Becoming: The From Surviving to Living Experience!
Dec 12, 2025 | Mpls, MN5pm – 7:30pm
We’ve survived. Now, we’re learning to live.
Join us for Becoming: The From Surviving to Living Experience, a book launch party for Holly Bot’s newest book From Surviving to Living.
You’re Invited!
Big news — I’m officially launching my book!
Join me for Becoming: The From Surviving to Living Experience — part celebration, part story night, part therapy (the fun kind).
Expect laughter, stories, maybe a few tears, and lots of signatures in my “yearbook” copy.
Come celebrate how far we’ve come — and all we’re still becoming.
Where: 2143 Lowry Ave N, Mpls, MN 55411
When: December 12th, 2025
Time: 5pm – 7:30pm
Guest Authors
Coley Gates
Falsely accused at a young age and sentenced to 999 years, Coley Gates spent 25 years in prison dedicated to personal growth and transforming the culture of every facility he entered. After receiving a pardon, he earned degrees in theology and communications, served over 20 years in Restorative Justice work, and developed a strong foundation in mentoring, public speaking, and community leadership. Today he writes, speaks, and works closely with youth to guide them toward hope, purpose, and positive change.
Nate Waldron
Nate Waldron is a dad, author, speaker, and scientist. But most of all he is a redeemed child of God. At age 27, Nate graduated from the University of Minnesota with a PhD in Pharmacology and at age 28 he was arrested and spent the next 6 years in prison. It was there that Nate truly discovered God’s love for him and wrote the book ‘Shameless’. He now has a passion for people to experience God’s love for themselves and break free from the shame of their pasts. Nate is active in the recovery community and leads a monthly worship night with Restore Fellowship, a group he founded whose purpose is to reconnect prodigals to God and Christian community.
Nate will soon be releasing his second book ‘No Longer Slaves’ which brings together Biblical instruction, cognitive behavioral therapy, and modern brain research to the issue of addiction recovery. Nate also loves to play soccer, write, and play board games with his family and friends in his free time.
Party Schedule
December 12th, 2025
5:00 pm
Guests Mingle
Sign Holly’s own copy of her book “year-book style,” get your copy of the book signed, eat great food (dinner is on us!), admire the AMAZING 2,937 pieces origami art installation, record your own story in our pop-up studio, and MORE!
6:00 pm
Book Reading
With Holly Bot
Selected chapter TBD
6:15 PM
Author Interview
With Never Hall
Our take on Q&A!
6:30 Pm
Speaker
Will Leaver
Topic TBD
6:45 pm
Guest Speakers
Coley Gates
Nate Waldron
Heather Horst
Be encouraged, inspired, and educated by the experiences and insight of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, family of incarcerated and those who support them
ongoing
Record your story
We want to celebrate you! Share your story or thoughts with our onsite camera.
Where It’s At
2143 Lowry Ave N
Minneapolis, MN 55411
This Event is Free!
Can’t wait to see you there! Bring your family and friends!
Get your book before the party!
From Surviving to Living is self-published. Much more than just a prison memoir, it is a resource that meets inmates’ psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs, while providing correctional facilities with a narrative that can enhance understanding and improve inmate support.
Get a copy for yourself and one for a friend! Bring it to the party! You sign Holly’s copy and she’ll sign yours!
Paperback
$16.99
Order Online Or at Event
Use the coupon code LAUNCH2025 for 30% off!
*Coupon good through 12/13/25
Hardcover
$41.99
Order Online Or at Event
Use the coupon code LAUNCH2025 for 30% off!
*Coupon good through 12/13/25
Large Print
$34.99
Order Online Or at Event
Use the coupon code LAUNCH2025 for 30% off!
*Coupon good through 12/13/25
About the Book
From Surviving to Living is Holly Bot’s honest testimony of a life unraveled and a soul restored. From her first day behind bars to the long years of struggle and growth that followed, she traces the path of broken choices, deep regret, and the surprising mercy of God that met her in the hardest places.
Part prison memoir, part spiritual journey, this book wrestles with shame, identity, and the slow work of grace that turns mere survival into real life. Holly does not minimize her failures or the harm they caused, but she bears witness to the God who redeems even what seems beyond repair.
Raw and redemptive, From Surviving to Living is for readers who believe in second chances—or who long to believe they might still be possible.
This book aligns profoundly with inmate needs by addressing the emotional, spiritual, and practical challenges faced during incarceration and preparing for life afterward. It provides inmates with a transparent, deeply personal narrative that highlights struggles such as isolation, broken family ties, mental health issues, and the difficulty of navigating the prison system. This spiritual journey offers inmates a model for finding meaning, strength, and purpose within the harsh realities of jail and prison life.
For the inmates, the book offers benefits like emotional validation, encouragement to pursue personal growth, and practical insights into prison routines, including navigating intake, segregation, and mental health treatment. It also sensitively portrays experiences with family separation, visitation challenges, and the importance of maintaining relationships, which are critical concerns for incarcerated individuals. By sharing the author’s struggles with depression, anger, and the long road to healing, the book gives hope to those feeling broken or hopeless, and models resilience and surrender.
