The Process of Writing my Book

I was amazed at the healing I experienced by writing my book which starts with a section on the trauma I experienced at the hands of my father during my early adolescent years. Then, it covers my recovery from alcohol and drug addiction through the 12 steps and fellowship with fellow suffers. Many of us addicts learned to cope with our childhood trauma by escaping through drugs, alcohol, sex, food, avoidance, and control. The 12 steps, therapy, and writing my book has been a way out of the lingering affects of growing up in a household where I feared for my life on several occasions, and I lived in fear for a majority of the time. Finally, as I was writing the book I started to remember all the fun times I had as an adolescent through water, sports, water sports, travel, and adventure. I realized that my dad, for all his faults, was an athlete and an adventurer who liked to share his adventures with his kids, and a lot of that adventure helped my body process the insanity of my home life. I also found that through writing it as “creative non fiction” I was able to free the traumatized boy from his frozen victim state and allow him to escape some of the dangers almost like a super hero. This fictionalized part of the story has been very healing for me.