Take a Walk on the Wild Side

by Janet Balcombe, S. Thorburn (Preface)

Janet Balcombe didn't have a plan for her life, but sitting in prison staring at the punk rocker with ALEX tattooed around her neck in neo-Nazi script was a little disappointing. Sitting on a raft of charges including kidnapping, guns, drugs and counterfeiting - if this wasn’t rock bottom it would do until she got there. Years later as she lay amongst the ruins of her toxic life, she knew she had finally arrived. Where do you go when you hit rock bottom? When you’ve got what you thought would make you happy, and it hasn’t? When the freedom you crave slowly tightens around you like a python, squeezing a little tighter every time you exhale, until the very things that once meant the most no longer mean anything at all. Not even life itself. Meth–addiction. Grief. Adultery. Evil. Brokenness. Her life was a psychotic hybrid of Breaking Bad and Paranormal Activity. There had to be a divine intervention or things just weren’t going to end well. Pull back the spiritual curtain, have a look at the black doors her choices opened; and see what it took to close them. No matter how bad things get, there’s hope. Take a walk on the wild side, if you dare!

196 pages, Paperback

First published March 24, 2014

About the author

Janet conquered a feral meth-addiction in another life, and her criminal record labels her a convicted kidnapper.

The Ashton Wylie Literary Award finalist didn’t know she was a writer until 2014 when her memoir, Take a Walk on the Wild Side was published (re-published The Wild Side in 2016). She has since written Radical Lives Vol 1, a collection of true stories, and Vol 2 has just been released (janetbalcombe.com).

Janet writes true-life stories and about the things that matter, lifting the truth above the quagmire of deception called ‘enlightenment.’​ She writes for the rebels, the addicts and the broken-hearted.

She is a commercial graphic designer (see wildsidedesign.net) and publisher, helping authors self-publish their work together with her husband, Ray Curle, in their business Wild Side Publishing (wildsidepublishing.com).

Ray and Janet minister to people by helping them find healing from life’s traumas, and speak and teach throughout New Zealand. See Wild Side Ministries for a list of their podcast messages (wildsideministries.com). They are working towards establishing a faith-based recovery centre in Northland, New Zealand. See Wild Side Trust (wildsidetrust.org).

Reviews

[Amy Hitchman · Rating 5 out of 5]

My God is an awesome God, no one has fallen too far that He can not reach them. I love how He works in our lives to seek true life and freedom in Him. But for God's grace there go I. Thankful for His forgiveness!

[Selina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great testimony.

[Megan Seymour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I opened the book I couldn’t put it down. I really enjoyed reading Janet’s journey. An honest account of her time as a meth user and how she found her faith. The QR code for images is no longer in use which was disappointing

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Janet's life is a self-caused trainwreck until she "finds God." How ironic that she writes that she felt scripture quotes from her mother were "absolutely maddening" to her and "triggered... a tirade of classic words." That's how I felt about her last 6 chapters!