NaPiBoWriWee 2011 Day Two – Bedtime Blog!
“I’ve learned that you can’t have everything and do everything at the same time.” (Oprah Winfrey, O Magazine, April 2003)
Good evening, my NaPiBoWriWee soldiers! I know everyone battled Sophomore Slump today. You all celebrated too soon with the first victory of Day One. And then on Day 2, you faced insurmountable obstacles, such as…
(Keep reading after the jump to find out what those insurmountable obstacles were…)
1. Your job (it IS Monday)
2. Getting the kids to school (oh why must school start so early?)
3. Writer’s block (you celebrated Day One too much and now you’re stumped for fresh ideas)
4. Computer woes (maybe your computer fritzed out because you’ve been procrastinating taking it to the Apple Genius Bar or to your local IT fix-it person)
5. You just weren’t feelin’ it.
OR… Maybe you had a GREAT Day Two! Maybe you found your groove, got into the zone, and found writing to be even easier on the second day. You wrote and completed a second full picture book draft!
Either way, congratulations! I’m proud of all my NaPiBoWriWee soldiers for soldiering on despite any obstacles and trying to keep up because you all know this is MARATHON, not a sprint! 🙂
My huge confession: I wrote NOTHING today. Why? Because I had to go to work (I’m a producer for EUREKA on SyFy) AND I had to get all my Guest Author blogs written and saved on my website archive so they can post every day at 5 PM (PST). So I knew I had to get all the Guest Author blogs set.
I know, I know. NO excuses. That’s why tonight’s blog picture is of a very ashamed Oreo the cat hiding his face from everyone. Because that’s how I feel right now! Sob! 🙁 And that’s why I included that quote from Oprah! 😛
But now that the main blogging duties have been done, I now will be able to handle the rest of NaPiBoWriWee. My goal is to spend the last hour of my day in bed, curled up with Oreo, Beethoven and Charlotte, and scribble away by hand in my NaPiBoWriWee notebook (shameless plug: we have notebooks at CafePress! Just click the link on the NaPiBoWriWee page!). I am too exhausted to write but I have a fun idea for Book No. 2, so I want to jot down the main points before I hit the hay. Then tomorrow morning, I’ll wake up early and see if I can slam home a horrific vomit draft before I go to work. Then I’ll spend Tuesday night after work writing Book No. 3. We’ll see if I can get it done.
So how did you do today? And feel free to vent, whine, sob too. We’re all here to support each other. Let me know how Day 2 went. And remember… we have five more days of this. Gulp. LOL! Hang in there! 🙂
I’m off to write until midnight. And then zzzzzzz. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Good Morning Blog, our Guest Author blog with KATIE DAVIS, and hopefully another Bedtime Blog if I’m not too exhausted. LOL! Until then… Happy Writing! WRITE LIKE YOU MEAN IT! 🙂
Bad schedule today made it a touch day. Got some great momentum and excitement for picture book 2 going this morning, then my alarm goes off telling me I have to stop and eat some lunch then go to work. I really didn’t wanna! …but I did. I figure I made it a little under 1/3 of the way through my intended story.
Work has become this never ending pondering of “I’m not in charge so why am I in charge?” — which also meant that my dinner break only got me through about 200 words because I was interrupted too much. Not according to plan at all. I need big headphones that scream, “go the frell away, I’m writing now.”
So when I got off (half an hour later than I was supposed to) I went to pick up my bro-in-law at his job. Spent the half hour as I waited in the parking lot with my laptop jammed in between me and the steering wheel, feverishly typing, and got to about the 2/3’s point. At which point it’s 10 after 11.
Home now at last. I’ll do some more writing tonight, but it’ll probably fall on the opposite side of midnight. Because I have job aps I need to do first, and if I get too tired, I can’t do them. Word count for the day hovering at 1800ish. Not my best, but not bad. The downer is just that the draft isn’t complete.
On the positive side, tomorrow is my day off! =) I can catch up!
Talk about vomit drafts. The only consolation I have is that I put in a beginning, middle and end on the two “stories” I have so far — but talk about weak! Ugh! So hard not to be filled with self-loathing at my sad little attempts. On the other hand, gotta start somewhere, right? And at the very least, I am quickly learning that some of the ideas that I’ve been kicking around for the longest time aren’t viable or will need some major overhaul work. And that’s good, because it’s better to have concrete plans for improvement with an actual draft than vague notions of brilliance if only they ever made it to the page!
It’s a comfort to know there are others out there wrestling with the same (adorable but cruel) beast that is the picture book! Five more to go!
