2016 Learning from my Reflections

1. Writing regularly and routinely is better than ‘when I feel like it’. 2. Being in a critique group is a great opportunity to receive feedback from my peers and I need to trust my inner voice to be able to provide honest critique to my peers, as much as I want them to do the same for me. 3. I need to sow more seed ideas in order to reap the benefits of having ideas to work on. 4. Broadening my horizons by participating in a variety of activities and interests fosters new ideas & relationships 5. At the same time, I need to give uninterrupted time to working on projects for extended time periods.

2016 Year in Review - Reflections on a Picture Book Writers Journey

*I joined the http://12x12challenge.com/ *Wrote 3 drafts of manuscripts *Submitted 2 manuscripts *Attended a writer's workshop and a conference *Participated in an online critique group *Joined a local critique group *Read 150 picture books through my participation with http://www.reforemo.com/ *Participated in http://picturebooksummit.com/ *Reorganized my office/writing space *Tried my best to do something everyday that related to kidlit

March review

This past month I participated in a challenge called ReFoReMo, Read For Research Month. This has given me the opportunity to read, learn, and share with an online community as we all participated together in the challenge to read from a list of 100 Picture Books. I managed to read and write notes on more than 80 titles. Most of them have been published in the last few years, and some are classics that were written years ago. Along with the notes, I have started a system of tracking the books under a variety of categories, so that I can refer back and continue to add titles in the weeks and months to come.

New Direction: February 2016 update

After about four years of no posts, I am writing an update. During these last years I was working as the library lady at a local K - 9 school, managing the library for around 700 students and 50 staff on a part time basis. During that time I did fundraising (over $30,000), hosted authors, helped staff find resources, students find books, shelved books, ordered books (over 2000), got rid of a lot of old outdated books, reorganized shelves, went from running the Follett system to learning and implementing the new system called Symphony (Syrsidynix) which meant rebarcoding all the books in the library. At the same time, I was also dealing with various family issues that needed my time and attention. I am now on a new journey towards writing for children. I now post my book reviews on Goodreads,and I recently signed up for the 12 X 12 Challenge and joined some critiquing groups for writers. I am continuing to enjoy the journey and look forward to what the future holds.