2019 NAPIBOWRIWEE DAY 8 – CONTEST WINNERS!

Congratulations to our winners! πŸ™‚

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED IN MY ANNUAL 2019 NATIONAL PICTURE BOOK WRITING WEEK (“NAPIBOWRIWEE”) EVENT!

I am so proud of everyone once again conquering procrastination and writing 7 picture books in 7 days!

And for those of you who finished at least ONE picture book this week, congratulations for finishing at least one book! That’s amazing!

And for those of you who may have had too much work or family commitments and couldn’t finish at all, you should STILL be proud of yourselves for reading these blogs, learning from the advice of our guest authors, posting in the comments section and on social media, and for just TRYING to write every day, even if it was just one sentence or one idea brainstorm. The whole point of this event is honestly just to encourage everyone to write every day on a regular basis. YOU ARE ALL WINNERS IN MY BOOK!

MY DAY 7 EXPERIENCE: Well, as you know, this was a tough NAPIBOWRWEE for me because of already existing book deadlines for work, TV work deadlines, and family visiting for a week at our house. I knew from the start I would probably not be able to finish 7 PBs in 7 days, but I was going to at least give it my best shot! The end result? Four solid rough but FINISHED drafts of four cute very young picture book poems about my three cats, Oreo, Beethoven & Charlotte. πŸ™‚ A 5th book idea popped into my head on Day 5 but I got no writing done. Then NO WRITING AT ALL on Day 6 because I was exhausted after staying out late for a concert and getting home late because of traffic etc. Then I went to bed early on Day 6 and woke up refreshed on Day 7. For my Day 7, I had to focus on my TV and book work deadlines but at the end of the day, I devoted my evening to writing a very very very VERY very VERY VERY VERY rough draft of my Day 5 idea and then came up with a fun idea for a WORDLESS picture book involve my three cats and food inspired by Andrea Wang’s Magic Ramen book. πŸ™‚ So for now, because I am all about TRANSPARENCY and HONESTY on this website, I am NOT counting these two books because they don’t quite feel “finished.” So I would say total count for 2019? Four full drafts plus two drafts-in-progress. So according to my math, I completed 57% of my 7 picture books in 7 days. LOL. πŸ™‚ So I am still happy and look forward to figuring out which drafts have the potential to evolve and be revised. Please post in the comments section in today’s blog and on social media about how your Day 7 went!

NOTE: Again, I want to thank everyone for your patience with our weird computer website glitch this year where we had a few days of comments not posting in a timely manner. (This was due to a server-wide issue for all of WordPress but it’s been resolved.) I love how everyone scrambled to Twitter and Facebook to post as well.

In fact, that leads me to my new announcement: Several people who joined our Facebook page want to continue the conversation going about picture book writing – the craft issues and publication and agenting and industry questions. Because of my very busy schedule juggling TV and books, I am unable to provide that forum here on my website. This website shuts down from about June until January every year (to avoid spammers attacking my site!). BUT… I am one of the administrators on our Facebook page, so I am inviting everyone to continue keeping us all updated on your writing progress. If people have questions about the book industry, revision process thoughts etc., please continue to post away. So the Facebook page will help keep our community in touch until the NEXT NAPIBOWRIWEE in 2020!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/109169309167365/

And now on to the news I know you all are excited to find out about… OUR CONTEST WINNERS!

Every year, I provide special prizes from our STORE, along with autographed copies of my books as well as signed copies of our guest authors’ books! The names are chosen at random with a name generator app. So below are our winners… drum roll…

(NOTE: WINNERS: I WILL EMAIL YOU THIS WEEK TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR YOUR PRIZE DELIVERY!)

