KS Mitchell Author

School for Life – Springdale’s School of Innovation

The Springdale School District in Northwest Arkansas recognized the need for its students to keep pace with changing technology and that education these days is not a one size fits all approach. Enter the Don Tyson School of Innovation.

**FTC Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the Springdale School of Innovation but thoughts are my own. In researching the school, I discovered a wonderful, innovative school right here in Northwest Arkansas. Read on to learn more about it!**

School days, school days, dear old golden rule days the old song goes. Most Americans who have attended public school in the last 100 years can look back on their education from a similar viewpoint. Whether in the city or country, the emphasis was on reading, writing and arithmetic (we don’t use that word much anymore!). Mastery of these subjects meant a high school diploma and entry into college or a good job.

The job market has changed considerably though, whether education has or not. Technology is now at the forefront of many careers and a once traditional high school and college education isn’t necessarily the best fit for young adults searching for their career paths.

The Springdale School District in Northwest Arkansas recognized education these days is not a one size fits all approach and the need for students to keep pace with changing technology. Enter the Don Tyson School of Innovation.

The School of Innovation features an open floor plan.

The School of Innovation opened its doors in 2014 with the goal of offering a more flexible education that is project based and allows students to work at their own pace. In 2016, the school moved from its temporary location at the Jones Center for Families to a brand new campus in East Springdale. The new campus offers plenty of space for students to pursue their educational goals, from a more traditional education to a technology driven one.

Students who are interested in pursuing college can take the core courses needed to complete their education and also take classes that will earn them transfer credits to Northwest Arkansas Community College, allowing them to get ahead in their college educations while still in high school. Students can even earn an associate’s degree by the time they graduate from the School of Innovation.

One of the school’s primary features is its focus on STEM education – Science, Technology and Mathematics. For students who want to delve deeper into these subjects, the School of Innovation offers courses in environmental and alternative energies and robotics. Students can earn a commercial drone pilot’s license (how cool is that?) and other certifications. How many high school students can claim they’ve studied alternative energies and are licensed to fly drones?

Even the daily schedule is unique at the School of Innovation. Students spend their class time in four different classes for four days of the school week, and attend “Real World Wednesday” seminars led by different local business leaders to speak about the challenges of the business world. When I was in high school, the business world seemed a distant future, even though most students are only a few years away from getting a job. Learning how to handle the responsibilities of a job and how to manage their time well is another way the School of Innovation is helping prepare its students for the real world.

Students who have an interest in pursuing business can even take internships with local businesses like Tyson Foods while at the School of Innovation. This takes the idea of Real World Wednesdays a step further, allowing students to see what life beyond high school looks like.

Mike Rowe, former host of the popular television show Dirty Jobs, continues to speak out about the need for highly skilled and trained workers in trade jobs. He pushes back against the notion that a college education is necessary for everyone, or that it’s even the right fit for everyone. For students who want to explore options outside of a college education, the School of Innovation has it covered. They offer courses in trades like welding and heating and ventilation. These are skills students can take into the workforce immediately after graduation.

It sounds like a dream education, but, of course, students at the School of Innovation still need to do the hard work, attend classes, and keep their grades up to be able to continue on the path of their preference, whether it’s pre-college, trade, or business. Still, the school makes it easier by providing each student with a laptop and allowing them to work at their own pace to finish courses. This is part of the plan to allow each student a personalized education and the freedom to choose the courses that interest them as they consider options beyond a high school education.

The idea of a one size fits all education – reading, writing and arithmetic – is as outdated as the old song. If you’re looking for a unique education for your student, the School of Innovation is certainly worth a look. Students in the Northwest Arkansas area can attend physically, but the school offers an online option that’s available to any student in the state. The School of Innovation is now enrolling for the 2017-2018 school year. Visit the website at soi.sdale.org to learn more and apply for your rising 8th -12th graders.

Photos provided by Springdale School of Innovation and used with permission.

It’s National Library Week!

Some of my earliest memories involve biweekly trips to the library in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. I loved walking inside this older, red brick building where the smell of books greeted you, along with the librarians.

There’s nothing like that booksy smell? Am I right, fellow library lovers?

My sisters and I would rush to the kids’ section to choose our 4-5 books for that trip. I always wanted to know what my twin pulled off the shelf because I knew I’d be reading her books once I finished my own. I always perused the Newbery Honor books first, then the regular shelves. I loved the way the afternoon sunlight spilled into the large windows and sent golden specks of dust motes dancing through the air. It added to the magical feel of the library.

