Write a NF Book in Just 3 Weeks: Calendars

I’ve posted two calendars at the site of my feline writing buddies, Writing According to Humphrey and Friends. Scroll down to the section marked CALENDARS, then download and print out both of them:

3-week Blank Calendar

3-week Nonfiction Picture Book Calendar

The 3-week Nonfiction Picture Book Calendar features the tasks I’m completing each day, Monday through Friday, for the next three weeks to write the first draft of my nonfiction picture book to submit to Kaeden Books. You can follow along, too, and get yours done as well!

The Blank Calendar is there for you to use if you want to rearrange some of the tasks to better suit your own personal schedule. For example, you may want to write on the weekend. Or you may have Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to write for 8 or 9 hours and not be available to write on Tuesday or Thursday. You can use the Blank Calendar to regroup the list of tasks to complete on the days that better fit your schedule.

The 3-week Nonfiction Picture Book Calendar

As you can see on this calendar, the very first Sunday lists pre-writing tasks that are important to take before you begin your writing journey.

1. Make a commitment to follow through for the next three weeks to write the first draft of your nonfiction early reader picture book from beginning to end.

2. Do what it takes to get motivated to sit down and actually write!

3. Gather a stack of potential mentor texts, current nonfiction picture books that you want YOUR picture book to look, sound, and feel like.

4. Choose the broad topic you want to write about. My broad topic is animal homes. I haven’t yet narrowed the topic on what exactly I’ll be writing about, but I chose this broad topic so I can get started on my research.

5. Gather in a stack of potential research books on your broad topic, both books for adults and children’s books.

My stack of research books arrived at my library a couple days ago…30 in all! My husband Jeff helped me lug them all out to the car. I can hardly wait to dig into them.

If you haven’t had time to order in any books and want to get started on Monday along with the rest of us, just plan an excursion to your local library this weekend and grab all the books you can find on your broad topic to bring home. Don’t worry if you don’t quite know what to write about yet. We’ll talk about that in my post on Monday so stay tuned!!!!!

And if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Filed under: Beginning Readers, Calendars, Nonfiction, Picture Books