The Bedlam Memoirs, Insanity Returns to the Dew Drop Inn and Out

As one who always loved to immerse his face in the stream of life, let's talk about people who want to run away from it. Memoirs is about those who do in fact flee the challenge of life and seek refuge, in their case not in a bottle but rather in the nuthouse. Of course, enough bottle and the nuthouse (or prison or death) is just one more slip away. As a shrink I knew and worked with many people who were addicted, especially to booze. In fact, I often took them to their first AA meeting, something few shrinks do. No, I wasn't a member, but there are open meetings. I would try to arrange for one of my other clients who was living sober to be there for that same meeting. Funny coincidence...NOT! I would just say, "Hey Matt, this is Cathy. She can help you understand what's happening maybe go with you to a regular meeting." That helped a lot of people get their start in recovery.

So what does that have to do with my writing? Well, drunks tell great stories. I have another book, "Tales From the Dew Drop Inne", that tells the story of the gang who hang at that bar, which I set in Albuquerque. Not too surprisingly, the gang goes to find one of their number at a meeting to get him to be part of their bar softball team. Well, you can imagine what happens, but we can talk it.