This year’s (Inter)National Picture Book Writing Week has been a real challenge. As a family, our lives have been rich and full – with little time for writing picture books. I knew this when I made my scrambled start – but wanted to give it my best shot, because truly, #NaPiBoWriWee was such a worthwhile writing excercise for me in 2010.
With one day, one story to go, I’m glad I jumped on board. It has been tough, and my stories are much rougher than those I produced last year – but I can see good stuff in all of them. I’m a bit of a perfectionist writer – polishing as I go, but this year I’ve had to let go more and just get it down. (Though there was one day where I had a 90min drive by myself, and I honed it in my head, then typed it straight in. THAT was fun!)
I confess, at 10:30pm on Thursday night, with no idea and not one word written, I was wondering if I was going to stumble and fail. (It was similar to the panic I felt on Day One, actually.) Oddly enough, the story that grew from that has been drawing me back all day today – a good sign, but a distraction when I’m trying to write a new story – and a rhyming story at that.
Today’s story has tricky internal rhymes that have made for fiddle factor – but I think I’ve got the structure and scheme sorted now. It’s quite silly and fun, and I think an illustrator would have fun with it.
Last year during NaPiBoWriWee I wrote my first non-rhyming PB in years. (In fact, I wrote 2 non-rhymers in that week – and they were hard work.) This year I have written four non-rhyming picture books, and I am much more at ease within the genre. Though I did enjoy writing my two rhymers.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring…
Happy writing for all those who are wrapping up the challenge!
Kathryn Apel 
Congratulations Kat! Not just for the stories but for deciding to do it despite it not being a “good” time. I have no doubt you have golden nuggets in your stories that can be mined later on.
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It’s probably been good for me to not be so precious. I know I’ll have lots to work on in coming weeks… months. Glad you could join in. Amazing effort given all that you have on in your life!
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Hi Kat! Congrats on getting up to day six 🙂 SO much of what you’ve written rings true for me. Much less about the polishing this year! TRYING very hard not to be possessed by Dr Seuss – so far, so good. I’m liking flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants and not knowing what I’m going to write until I start typing. It’s a good way to find out what the subconscious is harbouring 🙂
Have a great day 7!
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The really funny thing is, the story ideas that I brainstormed during PiBoIdMo aren’t grabbing me like I thought they would. I like them (well, some of them) but I don’t think they’ve been active in my subconscious. I think I thought them and filed them – without registering. I had intended to come back and ponder them before WriWee – but the busy/surprise factor prevented that.
Dr Seuss is a lifesaver when desperate. I had one last year – but not yet this year. Who knows what the day will bring…
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Good for you, Kat, sticking with it. Sounds like you’ve learned new things by doing this when the timing wasn’t quite right. Thanks for all your moral support on twitter. It’s fun chatting with you on there.
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Fun chatting with you, too. I love how Twitter gives us friends around the world.
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Sounds like a rewarding week. I need to get me some of that discipline 😉
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It was a tough week – but so glad I completed it. Believe it or not, it was that crash-crazy, I’ve actually forgotten half the stories I wrote!!
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Tweet at 10:30pm Yay&hurray-aray-aray! My Day7 #NaPiBoWriWee PB is DONE! The challenge complete. ALL the PBs obviously need a LOT of work, but still… DONE!
Tweet at 10:32pm Today’s #NaPiBoWriWee about ratbag rats in rhyme. LOVE the ending that just surprised me. Just have to get the rest of it up to scratch. 😀
Feeling immensley satisfied/relieved to have met the challenge. There were times this week when I thought I wouldn’t.
Thinking of all my #NaPiBoWriWee buddies who are writing final stories now.
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Great challenge Kat- love to do this next year- I’d love to have a picture book published- glad to know you’re still writing so strongly.
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I’ll try and give you more notice next year, Lorraine. I had intended to promote it for the month in advance – but I hadn’t anticipated that month to just… *disappear*.
Always the first week in May. It would be one of my faves. 🙂 http://paulayoo.com/napi/
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