These days are busy ones for me as I pursue writing my own books, raising a daughter and helping with the farm, but I married someone who loves books just as much as I do, if not more (don’t ask to borrow his books and not return them in pristine condition), and we try to get to the library often. My daughter has already joined us on these trips. Mostly she loves to watch other children race around and look at books right now, but I know soon she’ll be interested in wandering through the shelves and pulling out books on her own.

Isn’t that a wonderful legacy? And it wouldn’t be possible without our libraries. So celebrate National Library Week this week. Visit a library, donate books, volunteer, or simply check a book out with a young person and pass on that love of reading.

Flash Fiction Contest with Glass House Press

Today I have a flash fiction story up on the Glass House Press blog. This is a little in-house competition between the authors. Our editor, Carrie White-Parrish, assigned each author five random words and we wrote 2500 word stories including these words. My words are surreptitious, elixir, ineffable, dalliance and opulent.

Follow the link to read my piece, The Secret of Bimini, and see if you can find all five words!

GH Press Flash Fiction – The Secret of Bimini – by Kimberly Mitchell

Words Unspoken

I spotted them on my second lap around the park on a recent spring-like afternoon. A group of women in headscarves is somewhat of an unusual occurrence, though we live close to the University of Arkansas, which has its own share of international students and professors.

I caught the lilt of Arabic as I pushed the jogging stroller ahead of me. Once you’ve learned something of the language, there’s no mistaking it.

Where were they from? Had the executive order on immigrants affected them? Were they worried about their families, their futures, and how those around them now looked at them? Or were these thoughts far from their minds as they enjoyed the sunshine on this beautiful day?

These thoughts flitted through my mind as I continued my jog. When I finished, I took my daughter to the baby swings. I pushed and talked to her and watched the table of women in scarves who sat just in my line of sight. Should I approach them? I had only spoken Arabic a handful of times since I left Yemen ten years ago. I knew it would be a rough go.

After a few minutes, the small girl with them ran to the swings, followed by one of the women. She lifted the girl into the swing and started pushing. I summoned my courage.

“Men fein anti?” Where are you from?

She looked at me with some surprise and perhaps a little caution. “Iraq,” she answered, pronouncing the name not with the harsh American K sound, but with the Arabic qah, the one that lands deep in the throat and lends a certain pop to its words.

“Do you speak Arabic?” she asked.

“A little,” I admitted. She asked where I was from.

“Here,” I answered. Then I explained how I’d lived in Yemen three years, how I taught English there and learned Arabic, and that I hadn’t spoken it much since then. I struggled through the conversation, the words slow in coming. She shook her head a couple of times as she tried to understand. I repeated and tried to understand her accent, so different from the Yemeni ones I’d grown accustomed to.

“Sorry,” I apologized in English. “It’s been so long since I spoke Arabic.”

She shook her head. “La atakelum ingleezi.” She didn’t speak English. We pushed silently for a moment and I thought of all the things I wanted to say to this woman and couldn’t.

‘I’m sorry for the ban on immigration. I don’ t know if it affects you, but I’m sure it affects someone you know and possibly love.’

‘We don’t all agree on this immigration ban. I don’t want you to judge me by the country I was born in, and I won’t do the same to you.’

‘You’re welcome here. You’re welcome to be in this park with me, swinging your child while I swing mine. I want an America where we can do this.’

These are the words I want to say, but the language barrier is too great, the distance between two strangers too difficult.

It’s time to go. I lift my daughter out of the swing. The woman smiles at me.

“Ahlan wasahlan,” she says.

It means welcome, but it carries with it the centuries of hospitality Arabs are famous for when they welcome others into their homes, their lives, their countries. It’s the perfect phrase, and she found it. I nod and repeat the phrase back.

“Ahlan wasahlan.”

You are welcome here.

I leave the park filled with sunshine and children playing and this woman pushing her young daughter on a swing.

I leave the rest of the words unspoken between us.

GIVEAWAY TIME and Newsletter News!

2016 was a good year here. I know, I know. Political craziness, Standing Rock, continued racial tension and climate change (yes, I said it. 2016 was the warmest year on record, y’all!). Most people weren’t sad to see 2016 go, but for me personally, it was a great year.
I signed a book contract in June with Glass House Press for my young adult series, Dreamers.

