Tuesday, December 6, 2011

PiBoIdMo was a piece of cake!




A three layer, double dutch chocolate cake with creamy vanilla icing on top.  Not just any kind of cake, but the kind of savory flavors that linger long after the crumbs are gone.


That is what I felt like when December 1st came along.  I can't even tell you where I heard of PiBoIdMo.  Probably some friend's blog I was following.  But the more I read about it, the more I was intrigued with the idea.  Could I challenge myself to come up with at least 30 Picture Book ideas in 30 days?


Don't get me wrong...I live an extremely hectic life.  I run a martial arts training academy that demands a lot of my time, but even there I can't stop little nuggets of stories from bouncing around in my head while I practice my forms.  So I took the plunge.  I signed up November 1st for PiBoIdMo and held on for the coolest ride of my life!


Writers will sometimes doubt themselves...their ability to write a strong, compelling story...especially writers like myself who has written lots of material over the years, but never considered actively pursuing having any of it published.  Until now.  To my great relief, I never once doubted my ability to meet this particular challenge.


Maybe it was the fact that Tara Lazar did such a FABULOUS job of organizing this event.  Maybe it was the fact that there was an INCREDIBLE lineup of published authors, editors, illustrators, etc. to keep all of us motivated and energized as we scrambled to fill up our PiBoIdMo notebooks with new picture book ideas.


Or maybe it was simply that someone gave me permission to be child-like again and see the wonder in the world around me.  To have faith in myself that whatever ideas I might come up with might be nurtured into a gift that I can give back to the world some day as my way of saying thanks for allowing me to be a part of this amazing experience.


Whatever the reason, I feel blessed for the many new friends I have made through PiBoIdMo, and look forward to the 12X12 in 2012 challenge I have signed up for in the coming year.  The daily posts, the new friendships, and great prizes might have made up the cake layers, but it is the new, more confident writer I see when I look in the mirror that is the icing on the cake!


PS...Thanks Beth Stilborn and Denise Maclennan Bruce for helping me link this blog to PiBoIdMo.  Apparently it DOES take a village to raise a blog!

14 comments:

  1. Donna! What a fantastic post! I love especially your last sentence and the fact that it's "the new, more confident writer I see when I look in the mirror that is the icing on the cake!" That is so good to read.

    I have been blessed by getting to know you during PiBoIdMo, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you better in the coming year with 12 x 12. This is going to be amazing.

    Beth of elizabethannewrites

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  2. Thanks, Elizabeth, for your kind words. Won't it be great to get together next December and review all the wonderful stories we have come up with?

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  3. It will be absolutely delightful, Donna! Here's to a year of creativity!

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  4. I love that comment too, Donna about the icing on the cake.

    Lovely post, Donna :)
    love,
    Denise of Ingleside, PEI

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  5. Great post Donna. It was a wonderful challenge and I look forward to the work ahead.

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  6. Go you girl! That was a lovely inspiring post. A great beginning! I blogged that I honestly didn't believe I could do it at the start, amazing what one can do. Looking forward to 12x12 to.

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  7. Great first post Donna...see you around, for sure!

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  8. What a wonderful post, Donna (although is it bad that it's making me hungry? :)) Congratulations on all your new beginnings! What a lot of amazing accomplishments. I'm doing 12X12, too, and am a new follower of your new blog, so looking forward to getting to know you better!

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  9. Very well done, Donna! Nice succinct summary of our November challenge...and sweet memories to savor all year long. Looking forward to 12x12 in 2012!

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  10. Thanks to everyone who posted a comment on my initial blog. Now if I could just conquer tying it to one of Tara's blogs so she could see it...lol...challenges, challenges...

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  11. Great blog and great post, Donna. The best things is most certainly that confidence boost. Go girl! Start getting all those tasty ideas into fully fledged manuscript-cakes!

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  12. Hi, Donna. Congrats on getting your post up and figuring out the link! Your post is beautiful. Especially love your opening paragraph. So much great imagery there, and I certainly want to try a piece of that cake! Good luck on the 12 X 12!

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  13. Thanks Joanna and Kerry for your kind words. PiBoIdMo has opened the flood gates of ideas for me...so much so that I think I'm gonna have to start handing out numbers and tell all the voices in my head now to wait their turn! Lol...

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