2019 NAPIBOWRIWEE CONTEST WINNERS

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PAT ZIETLOW MILLER’S “REMARKABLY YOU”

DEBRA SHUMAKER

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PAT ZIETLOW MILLER’S “WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE”

JAYNE PETERS

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ALICE FAYE DUNCAN’S “MEMPHIS, MARTIN, AND THE MOUNTAINTOP: THE SANITATION STRIKE OF 1968”

KIMBERLY HUTMACHER

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF DEBORAH UNDERWOOD’S “THE PANDA PROBLEM”

ANNE BELOV

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF CURTIS MANLEY’S “JUST RIGHT: SEARCHING FOR THE GOLDILOCKS PLANET”

JOLENE GUTIERREZ

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF NANCY RAINES DAY’S “PIRATE JACK GETS DRESSED”

CAROL GORDON EKSTER

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF DAVID ZELTSER’S “THE NIGHT LIBRARY”

SARAH MEADE

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ANDREA WANG’S “MAGIC RAMEN: THE STORY OF MOMOFUKU ANDO”

NAANA AMISSAH

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PAULA YOO’S “GOOD ENOUGH”

MICHELLE CARLIN

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PAULA YOO’S “SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIXTEEN SECONDS: THE SAMMY LEE STORY”

CATHY L. MURPHY

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PAULA YOO’S “SHINING STAR: THE ANNA MAY WONG STORY”

STEPHANIE WILDMAN

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PAULA YOO’S “TWENTY-TWO CENTS: MUHAMMAD YUNUS AND THE VILLAGE BANK”

NICOLE SALTER BRAUN

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PAULA YOO’S “LILY’S NEW HOME”

FAWN CONTRERAS

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PAULA YOO’S “WANT TO PLAY?”

AMY BLANCHARD

WINNER OF AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF PAULA YOO’S “THE PERFECT GIFT”

JACKI KELLUM

WINNER OF THE OFFICIAL NAPIBOWRIWEE MOUSEPAD

KAITLYN SANCHEZ

WINNER OF THE OFFICIAL NAPIBOWRIWEE BUTTON

SUNNY WALKER

WINNER OF THE OFFICIAL NAPIBOWRIWEE NOTEBOOK

ROSEMARY BASHAM

WINNER OF THE OFFICIAL NAPIBOWRIWEE TOTE BAG

JENNIFER BROEDEL

WINNER OF THE OFFICIAL NAPIBOWRIWEE TRAVEL MUG

ASHLEY CONGDON

WINNER OF THE OFFICIAL NAPIBOWRIWEE COFFEE MUG

STEPHANIE PHELIX

WINNER OF THE OFFICIAL NAPIBOWRIWEE T-SHIRT

ELIZABETH CURRY

WINNERS: I WILL EMAIL YOU THIS WEEK TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS FOR YOUR PRIZE DELIVERY!

Congratulations again to all our winners! And of course thank you to all our Guest Authors this week who generously donated their time and books for this event: PAT ZIETLOW MILLER, ALICE FAYE DUNCAN, DEBORAH UNDERWOOD, CURTIS MANLEY, NANCY RAINES DAY, DAVID ZELTSER & ANDREA WANG!

For those of you who still want souvenirs from this event, we do have a store here that is opened all year round:

http://www.cafepress.com/paulayoonapibowriweeclassic

And sob, I can’t believe we are saying good-bye this week. It was a great 7 days and I truly appreciate everyone’s posts. I read everyone’s comments on the blog and social media, and I apologize again for our computer glitches that prevented me from replying to everyone on a more individual basis. But let’s keep in touch on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. Remember, you can follow me here:

Our Facebook NAPIBOWRIWEE Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/109169309167365/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulayoo

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulayoo/

My website: https://paulayoo.com

Stay tuned for one last blog that will be posted tomorrow, Thursday May 9, 2019 at 6 AM EST/9 AM PST with information about, yes, NEXT YEAR’S NAPIBOWRIWEE! It’s not too late to start preparing for our next National Picture Book Writing Week in 2020! πŸ™‚

Okay, I now order everyone to STOP WRITING. PENCILS DOWN. For the next 24 hours, instead of Happy Writing, I say… HAPPY NAPPING! SLEEP LIKE YOU MEAN IT! πŸ™‚

20 Comments »

  1. This challenge really motivated me! Thank you, Paula, for your inspiration and for the daily words of wisdom that your contributors shared. And as if that wasn’t enough, I see that I won one of your books. I can’t wait to read it!

  2. Congrats to the prize winners! And to all of us, for taking up this challenge. A big, HUGE, thank you to Paula and guest bloggers for the inspiring posts. This was fun! It was hard, but fun!

