Wake up, kidlit campers! Rise and shine! It’s time to register for Picture Book Idea Month!

I hope you’re ready to take the 30-picture-book-ideas-in-30-days challenge!

Need to know more before you sign up? Read this.

Those who sign-up for Picture Book Idea Month will be eligible for prizes—like feedback from one of four literary agents and critiques from picture book editors! Plus more to come!

To register for PiBoIdMo 2012, you must do three things:

1. Subscribe to this blog via email.  (Click “Follow Tara’s Blog” button in left column.)

2. Leave your full name in the comments of this post. The form will ask for your email address. Please enter it so I can contact you if need be. (Your address won’t be published and I won’t use it for any other purpose.) PLEASE LEAVE ONLY ONE COMMENT. DO NOT REPLY TO COMMENTS.

3. Display the official PiBoIdMo participant badge on your blog, website, or social network. (Right click to save to your computer.) Please include a link back to taralazar.com so folks know where to join the challenge.  And if you’re game, mention what an awesome job illustrator Ward Jenkins did on the logos. (If you don’t have anywhere to display the badge, then skip this one.)

Optional Other Stuff:

4. Purchase PiBoIdMo merchandise, like the official journal. [Note: more items to come over the next week.] All proceeds ($3 per item) benefit RIF, helping to put books into the hands of underprivileged children.

4. Add a Twibbon to your Twitter avatar and use the #PiBoIdMo hashtag when tweeting about the event.

5. Join the PiBoIdMo Facebook discussion group. (Note: the name says “2011” but it is the current group.)

6. Repeat after me:

I do solemnly swear
that I will faithfully execute
the PiBoIdMo 30-ideas-in-30-days challenge,
and will, to the best of my ability,
parlay my ideas into
picture book manuscripts
throughout the year.

That’s it. You’re golden!

REGISTRATION REMAINS OPEN THROUGH NOVEMBER 7th. You can still follow along if you’re not registered, but remember, those who register and complete the challenge are eligible for agent and editor prizes like picture book critiques.

PiBoIdMo will kick-off with the first guest post October 25th for Pre-PiBo, a week designed to help you prepare for the event. There will also be a Post-PiBo the first week in December to help you organize all those ideas.

Visit this blog for daily inspiration from the guest bloggers, then keep a journal or computer file of your ideas. There’s no need to post your ideas online or send them to me. KEEP YOUR IDEAS TO YOURSELF! As Sheena Easton croons, they’re “for your eyes only.”

If you’d like, comment on the daily posts. You don’t have to say anything profound, a simple “Keeno Yaccarino!” will do.

At the end of the month, I’ll ask you to sign the PiBo-Pledge confirming you did create 30 ideas, and then I’ll pick prize winners from those who have registered and pledged.

Thanks for joining! I hope you enjoy this year’s PiBoIdMo! As always, if you have any suggestions for this event, please contact me at tarawrites (at) yahoo (dot) com or post on the PiBoIdMo Facebook group.

I will leave you with a quote that serves as PiBoIdMo’s motto…from Roald Dahl’s THE MINPINS…

And above all,
watch with glittering eyes
the whole world around you
because the greatest secrets
are always hidden
in the most unlikely places.
Those who don’t believe in magic
will never find it.