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The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast
1KHO 543: Our World's Beauty is Preposterous | Amanda Dykes, A Pocketful of Wonder
00:58:09
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- [00:00]
Amanda Dykes
Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of.
- [00:05]
Ginny Urch
Unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back. So I thought it would be fun.
- [00:11]
Amanda Dykes
If we made $15 bills, but it.
- [00:14]
Ginny Urch
Turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
- [00:22]
Amanda Dykes
Of $45 for a three month plan equivalent to $15 per month. Required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of networks busy taxes and fees extra.
- [00:29]
Ginny Urch
See mintmobile.com welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Ginny Urch. I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside and I have a wonderful author, a very eclectic author writing novels. Plus this amazing new book that just came out called A Pocket Full of Wonder came out earlier this year. 50 Hands on Adventures for kids to discover God's creation. It's like this adorable little family field guide. Amanda Dykes, the author is here. Welcome, Amanda.
- [00:56]
Amanda Dykes
Thank you so much for having me. It's such a joy to be here.
- [00:59]
Ginny Urch
So I would love to kick it off with you. Do this thing that so many people talk about doing but don't ever actually do. So you're an English teacher, a former English teacher, and you became an author and an author of a lot of books. I actually have one of your books that won an incredible award called the Christie Award in 2020. The Christie Award Book of the Year. It's called who. This is the one that won, right?
- [01:22]
Amanda Dykes
That's the one.
- [01:23]
Ginny Urch
Yes. Whose waves these are. But this is just one of many novels I would love you to just. I'm sure you've done it a bunch, but could you walk us through the story of. Obviously you're interested in books and reading and writing enough to become an English teacher, and then at some point you've stepped away from that.
- [01:38]
Amanda Dykes
Yeah. So I think I, I imagine that a lot of the listeners here share this too. Just sort of an enchantment with language. It is its own art medium. It can be playful, it can be captivating, it can be poetic, it could be punchy. All these. And so that love of language and story, as well as a love for kids and teenagers, led me into a career in teaching, which is really funny because it was kind of the one thing I thought I would not do teaching. I didn't have anything against it, but I thought I would. My dream was to maybe own or work at or run a Summer camp someday for teenagers. I just had this heart for teens. And several people along the way in my own teenagerhood kind of pulled me aside or mentioned in conversations, hey, have you ever thought about being a teacher? And of course my response was, not really. Not really. And their point was, you know, this dream of having a camp, the driving force behind it is the hearts. You know, ministering to the hearts and meeting them at this, this time in their life that's so formative and so many things are budding and exploding and potential on the horizon and there's. It's turbul. And their point was, if you're a teacher, you get to do the same thing, but for a whole year, you know, not just like a week. And I still love the idea of a camp or some program. I have not completely given up on some form of that dream. That's a topic for another day, but.
- [03:08]
Ginny Urch
Oh, but you could do a writing camp.
- [03:11]
Amanda Dykes
I have done some writing camps for teens and I adore it. Or not camps, but like one day seminars, intensives, symposiums. But a writing camp, my goodness. Do you want to just talk about that for an hour? Let's do that.
- [03:23]
Ginny Urch
Yes, yes. I mean, because it would combine like the creativity, the imagination, you're outside communication, friendship.
- [03:32]
Amanda Dykes
Exactly. So magical.
- [03:34]
Ginny Urch
Okay, well, when, whenever you do it, just let me know and we'll. You can come back on, we'll talk about it.
- [03:39]
Amanda Dykes
Okay, sounds good. So I taught for six years. I taught middle school and high school. And eventually, as we began to grow our family, I was staying home with the kids and I. It's a long story. It looked like we were going to be. We are blessed to be a family by both adoption and biology. And at that point it looked like we were going to be adopting again. And it fell through, as adoptions sometimes do. And that happened twice in a row. And. And so it was a lot to navigate, a lot to process. And part of that, and I think this was just kind of the, the gentle graciousness of God was meeting me in that and asking me, you have this void of time ahead of you that you thought was going to be filled with something and now it's not. And that's a form of loss, right? That's. It's a form of grief. And so the question he kind of put on my heart was, what could you do at that time? And I don't think it was like a judgmental question. I think it was an invitation. And I think it was done out of gentle, loving kindness for my heart. And I had this dream that I'd always had of writing a book. So I thought, well, maybe now is the time to try and learn, because writing a book is very different from teaching literature. And so I started to read up on, you know, the craft of novels and plot structure, character arcs, all of these things. And I wrote my first book in about six months, which is fast for me. I'm very slow. None of my other books have been written that fast. And took it to a writers conference. That's where I met my agent. It sounds very fast, but it was many years after that before it was actually. Actually, that book's never been published. It was a whole. It was a whole journey. My third novel after that eventually found a publisher and became the book you're talking about, which is whose waves these are. So it took quite a while. And in hindsight, I'm thankful for that because there was a lot of growing in my heart to be done, and it's been a wild adventure since then.
- [05:44]
Ginny Urch
I have so many questions.
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Amanda Dykes
Oh, ask away. Love questions.
- [05:48]
Ginny Urch
I do love that you started with the invitation to dream. I love that, you know, when you have a void and you're grieving to look at it as an invitation to pursue your dreams, like the dreams that maybe you've always had. And there's a little bit of extra time. So this is a big change. So what are some of the differences between writing a book and teaching literature?
- [06:08]
Amanda Dykes
Oh, that's a great question. I've never been asked that before. You ask the good question. So teaching literature, and especially when you're working with teenagers, there's so much about connection. And that is one thing that I think really bridges over to writing a book, too. It's about connection. It's about, you know, there's all these quotes out there about reading and how it helps us know that we're not alone. And I think it's the same with reading literature and encountering and. And asking, what could this help me learn about myself or explore about my future? So that's one thing that is shared. But I would say as far as studying, you know, we're taught so often about literary devices, alliteration and foreshadowing and all the things we know from our English classes, and they're definitely of value. But when you take all that that you've learned in a literature class and you go, okay, now I'm thinking about doing something with this, and not just being a consumer, but a producer, right? It's. Instead of just looking at all these literary Devices on a shelf, perhaps, like in your brain, you're instead looking at them in a toolbox, and you're going, what can I do with this? What are the possibilities? What's the potential? And it comes back to what you're talking about, which is that dreaming and that invitation to dream. And so it becomes like you. You've filled up this storehouse with all of these supplies, and now you get to go on the journey. You know, what are you going to do with this? Where are you going to take it? And it's so exciting, it's daunting. The blank page is. I don't know if you feel this as a writer, but sometimes to me, the blank page is so daunting.
