Don’t miss your chance to be part of Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo) 2015. The brain child of author Tara Lazar, this awesome month of ideas and inspiration is especially for picture book writers! I’ve participated for the last two years and am now jumping into my third.
The idea behind Picture Book Idea Month is to keep track of all of your picture book ideas for the month of November — with the goal of having at least one idea per day or 30+ ideas by the end of the month. You don’t have to share your ideas with anyone. They are for your eyes only. The ideas don’t need to be fully formed either. You could have the idea for a cool character, a fun book title, a silly phrase, a plot element. Anything goes — just write it down!
If you sign up to be an official participant, you will get daily emails with inspiration from other authors and folks in the writing world. Many of these emails also contain free giveaways that include everything from autographed books to critiques by other authors or literary agents. All you have to do is leave a comment on the blog post to be entered. Other prizes come for completing the 30 day challenge and taking the PiBoIdMo Pledge, stating that you indeed came up with 30 ideas. (I actually won an autographed book last year off of one of the blog post comments — so I know firsthand that the prizes are for real!)
Today is the last day to sign up to be a PiBoIdMo Official Participant. So hop on over to Tara’s Website and get yourself signed up. Some of my best ideas have come from this challenge!
The cool part is — you don’t necessarily have to begin working on any of your new ideas right away. Last year I wrote down a fledgling idea that I wasn’t sure what to do with. But two months ago inspiration struck and I knew just how to proceed! I now have a completed manuscript for that one. I even shared it with my friend’s son, and from something he said, I got the idea for another picture book which I now have a rough draft for. Pretty cool how creativity builds on creativity, huh?
It’s also pretty cool what can happen when you consciously keep track of your ideas — and even let them simmer for awhile. Sometimes those ideas just get better with time — and that crazy idea you didn’t know what to do with finds its own legs when you least expect it! I hope you’ll take the challenge!
