I wrote my first book, ‘Loyalty’, while I was serving a 15-year prison sentence. No one, especially me, believed I would become a writer.
How could I?
I failed the eighth grade, went to summer school, then failed the ninth grade twice before dropping out of high school. After serving five years, I petitioned my family to help me get a typewriter.
Why?
Because after 20 years of writing music, I believed these skills would serve me well as an author. My cousin gathered the family, and they chipped in to send me $365 (thank you!).
I bought my typewriter and made it the centerpiece of my cell. I covered my locker with a fresh white towel and placed my typewriter on top. To motivate myself, I printed quotes on card stock and placed them around my typewriter, serving as daily reminders of my aspirations and affirmations of my potential.
Daily, I worked on my first book, and every night, I envisioned myself as a writer. Men across the prison yard read my book and became invested in the characters I created. Loyalty soon gave birth to plays that I wrote and performed for the entire prison population.
I refined my gifts while buried alive and vowed never to come back. But I returned to teach, counsel, and guide men on the mindset needed to stay free. I use these principles to teach incarcerated men and boys how to get out and stay out.
No one believed... but I did.
No one saw the blood, sweat, and tears... but God did.
No one saw the person I would become... but now he’s here.
