My new book, Earning Freedom, will not be coming to market until after my release, and when it does, it will not be with St. Martin’s Press. Carole and I intend to build my career around this new book, a story that describes my long journey and maturity through prison, but St. Martin’s Press has not offered the level of support we expect from our publishing partner. Despite the success that came with wide distributions for Inside, both Carole and I anticipate that Earning Freedom will reach a much broader audience. To realize that goal, I need to be in society and available to promote the book through television, radio, Internet and a national speaking tour. We cannot make this happen if I’m still in prison and we cannot make this happen without a full commitment from our publishing partner.
Carole asked whether St. Martin’s Press disappointed me and I had to think before I could respond. I’m a prisoner and I’ve been a prisoner since 1987. Living with these restrictions has conditioned me to look inward for sources of validation, and the message I try to convey through my work is that regardless of the decisions that others make, each of us is responsible to navigate the path to success and happiness. I would have liked to begin marketing my work with St. Martin’s now while I conclude this prison term, but the limitations of confinement presents hurdles that the publisher has chosen not to cross with me, and that lack of commitment will lead me to a new publisher when I leave prison boundaries.
In light of this development, one that I’ll keep to myself and internalize for awhile, I’ll have to decide what kind of projects I can pursue through 2010. I know my exercise schedule as I’ve made the commitment to run 3,000 miles and strength train with 1,000 pushups. Progress toward those goals will be easy for me to measure. But I also need to identify some writing and career-preparation goals, and I’m thinking about that now. Before the end of this year, I intend to draw the new map that I will follow through 2010.
This morning I ran 10 miles and I followed with 300 pushups.
[consecutive running log: 3,060 miles over the past 343 days]
Saturday, 21 November 2009
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