Millbrae resident Mary Beth O’Connor, author of the award-winning book, From Junkie to Judge, will address common issues with memoir writing in a free Zoom talk sponsored by Fremont Area Writers on June 24.
After being abused as a child, O’Connor progressed from alcohol use at age 12 to methamphetamines at 16. She remained addicted to meth for 15 years and has been sober since 1994. Six years into her drug recovery, she attended law school at UC Berkeley and after passing the bar worked at a large Silicon Valley law firm.
In 2014, she was appointed a federal administrative law judge. After retiring in 2020, she had time to reflect on her journey from abuse to addiction to recovery, law school, and a judgeship and to consider how she could help others with trauma and addiction backgrounds.
The result was the memoir From Junkie to Judge, which O’Connor hopes will call attention to and reduce the stigma of addiction, trauma and its resulting anxiety, as well as encourage those who have experienced trauma and substance abuse to begin recovery.
The idea of writing a memoir sounds simple, but O’Connor had to come to grips with reliving and sharing the unsavory and distressing parts of her life as well as her ultimate success. At her talk, she will share how she learned to shape her experiences into an immersive memoir, and what she has learned about the business of writing a memoir.
More information is available at cwc-fremontareawriters.org. To attend the Mary Beth O’Connor Zoom meeting, request a Zoom link at sc**************@***oo.com
Mary Beth O’Connor
Saturday, June 28
2 – 4pm
Request the Zoom link from Scott Davidson
