I am certainly not making excuses, but yesterday there were TWO parties to attend. So because Paula Yoo is running this challenge from California, where the time is 10.51pm on the 7th May - I can claim to have finished NaPiBoWriWee 2011 on time! Yes, it's true - we're well into the afternoon now on the 8th May in Western Australia, but please, let's not squabble over minor details. It's still a great achievement to write 7 picture book drafts in 7 (and-a-half) days!!
Thanks again to Paula for putting in such a great effort. Thanks also to everyone in twitterland and blogland for your support. It's been another great kick in the pants for my writing career. I look forward to getting these drafts polished and perhaps taking one or two with me to the SCBWI LA summer conference in August! See you there, Paula (and anyone else who's going along)!
Congrats to everyone who took part. Until next time...
Showing posts with label paula yoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paula yoo. Show all posts
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 6: It's okay. Really...it's okay.
Do you BELIEVE me? Do you really think that things are fine and DANDY over here on day 6 of NaPiBoWriWee? Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha haaaaaaa! Aaaaaaaargh!!!
No, no. Really - things are okay. But it is very HARD to commit an already small number of 'free' minutes to making up stories. Someone tell ME the stories, please!! Boo hoo :P
Alas, tomorrow is the last day of Paula Yoo's annual challenge. She has done it again - updating her blog THREE times daily for her NaPiBoWriWee writers. I don't know HOW she does it when she has 149 cats to hand-feed and run errands for every day!? Oh, and she is also a writer for a show called Eureka on SyFy. PLUS she writes books. So how and why does she do this? I don't know! But I'm glad!
As for me: I have two children, a husband, one dog and one bottle of wine (minus one glass) in the pantry (*note - ONLY the bottle of wine is in the pantry - not the family and pet!!). I also have six rough picture book drafts to work on in the year ahead thanks to NaPiBoWriWee. Woo hoo!
So on that note, I am going to watch TV and deplete my bottle of red by one more glass. I hope everyone's on a roll and ready for a BIG finish on day 7! GOOD LUCK!
Caz
No, no. Really - things are okay. But it is very HARD to commit an already small number of 'free' minutes to making up stories. Someone tell ME the stories, please!! Boo hoo :P
Alas, tomorrow is the last day of Paula Yoo's annual challenge. She has done it again - updating her blog THREE times daily for her NaPiBoWriWee writers. I don't know HOW she does it when she has 149 cats to hand-feed and run errands for every day!? Oh, and she is also a writer for a show called Eureka on SyFy. PLUS she writes books. So how and why does she do this? I don't know! But I'm glad!
As for me: I have two children, a husband, one dog and one bottle of wine (minus one glass) in the pantry (*note - ONLY the bottle of wine is in the pantry - not the family and pet!!). I also have six rough picture book drafts to work on in the year ahead thanks to NaPiBoWriWee. Woo hoo!
So on that note, I am going to watch TV and deplete my bottle of red by one more glass. I hope everyone's on a roll and ready for a BIG finish on day 7! GOOD LUCK!
Caz
Thursday, May 5, 2011
NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 5: Barely Alive
Even as I type this post, I am not thinking about NaPiBoWriWee. I am thinking about bed. I am so insanely tired. Didn't get the little man to sleep until very late. Fortunately I scribbled something about food in the scrapbook just before lunch today, so I've used that in a pretty silly story (if you can even call it that).
That's...okay...I'll live to tell...another...
story...
....
.........tomorrow......
*thud*
(head on keyboard)
That's...okay...I'll live to tell...another...
story...
....
.........tomorrow......
*thud*
(head on keyboard)
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 4: RECORD SMASHED!
This is so funny. Twenty-five minutes ago I was grizzling because it was 9pm and I hadn't done my story. Now I've produced a story draft ... and I don't even hate it! I might even have time to go and watch something mindless on TV. WOW :)
I must admit - my inspiration came earlier today when I was fooling around with a Sharpie, sticky notes and a new scrap book (we went on a stationery spree yesterday!) This was a new thing for me ... I am in the habit of buying nice stationery once in a blue moon, only to lock it away in a drawer because the nice paper is TOO PRECIOUS. Ha ha :) I think because it was a $1 scrapbook I allowed myself to go for it.
Looks like we're over the half-way mark! This is great news. Are you still plugging away at NaPiBoWriWee 2011? Aren't you so glad you started?
I must admit - my inspiration came earlier today when I was fooling around with a Sharpie, sticky notes and a new scrap book (we went on a stationery spree yesterday!) This was a new thing for me ... I am in the habit of buying nice stationery once in a blue moon, only to lock it away in a drawer because the nice paper is TOO PRECIOUS. Ha ha :) I think because it was a $1 scrapbook I allowed myself to go for it.
Looks like we're over the half-way mark! This is great news. Are you still plugging away at NaPiBoWriWee 2011? Aren't you so glad you started?
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 3
I am learning to love this challenge more every day, and appreciate it for what it is. Those daily deadlines we impose on ourselves give us a 7 day holiday from procrastination and give our sub-conscious a chance to be heard. After all, I find there ain't much calculation going on between the hours of 8pm and 10pm at night (when I have a chance to write).
Story drafts 2 and 3 have pretty much been spur-of-the-moment surprises. They are by no means perfect (if they were that would just be FREAKY!) Rather than chastising myself for producing mediocre work, I am congratulating myself for putting 7 story ideas in the NaPiBoWriWee 2011 folder by Saturday 7th May.
