It’s Kidlit Tea Party time again!
Click this guy open!
How did I do on my October goal?
My September goal was to revise 5 picture book manuscripts
and write 5 new manuscripts
I revised 8! picture book manuscripts,
and three new manuscripts.
I’m pretty happy about the direction one of my manuscripts took too!
I finally think it’s going in the direction it needs to go,
after many revisions and 7 months of work!
I know i wouldn’t have pushed myself to work on anything new without this accountability,
so I’m happy that I posted it!
How did I do on my September goal?
My September goal was to revise 5 picture book manuscripts
and write 10,000 words.
I revised 6 picture book manuscripts,
and wrote 3,000 words.
I’m very happy that I got one manuscript to my critique group too.
As for the 3,000 words,
it’s not 10,000,
but I did finish a first draft of something I’ve been writing for two years.
So even though I didn’t reach my goal,
if I didn’t have this challenge for myself I may not have written that many words,
and I may not have finished the draft!
So, I count myself a winner 🙂
Speaking of winners, who won the prize?
Well, I had two lovely people play along with this kidlit tea party idea.
And I’m sending you both a prize.
I really appreciate you taking the time to post and share your goals 🙂
My goal for this month is
to win NaNoWriMo (that’s 50K words this month!)
to win PiBoIdMo (that’s 30 picture book ideas)
to do my revisions (I’m going to start revising my picture book under contract mid month)
I know, it seems like A LOT.
But challenges are something I really like, because I REALLY like to win.
My plan:
List ideas for PiBoIdMo whenever and wherever I can.
Write 3K words a day until the 16th, then 5K that day
(That’s the Night of Writing Dangerously, a fundraiser in SF I’m going to.)
And I’m going to bring my manuscript with me to work so I can work on it in my spare moments.
Doing NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo makes for a busy month,
but it stocks me up with good stuff all year.
For that reason I love November 🙂
Need more info on the challenge?
Click open these guys to find out what to do 🙂
Where did the idea come from?
I heard about a kidlit tea thing going on somewhere in Northern CA.
San Francisco?
Oakland?
somewhere about an hour and a half away.
It sounded AWESOME.
Kidlit people gathering around,
drinking tea,
and talking about their goals for the month.
Then they meet up next month
and hold each other accountable.
I don’t know about you, but I like accountability.
I was bummed that making it up there wasn’t going to happen.
Plus, there was a waiting list to join.
Just today I was putting some of my tea away
and thought about the tea party again,
then
FLASH!
an idea hit me.
Why don’t I host a tea party on my BLOG?
So, how does that work?
It’s pretty easy actually.
I’ll post a kidlit tea party post at the beginning of the month (this month I’m a bit late since inspiration didn’t strike RIGHT on the first!)
where anyone and everyone can leave a comment,
stating their kidlit goals for the month.
I’ll also post at the end of each month, letting you know how I did with my goal,
and you can comment on how you did with your goal.
Do the goals have to be big?
They can be as big or as small as you want.
Maybe your goal is to draw everyday this month.
Or to edit that picture book manuscript you wrote last month.
Maybe you want to write more blog posts,
type up notes for conferences,
listen to more kidlit podcasts,
really, ANYTHING counts!
My hope is that people can connect here,
inspire each other,
and cheer each other on!
Also, at the end of each month I’ll have a prize to give out.
Because, let’s face it, prizes are fun.
There will be a rafflecopter widget then telling you what to do 
So what do you say?
Are you in?
What’s your goal?
Share below!
Also, feel free to talk about tea and cookies too,
since those are important parts of tea parties!
My goal for November is to complete PiBoIdMo, to revise one manuscript, to write one new PB, and to submit one magazine story or article.
Congratulations on your progress, KE!
Last month was less productive because I focused on various get-togethers and Aaron’s big 30th birthday bash. I’d like to make up for lost time in November!
Like you and Ellen, my goal is to win PiBoIdMo.
I also intend to write 10,000 words for my new draft of my novel. That will give me a solid place to resume revisions in December.
My goals from last month: Make significant headway on a 2nd draft of my next novel, whatever that might look like. Read 3-4 books.
Well, I read 5 books, but I didn’t really get started on my manuscript revisions till November 1, so I failed that. It was a rough start. I feel very weak and scared and unsure how to successfully navigate the writing life.
For NaNo, my goal is to work on my revisions for at least one hour a day (with the exception of Mondays, my day away from writing). Essentially, I’d like to find my rhythm. It’s so far gone right now that I barely remember what rhythm feels like. I’d also like to finish Maggie Stiefvater’s latest book this month.
Yay Kathy Ellen for accomplishing your goals and for running a fabulous 31 in 31.
I too, made some progress. I completed 31 in 31 and then some. I was reading picture books and middle grade and YA. According to GoodReads, I was at 169 books for the year as October came to a close. So I read 37 books last month. I confess I read 2 while hanging around a B&N. I am bad.
I was trying to read the selections in the Young Reader category for the books nominated for the National Book Award before they announced the short list. Amazingly, of the 5 I read, only one moved on. I just checked out one that did, although so far, my favorite has been “Skink — No Surrender”.
I also got 2 book reviews up on the Cow’s blog. I don’t think I have posted most of this year.
I did not reach my final goal to write two pages, but I haven’t given up. November is after all, all about writing.
For November, my goal is to read 20 books, blog 30 book reviews (NaBloPoMo), and write those 2 darn pages already! I know that the first step to that is to gather the postcards that I sent to myself. They are somewhere hidden in my bedroom.
As it is also Thanksgiving this month (in the US), I plan to send out 27 notes to people thanking them (writing is writing). I am also hosting Thanksgiving dinner for all of us who don’t have family/family nearby to celebrate with, so I will be busy, as I always forget how much work is involved.
I am currently 3 days behind on everything, but at least I am still living in the USA! That’s something to be grateful for indeed!