Week 3 of the Chapter Book Challenge + Deadlines and how they help you reach your goals #ChaBooCha

We are now in our third week of the Chapter Book Challenge. I hope you are getting some writing done on your story, and I hope you are not feeling at all stuck right now. I thought I'd re-post a bit of a blog post I did for the Blog Your Book in 30 Days challenge a while ago about deadlines and how they help us, since this challenge is all about giving ourselves a deadline.

Deadlines and how they help you reach your goals

I have always been an expert at procrastination. If I have a task set out in front of me, I will find other things to do instead and put the task off indefinitely, or I will put it off until it can no longer be put off. That is where deadlines come in for me. Deadlines give me that point where things can no longer be put off. For example, if I wait too long to write a draft for a story that is due for an anthology, then I won't be able to write a compelling story before the deadline arrives.

I thought it might be helpful to list some of the ways that deadlines are useful to writers, so I have made a list below.

1 - Deadlines give you a set time to achieve your writing, without which you might put that writing off indefinitely. If you have a deadline at the end of the week, then you know that you will need to start writing and researching at some time prior to that deadline in order to give yourself time to complete your writing project.

2 - Deadlines give you a sense of satisfaction to your activities. Knowing that you are working towards a deadline can give you a feeling of accomplishment as you take steps towards reaching that deadline on time. Each chapter written in the story you have a deadline for, each page or each higher word count you achieve, helps you feel you are getting somewhere with your writing.

3 - Deadlines can give you structure towards reaching your writing goals. Not sure which story , article or post to start working on first? Look at your deadlines and start working on the one with the closest deadline. Need three days to get to the point in your outlining and research where you can do the actual writing? Start your research earlier to make sure it is complete in time for you to start writing.

4 - Deadlines can help you prioritise your writing when life tries to intrude. We all have lives outside of our writing. Some of us have families. Some of us have jobs not related to our writing. Some of us have pets. Some of us have a regular work-out schedule or have classes to go to. The list can go on when it comes to what kinds of things can interrupt and interfere with our writing time. Deadlines can help you say "no" to interruptions, because you know that you only have a set amount of time to complete a project. Yes, we all have to spend time with family, and we can't say "no" to our jobs when it is those jobs that pay the bills, but if a writing deadline is looming, it helps you to weed out the things that interfere with your writing time which can wait or be set aside or can be out-sourced to someone else temporarily. (I'd love to be able to outsource some of the housecleaning! Instead, I let my house get a bit cluttered and messy whenever I'm aiming for a writing deadline.)

5 - Meeting deadlines can improve your confidence in yourself and your ability to meet future writing goals. Every time you meet a writing deadline, you have attained a writing goal. With each goal achieved, you improve your confidence. Also, meeting deadlines can help others to take you more seriously as a writer. They see you working towards your goals and respect that effort.

The usefulness of deadlines is why I run writing challenges such as the Chapter Book Challenge (ChaBooCha) and the Blog your Book in 30 Days challenge. It's also why I join in with other writing challenges such as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the 12 X 12 Picture Books Writing challenge. These give me deadlines even when I don't have an employer setting one for me.

So tell me, have deadlines helped you achieve your writing goals?

Get rid of your self-doubt and finish your book #ChaBooChaLite #ChaBooCha

One thing that every writer has in common is that we all go through periods of self-doubt. We wonder if we are good enough, if our stories are good enough, and often times we decide that we aren't and that they aren't. This defeatist attitude can keep many of us from ever finishing our stories. Some of us will finish our first drafts and then decide that our writing just isn't good enough and stop there.

But every writer, even many famous ones, is plagued by doubts. It's not just the obscure, never-read authors who doubt their abilities.