My daughter was born in August. We had a wonderful fall celebrating her first season of holidays, topping it off with Christmas with both families.

My husband and I started a new Christmas tradition. Each year, we’ll both pick out a book we’d like her to have, separately, with no restrictions. If I want to give my six month old Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants, that’s my choice. If my husband wants to give her Marshall’s Best Games of Chess, he’s free to do so.

We didn’t, though. Here’s our Christmas choices for her first Christmas. I think we did well. Plus, it was fun to open those books Christmas morning and see what we’d chosen for our girl, since we kept our choices secret.

Finally, early in 2017, I signed a second contract with Glass House Press for my middle grade series, Traders of Incense. This series means so much to me. I can’t wait to tell you more about it.

How do I find when these books will be available? That brings me back to the giveaway!
I’m starting a quarterly newsletter to keep you all informed. Don’t worry. It won’t be more than a friendly seasonal greeting with updates on publishing news, with a few other interesting tidbits thrown in. Plus, if you sign up, you’ll be entered into the giveaway!

I’m giving away a book from an all-time favorite author. If you know me, you’ve already guessed it’s by Madeleine L’Engle. I’ve got a brand new copy of A Swiftly Tilting Planet just waiting for someone to read it. This is L’Engle’s companion to her Newbery winning A Wrinkle in Time and it’s a classic.

But there’s more. I have another brand new copy of Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Under Their Skin. It’s the first in her newest series for middle grade readers. If you’ve never read anything by Haddix, finish this blog, sign up for the giveaway, then go find her work. She has several amazing series that delve into science fiction, mysterious futures and time travel.

Finally (there’s more? Yup!). How about a $5 gift card from Amazon to top it off? Here’s the deal. I’ll pick two winners by February 14th. Each winner gets a book AND a $5 Amazon gift card.

All for signing up for a 4 time/year (plus maybe one or two extra extra read all about it) newsletters.

Are you in? Good! Just complete the form below and you’re set. I’ll post winners on the blog by February 15th. To win the books, you’ll need to be a U.S. resident.

Thanks in advance for keeping up with me on this publishing journey! I wish ALL of us a wonderful 2017.

Fill out the form below to subscribe to my author news and enter the contest!

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Thoughtful, Thankful November

Next to October, November is a great month to celebrate. In Northwest Arkansas, fall seems to be arriving late, so I’m looking forward to cooler weather and the leaves continuing to change.

November is that transition month between fall festivities and Christmas. It gets a little awkward mid-month, when the Christmas decorations go up and you still want to enjoy what fall has to offer before thinking about winter rolling in. Still, I look forward to the Christmas season and November gets to kick off that magical time of year. It’s also my birthday month (I have the honor of sharing a birthday with Madeleine L’Engle! Oh yes, and my twin).

Here’s a few things I’m thankful for this November.

Family and friends who have loved and supported me all year. This has been a year of HUGE transitions for us. A new house, a new vocation (farm much?), a new baby, a publishing contract. Yeah, it’s been a little busy around here. I was so lucky to have great friends and family (you know who you are) who checked in on me all through pregnancy (and commuting), our big move, and life as a family of three.

Which brings me to point number two. I’m thankful to have a daughter after a long and frustrating battle with infertility. It’s cliche to say, but it changes life completely, turns your previous priorities upside down, and makes life incredibly hectic but so worth it. We’re enjoying this baby girl!

Finally, I’m thankful for finding a publishing house that believes in my work and wants to publish my young adult dystopian series! There’s nothing more exciting for a writer than finding a means to bring your stories into the world. I can’t wait to see my books in print from Glass House Press.

What are you thankful for this November?

October’s Last Glorious Weekend

Here we are at the end of October when it feels like the month just started. If there was a way to trade another month for a second October, I would do it in a heartbeat. Do we really need January or August?

Since stopping time is impossible, at least in this dimension (am I right, sci-fi fans?), we’ll just have to enjoy the end of the month to the fullest. After all, there’s still pumpkin carving to be done, corn mazes to be wandered through, trick-or-treating and fall color!

Here’s a few fun things on my calendar this Halloween weekend in Northwest Arkansas:

Friday, Oct. 28th – Animal Science Day! Ok, this one has me excited. The Department of Animal Science at the University of Arkansas is hosting an evening of Halloween fun at the Pauline Whitaker Equine Center. It’s free, costumes are encouraged and yes, animals are involved. Science and animals for Halloween. Win-win!