For the facility, this memoir can serve as a valuable resource to foster empathy and understanding among staff and inmates alike. It highlights the complexities of inmate behavior and the mental health struggles many face, underscoring the need for compassionate approaches and programs like faith-based initiatives, mental health counseling, and peer support groups. The book also reveals how inmates respond to structure, discipline, and community, providing insights that can inform rehabilitative strategies and encourage positive behavior change.
It is a tool for education, reflection, and encouragement, helping inmates see that change is possible and that spiritual growth can be a catalyst for healing and transformation. The memoir’s honest depiction of incarceration, coupled with a message of hope, can inspire inmates to engage in programs and build healthier relationships, which in turn benefits the facility by promoting safety, reducing recidivism, and supporting successful reentry.
Overall, this book is much more than a memoir; it is a resource that meets inmates’ psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs, while providing correctional facilities with a narrative that can enhance understanding and improve inmate support. It embodies the potential for redemption and the power of faith to elevate individuals beyond their circumstances.
In my opinion, the book is a very good piece of work with the capacity to have a powerful redemptive effect on people with critical needs. It will also be a significant tool for people in ministry as they struggle to help others in seemingly “impossible” situations.
I could not put your book down! I read it in one afternoon.
I was honestly sad to run out of pages to read. I loved hearing how Jesus interacted with Holly. She writes as if she were re-living the events. The first half tells her childhood to imprisonment, and the second half is about Jesus personally teaching her how to walk with him.
I felt the lack of control you had when it came to your kids. It made my stomach hurt…the helplessness was sickening. You worded it so perfectly. I felt everything!
I finished your book last night. I thoroughly enjoyed it! And I believe others will too! You write well. Each chapter was as interesting as the first. I like how you can describe each encounter vividly. Write another one!
About the Author
Holly Bot served a 12 year prison sentence in a Minnesota women’s prison. Holly is an author, speaker and certified Biblical Counselor. Drawing from her own prison experiences and personal journey of faith, Holly writes and speaks candidly about shame, grace, and second chances. Her story has inspired audiences in churches, volunteer trainings, and community organizations.
She is the owner of Bot Consulting, LLC, an IT service provider for non-profits. She spends her time advocating for prison reform, prison ministry work, and writing. She enjoys her roles as wife and mom of 5 adult children.
Launch From Surviving to Living and Inspire Lives in Prison
I’m Holly Bot, author of From Surviving to Living. From Surviving to Living is self-published. Much more than just a prison memoir, it is a resource that meets inmates’ psychological, emotional, and spiritual needs, while providing correctional facilities with a narrative that can enhance understanding and improve inmate support.
Together, we are not just launching a book — we are launching possibility. For incarcerated men and women, for the people they love, and for the communities expecting them home. Will you give now so we don’t wait?
How Your Support Will Be Used:
1. Printing & Production
Your contribution will directly fund the printing of the book From Surviving to Living, enabling a cost-effective bulk production run so that my story of transformation becomes widely available in correctional facilities.
2. Donation Copies for Correctional Facilities
One of the core goals is to distribute free copies into jails and prisons. Because the book is designed specifically to meet the emotional, spiritual, and practical needs of incarcerated individuals — addressing isolation, mental-health strain, broken relationships, navigating prison routines, and building hope for re-entry.
Your gift will make possible the large-scale purchase of these donation copies, ensuring that facilities, volunteers, chaplains and inmate peer groups have this resource at no cost to them.
3. Book Launch & Outreach Event
We’re planning the launch event “Becoming: The From Surviving to Living Experience” on December 12 2025 at 2143 Lowry Ave N, Minneapolis.
The funds will cover venue logistics, food and fellowship, decorations, “year-book style” signing copies, and a few other practical things. This event will amplify the book’s reach and create buzz in the faith-and-justice community.
Why This Matters — And Why Now (Urgent!)
- The stories shared in From Surviving to Living aren’t just memoir: they are tools for change. The book goes beyond describing a prison sentence — it walks with incarcerated readers through shame, identity crisis, schedules of intake and segregation, family separation, mental health treatment inside, and then points toward spiritual renewal.
- The launch event is scheduled and time-sensitive. These upfront costs (venue, print promos, donated copies) must be covered soon to lock in the savings and booking. Delaying means higher costs, fewer donation copies, and slower rollout into prisons.
- Your donation is more than a one-time gift; it’s an investment in a ripple effect: one reader inside may respond differently to programming, build healthier relationships with staff, engage in peer-support, reduce recidivism, and return to community with a new trajectory.
- We’re at a pivotal moment. With your help, we can hit the ground running
How You Can Help Today
- Donate now so we can finalize printing orders and secure the launch venue.
- Share this campaign with your friends, churches, prison-ministry networks, and social-media circles. Every share lowers the barrier for someone who needs this story.
- Pray / Send encouragement: Let’s make this a movement of hope.
Get in Touch
Want to help with the party? Have a question about the event? Let us know!
Sponsors
Contact me at holly@hollybot.me if you would like to be a sponsor