S2E6 Use Your Words
6/22/202628 min
THE BLURB: Already a succesful, best-selling author when the CIA put John in prison, he quickly realized that his writing - his words - were going to be his super power. John wasn't worried about his fellow prisoners; his training as a spy gave him advantages over them. But the prison authorities - corrupt to their marrow - did pose problems to John. Until they realized just how much of a super power John's writing was. Turns out, the pen is mightier than the sword and the corrupt federal prison system.
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First 90 secondsJohn Kiriakou· Host0:00
This podcast, it's a Costard and Touchstone production. Have I always been a writer? Yes and no, I suppose. I wanted to be a writer from a young age. I wanted to be able to convey an interesting story. During my senior year of college, my best friend from college, Tom Fitzpatrick, and I took a creative writing course. I got a B. He got an A. We had to read our final submissions to the class, and his was laugh-out-loud funny. It was just so well done, so well thought out, and mine wasn't. It was very average. I did write one horror short story that I thought was great. Frankly, the rest of the class thought it was great, and the teacher hated it so much he made me redo the entire assignment. So I got to thinking, maybe writing is just not for me. Well, I get hired by the CIA as an analyst, and all you do is write. All day, every day, just writing, writing, writing. And you're writing in a way that is so concise and so punchy. I remember my first boss specifically telling me that the president doesn't give a shit about your opinion. The president wants the facts in as few words as you can convey them and a paragraph on what it means. That's it. And so I very quickly