It has to be a memoir. Who are these women and what happened to your kids after you went in?

Spring 2013: Sam’s cognitive decline progresses slowly but steadily. Karen is not digging into friendships or dating, Nikki and Karen uncomfortable together, attempts end poorly.

Karen moves to So OR. Sam finds her a job at his PT. Karen finds apt and sets up a large desk, begins to unpack scraps of paper and folders of prison writing. Gathers pictures, certificates, letters from family/friends. Begins Guide book for women on their way to prison. Sam’s former colleague, Michelle Smith, a technical writer become the first editor. She has a go at stacks of paper arranged in chapters such as jail, visits, fights, The Hole…She takes a class on getting published, meets primary editor, Kate Hopper, who calls the project a beautiful mess. “It has to be a memoir. Who are these women and what happened to your kids after you went in. You have to write yourself into the book.”