Whew!

Whew! RhyPiBoMo has come and gone and so has NaPiBoWriWee.

If you read my previous post, you know RhyPiBoMo means Rhyming Picture Book Month. The idea was to have a daily lesson about picture books, with an emphasis on the art of writing in rhyme. Of course, this meant participants such as myself had to learn the nuts and bolts of poetry. We also had writing prompts and lessons so we could put what we learned into practice. It was an intense month. I learned a lot, but alas, I still have a lot to learn.

Before RhyPiBoMo had ended, I jumped right in and participated in NaPiBoWriWee, which stands for
National Picture Book Writing Week. The idea was to write a rough draft of a picture book every day for a week. That might not sound very difficult, but trust me, it is. You not only have to have story ideas to work on, you have to spend the time actually developing your ideas and putting the words on paper. Thankfully, the stories didn't have to be perfect and polished. Before the week started, I had some ideas for stories to write. As I went along, I actually came up with more ideas than what I had when I started. One story idea developed into a picture book series idea! I'd say it was well worth my taking the time to participate in this endeavor.

There weren't many writers who signed up for the challenge. That's understandable, given the nature of the endeavor. But, all who participated were eligible for prizes. I won an autographed copy of a book! Yeah! Hopefully, there will be more participants next year. Don't worry, you don't have to pledge to write a rough draft everyday, but you should at least make the effort. As Paula Yoo, the host for the event says, she would be happy if you just write something everyday! If you'd like more info about NaPiBoWriWee, you can visit her website by clicking on the link.

RhyPiBoMo

As you can see on the right-hand side of this page, I am participating in RhyPiBoMo 2014, sponsored by Angie Karcher. This is a month's worth of lessons and activities related to poetry, with rhyming picture books as the main focus. However, so far this month (today was the 10th day), we have learned about different types of poetry - haiku, sonatas, ballads, and others - that don't rhyme. We are also learning the importance of alliteration, repetition, rhythm, meter, etc. If you don't know what all these mean, but you would like to find out, why don't you come on over to Angie's blog and join in the fun. It's FREE to join, and if you sign up before April 16th, you might win some great prizes. 

Come on! It'll be fun!!!