I Took the Plunge

After two years of writing and finding my voice, I'm ready to find an agent and launch my writing career.  Starry Kalahari not only won a local SCBWI award, it also received overwhelmingly positive feedback from some extremely successfully published picture book writers whom I trust.

Thus, the search begins.  My agent search actually began last year (you can read about it here) but I didn't feel the timing was right until now. A query and submission went out almost three weeks ago and I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear back.

Stay tuned... Until then, happy writing!!!

P.S. HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! You can read last year's post Remembering Our Fallen Heroes here.

Starry Kalahari WON!

The 2010 SCBWI-LA Writer's Day contest winners have been officially posted. HOW EXCITING!!!

See all the winners and titles posted here, including your's truely with my narrative nonfiction rhyming picture book manuscript, Starry Kalahari.

NaPiBoWriWee: Day 6 & 7

National Picture Book Writing Week Challenge Update...

Day 6:
I woke up and right away, I knew the pressure was on. I had two days left to write four picture books (first drafts) and I'd already started and abandoned three stories that were going nowhere.  Then, I remembered a monkey character idea I had... YES!  I plowed through 441 words of prose, but ran out of steam and went to bed early, leaving myself 3 books to write the next day.

PiBo #4 - (441 words in prose): A very badly written PiBo with a fun plot about a monkey with a physical challenge that he has to learn to overcome in order to save the day.  Cute idea, but needs A LOT of work.

Day 7:
WHAT???? Three picture books in ONE DAY???? Can it be done? Well, I happened to know the answer was yes, since I wrote my last 4.5 stories in one day last year. And being the competitive soul that I am, I took that challenge once again and worked my patootie off.

PiBo #5 - (223 words in lovely rhythmical rhyme): A bedtime story inspired by my very own darlings. VERY SWEET and definitely my favorite of the bunch.

PiBo #6 - (123 words in simple prose couplets): A very gentle rhythm that asks and answers that curious question, where do babies come from... on a toddler/preschooler level, of course. This one is very sweet too, but needs to be revised desperately.

And.... drum roll, please....................................

PiBo #7 - (131 words in rhyme): At this point, I had just over an hour to write an entire picture book (first draft) and I was getting desperate.  I took the easy way out and did a rhyming ABC book about squishy, squashy, icky, sticky treats, like caterpillars and such. YUM! I finished just in time for my midnight snack :)

A huge thank you to PAULA YOO for hosting this awesome challenge for us picture book writers (and wanna bees). Even though Paula had a crazy week, being the co-producer of the TV series EUREKA and all, and wasn't able to meet her 7 book challenge for herself, she set the platform for many, many, MANY other people to give it their best.  And truth be told, having 2 or 4 or 6 new drafts is quite an accomplishment for any picture book writer.  The honest truth is that none of us failed if we managed to come out of the week with even ONE new manuscript draft.

Until next year... (or my next post)... Peace out!

NaPiBoWriWee: Day 5

A BIG HIGH FIVE! We're in the fifth day of National Picture Book Writing Week where we're attempting to write seven picture books in seven days.  You can read all about our progress on Paula Yoo's website.

I did it! I finished another picture book today.  I may have had a slow start, just like the sloths in my third picture book (first draft), but I'm making up for lost time over the weekend.

PiBo #1 (157 words in prose): It's all about a girl who loves...  Well, you'll have to wait and see when it comes out in print! For now it's top secret!!! Shhhhhh!

PiBo #2 (49 woppin' words in prose using an internal-rhyme scheme): Inspired by my own picky eater, guess what this little guy wants with every meal??? Well, almost every meal.

PiBo#3 (176 words in rhyme): My main characters may be slow to move, but this first draft wasn't.  I plowed through all ten rhyming stanzas about sloths in less than an hour. YES! WOO HOOO!

Now, I'm off to work on writing one more picture book first draft before I nod off to sleep.  I've got the plot, main character and his problem in my brain, I just need to make it work on paper.

NaPiBoWriWee: Day 4

Well, after a VERY busy weekend, I've kicked off my PiBo writing today, on day four of NaPiBoWriWee. I finished two - YES TWO - picture books today. So what, they don't have much substance. So what,  they are pretty... ummm... dumb. So what!  Truth be told, this PiBo week has got my writer's groove groovin'.

I worked on revising a picture book that I started writing last year (yes, that would be 12 months ago) and just reached a BRICK WALL several months back. I put it down... I picked it up... I put it down... I picked it up... I slammed it down... I threw it against the wall...

But this week I sliced... I diced... and I worked that story down to just over 400 words. OH YAH! Now, instead of feeling nagged at and frustrated, I'm in love with the story again - YAY!

Paula Yoo's NaPiBoWriWee doesn't just torture us into writing bad picture books. It gets our groove on, Baby!