Of all the author stories I’ve encountered in five years, this is probably the most amazing of all. Mary Beth O’Connor is a retired federal administrative law judge who survived a childhood rife with physical, sexual and emotional abuse followed by 20 years of hard core alcohol and drug addiction. Faced with never-ending feelings of abandonment, danger and marginalization, she persevered through high school and college, made it into law school, dropped out, then rejoined finally tackling her addiction in her 30’s to become a judge. She writes about it in stark terms in her memoir From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction. Now 30 years sober and living a stable life in the San Francisco Bay area, Mary Beth tells her story with candor and self-deprecation that will hook you and reel you in. She is also an advocate or hope and recovery and offers several resources, listed below, to help those trying to overcome addiction and other trauma.

• Website: https://junkietojudge.com
• LifeRing: https://lifering.org
• SheRecovers Foundation: https://sherecovers.org

The combination of musical talent and digital technology has created a new breed of artists who can create amazing music at home using a computer and a keyboard. It’s one thing to create tunes as a hobby. It’s quite another to identify a market for that music and sell it. In this episode, we meet Evan Oxhorn who has done just that. He’s recorded hundreds of songs and stock music tracks that have earned him thousands of dollars from video producers, YouTube posters and commercial television programs such as 90 Day Fiancé and The Real Housewives of Potomac. Moreover, Evan is teaching nascent home-studio musicians how to do it all, from purchasing the right gear to creating a library of music, licensing and selling it.

Evan’s website: https://www.stockmusicmusician.com

Can one devastating mistake erase 20 years of good?

The road to redemption for volunteer EMT Griffin Ambrose is dark, indeed--a crashed ambulance, a dead patient, an injured partner, then testing legally drunk. After going to jail, losing his EMT card and getting fired from his paid job, he contemplates a new life in exile.

But some of his former patients haven't forgotten the good he did, the lives he saved. Will their support be enough to allow him to rise from oblivion?

Read Wreck and Return, the new novel by Tom Kranz, available on Amazon. Wreck and Return, in e-book and paperback.

Video links
YouTube: https://youtu.be/C17lH1M8l5g
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user191707102/wreckandreturn?share=copy