It’s that time again! Fondly known as “PiBoIdMo”, Picture Book Idea Month will be in full swing soon, thanks to Children’s Book author, Tara Lazar. Now in it’s fifth year running, Tara has a full month of inspiration ready to role out for us, complete with editor and agent prizes!

If you are a procrastinator, suffer from occasional writers block, or just need inspiration to keep you motivated, then this event may be just the ticket… and it’s free!! 

Click here to visit Tara’s blog site, and sign up by November 2nd, 2013 to participate.

The rules are quite simple. Throughout November, each and every day, you must come up with at least one Picture Book idea, and write it down. By the end of the month, your reward is 30 inspiring ideas to work from for the coming year!

Ideas can be something like:

• a great Picture Book title
• the name for a main character
• a silly sentence
• a great background setting for a story
• a quick character sketch
• a photograph that suggests a story
• a magazine article about a currentevent

It’s just that easy. Personally, I have purchased a pretty box for the occasion. Every day throughout November it will sit on my desk in front of my computer to remind and inspire me.

I may be hit with an idea anytime, anywhere, so I keep a pad of post-it notes with me at all times. When I receive picture book inspiration, I simply stop…jot it down…and when I return home, I drop it in the box and forget about it. I don’t open the box until December 1st, and every year it feels like an early Christmas present to myself!

Some people like to create a folder on their pc/mac desktops, so they can type out their ideas and drop them them there, but I find that to be a hindrance. You are not always at your computer when inspiration strikes, and having to type it up adds to your daily work load. (Sometimes I will use any excuse to get out of doing things that are good for me.)

There’s something about actually writing it out by hand, and having a physical place to compile your thoughts that speaks to me. Perhaps it’s because I’m nostalgic. Maybe it’s because I’m a visual person. May it’s just because I’m a quirky artist. All I know is, this works for me. Please write and let me know if it worked for you!  :o)