Amy McCalister – about this blog
A sunflower from my garden. This beautiful flower was grown from a seed that I put in the ground, cared for, loved and The Goddess’s gift of life was given.
This blog is about addiction. Some entries are about my journey through addiction and recovery. Some are based on information for different treatments for addiction. Some entries are like journal entries. This is a place where I vent, share and hopefully help other addicts find information on where to go for help.I hope this site can help at least one addict, maybe more, identify with my story and my path to recovery. I have found a new way to live, I love my new life, the ups the downs and the in between. I write out my gratitude list everyday and give thanks for the life I’ve been given.
I will also be writing about the book I am publishing soon. I will be posting so excerpts from the book, I would love your feedback! I am hoping to publish it by the end of March as an E-Book. I am also working on a collection of short stories. My first novel is ready for publishing but I am still not sure about the ending, I am thinking about leaving a twist for a sequel. I also am writing my life story. I have many pages from the past few years and I’m organizing them, so far I have 50 pages. It is a lot of work since some of it is very chaotic since it was written in early recovery.
I would appreciate feedback, especially constructive criticism. I would like to know what I can improve, I am always interested in other’s opinions and interpretations.
UPDATE: “A Better Life: Tips From A Recovering Heroin Addict,” by Amy McCalister was published yesterday (May 23, 2013) as an ebook on Amazon for $2.99 (Formerly known as 30 Days of Recovery) the link will take you directly to it
Journey Through Recovery 
“A Better Life: Tips From A Recovering Heroin Addict,” by, Amy McCalister (Amy Long) is now available on amazon!
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Hi Amy. My son is a recovering heroine addict in jail for 18 misdemeanor charges he racked up in two years. He is so happy to finally be clean and says he is done done done with that life. I cannot get books to him fast enough. The jail only accepts books sent to him directly from the publisher or Amazon etc. is there any way I can get your book in written form to help him get thru the hard times when he gets home Jan 2016? I’ve never posted on a blog so I hope I do this right. I’m also recovering from a nervous breakdown and somewhat cognitively impaired due to devoting every waking minute on saving my son. Thanks for any suggestions to get him inspirational reading. Linda
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Hello Linda, I hope your son is doing good. I’m sorry I didn’t get your comment. I went through a terrible depression my own daughter was arrested on Halloween for holding up a convenience store. She was sentenced on Friday and will be going to an inpatient facility directly from jail. She’ll be in the drug court program after that for a very long time. I’m happy she has this opportunity to change her life. She’s 19 and very sick. I pray this is what her rock bottom is but if she’s not ready and she fails the program she will go to jail for 8 years. It’s devastating to watch her make all the mistakes I did and then create this obstacles in her life that will hold her back when she does want to receive the help. Well there it is, I worry about what to worry about and there’s nothing I can do except keep doing what I’m doing, staying clean, trying to help others with my story and trying to stay strong for her. That’s all I can do for her. I’m terribly sorry the book isn’t available in a hard copy. I’d like to work with a new company I’ve found that will publish my book in both online and hard copy forms. When I publish my next book it will be available in both formats. I really appreciate the support and I hope your son is doing well. I prayed for you both as soon as I read your comment because he’s either home or will be home soon. We can show them the way but we can’t walk the walk for them. Blessed Be ~Amy~
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Hi Amy, I just started following your blog. I happen to find you here on wordpress where I have a Recovery Blog as well http://catherinelyonaddictedtodimes.wordpress.com/ I’ve been in recovery a wee bit over 6yrs now from addicted compulsive gambling. I do have another as well which is my *Little Blog that could* I call it…lol….I started it when my very 1st book released this past Nov 2012. It also just won it’s 2nd blog award!, which is still a shock to me, as I didn’t even have a “Follow” option for people to return and follow my posts. I out grew it by just that, the provider it is with, http://www.simplesite.com/CatherineLyonAddictedToDimes/ doesn’t offer much in customizing or widgets. It just reached 9,200 visits. I hope my New Recovery Blog home will be as successful! Loved this post today. It does take hard work in recovery, but as you said here, you a “Much better way of Life” and many blessings as well! I look forward to your future Posts! Best Regards, Catherine 🙂
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I find that my ideas of success have changed. i feel that today, if one person can identify with what I’m sharing and it can help them make better decisions then I did, that’s successful. I also found that I can only concentrate on one or two social networks at a time. I spend more time these days on WordPress then I do on Facebook.I also find that if I spend too much time on many different sites I feel like I’m not building or sustaining valuable relationships with other recovering addicts so I try to stay in one place and work on my recovery through one site instead of many. I was orignally here to sell my book and make a name for myself but not anymore. Today I am trying to build my support network and share my experiences with other recovering addicts and hopefully they share with me. Blessed Be Catherine! Keep writing!
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Hi there,
many thanks for the follow on http://www.postsofhypnoticsuggestion.wordpress.com, it’s much appreciated.
Wishing you all the best
Tony
PS I’m also on twitter, so if you feel like following me there as well, you’d be most welcome (http://www.twitter.com/tbtalks), and on https://www.facebook.com/PostsOfHypnoticSuggestion in case you fancy ‘liking’ the page
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Hi Amy !! just saying hello and letting you know I am looking forward to reading your shares. Just found wordpress and love hearing other peoples thoughts on the disease of addiction and how they are staying in the solution. Stay Blessef..Very Respectfully, Jen
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Thanks Jen! Looking forward to hearing from you in the future. I think the World has changed drastically and just a few years ago I would not agree with communicating recovery shares through technology but we are interacting more and more through text messaging and computers, it needs to be recognized that we can build support networks through these new means of communication. That begins with sharing our experiences, strengths and hopes with people we may never meet in person! I am going to start looking into video chatting. I think it will help get over the barriers that the old timers complain about with using supports on the internet. You much of our communication comes from body language and you cannot see the other person through a text message so I do agree with that. It’s just a growing way of communication that we have to start to accept.
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Soo true!! I have been “apart of”, a teleconference meeting via phoneline. Where at one time we were the only homegeroup and the first to have this concept and bring it to fruition. Now in a short time, there are several meetings in this forum. I have also been to a video chat meetings on a recovery website. Soo..I say that to say this, our responsibility is to carry the message and you know this disease does’nt discriminate. We have addicts from all over the country and out of the country(canada, australia, carribbean) call in and share their experience, strength and hope to this outreach group which is geared toward carrying the message to the isolated via confrence call technology 7 days a week since 2008…..Service ROCKS!!! 🙂 v/r jen
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I need to find some tangible service work outside of my homegroup. I write a few times a week and post my articles so people can identify. When they respond, it really helps me to see that writing, for me, is a form of service work. I want to get more involved in my community and outside of my home group comfort zone!
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As a follower of “A Way With Words”, you are invited to a domain warming party as I move to a new blog address. Click on this link –
http://awaywithwordsblog.com
You’ll think you are in a parallel universe.
While you are there, be sure to click the “Follow” button. Within the next week, I plan to publish exclusively from this site. Don’t miss out on any of the fun!
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Hi Amy, sorry it has taken me so long to get back with you…check out our website for meeting times, mission statement, etc…thanks and hope to hear you sharing your ES&H with us on The Bridge soon. http://www.thebridgena.org
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I would like to get in touch with you. Do you have an email address?
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You can contact me through facebook. My screen name is Amy Long. I will eventually be setting up an email for readers to get in touch with me. I will post when I have it up and running. Thank you!
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