Please, God, Not Two; This Killer Called Alcoholism

My first memoir is A Spiritual Renewal: A Journey to Medjugorje (March 2012). It’s about my relationship with my father, learning too late about his remarkable military life as one of the commanding officers of the 26th Yankee Division and fighting throughout Europe during WWII in the battles of Lorraine, Metz and the Battle of the Bulge. Her spiritual change takes her on a ten day pilgrimage to Medjugorje a tiny, remote village in Bosnia.

The second memoir (June 19, 2009) Someone Stop This Merry-Go-Round; An Alcoholic Family in Crisis, is about my young alcoholic marriage of fourteen years behind closed doors to Richard Lopes of North Dighton, Massachusetts and our two daughters, Debbie and Lori, living in silence with confusion and fear. It’s a roller coaster with Richie’s struggle trying to combat his alcoholic addiction. It’s a story about a merry-go-round of enabling and abuse. In 1985, Richie died at the VA Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island at 45 years old from cirrhosis of the liver.

The sequel Please, God, Not Two; This Killer Called Alcoholism (2010) is the continuation of our lives after Richie’s death, and the story follows our daughter, Lori Cahill going down the same path as her father. On November 22, 2006, after three rehabilitation stays, Lori died at the young age of 39 years old at the Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River from the same horrible, worldwide disease.

My first Narrative Non-Fiction is What is and isn’t Working for the Alcoholics and Addicts; In Their Own Words (2013). It’s a book of testimonies from thirty-four recovering addicts from all walks of life from the United States and Canada on their recovery programs. Hopefully, these honest testimonies will help others fighting the same battle and heading down this same destructive path. They want to reach doctors, counselors, family members and society of what they believe is needed for support to recover.

The next book will be my first fictional The Rusty Years. I wants readers to know there is a lighter side to me.

My husband, Al, and I met with Stephen Meunier, who was at the time the Policy Advisor to Senator John Kerry, in his office located in Boston, Massachusetts. We presented ways to try to modify the Patient Privacy Act to help substance abusers and their families. Senator John Kerry contacted the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration in Maryland on the our behalf. During his change of position to Secretary of State our paperwork got lost.

I speak privately and publicly at events. My talks take me behind closed doors to halfway homes, substance abuse rehabilitation centers, court-ordered programs, women’s ministries, businesses, libraries, bookstores, conferences and schools.

Reader Views of Austin, Texas had awarded A Spiritual Renewal; A Journey to Medjugorje the Reviewers Choice Award 2008 Semi-Finalist. Allbooks Review of Canada had nominated her memoirs Someone Stop This Merry-Go-Round with the “Editor’s Choice Award” and was nominated for the “Dan Poynter’s Global eBook Award 2011.” The sequel, Please, God, Not Two was also nominated for the “Editor’s Choice Award 2010” and appeared in the December 20, 2010 issue of Publishers Weekly.

I am also a Continuing Education instructor for two three- hour writer’s workshops titled “Bring Your Manuscript to Publication” and “How to Self-Publish Your Own Book with Create Space. Both workshops are published as handbooks with Amazon in paperback and Kindle.

I have also joined three other professional published authors (Authors Without Borders,” www.awb6.com) offering their services with speaking engagements, readings, panel discussions, book signing, poetry slams and workshops at schools, bookstores, businesses, and libraries. In August 2010, she co-authored with the group and published their first book Loose Ends; A Hodgepodge of Short Stories.