- [07:40]
Ginny Urch
Well, I mean, I. I can't imagine necessarily. So I have a math degree, which I always say is the opposite of writing. And the books that I've written have been nonfiction. So there's something to be said about taking your experiences and things that you've read, like information, information. This is useful information. I'm going to pull it all together. I read these 600 books about this topic. I'm going to pull it all together and create this book. There's a foundation there to stand on. I am always intrigued by the creative writing of a novel. I do have a. I'm going to tell you my idea because I'm not ever going to actually. I'm not ever going to actually do it.
- [08:16]
Amanda Dykes
You should do it.
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Ginny Urch
Well, I'm not. So someone's going to listen to it again. So this is my idea. And my idea is there is this band that you can buy now that records you all the time. So I learned about it from this man who wrote a book called Generation AI named Matt Britton. And he wears it. He wears this bad, and it constantly records you, which is kind of creepy. But. But. But what he said is it's super helpful because you know how you think of a million things and you say a million things throughout your day and throughout your life, and then you forget and it connects with AI and then the AI will remind you. It will say, you know what? Three weeks ago you said, you know, you really wanted to start doing this. You didn't do it. I don't know. I guess it's like that, but it records your voice. And so there's an opportunity to make, like, what's called a digital twin. So my novel idea would be that there would be this family and their child tragically passes away. But the. But they're. I don't Know, like, the dad was in charge of the company that makes the little bands. And so the kid had been wearing it for his whole life. And so they have the opportunity to make a digital twin. And so it would be that because there's all this AI input that that kid could grow. I've told several people. Wait, Amanda, this is so funny, because I've told several people this idea, and then they're just like, oh, oh, no, no.
- [09:37]
Amanda Dykes
Are you kidding me? No, I. I've got, like.
- [09:42]
Ginny Urch
So they have the opportunity to decide if they want to make a digital twin. And so AI would be able to, like, grow with that child. And it could show maybe a hologram. Or the child would wake up and say, good morning, Mommy, and it would grow, grow, grow. And you'd see what they look like, you know, as they age. Like, this technology is going to ruin the world. And so the dad has to decide if he's going to pull the plug on this technology, but then they would lose the digital twin in the process.
- [10:06]
Amanda Dykes
Oh, it gave me chills because he's got this moral dilemma, which is huge.
- [10:10]
Ginny Urch
Yeah, okay, so. But here's the thing. The difference between that and writing a book about getting kids outside or writing a book about homeschooling or writing a book about outdoor activities, is that there really is nothing there. That's the intriguing part. And what I've thought about it different times. You know, I just read your book, whose waves these are. It's like you don't ever really stop and think when you're a consumer. What is it that really drew me to that character? You know, what is it that gave me a mental imagery? What is it that kept me turning the pages? That type of thing. So that's a whole different skill set that you learned.
- [10:47]
Amanda Dykes
Well, thank you for saying that. However, I think that you have the skill set. You have the idea, because even though it's nonfiction, you're using narrative structure a lot of times to tell a story. It's just a true story. And so when you take that and you bridge it over to, all right, how can we create something out of nothing? Which you've got your idea already. And for everyone listening going, what are. How can this apply to my life? I think it can apply to anybody. You know, when you've got an idea, a lot of times you have more skill set for it than you think you do, just from other things in your life that you've. It's possibly been preparing you for this all along that you didn't even know so as a nonfiction writer, it might not be as much of a leap as you think. I'm excited to write it. I think you should.
- [11:30]
Ginny Urch
So interesting. Okay, maybe I'll try that.
- [11:32]
Amanda Dykes
It's been on my mind. Keep me posted.
- [11:34]
Ginny Urch
I will. I totally will. Okay, I want to know, what was the first book that you wrote that didn't get published?
- [11:40]
Amanda Dykes
Oh, okay. Well, it was historical fiction, and it took place at Lake Tahoe, which is not too far from where I live, and it's the lake of my heart. I love it. Really fascinating history. So actually, there's two books that take place there that.
- [11:55]
Ginny Urch
Those are the first two.
- [11:57]
Amanda Dykes
Yeah. Yeah.
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Ginny Urch
Okay.
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Amanda Dykes
And that's how publishing goes.
- [12:00]
Ginny Urch
How did you handle that?
- [12:02]
Amanda Dykes
Having books ready to go and published?
- [12:04]
Ginny Urch
Yeah, because that's a lot of investment. It's a lot of investment in the characters, it's a lot of investment in the story, and certainly it's a lot of investment in time. And you're a mother.
- [12:13]
Amanda Dykes
Right. So I think there's two sides of that. I think there is a lot of doubt. There's a lot of questioning as happens to us when something we're working towards seems to be thwarted or there's obstacles in the road. And so I'm questioning, you know, is this the best use of my time? Should I be? And I really came to a point after about four years because I told myself going in, if I were returning to school to get a new degree for a new career, it would take probably two to four, maybe more years, depending. And so I thought, I'm going to give it that amount of time and just see what happens. And of course, I'm doing other things at the same time. For part of that, I was still teaching. I was working at home on some other work, and I was learning to be a mom at the time. Our first two babies came home during that time and just diligently, whenever I could, working away at this and learning. And so I tried to remember, I'm learning. I don't know how to do this. It's going to take time. As much as we want it to happen instantly, most things in life don't. It's a journey, and the journey is usually of as much value as the final product. And so. So I think that God did a lot of shaping of my heart during that time of really asking me, hey, if this doesn't go anywhere, if this doesn't ever get published, what could you do during this time to ensure that it's not in vain? And for me, that was. I really have to examine my goals. Is the sole goal publication or is it. I want to pursue this to serve others, to come from a posture of humility which I'm always learning in. It's not like an I've arrived type thing. It never will be. Um, and with intimacy with the God who made me, you know. Well, I trust that if he wants this to go somewhere, he'll get it there eventually. But in the meantime, am I approaching it with a servant's heart? Am I approaching it with enough of just an open heart to know if this never gets published, will I look back at this and look at it as a waste of time or someplace that God was trying to grow me and if he grows me, then it wasn't in vain. I think that allowed me to be a bit more of a risk taker. I'm. I'm not a risk taker by nature, but it gave me some boldness just to leave some of those measures of success by society's standards behind and just pursue the heart of the matter and just try to do the best I could and see where it went. And it. Trust me, it was a long road getting to that point. And there was a point where I thought, I think it's time to read the patterns. I had had several books go all the way up to publishing committee, which you get your hopes up so much because it's hard to get to publishing committee. And then that's where they decide the publishers. Is there a spot in our lineup for this book? And so many times the answer was no. I don't even know how many times for many different reasons. Sometimes it was. There was a book that was already kind of plot wise, very similar in their lineup. Sometimes they were closing their fiction line. And it happened enough times where I had just. I had to have this honest conversation with God of I want to be ready to let this go if you want me to. I don't want to let this go, but I want to be willing and I want to be at a place where I can find joy in the answer being no if it's coming from you. Because he's. He does all things well, even if the answer is no. And I didn't have that joy. But I knew I wanted to be willing and to be open and to trust that he could bring me to that place. So I really thought. I was convinced at that point. I think he's redirecting me. And that was when my agent called up. She said out of the blue, she said, if you can get to this writers conference in Texas. We have a scholarship that we'd love to give you to go. Someone had, some other client or somebody had donated basically the conference fee. And get this. We, who at that time did not travel much at all, already had a road trip to Texas on the books. We had been preparing a tent camper all summer, like renovating it to pull with our minivan across the United States to get to Texas to be in a friend's wedding. And it was the exact week of the conference.