Day 2 went well. I wrote my first draft early and felt happy about it. Then as the day progressed I began to think of all that was wrong with the first draft and starting worrying. Then when I was washing the dishes I thought of how I could fix things so I felt happy again. Stay tuned as I’m in for another dip soon. It’s a rollercoaster of angsty emotion over here! Kidding. Mostly. Anyway, Day 3 is going to be much harder for me because I don’t have a set idea. Seat of the pants-ing it– Wish me luck.
I hope everyone had a great Day 2. Hey, we’re here– that’s the essential thing. See you Day 3.
Paula, you are such a trouper. Don’t be ashamed – your excuse is 100% valid! Thanks for keeping your promise to blog despite your exhaustion.
I decided not to go bald over draft number two. I just wrote without a plan and ended up quite liking what was taking shape. But hey… now we’re nearly at the end of day 3 in Perth! I had better get cracking … as soon as I put the kiddies to bed.
Best of luck for the morning vomit x
Catching up on comments! Awwww thanks so much for your kind comment. Yeah, I think writing down a plan is just as well. I slept in this morning, I think my brain needed a vacation. But now that I’m done with the main blogs for this week, I will have a free evening tonight to write. I can’t wait! 😉
Day 2 went well for me. Got story number two pretty much on paper. There will need to be some major revisions, but it’s done. I have ideas for the next two days, but after that, I have no clue. Hopefully, they will just come to me.
I have to say, so far this is going better than I thought it would. Especially since in MI we are finally getting some half way decent weather and I desperately want to be out in it! My motivator is that I have to write a certain amount before I can reward myself. So far it’s working :O)
I wrote another picture book draft today. I homeschool so that can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing too. All went well for day two. Hopefully day three will go as smoothly. I’m almost done with my ideas. So I’ll have to do some more brainstorming. I saw a picture of some trees that gave me a great idea, so I need two more fantastic ideas. And ideas require a fresh mind. *sigh*
Hoping to have a wonderful picture book idea dream or two. But I’m loving it. Everywhere I look could be a picture book. (I live on a farm.) 🙂
I’m glad you are still managing to get the work done despite homeschooling. Wow That must be quite a lot on your plate to handle every day. And you live on a farm? Best. School. EVER. 🙂 What kind of farm, crops, animals etc.? That is so neat! Have you ever written about your farm life? I am a big foodie and I love promoting food that is locally grown fresh etc. because it is healthier and tastes better. 🙂
My Day 2 sucked but today I plan to write TWO picture book drafts! Love this challenge.
LOL! Some days can suck at NaPiBoWriWee, I agree. I look at it as a marathon, so ignore the Day 2 “leg cramps” and you’ll be enjoying those endorphins by day 5. 🙂 Thanks so much for your support of this!
Paula – OMG! We love Eureka – so much fun to watch! I am now just a bit star struck that you produce the show. : 0
My day 2 was odd. After getting my son to school. My 3 yrs old decided to keep herself busy with some markers so I worked on a pb that I have thought about for many months but never wrote. By mid-morning, I was tired of the brain power it needed so I began a new story. I’ll call that pb#2b. Main character is Lyttle Weebit – which my son says “isn’t a real name and makes no sense.” Hmmm. I’ll think about that. Anyway, I enjoyed working on the plot and finished it up last night after tucking the kids in bed It’s 491 words and I don’t love the convenient closure at the end but will return to fix next week. Thanks again for starting this – it is just the kick in the butt I needed.
LOL! Awwww shucks. I’m glad you like the show. It’s a great show to work for – wonderful people on the cast and crew and the writers’ room is a lot of fun. We have a Eureka Writers blog here: http://eurekaunscripted.typepad.com/ and you can follow us on Twitter @eurekawriters. I’ve been on the show since the 4th season when I was Co Producer and I’m now Producer and we’re working on the fifth season. Our Season 4.5 airs this July, so stay tuned! 🙂 I like Lyttle Weebit, that is soooo adorable. I’m glad you at least got the 491 words down and you can go back and polish them. This is just a fun week to get those first drafts OUT so we have stuff to work on for the rest of the year. 🙂 Congrats!
Kncked out #2 in the wee hours… had some block getting the words down earlier in the evening, though I knew the basic structure I wanted, then as I was falling asleep, had a flash of inspiration. (Isn’t that always how it works?) So… sleep deprived, but feeling productive, over here!
YAY! I think some people find Day 2 the hardest, but once you keep going, by Day 4 or 5, you’re in the “zone.” Good luck today! 🙂