A Message to my Subscribers
I’ve been free for many years, but there are still things that happen in my life from time to time that remind me of my time behind bars.
“Why is Granola so expensive?” a stranger in the grocery store would ask to nobody in particular.
My reply would come, “in prison we had granola every day for breakfast. It was kinda nice, not gonna lie.”
The people who listen to my stories often seem curious, interested, and at least slightly uncomfortable.
This Substack began as a place to write down the interesting little interactions and anecdotes that took place for me over the course of a few years in prison. Things that are often surprising to those who have never spent a night in jail.
I set myself a goal to write and publish one story per week, which, on one hand, was an accountability measure. Something that I communicated with you - the reader - so that I could keep writing stories that you enjoy. On the other hand, I think this goal has had a negative impact on the quality of my work. Also on my mindset. Writing often felt more like an obligation than an exploration of something meaningful.
So far, I’ve written an incoherent hodgepodge of stories with no regard for cohesion from post to post.
But now I intend to change that.
I’m going to start over.
The reason writing felt like an obligation in the past is because I didn’t prioritize it. I had a full time job, hobbies, video games to play, Spanish to learn, tv shows to watch. But all that’s changed now because I quit my job and sold my tv for less than half of what I paid for it. ¡No importa!
I’m going to tell the story of my incarceration from start to finish, and I’m going to publish once a week until it’s over. This means that you might hear some of the same stories again and you will certainly meet some of the same characters again. But my hope is that you will feel a little more connected to my writing with the knowledge that each week is continuing from the last, and that the characters you meet won’t all disappear.
Since this Substack began, everything I’ve written has been available to read for free. And going forward, my stories will continue to be free. However, at the end of each story in the future I plan to add personal commentary. Remarks about how I was feeling when the events took place, things that I’ve learned, how I’ve grown and changed, that sort of thing. I also want to share with you some of my personal values. If it’s valuable to you then I’d appreciate you becoming a paid subscriber to help support me while I continue writing. I feel like this is a fair way to keep the stories free but to also add something of value to those of you who do choose to support me.
Lastly, I want to extend a big thank you to all of you who have subscribed - whether paid or for free. You have my gratitude and I hope in the coming weeks I can deliver a bit more of what you signed up for.
Tomorrow I hit publish on Chapter 1.