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It’s often been
debated whether a person’s destiny lies in genetics or
environment, but either way, I seemed ordained to be a fiction
writer. A Baby Boomer with an English teacher and a social
worker for parents, I grew up being challenged to develop my
imagination, to seek out for myself the meaning and
significance of life. I learned early both the power and
mystery of stories and the importance of people--their dreams,
their hopes, their longings, their struggles. |
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From the age
of four, when I first learned to read and discovered that
words are magical, I always dreamed of being a writer. The
fulfillment of that dream, however, was a long time in coming.
Ten years of university study, culminating in a Ph.D. in
Renaissance Literature, led me to a career as a college
professor teaching writing and literature. I enjoyed teaching,
particularly the connection with students, but after twelve
years in the classroom, I knew it was time to turn my energy
toward my life’s passion--writing fiction.
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Raised
and educated in Mississippi, I left the South shortly
after graduate school and spent fourteen years in
Minnesota, teaching and editing and beginning my writing
career. I did a bit of wandering–Georgia, Connecticut,
back to Mississippi for a while–but it didn't take me
long to realize that my soul’s home could only be one
place: Asheville, North Carolina, a small city in the
heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Being a southern writer is,
in many ways, bred in the blood and the bone. Place is
very important to me--not just the physical environment
of my home and office and the vistas I take in on a
daily basis, but that "sense of place," the internal
compass that keeps drawing me back to where I belong, to
the connections that nourish my soul.
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Because in the
long run, fiction is about people. Not just about 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. I
write about the heart, the mind, the soul. I want to write
novels that combine authenticity of character with profound
spiritual dimension--books that are original, imaginative, and
intrinsically true to life. I want to draw readers in,
allowing them to perceive a different kind of world--one
marked by purpose, significance, and most importantly, hope.
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Readers
often ask me about the difficult questions I raise in my
fiction. I raise those questions because I grapple with them
in my daily life. According to Socrates, the unexamined life
is not worth living; I suppose I’ve taken that truth to heart,
because I’ve never been content to accept the easy answers. I
believe that ultimately, our character is determined not so
much by the certainties we cling to, but by the uncertainties
we are courageous enough to face. When we’re committed to
going deeper, to following the unknown path, our journey can
lead us to an understanding of our own inner being, to a
connection with a power that is both within us and beyond us.
And that understanding, that connection, gives meaning and
purpose to our days. |
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