Lawrence, Resident Scholar, Publishes His First Novel
In what has been yet another exciting and eventful month for Thrive For Life, we are excited to share that Lawrence, one of resident scholars, published his first novel! A prolific writer from his days behind the walls, Lawrence has found solace putting pen to paper and leveraging the powerful tools of storytelling. Baking a mix of lived experiences from himself and others, he works hard to craft engaging stories that have special currency with folks looking to find their voice. In addition to his fiction writing, Lawrence is an avid poet, having produced a number of original works that have appeared in several anthologies. This week, Thrive For Life sat down with him to discuss his most recent work: Catch Me, a thriller.
Thrive For Life: What motivated you to write this book?
Lawrence: I wrote this story because I was unjustly incarcerated. I believe the prosecution violated my Due Process rights and used possible sentencing numbers which were more than 15 years to get me to plead to 4 ½ years. They ruined my life, and this story was therapeutic to deal with the injustices.
Thrive For Life: Tell us a little about your writing process.
Lawrence: I write in the context of watching a movie. I visualize my writing and this process lets me translate the story into a screenplay format because everything I write I would like to see on the big screen, and I want my readers to decide, Ya or Na.
Thrive For Life: What was the biggest challenge for you as you worked to get this published?
Lawrence: The biggest challenge is when to move the story along. You always want to give so much more in each scene but you have to know when enough is enough.
Thrive For Life: What are you up to now beyond the walls?
Lawrence: Since I've been home, I have started my own company, Legacy Works Enterprises Publishing & Production, published my first novel Catch Me, worked as a Supervisor at Reserve Inc, created UrbanDreamers Creative Writing Workshop, UrbanDreamers Nonprofit, and a will begin as a full-time student at New York University Gallatin School for Individualized Studies this fall semester.
Thrive For Life: What are you most excited about at NYU?
Lawrence: My most exciting thing about NYU is knowing that I will complete my mission since I was a kid to graduate from college, and to complete it at a school as prestigious as NYU.
Thrive For Life: Anything else you would like to share?
Lawrence: I would like to thank NYU Prison Education Program, Thrive For Life, and The Center of Employee Opportunities (CEO Works). NYU for helping me continue my educational journey, Thrive For Life for providing a healthy and safe environment to live and to focus, and CEO Works for helping with employment when I first came to New York City. Without these reentry organizations, coming back into society would’ve been a long and hard journey.
We are incredibly proud of Lawrence for his remarkable work and achievements. We wish him great success as he continues his important work and continues the good work of education at New York University.
To purchase Lawrence’s new novel, copies can be obtained at Barnes & Noble or Amazon via the following links:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/catch-me-laj-posey/1141498082