Jewel Adams

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.