Day 25 - 7/17/21 - Sat.

Crazy, not an hour after I finish this sketch and poem, the window went dark and it started Thundering/Lightning and pounding down rain. Must be a sign.

Actual Journal Entry:

“Really decent night’s sleep; thought mostly about Outer Justice, fleshed out the main characters (again), and for the first time, thought about the Asteroid Basin/mining town/complex that is the setting. Pretty detailed compared to past attempts. Even though I started out working on Dark Justice, it morphed into working on Outer Justice. Better jot down those ideas too; who knows how long I am going to be in here? I may write the entire series.

Quick Outer Justice Idea: In the tenth Kindle Vella episode, a character is introduced—a criminal, a smuggler, a pirate—who, during his arraignment, ‘talks’ to Judge Dark through telepathy. He says he knows where Dark’s shooter is, whom Dark has pursued for twenty years, and if Dark lets him off these very minor smuggling charges, he will help Dark find him. Not sure how Dark will go yet; it’s a real test of his Judicial Fortitude (not sure if that’s a real phrase). Whatever the outcome, the smuggler may become a regular character and competitor to Derek for Cheyenne’s attention. Jailhouse?

STANDARD BREAKFAST: Was all excited because I had a banana to put on my cereal. But it was rotting from the middle out. (Note: This reminds me of something I learned working in the kitchen when I make it to the Camp. Foreshadowing teaser, if I remember…) Eh, I trimmed off the really bad spots and put it on my cereal anyway. Can’t kill me, right? And big deal if it does…

BRUNCH: Pretty decent. Scrambled eggs with cheese, hash browns (a lot), a wrap, and only one negative… some sort of sauce (not hot) loaded with… you guessed it… (onions!). I ate an egg/hash brown wrap and saved some hash browns in case supper bites.

I’ve decided I am going to try to sketch this cell window. I’ll have to use a sheet of my precious lined paper so I can get the window edges more accurate and the wire. Be much better than the brick one on the downstairs window. Something else to pass the time. Perfectly timed, this fits right into the journal. Not going to write on the back of this paper in case I want to use it later with the Poem; not that it’s great work of art, but it helps one understand the poem. Space this space. Changed the title.

KINDLE IDEA: If there is no Inmate Publishing site, or even if there is, publish some of the short stories in a Kindle book. Stick to the 2,600-3,000-word range, and if it sells, publish more. I’m sure I will have plenty of material whenever I exit this place. I have been more productive writing-wise in the last nine days than I have in the last nine years. Blows my mind. Tentative title: Stories I Wrote in Prison. Simple. A wide variety of stories; who knows, it just might fly. Also, do a brief Intro/essay on prison life and its impact on my writing. Writing, for me, is a way to escape boredom—the nothingness. The boredom is the worst part of this place. So far. It makes me wonder about the ‘power’ of boredom and maybe rethink that old saying, ‘Idle Hands are the Devil’s Playground.’ I don’t know if that’s totally accurate; no Google or even a spell-checker in here. I always liked that one, ‘Devil’s Playground’—sounds cool.

SUPPER: Consisted of Salad, two pieces of bread, a cookie (chocolate chip; I’ll pay for that later), a bag of chips, and a big scoop of TUNA FISH! I don’t do fish or anything that swims while alive. Never have. Good call on saving the hash browns. Night!”

Notes for Day 25 (Four Years Later)

This is a kind of a Legacy Entry. It’s got the creation of Shadows on a Window and my idea to publish a book of the short stories I wrote while incarcerated, which has now been merged into a book of fiction and poetry called, Shadows: Stories I Wrote in Prison.

Shadows on a Window was very important to me because it was published several times (some of them I was paid for) while I was in prison, and recently I read the work to a live audience at a poetry reading with the theme "Criminal Injustice." But the most important thing about Shadows is the letters and art people have been inspired to write/create and send me. Inspiring others to create gave me the greatest sense of accomplishment I have ever experienced.

#writing #poetry #prison