Blog Archives
Television Addiction
Last Episode follows a married couple drifting apart, wrapped in petty arguments, television addictions, missed connections, and quiet despair. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
As a teenager, I was addicted to television for several months. It wasn’t until I watched a documentary about how much of an average person’s life is spent in front of the TV that I became frightened I might waste my own life. I managed to grow out of it. However, in most families the television is like another “household member.” Personally, I know several people who, after work, sit down in front of the TV and spend their entire day that way. In my book, I wanted to show that this is an addiction just like any other, yet it is not publicly highlighted and is rather trivialized.
What was your writing process to ensure you captured the essence of the characters?
I wrote the book in 2015 and found it by chance many years later, in my “drawer archives.” I was skeptical about it at first, but after reading it I decided it deserves to be published. At that time, I created characters through the process of visualization.
I found this novel to be a cutting piece of satire. What is one thing that you hope readers take away from your novella?
Sometimes we allow external things, people, or activities to influence our relationships with others. The worst is when this applies to those closest to us. If a few people turn off the TV, set aside extra work, and start spending more time together, then the mission can be considered accomplished. I also believe that raising awareness about television addiction, which affects a large part of society, requires opening a discussion. In my view, it is a waste of life—but of course, everyone will always find one way or another to waste their time.
What is the next story that you’re writing, and when will it be published?
I am finishing writing the novella Suicides Club, which is based on a screenplay I wrote that has won awards. I plan to publish it this year. In addition, there are several other “forgotten” projects lying in my archives, and it is possible that one of them will also be published soon.
Author Links: GoodReads | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Mark thought his marriage was stable—until Ilona fell for a TV series. What starts as a shared evening ritual spirals into jealousy, obsession, and a comic unraveling of domestic life. Last Episode is a sharp, satirical novella about emotional distance, digital distraction, and what happens when the credits roll on love.
In this digital age, emotional connections can easily drift apart, and Mark is about to find out the hard way that turning off the screen is often more challenging than it seems. As Ilona’s fixation deepens, Mark’s insecurities bubble to the surface, and the lines between reality and fiction blur amidst their heartfelt struggles.
Discover how this novella will leave you reflecting on relationships while bringing laughter to the chaos of modern love:
• Navigate the pitfalls of emotional distance in your own relationships
• Understand the powerful influence of digital distractions
• Explore the nuances of jealousy and trust in a humorous light
• Gain insights into the complex dynamics of marriage and intimacy
“Last Episode” is perfect for anyone who loves a comedic yet insightful critique of romance in our tech-driven world.
Don’t miss out on this tale—grab your copy today and see how love can outlast the final credits!
Healing is Possible
Mother’s Ruin is a brutally honest and heartbreaking memoir that shares with readers your tumultuous childhood and early adulthood life as you coped with the effects of your mother’s alcoholism and emotional instability. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Definitely for my own healing and for that of those facing similar circumstances. My mother’s addiction and untimely passing have long since overshadowed me, and I needed to share my story to achieve full emotional freedom from this.
Despite what the stigma may have you believe, addiction is a trauma-response and never a choice. Nobody wakes up one morning and decides to pick up a bottle of alcohol or similar, and this was something that I was desperate to convey through my writing.
How did you decide what to include and leave out in your memoir?
This was something that I struggled with: the fine line between oversharing and undersharing. I wanted my writing to be rich and emotive, but to also not read like a personal diary, and I hope that I have achieved this.
I do believe that having already outlined my second memoir at the time also helped in choosing what to include (alongside endless rounds of editing, of course!).
What was the most challenging part of writing your memoir, and what was the most rewarding?
The flashbacks and the fear of being perceived were equally challenging. Long-suppressed memories were suddenly boiling to the surface, and not only did I have to address and write about these, but I also had to learn to do so in a safe, controlled and healthy manner, without reverting to previous toxic coping mechanisms.
Though my mum may not have been my protector, I have spent my life believing that I should be hers. With this in mind, I was worried that people would believe that I was villainising her in some way, when this could not be further from the truth.
That said, Mum may well have been poorly, but this is no justification for her actions, and I am tired of living a life enshrouded in secrets and lies to protect a collective.
