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12 x 12 June 2018 Check-In!

It’s official! We are halfway through 12 x 12 in 2019. Time to take stock, see where you are and make any adjustments you might want to make as we head into the second half of the year.

As for me, I’ve only written one new draft this year (gah!), BUT overall I am happy with my progress so far. I’ve done TONS of revision, and I even have a new book that went out on submission this month. Nonetheless, time to start weaving some new drafts into the revision mix.

Now it’s your turn!

Tell us your progress. Did you complete a draft and/or revision in June? Let us know in the Rafflecopter and in the comments. Our prize comes from this month’s Featured Author Michelle Cusolito. This month’s prize is a unique one! Michelle is offering one 12 x 12 member a shrunken Styrofoam cup that went to the seafloor on the outside of Alvin. It went down 4400 meters (roughly 2 ¾ miles) off the coast of Bermuda on May 5th. Before it went, FLYING DEEP illustrator Nicole Wong drew an adorable Dumbo octopus on it. Michelle colored the octopus in and both of them signed their names.

How cool is that?

Here is what you need to do to check in for a chance to win:

  1. See the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post that says “Shrunken Styrofoam Cup at the top.
  2. Click on the “Comment on Michelle’s post” button. Commenting on Michelle’s post is mandatory for this giveaway and you can enter the Rafflecopter even if you didn’t write a draft this month. You can comment on the post here.  Click ENTER.
  3. Click on the “Wrote a PB Draft” button. This will ask if you completed a PB draft in June. If you did, click ENTER, if not, move on to the next step.
  4. Click on the last “Revised a PB Draft” button. This will ask if you revised a PB in June. If you did, click ENTER. If not, move on to the next step.
  5. That’s it! Rafflecopter will track your points.

You have until midnight Eastern on July 2nd to enter your results. Rafflecopter will draw a winner and it will be announced on the blog on July 3rd.

You do not need to post your manuscript and/or revisions on the forum for them to count. If you wrote or revised a manuscript in June, even if it’s just on your computer where no one can see it, then enter the Rafflecopter below.

(Remember, monthly draft and revision badges are awarded separately from your Rafflecopter entry. Watch this handy tutorial to find out how to get your badges. CLICK HERE.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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20 Responses

  1. June hopped, skipped, and jumped right on out of here! I managed to write a draft and work on some revisions. I’m looking forward to the second half of the year 🙂

  2. Have some great new ideas for a picture book after a trip to the seashore! Can’t believe it is the end of June already!!😱😱

  3. Congratulations on your book. I look forward to reading about Alvin’s travels with a styrofoam cup.

  4. Again I did not write a new draft…but I did revise. And now I’ve just received revision requests from an editor on another manuscript plus I’m expecting the big 9-pb ms compilation book back from the HMH editor which will have, according to her, light tweak requests. I’m hoping to have a new draft written in July…I am in the process of researching it right now.

  5. This month has flown by! My verse novel went out on submission and I’m at Hollins finishing up my last two on-campus classes towards my MFA in Children’s Literature and Illustration. In the chaos of classes, speakers, and critical research I managed to get in a pb draft and revision! One more month of crazy 12 hr days on campus! Happy writing and illustrating, all!

  6. Halfway through the year.. wow! I’m barely hanging in there with my new drafts, but it’s been a good 6 months of revisions! Looking forward to reading Flying Deep, this styrofoam cup octopus is so cool!

  7. I’m not ready for June to be over!! Glancing through my bullet journal, I can see that I’ve accomplished a lot more than I actually remember–for instances, lots of new ideas, some really rough new stories, revisions and even taking the time to polish my craft via classes. Yeah me, LOL! But I’m feeling the pressure of time & the calling of summer, so I’ve limited my summer writing goals to something more manageable for the sand & sea 🙂

  8. June seemed to fly by so quickly. A lot was going on this month, including my daughter’s graduation from college and my son’s graduation from high school.

    I love 12×12 and find being in the forums and critique group to be quite motivating. In June, I revised one of my stories. I wrote four new stories in the past six months, which is much more than before I joined 12×12. Julie, thanks for starting 12×12!!!

    The shrunken styrofoam cops are an interesting idea. I like the cute octopus drawings. In our county, styrofoam is not being recycled. I would like to see more facilities open for styrofoam recycling.

  9. I did not edge in a draft this month. Blargh! I feel like I fell off the bandwagon. Pitiful. No excuses. Reprioritizing for July!

  10. June turned out to be a productive month for me. I finally got a revision done from a March posting and even got a new draft in this month as well. Slowly but surely, lol.

    I think the shrunken cups are super cool and are a really neat idea to compliment the book with. Love the artwork, it’s very cute!

  11. I can’t believe it’s July already! Where did June go? I added a new rough draft from my list of Storystorm ideas. I also revised one of my picture books that I wrote for this year’s NaPiBoWriWee and revised 2 chapters of my chapter book, and another 4 chapters of my middle grade novel.

  12. Yes, I queried, revised, and wrote new drafts in June. This was probably my lowest month in terms of availability to write (and to think, for crying out loud – June is crazy!). But I got a draft out there and did some revision too.

  13. Can’t believe it’s already half way through the year. Where has the time gone? Luckily I’ve been playing around with a new idea for a new story. Also done some revision. So keeping on track.

  14. I’m in the same boat. Lots of revision. No new drafts. I DO have several new ideas that I need to jump on. Time to ramp up the draftiness in this room…..

  15. Can’t wait to read this book!

    So happy I managed to write a new draft this month (even though it came to me when I stormed out of the house in a rage), and it got some wonderful comments in the forum. I’m so excited about this. Also revised 5 others! And all thanks to this incredibly supportive and encouraging group.

  16. I sure hope we’re not half way through 2019 yet! If so, I’m way behind! 🙂 I am really happy with where my 2018 manuscripts are. I am hoping to play a bit of catch up in the 2nd half of the year though!

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Interested in Joining the 12x12 Challenge?

Financial Need Scholarship Guidelines

All applications will be accepted via email only between November 1, 2023 – November 30, 2023 at kelli@juliehedlund.com.

Subject line of the email:

  1. 12 x 12 Financial Need Scholarship
 

Please include the following in the body of the email:

  1. An autobiographical statement and career summary in 250 words or fewer.
  2. A short statement describing the nature of the financial need/circumstances in 250 words or fewer.
  3. A sample query letter for the manuscript you are submitting with your application.
  4. Pitches for two additional completed picture books.
 

 Attached to the email:

  1.  The full text of one picture book manuscript, attached as a Word document named as FIN_YourFirstName_YourLastName_Title_of_Manuscript.doc (or docx).