DIY MFA Radio

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Garvin. Jeff is an author, musician, and podcaster and his debut novel, Symptoms of Being Human has received a ton of accolades. It is an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection, Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and has garnered starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. Before becoming a novelist, Jeff acted on TV and toured as the lead singer of a rock band. He has a BFA in Film from Chapman University and lives in Southern California. Now, I have been looking forward to this episode since last July, when Jeff and I met at a ThrillerFest cocktail party. We connected right away and when Jeff told me about his new novel The Lightness of Hands I knew I just had to have him on the show. This book grapples with some heavy topics, but one in particular that really hits home for me: mental health. I am so thrilled to be recording this interview (finally! After 8 months!) and to introduce Jeff and his moving (sometimes gut-wrenching) YA novels to my word nerd listeners. In this episode Jeff and I discuss: How real life experiences inspired Lightness of Hands Living with Bipolar II Breaking the stigma around mental illness Starting a book with a question you can't answer Writing a character that is hyper-attuned to her inner life The power of mindfulness meditation The hero's journey, applied to writing and life Plus, his #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: www.diymfa.com/301

Hey there word nerds! Welcome to the three hundredth episode of DIY MFA Radio! The original plan for this episode was to unveil our first-ever DIY MFA live event—Writer Igniter LIVE—which we were planning for October. In light of current events, we've put the planning for that on hold. That said, we still wanted to honor this special milestone episode by doing something a little bit different. To that end, I've gathered Team Awesome together to talk about a new approach we've been taking with DIY MFA. While from an outside perspective DIY MFA has been chugging away as it always has been, over the past three months the team and I have been doing a lot of internal work, getting our house in order and making key shifts to how we approach the work that we do. One of these key shifts is the concept of building mental theme parks. Now, theme parks hold a special significance for me. For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with theme park design. Most kids go to Disney World for the rides; I was that weirdo kid begging her parents to let her take the behind-the-scenes tour of the underground tunnels. When I was twelve or so, I decided I wanted to design a ride for Epcot Center. You see, while the World Showcase features many different countries, there isn't a single one from South America. (Sorry Mexico, but you're not in South America). I thought it was a travesty that an entire continent would be overlooked like that, so I decided to design the Brazilian Pavilion (I mean, the marketing copy practically writes itself. Most normal kids spend their summers traveling or going to camp. I spent my summer researching 18th century Brazilian architecture, drafting up design drawings, and brainstorming possible corporate sponsors. I even mapped out a ride. I designed everything, from the menus of the pavilion restaurants to the types of souvenir shops and what they would sell. Then I packaged everything together and mailed the envelope to Mr. Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney. A few months later, I got a reply with a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo about not being able to consider unsolicited submissions, blah blah blah. The result was disappointing. As a kid, I didn't care about the money, I just wanted to see my idea out in the world and getting the envelope sent back without them even considering the concept was hard. Still, that one experience has shaped my life in many unexpected ways. I continue to be obsessed with theme parks and other themed environments (Las Vegas, etc.) and this idea of "theming" is woven into everything I do as an author, teacher, and entrepreneur. To this day, I think of everything I build—whether it's a book, a course, or a podcast—I think of it as an experience I'm creating for the audience (i.e. you, my word nerds). This idea of DIY MFA as a theme park for the mind has become central to our team and what we do at DIY MFA. Listen in as Team Awesome and I jam about DIY MFA and building theme parks for the mind. In this episode Jeanette, Bess, Lori and I discuss: How DIY MFA is like a theme park for your mind How this DIY MFA theme park is designed and operates The different roles of Team Awesome in the park How we're moving forward as a team and a business during Corona Virus and beyond Team Awesome's tips for being creative in spite of Corona Virus Free DIY MFA resources to help writers right now What's ahead for DIY MFA this year Plus, their #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/300

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Chris Banks! Chris Banks is the CEO and Founder of ProWritingAid. In his varied career, he has built neural networks to model language learning, worked on the BBC's scriptwriting product, written books, been a ski guide, and given talks on creativity, artificial intelligence, and language technologies. He started ProWritingAid to help with his own writing, but he soon saw how useful it was for everyone else. Now, he wants to help more people put their ideas into words and those words into the hands (and hearts) of readers. In this episode Chris and I discuss: How a broken ankle led to the creation of the ProWritingAid Software How ProWritingAid can help improve your writing Approaching writing like building a building Taking your writing from good to great How a thesaurus can be a powerful writing tool Plus, his #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: www.diymfa.com/299

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Brandy Colbert, the critically acclaimed author of several YA and Middle Grade novels. Her books include Pointe, Stonewall Award winner Little & Lion, Finding Yvonne, The Revolution of Birdie Randolph, and her 2020 releases, The Only Black Girls in Town, and The Voting Booth. Her short fiction and essays have also been published in several critically acclaimed anthologies for young people. Born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, Brandy spent a few years living in Chicago before relocating permanently to Los Angeles. She is very active on social media and also works as a copy editor for magazines and books. She is also on faculty at Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children. In this episode Brandy and I discuss: The inspiration behind The Revolution of Birdie Randolph Exploring black friendships and experience in The Only Black Girls in Town How books can functions as both mirrors and windows Exploring the theme of family over multiple books Grappling with race in the context of a contemporary story Moving into middle grade after writing YA Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/298