"It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous." ~Robert Benchley 

"I have been successful probably because I have always realized that I knew nothing about writing and have merely tried to tell an interesting story entertainingly." ~Edgar Rice Burroughs 

“Is the time coming when I can endure to read my own writing in print without blushing—shivering and wishing to take cover?” ~Virginia Woolf 

"You have to resign yourself to the fact that you waste a lot of trees before you write anything you really like, and that's just the way it is." ~JK Rowling 

"Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel sh*t from a sitting position." ~Stephen King

And no book is ready to go out into the world by the first draft. It's what we do after that counts. We have to edit our books, sometimes revise large portions of them, and then get someone else, preferably a professional, to edit them some more. There is a massive amount of work that goes into a book after the first draft is written before it reaches publication.

So don't despair if you are doubting yourself and your ability to write. It really is all in your head.

Happy writing!

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Giveaway

Melissa Stoller has generously offered her debut chapter book, THE ENCHANTED SNOW GLOBE COLLECTION: RETURN TO CONEY ISLAND as a prize for one lucky person. If you are signed up for ChaBooChaLite and you comment on this post, you will be entered into the drawing for the prize. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator on September 30th.

Final Day of the Challenge and winner announcements #ChaBooCha

Congratulations on joining us and sticking with us for the entire challenge. However you may have fared in your writing goals, you have made it to the last day of the challenge and you're still participating, which is wonderful!

The above picture is the winner badge for those of you who achieved your goal of finishing your book during the month. Feel free to save it and use it on your blog or website.

I hope you have found the guest posts during this month helpful, and I really hope that the challenge itself has inspired you to write more than you would have done without the challenge.

You can join us in September for ChaBooCha Lite. ChaBooCha Lite is basically the same challenge but there will only be one weekly blog post and prize. You can also set different goals for yourself, like working on a book you've already begun, revising an already-written story, etc.

Now, it's time to announce the prize winners for this year's Chapter Book Challenge.

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Winners!

The winner of "Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly" by Gail Carson Levine is: Kelly Vavala

The winner of Rory's Story Cubes is: Bron

The winner of "365 DAYS OF WRITING: INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES FOR THE WRITER (365 DAYS OF HAPPINESS)" by MG Keefe is: Kourtney LaFavre

The winner of a signed copy of Melissa Stoller's chapter book, "THE ENCHANTED SNOW GLOBE COLLECTION: RETURN TO CONEY ISLAND" is Rebecca Koehn

The winner of Melissa Stoller's critique of the first 3 chapters of a chapter book is: Kelly Vavala

The winner of "The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface" by Donald Maass is: Manju Howard

The winner of Alayne Kay Christian's chapter book critique of the first three chapters of a story is: Barbara Parker

The winner of the free Chapter Book Alchemist course is: Sherry Howard

The winner of the an inspirational magnet from here is: Melissa Gijsbers

The winner of "The Word-Loss Diet" by Rayne Hall is: Kelly McDonald

The winner of "The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression" by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is: Judy Rubin

The winner of "Writing for Children and Teens: A Crash Course (How to Write, Revise, and Publish a Kid's or Teen Book with Children's Book Publishers)" by Cynthea Liu is: David McMullin

***** 

Everyone, thank you so much for taking part in the 2018 Chapter Book Challenge. I hope you will all continue to be ChaBooCha members for challenges to come in the following years.

And happy writing!

Using Social Media to Help Your Writing by Melissa Gijsbers #ChaBooCha

Using social media to help your writing

 by Melissa Gijsbers

I am a pre-published author. Technically that isn’t correct as I’ve had articles published in magazines (OK, so it was one that I edited), and have been a blogger for years; however I am yet to have a book published.

Last year, I set up a Facebook page for my writing blog. Some people thought I was mad as I didn’t have any books to promote, however I have found the community there incredibly useful.

In the lead up to this years’ challenge, I was researching a very different story from the one I’m writing. I would often post questions on my page to help with my planning. This could be anything from a character name to what kids do on the other side of the World, or even asking for recommendations to websites where I can find information I’m looking for.

I am also a member of a number of writers groups through Facebook where I can post these questions also.

