EEK!!

There are three reasons I’m writing today.  One is because I just created a separate Facebook page for my writing and it’s pretty empty, so I need to put something on it.  The second reason is because I’m off today, so I can.  The third is because I’m super-duper excited about a phone call I just had and I want to talk about it.

Let me back up, though, and start at the beginning:

This whole blog thing began because I wrote a book.  I started the book in December and finished it in January.  It went through a whole bunch of edits and is (hopefully) in the last, or close to the last, edit.  The book is about a 15-year-old named Erin who is being raised by her grandparents because her mother, a heroin addict, abandoned her when she was five.  It’s a Young Adult book, which simply means that it is geared for ages 12ish-18 year olds.  When I first thought about writing a book, Young Adult was not the audience I was considering writing for.  I also wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about; I’d read that you should “write what you know about,” but I honestly didn’t feel like I knew very much about anything. 

One day, out of the blue, I realized what the subject of my book would be:  I kept meeting or hearing about kids being raised by family members because their parents are addicts or alcoholics.  Growing up in an alcoholic home, I know firsthand what it feels like to have a parent who has a substance-abuse problem.  I remember being embarrassed and ashamed.  I remember always stressing about whether something I did (or didn’t do) would set off a drunken tirade.  And I remember that after he got sober, I was always afraid that if I did this or that, it might cause him to start drinking again.  I feel it’s important to say here that my father was a good man and I loved him; he just happened to be an alcoholic, and alcohol can turn anyone into someone they’re not.  Thankfully, once he got sober, he never touched the stuff again…Dr. Jekyll entered the building, and Mr. Hyde exited, never to return. 

The memories and the feelings never fully go away, though; so it turns out that there was something I knew and could write about.  I wanted to write it for the kids that are going through it now.  I wanted to tell them a story that would let them know that they’re not alone and that there’s places they can go to talk to people…people who are going through what they are.  Most of all, I wanted to give them a little hope that they can be happy.

Fast-forward to today.  The publisher has told me that I need to get “experts” to read and review my book before it gets published.  I was reading an article today and “ding-ding” I found the perfect reviewer(s).  The article mentioned a local organization that helps teens who have addicted family members and/or teens who appear to be heading down the wrong path.  It just so happens that when I was in middle school, someone (a teacher or guidance counselor, maybe?) entered me into a program offered by that very same organization.  I have a friend, whose name I won’t mention, who was also selected.  I know that person faithfully reads my blogs and knows exactly what program I’m talking about (hey, friend…remember that camping trip they took us on?)   It’s a great program.

Anyway, today I called and spoke with a lady at that organization.  I told her I wrote a book, what it was about, and that I was hoping that someone there would be willing to read it, give me feedback, and write a review for me.  She called me back after speaking with her director and they are both really excited that someone wrote a book about a teen dealing with the mess that comes along with having an addicted parent; they gave me a definite and enthusiastic, “YES!”  I didn’t expect that at all.  I thought maybe they’d be polite but say “not interested”.  I thought that, best-case scenario, maybe they’d begrudgingly agree to look at the book.  But I did NOT expect them to be excited, so I am a little giddy right now.

If you’re reading this, thank you for listening to me ramble on about something I’m really excited about.  And if you liked and/or shared my new page, thank you for that, too.   I promised not to clog up your feed with posts and I plan to keep that promise, so I’ll post again on Sunday.  

Until then, see you on the flip side (I really wish I would’ve named my site, “The Flip Side” because I like to say that…in fact, I might just say it at the end of every entry anyway).