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing E.J. Wenstrom J. Wenstrom believes in complicated heroes, horrifying monsters, purple hair dye and standing to the right on escalators so the left side can walk. Her award-winning fantasy series Chronicles of the Third Realm War (City Owl Press) features a peculiar mashup of Greek mythology, Judeo-Christian folklore, and an extra dash of her own special brand of chaos. The series includes Florida Writers Association's 2016 Book of the Year Mud, Rain (which is the prequel), Tides, and—most recently—Sparks, which concludes the series. In this episode E.J. and I discuss: How an internship led E.J. to discover a love of writing How research on monsters became the inspiration for finding Adem's voice Finding hope in the midst of a seemingly hopeless story Setting up a satisfying series ending How E.J. uses an "ugly draft" to facilitate writing a book a year The benefits of publishing with a small press Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/297

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Curdella Forbes. Curdella is a Jamaican writer who lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, and teaches at Howard University. Her latest novel, A Tall History of Sugar, has been praised by BuzzFeed, Essence, Bookish, The Rumpus, Electric Lit, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, SyFy, and many others. Writing for the New York Times Book Review, Veronica Chambers said of the novel: "Forbes's writing combines the gale-force imagination of Margaret Atwood with the lyrical pointillism of Toni Morrison." In this episode Curdella and I discuss: The inspiration behind A Tall History of Sugar Writing about the experience of not belonging Moving between third and first person The dark origins of fairy tales The story behind the title "A Tall History of Sugar" Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: www.diymfa.com/296

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Claire Waller. Claire is a secondary school teacher who works with teenagers with mental health issues. She has had two adult horror novels (Predator X, Nine Eyes) published by Australian indie publisher, Severed Press. FUGLY is her first YA novel. Claire lives with her husband, two daughters, a cat called Hiccup, and various dinosaurs. Her interests include drawing, baking, palaeontology, horror, and roleplaying. In this episode Claire and I discuss: The very personal inspiration for Fugly The toxic love of cruelty online Writing a character that behaves in a problematic way Expectations for negative female characters verses male ones Bringing personal experience to a fictional character Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/295

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing H.R. Hobbs. H.R. Hobbs (or Heather Hobbs, as I know her) is the Amazon-bestselling author of a series of compassionate and empowering stories for middle-grade readers. Set in a typical middle school, her books address the topics of belonging, friendship, and bullying. A lifelong learner and teacher, Heather started writing in 2015 as a retirement project. Recently, she began taking art lessons with the hopes of illustrating her own children's books in the future. Heather is the mother to three grown sons and grandmother to three little darlings. She lives with her husband in the small prairie town where she was born and raised. Also, Heather and I have been part of the same mastermind group for just about two years (shoutout to our third group member Angelica!). For those who don't know, a mastermind group is basically like a critique group but instead of giving feedback on each other's writing, we brainstorm around each other's careers and business plans. When Heather and I first met, she was still teaching and she was juggling her writing alongside a busy teaching schedule. In the years since, she has doubled down on her writing and built a strong career as a self-published author (in a niche that isn't necessarily easy to break into with self-publishing). I have had the benefit of hearing Heather's insights pretty much every other week for two years and I am beyond thrilled to have her on the show so she can share her insights with the word nerd community. In this episode Heather and I discuss: Choosing between self-publishing and traditional publishing Successfully self-publishing in the children's market The freedom of self-publishing Delegating tasks and developing a publishing team Building a launch team Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/294

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Jessica Abel. Cartoonist and coach Jessica is the founder of the Creative Focus Workshop, and author of Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You're Drowning in Your Daily Life, the graphic novel La Perdida, and two textbooks about making comics, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and Mastering Comics. Her book Out on the Wire is about how the best radio and podcast producers in the world use story to keep us listening. Jessica's latest work of fiction is the Eisner-nominated Trish Trash: Rollergirl of Mars. She is chair of the illustration program at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. In this episode Jessica and I discuss: The inspiration behind Growing Gills The myth of the muse and "right brain versus left brain" The power of time tracking Dealing with external and internal nay-sayers The power of planning and creating your own rules Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: www.diymfa.com/293

Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing K.S. Villoso who writes speculative fiction with a focus on deeply personal themes and character-driven narratives. Much of her work is inspired by her childhood in the slums of Taguig, Philippines. She now lives amidst the forest and mountains of Vancouver, Canada with her husband, children, and dogs. Her novel, The Wolf of Oren-Yaro is a gripping adventure about a queen, trying to unite her divided kingdom, even though everybody hates her. In this episode K.S. and I discuss: The inspiration behind The Wolf of Oren-Yaro Building on a previous series Creating a deeply flawed character that readers can still root for The interplay between the external and internal journey of the protagonist Meeting genre expectations in a new way Building a world through character Plus, her #1 tip for writers. For more info and shownotes: www.diymfa.com/292