Picture Book Idea Month Starts Tomorrow!

Good news for picture book writers! As we all know, NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. But Tara Lazar also launches a sister project for picture book authors: PiBoIdMo. The challenge? Come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days throughout the month of November, beginning tomorrow.

Tara Lazar:
Writing PB's just got funner

Spiffy prizes
You have until November 3rd to go the website and sign up to vie for fabulous schwag: "Signed books, picture book critiques, art by pb illustrators, book jewelry, hand-made journals, vintage children's books, and feedback from one of three literary agents."

Our own Florida kidlit SCBWI maven Mindy Alyse Weiss is kicking off the challenge with a guest post detailing why she loves PiBoIdMo, including links to 400+ things kids like (which might be a handy source for middle-grade writers too).

Amy Shaw Publishes MeeGenius Picture Book App

A wonderful announcement:

My friend and workshop-mate Amy Shaw has just published the most amazingly imaginative picture book on MeeGenius. If you don't know this outfit, they make interactive online books (apps available for a variety of platforms) that help kids learn to read by highlighting words as the books are read aloud. The illustrations by Susan G. Robinson are beautiful, and they're clearly open to extraordinary storytelling. Amy's book is about a creature that's half Seguaro cactus and half Pacific octopus, who has a hard time making friends. You could say he's a little prickly. MeeGenius! books are a bargain at $2.99.

An Interview With Author Meg Medina

Launching Darcy Pattison's Random Acts of Publicity:

Meg, reading Tia Isa

I first met Meg Medina in the mid-'90s, when she was collaborating with dancer/choreographer Cherie Carson on a theatrical piece based on the life of her Cuban grandmother. Meg was a journalist for the now-defunct alt-weekly iCE in Palm Beach County; she also wrote grants for the Center for Creative Education. But for as long as I’ve known her, Meg has been passionately and creatively engaged with the Latino experience, and the joys and difficulties of navigating a bicultural heritage. I was bowled over when I found out she’d turned to writing fiction for children. And I was blown away by the beauty of her debut novel, Milagros: Girl From Away (Christy Ottaviano Books: An Imprint of Henry Holt Books for Young Readers).

Meg followed Milagros with a picture book, out this summer, Tia Isa Wants a Car (Candlewick Press, Spanish and paperback editions to follow in 2012). Her young adult novel, THE GIRL WHO COULD SILENCE THE WIND, is forthcoming from Candlewick in March of 2012. Although she still has family in South Florida, she now lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and kids. She’s one of the smartest and most eloquent people I know.

I'm glad to launch Random Acts of Publicity with Meg, since September is also National Hispanic Heritage Month (see Meg's recipe for arroz con pollo, and her author's blog, here, and follow her on Twitter here. I've got a giveaway: a signed copy of Milagros goes to a randomly selected commenter on this post. I’ll contact the lucky winner at the end of the week about how to mail it to you.

Questions for Meg Medina

One More Fall Creative Writing Class Opens

Just a quick post today, since I'm still immersed in WriteOnCon, the online Kidlit conference that runs through tomorrow. Children's author Gloria Rothstein (pictured left), author of Sheep Asleep (HarperCollins), will be teaching From Fairy Tales to Book Sales: The Magic of Writing for Kids beginning September 13th. This looks like an excellent class for picture book writers; it includes writing exercises, selected readings, and manuscript critiques. The class runs Tuesday nights 7-9 p.m. in Boca Raton. Call Sugar Sands Community Center for further details at 561-357-4900. The full schedule of courses offered this fall is here.

For other creative writing workshops this fall in South Florida, see this post.