- [16:16]
Ginny Urch
Wow. I am chills. Wow.
- [16:19]
Amanda Dykes
And I just, I'm so thick headed sometimes that immediately I'm going, oh, can I. Can I take some time to pray about it? Which is like the holy sounding way of really. I was scared and I didn't know if I could be the one. And I thought God was trying to get me to let this go. And my husband's the one who said, listen, what are the odds of this? It's all lined up. You have to do it. It just, the door is open. Just walk through it. And so I did. And that was a conference where I had this story idea of whose waves these are, which totally different from anything I'd written. And I took it and I pitched it to editors and there was immediate interest. And then within months, we had two offers on it from two different publishing houses. And I. It was like, hold on tight, because here we go. After all these years of waiting, something's finally happening.
- [17:06]
Ginny Urch
Yeah. I really loved, though, what you said, Amanda, at the beginning, when we first started talking about this, you said two to four years is a degree. Anyway, what an interesting perspective. Because if someone were, let's say, graduating high school and they were like, look, you know, I would love to be an author. That's what I want to be. They could go that route. They could work, but also for two to four years, really hone in on their writing craft and almost look at that as like an apprenticeship or it's learning by doing so. What an interesting thing to think. Yeah, well, why would anyone think I should be able to do it tomorrow, right? When things take a long time to learn and try. Hey, friends, It's Ginny from 1000 Hours Outside. You know how much I care about helping families spend meaningful time with our kids. We spend so much of our energy getting outside, connecting, making memories. But I've also found that some of our most grounded, intentional moments happen in the home when. When we're reading. That's why I'm so grateful we found brave books. They have created the most incredible stories rooted in biblical values like kindness, honesty and courage. And each one comes with conversation starters and fun activities to help us connect as a family. It has become a really special part of our rhythm, especially on slower days or rainy afternoons. If you want to try it out, brave is offering 20% off your first order. Just go to bravebooks.com 1000hours and use the code 1000hours because every hour with our kids really does account. Again, head over to bravebooks.com 1000hours and use the code 1000hours as summer winds down, I've been thinking ahead refreshing my wardrobe with staple pieces I'll actually wear on repeat and Quince has totally nailed it. Their luxe essentials feel effortless, look polished and are perfect for layering as the weather shifts. I've loved their European linen fit and flare midi dress this summer, so comfortable and stylish and I can't wait to get my hands on their cotton and cashmere sweaters. They look so soft and coz starting at just $40. I've also been eyeing their washable silk tops and classic denim timeless styles that mix and match easily and make me feel put together whether I'm hosting a podcast or out for a walk with the kids. What really sold me on quints is the value. These pieces rival high end brands, but Quince costs half as much because they cut out the middlemen and work directly with top artisans. The quality is incredible and everything is made in safe, ethical and responsible factories using premium fabrics. Honestly, I'm already eyeing a few things for the fall, especially their travel bags in a silk blouse that's been sitting in my cart. Elevate your wardrobe essentials with quince. Go to quince.com outside for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q U I N C E dot com outside to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com outside if you're like me, you've probably had a moment or two where you thought instead of mastering cleaning cloth diapers, I should have been learning to code. Or maybe I should have traded in that old coin and started buying bitcoin before it was cool. We might be the FOMO generation, but here's one thing you don't want to miss. Protecting your family's future for around the cost of one of your streaming services, you can take a simple step toward financial peace of mind with select quote I love select quote because they make life insurance simple. They have helped over 2 million people find the right coverage by comparing plans from top rated companies tailored to your health, your lifestyle and your budget. And they do it for free. Even if you've never looked into life insurance or have a pre existing condition, select quote can help. Some policies offer same day coverage for up to $2 million. No medical exam needed. Don't wait. Life insurance is never cheaper than it is today. Get the right life insurance for you for less and save more than 50%@SelectQuote.com 1000 hours save more than 50% on term life insurance@SelectQuote.com 1000 hours today to get started that SelectQuote.com 1000 hours so the third one is who's waves. These are. Which is one I've read. It's got amazing reviews online. It's a story about this young woman who go. It's like this history and she goes back and her, you know, her grandpa and the grand, whatever grand great uncle.
- [21:13]
Amanda Dykes
I'm thinking, yeah, he's a great uncle. Yeah.
- [21:15]
Ginny Urch
Yeah, great uncle. They're these twin brothers and it just goes back and forth through different timelines. And so it's a really cool story. So you write that. How many books have you written since.
- [21:25]
Amanda Dykes
So there are five books that are out. Five novels that are out, published, available. They take place all over time, history and geography. So you can read them in any order. They're all standalones, but there are certain connections. I try to put in cameo appearances from characters to cross over from book to book. And that's. That's always really fun.
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Ginny Urch
Yeah.
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Amanda Dykes
So there's five available and I'm working on the sixth right now.
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Ginny Urch
Oh, five available. Okay. And then we are going to be talking about this because this is actually really applicable to this podcast. It's called A Pocket full of wonder. 50 Hands on Adventures for Kids to Discover God's Creation. I have to tell you this funny story. So I often get these books, Amanda. They're like they call an arc, right. An advanced reader copy. And so it's usually not done. It's like, you know, there's a little bit of. There's no back. It's like this information. Like this is when the book comes out and you can contact this person if they want. Yeah. And then there's a real one.
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Amanda Dykes
There's the final.
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Ginny Urch
Okay. It's super cute. So I had. People can see. All right. It's different. So there's. You have the hidden gems in this. And so this is my story. I was like, I love hidden gems. I think they're great. Like we love those Little critter books where there was always, like, the grasshopper on every page or whatever. So I like when you have to find hidden gems. So I kind of forgotten about it because you say it at the beginning of the book and I'm, you know, reading through and I got to a certain page and I was like, I found a hidden gem. I was like, I found one. So then I was like, well, gosh, how did I not see it on the other pages? So then I go back through, and I was like, wait, I don't see anymore. And I'm like, I know this is in advanced copy, so maybe they're not. Not in there yet. So I went back to the one I thought I had found, and it was a dead bug.
