SICK Flap Copy
Behind the suburban mom… Behind the successful businesswoman… Is a dark past you would never suspect. Today, Jen Smith is a typical single mom in the ‘burbs, racing to pick her son from basketball practice, preparing for Cub Scouts and volunteering at the school’s ice cream social. But fifteen years ago her life was a very different story. With the income earned from her small time pot growing business, Jen spent her twenties happily following the Grateful Dead around the country with her beloved dog, JJ and a lively community of...
read moreDialog Class
Greetings all. Here is a sample of the results of my attendance at the Boston Grub Street Writers dialog class. Back at the house I was chopping up lines in my office on my huge metal desk. “How did you get this huge desk up that narrow tiny stairway?” Greg questioned. “I didn’t, it was here when I moved in along with this cool chest.” I banged on the large old pirate chest with my open hand. Greg rolled up a bill as he walked over to the desk, sat down and snorted a couple lines. I got right to the point, “Joe told me you did some...
read moreFeeling Good in 2014
by Jen Smith: Greetings to all and Happy New Year! A very special heartfelt thanks to those of you who take the time to read my blog in support of my writing project. It would all be meaningless without you. As a quick update I would like to let you know that much editing has been done to SICK including a revised beginning and new ending. Now the book is off to the editor for even more revisions. The process and improvements are quite exciting! I have been working very hard lately at keeping healthy positive thoughts in my head. ...
read moreI Am Enough
By Jen Smith: Greetings everyone and happy holidays to all. This can be a wonderful time of year to love and be loved. Thinking of others during the holiday season is a great way to get out of self. I’m still unemployed and this has caused some painful realizations about myself and, to stay recovered, I’ve turned to my higher power more intensely than ever before. I wish I could tell you that my increased conscious contact with God has been out of a desire to be more spiritual but that would be a lie, it’s been to survive another...
read moreThe Dream Bubble Popped
by Jen Smith: Just reread my last blog post. Boy, was I excited when I wrote that. Big dreams of conquering the world of financial advising ran deep. Unfortunately, the dream bubble popped. The new job was not what I thought it was going to be, not even close, not even in the same universe. An interesting duality developed. In my attempt to do the right thing, I disclosed my book project as an outside business entity as I was required to do. The company insisted that for me to work there the book could not exist. ...
read moreYou Can’t Get There from Here.
You Can’t Get There from Here. By Jen Smith The other day I found myself sitting about sixth row floor at the United Nations in Manhattan. I was listening to the most prominent figures in the world peace movement, from around the world, speak about their visions and progress. Wow. How does a once beat down addicted, abused woman get lifted up to a place like that? Looking sharp in a new BCBG jacket to boot! I often think of the saying ‘Can’t get there from here’ when I think about the transformation my life has...
read moreI don’t know what I’m doing
by Jen Smith: This morning I walked the beach with my beloved dog Max. I paused looking at the ocean and raised my hands and arms upwards and outwards in a crescent moon shape ready to receive. I sent an intention to God and to the Universe that I was ready to receive. The only thing is I have no idea what it is I’m supposed to receive. I lost my job of six years about a month ago. Although it was a high-paying high status job I was never settled in it and struggled against discriminatory men, until very recently. Finally...
read moreShould I tell the truth?
An interesting perspective written by my late Dad, a police chief and a recovered alcoholic. It was published in the Providence Sunday Journal, December 28, 1980. Should I tell the truth? Monday, 8a.m., and I’m sitting at my desk at the police station waiting for the report to be completed so that I can, again, review all of the details of a fatal traffic accident. It has to be exact and accurate. So many agencies will need it to compile their statistics. I don’t need it. I was at the scene. I know what happened and I know why it...
read moreCould art be a selfless gift?
by Jen Smith: Selfish, self centered, self seeking, on page 62 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous it says that this deep rooted selfishness is my problem. When I first read further down the page where it says that my problems are of my own making I remember being pissed. “But if you met my ex you would understand that he is definitely the problem,” I was quick to dispute in early recovery. My problems today are high quality compared to early sobriety. Despite this I can quickly digress and think my world is coming to an end, or...
read moreIf acceptance is the answer I’m not asking the right question.
by Jen Smith: I’m supposed to accept everything in my life at this moment as exactly the way it’s supposed to be. But I don’t want to. There are parts that I don’t particularly like and I can rationalize quite well around my perceived notion that these things are not the way they are supposed to be. Unfortunately I also believe that my resistance to the moment being as is, and lack of acceptance, prolongs and increases my suffering. So what’s a girl to do? Yes it’s perplexing. I’ve been trying to do things that feel...
read more
