Behind the Book Cover

Melanie Vessey co-starred with Jim Carrey in Man on the Moon and performs all over at major comedy clubs and festivals. Her comedy special/album #WildAnimal will be available in November.   She is also a fierce talent who has been sober over two decades—a fact she shares about in ways that may make you pee your pants. To hear her story about long-term recovery, which includes performing for naked Trump supporters, download this episode ASAP.

Anna David is, well, someone who writes about herself in the 3rd person out of the misconception that you will believe someone else is writing this. She writes books and articles, talks on TV and stages and tells stories about things like relapsing on 4.5 hits of ecstasy, which you can hear here...

Kristin Casey is a recovered alcoholic and addict who’s survived clinical depression, numerous addictions, the panhandle of Texas and 17 years of Catholicism. Her first book, Rock Monster, documents a tumultuous six-year relationship with rock legend and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, their drug-fueled train-wreck breakup and her ensuing suicidal spiral. Unlike every other affair-with-a-rock-star book I’ve ever read, however, it is as literary and poignant as it is salacious and gripping. In addition to writing for The Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, The Nervous Breakdown, From The Asylum, $pread, and elsewhere, Kristin works in the field of sex therapy as an intimacy coach and IPSA trained Surrogate Partner Intern. In this episode, we talked about letting go of resentments before writing a book, what exactly an intimacy coach is, why the writers who succeed are the ones who keep going in the face of rejection and who, really, was the monster in her story, among many other topics.

Annie Grace is the bestselling author of the hit book, This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life as well as the just-released The Alcohol Experiment: A 30-Day, Alcohol-Free Challenge to Interrupt Your Habits and Help You Take Control. Her unique approach has helped thousands of people change their relationship with alcohol by looking at their subconscious beliefs about drinking that are at odds with their conscious desire to live alcohol free. In this episode, we discussed how her book became successful, what sobriety really means and what it all has to do with a famed back doctor, among many other topics.

Amy Dresner is a former professional stand-up comic, having appeared at The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory, and The Improv. Since 2012, she has been a contributing editor of the online addiction and recovery magazine TheFix.com. She’s also written for the Good Men Project, The Frisky, Refinery 29, and has been a regular contributor to Addiction.com and PsychologyToday.com, where she has her own addiction blog entitled “Coming Clean.” Her first book, My Fair Junkie, was released in 2017 and is now available in paperback. In this episode (from the Light Hustler live storytelling show in LA), Amy tells a very funny story about how she met a woman at an AA meeting who made her think she was gay. Spoiler alert: she’s not. How did she realize that? You’re going to have to listen to find out.

Once upon a time, I wrote a book called Party Girl. I was very proud of it and had high hopes it would be made into an audio book and movie. Alas, those dreams were dashed. But just like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes, the dreams are now alive! It’s actually not nearly that dramatic. But there is renewed movie interest in the book (optioned by Martin Scorsese’s producer!) and I decided to make my own dream happen by getting the audio rights to the book back from HarperCollins and recording and releasing it on Audible myself. And now! I’m giving the first bit of it exclusively to you guys in this episode. I do hope you like it. And then I hope you’ll go pick up a copy of the audio book. If you’re not an Audible subscriber, it’s free!

Today’s episode features the very funny Jessica Sele from one of my live  storytelling shows. In her own words, Jessica Sele is a “deeply weird human being and stand-up comedian.” She’s performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and SF Sketchfest and was described by Bitch Magazine as a “hilarious and talented queer woman.” The story she tells has to do with a fire, a crack addict just trying to be helpful and a very special cat. How do these things tie together, you ask? Well, you’ll have to listen to find out.

Matt Gallagher is an actor and comedian who has performed all around New York and Los Angeles.  His work can also be seen on CBS, ESPN, The History Channel, and MTV. He created and starred in the popular live storytelling series THE STORY CELLAR with Jessica Wood, and has just completed filming on his first one hour special, A Stumble in the Woods, which will be available for streaming soon. While this episode is from his first time appearing in my storytelling show, it certainly won't be his last. In it, he tells a seriously disturbing and yet unabashedly hilarious tale about getting deep into hard drugs. Warning: it is a bit graphic so if you're new to sobriety, this may not be for you. If you're not in danger of getting triggered, however, be prepared to laugh your ass off.

Dana Bowman speaks and writes about recovery, momhood and beating the perfection myth. An English teacher for over 20 years, she decided to take up a writing at momsieblog.com while mothering two babies. A chance submission to Glennon Doyle watched her blog go viral and she promptly landed a book deal. Her first book, Bottled, was selected as a Kansas Notable book in 2016. Her second book, How to Be Perfect Like Me, was released in August 2018 and landed her on The Today Show. In this episode, we discuss imposter syndrome, directional dyslexia and being a recovering perfectionist, among many other topics.

Kristin Casey is a recovered alcoholic and addict who's survived clinical depression, numerous addictions, the panhandle of Texas and 17 years of Catholicism. Her first book, Rock Monster, documents a tumultuous six-year relationship with rock legend and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh, their drug-fueled train-wreck breakup and her ensuing suicidal spiral. Unlike every other affair-with-a-rock-star book I've ever read, however, it is as literary and poignant as it is salacious and gripping. In addition to writing for The Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, The Nervous Breakdown, From The Asylum, $pread, and elsewhere, Kristin works in the field of sex therapy as an intimacy coach and IPSA trained Surrogate Partner Intern. In this episode, we talked about letting go of resentments before writing a book, what exactly an intimacy coach is, why the writers who succeed are the ones who keep going in the face of rejection and who, really, was the monster in her story, among many other topics.