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1. Hi, Paula! I am excited to be here on Day 7. I wrote Day #6’s story this morning, so I have one more to go. Couldn’t tell you what my final story will be about–let’s just see where the day takes me!

2. I finished!! The rough draft for #7 is done!! It went faster than I expected it to, of course it’s on a subject near and dear to my heart… cats!!

   Paula, thank you for hosting this each year.

   • CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY!!!! And of course, for the cats picture book being the last one you wrote. 🙂 My cats Beethoven Oreo and Charlotte say meow and purrs! Now take a break, relax – u have earned it! 😉

     • Paula, do you have a larger logo for NaPiBoWriWee? I want to post it on my FB page, but it won’t take it… FB says it’s too small 🙁

       • Hi, email me (paula at paulayoo dot com) and I’ll email it to you. hopefully that will work.

3. I am SO behind…I finished #5 late last night and i am going to try to get a 6th done this evening. I have a rough idea in my head but not much else. I don’t really see a 7th in my near future. Although who knows 🙂

   • I am in the same boat, Emily, so let’s encourage each other today. good luck!

4. I did it! I wrote my final PB For NaPiBoWriWee. I took your advice. Prepped in the morning. Incubate on the drive to school. After I dropped the kiddies to school, I had a brief insight, then in the parking lot I (elaborated) wrote. I skipped the evaluation part, though. No computer around me, just peace and quiet. Thanks for the motivation and encouragement throughout this week, Paula!

   • Romelle, this is so cool you did that. I have to force myself to “incubate” because I think we don’t realize how valuable it is to step away from the computer, too, to let your brain’s subconscious gestate. Glad it worked for you! 😉

5. OMG Day 7!

   I’m mid way through story #6, hoping to finish both it and story #7 by end of day.

   Congrats to everyone who has already completed the challenge. Good luck everyone who is working hard to finish. ::high fives all around::

6. Welp, draft #7 is done! I almost gave up on it in the middle but I couldn’t think of another idea for today so I persevered. I’m not sure it’ll ever amount to anything.

   I had a great week though. I have one draft that I’m very excited to get back to; one I’ve sketched the MC for; and another that doesn’t stink too much. Yay!

   Thanks so much for keeping us going, Paula. Great blog posts, great kitty pics. You’re great!!

   • You’re great too Dana! 🙂 I appreciate your European support! 🙂 I think what’s also great is that this week always surprises us with the results – some of us end up with 7 PBs or find out maybe 2 of the PBs might be novels etc. Glad you’ve got some good foundation to revise upon this year.

7. Done with #7 at 484. I don’t love this one…yet – it’s different from anything else I have written but I thought I would try something new. It is told in first person as a memory instead of a child or 3rd person sharing the story. There is a beg, mid, and end but no real conflict resolution. I read a lot of these with my kids so I tried one but while the story has exciting action, it feels flat to me without the child mc solving a problem for him or herself. – It’s rough.

   • Alison, I love that you tried something “out of the box” and out of your comfort zone. I think first person memory stories CAN work for PBs, they’re rare but when done well, they can be magical. I’m glad you at least got it down on paper for now and you can hopefully work on taking it to the next level later in the year. Keep me posted!

8. draft 7 done! That was an exhausting week! Now I need a daily challenge to name my characters, tighten up dialogue, and edit, edit, edit. Thank you Paula for being such a wonderful host with this great (difficult!) challenge.

   • Thank you Lauri! Congrats on getting all 7 books done. You deserve to take a break today, let your brain gestate for a bit, and keep me posted on what happens with these drafts!

9. Number 7 is one for the books! I don’t know whether to be disappointed the week is over, or relieved. 🙂

   Good luck on your last rough drafts of the week, Paula. I know you can make it!

