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
Saturday, April 30, 2011
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
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
XMediaLab Perth and more...
Gosh, it was a heck of a conference this 'ex-media-lab' (shock, horror I was calling it the wrong name in my head - thank goodness I heard someone say 'cross-media-lab' before I made a fool of myself!) The theme of the conference was 'Storytelling in a Digital Age'. The State Theatre of WA is a great venue, and it was a really well catered event. Quite the 'day off' - I really felt like a grown-up! Check out the XML website here.
I was all ablaze with new ideas after listening to some really interesting speakers and some creative conference-goers. Loved hearing about what is possible with today's technology. I was particularly inspired by the raw media being produced by 'average' people and, in particular, marginalised groups. Apparently you don't need a lot of money or resources to share a message with the world these days. It was so refreshing to hear people talk about projects for the 'greater good' and I met quite a few community-focused people with interesting projects to talk about.
There are some crazy youtube videos I need to check out - I was really blown away by what was presented. I had not considered that creativity could be expressed in so many ways. I feel kind of overwhelmed! Now it seems there's no end to the possibilities. It's really great.
I was really pleased to meet Perth illustrator, Chris Nixon after the event. I recognised him after seeing him at The Children's Book Council of Australia WA Branch's A Night With Our Stars last month. He illustrates the 'Jake' series by Ken Spillman and has a real knack with a pencil and paper (okay I don't know if that's his preferred medium, but that's as far as my art training goes!) Check out his website here.
In super-exciting news, I am booked for the 40th SCBWI LA Summer Conference. Hooray! I am very much looking forward to being there again. It is such a brilliant event. I have a round-table critique booked as well as a picture book intensive. After hearing about some very technological ways of interacting with others, I feel comforted in the knowledge that I am simply a writer of picture books! Just dealing with pieces of paper bound together that you can read and enjoy - even when the power is out or the Internet is down :)
Oh, and did I mention that I'm also visiting Rottnest Island in June for the annual SCBWI WA writing retreat? I'm booked for a critique and cannot wait for some Rocky Horror Picture Show and karaoke action. Yes, life is like that when you're a 'pre-published' author.
Caz
 |
| Photo courtesy of XMediaLab |
There are some crazy youtube videos I need to check out - I was really blown away by what was presented. I had not considered that creativity could be expressed in so many ways. I feel kind of overwhelmed! Now it seems there's no end to the possibilities. It's really great.
I was really pleased to meet Perth illustrator, Chris Nixon after the event. I recognised him after seeing him at The Children's Book Council of Australia WA Branch's A Night With Our Stars last month. He illustrates the 'Jake' series by Ken Spillman and has a real knack with a pencil and paper (okay I don't know if that's his preferred medium, but that's as far as my art training goes!) Check out his website here.
In super-exciting news, I am booked for the 40th SCBWI LA Summer Conference. Hooray! I am very much looking forward to being there again. It is such a brilliant event. I have a round-table critique booked as well as a picture book intensive. After hearing about some very technological ways of interacting with others, I feel comforted in the knowledge that I am simply a writer of picture books! Just dealing with pieces of paper bound together that you can read and enjoy - even when the power is out or the Internet is down :)
Oh, and did I mention that I'm also visiting Rottnest Island in June for the annual SCBWI WA writing retreat? I'm booked for a critique and cannot wait for some Rocky Horror Picture Show and karaoke action. Yes, life is like that when you're a 'pre-published' author.
Caz
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Pleased to meet you...I'm your maker!
I'm a bit excited because I met my character this week. I must admit that I've felt like a bit of a writer-fraud lately. I've been so bogged down with day-to-day life and exploring so much great information on the web (tweet, tweet!) that I've neglected the act of writing creatively. Oh dear.
Anyway, after a few disheartening blinking cursor / blank screen moments, I discovered that pen and paper are where it's at. I'm talking about BIG paper - lots of it! Here's the product of a huge mind-purge that took place yesterday.
I did not know there was so much inside my brain! Wow, it felt good to get that out!
When I started scribbling I didn't know what I was trying to achieve, but I kept an open mind. I even asked my four-year-old to throw some scenarios at me - this was actually a lot of fun for us both! One thing led to another and I ended up meeting a character who I'd like to find out more about.
My next step will be to fill in a 'form to form a character' courtesy of Rachel Vail who I met at the SCBWI conference in LA last year. Characters complete statements such as 'I wish I weren't so...' and 'The worst thing that could happen to me right now is...' It hadn't occurred to me that this was an important step before putting a character in a story. It feels a bit foolish to admit that, now! Oh well, I have learned at least one thing about writing in the last twelve months :)
Do you have a similar way of meeting the stars of your stories? How do you know where to start?
Anyway, after a few disheartening blinking cursor / blank screen moments, I discovered that pen and paper are where it's at. I'm talking about BIG paper - lots of it! Here's the product of a huge mind-purge that took place yesterday.
When I started scribbling I didn't know what I was trying to achieve, but I kept an open mind. I even asked my four-year-old to throw some scenarios at me - this was actually a lot of fun for us both! One thing led to another and I ended up meeting a character who I'd like to find out more about.
