Tales from the Rushmore Kid

On Putting Yourself Out There - Barbara Jean Hicks

Between Tuesday and Thursday this week I traveled 2400 miles round trip by plane. I ended up with five plane changes, two one way and three the other. (Okay, they were small planes, but I admit, not quite as small as the one in the picture! And yes, that's me. The one on the right. As if you couldn't tell.)

We're talking five seat mates on this short business trip. Lots of opportunities to engage, make connections, be curious, find out things that might be useful to me as a writer. Right?

But that's not me. I'm reserved by nature. Shy. Self-effacing. Concerned about being a bother. So when I fly, I always have my Kindle and my iPad with me. I read. I play Scrabble. My electronic devices keep me from having to come up with something to say.

The downside is--not coming up with something to say keeps me from life. REAL life. Engaging, making connections, being curious, finding out things that might be useful to me as a writer--not to mention enrich my experience of life immensely.

Breakfast with the Authors - Sat October 6th

I am honored to have been asked to participate in the 60th Santa Barbara Author Breakfast this October 6th. 

Twelve local children's authors will attend and sign books.

Registration deadline September 24th

For additional details contact Rose Koller at [email protected] or (805) 964-4711 x 5222.

The Case for Complexity - Barbara Jean Hicks

from the teaching files of educator
and children's author Barbara Jean Hicks

I've written before in this column encouraging authors doing school visits to pay special attention to their state's educational standards as they prepare their programs. An author's ability to tie her presentations to state standards makes her more valuable (and more saleable as a speaker) than an author whose primary focus is entertainment.

Not that we don't want to entertain! Every teacher knows that fun learning is the best learning, so a didactic presentation won't have the same impact as an entertaining one. The trick is to know what students at your target age level are expected to know and help teachers by supporting those concepts in your program in a fun and interesting way.

Understanding standards, as well as general trends in education, is also helpful for authors deciding what to do for their next project. What should you be writing to find a market for your work? How can your personal interests be presented in a way that meets educator's demands? How can your next project help teachers meet their classroom goals and help students learn what they need to know?

Here's some inside information about recent shifts in education policy in the U.S. that may help authors interested in meeting the needs of students and teachers with their next project:

How I spent my summer...Rushmore!

On my summer trip back to Rushmore, I wanted to pay homage to the subject of my Hanging Off Jefferson's Nose, Lincoln Borglum. On the mountain he is always present; the museum is named after Lincoln.  But I found a more fitting homage. A wood-planked walkway surrounds the mountain and leads down into Gutzon Borglum's old studio. On the way back up to the Visitor Center, there is a small stone patio with a bust of Gutzon. The bust was carved by Lincoln. This is where I decided to place my book for both father and son.  Theirs is an amazing American story and I feel honored to have been the one to tell it.

Five Good Minutes - Barbara Jean Hicks

from the bookshelves of educator and children's author
Barbara Jean Hicks

Writing "Morning Pages," an activity described in Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, is by far the most impactful discipline I've ever practiced. The idea is to freewrite three pages, longhand, before you do anything else in the morning. Many of you have done or are still doing Morning Pages on a regular basis. It's an excellent way to get in touch with dreams and desires, and I've often used my pages to generate story ideas or work out story problems.

But they take me about forty minutes in the morning, and I don't always have mornings so leisurely I can afford forty minutes before I have to start the business of my day. On those days, my go-to book is a little volume with a big title: Five Good Minutes: 100 Morning Practices to Help You Stay Calm & Focused All Day Long. Published in 2005 by New Harbinger Publications and authored by Jeffrey Brantley, M.D. and Wendy Millstine, this book provides short, simple exercises designed to help you "become more present, connect more fully, and enrich your life."

There is something sacred about being present in the moment--letting go of all regrets of the past and fears of the future, and simply being. It's not an easy thing. This little book helps me get there.

The 9/11 Memorial

I write nonfiction books about monuments, so when I attend the SCBWI winter conference I made plans to see the 9/11 memorial.  The books I've written about focus on long ago presidents who shaped history. The 9/11 Memorial honors by name over three thousand innocent people killed while going to work, flying home or heading up stairwells to save lives.  Being there was a moving experience.

The builders of the memorial used the holes where the twin towers had sat, directing a waterfall into a deep pit. The water first pours out from under ledges engraved with  the names of all the people killed on 9/11 at the World Trade Center in 1993.  The names are etched in such a way that you can make rubbings of them.  I didn't know anyone personally who had perished but I made it a point to run my hands over each and every name, and I said  prayers for the loved one who were left behind.

Reflect today on the strength of our country and the resilience of its people.

A Poem for the New School Year - Barbara Jean Hicks

from the Great Poems files of author and teacher
Barbara Jean Hicks

I love September. I suppose because I've been in the field of education for so long, September feels more like New Beginnings to me than January does. I have my brand new September-to-August calendar on my desk, already starting to fill up with staff meetings and student/parent meetings and state test dates and deadlines (and school holidays!).

I like to start the new year off by talking to my students about choices. The choices they make on a daily basis will determine how much they will learn--how successful they are. Because I teach for an online school, daily choices regarding time, energy and attention are especially significant for my students.

Thinking about choices reminds me that for every choice we make, there is a choice we don't make. A road we don't take. One of these days I'll write a novel about roads not taken; I've been noodling on it for years. For now, I read Robert Frost's famous poem about roads converging in a yellow wood and try to be intentional about where I'm going--reminding myself that what's important is not which choice I make but the fact that I make a choice rather than allowing myself to be swept along like one of those yellow leaves in an autumn breeze...

PHOTO COURTESY ANN WILSON, http://one-pilgrims-journey.blogspot.com/

How I spent my summer...Rushmore!

I made a promise to myself when my manuscript for Hanging Off Jefferson's Nose was acquired in 2005 that I wouldn't go to Rushmore again without the book in my hand.  Here I am this summer on Mount Rushmore, promise kept!
I was in South Dakota doing book signings at and near the memorial.  It was a magical, fun time and a thrill to see the mountain again.  All the years of wanting to tell this story has finally come true.  This picture might look like I photoshopped the presidents in, but I am thrilled to say I didn't--they are the real thing.   I plan to go back for signings at least once every year!