Phew, I made it! I’ve been waiting for this tour for a year now! And it’s with utmost excitement that I welcome you to my blog, and encourage you to visit http://coffinhop.com/ to see the list of all the participants.
I started my writing journey with these folks, and have grown since then… Just a little, I admit, but enough to have published two books. The first one, Stories from the Underworld, is an anthology of horror short stories. The second one, that will be released in November, is called 32 Seconds, and while using some horror elements, is a psychological YA paranormal novel. 
Halloween is around the corner! The spooky and scary comes in many shapes and forms. To me, nothing is scarier than insanity. The world can collapse around me, and all material things can disappear, if I lose my mind, I’m done. Therefore, as a teaser for your taste buds to celebrate the release of 32 Seconds, I will focus my blog tour posts on insanity.
At the end of each post, please write a comment and tell me what scares you the most to be entered into the list of contestants to my Halloween raffle (don’t forget to put your name and email so I can get in touch with you once the tour is over)! The three lucky winners (with the scariest answers!) will each receive an autographed copy of 32 Seconds and the first prize is a $25 Amazon gift card!
Hop on! The tour has begun!
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Day 8 – Addiction
Yes, addictive behavior creates insanity. Alcohol, drug, food, sex, gambling, shopping, work, exercise, internet… An addictive behavior is a behavior which is both rewarding and reinforcing. It may involve any activity, substance, object, or behavior that becomes the major focus of a person’s life resulting in a physical, mental, and/or social withdrawal from their normal day to day obligations.
People suffering from addictive behaviors make their lives a living mess in order to get the substance, activity, object or replicate the behavior they crave. Addiction involves craving and the inability to control how much the person intakes in order to feel the relief they desperately seek. A lot of people are addicts, without knowing it. Social drinking, social drug use, and other types of activities are but the spark that ignite the addictive behavior.
Addicts may deal with depression, anxiety, mental illnesses such as bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, phobias, and self-medicate with drugs and alcohol in order to alleviate their pain. Addiction has plagued society since the dawn of men, and has caused more deaths, imprisonments and mental breakdowns than anything else. Blackout drinkers will deal with anterograde amnesia, doing things they don’t remember. Some people have waken up in jail cells unaware of what happened the night before!
A great tale about addiction is the movie Flight (2012) with the fabulous Denzel Washington. Full of hope and humility. A must see if you haven’t already watched it!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour as much as I have! Please don’t forget to comment and leave your name and email if you want to win an autographed copy of 32 Seconds!
Happy hop!
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32 Seconds by Johanna K. Pitcairn
To the average onlooker, the city of Los Angeles represents glitz, glamour, and the celebrity lifestyle. But to seventeen-year-old Julie Jones, the city is a vast host of problems she’s longing to get away from. The latest? An unfortunate disagreement with her ex-boyfriend Mark—one that could land her in some serious hot water.
So rather than face the troubles that torment her, Julie decides to run away from her old life and start fresh somewhere new. But her parents aren’t on board with the plan, and she soon finds her bank accounts frozen and her wallet empty.
With just seventy-five dollars and a full tank of gas, the troubled teen is far too stubborn to turn around and head home. So what’s a girl to do?
What Julie doesn’t know is that her travels are about to take her somewhere unexpected—a place where she’ll be forced to come face to face with the ghosts of her past in order to secure her future.
A tale of redemption, hope, and freedom lost and found, 32 Seconds is a thought-provoking exploration into the human spirit and the nature of forgiveness.
The Manicheans 
Once again, brilliant post.
Really enjoyed hopping through all your posts.
Great contest!!
Got my email and fear in on your day 1 post.
Been fantastic CoffinHopping with you again! And I agree, I love this time of year if only that I get to hang out “virtually” with some of the coolest and greatest people I know: The CoffinHop Crew Rocks!! 🙂 🙂
Hope you had a good CoffinHop Johanna! It’s been a blast!
– Kim 😉
I had a wonderful time, and each year, I enjoy it more. It’s like growing with people who love the same thing I love, and don’t mind sharing it. Happy Halloween all!
Great post Johanna! I think we all suffer from addiction on some level. Some addictions are more serious than others however and that’s dangerous.
Yeah, addiction in itself is a dangerous condition to have. Doesn’t mean you can’t live with it. I do every day! LOL But it’s tricky. Thanks for all the comments Julianne! You rocked this season! 🙂
Sadly, I only discovered this hop today. I am now a follower of your blog and am so happy to have discovered you. I understand the pressure from a father who felt that one’s career selection was less than adequate and needed to be upgraded to something that would pay the bills. I, too, have always written.
Anyway, my biggest fear is actual several fears. I fear going blind, and I fear losing my mind. I’ve watched people deteriorate mentally from Alzheimer’s (and other types of mental illness) and I am terrified of losing my intelligence. There are days when the diseases that already attack me affect my brain and will cause me to pull the wrong word out of the brain ether. I am terrified this fog will worsen until I’m just a drooling idiot.
People are terrified of illness in general. I see this already. What will happen if my mind goes? Will I live in isolation, eating dog food (I’m more a dog person, so cat food is unlikely), saving nail clippings as my hoarding behavior spirals, but my thinking plummets? It’s terrifying to even write this down…
michelle_willms at yahoo dot com
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Hi Michelle! Thanks for following! And the CoffinHop happens every year… So now you know, next year, you can hop from day 1 and have a ton of fun! Thanks for the comment. I do agree with your fears. Fear is natural, and comes to us when we cannot control the thing we’re so afraid of. I learned not to fear too much, and just live. Makes everything so much easier. 🙂
You truly did an AMAZING job, Johanna. Not only I enjoyed reading your posts, but I learned a lot. Thanks for making the hop that much more entertaining. Hope you had a great Halloween!