I'm doing it again! I must be crazy but it's so much fun! - NaPiBoWriWee 2012

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

There has been so much going on I almost forgot about an annual writing challenge I've done since it began 4 years ago.

NaPiBoWriWee - National Picture Writing Week hosted by Paula Yoo.

The Challenge: Write 7 picture book drafts in 7 days.

You do not need to write a polished manuscript. These are spelling mistake ridden, ridiculously raw, gruesome grammar, problematic punctuation filled, 1st draft manuscripts. I don't think that made sense, but that's ok because that's how my manuscripts are going to be when I first write them. For me this helps me get the idea down on paper and not let the 'nitty-gritty' editing interrupt the idea flow.

One thing I didn't do this year, which usually helps me prepare for NaPiBoWriWee, is PiBoIdmo (Picture Book Idea Month) hosted by Tara Lazar. I'm really regretting it now. The concept with the PiBoIdMo challenge is to come up with a Picture Book Idea every day for the Month of November. Usually I take my 7 best ideas from this and use them for NaPiBoWriWee.

So, with a week to go I'm going to try to come up with 7 or more picture book ideas and pretend I didn't forget about it and pretend I've been prepared for it since November. With all that is going on in 'real life' right now, if I come up with one picture book manuscript I will deem the exercise successful. No excuses!

Are you ready?

The Business Cards Lesson I Learned

Thursday, April 12, 2012
In February of 2012 I was fortunate to see Donna Messer, the "Queen" of networking and President of ConnectUs Canada, speak at McMaster's Inspiring From Within conference. One of the many tips I picked up from Donna, was to always carry business cards. I noticed right away Donna had a pocket full of business cards ready to be distributed. I later learned her other pocket was empty, ready to receive business cards. Of course, I didn't have any to give her (Darn it!). I didn't have any cards related to being a writer even printed.

 Since writing is currently a hobby I wasn't prepared to invest a lot of money into business cards. I've discovered a few cheap, yet effective options.

 1) Print your own business cards. From your favorite office supply store you can purchase business card paper for $10-$20

 2)Vistaprint - http://www.vistaprint.ca You can order 250 business cards online for free and only pay for the processing and shipping. You can also purchase cards; 250 for $20.00. See site for full details.

 3)Moo - http://us.moo.com/partner/sample Order a sample pack of 10 MOO Business Cards, for free. These are the ones I ordered and they are really nice cards however, they come with the moo.com URL in the corner on once side of the card since they are free. You can also purchase cards starting at 50 cards for $19.99.

So now I have 10 business cards related to writing in my purse, so I'm prepared for the next time I run into Donna, or anyone else I'm networking with.