Normally, my reading life is based on fate and fancy, chance and serendipity.

Last year I experimented with creating a pre-planned reading list of fiction and non-fiction that serves a specific and concrete function related to my #WIP. It went well so I stuck with this approach again for 2023.

Haven't blogged in a while so figured I'd write up a wee post about it!

My DIY MFA: 2023 Reading List

https://deborahrosereeves.com/2023/06/13/my-diy-mfa-2023-reading-list/

#AmWriting #AmReading #DIYMFA

"But if you accept that writing is hard work, and that's what it feels like when you're writing, then everything is just as it should be. Your labor isn't a sign of defeat. It's a sign of engagement. The difference is all in your mind, but what a difference."

- Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing

#Writing #WritingLife #DIYMFA

"But if you accept that writing is hard work, and that's what it feels like when you're writing, then everything is just as it should be. Your labor isn't a sign of defeat. It's a sign of engagement. The difference is all in your mind, but what a difference."

- Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing

#Writing #WritingLife #DIYMFA

In "Several Short Sentences About Writing," Verlyn Klinkenborg presents a convincing argument against the pervasive assumption that writing does or should "flow" from the writer.

"Flow," says Klinkenborg, "is something the reader experiences, not the writer."

"So why not give up the idea of 'flow' and accept the basic truth about writing?" he asks.

Personally, I find this hugely reassuring, having never experienced a state of flow when writing.

#Writing #WritingLife #DIYMFA

"...nothing in your education has taught you that what you notice is important."

- Verlyn Klinkenborg

#Writing WritingCraft #DIYMFA #WritingLife

[...] what if *meaning* isn't the sole purpose of the sentence? What if it's only the chief attribute among many, a tool, among others, that helps the writer shape or revise the sentence?

What if the virtue, the value, of the sentence is the sentence itself and not its extractable meaning?

What if you wrote as though sentences can't be summarized?

What if you value every one of a sentence's attributes and not merely its *meaning*?

- Verlyn Klinkenborg

#WritingCraft #DIYMFA #Writing

"A writer's real work is the endless winnowing of sentences, the relentless exploration of possibilities, the effort, over and over again, to see in what you started out to say, the possibility of saying something you didn't know you could."

- Verlyn Klinkenborg

#WritingCraft #DIYMFA #Bookstodon #Writing

"Why are we talking about sentences?
Why not talk about the work as a whole, about shape, form, genre, the book, the feature story, the profile, even the paragraph?

The answer is simple.
Your job as a writer is making sentences.
Most of your time will be spent making sentences in
your head.
In your head.
Did no one ever tell you this?
That is the writer's life.
Never imaging you've left the level of the sentence behind."

- Verlyn Klinkenborg

#WritingCraft #DIYMFA #Bookstodon

#CurrentlyReading 'Several Short Sentences About Writing' by Verlyn Klinkenborg.

Thought provoking observations and instructions that expand upon the opening premise:

"Here, in short, is what I want to tell you. Know what each sentence says, what it doesn't say, and what it implies.
Of these, the hardest is knowing what each sentence actually says."

#WritingCraft #WritingLife #Bookstodon #DIYMFA

#WritingCommunity! Some inspiration this new week on the art & craft of sentences:

(Share your favorite sentences, please?)

ESSAY

The Sentence is a Lonely Place: https://culture.org/the-sentence-is-a-lonely-place/

WRITING EXERCISES

How to Study Sentence Structure: https://mattbell.substack.com/p/exercise-21-how-to-study-sentence

Creating In-Sentence Suspense: https://mattbell.substack.com/p/exercise-1-in-sentence-suspense

The Sentence is an Expansive Room @ninaschuyler: https://ninaschuyler.substack.com/p/the-sentence-is-an-expansive-room

BOOK

How to Write a Sentence & How to Read One: https://fictionwritersreview.com/essay/how-to-write-a-sentence-by-stanley-fish/

#Writing #DIYMFA

This toot was in response to a toot that was deleted by the time I hit Toot!

