledge without the college." You'll lear...

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Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 5 – Choose Abundance Over Scarcity

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the "knowledge without the college." Y...

Mark as Played

Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 4 – Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the "knowledge without the c...

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Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 3 – Embrace the Power of Iteration


Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help y...

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August 28, 2024 11 mins

Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode continues our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 2 – Act "As If"

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the "knowledge without the college." You'll learn more ab...

Mark as Played

Welcome to DIY MFA Radio, where I do a deep dive into the writing life as well as the craft and business of writing. Today's episode kicks off our series: Ten Lessons from Ten Years of Podcasting. This is Lesson 1 – Jump First, Build After.

Have you gotten the DIY MFA Starter Kit yet? This is a two week email series full of worksheets to help you DIY your MFA, so you can get the "knowledge without the college." You'll ...

Mark as Played
December 27, 2023 52 mins

Welcome, today is DIY MFA's monthly Craft Jam. Once a month, Christa and I jam about the craft. In these episodes, we do 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 craft the perfect book ending.

 

In this episode Christa and I discuss:

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November 15, 2023 35 mins

Welcome, today is DIY MFA's monthly Craft Jam. 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 how to Nail Your Narration.

 

In this episode Christa and I discuss:

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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...

Mark as Played
September 13, 2023 41 mins

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:

  • <...

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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...

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August 9, 2023 54 mins

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:

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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 ...

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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...

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June 21, 2023 43 mins

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:

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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...

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