The Journey of a Lifetime

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step~Lao-Tzu, Chinese philosopher

Life is a journey, not a destination~Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet.

And so this month, I am participating in the journey of PiBoIdMo (picture book idea month), the brain child of author Tara Lazar. The purpose is to record a picture book idea (or ideas) each day. At the end of the month, the more than 1,000 participants will cull their best ideas and set to work, turning it into a manuscript worthy of submitting to a publisher.

We have a Facebook group where participants can encourage each other, and Tara has invited well-known guest bloggers to her site to encourage inspiration, creativity,and productivity. And we're half-way through!

Different people use different methods to record their ideas. Here's my notebook on the cusp of Day 1:

We are focusing on writing, with the understanding that much of a picture book story is told through the pictures. One new book getting a lot of attention is a beautiful wordless book, Journey by Aaron Becker. Here's a review from Kirkus and from Horn Book.

My amateur cover photo gives an inkling of the book's grandeur.

I love this wordless book because each reader can bring him- or herself to the story, a story that the reader can create and tell, a story that changes with the age and circumstances of the reader. It's a story unique to that reader at that time. In this book, a girl uses a red marker to "draw" herself out of her situation, which gets her into other situations that require drawing out. Well, isn't that just like life?



Find the book at the library or bookstore and see what story Journey tells you--and then continue your own journey.