Wasted Time: The Fictional Memoir of an Addict in Recovery

Wasted Time is a fictional depiction of the lives of alcoholics and addicts, from listening to their stories of relapse, recovery, and recidivism. Jemma is a mixed-race woman who struggles to fit in-with anyone or anywhere. She has been running away from her life since she was fifteen. Married by eighteen with two young children, she runs again in order to escape, by using drugs and alcohol, and sex. Jemma is fundamentally unable to see the true path of her life until incarceration abruptly halts that misdirection. A prostitution conviction sentences her to a year in jail, and that is where the chaplain sends Jemma's life onto a collision course with sobriety and a better future. Jemma encounters many conflicts in her recovery, most importantly, in her personal and professional relationships. Wasted Time is a story of relapse and recovery, running away and reunification, and a future she never imagined for herself.

Roslyn Paterson, a native Minnesotan, comes from an immigrant family, with extended family across the globe. Her interests include travel, multicultural sociology and psychology, holistic health, golf, cooking, and swimming. She has a bachelor of science degree in nursing and a master of arts degree in clinical psychology. An entrepreneur, she has created two successful businesses, where she works as both a nurse and as a psychotherapist.