Roslyn Paterson

Wasted Time: the Fictional Memoir of an Addict in Recovery Roslyn Paterson

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.