Addicted to heroin and unable to stop on his own, Brian Storm finds himself sitting on the tracks waiting for a train to come and take his life. But things weren’t always this bad for Brian, an aspiring white rapper from Philadelphia who had a good upbringing. In Brian’s early teen years, he discovers that drugs and alcohol are the perfect solutions to his low self-esteem issues. Like most addicts and alcoholics, Brian believes that he can stop at any time, so he doesn’t see any harm in continuing to drink and smoke weed. What he doesn’t know is that with every sip and every puff, he falls deeper into a world of crime and desperation.

The Struggle is a gripping true story that takes you through the life of an alcoholic/addict who hits rock bottom but quickly learns that the more he tries to dig himself out, the deeper that bottom gets. It takes a blessing in disguise for Brian to finally get the help he needs, but when he does, he learns that the Struggle is far from over.

The story behind the story:

If you haven’t already done so, I suggest you read the story behind the original book here.

So, as you may or may not know, this book’s original version contained many grammatical errors, missing words, incomplete sentences, etc. But, even with all the mistakes, I received a lot of positive feedback, so I decided to leave it as it was and kept telling myself that I would fix it one day. Well, it took nearly ten years to get around to fixing it.

As I went through the book, I noticed many more errors besides the usual grammar mistakes. I saw structural issues, jumping around in timelines, and paragraphs that didn’t correctly describe what I was trying to portray.

I probably recognized these errors because I recently obtained an Associate of Arts degree, which required me to take multiple English courses. These courses have helped me tremendously to become a better writer. So, with my newfound knowledge, I decided to rewrite my book entirely. It’s still the same story, and some parts of the book may be exactly the same, but I rewrote most of it to flow better.

I also decided to dive further into my experience with the 12-steps, as I feel like I didn’t talk enough about the recovery process in the original book. In fact, one of the reviews on amazon said that my book was “just a collection of war stories.” Honestly, I can’t even argue with that because it’s 100% true. So, with this version, I made sure to focus on the recovery aspect of my story in the second half of the book

As I got to the end of the book, I realized I needed to add a lot more to my story because A LOT has happened since I originally published the book. So, I added a few new chapters, explaining how, even though I got clean and sober, I continued to “struggle” at times. But, even with everything life throws at me, I keep moving forward with the help of my high power, the 12-steps, and my friends and family.

Check out the editorial reviews for this book HERE!

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