Qualities Necessary for the DIY MFA
- Be a Self-Starter: To follow a plan like this on your own, you need to be the sort of writer who can motivate yourself and keep yourself going. While it's great to ruminate and let the muses work their magic, a DIY MFA doesn't do itself. You need to be good at pushing yourself because no one will be there to do it for you.
- Honor Self-Imposed Deadlines: Nothing imposes a healthy dose of fear in a writer like a deadline. Problem is, you won't have class deadlines to motivate you so you need to be good at scaring yourself into getting the work done. Self-imposed deadlines are very easy to ignore because no one is there to tell you your work is overdue. You need to come up with ways of giving your self-imposed deadlines enough weight that you get the work done.
- Reach Out: Writers need support from other writers. Conferences and readings are great places to meet other aspiring writers, so don't be afraid to approach other writers and speak to people. If you're shy about meeting people in person, start with reaching out to other writers via blogs, twitter or online writing networks.
4 comments:
This is so interesting! I'm definitely all ears, and I think I have all those qualities. :)
You know, it's occurred to me that a lot of the same qualities necessary for a DIY MFA are also qualities that one would need to be a good writer. After all, writing is all about being self-motivated, sticking to deadlines and putting yourself (or your work) out there. So convenient that the qualities overlap. :)
If you need a DIY MFA guinea pig, I'd be more than happy to do it. Sounds like an awesome idea.
I'm soaking up the concept like a sponge.
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