Banana Peelin' with Ame Dyckman

BEEP. That's BOT for hello. Today marks the beginning of the Banana Peel Count Down to Halloween. This month, authors from some of my favorite festively ghoulish books will be featured. I am super excited to have Ame Dyckman here today. She is incredibly funny and she has this great book called BOY + BOT. Now, BOY + BOT isn't necessarily a Halloween book, BUT it does include a robot and what Halloween is complete without a robot or TEN?! Please welcome AME DYCKMAN!!!!

BANANA PEELIN’ POST

Ame Dyckman

            Hi, guys!  Want to read my big Banana Peelin’ moment?  And how I finally picked myself up and brushed banana bits of my pants?

            Okay, here goes:

            My first picture book manuscript was called BLACKBERRY, THE FLYING GOAT. There are several good reasons why you’ve never heard of it:

·         BLACKBERRY was 1,423 words long. 

·         It had a grown-up protagonist. 

·         And it was a love story.  (Not with the goat.)

Yeah, I hadn’t done my homework.  So naturally, I was convinced my manuscript was awesome! 

In March, 2008, I took BLACKBERRY to my very first NJ SCBWI event.

I was positive the editor would adore it.

I expected her to write “A+++” all over it, like the teacher in A Christmas Story.

I thought she’d hand me a contract over dessert.

I could not have been more mistaken. 

After my critique, I went home and:

·         Cried.

·         Ate all the ice cream and blamed it on a freezer malfunction.

·         Got a shovel and buried BLACKBERRY in my backyard.

Then I rolled up my sleeves (which were really muddy from all that digging), and I got to work.

I signed up for every single NJ SCBWI event I could.

I went to First Page Sessions and Mentoring Workshops and Annual Conferences.        And I listened to all the feedback and advice.

What I heard most was, “If you want to write picture books, you have to read them.”

I read picture books to my kid, of course.  But I needed to read them to me.

So I got the biggest tote bag I could find and I went to my local library and checked out 50 picture books—the max you can check out at one time.

I went home and read those 50 picture books and brought them back and got 50 more.

And then I got a library card in my kid’s name so I could check out 100 picture books at a time.  (If you bake for your librarians—which you should do anyway—they will pretend not to notice when you do this.)

I got a Picture Book Haul every week.  (And I still do. )

And I kept going to NJ SCBWI events.  (And I still do.)

With all that reading, my writing and my feedback improved.  Editors said my writing was funny, but there was a little problem.

My subject matter was too… weird. 

I was told there wasn’t a big market for a picture book about a were-chicken. 

Or a talking bowl of fruit. 

Or a dead goldfish. 

After contemplation (and more ice cream), I realized the editors were right.  I needed a protagonist with wider appeal—not banana peel.

And my first thought was, “Well, everybody loves robots!”

Like her book, Ame is awesome. She has offered to giveaway a copy of BOY + BOT plus some swag.  All you need to do is leave a comment below describing the strangest premise for a book you have ever had OR a book you have read that has haunted you ever since due to its wackiness! (My "friend" offers a personal example: a girl with a pet hairball, named Harriett.) Thank you so much for reading! Good luck!