NaPiBoWriWee

NaPiBoWriWee went POOF! up in smoke, and all I have to show for it is one completed manuscript, one mostly completed manuscript, and one barely started manuscript.

But I'm not feeling too discouraged. Not yet. It was a rough week, so of course I wasn't able to work under the extra pressure. Getting sick didn't help matters either. BUT I do have one decent book that just needs reworking and one book that I think could turn into something great with a lot of time and effort. And that's two more books than I had when I started.

Some people who don't write picture books don't realize how hard they can be to write. Some of us who do write them do silly things like trying to write seven in one week because we know if we can do it then we'll be better than all of those people who didn't...

But what about doing it for yourself? For doing it because you'll feel good about having started seven or six or five new picture books? Shouldn't we be more concerned with how we're improving our craft than how we measure up to everyone else?

NaPiBoWriWee- We're all struggling!

It's a relief to see that my friends are struggling through NaPiBoWriWee, not just me. It's already 6PM and I have no idea what to write about today. Yesterday's book is about half done (in my defense, it's a tough concept book and I don't know if it will be truly done for some time).

Today I passed out water cups at the Pittsburgh Marathon and when I came home, I collapsed in bed. The work of an AmeriCorps member is never done.

Day 1 of NaPiBoWriWee

I've managed to punch out a draft of a short picture book called "Peggy, Not Piggy!" today. I'm so excited because I think this book will be a good one with some TLC.

I also have an idea for tomorrow's book (and all day to do it!) but I need to do a bit of research first.

Good luck to all of you doing NaPiBoWriWee!

NaPiBoWriWee!

You've heard of NaNoWriMo, the challenge to write one complete novel during the month of November. But what the heck is NaPiBoWriWee?

It's a funny acronynm for National Picture Book Writing Week-- duh!

Since Paula Yoo announced the challenge on her blog, writers of all skill levels have joined in. I'm one of them. Why? I have no idea. I have too much on my plate already. But I haven't been doing enough writing lately, so I figured why not?

Tonight I will spend some time coming up with 7 picture book ideas that I will flesh out into full picture books with a beginning, middle and end, during the next 7 days.

It sounds impossible to me; Picture books always take me months to write (they're hard little buggers!) but, hey, I'm up for a challenge.