Category Archives: Education

The Mommy Scribbles: The Thing about Time

Blogging, Education, Family, Life, Writing May 13, 2013 Leave a comment

Almost two years ago I yelled at my Mom for taking my son, Charles, to get his haircut. No one told me. I was working, and everyone thought he needed a haircut.

Tonight, I told Mom something different.

“Take Charles to get a haircut,” I said. “Please don’t chop it all off.”

When my husband and I took Charles to the beach this past weekend, his hair looked like one of the fraternity boys who grow their hair out long and comb it over when the wind blew.

Medical coverage for Charles switched the name of primary caregiver to John, since he took him to his last two appointments.

Guilt rushed over me when I told Mom to take him to get his hair cut and when I saw the name change. In the past four months, I’ve worked more hours. No more than most people work.

Many spent this weekend celebrating their mothers. John surprised Charles and me with a trip to Myrtle Beach. I could not help feeling guilt when I was once a stay-at-home mom.

Add to it I schedule in writing time. I’ll admit it has been harder lately due to cooking dinners, busy spring weekends, Charles, and Mom’s health. (You’ve probably noticed I’ve fallen off my blog schedule a time or two.)

What makes a Mom?

No single recipe.

The truth is their all very different recipes and formulas.

A writing mom is among her child or kids like me scribbling notes while my son yells, “Monster truck rally.”

What better influence for a story than a boy whose hair has grown too long and loves his trucks?

By Rebecca T. Dickinson

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Thurspiration: Bullet for a Book

Blogging, Books, Education, Life, Writing May 2, 2013 Leave a comment
English: A child studying

English: A child studying (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Raise your hand if you’ve taken a bullet for your books.

Raise your hand if you’ve taken a bullet for your education.

Raise your hand if someone has threatened you because you deserve that right.


Courtesy of http://www.vitalvoices.org/node/3341.

In case you did not catch Time’s 100 Most Influential People edition, one teenage girl was on the cover. Malala Yousafzai and two girls were shot by the Taliban. She defended her right to an education.

I get it.

No one wants to study for a test.

But, imagine if you’re right was stripped from you because you’re a woman, handicapped, ADHD, diagnosed with schizophrenia, Christian, Jewish or Muslim.

It is easy to forget the books that surround us are not just a chore.

They’re a blessing.

It is easy to forget the literacy rate in some countries around the world is low, and that the people who do read are thankful for the fact they read more than most people I know, including me.

I think Malala Yousafzai is not only a heroine for women, but for the cause of literacy and education.

Go get your book.

Then spell out the words: Thank you.

By Rebecca T. Dickinson

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InspireMe: Where You Find Your Story

Art, Blogging, Books, Education, Photography, Photos, Writing March 29, 2013 Comments: 2


The house settled by the Ogle family in the Great Smokey Mountains near Gatlinburg, Tenn.

How will you create your place?

Where is it located?



How often have you traveled there or visited this place in your imagination?

Do you miss it when you go?


A downtown view of Gatlinburg, Tenn.

The truth is that the place does not belong to you. The place you write houses your characters.


Who are they?


Do they fall in love?

Do they face prejudice because they are from different ethnic or religious backgrounds?


Does one character enjoy science fiction and the other art?


You write their ending, but they do not belong to you.

Whenever I have thought of place, I look at art. There is a lot a writer can learn from photographers and painters. Since being a writer is about perfecting your craft, I think the education extends outside the boundaries of literature. As you might have noticed, I am a visual learner.


Just as I enjoy authors who write visually; for example, Joshilyn Jackson and Pat Conroy, I also look for artwork that moves and teaches me about place and character.


Where do you find inspiration?

Photos and Words by Rebecca T. Dickinson

Friday Night Writes: When the Stadium Lights Go Out

Blogging, Economy, Education, Family, Life, Unemployment, Writing March 23, 2013 Comments: 2

Josh Harnett thinks about leaving Kirsten Dunst on the football field in The Virgin Suicides. Thanks to Jake-Weird, http://3.bp.blogspot.com/

One man switches off the lights in the football stadium.

No one is left that he sees, but sometimes someone or something stays hidden out of the spotlight. He, she or it is not ready to leave.

But, as soon as Josh Harnett got it in The Virgin Suicides he left Kirsten Dunst alone on the football field.

As writers, artists, professionals, students or parents; everyone believes they are left on a cold, gray metal seat in a stadium lost to watching birds and bugs pick at leftover hamburger and hotdog buns.

The challenge we face only grows more difficult whether it is writing a query letter, making a character real or trying to figure out how you will mold your career, family and art together.

Yesterday, the lights turned off. The stadium, dark.

The hardest thing a person must do is to make a choice.

