WhymanWrites

I have kind of a personal request. I'm working on the second draft of a story about an addict in recovery and I believe the story (and therefore hopefully the readers) would benefit from some deeper realism. My guiding principle for this particular novel-length project is to present addiction as it is to addicts not the media/mainstream narrative. Obviously, every addicts' experience is very different, but I am doing my best to represent real addicts.

I've interviewed a couple of people in recovery (as well as engaging someone in recovery as a sensitivity reader) which got me through the first draft but now I'm working on the second draft and expanding/deepening the manuscript, I feel a broader range of experiences would be more honest to the story.

I have a set of interview questions for two types of experiences:

1. People who have personally struggled with addiction, and;

2. People who have a close friend/family who has struggled with addiction.

You do not need to be in recovery to respond. You do not need to be in a program/at rehab. Any and all stages of the process are welcome. My protagonist is a heroin addict but again, all substance dependency experiences welcome!

The interviews are completely anonymous as I understand there are complexities involved in talking about this. The person in my life who inspired this story (consequently the strongest, and most courageous person I know) has been sober 5 years. Their changes and honesty and dedication to making amends is indescribable (says the author writing a 70k book about it) and I hope to tell a story that shows that. If you fit one of the above categories, I would so appreciate your help in making this happen.

I’ve gone and entered a writing comp— despite the 4 month old making actual writing properly hard. For real, you’re more likely to see Big Foot than me writing these days. But here it is, fresh from its foggy, mythological genesis: The Curse of the Cold Cook! 2,500 words about white guilt, colonialism, owls, and curses…. Set in a funeral parlour. Did you know morticians used to be called “cold cooks” as slang? I didn’t! Thanks, Google.

Now this comp has a panel of judges BUT in the event that the judges tie in their scoring, they look to engagement as a tie breaker. On the Vocal platform that means reads and hearts.

The Bread of Aset

And so they told the Story of Aset.

The Goddess was often represented as the perfect traditional Egyptian wife and mother— wise enough to stay in the background while things went well, but able to use her wits to guard her loved ones and adherents should the need arise. The shelter she afforded her children gave her the character of a goddess of protection, but her chief aspect was that of a great magician, whose power transcended that of all other deities.

Aran hires a new baker who cooks loaves fit for the gods. An ode to Ancient Egypt, the life and death cycle of bread, and love that spans eons. Rated R for adult content.

Read here!

Between Doing & Being

I was woefully unprepared for motherhood, we all are; fawns taking our first brave, faltering steps into a new world. Birthing and being birthed. A new adolescence. A messy, heartbreaking, heart-filling storm of contradictions.

I break.

I am remade.

Only to break once more.

Motherhood is hard, made harder by the unceasing struggle between Doing and Being. You ask me to slow down— stay longer, be softer—when the ghosts of my former life— my before-life—call me to get Done. Do. Doing.

There are a hundred opinions on our Being, yours and mine. Doctors, nurses, specialists, family, friends, strangers, social media… a hundred, no a thousand, ways to Do Being Better. When you were round in my belly, swimming and kicking, I listened. I took in. I strove to learn.

But now you’re here. And I am a doe-made-fawn. These antlers are to shelter you and to ward of the hundreds and thousands that would intrude on our Being. Now, I listen to me and I listen you. Now, I have whole days where the conflict between Doing and Being is a distant storm, far away from where we lay together. Sleeping you on me— a crime according to the H & Ts— because it’s what you need. Then can wait, this non-existent, future-Then I am meant to guard against.

Now is now.

I was woefully unprepared for motherhood but I am Being where once I was Doing and it’s the only way I can weather this learning. Messy, heartbreaking, heart-filling storm that it is.

They can wait. Then will keep.