NaPiBoWriWee Day 2

Good Morning

It's day 2 of NaPiBoWriWee. Some how I finished my first picture book manuscript last night. Not sure how I squeezed it in. I probably stayed up later than I should have. I'm feeling sluggish this morning. I guess staying up late and getting up at 5 AM to tend to a sick baby 3 days in a row will do that to ya. Here I am Sunday morning, no makeup, drinking my first cup of coffee to try to get myself going. Can you tell what's on my mind?


(Be nice, I'm half asleep here)

While drinking my coffee Jim Hill and I had a little twitter conversation about being distracted today by children's shows on TV. There are some great shows and we both admitted we liked watching them. Sometimes I find some great story ideas from them. (Without copying them. You don't want to do that!) Here is a great writing exercise: Watch the beginning of a children's show and then write the ending using the characters from the show. I often watch the ending of the show afterwards and compare the endings. This helps me get my creative juices flowing for writing my picture book ideas. (Just so I'm clear: I am not suggesting you steal ideas from TV to write your books. Come up with your own ideas.)

So today I am unsure which story I will tackle next. I have one rhyming idea which I might work on that little by little throughout the week, one story idea that doesn't have an ending and several more I have to go lookup because I'm too tired to remember. :) I'm looking forward to writing today and now that I have had my coffee I feel ready to go.

How are you doing today? Did you need your coffee? How do you get your creative juices flowing? Let me know what you're thinking or send a comment just to say Hi.

NaPiBoWriWee Day 1

All right! Here we go.

It's Day 1 of National Picture Book Writing Week (NaPiBoWriWee) - writing 7 picture books in 7 days.

If you haven't already, there's still time to let Paula Yoo (the hostess of NaPiBoWriWee) know you are participating in the challenge and get entered into a draw.

How are you doing so far?

In typical Auntie Flamingo style, I'm already behind! I have the pen and paper out but I have written nothing. Zip. Nada. Ziltch! But the idea is boucing around in my head and once the kids are in bed I'm hoping I have the energy to let it all pour out. It's not unusual for me to start off slow. By the end of the week I will be flying and perhaps write 2 manuscripts in one day. It also doesn't help to have a sick 17 month old clinging to me. Hhmm, is that a 'reason' or an 'excuse?' It donesn't matter because I plan to have something written by the end of the day.

If you're behind like me then Paula's Day 1 b;og entry will comfort you. Read it here. http://paulayoo.com/content/napibowriwee-2010-day-one-sat-may-1-2010#comment-1026

Having problems registering on Paula's site? Read http://paulayoo.com/content/napibowriwee-2010-day-one-part-2-sat-may-1-2010

Be sure to leave your comments and good luck!

I Met Lesley Livingston, Author Of DARKLIGHT

Today I got the privilege of meeting Lesley Livingston, author of WONDROUS STRANGE, at a local Chapters promoting her new book DARKLIGHT.



I recently bought both of her books and after hearing the excerpt she read today, I cannot wait to read them.



If her books are half as good as she is friendly, then I'm sure I am really going to enjoy them.



For now, I will leave you with some pictures from today's event and report back once I've read her books.



*Thanks to my 7 year old son for taking these pictures. Great job!*

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year and welcome to 2010!

2009 was good to me. I was so close to getting my first picture book published. My manuscript was one of six manuscripts to make it to the final round in selections at a small publishing house. Unfortunetly, they only publish one children's book title a year and regretably the couldn't take mine. What a rush to be so close!
I participated in 3 writing challenges: NaPiBoWriWee (May 1-7) where I met some wonderful writers, PiBoIdMo (November) where I won a draw and had 5 of my ideas reviewed by an agent (more on that in another post), and NovPAD (November) which I completed but did not polish my poems for the final Chapbook submission (though there is still time.) And though I did not submit my writing to many magazines or publishers this year I did have a sci-fi poem published in the printed issue of Scifikuest (I hope to receive my November contributor's copy soon.)


This year, though I am back at my full time job after being on a 1 year maternity leave, I plan to participate in all of those challenges again. I'm editing the manuscript that was so close to being published and plan to submit it as much as possible to those publishers that are a good fit for the book. I'm very pleased with the changes I have made to it and I'm more confident than ever. I have my ideas from PiBoIdMo ready for NaPiBoWriWee which will be the only time I write new picture book manuscripts this year. The rest of the year I will polish the manuscripts I already have and write articles for children magazines. I will maintain my blog on my thoughts, progress and general happenings in my day to day life.

I hope you have a wonderful New Year and you will come back to visit me here to see my progress and share your comments with me.

All The Best. CHEERS!

PiboIdMo, 30 Ideas, A Draw, and Me the Winner!

In November I participated in the PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) Challenge hosted by Tara Lazar. The concept is to come up with 30 picture book in 30 days. What a wonderful brain storming exercise for getting those ideas out of your head without over thinking them. Sometimes we dismiss a story idea before giving it a chance. There was also a random draw for those who completed the challenge and had 30 ideas at the end of the month. There were 3 grand prizes of a kidlit agent reviewing your best five ideas and suggest which picture book concepts were worth pursuing.

