The three pillars of the DIY MFA approach are to “Write with Focus,” “Read with Purpose”, and “Build Your Community”.

“Writing with Focus” is not difficult for me. I’ve been a professional scientific writer for 20+ years (gosh, I can’t believe it’s been that long now). I’ve worked from home and/or been freelance for the vast majority of that time, so I’ve learned how to structure my writing time.

“Reading with Purpose” is much harder for me – I’ve never been an English major. But Pereira does do a nice job in her book of giving some concrete suggestions for how to read with purpose in an iterative way that will work for you, the individual.

“Building Your Community” is the hardest pillar for me. When you attend an MFA program, your community is built into the program. So how do you “build a community” of readers and writers when you are building your own MFA?

Here are some of the things I’ve decided to try:

• I have attended/am attending in person and online workshops and conferences for writers in my genre.
  • Pereira gives recommendations for the types of conferences that are available. For me, I sent out a bat signal to my writer friends and asked for local suggestions. Which brings me to…
• I set out an “All Call” on social media for writing friends. Turns out, I have a lot!
  • It’s important to let people know that you’re writing, what you’re writing, and to ask for help and support!
  • If you know writers, they probably will be willing to be accountability partners in writing with you.
  • Writer friends can also serve as first-line mentors and readers, offering you feedback and help as you go.
• I joined a local online Writer’s Group, and signed up for their Daily Writer’s Prompts
  • This forces me to write and get/give feedback on writing every single day for at least 15-30 minutes. I don’t always love what I write or read, but it’s a useful exercise.

Have you had any experience building a writing community de novo? What have you done?