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Q: When was The Jewelry Box published?
A: The Jewelry Box was published in February of 1994
Q: How did you decide on the theme of the book?
A: The theme for The Jewelry Box and the other novels that are part of The Jewelry Box trilogy mushroomed as I wrote. It started out as a novel about young woman who is high school senior. Her family moves from the desert southwest to the Oregon coast. And that’s still a major part of the story; how our young woman, Jessa, handles such a drastic move at a critical time in her life. But the book also grew into something more as I explored and developed Micah. And soon, I felt Micah’s story about teenage alcoholism and the many faces of that problem was just as strong, if not stronger than Jessa’s.
Q: How did you write about teenage alcoholism?
A: By 1994, a lot was known about alcoholism. With some careful reading I was able to understand the process that a teenager might go through. Most kids drink to belong to the group. Alcoholics usually drink to drown out some kind of personal pain. Sometimes they may not even know what that pain is. That’s Micah’s story; coming to terms with the pain.
Q: But isn’t drinking alcohol against LDS beliefs?
A: Yes. And that’s part of my point. I wanted to write about how the human spirit, which is our connection to our Heavenly Father, can come back from devastating circumstances. I wanted to tell a story that showed how hope, love, support, and friendship can triumph over all things. And that the gospel can offer relief and help save us from the wreckage of past wrongs and past mistakes. We still have to do the work. But the gospel will aid us in that endeavor. The gospel is there for all of us. Christ makes that very clear when he states “for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9: 13). That is Micah’s story.
Q: Does it have a happy ending?
A: I wouldn’t call it a happy ending. I would call it a believable and satisfying ending. I don’t really write stories that have endings. I prefer to look at my writing as slices of life. By doing so, I hope that the reader will think beyond the pages and maybe try to picture these characters as continuing on with their lives.
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