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12 x 12 December 2020 Check-In!

Well, my 12xers, we made it to the end of 2020. I hope you all take a few minutes today to be proud of yourselves for surviving an unprecedented year. No matter how much writing you did or didn’t do, you are a WINNER. Why? You are still here, reading this post, and moving forward in writing and life. That’s the very definition of success after a year like this one, which challenged us all in ways we’d never been challenged before.

More than any other year in the nine we’ve run 12 x 12, I am grateful for all of you and this community. Knowing you were there kept my feet on the ground, fire in my heart, and purpose to my days. Thank you for holding me up, and for doing the same for each other. It wasn’t an easy year, but we demonstrated strength in community and togetherness. Thank you!

I am pleased to report that I did write a new draft this month. It was the first time I’ve been able to write anything new since the pandemic began, so just the experience of writing a new story was thrilling. I also completed a big revision.

Have a safe and Happy New Year, everyone! I look forward to writing alongside you all in 2021, which I hope will bring lighter, brighter times.

Tell us your progress. Did you complete a draft and/or revision in December? Let us know in the Rafflecopter and in the comments. December Featured Author Keila Dawson is offering a Kindle edition of OPENING THE ROAD: VICTOR HUGO GREEN AND HIS GREEN BOOK to one lucky 12 x 12 check-in winner!

Opening the Road by Keila Dawson

Thank you, Keila!

Here is what you need to do to check in for a chance to win:

  1. See the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post that says “Kindle Edition of OPENING THE ROAD” at the top.
  2. Click on the “Comment on Keila’s post” button. Commenting on Keila’s post is mandatory for this giveaway and you can enter the Rafflecopter even if you didn’t write a draft this month. You can comment on the post here.  Click ENTER.
  3. Click on the “Wrote a PB Draft” button. This will ask if you completed a PB draft in December. If you did, click ENTER, if not, click cancel and move on to the next step.
  4. Click on the last “Revised a PB Draft” button. This will ask if you revised a PB in December. If you did, click ENTER. If not, click cancel and move on to the next step.
  5. That’s it! Rafflecopter will track your points. (The top of the Rafflecopter will say X/3 with X being the number of entries you currently have in the drawing.)

You have until midnight Eastern on January 6th to enter your results. Rafflecopter will draw a winner and it will be announced on the blog on January 7th.

If you wrote 12 or more drafts this year (not necessarily one per month), email Kelli at kelli@juliehedlund.com by January 1st with your draft total and your picture to be included in the 2020 Winners Wall video!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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21 Responses

  1. Hoping next year is a better year for all of us. It has helped me so much to be a part of this group. I’m writing more and learning so much. Wrote a draft and revised another this month.

  2. Being part of a writing community has been very supportive to helping me reach my writing goals. In 2020, I was able to brainstorm a few ideas that have potential. I wrote two drafts and did some revising.

  3. I am enjoying being connected with a wonderful group of writers and authors. I feel supported and accepted by a wonderful group of writers, authors, and illustrators. I have written a few drafts in 2020. I am know doing revisions.

  4. I collected lots of story ideas this year and that has been reassuring. Glad to belong to this group, especially during 2020.

  5. I was pleasantly surprised to find I had written 20 new drafts in 2020! Wow. It was good to go back and review my year. A few not-so-good stories, but others I really like. Yay! I also learned, connected, submitted, critiqued, queried, and revised more than I ever have. Thanks to 12×12! Thank you for a wonderful kidlit year!

  6. Thanks for all you do to support writers. I loved all of this year’s webinars and have been rereading my notes from them. Here’s to 2021!

  7. Thank you, Julie and team, for another amazing year. It was a bit crazy, but you added support and care for us all. Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthful 2021!!

  8. It’s been a long year and time to write when not worrying about getting sick or going anywhere. I didn’t have to dress up to go anywhere. And the library finally opened up in the fall for checkouts.
    Thanks for the wonderful workshops and news and hope you all stayed healthy. Maybe next year we can see people face to face again in person.

  9. It’s been a long year and time to write when not worrying about getting sick or going anywhere. I didn’t have to dress up to go anywhere. And the library finally opened up in the fall for checkouts.
    Thanks for the wonderful workshops and news and hope you all stayed healthy. Maybe next year we can see people face to face again in person.

  10. It is always great to have a community like this to keep you moving forward with your dream. Even if I didn’t quite complete everything at least the posts were always reminders of what I should be doing and pushing forward. Here’s to 2021, thank you for always being here this past year.

  11. I managed two new drafts this month which brought my overall yearly total to 12, so am celebrating … in isolation of course! Thank you to Julie, Kelli, all the ninja’s, the webinarists (real word, honest!), and all my fellow 12x12ers for sticking with it and each other during this strangest of years! Here’s to a better year ahead.

  12. I don’t know where this month went as it seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye… I did manage to write 2 more manuscripts in the 6 -part series that I’m working on and will definitely be taking a break from writing during the first part of January in order to do more research and flesh out the other women. I may even add 3-4 more to the mix.

    I rewrote the draft that I revised last month weaving in more information in order to make my main character come alive… I haven’t made up my mind whether this one will stay a 4-part series or whether to go for it and add in the other two people, which would also make it a 6-part series. Guess I’m just a glutton for punishment!!

    A huge THANK YOU, Julie. and everyone connected to 12 x 12 for always being there, and that you all stay healthy during this coming year. I hope that 2021 is 100% better for everyone than what we just went through!!

  13. 6 drafts and 1 revision this month! I pushed to meet the 12-draft challenge as one thing that was under my control this year.

  14. I only wrote one new manuscript in 2020, but it was nonfiction and VERY research-intensive. I also did about a bajillion revisions and wrote and revised a chapter book. A hard year for many, so here’s to better days ahead!

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Interested in Joining the 12x12 Challenge?

Financial Need Scholarship Guidelines

All applications will be accepted via email only between November 1, 2023 – November 30, 2023 at kelli@juliehedlund.com.

Subject line of the email:

  1. 12 x 12 Financial Need Scholarship
 

Please include the following in the body of the email:

  1. An autobiographical statement and career summary in 250 words or fewer.
  2. A short statement describing the nature of the financial need/circumstances in 250 words or fewer.
  3. A sample query letter for the manuscript you are submitting with your application.
  4. Pitches for two additional completed picture books.
 

 Attached to the email:

  1.  The full text of one picture book manuscript, attached as a Word document named as FIN_YourFirstName_YourLastName_Title_of_Manuscript.doc (or docx).