NaPiBoWriWee Update & More

First things first. As you can see by my lack of posts about my 2011 NaPiBoWriWee progress that I didn't have much progress... At least not with the NaPiBo challenge.  I've been working on tightening up one of my newest picture books and, like Starry Kalahari, this one is in verse with a nonfiction slant. 

Tomorrow is the 2011 SCBWI Agents Day in Newport Beach and I'm looking forward to seeing two of my long-time picture book critique partners, Sherry Dargert and Anne Speirs.  I also can't wait to meet two of the five agents on my "agent wish list".  Considering this year has been slow in the query area (aka: procrastination), I expect next week to be a week filled with query letters, postage stamps and lots of optimism.

More soon...

National Picture Book Writing Week (aka: NaPiBoWriWee)

It's that time of the year again. It's my 3rd year as a National Picture Book Writing Week challenge participant. It takes place between May 1-7 and is one of the most insane (and exciting) weeks of the year for us picture book writers.  Paula Yoo has once again challenged us to write seven picture books in seven days.  Yep, that's right.  SEVEN!!!

Of course, these are seven first-draft picture books, but insanely challenging, none the less.  You can read more about the details of this lovely event and enjoy guest blogs on Paula's website at http://paulayoo.com/napi/.

I'll post here daily, giving an update of my personally NaPi progress.  And speaking of, I'm on my 2nd spread of my first PB.  If you jump in today, don't worry that you're starting late.  I'm notoriously behind with this thing and have been known to write my last 3-4 picture books in the last day... Yes, as you can tell, I'm painfully competitive and I like it that way!

Good luck and above all, have fun!

Sight Word Writing Challenge

My 6 year old was given 45 sight words to learn by the end of her kindergarten year and I thought, what better way to learn them than to have an early reader with all 45 words. And since I just happen to be a children's writer (wink), why not challenge myself to write a story, 300 words or less, using all 45 words.

So in the name of a good writing challenge, give it a try and let me know how it goes. 
What's your title and how many words is your story?  As for me, my lovely new early reader (dedicated to my 6 year old, of course) is called Fred and Fran and it's about two friends having a boatload of fun as one of them is challenged to overcome her fear with lots of encouragement from her pal and it's 250 words.

a                           one                        of                       me                  run
was                      she                         play                   my                  big
for                        and                        am                      love               how
he                         can                        went                   people           in
this                       fun                         see                     the                 little
is                          all                         up                       we                not
look                      am                        are                      have              said
on                         here                      come                   I                    to
with                      it                           go                      like                you

In honor of NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo, and a CAC Recap

In honor of NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo, I thought it the perfect time to avoid my personal writing commitments by writing a blog post… especially since it’s so long overdue.

As a follow up to Critters Against Cancer, I wanted to announce that my team raised over $15,000 to help fight cancer through the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in September. More specifically, over $1000 of that was raised directly from Critters Against Cancer in less than two weeks. WOW! I can’t thank everyone enough for all your support. Whether you donated an item, bid, tweeted, blogged, or just stopped by and encouraged me that day when my blog had almost 1000 hits, you deserve a huge cyber (((((hug))))) and a high-five!

Quite honestly, my goal was to raise money for the cause, but what happened in the end, so very much exceeded my expectations. CAC was able to touch lives in ways I’d never imagined, including my own.

On a different note, I want to reiterate how true that saying is: “a mother’s work is never done.” In the past 30 days my kids have had 7 doctor visits, 1 urgent care visit, 1 ER visit and 3 plastic surgeon visits… "Enough with the facial lacerations and 103+ fever, people!" Maybe this means I should get back to that middle grade book I started writing two years ago about germs. Hey, everything happens for a reason, right?! And being the optimist that I am, I’m choosing to look at the bright side of all this and vent through my work.

So with that said, don’t forget to use your hand sanitizer today. Now, I’m off to go write about germs.

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!

NaPiBoWriWee 2010

National Picture Book Writing Week is almost here! We Pibo’s affectionately call it NaPiBoWriWee. Paula Yoo is posting an inspirational blog every day in April to get us geared up for May 1-7, when we’ll attempt to write seven picture books in seven days.

I’m extremely honored to be featured as a guest blogger on her site today. You can read it here where I discuss the role that NaPiBoWriWee 2009 played in my inspiration to write my award winning manuscript, Starry Kalahari.

For a quick giggle, take a look at the silly poem I wrote for Paula last year after I achieved my seven picture book goal at NaPiBoWriWee 2009, HEY, PAULA YOO.

JenNoWriMo: Day 7

My writing challenge is moving… slowly, but surely. I’ve fallen behind, but yet I’ve climbed further ahead all at the same time. I managed to work in a NaNo challenge beginning on one of the craziest weeks of my life. My head is still spinning from all the family, work, and fun stuff going on last week, but I am recovering and best of all, I am writing.

