Yay - I'm a 2014 PIBOIDMO Winnah!

PiBoIdMo 2014 Winner Badge - art created by the talented Vin Vogel
For taralazar.com/

Yay - I'm once again a PIBOIDMO winner - Having successfully come up with 30 Picture book ideas in the month of November. Not 30 wonderful ideas mind you. Here's the breakdown:

6 of my PB ideas concern a certain character of mine that is begging for a story. I can see this character down to her fashion tastes. I think I need to pay her some attention and hear her out.

7 of them have more then a glimmer of an idea - more heart and meat. Some of these have popped up in previous  PiBoIdMo Lists in various incarnations. Probably why they have more substance... and may be reaching critical mass... at which point I will have to do something with them.

The balance are mere titles and some very meh thoughts to fill the quota.

Not too bad. Reminds me of a photography course I took wa-a-a-a-ay back. My Photography teacher, Mr. Fox, would tell us to shoot at least 100 pictures. We would then make contact sheets of all the images. Look them over and pick 3 that we thought were worth developing into prints in the dark room. Hm-m-m so which PIBOIDMO ideas will I be developing into PB dummies over the next year?

PIBOIDMo 2014!

It's November and it's time for Tara Lazar's Picture Book Idea Month. It's become an annual tradition for me. Some years I'm better at it than others. Hopefully this will be a good year...at least I signed up early and I'm thinking PB ideas on Nov 1 vs on the 25th like last year. Not that November is the only time to think Picture Book Ideas but having a dedicated time to think them up helps to capture them. It's like having a deadline to do something vs saying whenever. I don't know about you but I'm more likely to come up with something tangible when given a deadline vs being told whenever. Unfortunately whenever never seems to come around.

Yes -I solemnly swear to come up with 30 Picture book Ideas in 30 days in the month of November 2014! 

Over the years I've tried different methods of logging in my ideas: dedicated book, Random scraps, index cards, Looseleaf binders... What seems to work the best for me is writing them down mainly on pre-numbered index cards, you never know when inspiration will strike, and pop them in a box. Makes it simple for me to go thru when I want to start another Picture book manuscript/dummy. Although most times I work with whatever haunts me.

Picture Book Illustrators/writers who want to join in the fun- just go to Tara's Blog and sign-up for PiBoIdMo by November 7th... or just read her blog at TaraLazar.com and get inspired.

It's PiBoIdMo time

It's November and PiBoIdMo Time once again. Or 30 Picture Book Ideas in 30 Days -November 2013. I swear to come up with at least 30 Picture book ideas during November 2013.

Yes you too can Officially Register for PiBoIdMo 2013.  Or Just read some inspiring and motivating posts about creating picture books at Tara Lazar'a blog .

FYI -PB generating Idea tip: Do NOT lay in bed and try and will yourself to have a PB idea before you fall asleep. You may have a dream that may be a good PB but if you're me you will have a bizarre operatic dream or two but they will not make good PBs. Do keep Pens and paper handy in case you do get a great PB idea in your sleep. I confess to date I only have 1 Picture book idea but after a couple of years of doing this excerise I know by the end of this month I WILL have 30 ideas.

PiBoIdMo 2012 - better late then never

YUP I'm a PIBOIDMO-er again. 30 picture book Ideas in the 30 days of November. As this is my third year doing this challenge begun by Tara Lazar I had been looking forward to it since October. In fact I signed-up for it almost as soon as you could this year. And then didn't do much about it assuming I had time to gather my index cards and write a blog post on it etc. Then Sandy hit on monday, Oct 29th and I lost power for 13 days which taught me a few things about my creative process.

Ok OK  - I know you don't need electricity to think or write down your ideas on index cards etc. And sure I even got to read an inspirational post or 2 on PIBOIDMO when I was at a lucky friend 's home with a generator. So why couldn't I even gather my index cards and a pen and just begin? I mean I wasn't one of the unfortunates that was totally displaced. I was just inconvenienced and uncomfortable for 13 days.

