Hi and welcome,

My name is Joyce Hurd and this is my third act. I spent my career in various ad agencies in the Boston area. I loved it…and hated it. I loved the people I met and got to work with. I loved the creative energy and the rush that comes with doing a job really well. I hated the deadlines, the stress, and the late nights. I wouldn’t have traded that experience for anything.

Then I decided it was time to put some effort into myself, my family and all things personal. Now it’s time for my third act…as a writer. My first book, “Always Forward” is now available on Amazon (see link under Books). It’s a story about Alex McEwan, a deaf boy coming of age in America during the Depression and World War II. At a young age, he loses his father and chief champion in an accident, forcing him to decide whether to live in the familiar world of the deaf or to forge a new path in the hearing world as his father desired. The novel spans Alex’s life from his youth as he tries to fit into the hearing world, his love for both a hearing woman and a deaf one, and how he grows into the man his father wanted him to be. 

The inspiration for Alex is my dad. My father was born deaf at a time when most people thought the deaf should be hidden away. My father (and my mother) were both lucky to have parents that didn’t think that way. They were celebrated, encouraged, and taught to make their way in the world. Some of the things that Alex experiences are things my dad shared with me. Some of them are completely made up. What I hope, above all, is to remain true to my dad’s spirit and the community of deaf people that were his friends and spiritual family.