So, I am happy to say that day 3 has been a success because another story has been born. After this challenge I can put it through it's paces - maybe get it to shed 10 kilos and give it a facelift (oh, my poor baby).
Has anyone out there in PiBo land written a perfect picture book this time (or come close)? Come on, be honest! Maybe there's someone out there? You can blow your own trumpet - I won't mind :)
See you over at Paula Yoo's place.
Story drafts 2 and 3 have pretty much been spur-of-the-moment surprises. They are by no means perfect (if they were that would just be FREAKY!) Rather than chastising myself for producing mediocre work, I am congratulating myself for putting 7 story ideas in the NaPiBoWriWee 2011 folder by Saturday 7th May.
So, I am happy to say that day 3 has been a success because another story has been born. After this challenge I can put it through it's paces - maybe get it to shed 10 kilos and give it a facelift (oh, my poor baby).
Has anyone out there in PiBo land written a perfect picture book this time (or come close)? Come on, be honest! Maybe there's someone out there? You can blow your own trumpet - I won't mind :)
See you over at Paula Yoo's place.
Monday, May 2, 2011
NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - day 2
How's everyone going? Now, Sunday may have been a walk in the park ... but MONDAY... well, it was another walk in the park! :D Yippee! Even with the 12-hour mummy shift thrown in! I am feeling very lucky.
I must admit that last night (Sunday night) I started writing what I thought was story number two. It wasn't going well. So I figured that tonight (Monday night) I'd be tearing my hair out.
Lucky for me, I remembered that NaPiBoWriWee is meant to be a FUN event! I imagined Paula Yoo frowning and waving her pointer finger at me for being a PiBo party pooper. This was enough for me to lighten up! Whaddya know... a brand new story was on a roll by 8pm, and was all wrapped up and tucked in by 8.40pm. Now it's 8.46pm and I'm writing the blog post. YAY!!
Did you have a Monday a success story, too?
I must admit that last night (Sunday night) I started writing what I thought was story number two. It wasn't going well. So I figured that tonight (Monday night) I'd be tearing my hair out.
Lucky for me, I remembered that NaPiBoWriWee is meant to be a FUN event! I imagined Paula Yoo frowning and waving her pointer finger at me for being a PiBo party pooper. This was enough for me to lighten up! Whaddya know... a brand new story was on a roll by 8pm, and was all wrapped up and tucked in by 8.40pm. Now it's 8.46pm and I'm writing the blog post. YAY!!
Did you have a Monday a success story, too?
Saturday, April 30, 2011
NaPiBoWriWee 2011 - Story draft #1 is done!
Holy cow! I can't believe it's only 2pm on Sunday and I have written my first story of NaPiBoWriWee 2011. One (1) picture book draft is complete. If I do say so myself, this is a story with potential :) The bar is set high for stories 2-7. By Saturday, I'm sure the quality of stories will have deteriorated :P This is going to get tough. But with Paula Yoo cheering me on from the sidelines, I will do it!
After all, 12 months ago I wrote five stories while at a sleep clinic with my six month old bubba! Now that he's toddling around and sleeping easily, things are getting easier.
I am astounded that last weekend I spent almost five days getting one story up to standard, and today I wrote a pretty sound one in a couple of hours. I guess that's the way it goes!
How was your story today? Was it fairly cooperative, or was it a kicker and screamer? If you're yet to start, best of luck! Just type, type, type - you can do it!
Caz
After all, 12 months ago I wrote five stories while at a sleep clinic with my six month old bubba! Now that he's toddling around and sleeping easily, things are getting easier.
I am astounded that last weekend I spent almost five days getting one story up to standard, and today I wrote a pretty sound one in a couple of hours. I guess that's the way it goes!
How was your story today? Was it fairly cooperative, or was it a kicker and screamer? If you're yet to start, best of luck! Just type, type, type - you can do it!
Caz
Thursday, April 28, 2011
NaPiBoWriWee 2011
It's here! Paula Yoo's annual challenge to write seven picture books in seven days - National Picture Book Writing Week, 2011 or NaPiBoWriWee. It seems like a ridiculous goal, but it CAN be done. Draft a story a day for seven days *emphasis on DRAFT* between May 1st and May 7th. Go to Paula's website for full details.
Last year I completed six first drafts in the seven days and was really spurred on by Paula's tips and advice. Those drafts were my very first attempts at writing picture books for children. I even MET Paula herself at the SCBWI LA Summer Conference last year and gave her a big thankyou hug! She works very hard for PiBos :)
It is hair-raising and motivating. Give it a whirl - you never know what magic you'll produce with those deadlines looming daily! I look forward to seeing what sorts of ideas spill out spontaneously - I haven't planned ahead like I did last year. It will be interesting...
If you're taking part, let me know.
Caz
Last year I completed six first drafts in the seven days and was really spurred on by Paula's tips and advice. Those drafts were my very first attempts at writing picture books for children. I even MET Paula herself at the SCBWI LA Summer Conference last year and gave her a big thankyou hug! She works very hard for PiBos :)
It is hair-raising and motivating. Give it a whirl - you never know what magic you'll produce with those deadlines looming daily! I look forward to seeing what sorts of ideas spill out spontaneously - I haven't planned ahead like I did last year. It will be interesting...
If you're taking part, let me know.
Caz
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