The most rewarding aspect has definitely been the feedback that I have received. Though it pains me to know how many people can relate to my story, I am also proud of and thankful for those who have reached out to me whilst on their own healing journeys.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
That healing from trauma may be painful, messy, and never linear, but it is always possible.
Raised fatherless on a ’90s poverty-stricken council estate, in the East Midlands, Belle details the struggles faced as she shared the role of young carer with her older brother, and the difficult transitional period as their relationship changed from brother and sister to child and caregiver, following court-approved legal guardianship.
MOTHER’S RUIN is an honest account of the devastating long-term impact of a mother’s addiction, dangerous actions and untimely death, just before her daughter’s eleventh birthday.
Mother’s Ruin: A Mother’s Addiction and her Daughter’s Survival
Belle Mills’ Mother’s Ruin is a brutally honest and heartbreaking memoir that follows the author’s tumultuous childhood and early adulthood as she copes with the effects of her mother’s alcoholism and emotional instability. Written in raw and intimate prose, the book is both a confession and a cry for connection. It tracks Belle’s experiences growing up in a working-class British town, surrounded by love yet starved of the nurturing and stability she craved. Her account weaves together personal memories, therapy sessions, and vivid reflections on trauma, mental illness, and the weight of abandonment, all told through the lens of someone fighting to make sense of her own pain.
Reading this book shook me. It left me feeling like I’d sat beside Belle through each moment, watching her as a child search for her mother’s approval, as a teenager drowning under the pressure of school and self-worth, and later as a young woman walking the tightrope between survival and collapse. The writing is emotionally dense but easy to follow. Belle doesn’t use fancy words to impress; she tells it like it is. And that’s where the strength lies. Her vulnerability is disarming. I found myself rooting for her, crying with her, and getting angry on her behalf. The structure bounces between timelines at times, but it only makes her struggle feel more lived-in. You feel how trauma isn’t linear. It loops and claws and resurfaces when you least expect it.
What struck me most was how well Belle captures the duality of love and pain, especially the love for a parent who keeps letting you down. The parts about her mother are some of the hardest to read because they’re not one-note. Belle doesn’t just paint her as a villain. She mourns the person her mother used to be and the one she might have been. It’s complicated and messy, and that makes it feel so real. I also appreciated how much Belle lets us into her head. The way she describes dissociation, panic attacks, and suicidal ideation is visceral and chilling. She doesn’t shy away from the darkness. But there’s also beauty in her resilience. Her relationship with her brother, her dogs, and even with strangers who show her small kindnesses, all of it reminds you that survival isn’t always dramatic. Sometimes it’s just continuing.
Mother’s Ruin is for anyone who’s grown up with a parent who couldn’t parent. For anyone who’s carried too much, too young. For survivors of trauma who don’t have tidy endings but still keep going. I wouldn’t recommend this book to someone looking for light reading or an uplifting memoir. But if you want to read something brave, human, and painfully relatable, then this one is worth every page.
Pages: 201 | ASIN : B0DVLYD3C7
Changing Eyes
Changing Eyes is a raw and wrenching memoir written by Leanne Antaya about her family’s harrowing battle with addiction, particularly her son Trey’s descent into drug use and the long, painful road to his recovery. Spanning decades, the book moves from Leanne’s early romance and marriage to Marco, through raising four children, to navigating the chaos of addiction, near-death experiences, strained relationships, and personal trauma. Told through Leanne’s eyes as a mother, it’s an honest account of love, loss, resilience, and the aching hope that somehow, amid all the wreckage, healing is possible.
This book tore me up and stitched me back together, sometimes in the same chapter. Antaya’s writing isn’t polished in a literary sense, but that’s what makes it work. It’s messy, emotional, and real. She doesn’t whitewash the shame, the guilt, or the unbearable powerlessness that addiction brings into a family. Her style jumps between memories and moments with a kind of breathless honesty, as if she’s spilling it all out before she loses her nerve. There were parts where I had to pause and sit with it, where her pain leapt off the page and made me feel like I was in that hospital room or standing at that phone, dreading the worst.
