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Four Seconds out on Audible!

by Jean Knight Pace
written by Jean Knight Pace

How’s everyone holding in there? Life has certainly been crazy the last few months. I hope that this post finds you all well and that you and yourn are staying safe. I hope your kids aren’t driving you nutsies. And I hope you’ve had a gorgeous spring. If any of those things isn’t true, I hope that things will look up soon and am sending all the good vibes your way.

I also hope that if reading is your sanity and your solace, you have found some good things to indulge in.

Today I’m happy to announce that Four Seconds, Laura Andrade’s book (which I helped write) came out on Audible (and can also be found on iTunes). So for any of you audio readers out there, it’s here!

To celebrate, we’re giving out 5 coupon codes to the first five takers. You can leave a comment here or message me on my social media.

And if you’ve got an account and don’t need a coupon code, then by all means, download that book already.

The book was narrated by the talented Belinda Lams. I asked if I could share her bio and she’s been through so many interesting (and some heart-breaking) things. I hope you enjoy getting to know her just a bit as much as I did.

 

Belinda Lams is a podcast producer/host, audio book narrator, voice over artist, and background singer. Her early career was spent in television production, working on variety shows such as “The Golden Globes” and “The Dolly Parton Show.” After losing her daughter, Aria, to leukemia in 2004, Belinda set out on a quest to find healing and life direction. She became a Certified Life Coach and helped many of her clients find their own healing and purposeful path. After hosting and producing two podcasts, she developed her most recent show called “The Moment When…” where she shares inspiring stories of people who have been on The Hero’s Journey. Her musician husband of 30 years, composes original soundtracks for each guest. Belinda loves hiking, yoga, learning, traveling, and spending time with her husband, Jeff, and grown son, Jordan.

 

 

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Four SecondsOn Writing

Writing About Addiction

by Jean Knight Pace
written by Jean Knight Pace

Since Laura Andrade’s book, Four Seconds, came out several months ago, I’ve had a few people approach me, hoping to be able to tell their stories of addiction and recovery. Since I can’t help everyone one-on-one to write their own stories, I wanted to share a few tips about how to start your story, especially if it deals with addiction. I’m not any kind of expert on addiction, but working to write Laura’s book helped me understand some of the questions we need to ask to write a story about addiction and recovery. Hopefully some of these questions will help you tell your own story.

  1. When did the first problem begin—before the addiction? This could have been something dramatic like an abusive parent, or something subtle like being a rebellious type of kid.
  2. How did that lead to an addictive substance? What was your first experience with the addictive substance, and how did you feel after using it?
  3. How did one thing lead to others throughout your story? (After each incident, ask yourself, “And so…”)
  4. What mistakes did you make along the way?
  5. What did you do right along the way? What held your head above water so that later you’d be able to recover? (Were you still kind, generous, hopeful, artistic?) One thing that struck me in Laura’s story is how she held on to shreds of deep goodness even in her darkest years.
  6. Rock bottom moment(s)?
  7. When was the point where your life turned toward the better (this is often connected to or related to your rock bottom moment)? This doesn’t have to be when you completely when you recovered–only when you started to find your way back.
  8. What steps did you take to make it better?
  9. What got in your way? Did you backslide?
  10. How did you overcome it?
  11. What are the steps you continue to take?
  12. What have you learned?
  13. How have you changed?

 

 

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BooksFour SecondsSlider

Four Seconds: A New Memoir by a Dear Friend

by Jean Knight Pace
written by Jean Knight Pace

For the last several years, I’ve been working on a book with a friend about her life on drugs, selling drugs, and–finally–recovering from drugs. It’s kind of an amazing story. I met Laura well after she’d recovered from drugs, although she was still in the process of reclaiming certain aspects of her life. As I got to know her, more and more came out about her past and I told her that if she was ever interested, I’d help her write her story.

And what a story! Despair, struggle, redemption. All the basics. And, even though I’m joking, I don’t really want to make light of how deeply Laura was caught up in the drug culture and how difficult it was for her to claw her way out (not just from the drugs, but from the series of poor choices that a life on drugs had led her to).