   • Congrats Margaret! I’m tickled PINK that you joined my crazy event. 🙂 I hope you continue to revise these drafts or maybe they will inspire something else. You should join SCBWI (yes, I have no problem making these grand pronouncements even though I have not read your kid lit stuff because I have faith you are amazing at it cuz you are a talented writer). 🙂

10. I did it! Happy Dance! I just completed draft #7.

    Thank you so much for this challenge. Forcing myself to write 7 PBs in 7 days helped turn on some sort of creative switch in my brain. I hope I can keep it in the on position.

    Of the seven books I wrote this week, I think I honestly like 4 of them. I agree with laurimeyers comment above – I need another challenge to revise.

    Good luck finishing everyone!!

    • HAPPY DANCE FOR YOU TOO! CONGRATS!!!! I know people are rumbling about keeping this blog going for a bit longer, so I will make some announcements about post-NaPiBoWriWee revision week etc. Stay tuned.

11. Hi!
    Thank you again for all the inspiration and advice! I don’t have 7 drafts, but I have a couple, and a couple of ideas, and I’m just in the writing mode, so that’s good!
    Good luck to everyone!
    Sasha (The Happy Amateur)

12. I’m finished–more because I have to work past midnight than because I reached 7 books. I was able to get 3 books written so I still did more than I thought I would get done.

    The blogs have been a great help. And now that I know about this challenge, I’ll be more prepared next year.

13. Was I crazy to start a story about a man I knew nothing about? Maybe, but Pliny won’t let me go! So #6 ended the day as at a rough rough draft! #7 is an old idea finally realized. I can’t believe I made it!

14. Excuse me while I kiss my computer. #7 is done—done—done. I still can’t believe I was able to get this far. Thanks Paula. Thank you so much. I look forward to working on my drafts, sticking with you through the year and participating in next year’s marathon.
    holly

15. It’s a wrap. #7, “The High Life Of Lo,” weighs in at a hefty 886 words.

    Paula, this has been a wonderful and challenging experience. Couldn’t and wouldn’t have done it without you.

    So sad to hear about big kitty. This feline fancier’s heart is broken.

16. Woo-hooo—I’m done,done, done, done, done!! 7 in one week. A week ago I would have said I couldn’t do it. NAPIBOWRIWEE has taught me that if I focus and pursue I CAN write despite distractions. It’s also taught me that writing EVERY day is invaluable to cultivate the writing habit. Thank you so much, Paula. Your challenge has advanced my ability and given me more confidence. Also thank you for the opportunity to win so many wonderful prizes. (I have to admit I started to get a case of the gimme’s.) But I must be an adult and wish everyone well in the drawing. (I have to prove my mother did teach me good manners 🙂 Thank you also to all your guest bloggers. I plan to go back and reread and make some notes for a perm. file. Blessings to all!

    • Ooo-meant to ask if I can post the logo on my blog now??LOL

      • Yes! Go for it!

17. #7 is done! Thanks for keeping us motivated for a full week. Was a great chance to hammer out drafts for many of my PiBoIdMo ideas that were feeling a bit neglected in their e-file.

    Great fun – will be back next year for sure!

18. THANK YOU PAULA!!!

    • Thank YOU! It was a pleasure to have you on board for our crazy trip, Julie!

19. Thank you, Paula! I’m so super jazzed about having completed projects to work on. This was a wonderful challenge. Congrats everyone! Well done.

    • Thanks Saturnbull! 🙂 I’m glad you have a solid foundation of drafts to work upon later in the year!

20. Number 7 DONE! Thank you Paula for NaPiBoWriWee! I was so hesitant about accepting this challenge and now I feel pretty darn pleased with myself for having done it!

    • YIPPEE LISA!!!!! Thrilled you had a blast too!

21. I did it! 7 done! And actually I like 6 of them quite a bit. I’m so amazed, and delighted, and awe-struck, and happy. This has been incredible. Thank you. Hey you know what would be cool, is if we could have the option of writing to raise money for some writing related charity and get pledges and stuff. Maybe that’d be difficult but I’d be happy to help.
    Of course it’s your event and it’s awesome the way it is. Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you.