I may be several thousand words behind on my writing pace goal, but the truth of the matter is that I’ve written more in the last week (yes, this crazy, chaotic, overwhelming week) than I have in the last month.

Truth be told, after an amazing surge of inspiration a month ago, I wrote the beginning of a new middle grade novel that inspired me, touched me, and changed my direction and focus. It felt easy to write as the words flowed into my keyboard like sweet honey on a hot, steamy biscuit. Then I froze, like icy chunks of sleet on the window of life. My mind got stuck and I just couldn’t’ seem to get that same ease of writing back for this project.

That, my dear reader, is exactly why I challenged myself to write 1700 words a day. Crazy? Yes. But after not writing much for about a month, I’ve written almost 3000 words. Sporadic? Yes! Unorganized? Yes! Inconsistent? Yes-Yes-YES! But the words are there and my mind is in the best creative training workout of my life. I definitely need to step it up if I want to stay on track for my NaNo challenge. But in the end, I’m so very excited to be writing my novel and not putting it off because I just don’t feel it.

JenNoWriMo: Day 1

I’ve always been one to challenge myself with idealistic goals. Most of the time, I fall short of the perfect vision I have for myself. But the most important thing, I feel, is that I continue to strive for perfection, allowing myself to grow and learn from my mistakes as I keep falling short.

This month, I’ve challenged myself to write a novel. That’s right. A whole novel. I’ll write 50,000 words over 30 days, which converts to about 1700 words per day. I’m following the inspiration of National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, which takes place each year in November. But of course, I can’t call it “National,” so I’m renaming my own little event “Jenni’s Novel Writing Month” (aka: JenNoWriMo). Since I was up to my eyeballs in picture books last November, I’m jumping in now and I’m going for it.

Luckily, I mentioned my plan to a friend of mine, Paula Yoo, and I found out that she had been planning the same challenge for herself this month. (I guess her event is YooNoWriMo--grin.) You may remember her from last year's NaPiBoWriWee event where we were challenged to write seven picture books in seven days (out of which came my very first manuscript submission). Anyway, knowing she's also on board means that in addition to being accountable to you, my awesome blog followers, I also have a friend going through the same sort of torture at the same time.

I’ll do my best to keep you all updated on my progress. Today I've written 1000 words and as soon as the kids go to bed, I'm in for another 700 words.

Ready? Set? WRITE!

I Dare You!

I dare you to check into Cynthea Liu's Take the Dare challenge. This challenge honors a Title I elementary school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where the poverty level, gang violence, and crime has infiltrated the community. Please take a look by going here.

I DARE YOU to make a difference for these kids!

Jenni

I DID IT!!!

Yes, that's right! I actually wrote seven picture books (first drafts) in seven days. Some are absolutely adorably hillarious... and then... well, there's the rest that helped me reach my goal.

In fact, I only had two of them completed by the start of today, day seven. Yep, that means I wrote four and a half complet first drafts today. Whew!

Most of all, I learned I CAN DO IT!!! I posted this poem on Paula's web site as a 'thank you' for organizing the National Picture Book Writers Week (NaPiBoWriWee). She's totally rockin'!!!! You guys should definately keep up with her blog! She's so funny!!!

Photo by Jeremy Brooks

Hey, Paula Yoo!
by Jenni Bielicki

Hey, Paula Yoo!
It’s really true!
I can’t believe my drafts are through!

Your blog was revin’!
A writer’s heaven!
You helped me write my books – Yeah! SEVEN!!!!

With blogging shots
from your guest spots,
we all pressed in and found our plots.

We laughed and cried.
With you, our guide.
Encouraged now, we’ll write with pride.

We learned to snack
and keep on track
‘cause Donna’s surely got our back.

NaPiBo’s – WOW!
We all learned how
to get through seven book drafts now!

I made some friends
with lots of pens.
Let’s meet up when the summer ends.

We had some fun.
But now we’re done.
Oh wait, the work has just begun.

Until next year...
We’ll have no fear...
Because it’s fourteen days, I hear!

The real surprise...
Who wins that prize?
But ‘till we find out, let’s REVISE!

National Picture Book Writing Week

Here's a challenge for ya! Whether you are a published writer, aspiring author, or just love kids, you'll have a lot of fun with this! Did someone say, "Seven books in seven days"???

That's right! Paula Yoo has established the first National Picture Book Writing Week and is challenging us to write seven picture books in seven days. Picture books have anywhere from 50-2000 words (depending on the genre and age of your target reader). You must have a beginning, middle, and ending. But don't worry about getting them perfect. These are intended to be first drafts.

This challenge begins on Friday (May 1-7).
The rules are simple and you can read all about this exciting challenge at the "NaPiBoWriWee" link above. Then go to Paula's web site and register. You can start brainstorming and researching, but we are on the honor system not to write a single word of our seven stories until Friday.

Are you in? Lets do this together! Leave me a comment and let me know if you're up for the challenge.

And above all, let's have a blast!

Jenni Bielicki