24th and Dixie (6 page)

Other Novels by Ron C:

My Family In Exchange For Yours

Mentality 1: The Beginning

Mentality 2: Fatal Proposition

Mentality 3: The Finale

Coming Soon By Ron C:

Alisha Fox

Last One Breathing

Note from the Author

People often ask me what inspired me to become a writer, and I tell them how it all started. What many people don’t know is that I did seven years two months in Alabama prison system, and I had nothing but time to think and meditate. No time in prison is easy, and it is more depressing than anything. In my first couple years in prison, I attended trade school and furthered my education. I obtained my GED because I never received a high school diploma because I was kicked out in the 11
th
grade, and about two years later I was sentenced to 20 years in Alabama Department of Corrections. I ran wild in the streets doing all kinds of dumb shit, and it caught up with me. Upon observing all the crazy things I saw in prison, that alone was enough to inspire me to want to write a book. But I used to always tell myself that people wouldn’t believe it.

It was just unbelievable, and some of the things you witnessed would mess you up mentally and have your thought pattern fucked up for a moment. Writing a book based on the prison lifestyle became a secondary option once I read my first urban book ever by Nikki Turner, ‘Ridin’ Dirty on I-95’. The book captured my full attention, and I was able to connect with each character. They were full of life, and I felt as though I knew each character because I once lived and grew up around the lifestyle I was reading about. I wanted to give my hand a try because I knew hood novels are told better by the ones who actually lived it. The next book I read was ‘Black Girl Lost,' by Donald Goines. That was the one that ignited the fire in me to put my pen to work.

I came up with a title called ‘Mentality’. I called it ‘Mentality’ because I wanted it to expose the mentality of people we deal with in everyday society. The mentality of the black male was my primary focus, but I also wanted to expose the justice system, crooked cops, racism, different religious beliefs, and the grimy streets. When I was writing ‘Mentality’, I never thought it would be a trilogy. After I had finished the first book, I wrote the second part about two months later. I didn’t even consider a part three until I found myself in a one man lock-up cell for 90 days after I had gotten into a fight. It was bored, and I had nothing to do, so that was how ‘Mentality 3’ came about. I also wrote another book while in lock-up entitled ‘Impersonators’ which I plan to drop by the end of 2016.

Writing became a daily thing for me, and it helped me pass the time, and it definitely helped me free my mind.  During my seven years two months I wrote over twenty books, and I plan to publish them all and hope to have some of them on the big screen further down the road. I’m going to continue putting in hard work and patiently wait for great results.

HOPE Y’ALL ENJOYED MY SHORT STORY ‘24
th
and Dixie’.

Ron C