Saturday, Oct. 29th – Haunted Night on the Battlefield – This is a fun night at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park. Follow candle lit luminaries down the battlefield to the Borden House for a spooky historical scene. Paranormal investigators are on the path to talk about tracking ghosts and other paranormal activity through the battlefield. If you make it back from the self-guided tour, there’s kettle corn and apple cider to warm your soul!

Sunday, October 30th – This is the last weekend to check out the corn mazes around the area and make last minute pumpkin purchases for carving!

Monday, October 31st – Halloween! Wear something spooky, something fun, and something that glows in the dark (for safety) and have fun!

And just for fun –

My favorite spooky story – A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. It starts on a dark and stormy night, has three Whiches (misspelling intended!) and is about a dark, evil force trying to take over the universe one planet at a time.

My favorite Halloween show: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Who doesn’t love the Peanuts gang? I always felt sorry for Linus though, spending all night in the pumpkin patch instead of having Halloween fun.

My favorite Halloween costume: I had a lot of great costumes growing up, but I loved dressing up as a Civil War soldier (Union, my twin was Confederate) and also as a bobby cop (opposite my twin’s convict suit.)

My favorite Halloween candy: Candy corn! What else!

You can still catch me as Blogger of the Month on the Arkansas Women Bloggers website and check out Glass House Press’s Battle of the Werewolves vs. Vampires on the GH blog.

Here in Northwest Arkansas, October has been unusually warm, so it looks like our fall colors will stretch into a hopefully cooler November! Hey, November’s a great month, too.

Have a fun and safe Halloween weekend!

October’s Here! A Few Awesome Things for Everyone.

If you know me, you know I love October. I can’t imagine a more perfect month. Chilly mornings, warm afternoons, clear blue skies, red and gold leaves, and a hint of spookiness thrown in as we head into Halloween. Such fun.

This morning when I stepped outside for my walk, the air was cool, the sun on the way up to a beautiful blue sky, the wind made leaves swirl from the trees and a hawk swooped through the air. At that moment, I felt tremendous joy simply for being alive.

This month I’m the Blogger of the Month for Arkansas Women Bloggers. You can check out my first post here. If you haven’t visited the Arkansas Women Bloggers blog before, stop by! It’s a fascinating read.

I was also recently featured on the Glass House Press blog. I’m still so excited to be a part of this press and can’t wait for you all to read Dreamers, but until it’s published, you can check out GHP’s other great authors!

We all know October means pumpkin everything! You’re either for Team Pumpkin or against it. If you’re for it, here’s a great pumpkin cookie recipe my mom made every year! If pumpkin isn’t your thing, check out the other great author fall favorites.

If you’re in Northwest Arkansas this October, don’t miss True Lit Fest at the Fayetteville Library with keynote speaker Louis Sachar! I loved Holes (who didn’t?) and can’t wait to hear him speak. There’s also a wide variety of classes, author talks and even author pitch sessions. Don’t miss it!

If you’re celebrating October with kids, nwamotherlode.com is your best bet on finding all the cool October activities happening in the area.

Enjoy the most beautiful month of the year!

Writing in the Gaps

After years of having a designated block of writing time every weekday afternoon, I’m doing what I’ve come to think of as “writing in the gaps,” those small spaces of time I can snatch when the baby is asleep, or happily focused on a toy (very small amount of time), or when someone can watch her for an hour while I try to focus.

Life has changed a lot for me recently. In the past year, we’ve moved from the city to a small farm, obtained thirty goats and sheep, numerous chickens, two dogs and another cat. We welcomed our first child in August and I signed a book contract right before her birth. So life is crazy. Finding time to do some serious writing? Even crazier.

Guess what? It’s tough. Much tougher than I anticipated. “I’m going to write two sentences while the baby’s distracted,” I joked to my husband one day. “It’s good to see you’ve adjusted your expectations,” he replied. Yup.

I recently went to a conference where a speaker asked if anyone had tried getting up an hour or two earlier to write/work/get stuff done. “How’s that working out for you?” Everyone in the room laughed. “Right, it doesn’t work for long,” she said. Now I feel less guilty for not getting up (or staying up) when the baby is still sleeping and writing, or for sleeping in until the baby wakes up. I might get up early some mornings, but right now writing is 10 minutes here, 20 there, read while holding the baby so she doesn’t scream.

