Thinking of a picture book idea every day during November for PiBoIdMo has been a piece of cake so far, but it’s only November 4th and I know the challenge will become more difficult.
My six-year old son is a purple belt in taekwondo and my two-year old daughter loves to hop around pretending she’s a kangaroo. After watching Mason show off his moves and Sophie hop around the house, my friend Robin told me, “Your kids are great. One’s a ninja and the other is a kangaroo. It doesn’t get any better than that!”
I laughed and said, “That’s a great idea for a picture book!”
There’s never a dull moment at our house. We have a ninja, a kangaroo, and a Weimaraner puppy. I think many of my ideas during PiBoIdMo will come from the crazy stuff Charlie Blue does on a daily basis.
She howls when my son plays the harmonica. She brings back stuff to recycle almost every time we walk. She pulls the kiddos on their sled in the winter. She rolls in smelly stuff. She jumps in the back of the bike trailer when she gets tired. She swims in the river, but she’s afraid of sprinklers. She’s a furniture hog. And the queen of stealing hats . . .
One of my favorite Charlie moments happened when my daughter was crying hysterically on my lap. Charlie (the biggest food thief in the world) gently carried a graham cracker in her mouth over to Sophie and pushed the cracker up to Sophie’s hand with her nose. My husband, Ian, and I sat dumbfounded for several seconds. Did that really just happen? Wow!
Charlie is my quiet companion on our daily walks. I often come up with my best writing ideas when I take her to the river near our house.
We find cool stuff together like Idaho rock art.
And for being a big spazzy puppy, she sure is sweet and gentle with Sophie.
I can’t wait to see what kind of mischief Charlie gets into this month. She might come home smelly with a dirty diaper or a dead squirrel in her mouth (yes, this has happened), but who knows . . . she might do something that leads to another PiBoIdMo idea in my notebook!
Paint with Words 
Reblogged this on Owyheestar Weimaraner's News and commented:
A.J. this brightens my day. There is no sunshine other than the kind made in this post!
So sweet and funny! Looks like there will be lots of good inspiration to come 🙂
Thanks, Donna. It will be interesting 🙂 She’s always up to something!
My boy Blue. Weimaraner is 10 today! My son has a Blue Weimy from Oy, too. His 2 nd. Son.
Awesome!!! Happy birthday, Blue!
Good luck to you! I’m trying to get words down this month too, but this will be for a Middle Grade novel. Thank you for stopping by my blog. I’m looking forward to reading more on yours.
Good luck to you, too! I look forward to reading your posts as well :). It’s great to connect with other kid lit writers!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Charlie’s a real boon for PiBoIdMo, as well as being adorable. We only have one cat now, and she sleeps for about 20 hours a day… Much less material from that!
Haha! Thank you! Happy writing!
Awh lovely photos! I think it’s great your two year old hops around like a kangaroo. I was lucky to go to Australia and see some. I’m also twice British Champion in TKD. I have so much in common with this post lol. And that is a great idea for a pb. Good luck with it!
I would love to take my kiddos to Australia someday and I can’t wait to tell my son that I met a writer who is also a taekwondo champion! Very happy to connect with you :).
Likewise! I actually used to live in New Zealand for four years so it was only across the water to go to Asus.
You do have excellent material to work with. Best wishes to you. 😉
They keep me on my toes and inspire me everyday :). Best wishes to you as well!