Book Title: Lifeline to a Soul by John K. McLaughlin
Category: Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 234 pages
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Lifeline Education Connection
Release date: April, 2023
Content Rating: PG + M
Lifeline to a Soul takes the reader inside the fence and chronicles the victories and challenges one man faced as a first-time teacher in the strange world of prison life.
2023 PenCraft Seasonal Book Award Spring Competition.
We hope this award inspires you to keep writing and helps you reach new heights in your career.
The PenCraft Seasonal Book Awards recognizes books of remarkable literary
quality, artistic excellence, and popularity with readers. Lifeline to a Soul exemplified
these criteria as a winner in the Non Fiction - Autobiography genre.
John McLaughlin spent half his life bootstrapping his start-up business to an industry leader. His desire to teach what he spent his career learning led him on a remarkable journey through the gates of a minimum-security prison where he taught entrepreneurship for almost three years. John has an MBA, a teaching certificate, and a marketing management certificate from Harvard Extension University. John enjoys riding a tandem bicycle with his wonderful wife, Reba on the greenways of Charlotte, North Carolina where they live with two extremely spoiled cats, Moe and Joe. You can learn more about John’s current teaching program at: https://www.lifelinetoasoul.com/
connect to the author: website
The Book I Never Planned to Write
I was taught early in life that if I wanted to accomplish something, the way to get it was to not quit the pursuit until I achieved whatever it was I sought. This high level of determination has usually served me well. After building a successful business, I decided I wanted to teach business courses. I was in my early fifites and had no teaching experience, and every job application I sent to a perspective employer was met with complete silence.
I spent seven years re-educating myself and applying to every teaching position I could find in a three state radius until I finally landed the elusive first interview for an entrepreneurship instructor position at, of all places, a minimum-security prison camp. After walking the prison yard and viewing the “classroom” where I would be teaching, I had serious reservations. I was so determined to teach though, I accepted the position and started a new chapter in my life.
It was a great decision. I was given the freedom to construct the class the way I thought it should be and met some men with great potential who just needed a little direction and confidence to change the direction of their lives. My experience taught me that prisons, by design, dehumanize their denizens. It’s the only way to run an orderly prison. This strategy does nothing, however, to prepare the inmates who are ready to leave the prison experience behind them and work towards a brighter future.
Realizing we were in opposite philosophical camps, the prison staff became a greater hindrance to my efforts the more I tried to instill confidence and hope in my students. When it finally ended, I told my father and his wife I wouldn’t have any more colorful prison stories for them. “You need to write a book about it” my father’s wife’s words hung in the air until I realized that was exactly what I was going to do.
We all have a story inside us worth telling and a receptive audience waiting.
John K. McLaughlin
Author of Lifeline to a Soul
Sounds very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting book!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a very well though out and interesting book.
ReplyDeleteNancy
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