  3. Congratulations to all the winners!!

    Thank you Paula for challenging all of us to do something everyday with our writing. Thank you to all the guest authors for your inspiration and advice–making it real.
    Now, for me to keep up the writing.
    I am so excited to have won something!!! Can’t wait to read Andrea Wang’s “Magic Ramen”

  4. I logged on to say thank you to Paula and the guest authors. I learned so much, even though I didn’t make it to 7 whole drafts. So imagine my shock and delight to find I won a prize book!! I can’t remember the last time I won something, and it is a bit of a rush. But I really felt like a winner from the week of writing and learning about my writing self. I hope everyone feels like a winner that way. Thank you Paula.

  5. A big thank-you to Paula, the other blog guests, all the participants, and the contest winners (though we’re all winners with the drafts we worked on and the writing practice and insights we acquired)! I look forward to participating next year and hopefully will complete 7 drafts…

  6. Congratulations to everyone! I’m happy I learned of NaPiBoWriWee and put forth effort in writing, having come away with 3 very rough drafts and more knowledge, and more ideas I’m happy. Also I’m looking forward to reading Paula’s book!! =) So excited. Thank you for this week!

  7. Congratulations to all the winners!! Once again it’s been a fantastic NaPiBoWriWee! A very special THANK YOU to Paula for making 2019 NaPiBoWriWee happen and to all the Guest Bloggers!!

  8. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to the great guests. And a special thanks Paula for hosting this fun week! Happy writing all!

  9. Congratulations! I’m so inspired to write! Paula and guest authors, thank you for inspiring me to write!

  10. This was so wonderfully inspiring and helpful! Thank you so much for putting it on and running it and thank you to everyone who donated time and prizes πŸ™‚

  11. CONGRATS TO EVERYONE, because we ALL WON–whether we wrote one book or seven, or one sentence! It has been SUCH an INSPIRING, BUTT-KICKING WEEK! I HOPE this keeps us all in the habit of taking even just a little time to write each day: That is the TRUE gift! It helped me get back to the page to do what I’m SUPPOSED to be doing! This year I ended up with FIVE pic book drafts and TWO almost finished drafts! And while I could say, “I didn’t finish two,” I am going to say, “I have TWO to FINISH!” In some ways (though this could just be justification! :)), maybe having a few unfinished pieces will keep me writing, because I WANT–NEED!–to finish them now. All the support of this WONDERFUL AND AMAZING writing community is SO SPECIAL!!! I am SO GLAD the Facebook page will stay open year round! THANK YOU to EVERYONE for your comments and sharing your experiences. This really helped me see that I am not alone in the writing process. And to Paula, who showed us through her honesty that EVEN the pros have up-and-down writing days–but if we write even just a little every day, we TRULY succeed. THANK YOU, Paula, for creating this AMAZING event, and for ALL the HARD work that goes into it! You are an INSPIRATION!!! GOOD LUCK to everyone as we spend the rest of the year honing those rough drafts–until the next NAPIBOWRIWEE!!!

  12. Thank you so much for a great week, Paula–you had SO much going on and you still made this such an amazing experience. Big thanks to all of your guest authors/illustrators as well. And I’m so excited to have won a book! πŸ™‚ Thanks for this opportunity!

  13. Lol–“pencils down!”
    Congrats to all the prize winners and to everyone who did the challenge this year!
    My final draft count came to 3/7, which is fewer than past years for me, but I feel quite proud to have knocked them out & kept up on the blog with house guests!
    NaPiBoWriWeeeeeeee!

  14. My apologies if this posts twice… What I said was……
    Congrats to all the prize winners and to everyone who did the challenge this year!
    My total draft count came to 3/7, which is fewer than past years, but I feel accomplished having knocked those out and keeping up on the blog with house guests!
    NaPiBoWriWeeeeeeee!

  15. Paula!! I can’t believe I won one of your books! I cannot wait to read it with my babies!!

    Thank you again for everything. You are a rockstar, and this week was awesome!

  16. Oh wow! I missed this yesterday!!!! I’m so excited to win a book! The prizes are nice, but as everyone else has eloquently stated, just participating in the challenge is prize enough. I love the motivation and camaraderie challenges like this promote!

    Thank you Paula!!!!!