If you’ve read before, you know I am a mother, teacher, author/ writer and beginning my graduate work.

Last year, I was offered a job with which I fell in love, and my bosses have offered as many opportunities as they could. When I talk about the job, you would think I was talking about the love of my life. If you’ve been unemployed or someone in your family has been unemployed and worried about your child’s future, you discover a good job brings gratitude. Finding a job you love is a miracle.

I sat across from my graduate advisor for the first time yesterday. He said in my last semester I would have to quit my job to do the internship in the public school system.

I sank in the chair. I thought You’ve got to be kidding me. A long time ago I was a kid who highlighted her hair every other month, wore boat shoes and played sorority dress up until I discovered it meant nothing.

Those days of playing dress up are done.

I know outside of the current job I have now, my intended career requires certification and high standards in the world of teaching. During childhood, I played with two prominent items: my imagination to create stories and an art easel from which I taught my stuffed animals and cats.

Nothing has changed my dreams now.

The professor, in his wisdom, said my place of work may be willing to work with me and I should not have a problem receiving loans and scholarships to pay for school.

That’s not my first concern, believe it or not. I have to pay bills, too.

I sucked it up, went home and got my son. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, I decided.

Perhaps I’m being to bold. Maybe too honest. But I know many other writers are struggling to work and find time for their writing. I know other artists have children and think about time set aside for their work. They want to know, even after two-years or more of sweating, painting and of rejections, that they’re not the only ones fumbling around to turn on the spotlight.

Rebecca T. Dickinson

Sorry Friday Night Writes is a little late.

Friday Night Writes is an every other week column or article in which I share views or writing samples.

When We Write Letters, Part VII

Blogging, Education, Life, Literature, Writing March 10, 2013 Comments: 6

Cell phone alarm rings again.

You wake up slowly and grab your clothes in the dark.

Maybe you forget to check whether clothes match.

Going outside, you realize it’s raining. You’re already behind the time it takes to get to work or to school. You race to the car.

Just before you turn into the parking lot at work, a drink falls and rolls beneath your break.

A writer’s feelings about the query letter are like that.

Instead of, “Do I really have to write this,” we must come up with a new approach or attitude.

It is simple.

Know your book and know your agents.

Other great blog posts tell you how to format and write the letter. They know more than me.

In my four years of research about agents and how to write query letters, I’ve learned a lot.

For me, sending letters to literary journals and anthologies was good training ground for the query. I learned how to handle rejection and how to improve my cover letters.

A query letter is all about education:

  • Know your agent:

    What is he or she interested in? What books have they represented? What do they detest?

    Good hint: on Twitter, use hashtags like #querytips and #agenttips or check out Ayesha Schroeder’s blog

  • Know your story:

    If you do not know your story, you will not know how to select prospective agents.

    That’s right. I said you select. You have the power to pick agents and decide whether they might be a fit for your book.

    For example, my book, Sons of the Edisto, is an older YA historical fiction book written from the perspective of two boys. It is set in a realistic 1920s time period during which a hateful organization influenced state and national government.

    A lot of agents will not touch it. Why? It deals with two boys coming face-to-face with the evil Ku Klux Klan. I know I need to write a query to agents interested in history, politics or fiction for boys.

    You decide what potential agent might suit your work.

By Rebecca T. Dickinson

This concludes the When We Write Letters Series.

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Friday Night Writes: Reasons Why We Write

Blogging, Books, Economy, Education, Writing March 8, 2013 Comments: 8

Write what you know.

Write what inspires you.

Write about what you’re interested in.

Write about what you’re willing to research.

Write what you fear.

Courtesy of http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/lindsayreyes/

Some bloggers write to share knowledge of publishing and share how-to query. Others blog to write.

I have heard the above advice and reasons at different points in my writing life.

What each artist shares in common is that they write what they want.

Use all the advice you want. In fact, I implore you.

Make a choice.

In 2006, I chose fear, inspiration and research when I began Sons of the Edisto. I thought: How did the U.S. tolerate a racist organization to influence national politics and parade through the streets of Washington, D.C. in 1925? What inspired my grandfather to stand up to injustice?

Could I find the courage to write about a controversial subject?

I have written two manuscripts, short stories and some nonfiction. Three important themes play roles in my contemporary and historical fiction:

  • Family and Friendship

    So much is written about love and relationships, especially paranormal. I have attempted to write about real relationships between families and friends. What makes those bonds so special?

  • The Economy

    I write about a time set before the Great Depression and in stories set in today’s time. As a staff writer, I saw the recession kick in before the national news acknowledged it. Businesses closed and people began to lose hope; and yet, many friends and families pulled together in the generation of the iPad and iPod.

