"Quick read with serious analogy of current political storm....formative and humorous
Highly recommend"

​

"Very concise and to the point, well researched and thought out, articulate and witty. It informed me and made me feel better at the same time. I heartily recommend this book to anyone."

​"Highly recommended thoroughly enjoyable from page to page"

​"Very interesting insight!"

​​​​​

​

​

​​I did what was considered impossible, by my 25th birthday, but that's only part of the story. It's been a never-ending rollercoaster. These are the stories of a lifetime. Listen to the entire archive.

"An excellent novella about the inherent risks of cyber attacks with some otherworldly spice. Victoria is an excellent side character who provides an interesting twist to this light techno thriller."

​​​"Science fiction meets Sam Spade.... Your writing style

is easy to read with

witty dialogue."

"I thoroughly enjoyed

reading your work. Perceptive, ironic,

satiric, and engaging."

​"I love the cover! Reminds me of classic science fiction!"

​

"I'm gonna put this one on my TBR pile."​

​"Can't wait to check

this one out!"

​"I love the story line,

and can't wait to read

​your book."​

​​

​​​​​​

   Do you need a ghostwriter? Reasonable rates.

   Send me a message. I don't quit until

   you're satisfied!

"Confront, Challenge, and Conquer"

     I've always been different from most other people. It's not something I chose.  It just happened. I made my grand entrance a little ahead of schedule and that made me different. Of course, it took me a while to realize that I was indeed different. Not so for my folks. They probably knew what was in store for me from the very beginning.​

     I was born October 15, 1953. I was due to be born mid-January 1954, but more about that later. Being born three months premature created some problems. Perhaps the biggest problem of being born early was that I almost wasn't. An episode of Dateline NBC once claimed that babies born three or more months premature during the early 1950’s, had about a twenty percent survival rate. The fact that I weighed two pounds eleven ounces didn't help. I was told that I was small enough to fit into a shoe box, which explains my unnatural fear of shoe boxes to this day.

     Having survived the odds of a premature birth, I now had to survive the prevailing medical knowledge of the day. In the early fifties, it was believed that premature babies needed to be in an environment of enriched oxygen during their first months. It was determined that I should be placed in an incubator with an elevated oxygen level for six months. That treatment came to an abrupt end when my mother came in and saw that, as a result, the glass in the incubator had frosted over. Mother's intuition overruled medical advice. It was later determined that dozens of premature babies had suffered optic nerve damage as a result of this treatment. Once again, I had beaten the odds. But luck has a strange way of running out and the next of life's challenges would follow me for the rest of mine.

     I was a happy-go-lucky baby for about a year. But about the time it was determined that I should be able to take my first steps, I couldn't. My premature birth had left me with a condition known as Cerebral Palsy. The doctors told my parents that I could crawl, be carried or pushed in a wheelchair, but I would never walk.

     An optimist sees the glass half full of water and a pessimist sees the glass half empty. A realist sees the glass, liquid and unlimited possibilities. One thing is for sure, the glass and I have had an incredible journey. Many people have expressed their feelings of how unfortunate it must have been to have never walked or run. I can see their point, but I can't agree with them. I have acquired an insight and philosophy of life that I don't think I would have had if I had been physically normal. Still, there are times when I wonder what my life might have been like if I had waited out the clock another ninety days.

     I entered this world on a Thursday. According to the old Mother Goose nursery rhyme, “Thursday's child has far to go." Another ninety days would have been January 11, 1954, a Monday. That same nursery rhyme states that, “Monday's child is fair of face.” Okay, in this case both descriptions are true. I also know that I would have been born under the astrological sign of Capricorn instead of Libra. I've read that people born under the sign of Capricorn are practical, prudent, ambitious, disciplined, patient, careful, humorous, and reserved. On the other hand, those born under the sign of Libra are diplomatic, urbane, romantic, charming, easy-going, sociable, idealistic and peaceable. I can state without the slightest sense of bias that I am the latter four of the Capricorn traits, but I'm all of the Libra traits. Although this is not a scientific study, I'm pretty satisfied with the traits that I drew. Chalk one up for the early bird.

     This brings up an interesting point. Many of us like to believe that our behaviors, likes and dislikes and perhaps our entire lives are preordained. Religious teachings tell us that there is a plan for each of us. Whatever your belief, I believe that each moment in our lives defines every subsequent moment in our lives.

     When it was determined that I wouldn't be able walk, my life was mostly relegated to a wheelchair. The wheelchair really wasn't all that bad on a daily basis. I lived in a middle-class suburban community that, despite the fact that the Americans with Disabilities Act was years away from being enacted, was pretty much handicapped accessible. Most buildings were no more than two stories with most stores and building entrances at street level. Life was good. I had a lot of friends who made sure that I was a part of most of the moments that make growing up so enjoyable. I couldn't run or jump, but since I had never been able to, I really didn't know what I was missing. While my friends played baseball, I played mascot. Maybe it was my personality, the fact that I wasn't angry or maybe it was just that it was a different time, but I was always accepted by the other children. As I said, life was good, and I was happy until one incident that would change my life forever.