Below you’ll find the back cover blurb. You can find Four Seconds on Amazon (in paperback and Kindle versions) and on Barnes and Noble.

We’ll also be signing this Saturday at Barnes and Noble in Evansville from 2-4. Hope to see you locals there.

Four Seconds: A Memoir by Laura Andrade

“I’m not going to try it,” I said.

“You’ll like it,” she argued.

“I know I’ll like it,” I said. “That’s why I’m not going to try it.”

“Try it just this once and I’ll never ask you to do it again.”

That was a deal. I slipped back into the driver’s seat while Pat corn-rowed two neat lines of the silky white powder on the back of a plastic cassette tape cover.

Fifteen hundred dollars every month, an abusive boyfriend, a molested child, a lost family, hotels for houses, a ruined leg, a gun to my head, a knife to my butt, a jail cell all my own. Black eyes, bruised days, broken hours.
Looking back, it seems strange what I gave up to get my roommate off my back.

It only took four seconds.

***

In her debut memoir, Andrade tells of her years with cocaine and crystal methamphetamines—using, then selling—until all she had left of the life she wanted was a chalk outline and a pack of cigarettes. This is the story of her use and recovery, of the people who frustrated and inspired her, of her decision to leave the drug world.

It is the story of her slow, often unsteady walk home.

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BooksDo Something GoodFour SecondsGrey LoreGrey StoneHugging Death

Hugging Death, Four Seconds, Free Comic Book Day, and More

by Jean Knight Pace
written by Jean Knight Pace

So May just exploded in my face. In a good way. You know that coconut cream pie in the face that Scooby Doo licks off and enjoys.

But seriously.

So. Much. Is. Happening.

First of all, for the ENTIRE month of May, ALL of my profits from Hugging Death: Essays on Motherhood and Saying Goodbye will be donated to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. If you haven’t bought it, or think it might be a nice gift for someone, NOW is the time to buy it! Here’s the back cover blurb if you’re interested (and a picture of the book on my beautifully weedy lawn). Also, I’ll be signing this Saturday May 4th from 2-4 at Barnes and Noble, so you can pick up a signed copy there if you’d like.

Everyone’s mother is dead or dying. It is nothing new, nothing ceasing, nothing fresh or interesting. But when your mother is dying and when this dying insists at once that you take notice of it, you feel her bones in your own and that insistence stretches into the vision you have of your own life. This short collection of essays explores life and death–what they take, what they give, and what they leave behind.

 

And since we’re talking non-fiction, I’ve been working with my friend, Laura Andrade, on her memoir, Four Seconds for the last three years or so. It’s finally out!!! I’ll put the blurb here. And then walk, not run, to your, uh, nearest computer to order it off of Amazon. It will be on Barnes and Noble soon and we’ll be having a signing there, but that’s a few months away still. Back cover blurb coming at you!

“I’m not going to try it,” I said. 

“You’ll like it,” she argued. 

“I know I’ll like it,” I said. “That’s why I’m not going to try it.” 

“Try it just this once and I’ll never ask you to do it again.” 

That was a deal. I slipped back into the driver’s seat while Pat corn-rowed two neat lines of the silky white powder on the back of a plastic cassette tape cover. 

Fifteen hundred dollars every month, an abusive boyfriend, a molested child, a lost family, hotels for houses, a ruined leg, a gun to my head, a knife to my butt, a jail cell all my own. Black eyes, bruised days, broken hours. 
Looking back, it seems strange what I gave up to get my roommate off my back. 

It only took four seconds. 

***

In her debut memoir, Andrade tells of her years with cocaine and crystal methamphetamines—using, then selling—until all she had left of the life she wanted was a chalk outline and a pack of cigarettes. This is the story of her use and recovery, of the people who frustrated and inspired her, of her decision to leave the drug world.

 

And if that’s not enough bookish event-ing for you, I’ll be at Comic Quest for FREE COMIC BOOK DAY.  I’ll be there signing Grey Stone and Grey Lore (and any other books you want me to sign) from 10-1:30 on May 4th (and May the fourth be with you).

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