Prison Journal: Day 8,100
October 13, 2009
Early this morning, I completed my final edit of chapters five and six. When I write “final edit,” I mean the last changes I’ll make before Carole sends the manuscript to Jim, my literary agent. I may have many more edits before the manuscript turns into a book. Now I wait until Friday, when I expect to receive the second half of the manuscript to proof.
I’m feeling some pressure in my chest right now. Within the next ten days I expect to submit the manuscript and that brings some anxiety. This story is important to share with the world, but imprisonment complicates my chances of securing a publishing agreement. I’m hopeful that my publishing history will help me overcome the hurdle.
It’s only 5:30 in the morning on Tuesday as I write this entry, and I’m glad that I’ll soon be outside on the track. A 10-mile run will relieve some of this pressure I’m feeling. I’ll follow my run with 300 pushups. That will increase my consecutive total to 2,712 miles over the past 304 days. I don’t know what I’ll do with the rest of my day, but I’m certain it’ll be productive.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Prison Journal: Day 8,093
October 6, 2009
Today has been a day of waiting, and I may have a few more as the week progresses. I’ve completed the edit of chapter eleven for Earning Freedom, leaving me with only the final chapter to work through. I can’t begin to until I receive the typed version from Carole. It may come in tomorrow’s mail, or it may come on Thursday. Until I receive it, I’m in a dead time.
This slow pace of productivity bothers me. I’m not able to start a new project until Earning Freedom crosses the finish line. I wrote the last page of the manuscript on 15 September, and since then I’ve been editing. I still want to read all of the edited pages once they’re typed, but in order to begin that work, I have to wait for Carole to type and for the mail to deliver the work.
I want to submit the manuscript by early next week. We still may reach that goal but I’m beginning to accept that I may have to wait for a few days or even another week after that. These kinds of delays wouldn’t exist in the real world, as I’d be able to use email and make the changes directly on my own computer. Carole does this work for me now, and she does it after working 10-hour days as a nurse. I’m so fortunate to have her assistance.
This morning I ran 10 miles and followed the run with 170 pushups. I’m not feeling any soreness now. My running tally is now 2,649 miles over the past 298 days.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Prison Journal: Day 8,023
July 28, 2009
I’m grateful to have received a loving letter from my mother in today’s mail. These 22 years that I’ve served have been difficult on her, and I’m sensitive to her pain, to her feeling of separation from me, her only son. I’ve spent my entire sentence in various federal prisons, all of which were more than 1,000 miles away from her. We have not visited more than a dozen times in all these years, and telephone restrictions mean that we don’t talk. This separation of mothers and sons, of sisters and brothers, of husbands and wives isn’t normal. Yet after all these years, it’s the only life I know.
I’m sure that I’ll be released within four years, though I know release could come, theoretically, in three years or less. What will I return to? Others may not understand, but I truly feel alone in the world. I have Carole, my incredible wife whom I love with every breath, and who serves every day of this sentence with me voluntarily. Everyone else feels so far away, a lifetime away.
It won’t be long before I will have taken more breaths in prison than I took in freedom. That’s very strange, a distinction of questionable value, and one that I expect few other people can relate to. Oh well. These consequences follow the bad decisions I made during the recklessness of youth.
I spent several hours editing, reading, editing, and reading again. I’m very pleased with the improvements others helped me make to chapter two. I’m going to write tomorrow on chapter six, and likely return to editing on Thursday.
This morning I ran 10 miles. My tally is now 2,019 miles over the past 228 days. The health services department also renewed my allergy pills for 30 days.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Prison Journal: Day 8,006
July 11, 2009
Earlier this summer, Peggy, a new writing mentor of mine who teaches English courses at a Nevada University, helped me with suggestions to improve my first chapter of Earning Freedom. Her insightful comments, together with lessons I learned on style from two writing books she sent, gave me more confidence as I sat down this morning to edit the first draft of chapter two.
I received the typewritten pages in last night’s mail, so I woke with enthusiasm to sit down to work this morning. When editing, I bring out my large dictionary, the Oxford American edition that Carole sent me specifically for this project. I began at 3:07 and worked through every sentence. I completed chapter two before I had the benefit of Peggy’s lesson, and I also received help from Carol Zachary, my other friend and mentor, since writing the draft. Having learned from their guidance, I was able to improve the flow of this draft by using more contractions and offering more descriptions that show the reader rather than tell the reader about prison.
By 8:00 in the afternoon, I finished the edit, having gone through every word, sentence, and paragraph of the 40-page chapter three times. Tomorrow I will read through the chapter one more time, then put it in an envelope and send to Carole for updates. After she makes the corrections, she will send copies to Carol and Peggy for their final review and suggestions.
Sometime next week I expect to receive the typewritten pages of chapter three. I look forward to editing that project as well. Once chapter two and three are as strong as I can make them, I’ll send them to my agent and he will have a complete package to submit for publishing consideration.
I ran 10 miles this morning, boosting my distance tally to 1,863 miles over the past 211 consecutive days.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
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