What Is Hurricane Helene Resiliency After the Storm About?
Hurricane Helene Resiliency After the Storm is a nonfiction culmination of the events that occurred in Western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene’s (then a tropical storm) arrival on September 27, 2024. Originally planned as my personal account, it evolved into a historical document when I interviewed and collected multiple accounts from around the region.
What Inspired Me to Write This Book?
By day seven without potable water, internet, cell phone service, or electricity, I realized the significance of the event and decided to document what was happening to us. Never could I have imagined how slow the government’s response would be to a natural disaster, and when we needed help the most, no one was around except for our neighbors.
Who Is This Book For?
I wanted my book to be universal and acceptable for all, but the information within the pages is not appropriate for the very young. The color photographs tell a story of utter destruction, and the interviews with survivors hold nothing back. However, I have found my biggest fans have been in the male age group of 50 and up. That said, many women are drawn to my book, but they usually can only read it in small doses because of its sensitive nature.
What I Hope Readers Will Take Away
Knowledge and reality. I want readers to know what we experienced, how we suffered, and how we overcame the most horrible situation of our lifetime. And I want readers to understand what a similar situation would look like in their neighborhood. In the book, there is a chapter on lessons and preparations to encourage others to prepare for their own storms. I interviewed survivors because no two stories were the same, and we suffered in our own ways, but we all came to realize the importance of community. When the government wasn’t here to help us, we had to help ourselves, and we had to rely on one another. I think that’s the way it used to be a long time ago, and I wish the world would go back to that.
What’s Next for This Book?
This is Part One of a series of books, but I’ve had difficulty deciding when to do Part Two because we’re still recovering, and I don’t know what the final story will be. Additionally, I didn’t deal with my emotional trauma like everyone else did. I chose to write a book and capture everyone else’s trauma and put mine on the back burner. To this day, I haven’t been able to read the book because of the emotions that it brings back up. I know I need therapy for this, but I continue to focus on my next book. Honestly, it may be five years or more before I write Part Two. In the meantime, I’ve been pouring my energy into Lift Our Voice: Abuse Survivors Speak Their Truth. I left an emotionally abusive relationship about a month ago and had been dealing with homelessness. Ironically, there’s a chapter titled “One Disaster from Homelessness” in my Helene book.
About the Author
I am a multi-genre author who writes adult LGBTQ+ fiction, nonfiction, historical, short stories, and poems. I’ve been writing for over 39 years, but I didn’t publish my first book, Hating Self, until November 2023. Rebecca Wells Phillips is my legal name, but I’ve also published under the pen names of Boo Black and Rachel Bleu.
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