PiBoIdMo 2013: A Promising List

Picture Book Idea Month is over, and I am once again a "winner." I have filled the first few pages of my little pink notebook with more than 30 ideas and now have a promising list of potential projects to pursue!

But what makes a list of picture book ideas promising?

Maybe it's the ratio of original to overdone: A promising picture book idea list must have 5 original concepts for every overdone idea!

Maybe it's the number of fully-formed concepts versus vague titles: It should be at least 2/3 full of fully fleshed-out storylines!

Maybe variety is the key: It should contain ideas based on a variety of topics, age groups and formats, ranging from preschool ABC books to picture story books about friendship and death!

Truthfully, a promising picture book list may be none of those things (or it may be all of them). It all depends on what the author chooses to do with the ideas within those pages. Some of the ideas on my list are fun concepts, but I'm not sure how I will pursue them yet. Some are cute titles that desperately need a story to go with them. Some may end up being combined, others tossed out entirely, while very few are actually ready to become drafts.

But my list is promising because I have more than 30 ideas that I didn't have a month ago. My list is promising because it makes me want to write.

Did you participate in PiBoIdMo? How did your list turn out?