Writing behind bars
SLIPPERY ROCK — Mark Bowman has four children, a master's degree and a year's stint behind bars.
He put his time in custody to good use, writing a book to explain the events to his children and launching himself in what he hopes will be a new career.
Bowman grew up in Butler and, after high school, spent two years on active duty with the Army and then eight years in the Reserves.
“After I got out of the Army, I started at Butler County Community College and graduated in 2010,” Bowman said. “I was a nontraditional adult student.”
After earning an associate degree in psychology at BC3, Bowman then attended La Roche College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and then Penn State University, where he earned, in 2017, a master's degree in human resources management and employee relations.
Then, Bowman said, he went to jail for a year after being accused of something that “didn't happen.” He's reluctant to go into more detail because the case is still ongoing.
Bowman wrote a children's book while he was incarcerated.
“It's part of a series called 'I'm Sad,' and the book is called 'My Daddy Went to Jail and I'm Sad,'” Bowman said.
He said the book was written to help parents, counselors and therapists talk with children about a parent who is imprisoned.“Some subjects are hard to talk to kids about, so I wrote this book to help explain it to kids,” said Bowman, who has four children, ages 16, 12, 5, and a 3-year-old boy.“The youngest boy, he is in the book and so am I,” Bowman said.“It only took a couple of days (to write), to be honest with you,” he said. “I had plenty of time on my hands.”Bowman said the 24-page book was illustrated by him “with the publisher doing some tweaking.”“It explains it so a 3- or 4-year-old can understand how an adult can make mistakes,” Bowman said.The father-and-son dynamic is shown on opposite pages, he said.“On one side, the adult gets in trouble and gets arrested,” Bowman said. “On the other side, the kid is sitting in school.“One one page one side, the dad is in jail, writing, eating and exercising in the yard,” Bowman said. “The kid is at recess, the kid is writing a letter to his dad, the kid is eating in school with his friends.”In the end the dad explains he did something wrong, he served time and got out.“It doesn't mean he doesn't love you,” Bowman said.“After I wrote it, I thought, 'Let me see,' and sent it to a publisher,” he said.
Bowman said he sent it to a publisher, Christian Faith Publishing Inc. of Meadville.“Mr. Bowman submitted his manuscript to Christian Faith Publishing for consideration by our review board, and it was happily accepted,” said Joseph Hengle, the executive vice president of the publisher.“The review board meticulously reviews every submission and decides if the proposed manuscript aligns with our values, quality and potential fit for publishing,” Hengle said. “We felt Mr. Bowman's manuscript, story and vision matched perfectly with our mission, and we were thrilled to partner with him on this project.”“They got back to me,” Bowman said. “It took about a year from start to finish to have it published.“My Daddy Went to Jail” was published in December.“The typical timeline is about six to eight months,” Hengle said. “Mr. Bowman's project fit perfectly into the proposed timeline. After completing the editing, illustration, page design and cover design stages, he had his book in hand in about six months from signing with us.”Hengle said Bowman worked with a publication specialist, who guided Bowman through each stage of the publishing steps.“Based on his story, descriptions, and feedback, our art team developed the beautiful illustrations for his book that were again met with his seal of approval,” Hengle said.It's available through Amazon and the Barnes & Noble websites. It's been turned into an e-book, will be on iTunes and Kindle and it will be going to a worldwide distributor, Ingram, in a couple of weeks.But that's not the end of Bowman's literary endeavors.
“I came up with the idea of doing more than one of these,” Bowman said. “The first book was well-received by a lot of people. I thought I might write a couple more on issues that kids and parents deal with.“There will be three books in the series,” he said. “The next one will be 'My Parents Got Divorced and I'm Sad.' The third will have something to do with a pet dying.”“If the book is well-written and illustrated, it could potentially be useful,” said Dr. Denna Hays, executive director of the Butler County Alliance for Children.A book could provide a child with words for the situations they are experiencing, Hays said.
