Friends, readers, fellow scribes!  Lend me your ears.  I come to share the iggilicious journal love, not hoard it for myself.  As you all may recall, one month ago we embarked on an adventure called DIY MFA and I announced the contest for these adorable iggi journals:

Well, now is the time to announce the five journal winners.  Drumroll please…  *fumbles with envelope*

*opens envelop*

*coughs*

*clears throat*

And the winners are…

Even though April is over, DIY MFA continues, though in a more relaxed fashion.  Since many participants from April are new to DIY MFA, I thought I’d do some review posts every week to go over some of the DIY MFA concepts we discussed back in September.  Today we’ll go over the four core elements of a Writing MFA (Master of Fine Arts) and how you can do-it-yourself to create your own DIY MFA. 

In a Writing MFA, writers must…

Read.  Most MFA programs have a literature component, where students must take a series of literature classes along with their writing coursework.  At The New School, not only do you have to take literature classes, you actually have to write a literature thesis as part of your graduation requirement.  In that sense, reading is a huge component of the MFA process.  Similarly, DIY MFA puts an emphasis on reading the literature.  By creating a reading list, reading the books and writing responses to what you read, you can simulate the literature study you would do in an MFA program.

Write.  Of course a writing program must include a lot of writing, and so must DIY MFA.  In a writing program you’ll receive instruction on the craft of writing and be pushed to produce a substantial number of pages each semester for your workshop.  This process of writing and rewriting helps you hone your craft and strengthen your own abilities.  Without a writing component, the MFA (including the DIY MFA) would miss the point.  To be a writer, you have to write.  It’s that simple.

Workshop.  The workshop is a central component of any MFA in writing.  By giving critique to other writers, you sharpen your reading skills.  In receiving critique on your own work will learn to make your writing stronger, as well as develop skills to handle rejection and criticism on your work.

Connect.  One component that many writers forget is connecting to the writing community.  Connecting can happen in many different ways.  Attending readings, going to conferences, connecting with other writers via the internet… these are all great ways to engage with the writing community.  The reason community is so important for writers is that otherwise writing can be a very lonely enterprise.  Community gives us a reality check and helps us stay motivated.

Which of these elements is easiest for you?  Which is the biggest challenge?

I was recently interviewed by Julie Duffy of StoryADay and the interview is posted at StoryADay.org.  Squee!  Please check it out and share your thoughts so Julie gets lots of comments on it!

As we embark on our Writing Marathon today, I wanted to mention StoryADay, which is an awesome challenge that starts… today!

StoryADay is sort of like the short story version of NaNoWriMo, except instead of writing a novel in one month, it’s all about short stories.  The idea is you write and finish one short story every day for the month of May.  Julie’s set up a fantastic site where you can connect with other writers doing the challenge and post stories as you write them.  I did StoryADay last year and it was great fun.  Didn’t win, but that’s not really the point… the point of the challenge is to rekindle that love for writing and it definitely did that.

So if any of you are wondering what to do after your DIY MFA time in April, I recommend checking out StoryADay and trying out the challenge.

That’s the day after tomorrow!

I know I haven’t mentioned this in a while, but I wanted to remind you all that the big end-of-DIY-MFA writing marathon will be happening on Sunday (all day) May 1st.  For more details and to join in, head on over to our Facebook event page.

Basically how it’s going to work is this: you sign up on the page so we know you’re doing it.  On Sunday, tweet (#diymfa) or leave a comment on the event page when you start writing, then write your heart out!  When you’ve finished, tweet your end time and word count if you wish.  Also, don’t forget to cheer on your fellow writers.

Don’t worry if you can’t write for a full day on Sunday.  You can do a half-day (half marathon) or just a super sprint.  The important thing is that you take some time that day to make writing a priority.  I hope you all will join me in this!

Write on!