Storytime

As I said in the last post, I have been attempting PiBoIdMo...picture book idea month. Although I expanded horizons slightly and allowed it to be a month of children book ideas. Picture book, poetry, short story, novel. And yes, at the end of the month I had 30 ideas. I'm not saying they are all amazing ideas, in fact a few are very very boringly ordinary...but... There are three I am quite excited about. Two could be picture books, one a junior novel. So the ideas were flowing...the difficult part is being in a child's mind. Although there are many that will say I am well and truly there, childish in so many ways. Monkey comes to mind.... as does a certain sock puppet who came away with my writing group for a writing retreat. She really threw herself into this weekend away. She read and she wrote (well she sat behind a keyboard and industriously tapped away- as so many of us do). She joined us for meals and our lamentations over the publishing ...

I'm usually not one for being hugely inspired by people. Don't get me wrong, there are countless people out there that I truly admire, think what they do is just wonderful and wish I could have a small percentage of their courage / beliefs / understanding / passion / strength etc. However I recently went to a birthday party for a lovely lady who really does inspire me. Annette just turned 80. Yep 80. That in itself is a feat these days but Annette is more than her years. She is one of the most kind hearted and caring people I know. She believes there is good in everyone, and although she does have certain definite ideals and beliefs, is willing to listen to another's point of view. But what truly inspires me is that she makes the most out of everyday. She sings in a choir, she learnt how to play piano, she line dances and recently took private tango lessons. Tango lessons! She joined toast masters, writes and paints, goes to local theatre...the list goes on and ...