Write. Right. Rite.
Well, I did it; I wrote another book.
Porn, Pain & Redemption: A Story of Sin and Grace, is now available on Amazon.com.
Porn, Pain & Redemption: A Story of Sin and Grace https://a.co/d/3Vx0QeQ
Why write a book like this? Well, there’s a lot that goes into the moments leading up to hitting “publish” on Amazon KDP.
For most of my life, I’ve been fascinated with Alice Cooper. As a young child, he was the only real rock n’ roll artist I was allowed to listen to. Why? Because he was a born-again Christian, sober since the year I was born and taught Sunday school when he wasn’t out touring.
His book, The Last Temptation was a teenage favorite read of mine. It was dark, creepy and yet…redeeming.
One thing I’ve always hated about testimonies told from the pulpit is that they fail to paint an accurate picture of what sin is really like.
“I used to do X and Y…and those things were awful!”
Wrong. Those things are ridiculously fun and exciting. It’s why people get addicted to them.
What was awful is the way that person felt while in the middle of their dance with the Devil; they didn’t feel at peace, no matter what substance, relationship, car or bank account they dove into.
Throughout the book, I wove in actual prayers, journal entries and dreams that I wrote (or experienced) during the time of the book.
I recently read a few chapters of The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx. It was as raw and dirty as the used needle he’d jam into his arm.
That’s what made the book powerful. Real. Authentic.
I wanted to do the same thing, with a big caveat; I didn’t want to paint too vivid of a picture for the reader, because I didn’t want it to create a hunger for something that didn’t exist before. At the same time…that chapter of my life was brutal – and I left those strokes in plain sight on the pages.
I spent over 20 years of my life with a burning desire to publish a book. I never wanted to be famous or sell copies; I simply wanted to publish a book. Now that I’ve published three, I think there’s one thing I’ve learned in the process:
If it’s from the heart, ship it. You don’t know will read your words and savor them for years to come. You never know what sort of impact your paper trail will have on the people who discover its crumbs, either.
How would a rock star tell their story to Christ? That’s the question I asked as I sat down to write Porn, Pain & Redemption. I imagined the screaming adreanaline that pumps through their blood and makes the crowds roar.
If people discovered Jesus like that….the world might change.
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