The book is more like a collection of moments and memories than a tightly woven narrative. But maybe that’s the point. Addiction isn’t tidy. Grief doesn’t follow a three-act structure. What stands out most to me is Leanne’s sheer determination to hold her family together. Her voice carries this sharp mix of exhaustion and fire that made me root for her, even when things kept falling apart. And Trey’s story is both heartbreaking and infuriating, but Antaya never lets you forget that he’s human, even when he’s at his lowest.
I’d recommend Changing Eyes to anyone who wants to understand what addiction does to families, not in theory, but in the day-to-day heartbreak. This is for the parents who are living in quiet fear, for the friends who don’t know what to say, and for anyone who thinks addiction is just a personal failing. It’s not a light read, and it doesn’t offer easy answers. But it’s full of gut-level truth, and in the end, it clings to hope.
Pages: 356 | ASIN : B0B6QDP6C4
Breaking Free from the Inner Critic: The Underlying Cause of All Addictions & Social Problems
In Breaking Free from the Inner Critic: The Underlying Cause of All Addictions & Social Problems, Kalie Marino takes readers on a thoughtful and personal journey to identify, understand, and heal the pervasive habit of self-criticism. Drawing on her experiences as a therapist and minister, she offers practical tools and fresh insight into the toxic effects of what she calls “critical addiction.” The book begins by outlining how this inner critic is formed through childhood programming and trauma. It then explains how criticism seeps into every layer of society, from families to workplaces to politics, and contributes to suffering, illness, and social unrest. Marino offers not only a diagnosis of this hidden epidemic but also a cure: a shift in identity through self-awareness, appreciation, and clarity of purpose. Her “Four Steps to Freedom” serves as a foundation for meaningful, lasting transformation.
Marino’s voice is honest and compassionate. She doesn’t just spout theory, she lays bare her own struggles with criticism and explains how even well-meaning efforts to suppress it can backfire. One thing that really struck me was her story about trying to stop being critical and ending up in a downward spiral of being critical about being critical. It was funny and painfully real. That moment made me feel seen. I appreciated her ability to take complex ideas and break them into clear, digestible pieces. There’s no preachy tone, no academic coldness, just warmth, truth, and practical help.
A few analogies felt stretched or repeated. But despite that, the overall message hit home. Her framing of criticism as an actual addiction, complete with symptoms and social reinforcement, gave me a new lens through which to see my own habits and the negativity around me. I found myself nodding often, recognizing how criticism not only harms individuals but poisons culture at large. Her blend of psychological insight and spiritual depth adds weight to her message without feeling heavy-handed.
This book is ideal for anyone feeling stuck in cycles of self-doubt, guilt, perfectionism, or emotional fatigue. Therapists, educators, and spiritual seekers will find rich material here, as will anyone wanting a more peaceful relationship with themselves and others. Marino’s writing invites reflection, not just reaction. I’d recommend it most to people who are tired of white-knuckling their way through life and want a more loving, sustainable way to grow. Breaking Free from the Inner Critic doesn’t offer a magic fix, but it does offer something better: hope grounded in practice.
Pages: 169 | ASIN : B0DVK5WHCL
An Exhilarating Experience
The Twelve Steps: A Modern Hero’s Journey reframes the well-known path of addiction recovery using Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey as a guide and drawing from storytelling, Jungian psychology, and classic spiritual traditions, to map each of the Twelve Steps onto an archetypal journey from despair to renewal. What was the inspiration for the original and fascinating idea at the center of the book?
Early in my recovery, around three years of sobriety, I read Joseph Campbell’s seminal work, The Hero With A Thousand Faces. I felt like I was having a spiritual experience with each page I read. It dawned on me that what I was reading was the journey not only of the hero throughout cultures and time, but it was also the direct experience I was having working the Twelve Step program of recovery. I was on my own hero’s journey, as were all the people in the rooms I was “trudging the road of happy destiny” with. It was an exhilarating experience, and I was alive as never before. I set about writing, researching, and organizing my thoughts and insights, and it took many years (twenty-five to be exact), but after many drafts and rewrites, this book, The Twelve Steps, a Modern Hero’s Journey, finally came alive.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
The whole pattern of transformation–from the broad strokes of Separation, Initiation, and Return, to the details included in each of these categories. For example, early on in the Separation stage, the hero always gets a mentor–think of Luke Skywalker meeting Obi-wan Kenobi (Ben), and eventually, Yoda. These figures mentor and teach Luke, and often save him from his reckless immaturity. The same is true in recovery. During the first and second Steps, the person new in recovery also gets a mentor–called a sponsor–who has the experience the newcomer doesn’t have–but needs to survive the journey.
