ADDICTION THERAPY
The stark choice for most
alcoholics is total abstinence or premature death. The thought of
discarding a whole way of life and most of your close friends is
depressing, but having to give up what you regard to be your main source
of comfort and inspiration is a frightening prospect. For Eddie Bruce, who
started his working life as a distillery clerk before becoming a whisky
blender, living without booze was akin to experiencing a death in the
family.
Following group therapy
sessions on an alcohol rehabilitation course, inspired by the poetry of a
young fellow-patient, sadly soon to meet her death aged twenty-nine, Ed
decided to try his hand at writing. Although his short-term memory was
shot to pieces, he found he could recall interesting people and incidents
from the past, which he was able to blend together in the form of short
stories. His daughter Mandy encouraged him to use a P.C. and soon he was
surfing the Internet where his stories won awards in web site
competitions.
Along with Alcoholics
Anonymous, family and friends, Ed feels that writing has played a big role
in his continuing recovery and encourages others to give it a try. He is
now happily settled with his soul mate Muriel in Waltham Abbey, Essex.
 A
Drifter’s Legacy is the author’s first collection of short stories, some
sad, others humorous. Most are semi-autobiographical. Set in places as
various as the far North of Scotland (where he worked as a mobile
librarian - the pinnacle, he says, of a downward-spiralling career), the
North East distilling and farming communities (where he sampled his first
dram), Jersey in the Channel Islands and London, where his stories adopt a
cockney flavour. Of necessity, drink and drinkers are recurring themes,
but you’ll find no moralising within, only one clear message that says,
"There, but for the grace of God, go I."
A Drifter’s Legacy is
obtainable from:
Amazon.co.uk or
Amazon.com See his
web site
A Drifter's
Legacy Read
some of the stories:
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