It’s been a week now since Picture Book Idea Month ended, and the brainstorming dust has started to settle. Here’s something that surprised me: I miss it.

I miss my extra-long showers wherein I came up with every conceivable PB idea having to do with bathtime, soap, shampoo, and bare body parts. (PB Ideas #3, 7, and 13)

I miss that panicky feeling at the end of the day when I’d sit at my desk without an idea and scrutinize every object looking for PB gold(Look! It’s Mr. Eraser Head!). (PB Ideas #5, 11, 17, 22, and 30)

I miss starting my day with the brilliant and inspiring posts provided by all those picture book authors over at Tara Lazar’s Writing For Kids. I learned a lot about…well, writing for kids. (PB Ideas #2, 7, 18, 26, 27, and 29)

Mostly, I miss that zing when I’d have my own brilliant picture book idea–and could envision the story, could imagine a child loving the story. (PB Ideas #1, 6, and maybe 29)

It’s a long way from coming up with a picture book idea to actually writing a picture book, much less getting that picture book into a child’s hands. But thanks to PiBoIdMo, I’ve found the beginnings of a picture book writer within little, old me.

 And that may be the biggest surprise of all!