I signed up for PiBoIdMo because I wanted to stay accountable to my writing and arting. I am the first to admit that my day job gets in the way, which is a shame as it is the most inspiring place for a children’s writer and illustrator to be – the classroom.
I wasn’t sure that I could come up with THIRTY new ideas, especially a new one each day. But, so far, so good. Actually, so far, so great!
I have, to date, come up with 13 new ideas. That’s 7 more than needed at this point. YAHOO!
Some of my ideas are straight-forward, traditional narratives – mostly funny, with a character star, clear setting and beginning/middle/soon-to-come-end. But most exciting for me are the ideas being born that are NOT traditional. One, for example, is actually aimed at young adults – something I could see coming out at Urban Outfitters, and is based on a documentary I shot in 2006. However, that idea could be written in a fantasy format for children, or for adults with a whole other spin. Another idea was shot into action after I glanced at an old sketch I did in the summer, when trying to figure out a way of getting some art into the SCBWI magazine. Others are based on concepts, funny words, or “What If” ideas.
I have done a preliminary sketch of the character for my favourite story so far, based on one of my students (he is, by the way, EXTREMELY stoked that I came up with a story about him). I think this will be the first one that I write in December, when this ideating process is finished.
And speaking of December, I have a plan! With my 2 weeks off for Christmas break, I plan on writing as many of these manuscripts as possible. PiBoIdMo has even inspired me to get back into the mailing-out-manuscript process. I will be sending out manuscripts on the first of the month, every month, starting in December.
I’d like to send a HUGE thank you out to the community at taralazar.wordpress.com, and Tara (of course!) for this amazing opportunity to get creative and to be inspired.
How is your PiBoIdMo going?
Hey, glad to hear you’re so far ahead of the game! Keep it up, you’re on a roll!
I have 11 ideas so far, a couple of really good ones. Hopefully I will stay motivated to make them more marketable.