I know this period won’t last forever. And I’ve found even if my writing time has diminished, my resolve to write hasn’t, but you know what has? The idea that being published is ALL IMPORTANT. It is important, of course. I want readers to like my work, buy my books, and recommend them to others so I can continue to write, but in light of being responsible for raising daughter, being a successful, amazing, best-selling author doesn’t seem as important anymore.

I still want my stories in the world. I still want you to read them, but I’m a little more patient about that process. So, two sentences or two hours at a time, I’ll keep writing. In the mean time, life is happening in between those gaps of writing and I call that a good thing.

Writing is a Marathon

As a runner and an athlete, the idea that life is a race I’m running has always appealed to me. I’m on a course but I can choose how I run this race. Do I sprint the whole way and burn out? Do I choose the way of the turtle, slowly but surely getting to the finish line? Do I fix my eyes on the runner just ahead of me and let her pace me, or do I blaze past her and hope I have the endurance to keep the pace?

And what does this have to do with writing?

My aunt recently mailed me a clipping from a daily devotional. She does this periodically and I’ve come to appreciate her thoughtfulness. There’s nothing like receiving mail (real mail!) from someone you love letting you know you’re in their thoughts.

The text of the clipping happened to be Hebrews 12:1-3. I don’t write much about faith on this blog, but it’s a deep part of my life, and that just happens to be one of my favorite verses, particularly this part: “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

And what does this have to do with writing?

If you’re a writer, you’ve probably noticed, writing is more like a marathon than a sprint. It’s a long, grueling process and the end of the race – publication, success, best-selling NYT author (hey, why not dream big?) can seem miles away – 26.2 to be exact.

Along the way, you’re going to encounter setbacks. Injuries that most often come in the form of rejection of your work. It’s not just disappointing, it’s soul-draining. You start to lose your way and wonder why the heck you’re even in this race because it sure looks like those non-runners are having way more fun and not throwing their precious time away on something that may never be successful.

So you consider giving up. You bargain with yourself. Maybe writing isn’t as important to you as you thought. Sitting down to write is hard anyway, finding (and protecting) the time to write is too difficult, nobody wants to read these stories, so maybe your time is better spent elsewhere. Maybe you should get a “real” job or pick up a hobby that doesn’t make you want to pull your hair out? Netflix, anyone?

Plenty of people entertain the idea of writing, dream about it, start a story, even finish that story, but somewhere along the way, running the race becomes too much. The injuries (rejection), weather (unexpected delays), even the crowd cheering you on (distractions), it’s too much to deal with. You’re already way too busy with life to keep pursuing something that isn’t working out.

A writing mentor once said to me, “I know plenty of writers who are way more talented than me who never published. They gave up. I didn’t.”

I’ve been writing consistently since 2004 when I moved to Yemen and suddenly needed something to fill the long evenings I used to spend with friends and family back home. So I started pursuing something I’d always dreamed about, thankfully ignorant of how difficult a road the writing life is. Over the past thirteen years, I’ve gotten better as a writer, more disciplined, though I have my moments, but I haven’t seen much success and I’ve certainly endured long periods of disappointment where I questioned everything.

But.

Let us run with perseverance.

I couldn’t quit the race. The thing about a race is you never know what’s around the next corner.

In June I submitted three pitches to a Twitter event called #PitMad, where authors pitch their stories in 140 characters and editors and agents browse the feed and favorite anything that appeals to them. When you’re pursuing publishing, anything that gets your work in front of industry pros is invaluable. Writers pay big money at conferences and workshops to do just that.

Originally I was going to pitch two stories, but I added a third when I realized the rules for the event allowed it. I was surprised when this third story, a young adult dystopian novel, merited the interest of a small press in San Diego. They favorited my tweet. I sent a query letter with a more in-depth pitch and a few pages. Then I had a request for fifty pages. Then the entire novel.

And then I had an offer for the series. It happened so quickly I could scarcely believe it. Yet it didn’t happen that quickly because I already had part of that marathon behind me. All that hard work, the training, the persevering. I rounded the corner on the course I’ve been running a long time.

I signed on with Glass House Press at the end of June to publish my young adult dystopian series. The first novel, Dreamers, is expected to publish in 2018. (Whoo hoo!)

Is that the end of the race?

I have a feeling it’s just the beginning, actually, and that I’m going to need all of that endurance I’ve built up, and all of that perseverance to continue.

But I’m excited about the race again, and that’s where a runner, and a writer, needs to be.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.

Hebrews 12: 1-2