Apparently my muse decided to go on vacation to a more convenient and warmer locale. It seems I needed to not be worried to be creative. Whether it be about my cat's meds going bad along with the food Or if I could gas up so I could get to my friend's. We won't even get into my fear of not meeting deadlines. There was also the shortage of available daylight hours.  Showed me how much my strategy for getting things done depended on electricity. This is not to say I got nothing done. I was able to do the traditional watercoloring part of an illustration job and a new piece from sketch to finished art for an upcoming group show.  However the difference is that both these concepts had been thought out before and PIBOIDMO was challenging me to come up with concepts. Apparently until I got my power back, I couldn't relax enough to let my mind wander off and come back with good or bad ideas. I was stuck in the here and now with no time leftover for daydreaming.

Glad to report that on the last and 30th day of PIBOIDMO I finally caught up and completed the challenge. YAY - I have 31 ideas and who knows how many more I'll have before the day is up. True most of them are plain silly but they all still count. By the way, I'm already looking forward to next year.

PiBoIdMo 2011!

Here we go again! I just signed up for PiBoIdMo 2011,  Picture Book Ideas Month at http://taralazar.wordpress.com/. The challenge is to come up with 30 picture book ideas in the month of November (30 days). Just ideas - no outlines etc. -keep it simple and have FUN.

Last year I put my ideas onto index cards. Not sure if I'm using the same low-tech method for 2011. I may just scribble them into my journal and enter them on a running list. My 2010's participation in this challenge resulted in the current dummy that I'm almost finished with. Click HERE if you're curious about that project.

YAY - I completed PiBoIdMo!

Yay I'm a PiBoIdMo 2010 winner and I can proudly display my badge for all to see. I came up with 31 Picture book ideas in November. The last one came to me right before the stroke of midnight on November 30th - but it's still right in there. Now I have to admit it was a bit of touch and go where I wasn't sure if I'd hang in as November was an extremely hectic month for me. Which is why I'm so happy to announce that I tried it and completed the challenge!

Interestingly some of my picture book ideas are things I'd want to research and write about but may not want to illustrate myself and there are of course a few that are based on characters I've doodled or are spin offs of my latest PB dummy and manuscript. I'm also happy that I jotted them down on index cards as now I can sort them by type: fiction, concept, non-fiction and further categorize them by whether I want to illustrate them or just write the manuscript. Hopefully all of this sorting will help me decide which will be my next project.

Illustration Friday: SNEAKY!

Groundhog Escapes! 

© Diana Ting Delosh - ink & watercolor

Here's my illustrations for this week's Illustration Friday prompt - SNEAKY!

Groundhog A.K.A. Puxatawny Phil is Sneaking out his window while his friends are at his front door. SNEAKY Groundhog. Rather than hibernating this winter he's planning on vacationing somewhere tropical. Where do you think he's off to? Where would you go if you were a groundhog? Why does he have to sneak away from his friends?

Hmm - this sounds like an idea for PiBoIdMo (30 Picture book ideas in 30 days in November) - here's my #17 out of 30. To find out more about PiBoIdMo you can click on the PiBoIdMo Badge in the righthand column or read my previous post by clicking here.

FYI -  Groundhog Escapes is available as a Giclee Print, Groundhog's Day Card and a Note Card.

30 Picture Book Ideas in 30 Days!

Came across this neat exercise via twitter and Yup - I've signed up to do PiBoIdMo - which stands for Picture Book Idea Month. The concept is to come up with 30 PB ideas in 30 days during the month of November. I've decided to use portable, handy index cards. 1 idea per card. Small enough so I won't feel threatened but big enough to put more thoughts if needed. They can be filled out whenever/wherever my muse strikes.  Which I've discovered is not as easy to coax out. So what Have I discovered to date from this exercise.

• Nothing get's done no matter how small unless you make time for it.

• I need to be unplugged from my computer and all things E - clear my mind and be quiet. And only then will I get an inkling of any idea.

• It's not as easy as I thought it would be. I find that I'm flipping through my cards to make sure I'm not repeating myself.

• I seem to have an easier time with my concept ideas than pure fiction ideas. With the fiction I mostly just have a premise where with most of the concept ideas I have an actual beginning, middle and end.

• Some ideas are very promising and others are amazingly blah... but I'm not going to throw out any cards until after November 30th!

• It's a lot of fun putting down the ideas on index cards.

So far I'm on target with 12 ideas in 12 days. At anyrate I figure it'll put me in a good position to have a new book dummy for my CBIG Review 2011. Next year my goal is to have my dummy done in time without loosing any sleep over it!