I recently celebrated eighteen years of sobriety. Originally from Northern Virginia, I now reside in Los Angeles with my new husband and our delightful Boston Terrier, Ludo, who served as our ringbearer (though we had to chase him). A recipient of WBC’s LGBTQIA+ Writers Fellowship, published works in Beyond Queer Words, and after a decades-long absence, I recently completed my BA in creative writing at the University of Virginia.
Anthology publishing date
December 2023
I DON'T WANT THIS TO BE SAD
a memoir
Forthcoming memoir 2024
An LGBTQIA+ addiction memoir, I DON’T WANT THIS TO BE SAD is a story that will appeal to fans of Nick Sheff’s TWEAK and Jason Yamas’s TWEAKERWORLD.
At thirteen, Sean wants to die. His orphaned heart can't bear being cursed by God with the gay disease. He never imagined that one day he would become a government informant encouraged to traffic meth supplied by a volatile Russian Mafia thug. Right now, he only wants to make his Mormon mother happy.
I DON’T WANT THIS TO BE SAD chronicles Sean’s struggle to overcome addiction and rejection. It’s about the preservation of maternal bonds. It’s a superhero origin story, an epic cliché love affair between a high school football captain and his best friend, and a thriller as Sean survives narcing, drug dealing, and murderous addicts. Exhilarating. Not sad. None of this about repeated molestations, beatings from a brother for being a faggot, and a mother crying out for her dead son whom Sean chose to let die.
I DON’T WANT THIS TO BE SAD is a memoir for mature readers open to emotionally intense and challenging situations that seek purpose even in their darkest moments, readers that enjoy a little absurdity, and a longing for maternal affection. It is an amends in a bottle to an unidentified grieving mother seeking answers about her dead son.