PiBoIdMo – By Word of Beth

Happy PiBoIdMo to you!

It’s November, and for hundreds of picture book writers — both established and aspiring — it’s time for Tara Lazar’s Picture Book Idea Month! Tara’s amazing challenge to come up with 30 picture book ideas in the 30 days of November began with her challenging herself in 2008, and expanded in 2009 to blog posts that she shared with her followers. It’s now an eagerly anticipated event — a time to be inspired by incredible guest posts daily throughout November (with equally incredible guest posts before and after the official challenge month), a time to be encouraged by fellow idea-thinker-uppers in the PiBoIdMo Facebook Group, and a time to let one’s imagination loose to come up with everything it can, from character names to titles to full-blown ideas.

Where Do Ideas Come From?

4 Comments / Monday Musings / By Beth

Sometimes that question seems almost as hard to answer as the dreaded “where do babies come from?” This is especially true when you’re searching for inspiration and it just isn’t appearing. Those of us who are participating in Picture Book Idea Month right now may sometimes ask the question in despair, wondering if we’ll be able to come up with our 30 ideas for the month. To all who may be tearing their hair out as we near the half-way point, I want to say relax. This isn’t a competition, and we don’t have to compare ourselves to anyone else. Knowing that can ease some of the pressure. Ideas are sneaky things. They prefer to jump out at you when you least expect them, rather than you forcing them to show themselves. How then do we entice them to appear?