Another resource I use quite a bit is Pinterest. I find interesting pictures to help me with descriptions or even serve as writing prompts. Many of my boards are set up for different projects I’m working on, from novels to chapter books to picture books to non-fiction pieces. The people I follow often post interesting pictures I can add to my boards, or I will search for something based on a keyword.

Writing is a solitary business, and having this community to help me with my writing saves me hours sitting and trying to think of names or other details that I need help with, especially at times when I can’t ask my kids! I am also hoping that by getting the community involved they will feel ownership of my book and want to buy a copy once it has been published.

Melissa Gijsbers is a pre-published author, blogger and Mum in Melbourne, Australia. She has been a blogger since 2008 and currently blogs at www.melissawrites.com.au. This is her second year participating in the Chapter Book Challenge.

Melissa has a giveaway for you. She is offering one lucky person the book "Writing Hannah: On Writing for Children" by Libby Gleeson. As usual, you have to be a signed-up member of the challenge in order to enter and then all you have to do to be entered into the drawing to win this book from Melissa is to leave a comment on this post no later than noon GMT on the 26th of March. Random.org will be used ot choose a winner at that time.

One Week in for the Chapter Book Challenge #ChaBooCha

So one week has passed and I know that some of the Chapter Book Challenge members have posted some amazing word counts on the Facebook group. Their word counts are in the thousands! Others have posted more meager word counts, but that's the thing about this challenge - everyone might have different overall word count goals, so no one needs to be writing at the same pace. Middle grade books, chapter books, early readers and YA all have different word count requirements.

And even when two people are both writing for the same age group, each writer is different, each story is different and no one can say what pace works best for each person. We all have our own pace of doing things. ChaBooCha isn't all about the charge for the finish line; it's about putting more time than you normally would towards writing those books for kids, making it more of a priority in your day to day life and getting support from other writers who are doing the same thing.

When I was writing my novel for National Novel Writing Month last November, I had a huge word count. I wrote 100,165 pages in 30 days. I had made a personal goal with myself that I would write a complete first draft of my novel in those 30 days instead of just writing the 50,000 words required by the challenge. However, the middle grade novel I am working on for ChaBooCha will have a much lower word count and does not require me writing the same high daily word count that I managed during NaNoWriMo. I'm glad about this because I am off to a slow start. As it does for many, life has gotten in the way. Aside from arranging this challenge and coordinating the guest posts and prizes, I have been doing some major home-overhauling. I've also had dentist appointments, sick kids, school parent-teacher conferences and other events that have interfered with my writing time.

I have managed to write the first three chapters of my story, a story that will be about 16 chapters long. Despite this slow start, I am not worried. Most of the stuff that has been getting in the way of my writing time is over now and there are still over three weeks left of the challenge. In fact, there are three weeks and three days left to write my story.

Do you hear that? If you've been struggling to fit in the writing time, don't get too stressed about it just yet. You still have 24 days left to write!

If you want to join a critique group of five to six people, there is a place to sign up for it in the Facebook group. Also, stop back by the blog tomorrow as there will be a guest post by author Rebecca Talley (and a prize to try and win)!

Good luck in week two!

Are you ready for ChaBooCha? It starts tomorrow! #ChaBooCha

Tomorrow is the start date for the 2013 Chapter Book Challenge? Are you ready to begin? Do you know what story you are going to write about? Have you worked out a schedule for when you are going to write or are you, like me, just going to take your time when you find it and write the story that comes to mind as you write?

There are a lot of new members to the challenge this year. Last year, the first year of ChaBooCha, we only had 23 members signed up. This year there are 76 members signed up and there is still time for more people to enter. (There's no official cut-off date for the sign-up, but, if you sign up after March 22nd, you will not be iuncluded in the Kindle prize drawing.)

For those of you wondering about the Chapter Book Challenge Facebook group, the group is for members of the challenge to interact and support each other throughout the challenge and, for those who want to be a part of it, after the challenge as well. There is nothing more helpful to a writer than to have a supportive group of other writers all trying to write for a similar audience.

