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Sure, I need to write about my great trip to New York City to talk about the Kidlitosphere and Cybils with Betsy Bird, Liz Burns, Anne Boles Levy, and Susan Thomsen. It's true that I've ignored my NaNoWriMo obligations for a long time. Yes, there is indeed a pile of unfolded laundry in the middle of my living room, along with neat stacks of clothes that apparently won't be taking themselves to the appropriate rooms. But what have I done so far today? Followed the lead of 100 Scope Notes and created my own picture book cover - and I couldn't be happier with the result.



CREATE YOUR DEBUT PICTURE BOOK COVER

1 – Go to “The Name Generator: at http://www.thenamegenerator.com/

Click GENERATE NEW NAME. The name that appears is your author name.

2 – Go to “Picture Book Title Generator” at http://www.generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=243

Click CREATE TITLE! This is the title of your picture book.

3 – Go to “FlickrCC” at http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php

Type the last word from your title into the search box followed by the word “drawing”. Click FIND. The first suitable image is your cover. It will give you the option to go to Picnik.

4 – Use Photoshop, Picnik, or similar to put it all together. Gettin’ creative is encouraged.

5 – Post it to your site along with this text.

(6 - Comment at 100 Scope Notes for the Cover Round-Up.)

This just tickled my funny bone–the Bookseller has a prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year* (now in its 30th year)–and some of the past winners are: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice (1978); How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art (1989); How to Avoid Huge Ships (1992); Highlights in the History of Concrete ( 1994); and Bombproof Your Horse (2004).

Those titles made me grin. You can see all the past titles here. The titles are spotted and submitted by publishers, booksellers, and librarians around the world.
Want some more fun? You can actually join in and vote for the oddest title from the past 30 years. The winner will be announced on Friday, 5th September, 2008.

To celebrate, Aurum Press will release an illustrated collection of some of the winners and nominees of past years, How to Avoid Huge Ships and Other Implausibly Titled Books. It features original jackets of 50 of the best-loved titles since the prize began.

*The formal prize from Bookseller is called Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year.

Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the link.