I’m excited to be in conversation next Friday evening with my friends Maura Doherty and Kirk Charlton at Bold Coffee and Books. What a perfect venue to be in conversation about the topic of recovery and creativity. We hope you’ll join us.

Four years ago, I posted the blog “My Life and Alcohol.” It begins like this:

My inner voice has been re-crafting this blog for some time, stopping when my outer voice tells me no. Is it because I feel a bit of an imposter? Yes, my dad was an alcoholic, but my childhood was so good compared to many others. Is it my recognition that many of us have stories related to alcohol abuse, some that feel more important than mine? But – my inner voice argues back – we each have our story. Stories make us who we are. Yes, while my dad drank for the first 20 or so years of my life, he was sober for his final 34, completing a rich life at the age of 84. He taught me grace, forgiveness, strength, hope and an awful lot more. Yet even with that, I have baggage, or maybe simply life lessons. Some that may resonate with others.
My Life and Alcohol

Last year I published my memoir, From First Breath to Last: A Story About Love, Womanhood and Aging. As a small piece of it, I share our mom’s story during those darker days of Dad’s drinking. It was only as I wrote this book did I finally understand how much she shielded us kids from much of her pain and how bad things were. Or, how much during those times of the 1960s, a spouse might be blamed for their reaction to their partner’s drinking.

There is much I don’t know on this topic, and each person has a story true to them. What I do believe, is that addiction and recovery are not distant stories happening only to someone else. They live among us, in our families, our friendships and often, within ourselves. I am grateful for the tools and connections that speak to us to allow us to understand and shine our true selves. And, without a doubt, stories, writing and art, is one of those.

I met Kirk last spring at the S2 Book Faire held at Bold Books, and we immediately connected. I have known Maura for more than thirty years, first as fellow employees of Marine and Environmental Testing. Yes, then we talked all things industrial hygiene and hazmat response. When I formed a writing group a few years ago, I knew I needed Maura to be part of it. We hope you join us!

“Echoes of Recovery: Stories from the Inside and Out,” Author readings and discussion, Dede Montgomery, Maura Doherty and Kirk Charlton, Bold Coffee and Books, 1755 SW Jefferson, Portland, Oregon, Friday, August 29 2025 from 7-8:30 pm.

Details From Bold

Local authors will share readings from their personal journeys with recovery and sobriety. The authors will share short readings, and engage in discussions both about the writing experience and using writing as part of the healing journey. Stories include those about the authors personal recovery experience, and as a family member of parent in recovery.

Dede Montgomery is the author of From First Breath to Last: A Story About Love, Womanhood and Aging; Humanity’s Grace, Beyond the Ripples, My Music Man, and Then, Now and In-Between: Place, Memories and Loss in Oregon. Dede is also a frequent blogger about writing, well-being, compassion and synchronicity. Dede is a 6th generation Oregonian and lives near Portland, Oregon.

Kirk Charlton is an artist, educator, and author who transformed 24 years of incarceration into a mission of healing through art. He founded Art Inside Out, and uses art as a vehicle for healing and self-discovery, helping incarcerated individuals deal with stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, and addiction.

Maura Doherty was raised in the 1950s and 60s, one of seven siblings in the Bronx, New York. Her Irish-Catholic parents owned a duplex on a street teeming with kids who played games surrounded by the roar of the Cross-Bronx Expressway. The Doherty children went to parochial schools and attended Mass on Sunday. Over time, Maura became fascinated with Catholic nuns wearing habits and rosary beads and the peace they evoked.  When Maura decided to become a Sister, she never anticipated that she would leave the convent nine years later. That decision thrust her from the security of religious life into the unknown. Crafting a new future for herself, she became an activist fighting environmental pollution and toxic hazards. Her work brought her from the Bronx to Appalachia to the West Coast, where a growing dependence on alcohol threatened to rob her of all she’d achieved. Once she chose sobriety, her life opened in ways she had never imagined.

Arrive at 6:30 p.m. to grab a snack or drink. The event will start at 7:00 p.m.

Check out my new audiobook of my memoir, My Music Man.