     I was in junior high school and I wanted to take a speed-reading course. The course was being given in an office building not far from my home. It was raining pretty heavily as we arrived at the building. That was not a problem, but the fact that the class was being given on the second floor and there was no elevator was a very big problem. The course rules had stated that you could not miss any of the first three lessons. It would have been too physically demanding to ask my folks to carry me and the wheelchair up the flight of stairs. For the first time in my life, I would not be able to do something that I wanted to do because I was handicapped. My tears rivaled the rain on the windshield as we headed home. It was then that I decided that I would never again be put in the position of not being able to do something because of my disability.

     From that moment on I did everything I could to get out of the wheelchair. The long-legged braces, a superstructure of steel with leather belts and pads that I had only worn occasionally became a permanent fixture. The braces locked my legs rigidly straight for hours at a time. My father was a resourceful man who had an answer for just about any problem. In an attempt to lessen the pain of muscles stretched beyond their limits, he removed our dining room table and replaced it with a pool table. I often reminisce on my misspent youth spent shooting pool. The truth was, while I was lining up a shot, I would forget about the pain of the braces and that the doctors said, would go a long way toward correcting the condition that my premature birth had created.

     When I reflect back to those days, I'm reminded of a passage from the novel “You Can’t Go Home Again." by Thomas Wolfe. George Webber is looking out his apartment window at a drunken beggar on horseback. He compares the beggar with the trials and tribulations of his own life saying, "It mattered not that the beggar was drunk and reeling. What was important was that he was mounted on his horse and, however unsteadily, was going somewhere." In essence, we are all drunken beggars on horseback looking for ways to survive and move forward through the trials and tribulations of our own lives. Although the braces did little to strengthen my legs, they did strengthen my endurance and my resolve that I could still overcome my handicap.

     My disability has also taught me invaluable lessons about people. Spending most of my first two decades in a wheelchair meant always being in need of assistance. I became colorblind at an early age because a helping hand of any color or creed could not be ignored. I became an observer of life, which was something that would help me later on as a reporter and interviewer. More importantly, I learned that we all have disabilities. My disability is out there for all to see and for me to accept and deal with. But there are so many disabilities that are unseen and much more devastating. Prejudice, ignorance and pettiness create more limitations than my physical disability ever will.

     After graduation from the University Arizona, I was offered a job if I chose to stay in Tucson. I had bigger plans as I set out for Los Angeles. It was one of those defining moments that brought me to where I am today. I could write a book about what happened between then and now. Someday, I might do just that and become a rich, successful author. There's an old saying that no one becomes a writer to become rich and I can tell you, having personally tested that theory, it seems to be true. But any success that I find as an author will never equal the success that I have already found in my life.

     Success, it turns out, has nothing to do with big bank accounts or fancy cars. I've known powerful people who couldn't control their own lives and I've known rich and famous people who have spent tens of thousands of dollars on psychiatrists trying to determine why they're not happy. Being happy appears to be the Holy Grail that we are all so desperately searching for, but never seem to find.

     From a wheelchair to crutches, I have moved through life at a slow, steady pace while most of humanity ran past me. To those people who remarked how unfortunate it was that I was never able to walk or run, I answer that I've always considered myself fortunate because I was forced to slow down and savor the moment. When non-disabled people attempt to slow down, they are looked upon as experiencing a lack of ambition or drive. They are seen as having derailed off the fast-track to success. I have found the success that they're looking for so desperately. I am happy and, believe it or not, I owe it all to those ninety days.

#####

       After graduating from the University of Arizona, in 1976, I took my journalism degree and moved to Los Angeles. I started writing feature articles and a column for a monthly magazine called Gambling Times. After several years, I moved on to celebrity cover and feature articles for various magazines and United Press International.
     I moved to Las Vegas in 1989 and freelanced for The Review Journal newspaper. Then I went to work for R&R Partners advertising and public relations firm. I wrote copy for various clients, including The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. After leaving R&R, I became a business ghostwriter for clients around the world.
     And finally, I settled into writing fiction and nonfiction books. My nonfiction book, The Year of My Life: reminiscences and rants: Politics, is told in more of a story form, and is definitely not your father’s book on politics. My current book is TheYearOfMyLifeVR.com, a new genre of books I call a Continuum series.
     Unlike other people my age, I am a technology geek. My home is loaded down with technology and I’m not afraid to use it. If it wasn’t for the fact that I pay the power and Internet bills, I’m pretty sure it would figure out a way to get rid of me. I am online from the moment I open my eyes until the moment I go to sleep. I even have a tablet on the pillow next to me, but don’t let that get around.

#####

     I enjoy talking to people about how they can confront, challenge, and conquer. In my talks, I use real life and relatable moments from my own life, as examples. I don't mute Zoom participants. My talks are interactive, enlightening, and generously sprinkled with humor. Audiences leave feeling hopeful and empowered. In these uncertain times, isn't that what we all need?

 I look forward to working with you,

​Mark I. Jacobson

​​

​