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Amanda Dykes
Oh, my gosh. Really? Like, it had gotten smushed in your pages. Yeah. Like you're pressing a leak, but it's a bug.
- [23:06]
Ginny Urch
I was like, I found one. And I was like, wait, nope. And I was like, scraped it off. So anyway, that's just a really special thing about the book. What are. Can you. Can you now? Because I don't know, because I don't have it. What are some of the little hidden gems in there?
- [23:19]
Amanda Dykes
Yeah. So the way the book is set up, it's supposed the intention was to be very accessible. You can use it by topic. You don't have to read it cover by cover. If you're out with your kids and a windstorm kicks up, you just open to the wind section. So it's. Those sections are subdivided into sort of like chapters, sections. So one is sky, one is water, earth, wild things, growing things, day, night, seasons, and so on. So each of those sections has a. Almost like a cover page. See if I can find one. And the fun thing is I never in a million years would have even. Still don't really consider myself an illustrator by any means, but I do dabble in graphic design, and so they let me design these pages.
- [24:04]
Ginny Urch
Oh, they're so cool.
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Amanda Dykes
It was so fun to kind of. Yeah, that. Yeah.
- [24:11]
Ginny Urch
Oh, they're striking, Amanda.
- [24:13]
Amanda Dykes
Oh, they're so fun.
- [24:14]
Ginny Urch
That's one of the things I really loved was. Was these illustrations of the section headings. They are so striking. Like this. Like this. Seasons one.
- [24:24]
Amanda Dykes
Wow.
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Ginny Urch
So you did that. What a cool thing.
- [24:26]
Amanda Dykes
It was so fun to learn. And what's cool about it is it was really. Sometimes we can look at limitations as negative things. You know, sort of our natural response to them, the limitations, quote, unquote. I say that really tongue in cheek, because I think it ended up being a gift of this book is it is printed in two tones, so it's black and white, and then there's one accent color which is blue. So when we were talking with publisher about what will the design of this be, I started to think, okay, it's not going to be full color. What can we do with just one accent? And so this style kind of just emerged. And I kind of doodled some things, brainstorming with my agent. Maybe we could look for an illustrator who could do things like this. Never thinking that would be me. That's not my skill set. You know, these are. And my agent said, you know, I've always thought you could illustrate a book. And to me, that's. That's like telling like a fish they could fly. Like, that's not how I think of myself. Anyway, she kind of rolled that idea out to the publisher. I kind of worked on it a little bit more for fun. And then, I mean, the rest is history. So back to your question of what the hidden gems are. I too, love a book that's interactive or things you can catch on to that are present on each page and you can search for it kind of elevates the book to be like. Takes it almost from like 3D to 40. I mean, it makes it experiential, and books are that way anyway. But in the forward or the explanation page, it's. It's explained that every one of those illustrations has a squirrel, at least one squirrel, and three dragonflies and so on each one. You can kind of turn it into a little searching find with your kids if you want to, or yourself, or, you know, incorporate the deceased bugs that got caught into the pages if it's you.
- [26:10]
Ginny Urch
Oh, okay. So maybe I did have it in my book and I just got confused because I found that smashed bug and I was like, oh, something different than I thought it was because I do have these. I think these are the most. Some of the most striking illustrations I've ever seen. I was like, wow, they went all out with Amanda's book.
- [26:30]
Amanda Dykes
I really feel like an imposter. I mean, I'm very limited in what I can do, but it was very, very fun. And my kids helped a ton with just ideas. And that was really fun, too, to get the whole family involved.
- [26:39]
Ginny Urch
So they're in the section headings. I totally see them. That's so neat. It's that SMASH bug. I'm the one page that really threw me off because I was like, should I be looking somewhere else? Wow. I mean, they are really really stunning. What an interesting thing in life how when you divert and you try something new, you just don't know what's gonna come.
- [26:58]
Amanda Dykes
You don't know. It's such an adventure. And I have come to love that about. Whether it's the writing career or just life in general or parenthood, you don't know what a day holds. And that doesn't necessarily have to be terrifying. It can be exciting.
- [27:13]
Ginny Urch
Yeah. Yeah. And maybe you end up with these new skill sets. Okay, so one of the novels you wrote is called Set the Stars Alight. And you say that that's the first book that awoke your spirit to God's gift of wonder as a means of fighting darkness and mining for hope. Is that the roots of this book here?
- [27:31]
Amanda Dykes
It absolutely is. Set the Stars Alight was. Was very special to me. It's almost like a battle cry of wonder because it emerged at a time. And I say this. This is kind of humorous. It emerged at a time when the headlines of the world were very heavy. And that's not humorous, but the humorous part is that's always. You know, I can't say that as if it was an isolated moment in time. The headlines of the world are always heavy. And I was really personally struggling with someone who was not harnessing my imagination necessarily for good at that time. I was allowing it to take me to. Where in the world could all these headlines take us? You know, all the dark places. And it weighs on you sometimes physically, just that weight of worry or anxiety or whatever, Just the unknown. And I was grappling with, okay, then in a world like that, where there's also these strikingly, breathtakingly beautiful things, are those just as real as the hard things? And absolutely they are. And what does that mean? What's the relationship there? And I think so many times the beautiful things can break into those shadowy corners of the world or those shadowy corners of our hearts and remind us you're here for a purpose. You're here for this moment, on purpose, for such a time as this. Yes, there are hard things in the world, but there are some incredible things in the world, too. Whether it's creation or people or their stories or how those things intersect. And when we choose to take our focus, which we all have, that's. That's a gift of a commodity. We all have is focus or attention, and we direct it onto those good things. Not necessarily to turn a blind eye to the hard things, but to go, I am not going to fixate and I am not going to build a world around me that's solely comprised of these heavy, hard things. I'm also going to intentionally focus on the light, the goodness, the things that take our breath away, the things that science can't even explain. The things that science can explain and it's even more mind boggling because of it. And use that to fortify my soul so that I can be a bringer of light too. Because other people around me, whether it's people in my family or my kids or in my neighborhood or wherever, they're feeling the same things, they're living in the same world, they're looking at the same headlines. And maybe they need that same lifeline that I needed, that I constantly need to be reminded of. Hope, of wonder, of there is still good. This is not all in vain. Everything will be okay. Even when things are not okay. And I know that sounds like that doesn't add up, especially, you know, like talking to a math major here. I know it doesn't add up, but that's the beauty of faith. That's the beauty of God, who's bigger than the things in our world that don't make sense. And so anyway, I'm getting carried away. But back to Set the Stars Alight, it was me grappling with all those things, putting it on paper, finding the most amazing, breathtaking, fascinating things in the world that I could, and composing them into a story and using it as a tool to break through the dark. And the whole time I kept thinking, I'm passionate about this novel and I believe it's for the readers. It's intended for adult audiences, teenage audiences, whoever it might be. But I also just knew in the core of my heart this is for kids too. Maybe not necessarily in the form of this novel, but I feel like there should be some kind of companion book or something along the same themes for kids. And I never imagined it would be a hands on adventure guide for kids. I thought it would be like a storybook, like Set the Stars of Light junior but with a catchier title. But over the years, just with some things that happened as I was interacting with my own kids and ideas that came out of nowhere and discussions about that with publishers, this book took form. And I love what it became because the hope is it lowers the barrier of entry to adventure, to wonder, because it can feel like those are really abstract things. How do you harness that and give it to a kid? How do you harness that and immerse yourself in it? And so this was just a hope of. To be a bridge of sorts, stepping stones into that world that becomes so natural the more that you step into it as, you know, as an adventurer yourself. So that's where it did spring from, set the stars alight. And then it kind of had a journey of its own along the way.
