I recently went walking with a friend of mine on the beach and she was asking me about my Memoir, and why I wrote and it got me thinking about the WHY of it.  This is somehting I wrote for my Blog a couple years ago and I thought I’d reshare it – to understand the WHY.  

In late 2003, I was 36 years old and typing in my journal about how f&*#@ up my life was with alcohol and drugs — my life was spinning out of control and I was too scared to ask for help.  Soon after this journal entry, I received my 2^nd DUI and knew I needed to do something different, but wasn’t sure what that would be?  I was quickly nudged by my attorney to go to an AA meeting and get a court card signed to show the judge some mercy on me.  GASP! I didn’t want to as I didn’t want to give up the two things that made me the happiest – drugs and booze.  Six weeks after that piece of advice, I walked into a meeting – I sprinted out at the end of that meeting and ran home and drank two bottles of wine that night.  That whole next week, all I could think of was that meeting and what kept running through my head was HOPE.  Maybe I should give this sobriety thing a try? I’ve got nothing to lose.  A week later I went to my second meeting and I haven’t looked back since.

I started journaling more and more about my life and my experiences that had led me to that AA meeting and by early 2005; I had compiled a 250 page manuscript for my own Memoir, “Last Call”.   I worked with an Editor and attended writer conferences and symposiums while trying to get an agent or a publishing house to show some interest – no such luck.  So I went about my daily living in getting and staying sober and moved on in my professional career.

My memoir literally sat on my book shelf for over 10 years until a friend of mine urged me to self-publish it through Amazon Kindle.  In early 2015, I took that plunge and it’s been an amazing journey of self-discovery (again) love, and being of service to others.  One thing that makes me the happiest is to get that email from someone saying how much my Memoir helped them see their addiction clearly, and that they weren’t scared to ask for help because of my experience.  That, my friend, is what keeps me blogging, connecting and doing whatever I can to help others in their sobriety plight.