In addition, during this initial stage, the hero also develops friendships with companions who add their own talents and experience to the hero, and who have traveled the road before him and so can lend their experience, strength, and hope. Think of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and the scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the cowardly lion. Together, these companions travel the journey together and support one another as each of them grows. The same is true, of course, in recovery, as newcomers and old-timers alike surround themselves with the fellowship of the program, and together, they can do together what neither one of them could do alone.
There are many, many examples throughout each stage of the journey, and throughout each Step of the recovery journey. Each one is fascinating, enlightening, and ultimately, life-changing.
What was the most challenging part of writing your book, and what was the most rewarding?
The most challenging part of writing this book was finding the right way to incorporate all the wonderful stories of myth that give the hero’s journey its context within the history of mankind. The challenge was to find a way to include this material without it diluting the main thesis: the comparison of the hero’s journey and the journey of recovery. I finally resolved this by including this valuable material in the appendix. This allows me to tell the main story and highlight the duality of the two journeys, yet it also gives the reader access to these wonderful and enjoyable stories.
The most rewarding part of writing this book has been the initial reception and comments from advanced readers, reviewers, and websites like Literary Titan. Perhaps the biggest acknowledgment the book has received so far is from Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus thought so highly of the book, that they automatically entered it into their very exclusive “Kirkus Prize” literary contest…Kirkus only chooses 10% of the books they review annually for this prestigious award, they automatically nominated The Twelve Steps, A Modern Hero’s Journey for this award. See the full Kirkus review here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/anonymous3/the-twelve-steps/ And read about the Kirkus Prize here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/prize/
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from The Twelve Steps: A Modern Hero’s Journey?
The depth of meaning and overall importance the journey of recovery contains. My hope is that everyone who is either in a Twelve Step recovery program, or who knows someone who is, reads this book and comes to a new understanding of not only the work required to attain sobriety or abstinence, but also the importance of why someone goes through this. I hope they learn what the true significance of someone having a spiritual experience is, and what it means not only to the person taking the journey, but for society and the world as a whole.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
Tough Questions
Of Saints and Rivers follows the McClellan family across multiple generations, told through the eyes of the youngest son, who embarks on a relentless quest for purpose and healing that sends him far from home and back again. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
A number of real-life family incidents shaped portions of the novel. My great-grandfather witnessed the killing of his family by Indians as a boy before serving as a Texas Ranger, deputy U.S. Marshal, riding the Western Cattle Trail, and homesteading on the Canadian River in western Oklahoma. A daughter was banned from the family for marrying someone from outside the church. The family land was lost during the Depression. As a young man, my grandfather served prison time for hitting and killing a pedestrian while driving when intoxicated.
For many years, I had a troubled relationship with my father, a decorated naval dive-bomber pilot, who once hit me hard in the face for arguing when I was young. My last words to him as he died were that I loved him. I seriously considered the ministry before changing my mind over troubling theological issues. War took a heavy toll on my family. As for early romantic misadventures, I’ll just say that—among my brothers, myself, and others—our family has seen its share.
While a degree of creative license was taken for the sake of story, much of Jordan’s journey was borrowed from my family’s history, and many of his personal reflections mirror my own. To paraphrase the writer, Wallace Stegner: sometimes truth is best told as fiction.
What were some of the trials that you felt were important to highlight Jordan’s development?
At the story’s core is his conflict with a celebrated father, as both men grapple with their pasts and Jordan struggles with the shadow of his older brother. Among his trials is a tragic family accident that leads to alcohol as a means of coping with guilt. Another is youthful desire that culminates in a forbidden love with a married woman—and, in its wake, more alcohol and even greater tragedy—followed by the unthinkable. The novel is, in many ways, a forty-year coming-of-age story of a gifted-but-troubled son’s ongoing struggle with guilt, moral dilemmas, religious doubt, and his search for meaning, atonement, healing, and love.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Aside from the above-mentioned parental conflict, addiction, and religious doubt, I wanted to address prejudice (both racial and gender-related), marital abuse, grief, forgiveness, the role of chance in our lives, and how love and loss so often travel together. I wanted also to ask some tough questions of God and ourselves.