- [31:56]
Ginny Urch
So I have noticed in years past, especially when I'm paying a little bit more attention, especially if I know I'm going to talk to an author that you can tell the ones that are really enamored if. Especially if they're writing a novel that are really enamored with nature. You know, you talk about in a pocket full of wonder like that the world's beauty is preposterous. And you know that you intentionally focus on this land full of storybook wonder. And you know, if you were to read just a couple sentences out of whose waves these are, you talk about their wedding bands. He'd carve them from the wood of an old growth tree dad and mom had found on the mountain many years ago. Or you talk about the. The place that was their wild place, their first taste of independence where since the age of nine, they come on their own to etch their names and rocks and swap spit handshakes over secret packs and camp under a sky as big as their dreams. Not everybody writes like that. There's a woman named Sharon Lovejoy, same thing. It's like her, you know, she's really into gardening and so her books have all of these references to plants and nature. And so anyways, I always love that you can tell from the get go that if you write a book like this, then you're also that this pocket full of wonder goes right along and obviously all also with the other book. So the format of this One is the five Ps, which really is six Ps because the first one is pause, but it's also a poem. So there's an extra P there. Yeah, it's pause, poem, pray, play and pair. Obviously you're really interested in music as well because you take each of these different topics that we've started to talk about here in the sky and the wind in these different sections and then those are broken down into smaller bite sized chunks. But each one comes with a song.
- [33:36]
Amanda Dykes
Yeah, so that, that actually was another accidental development along the way. So I had kind of developed the format for each entry, was working on putting together. I know I knew each one would have the poem. And again that's that play with language that can be so enchanting and inviting to kids. That playfulness and then a prayer mirror ponder which Is like a devotional thought. And pray and play and then play is the hands on element that, you know, how do we get kids and anyone really interacting with what they're experiencing so that it becomes, not that you own it, but you, you, you form a relationship with it.
- [34:16]
Ginny Urch
You can, yeah, it becomes a part of you.
- [34:18]
Amanda Dykes
Yeah. And you, you draw meaning from it.
- [34:20]
Ginny Urch
You can tell that nature is a part of you. I don't think anyone writes something like they carved from the old growth forest. You know what they, that someone who. Nature is a part of them. You can tell right from the beginning.
- [34:32]
Amanda Dykes
Well, thank you for saying that. I love that and I do love nature. It is to me one of the kind of refuges of the world. It's not tainted in a, in the way that a lot of things are. And so, yeah, getting kids to interact with that and to form a relationship with it and really to have the skill, the lens to draw meaning from it, to look at whatever's before them and go, what does this tell me about whoever made it? And what does that tell me about how he thinks about me? You know, and to really become a deep thinker in that way. So when I was developing the hands on component, there were several entries where a song would just pop into my head, like, oh, we could put this on in the background. It'd be so fun, just like, like a rollicking. When you think of classical music so often you think it's kind of, it can be kind of plodding or staid or steady, but actually, I mean, there's a whole vast universe of it and some of it is so playful and so, so vibrant. And so those are the ones that I tried to pull to pair with each entry. But at that point it was just a few entries and I started to think, okay, we're putting this on so kids can, you know, race against race in between. When they hear the thunder or whatever and have music on in the background, it's not necessarily sitting down and learning, what's the composer's name? When did he live and die? You can do that if you want to. There's nothing wrong with it, but just learning to enjoy and to experience. So it happened enough times that I thought maybe this should be for every entry. And it was such a delight, it was such a delight to sit there and think of doing that. I didn't really stop to think, what, what is that going to cost time wise to basically score or create a soundtrack to 50 different entries and find the exact right entry? A song that has the same tone as that subject matter, like Fluttering Feather or a rainstorm or a shadow. But I didn't mind. It was a huge time investment. But I didn't mind. It was actually possibly the most fun part of this. I would sit in coffee shops writing, working on this with my headphones on, and I would be sitting there and just think, I would realize there's this grin plastered across my face, and I'm sitting here alone for hours, grinning, and I probably just look like the weirdest person in the world. But it was so fun. And I loved that because that's the goal of this book, is fun, you know, an era of joy wrapped around all of the truth and hope and wonder that I hope is packed into here for readers. So that's where the music came from.
- [37:03]
Ginny Urch
It's really capturing. I think for some of them you just have the name of the piece, but then for some of them you go a little bit further. So I'd love to just take a minute. We'll just like, let's touch on a couple of them. And you've got your book there. So I wrote page numbers down.
- [37:16]
Amanda Dykes
Yeah.
- [37:16]
Ginny Urch
On page 83. So this is about Roots, learning about Roots. You have Waltz Number 2 from Jazz Suite Number 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich. Can you talk about then? That one had a little bit of extra writing on it. So talk to us about that one.
