I don’t even now what to say about the month of March. I did not write a draft. I had to check to see if I’d done a revision, and it turns out I had at the beginning of the month before the global coronavirus pandemic arrived. That feels like a lifetime ago already. I want to remind everyone that YOU ARE ALL WINNERS even if you didn’t write anything in March. These are unprecedented times, and we all have to do our best. Sometimes, that means taking a much-needed time-out to process this new reality. I’m proud of and grateful for our community, which has come together in ways we never have before to help and support each other.
Remember, too, that if you can’t access your creativity right now, you will again. I promise. It will come back. There will be so many stories to write and children who need to read them. Hang in there. Stay safe and well, and write when and what you can. We will get through this together!
Tell us your progress. Did you complete a draft and/or revision in March? Let us know in the Rafflecopter and in the comments. March Featured Author Rebecca Koehn is giving away a copy of her new book AFTER THE RAIN to one lucky 12 x 12 member!
Thank you, Rebecca!
Here is what you need to do to check in for a chance to win:
- See the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post that says “AFTER THE RAIN” at the top.
- Click on the “Comment on Rebecca’s post” button. Commenting on Rebecca’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.
- Click on the “Wrote a PB Draft” button. This will ask if you completed a PB draft in March. If you did, click ENTER, if not, click cancel and move on to the next step.
- Click on the last “Revised a PB Draft” button. This will ask if you revised a PB in March. If you did, click ENTER. If not, click cancel and move on to the next step.
- That’s it! Rafflecopter will track your points. (The top of the Rafflecopter will say X/3 with X being the number of entries you currently have in the drawing.)
You have until midnight Eastern on April 5th to enter your results. Rafflecopter will draw a winner and it will be announced on the blog on April 6th.
Remember, badges are not awarded automatically and must requested in the forum. Click here to request your March badge on the forum.
Good luck! Stay well…and write your April draft! We promise it will make you feel better! <3
51 Responses
I revised but I’m still working on a draft. This one is a book of poetry around a common theme, so I think it may take awhile to marinate.
Like you, I looked back and wondered if I had worked on ANYTHING this month. Even without the overarching concerns around the world constantly in the background of my mind, having my six-year-old home All. Day. Long. with no playground or bounce house or zoo to go to for relief has turned the days into one long string that feel like a blur. I live for 8:30, when he’s in bed (love him dearly! but it’s true!) and then, when I do finally have “down” time, I tend to talk about what’s going on in our lives with my husband, or we watch some tv. By the time I can get around to any kind of work, I’m beat.
I did take some time today to stop and make a point to work on writing. One thing that’s come out of all this is my son has been asking for made-up stories at bedtime, so I’m trying to challenge myself and do a plot with a beginning, middle, end, and some kind of character growth on the fly. He reacted well to one I did last night, so I decided to right it down. Bam! March draft completed.
Thank goodness for contests, otherwise I wouldn’t have the wherewithal to write something new, let alone polish it up this month! And thank God for 12×12 and the amazing, loving creative who make our corner of the world turn 🙂
I revised an old ms — I hope that counts! The pandemic is a creativity sucker. I’m hoping for a comeback in April.
This pandemic almost shut me down. I struggled. I turned to the kidlit community and found hope. I wrote, revised, and picked up my pursuit into illustration. I cannot say enough about the inspiration that I find in 12×12. Thank you, Julie and team!
Whew! It was touch and go all month. I started the month revising an old manuscript. But over the weekend, I drafted TWO new ones! What? I don’t know where it came from, as my time has been sucked away by the new normal and three kiddos at home and work that didn’t stop (thankfully!). This is my first check-in, as I joined as a result of the re-opening of 12×12. Thank you!!
I’m new to the 12×12 forum this month! I’m revising and redrawing my latest picture book dummy. Trying to stay focused and productive.
Found a story to tell in Hawaii this month. It is tough to keep my mind centered when my body is restless.
I know it’s been a tough month for most of us. It’s like living in the Twilight Zone. My doc put me in quarantine three weeks ago, not because I’m sick, but because I have underlying conditions. I’m doing great and revised and draft and wrote a new one. Just trying to keep myself busy so I don’t get claustrophobic about having to stay home.
Lots of revisions on one story and a few on another and one new draft that, to be honest, isn’t worth keeping. As I’m accepting this new reality, my goal is to get back to finding an hour chunk a week to write and another hour total for those “captured” moments of inspiration. We’ll see!
Had a revision and a draft completed!
