I participated in Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo) for the first time last year. I met so many motivated writers and learned about more, and more, and more challenges. I am excited to participate in the Dive Into Diversity reading challenge, 12×12 writing challenge, and ReviMo revising challenge.
What is Dive Into Diversity?
The Dive Into Diversity reading challenge is hosted by Rather Be Reading and Reading Wishes.
Dive Into Diversity officially kicks off on January 1, 2015 and will run through December 31. Each month Reading Wishes and Rather Be Reading (RBR) will publish a diverse post with a Linky. Simply add a review or post you wrote about diverse books to the Linky, and that’s it!
What does diverse mean exactly?
We loved this explanation from the We Need Diverse Books Tumblr: “We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.”
The good stuff.
There are no numbers of books associated with this challenge. Nope. (Though we do hope you challenge yourself to reading at least one diverse book a month.) There is an incentive for those of you who participate each month and also use our hashtag #DiversityDive to spread the word. You know what this means… giveaways and more.
A little help from our friends.
Don’t know where to start and want some suggestions to get you started? No fear, we are here to help! Be sure to check out The Diversity Book Club (they are awesome), Dahlia Adler’s Quiltbag Compredium, and Rebecca’s Diversity Bookshelf on Goodreads.
What is 12×12?
12 x 12 is a year-long writing challenge where members aim to write 12 complete picture book drafts, one per month, for each 12 months of the year. A draft means a story with a beginning, middle, and end – NOT a submission-ready piece. Founded by picture book author Julie Hedlund, 12 x 12 is going into its fourth year in 2015.
All 12 x 12 members get access to an amazing community of 750+ picture book writers at all levels from absolute beginner to multi-published. 12 x 12 offers motivation, support, and accountability to help you write more (LOTS more!) than you would on your own.
Each month we feature a guest post from a talented, multi-published picture book author. These authors generously give away fabulous prizes to help you with your craft.
You’ll get access to members-only 12 x 12 Facebook group, which serves as a support network, a question and answer pool, and a place to share resources. PLUS, 12 x 12 includes a robust online Membership Forum where members can receive feedback on their work and find critique partners. And that’s only the beginning.
*Click here to learn about the 2015 12×12 team of authors and agents!
General membership registration begins on January 14, 2015.
*Click here to sign up for 2015 registration information
What is ReviMo?
2nd Annual ReviMo – Revise More Picture Books Challenge
Got picture book drafts piled up collecting dust? Have critiques for your story, but haven’t done a SINGLE thing to improve it? Need a jumpstart to revise? ReviMo is for you!
Each ReviMo, you will be encouraged to REVISE those picture book manuscripts. There will be blogs, graphics (and perhaps vlogs) encouraging you to take out that poopy first (second, third, fifteenth) draft and breathe new life into it. I hope you will join us!
How do you ReviMo, you ask?
Register for ReviMo:
You must (to be eligible for prizes):
1. Register by commenting below (once only please!). Registration closes 10 pm CST 1/11/15.
2. Keep track of how many days you REVISE a picture book manuscript (you are on the honor system) January 11-17th. Those of you who revise 4+ days will be eligible to win fabulous prizes!! There will be a blog post with Rafflecopter on 18th, you can enter to win. There will be daily posts to motivate and inspire you, you can subscribe to my blog to receive the posts by email!
3. What counts as REVISING? Making significant and thoughtful changes to a Picture Book Manuscript. If you go through and change a few words that doesn’t count! I want you to stand your manuscripts on their heads, twirl it around and get that outstanding story out!
4. Comment on the daily posts, thank our guests and let us know how your revisions are going!
And for fun:
1. Join ReviMo Facebook Group, click here.
2. Add a twibbon to your Twitter avatar, click here for bug, ReviMo pig coming soon!
3. Check out the previous ReviMo interviews and posts!
4. Add the Official ReviMo Button (link to http:megmillerwrites.blogspot.com) to your blog.