- [37:31]
Amanda Dykes
So it says, enjoy the way the melody is carried atop the driving treble piano, resembling the way something deep down like Roots supports the life above. So what's going on here is we're looking at the music and the story that it tells based on the sounds. We don't have to have the musical terminology. I'm not really a musician myself. I grew up doing choir and things like that. But I don't have an instrument other than sometimes taking out the ukulele and trying to learn it all over again, because it's been so long since I took it out. So you do not have to have a musical background to enjoy music, to see the story in it and to draw the themes from it. And this is where it's so much like writing a novel or enjoying a novel is there are themes in music. You can hear it. When there's a really, like, steady, deep bass, what feeling does that give you? It has a very different feeling than something that someone's playing on the upper end of a piano. And it sounds very twinkly and fairy like and ethereal. And so it was playing with a lot of those things. And in this case, roots. We're exploring what's. Roots are fascinating and it's so fun, I think, especially with kids, to look at what's going on underground. When we can't see, when we think maybe nothing's going on, we just have to be faithful with watering the thing and still keeping faithful. When it looks like nothing's happening, don't give up. Because it takes so long for a root system to establish itself in order to support life above ground. And there's a lot of metaphor to be drawn there for us too, you know, just deep work going on in our hearts. So to take that into music and go, what? What piece of music is fun but also has that depth.
- [39:07]
Ginny Urch
Yeah.
- [39:07]
Amanda Dykes
And just kind of reverberates with that. That bass and the underground type feeling. So that was one. That one was fun to do. So. Yeah. Like you said, they don't all have that extra little note, but some of them do. Yeah.
- [39:23]
Ginny Urch
On WhatsApp, no one can see or.
- [39:25]
Amanda Dykes
Hear your personal messages. Whether it's a voice call message or sending a password to WhatsApp, it's all just this.
- [39:34]
Ginny Urch
So whether you're sharing the streaming password.
- [39:36]
Amanda Dykes
In the family chat or trading those late night voice messages that could basically become a podcast, your personal messages stay between you, your friends and your family. No one else, not even us. WhatsApp message privately with everyone.
- [39:51]
Ginny Urch
Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real. And so is the relief from EBGLIS.
- [39:58]
Amanda Dykes
After an initial dosing phase, about 4.
- [40:00]
Ginny Urch
In 10 people taking EBGLIS achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. MGLIS Lebricizumab LBKZ, a 250mg 2ml injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Eglis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to Epglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Epglis. Before starting Epglis, tell your doctor if you Have a parasitic infection searching for real relief. Ask your doctor about ebglis and visit epgliss.lilly.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979.
- [40:51]
Amanda Dykes
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- [41:22]
Ginny Urch
Well, I just talked to these father daughter duo. They wrote a book together all about music. It's called Resonant Minds. And the whole purpose of it is to use, use music purposefully and that, you know, a lot of times we listen to music, but we're not super purposeful about it. And then they have all the science behind it, like, you know what it's doing neurochemically and for your executive function. And so they have this suggestion to create all sorts of different types of playlists. And I thought, gosh, would that pair well, really with this book, it's like, okay, we, you know, every time you've done one of the activities, you could add, start to add those songs to the playlist. And they say it's so good for the brain. So it was an interesting thing. Amanda. I've not seen that in any other nature activity books where they, it's paired with music. And so that's a really cool thing. Each section, each, each chapter in each section has a piece of music. And I mean, they were talking about how powerful the classical music is. And so if classical music is overwhelming, I think it's overwhelming for everybody.
- [42:18]
Amanda Dykes
Oh, yeah.
- [42:18]
Ginny Urch
They said that 76% of people listen to music every day. Most people listen to music every day. But something like only 3% of people listen to classical music.
- [42:27]
Amanda Dykes
Wow.
- [42:28]
Ginny Urch
And so this would be a really cool start, especially heading into a new school year if you're like, gosh, I'd love to have a little purposeful playlist of classical music. And then it's not coming out of the blue. You're like, well, this song could remind you of the grass. There's this one Voices of Spring challenge kids to match the speed of their running playing to the music when it goes extra fast. It's just something to anchor that into your Home.
- [42:49]
Amanda Dykes
I love that. And I love your idea for playlists, too. We actually. I did create a playlist of all of these so that people could just. On the website, which is wonderwood adventures.com because you can absolutely hop on to wherever you stream your music, you know, Spotify or YouTube or whatever, and type it in. However, with classical music, you get these very long song names and often in foreign languages. So it can be a little bit cumbersome to type in. And so you absolutely can do that. But if you want to save yourself, that step there in a playlist provided for you. So you can click on it by. Look for it by the entry name. So, like, if you're on this entry for when light Dances through trees, you just look for that, click on it, and the song's right there.
- [43:33]
Ginny Urch
I love that. What a great thing. So then after the pair, there's always a Bible verse for the roots one. It says, and I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness, secret riches. I will do this so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name. So that's one of the components of each chapter is pair. One of the components is also play, like you talked about. So I figured let's just talk about at least one. We don't have time to talk about many more, but each chapter has one. But I love this one about talking about music, nature's instruments. So this was on page 105. There was a really fun one, too, about the sun. How long it takes for the sun rays to reach you on Earth. I thought that was a really cool one. But nature's instruments, and this is something that kids, I think, sometimes do naturally. But if you can funnel it a little bit, I mean, learning how to play the grass, I can't do it. But our friends, kids can take that long piece of grass and turn it into a whistle. I mean, it's the coolest thing.
- [44:30]
Amanda Dykes
It's so cool, right?
- [44:32]
Ginny Urch
So you talk about different ideas of using nature and using it to make different sounds.
- [44:38]
Amanda Dykes
Yeah, and I think you're right. It comes really naturally to kids. It's almost like a treasure hunt because you can step into a yard or a park or a forest, wherever you are, even a parking lot. And just if we. We stop and we listen. And sometimes we do that with my kids, like, let's just stop and listen. Because we're not accustomed to that in our society. We're go, go, go. Even if we. Even if we are living at a slower pace. Sometimes it can be a lost art of just listening and you start to hear what's going on around you. Maybe the trees, especially if there's like an aspen around. Those leaves kind of clap together as if it's a clause. And you could say, let's go see if there's a branch on the ground, or just gently shake a branch that's attached to the tree. So the entry you're talking about says, challenge kids to. I'm jumping right into the middle. So this is not the whole thing. Challenge kids to get creative and choose a found instrument. Two sticks to clack together, a low hanging branch of leaves to rattle, a pile of dry leaves to crunch. That's super fun. Just jumping on it with your feet stomping it. A tree trunk or other object to pat their hands on like a drum. Or perhaps the instrument is their own voice or whistle. Play a favorite worship or just for fun, song from your phone, or simply sing it together and invite kids to use their instruments to play along. And what I like about this is we don't have to say this overtly to our kids, but it is fostering two things. One is the propensity to listen, which is such a gift in our world. And I'm not just talking about listening to leaves here. I'm talking about how does that translate to conversation in our, in our society, where so many conversations, kind of a lost art, especially for younger generations, we're teaching to listen first and, and then to glean the gifts that come from listening. And that is an incredible gift to people to have someone just stop what they're doing, stop their whole world and make them feel like you're it, you're the reason I'm in this moment. I want to hear what you have to say. And then the other thing we, we're fostering with an activity like that is the willingness to do something, to use your voice. So in that case, it's shaking a tree or clacking sticks together. But I mean, you can look at that as a stair step or stepping stool to the willingness to speak up, the willingness to offer your gift, whatever it might be for your kids, whatever their gifts are, into the world someday and not hide it away. So we think of these things. They're just playful, they're just, they're just games. But they're not just playful. They're not just games. They're building character. They're building a posture of, of servant heartedness and a posture of courage. And this is just from taking the time to listen and play. How cool is that?
