The desire for this blog comes from an interest in documenting the lives of creative people who have battled or are battling addiction.

Linda Schierse Leonard writes in Witness to the Fire: Brevity & the Veil of Addiction “The relationship between addiction and creativity, as I see it, is not causal. Rather, there is a parallel process occurring in the psyche of that addict and the creative person. Both descend into chaos, into the unknown underworld of the unconscious. Both are fascinated by what they find there. Both encounter death, pain, suffering. But the addict is pulled down, often without choice, and is held hostage by addiction; the creative person chooses to go down into that unknown realm, even though the choice may feel destined. …But once in the realm of the underworld mysteries, they must eventually choose to find form and meaning from the chaos and to return to life and society.”