Writing and Not Writing
NaPiBoWriWee came and went. I didn't write...much.
I had good intentions. Planning went well. The list of story ideas numbered over 50. Granted they were rough ideas but ideas all the same. I wrote one short little draft on the second day of NaPiBoWriWee. I'm not sure it even counts as a story let alone a picture book. That was it.
Excuses range from attending a baby shower in Boston (6.5 hours away - took up two of the days) to working full time as a teacher (stressed to the max) to a doctor's appointment to making jewelry for Jularee's Mothers' Day Sale. Then there's the normal cooking, laundry, and cleaning (LOL) - scratch the cleaning. That didn't happen.
All in all, I am disappointed in myself. However, watch what happens next year, May 1 - 7, 2013, when I bang out seven (or more) picture book drafts in seven day! It's already on my calendar.
On the positive side, I have over 50 ideas to work with this summer. One of them keeps haunting me and is begging to be written. I jot notes in my little purse notebook and dictate them into my phone so I don't lose them, but I need a solid block of uninterrupted time during which I have nothing else hanging over my head. There's nothing worse for me than trying to write when I'm feeling guilty for not doing chores, entering students' grades, tending my vegetable garden, or whatever else I should be doing. Like now.
Another positive is that the Philadelphia Writer's Conference is coming up (June 8-10). I'm registered and have requested my last-ever teacher's personal day. No manuscript critiques this year... just workshops. At 11 AM it will be "Young-adult, Middle-grade Writing." At 1:30, "Writing for New Media", and at 3:00, "Contemporary Short Story." The two mini-sessions will be "Blogs" and "Writing for Magazines." Maybe I'll get some ideas on turning my blog into something more than an online personal journal. I'll be sure to take notes and share.
This is the beginning of all the good stuff to come. Soon there will be time for writing and jewelry design and anything else I want to do.
23 more days!
I had good intentions. Planning went well. The list of story ideas numbered over 50. Granted they were rough ideas but ideas all the same. I wrote one short little draft on the second day of NaPiBoWriWee. I'm not sure it even counts as a story let alone a picture book. That was it.
Excuses range from attending a baby shower in Boston (6.5 hours away - took up two of the days) to working full time as a teacher (stressed to the max) to a doctor's appointment to making jewelry for Jularee's Mothers' Day Sale. Then there's the normal cooking, laundry, and cleaning (LOL) - scratch the cleaning. That didn't happen.
All in all, I am disappointed in myself. However, watch what happens next year, May 1 - 7, 2013, when I bang out seven (or more) picture book drafts in seven day! It's already on my calendar.
On the positive side, I have over 50 ideas to work with this summer. One of them keeps haunting me and is begging to be written. I jot notes in my little purse notebook and dictate them into my phone so I don't lose them, but I need a solid block of uninterrupted time during which I have nothing else hanging over my head. There's nothing worse for me than trying to write when I'm feeling guilty for not doing chores, entering students' grades, tending my vegetable garden, or whatever else I should be doing. Like now.
Another positive is that the Philadelphia Writer's Conference is coming up (June 8-10). I'm registered and have requested my last-ever teacher's personal day. No manuscript critiques this year... just workshops. At 11 AM it will be "Young-adult, Middle-grade Writing." At 1:30, "Writing for New Media", and at 3:00, "Contemporary Short Story." The two mini-sessions will be "Blogs" and "Writing for Magazines." Maybe I'll get some ideas on turning my blog into something more than an online personal journal. I'll be sure to take notes and share.
This is the beginning of all the good stuff to come. Soon there will be time for writing and jewelry design and anything else I want to do.
23 more days!