Author Aaron Lebold

My name is Aaron Lebold, and I am a new author at Breaking Rules Publishing. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Christopher Clawson-Rule and all the other great staff at the organization for giving me the opportunity to have my work distributed and recognized. 

I am a thirty-nine year old youth worker, and I have had a passion for writing my entire life.  In early years this translated into music, where my greatest pride was composing the lyrics for songs that displayed great emotion, and had the ability to inspire others. The issue that I discovered was that I can’t sing to save my life, and I know nothing about notes, timing, or any of the technical aspects of making music.  Realistically though, for me the music was always secondary and the message that could be found in the lyrics were my only real priority.

I was heavily influenced by bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, and any other band that I found contained a sincere message.  I struggled with my own emotional issues and mental health, and began using drugs at the age of fifteen.  As I grew, so did my love for mind-altering substances, which resulted in an addiction to heroin and morphine.  To me, art, music, writing and drugs were all somehow connected, and I feared that if I sought help for my depression and mental health issues, that I may somehow lose the part of me that was creative and expressive.  This kept me in a dark place for a long time.

I continued to press on with music, and even recorded an album.  The album didn’t sound very appealing, but I hoped the lyrical content may gain me some fans, and exposure. Needless to say that this venture did not lead anywhere and after years of doing music as a hobby, I decided it was time to move on to new ventures, this included getting off drugs and returning to school to be an addictions counselor. 

Getting sober was a difficult task, prior to quitting I had been on the methadone program for several years. I was still getting clean when I went to school, but I had a relapse from the pain and discomfort of methadone withdrawal. It was in the classroom that I met the woman that would later become my wife.  Despite seeing me all strung out on drugs, and finding needles and other paraphernalia all over my apartment, for some reason she stuck with me and helped me in my quest for sobriety. This was no easy task, but I managed to get myself clean, with her help and support.

I was a successful addictions counselor for eight years, dedicating my life to becoming a better person and helping youth avoid the same path of drugs and alcohol that I once took.  While teaching others, I continued to learn a lot about myself.  Though my focus had changed, writing was still something I enjoyed.  I wasn’t working on anything creative, but all of my reports and summaries were  written with great pride, and were often commended.

After years of being in the field, a few political problems arose, and one of my co-workers and I began discussing the idea of leaving the company to pursue a new concept. We discussed the idea of creating an on-line recovery program, and become entrepreneurs.  We both left the company around the same time, and ventured into a project that was named after him. Brad McLeod Recovery became a full-time project for several months. As the business grew I struggled to find my place, and it wasn’t until I began writing recovery blogs that I felt like I had found it.
 
Once I began writing, I couldn’t stop.  I wrote every day, and even had some of my work featured on established recovery sites.  From writing recovery blogs, I extended into writing my life story every day, blog by blog, starting with my early youth and continuing all the way until I began working as an addictions counselor.  This consumed nearly a year of my life, and at the same time I decided to try to write my first manuscript. Now working in a factory, I wrote ‘Demons Among Us’ and began learning more about the book industry.

After about a year in the factory, I was unfulfilled, so I found a job at a youth custody facility, where I still work to this day. I went on to write ‘Genocide’ which has recently been published with Breaking Rules.  I have also continued writing poetry and general banter on my blog, and have also completed several short stories. I am currently working on a new novel titled ‘Quarantine’ which focuses on a character that struggles with alcoholism, and psychosis during the quarantine we are all currently experiencing.