Today I welcome Rebecca Duvall Scott onto my blog for an interview! While you're here, check out her two books – book 2 is a new release!
By Rebecca Duvall Scott
I made up my mind right then and there that I would just have to wade into this move like wading into a pond or lake I’d never seen before – slow and steady, feeling around for my footing and trying to avoid the sharp edges at the bottom that you never see coming.
***
News of what really happened to me – to us – spread through town like wildfire. It caught from one dry gossip tree to another and burned them to the ground with shame.
***
“Y’can do this, child – show ‘em why I call y’Dignity,” my old friend winked at me.
Skillfully written and sure to draw you in to its pages, When Dignity Came to Harlan is set in the early 1900s and follows twelve-year-old Anna Beth Atwood as she leaves Missouri with her family dreaming of a better life in the coal-rich mountains of Harlan County, Kentucky. Anna Beth’s parents lose everything on the trip, however, and upon asking strangers to take their girls in until they get on their feet, Anna Beth and her baby sister are dropped into the home of Jack and Grace Grainger – who have plenty of problems of their own. Anna Beth suffers several hardships during her time in Harlan, and if it wasn’t for her humble and wise old friend who peddles his wisdom along with his wares, all would be lost.
Based on a true family history, this is a story of heartbreak and hope, challenges and perseverance, good and evil, justice and merciful redemption. It exemplifies the human experience in all its many facets and shows what it means to have real grit.
Take the journey with us and see how, with the unseen hand of God, one girl changed the heart and soul of an entire town.
Grab a copy HERE!
Teaching Dignity
By Rebecca Duvall Scott
How often does this town welcome new folk? I wondered. I had been told the previous schoolteacher had held her position for thirty-some years… and something in my gut whispered I could be the outsider for the next thirty.
***
I crossed my arms over my heart. No matter how old I got, it seemed the little, wounded girl inside was only inches under the skin.
***
If anything could distract me from my own struggles, it would be Jenny Logan.
As a first-year teacher fresh out of college, Miss Anna Beth Atwood is struggling to find her own path both inside and outside the one-room schoolhouse. The trials of the Great Depression, racial segregation, social class division, and domestic violence don’t make her job any easier, but the real challenge will be confronting – and overcoming – her traumatic past once and for all.
Heartfelt, emotional, and painfully honest, the story of Teaching Dignity is a shining light in the darkest times. Written by award-winning author of When Dignity Came to Harlan, Anna Beth’s journey into adulthood reminds readers of the important adage “To thine own self be true,” but more importantly… where could we go but to the Lord?
Walk in Anna Beth’s shoes and see firsthand how the rekindling of one woman’s faith has the power to not only help her students and community but herself as well.
Writing Interview questions.
Why did you choose to write your book in this era?
The first two books of the Dignity series are set in the early 1900s – 1930s and follows the life Anna Beth Atwood, a 12-year-old who is left in foster care and must then grow up to overcome a traumatic past. Book one, When Dignity Came to Harlan, is based on the childhood of my great-grandmother who grew up in foster care in the late 1800s, so I felt it was important to keep the era, setting, and details as close to the original story as possible. I wanted to transport readers back to this simpler, yet often more difficult time in history and help them see, feel, and understand what life was like back then… what life was like for both my great-grandmother and the main character based on her, given all she suffered and had to overcome. The human experience, no matter what the era, ties people together across all years and cultural differences; for me, this “old-time” series exemplifies the human grit of our hardworking and sacred forebears and brings vice and virtue sharply into focus!
Can you share something about the book that isn’t covered in the blurb?
While book one is based on true family history, book two, Teaching Dignity, is all fiction. Originally, I was only going to write When Dignity Came to Harlan and its sequel, In Search of Dignity, which would be told from my great-grandfather’s point of view when he met Anna Beth Atwood and married her. However, after the release of book one, Dignity Fans started messaging me with some good questions; they wanted more time with this newly formed family and to see how Anna Beth processed her difficult beginning as she strove to grow into a woman. It got my wheels turning, and book two, Teaching Dignity, became the glue that would hold book one and now three together! I also have a book four and possibly five floating around in my head and heart.
What was the most challenging part about writing your book?
The most challenging part of writing a series based on truth was trying to do the truth justice. I, of course, do not know every detail of my great-grandmother’s life, so I had to fill in many blanks with fiction. As with any story, the characters I created (while some were based on real people) took on a life of their own, too. I found that the most respectful way to handle the story that had been entrusted to me was to include a Truth vs. Fiction chart in the back of book one. This way, everyone can read the book(s) and experience the same thoughts and emotions as the characters, but then read the Truth vs. Fiction and discover what I based the story on and how I then fictionalized it.
Personal Interview questions.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
When I’m not writing, editing, or marketing, my time is filled up with church, family, being a mother, and homeschooling! I also direct a small homeschool co-op that incorporates special needs children as my first published work was a self-help memoir, Sensational Kids, Sensational Families: Hope for Sensory Processing Differences.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I always wanted to be a published author. I remember showing a gift for writing as early as the 4th grade, and I had many good teachers, family, and friends who encouraged me along the way. Some of my favorite times were sitting around my grandmother’s table listening to stories of the old days. I knew When Dignity Came to Harlan was the story I was always meant to tell, but I never guessed how well-received it would be or how large the series would grow! I feel very blessed to have been the storykeeper.
What’s for dinner tonight? What would you rather be eating?
I have a lot of food sensitivities due to an autoimmune disorder, so I eat a very restrictive diet to avoid high-inflammation foods. For dinner tonight, I’ll have an organic, homemade beef stir-fry, almond-based crackers, and piece of fruit. What would I rather be eating? Cauliflower crust veggie pizza (I really shouldn’t have the cheese and tomato sauce, but I still do every once in a while)!
Either or!
Tea or coffee: tea; sadly, coffee is on my food sensitivity no-no list
Hot or cold: in the middle – I love cool fall weather, pumpkin spice, and bonfires
Movie or book: book, every time
Morning person or Night owl: middle of the day person… I struggle to get moving sometimes and fall into bed exhausted by nightfall!
City or country: I love the calm, open, relaxed feeling of the country, but I would seriously miss being 5-10 minutes from everybody and everything
Social Media or book: book, every time
Paperback or ebook: paperback – I need to smell what I’m reading… eBooks make my eyes tired!
Rebecca Duvall Scott is an award-winning author with titles holding #1 bestseller within her publishing companies long after release. Her first work was self-help memoir, Sensational Kids, Sensational Families: Hope for Sensory Processing Differences, which she wrote in the years following her son’s sensory processing disorder diagnosis and their family’s successful treatment plan. While her special-needs advocacy helping parents, teachers, and professionals better understand individuals with SPD has a large part of her heart, her roots have always been in historical fiction. Her long-awaited Christian historical fiction novel, When Dignity Came to Harlan, was based on her great-grandmother’s childhood, and Teaching Dignity continues the tender and heroic story. She looks forward to writing more in both the Dignity and Sensational Kids series.
Rebecca lives with her husband, Eric, and their two children, Annabelle and Jacob, in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to writing, Rebecca enjoys family, church, educating her children at home, painting, and directing a local homeschool cooperative organization where she works hard to accommodate all special needs.
Website • Twitter • Facebook • Instagram • Pinterest • LinkedIn
No comments:
Post a Comment