Hello and thank you to the Author’s Longe for allowing me to use their platform to inform potential readers on my work and to introduce myself to their fam base!! Also I thank those of you who are taking time out of your day to read this article! For those who aren’t familiar with my work, I go by the name “Jay” which is one of my alter egos. Throughout my life, I’ve had experiences that I handled in a manner that affected my future drastically. One of those being falling under the influence of narcotics which is the main topic of my book/memoir.

The role that my decisions prior to/during my addiction, along with my experiences with child abuse, domestic violence and mental illness growing up, also played a huge role in me deciding to write about my addiction’s long and bumpy road. I always wanted to help people, whether it be as a counselor, civil servant or as a rich person who uses his money to better the community. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no luck what so ever, so I decided that writing a book about my experiences with addiction was the best route to take. Hopefully in the near future I could do so much more because the plans I have reach the stars.

The target audience(s) I had in mind when I was writing this book were those individuals who, like me, had a vile sense of self-destruction and poor decision making. Also, those who were already on the path of recovery and those who are considered “at risk.” I hoped to enlighten them through my words and a raw look into my life to hopefully make them realize that addiction is a real and painful issue that many face and it isn’t impossible to overcome. My book isn’t only for them but also for those who have never been at rock bottom and who have never had to decide between eating or avoiding withdrawals.

I believe that if more people were to share their stories and show that addicts are capable of compassion and love too then the negative stigma we face as a population will cease. It’s no secret that many people who have never dealt with addiction and aren’t close to someone who has, always view addicts as ”criminals, ” ”junkies” and ”low lives” . There’s been many times where the people who ”support” me end up losing something and automatically blamed me and talked down to me, just to find what they were looking for. Overall, I wanted to portray a sense of humanity for those who suffer from addiction. Aside from that, my goal for this book is to hopefully use my story for the benefit of others no matter race, class or whatever background people come from. Nobody is exempt from struggling and anyone is capable of change.

Outside from what I have written for my readers, I am a father of two, I am committed to loving them and their mother. I am currently writing my second book which I plan on naming ”Love & Infidelity, ” or something like that, I’m not sure honestly. I wanted to have at least 100 pages but I’m currently suffering from a severe case of writer’s block, those who are writers will understand. It’s unrelated to the first and revolves around the mentalities of men and women when love, heartbroken and the effects of infidelity. Along with modern rape culture during this time period and in dating also dealing with mental illness in relationships, etc. thank you so much for your time!

Please follow me on Twitter @fruitsofaddictn on Instagram @fruitsofaddiction, WordPress at www.fruits of addiction.com and on medium at medium.com/@fruitsofaddiction all of which have posts regarding projects and studies I do on addiction and other topics!! Thank you again Authors’ Lounge for allowing me to use your platform to share my story and advertise my book, Jay 🙂