Certainly was a difficult month. I’m thinking about all of you in or 12×12 family. One night I decided to change a draft to first person and present tense, and the more I changed that, the more the story changed. It turned out to be a pretty complete revision. And then I JUST completed a draft. It is VERY “drafty” and rough, but hopefully, it will be something I can work on later.
Stay well, everyone!
Through the difficulties, I have managed to write two drafts and revise one. But I will say, March has been one long month.
I wrote a blog post to encourage other writers over the weekend, but it deleted itself before I could post it. I haven’t had the energy to try writing it again. I have, however, been joining webinars, querying, writing down ideas when they do come, and savoring the moments I have been able to escape to another world through creativity–no matter how small the moment. I also stayed up way too late writing a silly story for Twitter one night just because I needed to laugh and make something fun. Hang in there, friends! Grab those moments of joy when they come, and hold onto the strength they provide!
During March I wrote a draft based on an old Storystorm idea. I also did ReFoReMo and ChaBooCha this month. I also revised one of my older Storystorm stories and am trying to decide which one I will send out to the 12 x 12 agent this coming month.
I wrote a short new ms for a magazine and revised two ms’s that I wrote in February. 😃 This morning I used a borrowed sewing machine to sew a mask for myself. I knew that home ec class would come in handy one day. 😉 😷
I finished two PBS this month and revised a previous one. I finally found a new groove during this weird time and it feels good to get words down.
Yet another month of fantastic support! I’m glad I have this group to keep me anchored in the writing community instead of wandering aimlessly around wondering what is going on???!! Best wishes and blessings to all!
I finished answering questions for an interview Q+A that will appear on a kids book blog, regarding a pb I illustrated. The book had been published originally almost 10 years ago, had gone out of print and then picked up and published recently by another publisher which is an interesting story. My answers were much longer than asked for so I thought they’d ask me to cut it way down but they said they want to keep it all : ) Due to the current events it took me a long time to focus, but I did finish. I hope to get back to my drafts this upcoming month. Wishing everyone well.
Able to focus with more at-home time and fewer outside activities to distract me. I’ve been limiting the time I get updates on the news, otherwise it can be a black hole. Happy for Storystorm ideas and contests! Wrote a draft this month and polished it up with revisions. We’ve discovered lots of interesting wildlife around here during fresh air walks–including 3 turkey vultures parked on our roof when we returned home earlier this week.
Congratulations to everybody! I finished/revised a story I’ve been working on and then was able to lay out two other stories in a very rough manner. I’ll do better in April. Stay healthy.
I’ve started a middle grade book and while it will take years to complete, it was a big step starting it. I’ve revised a wonderful short text picturebook that I think is a winner.
I can’t quite believe it but I did write a draft very early in the month when in Seattle we were already practicing social distancing. I revised it twice with my critique group, thumbnailed it out and took it to my illustrator critique group. Many days I did nothing. Some days I cried. but I did get this done and I think it has promise. Grateful for our deadlines and for my critique groups. And for you all.
Now having so much time at home, no cafe stops or shopping or visiting people and other activities lots of time to be able to spend on drafting a new story and revisions on others. Blessed to have 12×12 in my life.
March was challenging to focus on writing with everything going on in our world. My good news is that I received an Honorable Mention in the 50 Precious Words contest run by Vivian Kirkland. That was a nice boost. i caught up on 12×12 webinars I’d missed and caught a WIK20 2.0 session with Heidi Stemple. So I have lots of great information to process and use. But, the fact was I’d written nothing by the 30th. I MADE myself sit down and revised an old board board ms and then wrote a very rough draft of something new (which is terrible but it’s something!).
My hope and prayer is that April will be a better month for us all as we settle into our new schedules. That we will be creative, productive, kind, and healthy.
Yes, yes, and yes …to all the above, Julie. Creativity is my stronghold. Keeps me sane and in the right lane. I’ve ROUGHED several PB ideas this month, rough is the key word. Brainstorms that deserved a paper-place. I am more targeted through 12 x 12, seconding the motions above ~ Thank you!
March certainly has been interesting! I revised early in the month, luckily. And I did write a draft – basically just processing what is going on, but I’m really glad it came out like a children’s story!
I have been surprised at what I accomplished. I worked on two new drafts and am getting query letters ready to send. Thanks for the reminder to keep on keeping on! 🙂
Deep revision and a new ending on one project. Trying to commit to an idea to draft and starting to research a non-fiction piece.