- [47:17]
Ginny Urch
Yeah, yeah. So there's a play element with each of the chapters. We talked about the pair. That's the music that pairs up with it. Okay. Then you also have the ponder. So the ponder is a poem. And this part is like, 1,000%. You're, like, this person taught English.
- [47:34]
Amanda Dykes
That's, like, my favorite.
- [47:35]
Ginny Urch
You can tell because at the end, it would be like, this one is iambic pentameter or whatever. I don't even know. This is a haiku that you know. So can you talk to us about? I just think it's fun. There's kids that listen in. What are some of the different kinds of poems?
- [47:51]
Amanda Dykes
So, yeah, this is where I get kind of nerdy about words and language. And I'm not someone who. I'm not adamant that poems have to rhyme or anything like that, but for young kids. And the target age group for this is. Is 3 to 7. Although you can use it with younger, you can use it with older. It's very expandable. But when you have language that has almost like a musical quality to it, and that often comes through rhythm and rhyme, it sticks with you. We remember rhymes and poems from our childhood, like Mother Goose type, you know, And I'm not saying these are all Mother Goose type, but it's playful. It's like when you look at building materials, you go to Home Depot, you go down the lumber aisle. You could build anything with that. You could build a house, you could build a mansion, you could build a playhouse. You could build stairs. You could build. You could also build a playground. And so I feel like poetry can be. Especially this type of poetry. It's playful. It's the playground of language. And so I started to write all of these, and I thought, okay, I'm gonna write 50 of these. That. That was the contract with publisher, and I don't want them all to end up sounding the same. The same. We all have certain ways we lean when we speak or when we write. And I want to challenge myself to different things. And so there's everything in here. There's concrete poems where the words kind of form a picture.
- [49:09]
Ginny Urch
Yeah.
- [49:09]
Amanda Dykes
There's iambic tetrameter. And you do.
- [49:13]
Ginny Urch
I think I said Petrameter or something.
- [49:16]
Amanda Dykes
Because that's the one everyone knows, because that's Shakespeare. He wrote iamic pentameter and others did, too. But.
- [49:21]
Ginny Urch
Okay, wait, so this is a different word. This is iambic tetrameter. That's what I'm saying. This is a really cool book to do with your family during a school year, because you would learn a lot of these different things. One of them you said was like, badam, badum. It's got some sort of a rhythm like that.
- [49:36]
Amanda Dykes
Yeah. Because, I mean, you say iambic tetrameter to a 4 year old or even a 40 year old, which, I mean, I'm right there, I'm 42. And it doesn't necessarily mean anything to us other than like, oh, that sounds technical.
- [49:48]
Ginny Urch
Yeah.
- [49:49]
Amanda Dykes
But when you look at the poem itself, it's cool. It's a different form, it's a different rhythm. And so I tried to explain it in a way. Just going, all that means is it's bottom, bottom, bottom, you know, whatever, wherever the emphasis is placed on a certain amount of syllables in a line. So with that kind of thing, that's where I'm talking about the content being expandable. If you have older kids with you, you might not necessarily want to or need to talk about iambic tetrameter, but you could go, hey, you know, I've got these older kids here, I can introduce them today.
- [50:19]
Ginny Urch
Yeah, well, it allows it to scale up or scale back.
- [50:22]
Amanda Dykes
Exactly.
- [50:23]
Ginny Urch
Also, I want to say that I messed up. I got confused with the P's. So the poem is the pause.
- [50:28]
Amanda Dykes
Yes.
- [50:28]
Ginny Urch
Ponder is something different. And you go through some really cool things. Like, we can think of clouds as flying water. There's so much water up there, you might even call it a flying ocean. So different things to ponder. But the poem is part of the pause. The pause. So you're so sweet. You should have been like, you're messing my book up.
- [50:44]
Amanda Dykes
No, I didn't catch it, actually.
- [50:46]
Ginny Urch
Oh, okay. Thank goodness.
- [50:48]
Amanda Dykes
Right over my head.
- [50:48]
Ginny Urch
Thank goodness.
- [50:49]
Amanda Dykes
Because I'm just so caught up in the fun of all this talk.
- [50:52]
Ginny Urch
So no, pause the poems and then you go through. I'm going to tell you a poem I wrote. Are you ready?
- [50:57]
Amanda Dykes
Okay. Yeah.
- [50:58]
Ginny Urch
Okay. So when our kids were really young, my husband's name's Josh. He really wanted to get this, like, adventure tent thing. And it was super into it. And we went to this, like, outdoor adventure thing to see all of these tents. Anyway, we have five kids, so I was like, this is not probably the best idea. There's seven of us. So what it was, it was like this trailer. You pull it behind and, like, it would open up, there'd be like a kitchen, and then there was like this rainfly. It's like the rainfly is 180 degrees and then this tent folds out on top and then you have this ladder that comes down. I was like, I do not think this is a good idea. But anyways, he was super into it. So we're like, okay, we're going to try it. So we get this thing and there's a bunch of different brands and we take it camping. Well, the tent only fits five people and there's seven of us. So all the kids and my husband, they go up and I was on the ground underneath the rainfly with our youngest daughter who was like one, you know, not sleeping well. I mean some one year old are sleeping well, but ours never slept well. So anyway, we go to bed and he's up there. We use a sound machine. I mean, she's sleeping like in the crux of my arm, you know, like. Anyway, anyone who doesn't do co sleeping is going to yell at me. But that's just kind of what we did. Yeah. And so, you know, and they're one, you're exhausted. And he or I learned later hadn't set it up right, but it rained a ton and. And the tent above me started to droop and then it started to drip. I mean you could just. It was like pitch black. And I'm trying not to wake up the baby and I'm trying to like yell up, but the sound machine is on and I'm just getting like drip, drip, drip on my face on the blanket trying to like shield the baby. There's no place for us to go. It's the middle of the night. It's like splashing. I mean, there's so much water that it's splashing and I have nowhere to go. Oh, I can't go up the stairs. There's no room up there. I'm gonna wake her up. So anyway, I kid you not, I wrote two haikus. That's amazing because I was up all night and I have them on my phone. Here we go camping with seven. Rain is dripping on my hip. My blanket is soaked.
