Hurricane of the Heart by Jewel Amethyst

The truth is, there are no easy answers in life. Some readers have criticized me for dealing with uncomfortable subjects in my fiction–subjects which do not lend themselves to easy answers. I want to draw my readers into a different kind of world–one marked by purpose, significance, and hope. Authenticity of character and profound spiritual transformation. That’s what I like to write about: the heart, the mind, the soul. Not just what happens to them, but about what happens in them–the spiritual, emotional, and psychological passages that lead people to an understanding of their inner selves, and of one another. White squirrel in TamaracBut scenery can only take you so far.

And now I live here-in the shadow of the Blue Ridge near DuPont Forest, where rare and remarkable white squirrels chatter wisdom to me from the trees outside my office window. I loved the undulating layers of blue and purple and green, the rushing streams coming down over the rocks, the cool glades and misty mornings.

I was raised in Mississippi, and as a child I remember family vacations to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In the process, I discovered another passion–the magnificent grandeur of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina. Finally, after twelve years of college teaching, I left the classroom and turned my energy toward my life’s passion–writing fiction. I loved teaching, loved the students and the challenge and the interaction, but the longing for full-time expression of my creativity never died. in Renaissance Literature, led me to a career as a college professor. Ten years of university study, culminating in a Ph.D. But the fulfillment of that dream was a long time in coming.

I learned early both the magic and mystery of stories and the importance of people–their dreams, their hopes, their longings, their struggles.įrom the age of four, when I first learned to read and discovered that words had incredible power, I dreamed of being a writer. A Baby Boomer with an English teacher and a social worker for parents, I grew up being challenged to develop my imagination, and to seek out for myself the meaning and significance of life. It’s often been debated whether a person’s destiny lies in genetics or environment, but either way, I suppose I was destined to be a fiction writer.

Hurricane of the Heart by Jewel Amethyst