I am so glad I got my draft and revision done early this month before all the craziness hit. I am now getting back into a writing routine and am grateful for the diversion and being able to get lost in stories. Stay safe and healthy!
Rebecca,
I too love puddles and have fond memories of sinking my bare toes in squishy mud with my siblings. Looking forwards to reading your story. Congra
After recovering from February which I think was the virus, I have been writing mostly poetry and trying to pull it all together for a third book of poetry.
Also, have worked on revisions of a couple of chapters on a MG novel I’m writing on the first suffragette and from Nantucket, Lucretia Coffin Mott.
I did get a manuscript written before the craziness, and I was able to revise. Love the cover of After the Rain.
Wrote a draft of a new story before things ground to a halt.
Strange month, but a strange draft was born of it.
March was a crazy month…for so many reasons. With 390 submissions to the #50PreciousWords Contest, I was up to my ears (in the best of ways) with reading and commenting on the entries. I am SOOOO proud of everyone who participated…and excited that there were a bunch of 12×12 members in the winner’s circle. But I also did revise two manuscripts…one to send to my agent…and one to submit to the SCBWI WIP. I didn’t write anything new…although I did START writing something new…I wrote the opening lines…and now will dig in deeper to research and see if there really is a story here, so maybe next month I’ll be able to check YES for finishing a new pb draft.
Wrote a draft and revised as well. Also watched the videos on how to give a critique and then completed 3 critiques.
My goal is to get back to revising the two drafts I wrote in early March. I was so gung-ho then, so happy to be functioning, and then so sad. Tomorrow, I’ll critique a story for another 12×12 member, and then I’ll get back to some sort of writing-reality for myself.
No new draft. I stuck to (or was stuck in) revisions. Better luck next month!
Revised a couple and started a couple. I’ll take it for such a strange 31 days.
March wasn’t that great for me either. I had queried a few agents and I received another rejection. Usual stuff, not a good fit at the moment. Thank goodness for 12×12. Julie is keeping me busy here and with her newsletters. This kid lit community is wonderful. But I mustn’t complain. I did write two drafts and revised a WIP in March. Hoping April will be prolific.
March was a challenging month. I have revised thrice over and then revised some more. No time–and really, no focus or energy for writing anything new, even though housebound. Kudos to all of you who are able to keep forging ahead! I am hoping April will be more productive, especially since I did manage to come up with a new idea.
I wrote a new draft and revised another in March. Grateful for this 12×12 community and writing contests and events like Madness Poetry and 50 Precious Words to keep me on track!
I wrote a March draft! Barely! I realized it was the 31st, and I actually felt as though I hadn’t written anything in a lifetime (even though I wrote a February draft), so I determined I was going to write a draft, and I DID! AND…. my SISTER, who is the least supportive person I know, called me that night, and actually invited me to read my draft to her! Whatishappening?? She didn’t even hate it! (And I have to say, for a first draft, it was pretty good!) *Accomplishment!*
Whew…I was so disappointed that I didn’t finish a March draft…and then I came to this check-in post and felt so much better. I am not alone. I mean, I’m alone except for my husband–I’m following the guidelines!–but I’m not alone in finding it hard to do anything but watch the news.
Hope you’re all finding ways to adjust and be kind to yourselves, whether that means accepting a few slipped goals, or staying off Twitter for a while, or appreciating how gorgeous you look with no makeup and your natural hair. Stay safe and stay well.
I wrote a draft for the upcoming #springflingkidlit contest–I think contests like these are such a great motivation to get a new story rolling! I also worked on revising an informational non-fiction story, and I got super helpful feedback from my critique group.
I finally finished a draft I’ve been toying with for ages! I’m so grateful you opened back up the membership last month. It’s given me motivation during this crazy time!
I hope it kicks out emails it doesn’t recognize, because I’m on a different computer and it logged me in (without me noticing) on a school account. I re-entered using my correct email. 🙁 Sorry if this caused a problem.
Thank you Julie for the encouragement. I will write again. right now I feel good that I am reading these posts…better late than never. I am revising…..slowly. I think I sent a query early in the month. But, the sky is blue, spring is coming, my daffodils are all over the yard sending bright rays of sunshine to all. All will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be well. Stay safe folks.
Is it too, late to join the 12×12 challenge? I have at least 5-6 stories drafted in my stash. Thanks
Hi Marlena! Thanks for asking about 12 x 12. Yes, it’s too late to join this year’s challenge. Registration is open in January and February each year. You can add yourself to the notification list so you don’t miss next year here: https://www.12x12challenge.com/membership/