About NaPiBoWriWee

NaPiBoWriWee is…

  1. … the nickname for “National Picture Book Writing Week.”
  2. … the annual event held every May 1-7 since 2009 in which we attempt to write 7 picture books in 7 days.
  3. … hosted by its creator, kid lit author Paula Yoo.

NAPIBOWRIWEE Rules:

  1. Until May 1st of every year, you are allowed to brainstorm, research, take notes/outline your picture book ideas. But NO writing.
  2. From May 1-7, you must try to write 7 picture books in 7 days.
  3. I highly encourage participation for this event. Please post comments for the daily blogs posted May 1-7 with details of your writing experience. We have a really great community of writers (both novice/newbies and published veterans) who bond and share writing advice and encouragement with each other. (NOTE: You do not have to “register” to be on my website. You just simply fill out the COMMENT form at the bottom of each blog. It’s very user friendly.) SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT COMMENTS: You do not need to comment every single day if you don’t have time. As long as you comment ONCE on ANY blog between May 1-7, your name will be included for the prize drawing!
  4. From May 1 to May 7 every year, I will post a daily blog with live thoughts on the event plus Q&As from special guests to inspire everyone. Each blog will be posted daily at 9 AM EST/6 AM PST.
  5. On May 8, I put everyone’s names in a hat and do a random prize drawing. Winners chosen at random will receive fun souvenirs from our NAPIBOWRIWEE store plus autographed books of mine and also prizes and signed books from our annual surprise guest authors and industry folks! (Note: In order to be “eligible” for the contest drawing, you must post at least one comment on a blog between May 1-7 to be included.)
  6. There are no “winners” or “losers” in NAPIBOWRIWEE. If you finish 7 picture books in 7 days, YAY! 🙂 If you don’t, we still applaud and cheer for you even trying! This is about encouraging everyone to write EVERY DAY no matter what. It’s a fun exercise to combat procrastination.
  7. Please do NOT send me your picture book drafts as “proof” of your participation. We go by the honor system here. I trust you! 🙂
  8. As a reminder, I am NOT saying that it only takes one day to write a picture book. On the contrary, it takes months and even YEARS to write a picture book that is ready for submission for publication. The 7 books you hopefully write during this event will serve as ROUGH first drafts from which you can then spend more time cultivating and revising to perfection. This is just a fun event to celebrate the art and craft of picture book writing. I was inspired by National Novel Writing Month and wanted to do a picture book version of it.

NEW WEBSITE UPDATE:

As of January 1, 2016, this is the new home for those of you who participate in my annual NAPIBOWRIWEE event. Please follow me on Twitter @paulayoo for updates. You can also join our Facebook group, too. (Please note: The Facebook page is just a place for participants to bond for the rest of the year as well. This website is only “live” in May and a few times throughout the year, so the Facebook page provides a forum for people on a more regular basis.)

The original NAPIBOWRIWEE site was at my own author website, http://paulayoo.com/category/napibo/  This link will now serve as an ARCHIVE for the past 2009 to 2015 NAPIBOWRIWEE events. From now on, all future NAPIBOWRIWEE events, starting with May 1-7, 2016 will be at THIS WEBSITE ONLY.

Unlike my old website, you do NOT have to register to comment on this blog. You can just comment away! 🙂 It’s all pretty user friendly.

HISTORY OF NAPIBOWRIWEE:

What is National Picture Book Writing Week? Well, it was started back in 2009 by yours truly as a fun way to inspire myself to stop procrastinating. I challenged myself to write 7 picture books in 7 days. The goal was simply to write rough first COMPLETED drafts of several story ideas I had been kicking around but had procrastinated on actually writing them. I was inspired by the famous National Novel Writing Month “NaNoWriMo” event (http://nanowrimo.org), and so I decided to do my picture book version of it! I invited everyone to join me on my challenge. To my surprise, the first year of “NAPIBOWRIWEE” went viral immediately. Hundreds of people from all over the country and the world (from as far away as Australia, France, Hong Kong and Egypt!) participated.

As a result, for the past 7 years, every May 1-7, we celebrate the art and craft of picture book writing by challenging ourselves to write 7 full first drafts of books 7 days in a row. Of course it takes much longer than ONE day to write a picture book – I personally consider picture books to be the  most challenging of all children’s book genres. The actual point of this event is just to combat procrastination. Anyone can come up with an idea for a picture book. But not everyone can actually FINISH a picture book draft. At the end of the week, hopefully everyone has 7 full first rough drafts that they can then revise over the rest of the year until at least one of these drafts ends up becoming a solid book.

2009 to 2015 NAPIBOWRIWEE ARCHIVE:

Please visit http://paulayoo.com/category/napibo/ to read past blogs and special guest Q&A interviews from our 2009 to 2015 NAPIBOWRIWEE events.

OUR NAPIBOWRIWEE STORE:

Please visit our official NAPIBOWRIWEE souvenir store! We have coffee mugs, travel mugs, tote bags, mouse pads, journals, and buttons! The store link is: http://www.cafepress.com/paulayoonapibowriweeclassic

For more information on NAPIBOWRIWEE creator PAULA YOO, please visit my website here: http://paulayoo.com