I survived the Picture Book Idea Month challenge in November. 


Last week, I used this post to give a shout out to PiBoIdMo mama Tara Lazar.


Today, I wanted to share what I did over the 30-day challenge.

My stats: 
  • On index cards, I scribbled 55 ideas.
  • On my iPhone, I tapped out 153 ideas onto the yellow-looking notepad app.
  • In a random spiral notebook, four ideas are outlined.

Before anyone freaks out, let me explain. I wrote down every idea. 

  • If it popped into my head, I wrote down my thoughts. 
  • If I began writing and thought it could be a repeat idea, I ignored the thought. 
  • If I continued to write, I added a new angle or details. 

My love of six-word stories shows through in a few ideas as that’s all I have. For others, I wrote until no more words fit on my index card. 


Some common themes involve dogs, family and rules — well, a child breaking rules mostly. The presence of several flag ideas indicates that November was a windy month. 


While I managed to meet my idea goal, I failed to finish reading and work my way through Ann Whitford Paul’s book Writing Picture Books:  A Hands-On Guide from Story Creation to PublicationA few excuses are involved with this one — the baby ate my homework. Well not exactly, but I’m sure Enzo would eat the book if given the opportunity. Several nonfiction titles I had on hold at the library arrived and I needed to read them, so I could pass them on to the next reader.


I also:

  • dabbled in some goal setting for 2012
  • wrote a first draft of a personal essay 
  • wrote a devotional for my church’s Advent devotion book (My first one! Yikes!)

I was honored to have these wonderful ladies share their time and talent here. I’m grateful they wrote guest posts on picture books:

I still have a lot of work to do with my ideas — sorting, deleting, writing, thinking, deleting again, etc. I have to stay focused, because Julie Hedlund at Write Up My Life has a 12 x 12 in 2012 Picture Book Writing Challenge  — an effort to spur us on to write those ideas (or at least 12) into manuscripts. 


See I really need to read Ann Whitford Paul’s book! 


Thanks again to Tara Lazar for organizing the challenge. If you missed a post during the challenge or need another dose of inspiration, visit her blog Writing for Kids (While Raising Them). I’m so thankful I participated in the challenge this year. 


So, how did your November writing challenge go or just with your writing in general?