Scattered Jules

Jewel Adams is an author that is exactly as her name implies—a perfect jewel. Jewel Adams was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. Her hard childhood spurred her imagination and later on those imaginings fueled her love for writing.

She moved to Utah in 1989 and started writing seriously a few years later.

She is a wife and the mother of eight children (which makes her a saint in my book). When she is not home schooling her children or writing, she loves to curl up with a box of chocolates and read, her favorite books being romance and fantasy novels.

She frequently speaks to youth and adult audiences. She has a great love for the youth and because of her own painful childhood, she is always anxiously engaged in helping them to understand how marvelous and special they are.

Jewel is the author of nine (count ‘em folks, NINE) novels, her most recent publication being The Journey.

The war between good and evil is as old as time itself–

so is the absolute truth that each choice is accompanied by a consequence.

Ciran is about to be faced with both.

Two roads lie ahead. Only one leads home.

Which will she choose?

Before I begin my interview with Jewel I want to say a few things about her. When I first met jewel it was at a booksigning where many authors were in attendance. She was easily approachable and delightful to speak with. I loved her instantly. But beyond that I’ve noted some things about her. I’ve been in charge of various functions and writer’s conferences over the last few years and something I’ve found is that as soon as Jewel shows up, her first question seems to always be, “How can I help?” She’s always jumping in and saving the day by being exactly where she’s needed when she’s needed. She is a delight to have in a group because she is so amicable and not overbearing (we’ll reserve the irritating overbearing personality trait in authors for me). I just love her and hope you all love her too.

Hi Jewel! Thanks for joining us.

• When did you first know you wanted to be a writer? How long did it take from that moment to publication?

In high school I used to write poetry, but I didn’t consider writing books until I moved to Utah in 1989. I met another author who kind of gave me the bug and that was it. I totally fell in love with writing.

• 2-      So often writers are told to “write what they know,” Do you feel you take a lot of personal experiences and incorporate them into your writing, or do you gather information and scenes from outside sources, or do you find that you do both?

I do a little of both. A have given a few of my characters some of my past experiences and have tried to get across through them what I learned from those experiences. Lately, though, I’ve done a mixture of mine, as well as others’ experiences, and some gathered info.

• 3-     You’ve written many novels, do you find it easier to tell a story in a fairytale format or is the contemporary world easier to tell a story in?

Actually I find it easier to write in contemporary first-person, but this fantasy stuff has been a lot of fun. As a kid, my mind would travel to other places from time to time, but I don’t think my imagination was as vivid as it should have been because my situation forced me to grow up too fast. Now I’m having the opportunity to let my imagination run wild, on purpose, and that’s pretty neat:o)

• 4-      Your book deals with journeys and decisions made along the journey. What do you hope people will carry away with them when they close the book and get back to their real lives?

I hope they will understand that everything we do in the present will somehow affect our future and that no action taken is without a consequence. I hope the reader will come away wanting to be a better person and understand that it’s the small things that make the difference.

• 5-    You’ve done both traditional publishing and self publishing. Being that many authors are struggling to find their place in the market and since you’ve had experience with both sides of the writer coin, It would be interesting to hear your take on both sides. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?

With traditional publishing, it’s great not having to worry about distribution or spending money printing books.
With self-publishing, I like being in control of my book. You have to do a lot of marketing, but you have to do some marketing with a traditional publisher too. They both have their ups and downs. You can make good money either way depending on how much goes into marketing and advertising. So either way is good for me.

• 6-    What is the biggest surprise for you in being an author?

Well, one has been just meeting people that like my writing enough to come back for more. It makes me think, “Wow, I guess maybe my books aren’t so bad after all.”:o)
It has also been pretty neat meeting and hanging out with other amazing authors, like yourself, of course. The friendships make it worth it.

I’ve neglected the blogging world a bit and truly apologize, but don’t take it personally–I’ve been writing. Oh can I just share my relief in this blessed miracle? I mean, I was writing before, but it felt soooo forced. The book wasn’t going anywhere and I wasn’t sure who my audience was, which made it that much harder to focus.

This  new book has all the ease of a hot knife through butter. It’s just coming all at once. I know how it’s going to end. I know what the middles (which let’s be honest, are hard to write) are going to contain. I feel free.

It’s all Jeff Savage’s fault, or is it J Scott Savage? You all know who I mean–anyway, we spent some time on the phone with me whining (i know, hard to believe) and he asked what I was working on.

“Nothing.”  Short replies from writers are significant. Short replies from me in particular are usually indicative of being ill, depressed, or ticked off. At the moment of this conversation, I was depressed–hence the whining.

“Nothing? C’mon. I know you. You have tons of stuff.”

And he was right. I ALWAYS have tons of stuff churning through my head, but I wasn’t actively writing any of it, which means I was working on ‘nothing.’ “Oh there’s lots of things I could be working on. I just don’t know where to put my focus.” This flippant comment was followed by the thought, Light! I’m working on nothing. I’m a failure! Do your hear me–FAILURE!!!!

Jeff then asked, “Which one do you most WANT to write?”

And I didn’t know. None of them? All of them? Perhaps what I wanted was to be locked in a padded room where I could rock back and forth and sing karaoke to myself. On non karaoke nights, I could chant, Nothing nothing nothing . . . .

“You’re not having fun anymore, are you?” he asked. Really. I wonder if Jeff and his wife Jen are secret therapists. He pegged it. I wasn’t. Writing had become work. For the first time ever, I couldn’t summon anything just for the joy of it. I was worried about audience, and publishers, and market. I’d become so obsessed with carving out my own place in the literary world, instead I carved my little scribbler’s heart right out and threw it away.

And the thing is, writing affects every aspect of my life. I’m a better wife when I am writing. I am a better mother when I am writing. I am a better person when I am writing. So imagine a year going by with no novel to show for it. What kind of wife, mother, person did I become in that year?  I won’t answer that. You don’t really want to know. Oh, Mr. Wright would argue for my sake and lie to you all about how great I am. He’s cute that way. And the kids might argue, just because I’ve been reading them Farworld and they love me for it, but I’ve been whiny at best.

So I shelved the work going nowhere and started something new. I decided to not think or dwell on marketing, or who might publish this story, or what this story might mean for my career as an author. I wrote because it was fun.

Guess what?

It’s so much fun!

It’s like drinking ambrosia and feeling rejuvenated again. I feel like I can breathe again. And Mr. Wright will be glad to know that the sulky female living in his home has been evicted. You can probably hear the rejoicing from wherever you may be.

This newfound joy comes at a good time for me since I am heading to New York–where I need to be at the top of my game and content with what I’m doing. But I am not merely content. I’ve fallen in love with writing again. Yes, Jeff . . . I’m finally having fun again.