- [53:03]
Amanda Dykes
I love it. I love it.
- [53:05]
Ginny Urch
All right, next one. Raining on Winnie. Splishy splashy in the tent. Sleep eludes us. There we go. I don't think I've ever read my haikus to anyone. And I don't even know why I did it, but I was like, I have nothing to do.
- [53:17]
Amanda Dykes
Well, that's the thing I love the most about it. You could have sat there, catastrophized in your mind, which is what I would have done, you know, like, this is what I'm talking about. The, the battle in my mind, you know, ever Going to get flooded? Are we going to get washed away? Like. But you chose to create something in the midst of a crisis. I mean, in the middle of the night, you chose that and you chose something fun, playful, beautiful. That would give you a memory that you can also. Kids, I love that. And haiku's amazing. Haikus are fun.
- [53:51]
Ginny Urch
They're really fun.
- [53:52]
Amanda Dykes
And they're not as daunting. Like, it's three lines. Yeah, it's like five, seven, five. Five syllables. Seven syllables. Five. Is that right?
- [53:59]
Ginny Urch
Yeah, yeah. Five, seven, five.
- [54:00]
Amanda Dykes
Yeah. And you think I can do that? Because it doesn't have to be. Somehow that strips away this notion of poetry being this lofty, unattainable thing that.
- [54:13]
Ginny Urch
Yeah, you're like. Like, it's like a little puzzle to piece together anyway. Just super random. I did love that you had all the different types of poems in there. So that is the pause and then the ponder. Just all really cool things. Did you know there's a rock cycle? Just like there's a water cycle. Lots of things to learn about. And then you talk about prayer as one. The one that stuck out to me that I wrote on my notes is on page 85. And you're talking about. And I love this, that nature comes up between the cracks and the sidewalks. Life in a crack in a sidewalk. So you have this long poem. It's beautiful. You talk about ponder. It sure does seem impossible for a seed to be able to grow in such a hard place. And then the prayer is, God. Sometimes we find ourselves in hard places. It's beautiful. It all is so cohesive and goes together. And I just think it's just a lovely. It did what you wanted it to do, which is to focus on a land full of storybook. Wonderful. That's what it does. And the poem in this one is where words create a picture. Like the rolly grassy hills formed by the lines of this poem is called a concrete poem. And then it says to try 1. Sketch an outlined image in pencil. I am. I'm in a different spot. I just turned pages. That's the grass one. That's a really cool idea, too. The grass poem is like. It looks like waves of grass. And so you tell. It's like. That's like what I said. That's where the teacher part comes out, where it tells the kid how to do it.
- [55:35]
Amanda Dykes
It. That particular activity for the concrete poem is from my teaching days. We used to read this book out of the Dust, which is written in pro, like free verse. It's about the dust Bowl. And it's, it's a hard read, but it's a good read. And it's a good introduction to what poetry can be too because it's just very airy, it's very. There's no rhyme necessarily. And so what we did, I'm trying to remember, I think we, I think I took. This is back in the day of overhead projectors. I took a, I think it was a Dorothea Lang photograph. She was this amazing photographer during that era. I love her work. If you're studying the Great Depression at all, look up Dorothea Lang. I think it was one of hers. And it was a picture of this like dried up farmstead. It was a landscape. And I, I photocopied it onto a overhead projector, plastic sheet thing and we projected it huge on the wall and I got all this giant butcher paper and we divided it into grids or what we did was we, we taped individual pieces of paper on the wall to, to equal the size of the big butcher paper. And each student would take a turn coming up and tracing their portion of the farmhouse in pencil. Then they would go back to their seats and they would take their own free verse poem that they wrote using like lists of words that described what would it feel like to live during that time, to have no water, to what, what would you see, what would you hear, what would you feel, the five senses, all that. It could be a narrative, it could just be a list of words, whatever. And they would take a sharpie and write their list of words atop their pencil outline, go back, erase all the pencil marks, which, that's the activity in here. And then it becomes this giant mural sized jigsaw. They would go back up to the butcher paper, affix there concrete poem onto it. And as each student did that, it completes this farm scene. And now it's composed of words instead of lines. It was my favorite thing. And just cool to see what different students did with it. Yeah, whatever their gifts were, maybe they might add some shading or the different styles in their own voices. And so yeah, words can be so much more than we think they are on the surface.
- [57:43]
Ginny Urch
And all is not lost. Even though you step away from a teaching career here you are still using that same stuff. You know, it's like it all comes back, it all comes back through. And I think that's really wonderful. Amanda, what a cool thing. What an honor to meet you. This book is out, it came out this year. It is called A Pocket full of wonder. 50 Hands on Adventures for kids to discover God's creation. And obviously you have these five novels as well. There is another one that you said you're working on and a podcast coming in the fall so people can look out for that. I'll make sure I put all the the links in the show notes. We always end our show with the same question. What's a favorite memory from your childhood that was outside me?
- [58:20]
Amanda Dykes
Oh, my goodness. Okay, a favorite memory. I'm just gonna do a blanket state. This is kind of like the overarching picture of my childhood. As I said, I grew up in the area of Lake Tahoe, which in the mountains is very alpine, but down in the valley, it's high desert, so lots of sagebrush. And there's something very magical about sagebrush. You think of it and you think of very, like, dry, parched, arid land. And that can be true. But if you've ever experienced desert rain, it's something else. It. There's actually science to it. There's words for it. What the chemical reaction going on in desert dirt when the rain hits it. And. But it releases this aroma that just fills the world. It's not like soggy asphalt rain smell. It's like something. Something's coming alive here. And it's better than anything else I've smelled in the world. And smells a little sagey and a little bit like the sky, if the sky had a smell. And so my favorite childhood memory being outdoors would be running through the sagebrush, where we would create all these little forts and pathways and worlds of our own. And smelling that smell that's like, unlike anything else in the whole world. I adore it.
- [59:27]
Ginny Urch
Oh, I love that. Well, and I feel like. Have you written about that in any of your books?
- [59:32]
Amanda Dykes
Books? No, we haven't.
- [59:33]
Ginny Urch
Because if not, you should. Amazing. I love that.
- [59:36]
Amanda Dykes
I'll have to choose a desert setting.
- [59:37]
Ginny Urch
Yes. Yes. Seriously. Well, Amanda, what an honor. I love what you've written, and I'm excited to read the other things. Thank you so much for being here.
- [59:44]
Amanda Dykes
You are a blast. You're so much fun. Thank you so much for having me.