  • When my cousin was 4-years-old, he called me mommy-in-training. I babysat, tutored and cared for little ones for about as long as I have written. No one says funnier or wiser things than the children whom I teach.

    My fear is someone will forget a child’s voice. It will not be heard.

All of these themes and reasons to write make me grateful that six publications thus far have given me great opportunities.

On this Friday Night Writes, I am proud to announce the beautiful Black Fox Literary Magazine’s publication of Adventures of Elliot McSwean: The Question in its Number 7 edition. If you wish to check it out, the story is on page 40.

(Please also check out the many other wonderful stories and poems.)

Fifth grader Elliot McSwean is a skinny blonde boy with glasses who is pushed around by two older teen sisters, followed by a four-year-old sister and raised by a father who still believes Russians will attack. He will try to answer and solve the unknown problems in his small town outside Charlotte, N.C. The Question is the first story of the series.

After snack, Mom sent Jillian and I to play outside instead. I needed to make it to the computer before my tormentors arrived home from school. Mom’s eyes scanned the backyard from the kitchen window like a hawk circling above its nest. Jillian followed me everywhere with her pink sparkle wand. I thought of ways to get past Mom and Jillian. Once I figured out what politically correct meant I could focus on the scientific potion with Davie. He was the brains of that plan. We had a formula drink for pregnant moms to turn their babies into boys, so guys like me were not stuck with too many sisters.

~Elliot McSwean

By Rebecca T. Dickinson

When We Write Letters, Part VI: Letters from Grandma

Blogging, Education, Family, Literature, Writing February 24, 2013 Comments: 6

Letters arrived at camp.

The post man delivered them to my parents’ mailbox.

Letters came all the time.

Now they never come.

I miss her letters. Only three or four remain. Paper slightly aged, and cursive letters written into the page. I feel where my grandmother’s pen pressed down.

I called my grandmother “Dick Dick,” a name which received unfortunate taunting as I grew up. Since our last name is Dickinson, we shortened it. She signed every letter “Grandmother Dick Dick.”

She wrote about what my grandfather was doing, asked about what I was learning in school and added information to her letters beginning with the phrase, Did you know …

Dick Dick sent newspaper clippings about reading, but it was my father who helped me how to read her handwriting.

She wrote small cursive letters that ran into each other like little tug boats in the water. Sometimes I could not tell an f from an s. While at camp, her letters were left open for my interpretation.

At Governor’s School the Arts – Creative Writing freshman summer program in 2000, Dick Dick sent me a letter almost every day. She wanted to know what I wrote about. In her youth, she and my grandfather read Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning’s poems they composed in letters to each other.

Sometimes she scribbled a quote from their poetry.

When she died in 2003 one month before I graduated high school, I thought it marked the end of my childhood. I was depressed when my grandfather died, and I tried to bury feelings when Dick Dick died.

I wanted to keep them alive.

At age twenty, I began to interpret Papa’s legacy with Sons of the Edisto.

Dick Dick inspired me, also.

She ordered Hooked-on-Phonics so I could improve my speech.

She encouraged my writing.

She was also one of the people who influenced my name at birth, Rebecca Tinsley Dickinson, and the reason I am published as a journalist and author under the name, Rebecca T. Dickinson.

She was the last person to write me letters.

Who wrote you letters?

By Rebecca T. Dickinson

Next Week: for the grand finale, The Query Letter

When We Write Letters, Part IV: A Mommy Scribbles Letter

Blogging, Economy, Education, Family, Life, Photography, Writing February 10, 2013 1 Comment



My son next to the Catawba River in Jan. 2012

Dear Son:

Some say a mother who stays at home is the best.

They say she is better than all of the rest.

She is blessed her husband works

in a job that brings the check

to support her and the little ones.

 

 

Son, you hit and shout at your school.

You slapped a girl in the face,

and sat in the director’s office.

I found out at mid-day

when the text rang through to my phone.

 

 

I could not take you in the mornings.

I no longer give you your early snack.

Your one time stay-at-home mom

is not there to put you down for a nap.

 

 

Is that the reason why you react

to the children at your school?

Is that the reason my heart

breaks at the thought of you?

I hear those mothers preach.

I can see them in my sleep.

 

 

You are the reason I race home

51 mph in a 35 mph zone,

so I’m the one who takes you outside

and tells you of birds, colors, shapes and letters.

 

 

Do you recall us walking by the river:

The grayish bare trees where no one

could see us? I picked you up

and we counted the geese

as their wings dashed the water.

 

 

You guided me down the narrow path,

and took me to the ruined bridge

knocked down years and years ago.

We stood there longer than most

parents and their two-year-olds.



Both photos taken Feb. 2013.

The most difficult task as a writer, worker and parent is not a critique of your work. It comes in your doubt of yourself as a parent. When you write letters, sometimes you need to write one to yourself.

