Monday, March 25, 2013

Interview with Rebekah Jones


Rebekah, welcome to Homeschool Authors! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Thank you! Let me see… I am a twenty-two year old, Bible believing, born again, Christian, as well as a homemaker-in-training. Besides writing of all kinds, in my free time I enjoy reading, singing, playing the piano, drawing, blogging, and spending time with family and friends. I also really enjoy studying – with a current focus on literature, history, herbology, and music.

What is your funniest homeschool memory?
Oh dear. I’m not sure. Maybe the time we had a science experiment go wrong. The experiment was going to demonstrate a chemical reaction using (among other things) baking soda, cabbage water, and vinegar, in a plastic bottle with a balloon. We certainly got the chemical reaction – but instead of simply inflating the balloon at the top of the bottle, the pressure cause the balloon to pop, giving the table (and everything on it, including us!) a shower of baking soda!

What was your favorite part of being homeschooled?
Hmm… I loved school, period. And I never knew any other way, other than being homeschooled. I loved all the books I got to read, the in-depth history studies… Those two might have been my favorite parts. I got to read as many books as we could buy and I was taught to read and re-read the good ones. As for history… We would pick a section of history, dive in and explore it; read history books about it, fictional books set in the time, make foods from the era/place, explore the fashion of the day – anything we could think of. Jamestown, 1800’s England, Ancient Egypt, The Plymouth Settlement… I loved it!

How did your education, prepare you to be a writer?
My Mom wanted me to develop my skills and style of writing from the reading of good books, so she made good reading materials available to me from a very young age. As I got older, I was given more variety. The books taught me different styles, different genres, and I learned good sentence structure, as well as grammar and punctuation. Later, I studied books devoted to the art of writing. I think this helped me develop my own style and ideas of writing, without copying the style of a specific writing teacher. :)

What caused you to start writing?
I started writing when I was seven or eight. Before that, I drew “books” of pictures that told stories. I don’t know what got me started. I always loved stories and when I was little, Daddy would make up stories to tell us. Sometimes they were spin-offs of classics, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Other times, he would make something up completely. I also loved listening to Adventures in Odyssey and I loved books. My parents used to read to us, usually Daddy, when we were little and as soon as I knew how to read, I read everything I could get my hands on. I think I wanted to be able to create my own version, of what I so much enjoyed. :)
A Year with the Potters: The Adventures and Lessons of a Homeschooling Family
What inspired A Year with the Potters
A Year with the Potters was a writing assignment when I was seventeen. I had written a lot of things and had started several books/short stories, but nearly everything was set in “olden-times” and focused on things that I really knew nothing about. Mom assigned me to write a collection of short stories following a homeschool family in their adventures, using our own experiences for story material.

What is it about?
The everyday activities in the life of a homeschooling family as they learn lessons, study nature, and grow in their faith.

Who will enjoy it?
I think homeschoolers will probably enjoy this book the most. I was asked to give an age range and we came up with ages 8 – 12, but I think it might be good as a family read aloud. :)

Where can people get it?
The paperback version is available on Amazon. You can also get it from Barnes and Noble. The e-book is available for Kindle on Amazon as well.

Are there any books that you would recommend to people who love A Year with the Potters?
The Heavens Declare by Perry Kirkpatrick. Both of our books focus around homeschooling families, who get to learn in unconventional ways.

I’m also tentatively planning a few companion books to A Year with the Potters in the future. We’ll see how that goes. :)

How does your faith effect your writing?
My faith is the foundation of my writing. Without it, my books wouldn’t exist.

Do you have any final thoughts?
Pray often over your work and don’t try to rush to the finish line. The Lord’s timing is always perfect. Do your best and let Him be in charge of when things get finished.

Thank you so much for interviewing me, Sarah! It's been fun! :)

You are so welcome Rebekah!

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