Do You Feel Like a Writer In Prison?

A few days ago, I received this letter from a writer in a California prison.

The letter was written in pencil and addressed to me. He sent it to the PO Box for First Coast Christian Writers, a critique group I founded several years ago. I made a few modifications to the letter to protect his identity, but here’s the gist of the letter (including the errors):

Dearest Lorraine,

I’m a novelist. I just finished my 5^th novel. Loraine I am very serious about my writing career which is why I am writing you. Because I need help showing my works of art.

Lorraine if you permit, can I show you & your writing group my finished novel’s. Please don’t turn a deaf ear to my quest to become.

My lifes dream is to be come published & buy a home & give the homeless & destitute a place to live. As I introduce them to the majesty of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

If you will be so kind. Please send help & advice me what to do first.

Sincerely Yours

One praying for a chance

To be come

It would have been easy to ignore the letter or toss it into the recycle bin, but I can relate to people who have a desire to write and I thought I might do a bit of good by giving some hope to someone in prison. One thing I learned about wanna-be-writers over the years is that many people will remain in this state for many years, and some for the rest of their lives.

In essence, many wanna-be-writers are in some sort of mental prison in which they say they want to write, but go for years without completing their book or getting their articles published. I decided to write this letter not only to the man who reached out to me for help, but also for all the other writers who are in prison mentally. Perhaps this will help you escape.

Here’s the letter I sent back to him:

Writer In Prison,

Congratulations on writing your fifth novel. If getting published is your dream, then you’re well on your way by doing the writing! Over the years I’ve learned that lots of people talk about writing, but few people take the time to write and edit every day until they complete their projects. Finishing writing projects is the hardest part for most writers.

Publishing is much easier now than it was in the past, so if you want your works published, you can easily self-publish your books on Kindle, the Nook and elsewhere. Even big-time authors are starting to self-publish instead of going with the big publishing houses who take a big chunk of their commissions. But it’s up to you which route you choose to take.

First Coast Christian Writers is a local group of writers who meet face to face to provide feedback on each other’s writing. The purpose is to encourage the members to write every week and bring in up to 1,000 words for critique.

You probably don’t have a writers group in your prison, but if you have some friends who like to read and write, perhaps you can start up your own informal club where you are. If that won’t work, then I encourage you to visit several local writers groups when you get out and join one that suits you.

It sounds to me like you’re looking for an editor—someone to read your full novel and provide feedback and corrections. Editors charge for their work—you won’t find a professional editor who will do this for free. In lieu of paying an editor, think about the people around you right now and how you might help each other.

From your letter, I see that you’re in prison. I’m not sure what resources or conditions you have there, but if you can find a few guys who like to read, I’d encourage you to get them to read your novels and get feedback from them. If you have writing or speech classes you can attend, you can also share chapters or give speeches in the form of stories in your book. Or perhaps your chaplain may read your writing?

Here in Jacksonville we have a prison with Toastmasters—that’s another great organization for improving communication skills. When you have the chance, join Toastmasters (www.Toastmasters.org).

Share your writing with the people around you and let them know that you want their opinion of your work. Take only their suggestions that will improve your work. If they criticize your goal to be a writer or if they’re completely discouraging without telling you some good things about your work, then disregard their feedback. It’s not helpful to pass your work on to friends and family who will tell you that your writing is great. You need a balance of what they like about the stories and what they think you can improve. That’s the writing critique process and it’s essential to becoming a successful writer.

If you have a choice of movies, I encourage you to watch the movie, “Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story.” This is a true story of a man who wrote and successfully published while incarcerated. And he was nominated for a Nobel Prize!

Don’t just hold on to your dreams of publishing and helping the homeless. Keep taking action to achieve your dreams—just like the action you took to write this letter. And let me know when you get your first book published.

You mentioned two goals in your letter: publishing, and helping the homeless and destitute. The two can work together very well. I’m sure that you will hear many stories from all these people and you can really make a difference in the world by helping their stories be heard. Even if the stories come out in characters in fiction novels, it still spreads the message of social ills and challenges.

As a writer, you have all the control. You can allow your characters to have happy endings or you can show them suffering indefinitely in their life challenges. It’s up to you.

As thinkers, we have control of our minds, at least to the extent that we can edit and shift our thoughts to the things we want to ponder. This is one of the biggest challenges for all humans, I believe, but if you can master your thoughts, you can do great things. Here are a few of my favorite books on the subject of positive thinking: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude by Napoleon Hill & W. Clement Stone, and my all-time favorite As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. As A Man Thinketh was originally published in 1903 so the original copyright has expired. You can find this book online for free on various websites.

Here are a few other favorite writer books that I can recommend. Writing Fast by Jeff Bollow is a terrific book on how to improve your writing speed. He’s actually a playwright, but any writer who wants to write faster can benefit from his book.

On Writing by Stephen King is a must read for any writer. King is a great writer! The book is entertaining and he gives you insight into his writing schedule and the way he sees life. He takes life for what it is and then incorporates both the good and bad into his novels. I also like watching any movies that are based on his books. His writing is so crisp—he’s great at building characters and writing dialogue!

In writing this letter to you, it reminds me of how we’ve lost the art of letter-writing. It gave me encouragement to write letters more often. So, thank you for your letter.

The PO Box you wrote to expires on May 31, 2011. I’m not going to renew this PO Box since nearly all our communications is online now.

Since you asked a favor of me, I have one to ask of you. I’m working on a book about things people collect. I collect books, plants, kitchen tools, and more. Please let me know what types of things you like to collect, whether it was super hero figurines as a kid or baseball caps as an adult. Just so I know that you got this letter, please respond within 30-60 days and the letter should be forwarded to me.

Sincerely,

Lorraine