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?