Picture Book Marathon: Day 14

Kicking off at a 5K run.

Huff. Puff. Whoof. What a week. I seem to have hit the obstacle course portion of the marathon. Sick kids, sick wife, sick me, volunteering for my son's class field trip that left me exhausted at the end of the day, and a couple of dud story ideas gave this week a different pace than the opening week. That initial kick of adrenaline was fun, but now it's time to power through the middle miles.

Funny how a concept can seem to have so much promise in the brainstorm phase, but when you sit down to write it, the whole thing falls flat. Luckily, with the marathon format, you just pick up the next day with a new story and don't look back at the potholes. So, Thursday's post on the Picture Book Marathon blog couldn't have come at a better time. Titled "Stinkers and Duds", Mary Cole, an agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency is quoted as saying that 1 in 10 of her clients' picture book ideas is saleable, so the more we try out, the greater our chance of creating a gem. That blog post was like a splash of water at the ten mile marker (Thanks, Lora and Jean), so I'm entering week three with renewed vigor. Oh jeez. Did my shoelace just come untied?