Day 54 - 8/15/21 - Sun.

Day 54 marks a major milestone: I had already completed three stories for my book, Shadows: Stories I Wrote in Prison, proving that creativity thrives even in confinement.

Journal Entry:

“Not as hot overnight; I even dug out a sheet to cover with. Pretty good night’s sleep. Dreamed but no recall, well, really foggy. Maybe something will come back this morning, but let’s see. I was up at 7 AM, late for me, but I felt pretty good. Maybe I’ll get sh*t done today. Day 6, but who’s counting? Not actually Day 6, but six more days till I get serious.

I think I’ll start putting together the Stories I Wrote in Prison book today. Maybe, I just don’t see Walking Distance being the first story. Sitting in the common area, going to work on the Journal, Outer Justice, Walking Distance, and ??? I think the giant space whale story won’t be the first Outer Justice book. The first one has to be the story of J. Dark recruiting his team, arriving on Asteroid Z, etc. Maybe a little bit about the Corporation and the rebellion brewing in the Outer Colonies. ‘Hostile Takeover’ might be a good title. Yup, Giant Space Whale is going to be Book #2 or #3. It’s really just a teaser/prologue for the BuShawnee Storyline Arc, which will start in Book #10 (probably).

Skipped Breakfast, which I think I’m going to do going forward. Food is now easily available to me now between working in the kitchen and commissary. My day off technically, but I told J.K. I would help him with the plasticware, because he helped me yesterday.

BRUNCH: Scrambled eggs with something mixed in, not sure what, but it made them better than usual. Potato Wedges, biscuits with tasteless gravy, but the potato dipped in the gravy-like substance wasn’t too bad.

Trying to come up with another short story idea to start the Stories I Wrote in Prison book, and I’ve got one:

Story Idea: ‘Barbell’ is the story of a middle-aged Independent Filmmaker who is getting his chance to make a big-time Indie Film, gets wrapped up in an investor-fraud conspiracy, faces federal charges for the financing of the film, and goes to prison. Inside the fictional prison camp in Lansing, Maine, he befriends this giant of a man who was once a mafia enforcer, until someone pounded his head in with a prison barbell weight, hence the nickname and the title of the story. One side of his head is permanently caved in, in the shape of an octagon barbell; the hair on that flat side of his head doesn’t grow right there. Barbell tells the Filmmaker lots of stories of his life, but some of the events sound like plots of movies, so the Filmmaker doubts his grip on reality. One such story was when he was young and swimming in a large river with his two younger identical twin sisters… they are pulled in and under the current, and Barbell tries to save them but cannot. ‘Sometimes I still dream of them’ (e.g., the similar scenes in Kubrick’s The Shining). Barbell likes the Filmmaker because he treats him decently, not like the other prisoners do, and Barbell wants to be in one of his movies when he gets out. Two other real nasty characters, a little Korean hacker and a large Russian Thug, approach the Filmmaker with an unrefusable offer to help them blackmail/extort rich Hollywood execs, or the Filmmaker and his family will pay dearly. This goes back and forth for a while until the Filmmaker tricks the Russian into torturing the Korean, or they both torture the Filmmaker. Barbell finds them all in the Gym, easily kills the Korean, and after a fashion, kills the Russian. The Filmmaker helps Barbell back to his cot. He asks if he should get the guards; Barbell says no, they will kill me, just let me rest. The Filmmaker doesn’t understand but does as he wishes. At the morning count, Barbell’s bunk is drenched and empty, except for a pair of kids’ cut-off swimming shorts. (Again, maybe I’ll do a draft and see how it is.)

I have to finish Walking Distance and The Man Who Loved to Die first, then tackle Barbell. I’ll try to get ten done while here. If I’m here for the full sentence, it should be easy to get ten or more short stories; hopefully, I get too many done. I might be able to have more than one volume of the Stories I Wrote in Prison book project by writing the story ideas down like I just did and finishing the full story(s) later. I feel if the idea was conceived in Prison, it would qualify. Or I could commit a crime and come back in. (Kidding.) You notice I didn’t say, ‘Another Crime.’

SUPPER: Roast Beef Chunks, Mashed Potatoes, yellow beans, biscuit. I thought about putting the roast beef in reserve but opted for the biscuit instead. P.B. factor.

Went outside from 5:30 to 7. Read the rest of the evening. Looks like I made the 300-word goal for the day. Easily. Good night.”

Notes for Day 54 (Four Years Later)

Another long entry (over 850 words). But I want to talk about Barbell. That short story turned into a novella and may be longer on the rewrite. But I did finish the first draft while at Devens. And while Walking Distance is a strong story, it is also more personal and slightly autobiographical, so Barbell will definitely be my favorite. I changed it up quite a bit from that first brainstorming synopsis and dropped the light fantasy ending for a more psychologically ambiguous one. I wrote the story in a way that it could easily be filmed on a low budget and in Maine, so when I get back to filming Indie films, the movie version of Barbell will be the first one on the drawing board. I could say more about my hopes and dreams for the Barbell story/film, but I’ll save it for later. That’s all for now!

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