When we were writing the Basic Text, there were plenty of people who said it was impossible, can't be done, or at least not the way we had it planned. We were told that we were called foolish, maybe even a little crazy, to trust a bunch of dope addicts to write a book on their ‘recovery.’ In those days, there were many people who had little respect for us. We had to earn respect by being respectable. Writing our own literature let people know we were serious about our gratitude, serious about our recovery, and serious about our willingness to love and care for the newcomer.

Most of you have benefited from the Basic Text yet never expected to get to write anything helpful. Well, the plan for this book is to sponsor writing from the society of addicts recovering in NA. Chapter length pieces on any topic within the range of things we experience in recovery can be included made in the book.

In particular, there are many among us being dismayed that some energy is being exerted against the principle idea that our recovery is from `just' drug addiction. The exciting thing about NA, for us, has always been the relief we have found from our addiction once we stopped using. Those of you who share this belief might find some fascinating material to add about on over- spending and other compulsions that have nothing to do with chemical addiction. Our serious concern here is that our disease appears to mutate into other forms. Some of these forms may be as seemingly non-injurious as watching too much TV and others that may be as totally devastating as any degree of `drug' addiction. We must count ourselves as free to write about these things lest a big part of our program be lost forever to those who choose to live the NA way of life.

So, consider yourself free to write for this book. If your writing is sincere and accurate, at least you will benefit to some degree. Your efforts may be a runaway best-photocopied, eternally underground recovery piece. It may become a booklet. It is hoped that if enough good members go for this humorous yet sincere approach to getting some new material into print, many of the chapter length pieces can be compiled into a single book to help carry our message.

One thing that is not humorous: This material is meant only to help addicts and is given freely. It should never be seen as mere property and no addict anywhere should ever be made to suffer by our efforts to help.

With the background for this work nearly complete, please let me first lay out the events in sequence that led lead up to this work. This is the method that I would like to recommend to my various friends around the Fellowship for its completion.

Remember that , one of the ways we have survived is by using our imagination and acting on hunches. I think this is a good method and one that might even work if applied to other writing tasks.

To start with, we wrote our Basic Text in the years between 1977 and 1982. As was our intention, we surrendered the material to the main World Service Conference that then moved the material into the safekeeping of our World Service Office. It was printed and distributed from the Office for the next nine years.

We are ready to begin a new work. There is trouble with going through what used to be the approved channels with this work. An alternative route had to be developed. We are asking you to accept this document as the basis for the new work. We will open chapters experimentally and develop them as recovery themes. We will then have them work shopped by various members throughout the Fellowship. We will distribute the various chapters informally and let the result be compiled into a final manuscript. This way, no one area or region could control the material much less know in advance, or in passing, how the material would come out. We will only take into account the needs of the addicts seeking recovery as well as the valid experience of our membership.

The resultant chapters would number around twenty. There might be several chapters on relationships and two or three on employment in recovery. There might be new chapters developed for ‘What is NA’ and ‘Recovery and Relapse’. The NA member making available the material would determine the cost of the material. Members could pick and choose, and in many cases, do better themselves. We would publish and circulate informal lists of available materials. Our natural ingenuity and competitiveness would likely keep the costs down.

After we achieve sufficient momentum, we may arrange a some more formal method. With or without this formalization, the Fellowship would retain both the rights to print and the rights to copy the materials in all versions. This might mean that there were multiple versions of similar material in concurrent usage.

If and when the Fellowship wants to compile the material into a single volume, there are several ways it could be handled. Perhaps some large Fellowship regions would want to serve by printing ‘standard forms’. It might even be possible to entrust World Services to do this, if we could avoid the instability of the eighties.

At any rate, we would see a growth of new ideas and recovery experience in print with a minimum of hassle and expense. No one version would be the final word. We don't recommend using this anonymous effort to grind personal axes, yet your feelings are important. Remember to respect our reader. Share the way you would in a meeting and let the value of your sharing show itself. Like our personal recovery, the writing would take on its own colors and word choices. Some material might have an intellectual appeal. Other material might be rather raw and coarse. All would depend on its usefulness to perpetuate itself. May the God of your understanding be with us as we proceed to extend our message of recovery in writing.

The Authors