There is also a Chapter Book Challenge Facebook page which is different from the Facebook group in that is is not as interactive. I post helpful links to the page and keep everyone updated to the goings-on of the challenge through the Facebook page. I also share links to agents and publishers looking for early readers, HiLo books, chapter books, middle grade and YA books, as often as I come across them.

We have several published authors and agents within the industry who will be guest posting during the challenge, and their posts are all intended to teach you something about the craft of writing for our target audience and writing something that has a chance of getting published. For the full list of authors who will be guest posting during the challenge, see this post. This list is subject to change if I manage to get more agents, authors and publishers to add to it.

I have created some web badges that you can add to your blogs and websites. You will find them here. There are three different sizes. You can also buy merchandise with the badge on them in the shop. Any profit from the purchase of items from the gift shop goes towards paying for prizes and other expenses associated with the challenge. There are also other writing-related designs on merchandise elsewhere in the same store.

The Chapter Book Challenge is an informal challenge, and it is self-directed. At the end of the challenge, you let me know if you have completed the challenge, and I trust that you will be honest. The challenge itself is to write the first draft of an early reader, HiLo book, chapter book, middle grade book or even a YA book, and to write the book from start to finish, during the month of March, from March 1st through March 31st.
The reason I say that this challenge is informal is because it is self-directed and I have no way of knowing if you are telling the truth or not about having completed the challenge. However, you are the one who benefits by completing the challenge.

The other reason that this is an informal challenge is because some people join the challenge knowing from the start that they are not going to officially win the challenge; they just use the challenge to help them finish a book that they have already started, to write more of a book than they would write without the challenge to push them forward with it, to complete the edits of a book they wrote previously and any number of related reasons. And all of it is OKAY. Just because you are not joining with the goal of "winning," doesn't mean you can't join.

The way to get entries for the prizes is simple. First, you have to be officially signed-up to the challenge. (If you signed up last year, you do not need to sign up again.)

There will be prizes during the challenge. The big prize is the Kindle Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display. Being signed up to the challenge automatically gets you an entry to win it. The winner will be chosen on March 31st by a random number generator. For the other prizes, during many of the blog posts, a prize will be offered. Anyone who is officially signed up to the challenge, and also comments on the blog post which mentions the prize, will be entered to win the prize (or prizes). Of course, this will be explained again during those blog posts. Many of the prizes are books that have to do with the craft of writing. Because I know that many ChaBooCha menbers will already have some of these books, alternate prizes will be offered as a choice to the winner.

If anyone isn't clear on any of the rules of the challenge, feel free to e-mail me through the "contact me" link on the right side of this blog. 

With the exception of the occasional prize offered by one of the guest authors, all of the prizes during the challenge are bought by me. If anyone would like to donate to the challenge, there is a "donate" button to the right side of the blog, but don't feel as though there is any expectation of donations. I buy prizes for the challenge because I think it enhances the experience and encourages participation, and because I love making this challenge as rewarding for its members as possible.

Line-up of authors, agents and publishers guest posting for 2013's ChaBooCha

I am so excited to announce some of the awesome authors, agents and publishers who will be guest posting this March for the Chapter Book Challenge!

Keep in mind that I am still working hard to find more knowledgeable people to help out, so this list may grow as the date of the challenge nears. (I will edit this post and include new guest post authors, agents and publishers as they become scheduled, so check back from time to time.)

