In part two of our conversation, MFA alum and entrepreneur Brittany McMunn shares the steps she took to channel her passion for writing into a thriving career as an editor and publishing partner, and how that decision helped her transcend a difficult period of her life. She describes how the value of tenacity, and creative writing skills of storytelling and landing a message set her and her clients apart in roles across industries.

SNHU alum Brittany McMunn shares her winding path from pre-med student to healthcare industry manager to publishing entrepreneur, revealing how a personal crisis led her to rediscover her passion for writing and editing. She explains how her communications degree and MFA gave her the skills to command a room, understand diverse perspectives, and ultimately build three literary ventures that help authors find their place in the industry.

Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA instructor Alex DiFrancesco! A multi-genre writer and transmasc person (they/them), Alex is the author of the novels Transmutation, All City, Psychopomps, and Breaking the Curse. Their work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, the Guardian, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, Tin House, and more. Join us as we talk with Alex about genre-bending and blending, climate fiction, and the realities of building and sustaining a writing life as a trans person today.

Word for Word opens a new season with our annual Instructor Spotlight event! We are thrilled to welcome MA instructor Dan Gleason and Online MFA instructor Tracy Crow as our special guests! Dan is a graduate of the famed Iowa Writers' Workshop who has worked as a journalist for an array of top national magazines. His new true-crime book, "Life Without: The Wrongful Conviction of Sandy Shaw," was just published from Bloomsbury. Tracy is an author of fiction and nonfiction, a literary agent, an editor, a publisher, and a veteran. She is the president and CEO of the MilSpeak Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting creative writing in the military community. Her award-winning memoir "Eyes Right" provided an uncensored look at the Marines from a woman’s perspective.

Join us as Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA Instructor Cindy Skaggs! Cindy is the author of seven novels, two novellas, and, most recently, a guidebook for new novelists, "Dear Someday Writer." She holds an MA and an MFA in creative writing and has ten years of experience teaching writing and creative writing in higher education. She is an advocate for military and veteran issues, and in 2019-2020 spearheaded the Veteran Expressive Writing Workshop in conjunction with the Colorado Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Join us as Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA Instructor Jerico Lenk! Jerico's fiction and poetry combine formal experimentation, queer identities and mythological reimaginings. His current work in progress is a novel adaptation of the Apollo and Hyacinth myth. He is the author of The Missing, a YA novel set in the Victorian-era and featuring queer ghost-hunters, and his novel In the Pines was shortlisted for the First Pages Prize in 2020.

Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA instructor Cynthea Liu! Cynthea has published with Penguin Random House, Disney/Marvel, S&S, Sterling, and Scholastic in formats including picture books, transitional readers, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult novels. She has also written film adaptations and audiobook scripts for full-cast narration. As a consultant and editor, she takes on publishing projects requiring a story architect, project manager or managing editor for private clients and companies that represent independent authors, musicians, social media influencers and celebrities. In short, she does it all! Tune in to learn her success secrets!

Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA instructor Holley Cornetto! Holley is a writer, librarian, professor, book reviewer for Publisher's Weekly, and transplanted Southerner who now calls New Jersey home. She is the author of the novels They Are Cursed Like You (with S. O. Green, 2023) and We Haunt These Woods (2022). Join us as we talk about the horror genre, book reviewing for fun and profit, the joys and challenges of literary collaboration, and more!

Wireside Chat welcomes MFA instructor Marianna Boncek! Marianna is an author, teacher, performance poet, playwright, researcher, and Egyptologist--yes, that means mummies! She has published poetry, nonfiction about ghost-hunting and missing persons, and works of fiction, both YA and adult. Join us as we talk about her writing journey and her love of mystery and the macabre! And mummies!

Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA instructor Amy Bai! Amy will discuss her writing journey, including how her career began with a bet, why she loves YA, and how she has persevered through career changes, an MFA, and starting her own editing and writing business! Plus a deep dive into POV!