My next step will be to fill in a 'form to form a character' courtesy of Rachel Vail who I met at the SCBWI conference in LA last year. Characters complete statements such as 'I wish I weren't so...' and 'The worst thing that could happen to me right now is...' It hadn't occurred to me that this was an important step before putting a character in a story. It feels a bit foolish to admit that, now! Oh well, I have learned at least one thing about writing in the last twelve months :)
Do you have a similar way of meeting the stars of your stories? How do you know where to start?
Friday, March 25, 2011
Loving my local library
I sometimes feel a bit sad that we live in the outskirts of Perth when there seems to be so much going on closer to the city. It's true that there are advantages to living outside the hustle and bustle, but you know how that grass can look look when it's way over yonder.
With that said, we were lucky enough to have a couple of author talks recently at our local library in Clarkson. In late January children's book author Ken Spillman spoke about his 'Jake' series of books. My very-nearly-four-year-old got a kick out of his signed copy of Jake's Gigantic List, the story of Jake's quest for the perfect birthday present.
I was multi-tasking as always, listening for writing tips, birthday gift hints and corralling the littlest mister. Afterwards whilst getting our books signed I learned that the proceeds of 'Jake's Gigantic List' go to the Children's Book Council of Australia. What a great show of support for a very hard-working organisation.
Then a couple of weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a flyer advertising a talk by local author Sara Foster. Her latest book 'Beneath the Shadows' was released last month.
So off I went again, this time without children, to attend a very civilised event which even included refreshments! Of course, the crowd were all there to listen. Many had questions - including myself, but I was not quick enough to get them in! Anyway, Sara was very easy to talk to afterwards during the book signing. As fate would have it I bumped into her at the local market the following night. So who knows, maybe next time she'll be ahead of me in the grocery queue and I can ask her how the heck you're supposed to write novels with young children in the house!? As for the book itself, I'm very much engrossed and cannot wait to stop writing this so I can get back to it.
So, I'm very much looking forward to finding out what talent will be heading our way next. We really do appreciate them thinking of us out here in 'upper-whoop-whoop' :)
With that said, we were lucky enough to have a couple of author talks recently at our local library in Clarkson. In late January children's book author Ken Spillman spoke about his 'Jake' series of books. My very-nearly-four-year-old got a kick out of his signed copy of Jake's Gigantic List, the story of Jake's quest for the perfect birthday present.
I was multi-tasking as always, listening for writing tips, birthday gift hints and corralling the littlest mister. Afterwards whilst getting our books signed I learned that the proceeds of 'Jake's Gigantic List' go to the Children's Book Council of Australia. What a great show of support for a very hard-working organisation.
Then a couple of weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a flyer advertising a talk by local author Sara Foster. Her latest book 'Beneath the Shadows' was released last month.
So off I went again, this time without children, to attend a very civilised event which even included refreshments! Of course, the crowd were all there to listen. Many had questions - including myself, but I was not quick enough to get them in! Anyway, Sara was very easy to talk to afterwards during the book signing. As fate would have it I bumped into her at the local market the following night. So who knows, maybe next time she'll be ahead of me in the grocery queue and I can ask her how the heck you're supposed to write novels with young children in the house!? As for the book itself, I'm very much engrossed and cannot wait to stop writing this so I can get back to it.
So, I'm very much looking forward to finding out what talent will be heading our way next. We really do appreciate them thinking of us out here in 'upper-whoop-whoop' :)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
More ANWOS - plus giveaway news!
See! I told you I was rubbing shoulders with superstar authors at 'A Night With Our Stars' :)
Take in Shirley Marr's writeup of the night here. Then check out The Tales Compendium for their spin on ANWOS, and to win signed copies of 'Fury' by Shirley Marr, '90 Packets of Instant Noodles' by Deb Fitzpatrick and 'Wave Length' by AJ Betts! Who wouldn't want to be in on that?
 |
| Cristy Burne, Lara Morgan, Shirley Marr, Caz Williams |
(photo courtesy of Shirley Marr)
Thursday, March 10, 2011
A Night With Our Stars - A West Australian Author and Illustrator showcase
What a great time I had at Westbooks last night! I was there in my role as volunteer and committee member with the Children's Book Council of Australia (WA branch).
I always feel so honoured to chat with 'real' authors and illustrators. Are we lucky here in the west, or what?! Not only are these people talented and inspiring, but they are also approachable, friendly and happy to chat. I love being a 'pre-published' (love that one) protégé. I learn so much from these knowledgable neighbours of mine :) Sadly I don't have any photos to share right now, but I'll share them as they come to hand. I know there's one on Shirley Marr's camera of herself, Cristy Burne, Lara Morgan and myself. See? I was in esteemed company!
Don't forget to visit the CBCA WA blog for the latest about WA authors and illustrators, as well as some posts I've been doing about early literacy.
Cheers,
Caz
I always feel so honoured to chat with 'real' authors and illustrators. Are we lucky here in the west, or what?! Not only are these people talented and inspiring, but they are also approachable, friendly and happy to chat. I love being a 'pre-published' (love that one) protégé. I learn so much from these knowledgable neighbours of mine :) Sadly I don't have any photos to share right now, but I'll share them as they come to hand. I know there's one on Shirley Marr's camera of herself, Cristy Burne, Lara Morgan and myself. See? I was in esteemed company!
Don't forget to visit the CBCA WA blog for the latest about WA authors and illustrators, as well as some posts I've been doing about early literacy.
Cheers,
Caz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)