What is the next book you’re working on, and when can we expect it to be available?
I consider myself to be primarily a magazine writer of historical articles. Of Saints and Rivers is my first novel. What began as a simple wish to leave behind, for my family, something of our family roots and what I felt, loved, and believed grew somehow into a book. While I have some ideas for another, at this point they’re still just ideas. I prefer to see how readers like this one before saying more. Thank you so much for your thoughtful interest.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
From the wild frontier days of the late 1800s to the post-war reckoning of the 1950s, Of Saints and Rivers follows three generations of the McClellan family through the eyes of the youngest son. Growing up in the shadow of his celebrated father and brother, Jordan is more into books than farmwork or sports. But when tragedy strikes, guilt drives him spiraling down a path with dire consequences.
His relentless search for meaning and atonement sends him far from home to places as far ranging as the Caribbean, a small Mexican village, and seminary. Yet, no matter how far he runs, the shadows follow. As Jordan grapples with his past and its impact on those he loves, he discovers a new understanding of his father and himself.
Perfect for fans of Kristin Hannah and William Kent Krueger, Of Saints and Rivers is a sweeping historical saga of faith, doubt, resilience, and the unbreakable ties of family.
Creating Community
In The Break, you share with readers your experiences battling addiction and codependency and offer an intimate look into the unraveling of your marriage. Why was it important for you to write this book?
It was important for me to write The Break and share my experiences with codependency as my ex-husband and I came to terms with his alcoholism because I remember how alone I felt as I looked for community and understanding. I found more stories of people becoming sober than I found of those caring for someone going through alcoholism. The examples of alcoholism that were readily available were stories of various forms of abuse, mood swings, police interactions, empty bank accounts and houses built on fear. None of that was my story and I wanted to show others what high functioning alcoholism can look like. As I looked for my community, I realized there were more programs to assist the individual going through addiction than there were to help guide the loved ones. Alcoholism is a full life disease – it affects family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances – so I found it very odd that there was not just as much support for those around the alcoholic. I wanted to add to that community and that conversation because we, the co-dependents, need a strong support system as well.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
The hardest part for me to write about was our wedding and accepting the fact that I really didn’t want to get married at the age of 25. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to marry my now ex-husband, it’s simply that I felt like I was up against societal standards and I was behind. I felt like I needed to get married because it was the next right step. Yes, I loved my now ex-husband and I should not have gotten married. While it was the next right step based upon societal measures, it was not the next right step for me and I was too young and too scared to recognize that truth.
What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were younger?
There is a lot of advice that I wish my younger self had been told, however it does not mean I would have been ready to accept it. If someone had told me that I didn’t have to get married, that there is always another way and to make sure I take the time to listen to myself, I can’t say I would have fully listened to them or understood what they meant. Especially since all the women close to me modeled a very different belief system. Even the women in the news were heralded more for their looks and who they were dating, than the accomplishments they created on their own.
What is one thing you hope readers are able to take away from The Break?
The biggest take away that I hope readers carry with them after reading The Break,is to give that inner voice space. Take the time to listen to the quiet nudging and pulling that says Try this or Are you sure?. It can be scary to give that voice a chance to be heard, especially if she’s been quieted for so long, AND it will be very worth it.
Author Links: GoodReads | Websites
This quieting leads us towards a life out of alignment with our truest and most authentic selves. This leaves us feeling anger, exhaustion and constantly stuck. A life the author was too familiar with as she struggled to accept her then husband’s alcoholism and the part she played in the cycle.
The Break is a story of Brandee’s unlearning, seeking truth and finally allowing herself to trust her inner own knowing. The journey back to herself was not easy and it was completely necessary. This story is shared with the hope it will guide you back to your own inner knowing as well.
Themes in this book include:
Addiction
Separation
Learning to trust ones self
Strengthening your inner knowing
Order your copy today!
LITERARY TITAN 