Sweet Melissa: Ignorance Is Not Bliss

Addiction Memoirs

The best part of addiction recovery has been connecting with other people who can relate to my story. For the most part, my sobriety fellowship is found at meetings. However, I also love listening to sobriety podcasts, browsing through blogs (I guess that’s kind of obvious) and reading memoirs.

Reading someone’s story about addiction and recovery gives me inspiration. It also reminds me that I am not alone. Reading is a great way to escape the “committee inside my head”. Isn’t that what most of us were looking for when we chased the “high”?  One of the hardest parts of abusing drugs and alcohol is feeling lonely. This feeling of isolation kept me from participating in life. It also led to depression.  So it naturally follows, now that I am sober, it feels good to connect with others, especially those who understand what I’ve gone through.  Empathy is a powerful force.

While connecting with others, I met an inspirational woman named Susan. She told me she has a series of memoirs. Six to be exact. I wanted to share an excerpt from Book One  Sweet Melissa: Ignorance Is Not Bliss.

HEROIN ADDICTION, THE LIFESTYLE, THE RECOVERY

Book one of a six book memoir series. The series will take you from the heroin laced streets of Los Angeles, to an eventual overdose in prison, to dealing crystal meth, and prescription pills, to an eight-year prison sentence, to dodging the National Geographic camera men while at Valley State Prison, to behind bars with some of the Manson girls. This series will also take you to my recovery, and how I got there.

This is MY story.
I broke out into a cold sweat, and tried to cry. The tears would not fall, because I knew in my heart, that I had no one to blame for my situation but myself. I came from a good, loving family. I was never beaten or abused. We went on family vacations every summer. My childhood years could not have been more perfect. What was wrong with me?

I looked closely into the mirror, and saw the dark circles beneath my eyes. I was underweight, and my long blonde hair was thinning. I looked away from the mirror quickly, and sat on the cold, tile floor of this cheap motel bathroom.

My hand shook a bit as I held the spoon full of heroin. I cooked it up with a blue lighter. I dropped in a small piece of cotton, and drew up the liquid with a syringe. I injected the heroin, and fell slowly back against the wall. The tile was no longer cold, and life did not seem so hopeless anymore.

Sweet Melissa is an ongoing memoir series. It is the author’s story about her life-long struggle with addiction to heroin, her downward spiral towards self destruction, and finally her recovery. Follow the author down the dark path of substance abuse and the lifestyle that goes with it.

In Book One, the author gets involved with prostitution and drugs. She encounters a variety of people, and finds herself addicted to heroin. With that addiction, she falls deeper and deeper into a hole of which she believes will never end. Her self-esteem diminishes, and her life seems worthless.

This is a life-long struggle with substance abuse leading to the one event that will finally end it all. This is not a few month habit, but rather a way of life with no other choice at the time. Heroin and substance abuse cloud the mind from thinking properly. It deadens the senses and the soul. It puts you in places you could never imagine in your wildest dreams.

Follow the Sweet Melissa series to find out what life changing event will finally open the author’s eyes, and shine some hope on her for a brighter future. This is a memoir straight from the heart of the finally recovered.

The Author

Susan Segovia-Munoz was born in Los Angeles, California. The Sweet Melissa series is the author’s story, straight from her heart. She leaves nothing behind, even the most embarrassing, and humiliating moments. The memoir series is her first project. Her story is intense, disturbing, and genuine. It will take you further than rock bottom before you begin to see the slightest glimpse of light or hope. You will follow the author through decades of drug abuse, addiction, both physical and mental abuse, and to the occurrence, that finally opens her eyes, that there is, indeed, life after heroin.
The series is about overcoming adversity. With hard work, determination, and patience, anything is possible.

This memoir is geared toward the young adult reader, or anyone struggling with addiction or any kind of disorder. It is for the family of an addict, curious, and wanting to know why? Why, can a person, just not stop using?

The Addiction Memoir Genre

Recovery memoirs offer a vicarious look into a strange world that is familiar to addicts and strange (or heartbreaking) to others. I remember the first book of this kind I read was the infamous “A Million Little Pieces”. I enjoyed the book until I heard it was fraudulent. Frankly, I can’t understand the insecurity that caused the other not to publish it as fiction. In any case, I am long over that resentment and have enjoyed dozens of addiction memoirs that have made me laugh and cry. Who doesn’t love the theme of overcoming adversity? What is your favorite title?