Here's the line-up so far (not necessarily in this order), with a very brief mention of the things you may know them for:

Angela Ackerman - "The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression," also teaches in writing workshops, webinars and at conferences
Her Amazon.com author page

Kimberly Kinrade - author with 10 published novels, including The Three Lost Kids series, along with several YA and adult novels
Her Amazon.com author page

Adam Wallace - Australian author with more than 20 published chapter books, including "Better Out Than In" and the How to Draw series, also a Chapter Book Challenge member
Adam Wallace Books

Lisa Cherry - "How To Stop Staring At A Blank Page and Start Writing: The Writer's Guide To Starting Your First Writing Project" and "Soul Journey: The Greatest Secrets to Living the Life You Want," also runs writing workshops
Her amazon.com author page

Carole Blake - "From Pitch to Publication: Everything You Need to Know to Get Your Novel Published", also a literary agent with the Blake-Friedmann agency
Her Amazon.com author page

Rebecca Cornish Talley - author of 5 published books, including the picture book "Gabby's Secret," and several YA and adult novels, also a member of ChaBooCha
Her Amazon.com author page

K.M. Weiland - "Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success," and several novels, has a successful blog on writing and runs writing workshops (her guest post will be a re-post from her blog)
Her Amazon.com author page

Karen Pokra Toz - author of several chapter books, including the Nate Rocks series and "Milllicent Marie Is Not My Name," winner of several awards including First Place for Children's Chapter Books and the Grand Prize Overall in the 2012 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, as well as placing first for a Global E-Book Award for Pre-Teen Literature
Her Amazon.com author page


Barbara Mack - prolific self-published author of YA, historical romance, cookbooks, and horror, also a Chapter Book Challenge member
Her Amazon.com author page as Barbara Mack
Her Amazon.com author page under the pen name Barbara Rose

Lee Wardlaw -  award-winning author of close to 30 books for children, tweens and teens, which have

sold more than a million copies world-wide.  Her latest chapter book is 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends and Enemies (Penguin, ages 10-14), winner of the Forward National Literature Award for Humor, one of the contributors at Project Mayhem.

Her Amazon.com author page

Margo Gibbs and Emma Gibbs - mother and daughter author team of "Mirabella the Mermaid Detective", raised over $6,000 while crowdfunding their first book, authors of books in other genres
Their (now closed) crowdfunding page

Jo Michaels - author of eight fiction novels including books in "The Abigale Chronicles" and the "Mystic" series. Also wrote, "The Indie Author's guide to: Building a Great Book."
Her Amazon.com author page

Melissa Gijsbers - pre-published author of children's books and short stories, prolific blogger, winner of the 2012 Princess Parade Flash Fiction Challenge, and dedicated ChaBooCha member
Her writing blog

Kelly McDonald - pre-published author of children's books ad short stories, artist and illustrator, award winning artist with CYA writers and illustrators competition 2011, first place in CYA conference 2012
Commended award for "The Hollow" in June 2012 and dedicated ChaBooCha member
Her art page

There is still more to come so stay tuned! Subscribe to this blog if you want to get all the latest Chapter Book Challenge information as it becomes available.

Day One of the Chapter Book Challenge

 

Today is the first day of the Chapter Book Challenge! Have you already plotted and outlined your story or are you just beginning and writing as it comes to you? Either way will suffice. Everyone has their own way of writing and we all have to do what works for us.

We don't have a huge group following this challenge, but that just means that you each have a better chance of winning one of the weekly prizes. This week's prize is "Writing for Children and Teens: A Crash Course (How to Write, Revise, and Publish a Kid's or Teen Book with Children's Book Publishers)" by Cynthea Liu.

 

All you need to do is be signed up officially for the Chapter Book Challenge, and comment on this post, and at the end of the week, one of you will be chosen through the random number generator to win the book. Leave a way for me to contact you within your comment so I can let you know if you have won.

I am one of those people who tends to procrastinate, which is why challenges like this are good for me. These challenges force me to sit down and write. I have to admit that I have not sat down and outlined my story yet. I have a vague idea of what my story will be about and where I want to go with it, but I am going to take these first few days fo the challenge to actually create an outline with my plot structure and some of my character development.

At the end of this week, I will post again with a shout-out to see how everyone is doing and how far along we've all come. If anyone is struggling, feel free to contact me through e-mail.

Good luck everyone!