PiBoIdMo’s First Week

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?