Friday, March 31, 2017

Do It Yourself MFA: Month One recap

Happy almost April! The YA Scavenger Hunt starts on April 4th and you know I'll be participating, so now seemed like a good time to do my first DIY MFA update post. These posts are part of the Community element of my DIY MFA program.

What is Do it Yourself MFA? For more info you can check out the intro post I wrote at the beginning of the month. The quick and dirty is that I would love to do an MFA program but I can't afford it, so I found this book that is basically the blueprint to create my own graduate program in writing and I tweaked the author's formula to fit me and my goals. Here's the official description from Goodreads:


Get the Knowledge Without the College! You are a writer. You dream of sharing your words with the world, and you're willing to put in the hard work to achieve success. You may have even considered earning your MFA, but for whatever reason--tuition costs, the time commitment, or other responsibilities--you've never been able to do it. Or maybe you've been looking for a self-guided approach so you don't have to go back to school. This book is for you.


"DIY MFA" is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA--writing, reading, and community--it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers, and publish your work. 

Inside you'll learn how to: Set customized goals for writing and learning. Generate ideas on demand.Outline your book from beginning to end. Breathe life into your characters. Master point of view, voice, dialogue, and more. Read with a "writer's eye" to emulate the techniques of others. Network like a pro, get the most out of writing workshops, and submit your work successfully. Writing belongs to everyone--not only those who earn a degree. With "DIY MFA," you can take charge of your writing, produce high-quality work, get published, and build a writing career.



from DIY MFA by Gabriela Pereira


Pro tip: The hardest book for you to write is probably the one you should be working on.

Let's see how I did with meeting my goals [Spoiler: I crushed them :D]

Writing:
My writing goals are to write and revise an average of 120-160 pages a month.

Outcome: 
Not only did I squeak out (barely) the 120 pages on my first DIY MFA project, I also wrote and obsessively honed the equivalent of 60 pages for a proposal to turn into one of my publishers. This is without a doubt the tightest proposal I've ever pitched, and I'm really excited and hopeful about the book's possibilities.


Reading:
My reading goals are to average one book a week throughout the whole program.

My titles will be selected from four different groups:
  1. Free choice 
  2. Comparison 
  3. Classic/Literary
  4. Research
Outcome:
During the month of March I read:

Free choice: Noggin by John Corey Whaley, A Tyranny of Petticoats edited by Jessica Spotswood
Comparison: Speechless by Hannah Harrington
Classic: Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell
Research/Non-fiction: I am slowly working my way through The Essential Chomsky, by Noam Chomsky, but that is dense reading and I'll be working on that book for a while, or until the library makes me turn it in ;)


Community:
This category encompasses everything from interacting with authors, teachers, librarians, readers on social media to attending events and doing presentations, etc. This will be the hardest category for me.

Outcome:
During the month of March I did the following:
  • maintained relationships with bloggers, readers, etc. online
  • set up a Skype visit giveaway for teachers and librarians
  • attended an author dinner with local authors
  • attended an author event at Powell's
  • worked on getting book donations for a local teen addiction center
  • completed three short editing projects with Manuscript Critique Services
  • emailed/messaged to discuss story, industry, motivation with multiple author buddies
  • blogged about my DIY MFA experience


Education:
My plan for this month's educational component was to review the first four lessons from the Masterclass James Patterson writing course.

Outcome:
I completed this goal :)

Pro tip: Don't let momentary failure derail your progress. No one meets ALL of their deadlines.

I was really lucky this month because I had no deadlines and no major promotional responsibilities so I could give DIY MFA a lot of focus. I know there will be some months, especially when I'm revising, where I don't meet my goals, but that's okay. The best thing about this program so far is the way it's encouraging me to read regularly, and read critically as well. Reading great books has the added bonus of inspiring me to focus on my own writing, so even though I spent more time in March reading, I also saw an increase in my writing productivity!

If DIY MFA is something you're interested in, check out Gabriela's website, and check back here at the beginning of each month as I review my progress from the previous month and share tips and tricks I've discovered along the way. I hope you drop by for the YA Scavenger Hunt next week too :D I'll be running a secondary contest where you can win any of my published books, as well as either of my Summer 2017 ARCs!

Have you checked out my next release yet? Taz and Moo give it two tails up :)
Click on the cover in the sidebar for more info and to read the beginning.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Free Skype visits for librarians and educators!

In an effort to broaden my literary community and interact with awesome YA readers, I’m giving away free thirty-minute Skype visits for classrooms and book clubs all throughout April, May, and June. Slots are limited, so if you’re interested in booking a session, please contact me directly at pstokesbooks [at] gmail [dot] com by May 1, 2017. 

Skype sessions will include a short introduction of me and my recent novels, a ten-minute presentation on either Girl Against the Universe or Vicarious, and fifteen minutes for students to ask questions about the novel being discussed, or about writing and publishing in general. An optional discussion guide is provided.

"Filled with equal amounts of empathy, humor, and heart, Girl Against the Universe is an empowering story about finding the courage to piece your life back together, even when it feels irreparably broken." --Tamara Ireland Stone, NYT bestselling author of Every Last Word
Girl Against theUniverse is a mental health story that presents therapy in a positive light and ends on a hopeful but still realistic note. VOYA called it “a satisfying and breezy book with likeable characters working through trauma to move to better, healthier places in their lives.” This story would be ideal for middle school or high school students looking for a funny and uplifting read about overcoming survivor’s guilt with the help of family, friends, and a supportive therapist.




