Thursday, December 1, 2011

Reflection on PiBoIdMo

November 2011 was one that will go down in the history books for me in terms of my career as a writer.  No, I haven't been offered a contract.  No, I haven't found an agent.  No, I haven't won a Newberry Award.  What I did was grow as a writer.

This month not only did I participate in PiBoIdMo, but I truly committed myself to sharing my stories with children.  This commitment is in the hopes of enticing more children to read, and to enjoy it.  I have always written as a hobby, but now all of my children are in school full day, and I have the time to spend on perfecting my craft (although, I don't know if one ever reaches perfection--but we certainly can try).

To lay it out more specifically, in November I:

  •  came up with 35 different picture book ideas
  •  wrote 4 different rough drafts (2 of which are pretty close to being complete)
  •  joined an international online critique group.  
  • connected with 2 different illustrators so as to put together 2 different stories to submit to uTales (www.uTales.com)
  • have been promoting my stories in the MeeGenius Author Challenge 2011 in hopes of winning a free ebook library for my children's school 
  • interviewed a prominent member of the children's writing world (check back to this blog in the coming weeks to see the interview)
  • signed up to follow many, many, many more children's writing blogs
  • registered myself to participate in 12x12 in 2012
I feel like PiBoIdMo was successful for me.  I feel charged up and ready to write.  I hope that you do to, and I hope that someday you will all get to read the books that have come out of the great month of November 2011.


12 comments:

  1. You had a very productive month! Great job!

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  2. Thanks Jennifer! I hope that you did too!

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  3. It was a great month Stacy. I hope that you had a great month of writing too! I am excited to see where December will take me.

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  4. Congrats on such an awesome month, Sandi. I really feel like I've grown this month (mostly from looking at stuff I wrote several months or a year ago and going "Egads!" ... teehee.) Could you talk more about uTales (maybe in a separate post?) I'm really intrigued by the concept, but not being registered, I'm not sure how it works. For instance, did you know the illustrators before, or is it more of a meat market thing or what? Thanks!

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  5. thank you Ella! I am glad that you feel like you have grown too! I would love to talk more about uTales in a separate post. Look for it in the next week or so. For now, I suggest checking out their website at www.uTales.com You can join for a 15 day free trial just to check it out.

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  6. Good job with november! And fun blog. Can't wait to read some more:)

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  7. thank you so much Amanda! I'm glad that you like the blog. I feel like I am starting to get the hang of it, but would still like to add more. Keep tuned in! Hope that your November went well too. Looking forward to 12 x 12 in 2012!

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  8. Hi Sandi,
    You have indeed had a lot of fun and November and PiBoldMo has worked well for you. Great results. Hope to hear more of UTales to.

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  9. November was a lot of fun! I hope that you enjoyed it as well. I am so glad that there is such a great interest in uTales! It is a great site, and hopefully will continue to take off. Keep checking back in the next week or so, and I will blog more about it.

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  10. Keep at it, Sandi. It's that kind of dedication that will land you a publishing contract. You just need to be patient.

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  11. You've come a long way, Sandi...keep up the good work!

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