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Atticus Blake's avatar

In the past 20+ years I’ve lost 25 friends. Suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism, you name it. I’m always around it. When I turned 40 I found myself writing a story about the loss of so many people, not counting the hundreds of patients Ive taken care of who died.

In this I found it more therapeutic than anything else. It forced me to read and learn about death in a more academic sense rather than purely emotional. At first I thought I was going crazy with all the information I was gaining and retaining, but in all I feel less crazy now than before. But only because I went down the rabbit hole and came out unscathed.

The best book I’ve read on the subject of suicide, from an emotional and academic perspective was a book called, “why people die by suicide” by Thomas Joiner. It helped with thinking about what leads a person to commit suicide and to know how their suicide effected me and my future. Also the past and future of the character in my present project.

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Chris J's avatar

Sometimes I wonder about my 12-step work. It saved my life but there’s the belief in a higher power that’s going to make it ok and no “big deals” etc. but I do better when I write from a place of terror and desperation. Junkies always have good stories.

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