Vicarious was called “completely captivating for any audience” by VOYA in a Perfect Ten review and would be great for high school students who would enjoy reading about a diverse cast of characters thrown into a high-action, twisty mystery, where everyone is in danger and no one can be trusted.

“A total mind-bending thrill ride, with a heroine who’s as smart as she is strong.” --Lindsay Cummings, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zenith and The Murder Complex
"Reading Vicarious is like tiptoeing across a field of landmines. Blindfolded. Stokes delivers enough adrenaline to make readers beg for mercy."
--Victoria Scott, author of Titans and Fire & Flood

Please contact me via email if you'd like to book a Skype session or if you have specific questions about the books or this offer.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Do it Yourself MFA: an introduction

A funny thing happened to this post when I went to write my DIY MFA Month One update. I meant to copy the text, paste it, and then edit over it so I could keep the basic framework of the introduction and my goals and just add in what I accomplished. But, uh, sleep deprivation will get you every time and I ended up editing this post and losing all of my original info.

Rather than retype all of that, the quick and dirty is that I would love to do an MFA program but I can't afford it. So I found this book that is basically the blueprint to create my own graduate program in writing and I tweaked the formula to fit my schedule and personal goals when it comes to my publishing career. Here's the official description from Goodreads:


Get the Knowledge Without the College! You are a writer. You dream of sharing your words with the world, and you're willing to put in the hard work to achieve success. You may have even considered earning your MFA, but for whatever reason--tuition costs, the time commitment, or other responsibilities--you've never been able to do it. Or maybe you've been looking for a self-guided approach so you don't have to go back to school. This book is for you.


"DIY MFA" is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA--writing, reading, and community--it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers, and publish your work. 

Inside you'll learn how to: Set customized goals for writing and learning. Generate ideas on demand.Outline your book from beginning to end. Breathe life into your characters. Master point of view, voice, dialogue, and more. Read with a "writer's eye" to emulate the techniques of others. Network like a pro, get the most out of writing workshops, and submit your work successfully. Writing belongs to everyone--not only those who earn a degree. With "DIY MFA," you can take charge of your writing, produce high-quality work, get published, and build a writing career.


It's important to note that no, you don't actually get an MFA degree at the end of this program, but as someone who already works four or five part-time jobs to make ends meet, the allure of part-time teaching isn't why I wish I could do an MFA. It's the learning stuff--I want to Learn All The Things. I want to become a better writer!

I should also say that I don't know the creator of this program and I am not being compensated in any way for blogging about this experience.

Gabriela's DIY MFA program is very methodical and structured, emphasizing the importance of iteration throughout. Her DIY MFA framework has three elements: Reading, writing, and community. Her book has a section for how to get the most out of each of these categories. I added a fourth element: structured coursework. I came up with goals for each of these categories. My goals are for me, based on my schedule, an awareness of what I can reasonably accomplish, and what I'm hoping to get out of the program. If you pursue a program like this, your goals might be totally different. Your timeframe might also be different. I am going to structure my program from today until December 31, 2017, for a total of ten months.

from DIY MFA by Gabriela Pereira

Here are my goals:


Writing:
My writing goals are to write and revise an average of 120-160 pages a month. I will be working on two projects that are not under contract, in addition to doing revisions for a project under contract with Harper and ideally drafting another book that I sell on proposal.


Reading:
My reading goals are to average one book a week throughout the whole program. I know to a lot of people that probably seems like nothing, but it's easy for me to get into a funk during revision periods where after reading my own manuscripts repeatedly I just don't want to even look at any other words.

My titles will be selected from four different groups:
  1. Free choice (Yay! The best category :D)
  2. Comparison (to one of my MFA projects in plot or theme)
  3. Classic/Literary (my choice based on my interests, another plus of the DIY model)
  4. Research/Non-fiction

Community:
This category encompasses everything from engaging authors, teachers, librarians, readers on social media, to attending events and doing presentations, to interacting with editing clients and beta.readers, etc. This will be the hardest category for me. Rather than have quantifiable goals here, since so many different things play into this, my aim will be to slowly increase my engagement with the reading/publishing community, especially beyond Twitter, which tends to be what I fall back on when I am too afraid to pursue more meaningful forms of interaction.


Coursework:
I like to learn things from other people, especially writing pros, so I will be taking three different courses during the next ten months to fulfill my coursework. The first is James Patterson's Masterclass on novel writing. The second is Shonda Rhimes Masterclass on writing for television and the third is a screenwriting class I signed up for last year but still haven't worked through. I personally think learning about the craft of story in different mediums like this is more helpful than only studying the craft of novel writing.

Maybe you're turning up your nose at the idea of learning from James Patterson and Shonda Rhimes. Well, there's no denying they're both extremely successful storytellers, and writers tend to write the kind of books they want to read. I like to read fast-paced commercial fiction--both mystery/thrillers and books with poignant prose that punch you in the feels but ultimately leave you feeling inspired. In other words, these courses are perfect for me. If you want to do the program with a more literary slant, find classes offered by more literary writers or look into taking a course at a local college.


I also entered a Write a Book With James Patterson contest. Pick me, James!
I am a lifelong student who wants to learn from the best :)

If DIY MFA is something you're interested in, check out Gabriela's website, where you can sign up for her mailing list and get a free DIY MFA starter kit. And check back here at the beginning of each month as I review my progress from the previous month and share tips and tricks I've discovered along the way. I'm really excited about continuing with this program, and after cranking out multiple books for tight deadlines that sort of killed my writing joy a little, it feels great to be embracing a new writing adventure.