I believe strongly in motherhood. I believe all kinds mothers make great moms whether they are in charge of a company, a news woman, attending school, working part-time, a writer or they stay in the home.

Photos and Words by Rebecca T. Dickinson

Next week After You Get Your Foot in the Door will post.

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When We Write Letters, Part III: Putting Your Foot in the Door

Economy, Education, Life, Unemployment, Writing February 3, 2013 Comments: 5

Courtesy of http://saleshq.monster.com

You want to shove open an employer’s door and say, “Hey, look what I have to offer.”

Common sense tells us that action works like a date gone wrong; it makes the employer run the other way.

Maybe you’ve been unemployed for a long time. Perhaps you work part-time, and like me, you need more hours. Or, rumors at the office or factory say more job cuts are coming soon. You’re not looking forward to sitting across the desk from a manager, and that manager is thinking about the shot of whiskey after work just to get the guilt off his or her mind.

Why is this important?

I have met a person facing every one of the above scenarios, and the drought of jobs plays a major role in my fiction. If you read my Bio page, you know my family was also hit hard by the economy.

What do you do to stand on your feet again?

You set time aside. You forget the bills sitting on the desk for now. In fact, put them out of sight because they only remind you of what you don’t have. Your focus needs to be on what you will have if you write a solid cover letter to a potential employer.

The same research applies to literary magazines, how to query an agent and how to apply for a job. In this case, find out about the company. Look at their online profile. What future opportunities does it offer? What does it do? What is the company looking for in an employee? Who is taking applications and cover letters? Does the company display specific colors?

The answers to every one of those questions will help you write your cover letters.

In the time you’ve set aside, you first get to know a company. Dear Sir or Madam has gone the way of the dinosaurs. To stick your toe in the door, you need to personalize each cover letter you send.

Address what the company is looking for and how you meet the criteria. If the company asks in its advertisement: Must be willing to take additional training. Tell how you’re a great learner.

If the company does have specific colors, create a header on your Microsoft Word, Apple or other program that uses those same colors. There is no need to go over the top, but make the header look professional. This worked for me a few times.

Even though I did not receive a job offer from every company that interviewed me, almost every one of them told me how my cover letter impressed them..

In July 2012, the right cover letter landed on the right desk and I found a great part-time job.

Read next week for When We Write Letters, Part IV: After You Get Your Foot in the Door

By Rebecca T. Dickinson

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When We Write Letters, Part II: Cover Letters to Magazines

Blogging, Education, Literature, Writing January 27, 2013 Comments: 3


Courtesy of http://ja-nae.net/blog/the-power-of-letter-writing/how-to-write-a-letter.

I read today story collections are almost extinct.

Few people read stories.

An agent would be a fool to represent it.

I am one of the only writers at a writing group that puts some focus into story composition; not just a novel.

Yet, many literary magazines, ezines and blogs fight to keep this art alive. In the fight and competition there exists promising new writers and emerging authors.

Before you send your story, you must come face-to-face with another almost vanished art. You need to send a cover letter.

It sounds corporate. A cover letter sounds too business-ish. Some of you feel the tie squeeze your neck, or those closed toe shoes suffocate your toes.

The reality is a cover letter helps show off who you are. While some magazines place less importance on a letter than others, most publications like a cover letter.

A cover letter hows:

  1. Shows You Care.

    Mention something about the magazines. Publications prefer you to read back issues and stories on their website. If you cannot afford a subscription for whatever reason, at least research a magazine’s website. Read about the editors and their assistants.

    You’ll find answers to these questions:

    What is the page or word limit?

    Is the publication mostly student run?

    Do they like satire, children’s stories or do they despise stories about dogs, etc.?

    Think of looking at a website as getting to know the magazine.

  2. Introduces You: Do not worry if you’re an unpublished writer. All I had going for me in the beginning was the fact I worked as a staff writer at a small community newspaper in the middle of North Carolina. It was a start.

Mention your experience. If you’re a cop, be proud you’re a cop. Tell what kind of cop you are, unless you’re a top-secret investigator or undercover officer.

A cover letter need only be a half-page to one page. Make sure you address the specific magazine or editor. If you’re story is nonfiction, you don’t want to send the story to the fiction editor.

Unlike a query letter in which you focus most of your attention on your concept, a cover letter to a magazine offers you more page room to introduce your experience and what you know about the magazine. It also doesn’t hurt to mention your word count.

Every letter is different.

Every writer takes on a different vision.

You’re polished story is most important, but once again go old-school and draft a letter.

By Rebecca T. Dickinson

Related Articles

http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/the-10-dos-and-donts-of-writing-a-query-letter

http://rebeccatdickinson.wordpress.com/

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