Thirteen Thousand Lonely Nights is more than just a memoir; it is a journey, one that readers do not just follow you along with but use to start their own journey of transformation. Why was this an important book for you to write? 

It’s important that we share our experience with the world. There is always a lesson you could learn from someone’s life story. Every person’s life is a great book waiting to be written. I know that my experience is unique and that is why it would be unforgivable if I kept this story to myself. Thirteen Thousand Lonely Nights is my legacy. When I was writing it I wasn’t thinking about all the people this book has the potential to help. I was being a bit selfish – I just wanted to unburden myself. I’ve been thinking about writing this book for a few years now but I didn’t have an ending. I thought I would write it at the end of my life. But as you know Destiny provided me with the perfect ending. And that’s what I wrote first – the last chapter. If you have a great ending, you have a great book. I am grateful to Destiny. 

Your book’s description states, “It is not just a memoir. This is a dissection of a soul, a confession, a performance, a manifesto, a love letter.” Can you elaborate on how you came up with this description and what emotions it stirs within yourself? 

I don’t really think about this as being a “book”. It’s more than that. I simply wanted to convey that. I never thought of myself as a writer. I am an artist. I think that when you read Thirteen Thousand you experience the same emotions you would feel when looking at an interesting painting, or listening to a song, or watching a movie. I am going to record the audio version of the book myself one day and people will be able to understand what I mean when I say that it’s a performance. I think the audio book would be something similar to a radio play. I think that this book could be turned into a great stage play. The description of the book makes me feel very vulnerable because it is essentially a description of my life. 

I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?

The hardest thing to write was the series of chapters titled Strange Encounters of the Unfortunate Kind. These chapters describe my tragic personal life. It was very painful reliving all that. Also, I am a very private person and I don’t like to discuss my personal life with people. That’s what made it even more painful. But the book wouldn’t be complete without these chapters. The reader wouldn’t be able to understand me. So I wrote that series first. I wanted to get it out of the way. Then I wrote the rest of the book. 

What is one thing you hope readers take away from your story?

It’s not possible for me to think of only one thing. But this is a story about fear and overcoming that fear. I hope that the readers feel a little bit more fearless after reading the book. More empowered. And also it is very important to me that they learn what the term “relationship virgin” means. There is so little information about it out there and no one is talking about it. I want to normalize the idea of being a relationship virgin. 

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