I have a list of more than 100 books on writing & craft on GoodReads.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3726812-deborah-rose?ref=nav_mybooks&shelf=diy-mfa

Couple of faves:

Craft in the Real World (Matthew Salesses). From Where You Dream (Robert Olen Butler)

And a couple I'm reading next:

A Horse At Night: On Writing by Amina Cain @Dorothyproject; and Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg

#Writing #Craft #DIYMFA #Toot

This toot was in response to a toot that was deleted by the time I hit Toot!

I have a list of more than 100 books on writing & craft on GoodReads.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/3726812-deborah-rose?ref=nav_mybooks&shelf=diy-mfa

Couple of faves:

Craft in the Real World (Matthew Salesses). From Where You Dream (Robert Olen Butler)

And a couple I'm reading next:

A Horse At Night: On Writing by Amina Cain @Dorothyproject; and Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg

#Writing #Craft #DIYMFA #Toot

A DIY MFA is not a novel concept (pardon the pun). But I didn't know that when I started cobbling together my own...

Ever late to the party, I soon discovered there’s an entire book and resource website for others who are interested in doing a DIY MFA!

https://diymfa.com/

https://medium.com/the-1000-day-mfa/the-1000-day-mfa-ec65cd78c38a

http://www.whatisaplot.com/the-art-of-being-an-autodidact/

#DIYMFA #Writing #Craft

At this point, I don’t see an MFA in my future, but I do want to make a deeper commitment to learning the craft of writing and dedicating more time to my fiction and creative non-fiction work.

Inspired by my friend Annie’s DIY MFA, I set some similar intentions and decided to fashion my own ‘do-it-myself’ writing program. Hence, the hashtag.

http://annieqsyed.com/2019/02/25/my-diy-mfa/

#DIYMFA #Writing

Fellow aspiring writers who are still learning the nuts and bolts of craft, or grappling with how to to establish a consistent practice...

I'm using the hashtag DIYMFA on any writing craft/tips type posts. Mostly so my poor old brain can easily find them in the future - but it might be a useful resource for you too!

Feel free to peruse or, indeed, use the hashtag yourself. All wisdom welcome!

#DIYMFA #WritingCommunity #Writing #Craft #NovelWriting

Fellow aspiring writers who are still learning the nuts and bolts of craft, or grappling with how to to establish a consistent practice...

I'm using the hashtag DIYMFA on any writing craft/tips type posts. Mostly so my poor old brain can easily find them in the future - but it might be a useful resource for you too!

Feel free to peruse or, indeed, use the hashtag yourself. All wisdom welcome!

#DIYMFA #WritingCommunity #Writing #Craft #NovelWriting

Fellow aspiring writers who are still learning the nuts and bolts of craft, or grappling with how to to establish a consistent practice...

I'm using the hashtag DIYMFA on any writing craft/tips type posts. Mostly so my poor old brain can easily find them in the future - but it might be a useful resource for you too!

Feel free to peruse or, indeed, use the hashtag yourself. All wisdom welcome!

#DIYMFA #WritingCommunity #Writing #Craft #NovelWriting

Fellow aspiring writers who are still learning the nuts and bolts of craft, or grappling with how to to establish a consistent practice...

I'm using the hashtag DIYMFA on any writing craft/tips type posts. Mostly so my poor old brain can easily find them in the future - but it might be a useful resource for you too!

Feel free to peruse or, indeed, use the hashtag yourself. All wisdom welcome!

#DIYMFA #WritingCommunity #Writing #Craft #NovelWriting

Fellow aspiring/emerging writers who are still learning the nuts and bolts of craft, or grappling with where to start or how to establish a consistent practice...

I'm using the hashtag DIYMFA on any writing craft/writing tips posts. Mostly so that my poor old brain can easily find them in the future - but it might be a useful resource/reference list for you too.

#DIYMFA #WritingCommunity #Writing #Craft #StoryCraft #NovelWriting

Kat Lewis on three things she learned while writing video games that made her a better novelist:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1566738681464889345.html

#Writing #Craft #StoryCraft #NovelWriting #DIYMFA