Luck was on my side that day because my name was drawn! My prize is that Jill Corcoran of Herman Agency Inc. will review my top 5 picture book ideas. I'm very excite and can't wait to hear what Jill Corcoran has to say.

Well, I better get to work and flesh out my ideas. As the magician in Frosty the Snowman said, "I've got to get busy writing. Busy, busy, busy!|

Fun Challenges For November

November is a busy time for an author. Well it's busy for an author who is up for a challenge. As many authors know, November is the time for NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. Other than learning how to properly say the acronym, the object of the challenge is to crank out 50,000 words of a novel by the end of the month. No reviewing. No editing. Just write. More information about NaNoWriMo can me found here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

But what about those authors who don't write novels? What challenges are available for picture book authors or poets?

Two challenges I am participating in this November are the November PAD Challenge run by Robert Lee Brewer and PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) run by Tara Lazar. It's not too late to join in on the fun!

November Poem-A-Day Challenge - Every day in November Robert Lee Brewer posts a prompt and a poem. Join in by writing your own poem inspired by the prompt. At the end of November you will have a collection on 30 poems. Use December to edit, revise and organize the poems into a manuscript to be submitted to Robert and his wife in January. A winner will be selected by February 2nd. There may or may not be prizes but who cares? You'll have a manuscript at the end. Isn't that a great prize? Robert also leads a Poet Tuesday chat on Twitter on, well, Tuesday. I have found this chat very useful during this challenge.

PiBoIdMo(Picture Book Idea Month) - The goal of this challenge is to have 30 picture book ideas by the end of November. With the help from some wonder guest bloggers Tara Lazar has a blog entry every day in November to help inspire that perfect picture book idea. Plus if you participate you get to put a cool badge on your website or blog. PiBoIdMo is a perfect preparation for NaPiBoWriWee the first week of May.

OTHER CHALLENGES:

NaPiBoWriWee (National Picture Book Writing Week) - It's crazy! It's fun! It's NaPiBoWriWee! 7 picture book drafts in 7 days. That's right, seven! NaPiBoWriWee is run by Paula Yoo and is the first week of May. I participated in the first one in May 2009 and had a great time. I was amazed what I accomplished by the end of the week. I know it's not done in November but I thought it was important to mention here.

The month is still young so join in the fun. Don't be afraid. The only way you can fail is if you don't try.

NaPiBoWriWee days 6 & 7 - DONE!

Ok a quick update on day 7 of NaPiBoWriWee.

On day 6 I completed picture book (PB) rough draft numbers 4 and 5 and was quite pleased with them. I think they have potential but need a lot of work. At least it gives me something to start with.

On day 7 - - I DID IT! YIPPY! I completed PB 6 and 7. Book 7 seemed to roll right out. I am so happy with PB 7 that I plan for it to be the first one polished up and I want to start looking for a home for it. I was actually laughing while writing it because it was so funny.

I would like to thank Paula Yoo for organizing the very first NaPiBoWriWee and look forward to doing it again next year. Please take a look at Paula's site http://paulayoo.com/
It has some wonderful writing information and is very entertaining. This is one site I have bookmarked!

NaPiBoWriWee days 3,4 and 5.

Day 3 I did nothing except get a little sun burned. Too busy watching my son play outside and spending time with the family to write. Though I try to write a little every day sometimes it is good to take a little break.

Day 4 things started to roll again but had the baby's swimming lesson in the morning so that took up pretty much the entire morning. Wrote a little in the afternoon.

Day 5 I'm smoken! I finished the drafts manuscripts of picture books 1, 2 and 3 before noon. Picture book (PB) number 4 is on the computer partly done. PB number 5 is roughly written out in pencil in my black book. I have an idea for PB number 6 and not sure what I am going to do for number 7.

So there we go. Both you and I are now (or almost) caught up.
For more information on NaPiBoWriWee go to Paula Yoo's site @ http://paulayoo.com/

Day 2 of NaPiBoWriWee

It's day 2 of the first NaPiBoWriWee and I am not doing well. Of course, I expected that for the first three days. I have 2 picture book manuscripts started, ideas for 2 more in my head and none finished. One of the picture book manuscripts I started is almost finished and the other is written by hand in point form in my notebook.

When the boys (my hubby and son) are home I don't get much done in writing. I'm not blaming them, oh no. I just love spending time with them and I choose not to write. Plus, they helped me clean the house so who can complain?

When Monday hits it will be just me and the baby again during the day and I should be able to finish off the manuscripts I have started over the weekend and then write one (or more) a day until Friday.

Good Luck to all those who are participating.

NaPiBoWriWee Starts May 1st - 7 x 7

Can you write 7 picture books in 7 days? I'm not sure if I can either but I'm going to try.

Paula Yoo has come up with a spin off of "NaNoWriMo", National Picture Book Writing Week! Register on Paula's site and Write 7 children picture books in 7 days. On the 7th day there is a draw for an autographed copy of Paula's latest picture book. That's in in a nut shell.

For full details and rules see:
http://www.paulayoo.com/content/natl-picture-book-writing-week-may-1-7-2009