It's Almost Time For PiBoIdMo Madness!

What do you get when you mix THIS?

With THIS?

Why you get PiBo (Pie-Bow) of course!  In just a few more days author and creator of PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) Tara Lazar will open the doors to registrations.  To read about all the upcoming events, go to this link... http://taralazar.com/2012/10/01/piboidmo-2012-guest-bloggers-and-mascot

If you have never heard of PiBo madness then I can only presume you have...

A.  Just learned to read

B.  Finally crawled out from under your rock

C.  Made it home safely after being rescued from a deserted island somewhere in the Pacific

But if you have been anywhere on Facebook or the blogosphere, you will have some idea of just how many people are counting down the days until the fun begins!  For myself, this will be my second year participating and I have come a long way since last November's challenge.

When I stop and think about it, Tara's picture book idea challenge quite literally set me on the path to publication. Prior to PiBoIdMo, I had only tried my hand at one children's picture book story.  I thought it was a cute one but my writing skills were in their infancy.  Anybody with more experience than myself would instantly see the flaws in the manuscript.  Heck, even I can see the work that still needs to be done to polish and strengthen that story!

PiBoIdMo allowed me to dive head first into a community of writers, authors, illustrators, editors and publishers.  I was welcomed with open arms and encouraged to seek out the child within me.  There were motivational articles and words of wisdom just sitting in my email box...like a treasure chest of rare jewels waiting to enrich my writing life.  But more importantly, I discovered the love and support to be found among the wonderful group of writers I became friends with during this past year. 

Friends who have laughed, cried, and performed the happy dance with each other as we link arms and travel the road to publication together.  I lived for the posts on Facebook which told of a new friend's triumph at coming up with a new picture book idea each day.  I felt the frustration when another person struggled to entice that creative muse to come out and play.  And I was thrilled with all the winners of the fabulous prizes Tara managed to accumulate as her way of giving back to this writing community.

This annual event even helped launch MY blog on December 6th, 2011 when my very first post was about PiBoIdMo as my way of saying thanks to a wonderful lady and what being a part of this grand challenge really meant to me.  If you would like to read that very first post, go to this link:  

http://donasdays.blogspot.com/2011/12/piboidmo-was-piece-of-cake.html

Well, only ten more days until registration opens and seventeen more days until the fun begins!  This year my picture book ideas will come with their very own theme and I even get to use a cool prize I recently won from Kathy Ellen Davis at http://kraftyellenwrites.com for simply READING picture books.  How cool is that?  

So,  who else is ready to cut a big ol' slice of Pi and take a bite of this tasty treat with me?