    • Hi Erin. Thank you for your kind comment. I’m so excited you enjoyed the experience and that you ended up liking your drafts. That’s great! As for your charity idea – that is a wonderful idea. Obviously we can’t do it this year, and I’m swamped with my own job stuff, but it’s something I will consider for the next year or so. We do have our FIFTH NaPiBoWriWee in 2013, so a charity tie-in might be a special way to celebrate our fifth year. Let me research this and I’ll keep everyone posted. Thanks for the great idea!

22. Eep–I did it too! What a whirlwind week! It remains to be seen what’s worth revising once the room stops spinning, but I think some of the drafts are worthwhile.

    Another thanks to you, Paula, for the great kick in the derriere this week provides, and the great blog posts and interviews. I loved the tips on ommwriter and the books about how the Internet sucks our brains out lol! Best wishes to you with staffing season–and may we all write like we mean it!

    • Thanks Leslie, I appreciate your kind comment. I’m thrilled that you got 7 done!!!!!!! Keep me posted on how your revisions go. I’ll be posting another blog today with wrap up news etc.

23. *happy dance* Woohoo. Now to polish all these wonderful first drafts! Huge thank you Paula! Bodacious! *applause for Paula*

    • HAPPY DANCE FOR YOU ROBYN! 🙂

24. Oh no, it’s the “cone of shame” times two. Poor kitties.

    It’s been a busy week but a welcome challenge.

    I have a weeks worth of great ideas, many to be made even greater.

    Thanks again for doing this for us Paula.
    Lynn~~

    • LOL I know the cones of shame are so ridiculous, right? 🙂 I’m glad you were able to survive despite the busy schedule you had. Keep me posted on how your writing goes!

25. 11:17 PM May 7, 2012: I am barely crawling to the finish line of NaPiBoWriWee. Finished my 7 rough drafts. I would say three of them are DECENT first drafts and the other three are super rough prose drafts that I want to convert to poetry later. And the seventh one is CRAP. Just AWFUL. BUT… I’m glad I wrote it because it was an old idea that I realized doesn’t work. I need to fix the idea! So that’s the other reason why I started NaPIBoWriWee – because FINISHING rough drafts is also a good gauge to find out if your idea works in the first place or not! 🙂 I will post a wrap-up blog with an announcement of who won the prizes by 12 PM PST. If I post it later in the day, however, I will alert everyone with a live Tweet @paulayoo. Congrats and I will reply more soon to everyone’s comments from today. BIG HUGS and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Come back tomorrow for my wrap up blog and answers to your comments/questions from today! xoxoxoxox Paula

    • Congrats to you too, Paula! Thanks for being so honest about the, uhm, quality. (heh-heh) It gives hope to those of us who are just beginning. I think you said it best when you said we just need to write EVERY day to keep our skill honed. I play piano and when I don’t practice regularly it shows. Thanks again for all the cheerleading and the funny cat pictures. You have blessed my life!

      • Thanks Laura, I appreciate your kind comment. And yes, it doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or have books published. A first draft is a first draft. Always. 🙂 I wanted to encourage everyone not to let the rough quality of a first draft discourage you – it’s just the foundation upon which you build a great book. Thanks for participating and many blessings to you as well! xo P.

26. That’s a lot of prizes. Thanks for puttying this together. I didn’t finish seven but I did start my picture book writing, which has been on the back burner for a year. My hubbie asked why I hadnt drawn the pictures. Sigh.

    • LOL! I too sometimes get asked that, “Why don’t you draw the pictures too?” I wish I could draw! 🙂 Posting the final wrap up blog soon. Congrats on getting a lot of writing done – thrilled you have a foundation to build upon for the rest of the year!

27. Yay! 7 good drafts plus a few more interesting starts…big fun. Thanks so much. Donna Koppelman

    • Congrats Donna!!!!!!