Join us as we explore how to make your MFA in Creative Writing pay on our new podcast, MFA Payday!Through interviews with MFA graduates, publishing industry insiders, and more, we will share the most up-to-date info on what to do with that degree in your hand. Get your FREE pitch submission tracker at www.mfapayday.com.
In this mini episode, Drema Drudge reads her original poem, All In , recorded live from her porch with a very vocal bird as uninvited co-host. A quiet reflection on mutual wisdom. Background ambiance includes a determined bee and a loud, possibly judgmental bird. Written and read by Drema Drudge. © 2025. All rights reserved.
Andrew Najberg returns with a couple of short readings from his forthcoming releases and a discussion of the origins of his novels. You don't want to miss this! www.mfapayday.com
Our guests on this episode are the co-hosts of Once upon a Disney Podcast, Larry Brenner and Andie Redwine. Check out their Facebook fan page https://www.facebook.com/onceuponadisneypodcast, and listen to their podcast most any place where podcasts can be heard.
Here's an interview with the co-host of MFA Payday, Drēma Drudge. Her bio: "Welcome! I’m Drēma Drudge, author. From reading cereal boxes on the breakfast table when I was a wee thing to reading my first chapter book in a mimosa tree which birthed my love for novels and twinned it with my affection for trees, the written word and I have been fast friends forever. I’ve also been writing in one capacity or another since I was about nine, starting with terrible poems and graduating to melodramatic s...
Recently we had a fascinating conversation with Helen Zuman. Bio: After graduating from Harvard in 1999, Helen Zuman joined a cult—oops!—stayed for five years, then composted the stinky guck of that experience into fertile soil via Mating in Captivity, her award-winning memoir. Next, she published What Is a Sex Cult? How Cults Reveal Our Culture. As of 2023, she is working on a novel, provisionally titled Common App, in which a college application essay editor compromises the Republicrat candida...
Just stopping in to say a quick hey from a beach on Lake Michigan and encourage you to find your happy place and tell you to take a well-deserved artist's date!
Friend of the podcast, Chella Courington, returns to read from her “Hearts Forged in Resistance.” Chella Courington returns to our podcast to share her latest release, a dynamic volume of poetry called “Hearts Forged in Resistance,” pre-order price guaranteed until September 8, 2023. The book will be released by Finishing Line Press on November 10, 2023. Listen to us speak with Chella about her hauntingly vivid poems and hear her read on this episode. You don’t want to miss this beautiful langua...
Patricia Hudson has been a freelance writer for more than 30 years. She's written for magazines ranging from Country Living to Women's Sports and Fitness, but her favorite assignments focus on historical topics. She was a contributing editor at Americana magazine for more than a decade, writing about historic preservation, folk art, and travel destinations for history lovers. As a frequent contributor to Southern Living magazine, she traveled extensively in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, profil...
On this episode we talk with author Anne Armistead. Take a listen! From Anne: Welcome to my writing journey! I write love stories, set in the past and present. I earned my English literature degree from the University of Georgia and my MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University. I am a member of the Atlanta Writers Club, Georgia Romance Writers, and the Historical Novel Society. When I'm not writing, I'm reading, taking nature walks, and watching BBC television. My husband and I have two d...
We recently interviewed the fabulous, talented, and hilarious Kate Beer writing as Eliza MacArthur. The quote in the title "Everything is a love story" is her sharing the best advice she received in grad school from the amazing Kenny Cook! Eliza MacArthur is a writer of romance and humor. She lives in the mid-south with her husband, two feral werewolf children, and two doodles who, if she is honest, are more rotisserie chicken than canine. She is fueled by decaf coffee and a good grumpy/sunshine...
On today's episode we speak with author Teddy Jones about writing no matter your age. She was a joy to interview, and what a lovely voice she has. Teddy Jones is the author of five published novels, Halfwide; Jackson’s Pond, Texas; Slanted Light, the second in the Jackson’s Pond, Texas series; Making It Home, the third, and Well Tended; as well as a collection of short stories, Nowhere Near. Her short fiction received the Gold Medal First Prize in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition in 2015. Jackson...
On this episode, Barry and I talk with a wonderful writing duo, Ted Chiles and Chella Courington. Chella Courington (she/her) is a writer and teacher whose poetry and fiction appear in numerous anthologies and journals including DMQ Review , The Los Angeles Review , and Anti-Heroin Chic . She was raised in the Appalachian south and now lives in California with another writer and two feline boys. Her recent microchaps of poetry are Good Trouble , Origami Poems Project; Hell Hath , Maverick Duck P...
Today, we speak with Ashley B. Davis about self-publishing and more. Ashley B. Davis writes the ordinary and extraordinary. She has poetry and short work appearing in Trembling With Fear, The Grey Rooms Podcast, Months to Years, Liquid Imagination, Jamais Vu, and Eunoia Review. When she is not living in fictional worlds, she lives with her partner, her seven-year-olds, and two rescue cats in southern California, where she manages rental property. Her debut YA fantasy The Space Between You and Me...
Elizabeth Burton is a working writer whose fiction and non-fiction have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies. She holds an MFA from the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University. She lives and teaches in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, with her husband and a plethora of animals. On this episode, Elizabeth shares with us literary journal submission etiquette, as well as what she's writing, and more. (We can't wait to read her WIP!)
The delightful Melissa Hamilton joins us on this episode to talk about her MFA experience, her work in science, puppetry, and planning unicorn parties!
Have you published everything you wanted to in 2022? Let’s submit everything on your computer BEFORE the end of the year! We’ve just put the finishing touches on the six-week Pitch Your Pants Off Challenge from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15 which contains the same steps we’ve used to publish nearly everything we’ve written since we graduated with our MFA’s. This is a complete challenge that gives you everything you need to know to get your writing out into the world. A FREE “Pitch Your Pants Off” submission...
Andrew Najberg is the author of the speculative horror novel Gollitok (Cactus Moon Press, 2023), the collection of poems The Goats Have Taken Over the Barracks (Finishing Line Press, 2021), and the chapbook Easy to Lose (Finishing Line Press 2007). His short fiction has appeared in Prose Online, Psychopomp Review, Bookends Review, Wondrous Real, Utopia Science Fiction and others. His poems have appeared in dozens of journals online and in print, including North American Review, Asheville Poetry ...
On this, episode one of MFA Payday, we interview Matt Berman who sees himself has half writer, half photographer. We love this deep dive with Matt into how his after-the-MFA journey has developed. Join us here and over at mfapayday.com. There, you can get your very own "Pitch Your Pants Off" FREE submission tracker when you sign up for our newsletter.
You’ve spent countless hours and thousands of dollars earning your MFA in Creative Writing. Now what? How do you build your writing career with intention? What are the tools and tricks to keep your creativity alive after you’ve turned in that last assignment? We’re Drēma Drudge and Barry Drudge. Join us as we explore how to make your MFA pay on our new podcast, MFA Payday! Through interviews with MFA graduates and publishing industry insiders, we will share the most up-to-date information on wha...
