This book is a collection of essays from prisoners of all walks of life. I contributed two essays. The other essays deal with different topics than mine and view prison almost from a different angle. But I guess the question really is, who am I?
At the tender age of 20 I found myself stuck in the Texas prison system in the event of an unfortunate happening where I mistakenly shot at the cops. I grew up in a close, functional family and was going to college when I was arrested. That being said, prison was a whole new world that I knew nothing about and had never associated with anyone who even had a relative who was incarcerated.
The first essay I contributed is about how I was walking or how I would zone out when staring at nature. In the essay it was the clouds. My sanctuary is in that moment of peace where I transported a place outside of these razorwired fences and in a past time where life seemed like it would never end.
The second essay is on consuming fresh foods, which as you know is a rarity, and how food takes me back to good memories from my childhood. In each house I lived at as a kid we always had gardens of fresh vegetables that always brought me to a place or a moment of family and friends gathering around a decked table of freshly cooked foods.
The Hot Pot Chef has sold over 1000 books in two years of publication. It has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon with over twenty positive reviews. There are now two other books in the series. The original Hot Pot Chef has a health twist to all the recipes. Each recipe gives the total protein and calories. The book also includes a chart of foods commonly served in Texas prisons and their protein, carbohydrate and caloric amounts.
I published the first cookbook so that everyone in prison could try a new way to diet, counting calories. I have used this diet method for many years and have seen nothing but success. Cooking has always been a passion for me. Growing up I was a little fat boy on a mission to satisfy a major sweet tooth.
This industriousness in cooking took a shift when I landed in prison because the foods I had to cook with were ultra processed. Over a decade of experimenting and picking up a few tricks from fellow inmates I cracked the code. Anyone that cooks well in prison has probably been told they should write a cookbook. Well, I did. Writing has given me more purpose in life while incarcerated. Writing has given more purpose in life while incarcerated than any other task. Writing has even helped me pay for my college. In 2026 I will take my last class for my Masters in Humanities from UHCL. Prison has given me the opportunity to work on my skills in English, which have always been a struggle because of my dyslexia. I feel we all have struggles and most of them can be overcome. All it takes is dedication and determination.
Success attracts those we seek it. After publishing over a few dozen books other aspiring writers kept approaching me, asking questions about the publishing process and marketing. I realized that no one had a good source to guide them. I knew from personally having to overcome the struggles of publishing from prison the information was often scattered and vague.
If you are having a hard time learning the ins and outs of self publishing or traditional publishing this book will walk you through years of figuring things out the hard way. The cool thing is you do not have to struggle because we have constructed a roadmap to successfully publishing and marketing your book while in prison. Writing books, poems and short stories has given me financial freedom while incarcerated. Writing has given me a light in very dark places and a way to overcome depression and traumatic events. Writing has saved me from making many bad decisions and losing control. Lastly, writing has given me freedom of expression and a voice where the system is intended to silence.
