Unwillable: A Journey to Reclaim My Brain
Unwillable: A Journey to Reclaim My Brain
by Jackie M. Stebbins
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GENRE: Memoir
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BLURB:
“Jackie Stebbins’ UNWILLABLE is an inspiring story of a brilliant woman’s battle with autoimmune encephalitis and the circle of support–from loving family members to dedicated physicians–who helped guide her through a hard-won recovery. Her story is as moving as it is important and is destined to help so many others facing this condition.”
Susannah Cahalan author of NYT #1 Bestseller Brain on Fire
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EXCERPT
While my complete stay isn’t embedded in my memory, because of what the illness was doing to my brain, my time there will never be forgotten because of its place in my life’s story. That experience definitively marks where I’m right at the edge between a well-educated, successful, driven, independent, and thriving woman and an incapacitated person, powerless and relegated to the care of those around her, on the brink of brain damage or death without the intervention of the correct diagnosis. And a small part of me now believes I then understood that I was teetering on a life-altering and explosive line. But that same small part of me can’t say whether, for the first time in my life, I believed my situation to be unwillable. Perhaps my own will would not be enough.
I will always remember crawling into bed the first night, ragged with emotion, and the racing thoughts my mind was still able to conjure up. The questions pulsed through my silent tears. What the hell happened to me? . . . I cannot possibly belong here. I haven’t led a life that would lead me to this dysfunction. I was doing so well. . . . I’m the senior partner at my law firm. I’ve never before had a problem with mental health. . . . Why am I at rock bottom? How the hell did I end up in a psychiatric ward?
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Jackie M. Stebbins was living her dream as a nationally recognized family law, criminal defense, and civil litigator. But Stebbins’s career as a lawyer abruptly ended in May, 2018, when she was diagnosed with a rare brain illness, autoimmune encephalitis. Stebbins persevered to make a remarkable recovery and turned herself into an author and motivational speaker. Stebbins is the author of the JM Stebbins blog and host of the Brain Fever podcast. Stebbins’s side hustle includes raising three lovely children with her wonderful husband, Sean, in Bismarck, North Dakota, and in her leisure time she can be found reading, trying to be funny, and aqua jogging.
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://a.co/d/d89kann
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unwillable-jackie-m-stebbins/1141495526
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61125194
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/JackieMStebbins/
Tweets by jmstebbshttps://www.instagram.com/jmstebbs84/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-stebbins-725081173/
https://www.tiktok.com/@jmstebbs
Websites:
jmstebbins.com
jmstebbins.com/blog (Blog Link)
unwillable.com
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
Jackie M. Stebbins will be awarding a custom #StebbinsStrong t-shirt (US only) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Enter to win a custom t-shirt – a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Q & A With …
Tell us about you as a person.
I was born a feisty, argumentative, and independent little person. I grew into a feisty, argumentative, and independent trial lawyer. I had wonderful parents and grew up on a farm in a rural town in the small state of North Dakota. Beginning in fifth grade when I read my first John Grisham book, The Client, I wanted nothing more than to become a lawyer. I lived that dream for almost a decade before I fell ill with autoimmune encephalitis (AE). AE is a rare and devastating brain illness. It stole my career and nearly ended my life. With the help of family, friends, and my stubborn nature, I managed to survive the illness, recover from it, and rebuild my life as an author and motivational speaker. AE is the reason why I wrote my memoir, Unwillable.
If you could hang out with one famous person for one day, who would it be and why?
This is such an easy answer for me, it’s almost like a trick question. I would hang out with Elton John for the day. Beginning in college, I became an Elton John-super fan! I purchased all of his albums, listened to a lot of his music, bought his 60th birthday DVDs (after watching the show live on my laptop), went to concerts … I’ve seen him live four times and we fist bumped at a concert in my hometown of Bismarck, ND! I admire that he’s stayed relevant nearly his entire life. I love that people of all ages and walks of life love him and his music. I respect that he saw the error of his ways and cleaned up his life with sobriety, charity, and family. And I think he’s hilarious. He’s mentioned a few times in Unwillable. If only he knew …
What’s the story behind your latest book?
When I entered law school, I hardly knew a real-life lawyer, and I had no idea what to expect for those three years. I managed to be very successful, but I really could have benefitted from some information about what lay ahead for me those years and into practice. My next book that I’ve already begun working on, is part memoir and part guidebook about law school.
What advice do you have for other writers who want to get the word out about their latest book?
Be shameless and market all the time. No matter what you’re doing, you can work in your book. Make it fun. Create bookmarks and stickers to give away and have fun pens with your brand colors. Take and share lots of photos of your book and other swag. Ask anyone you’ve ever met to somehow feature you in their [store, ad, radio, television, news, magazine, etc.]. Be everywhere on social media, but most importantly, be yourself.
List 5 things on your bucket list.
I’ve never really had a bucket list, except that I wanted to meet Pres. Clinton and Elton John. I have met President Clinton, so I guess the only thing left is to meet Elton. I’d like to travel to Europe and live in New York City with my husband and children during one summer. After what I went through with AE, I don’t plan much in the future, but always look for the happiness of today.
Any final thoughts?
Please read and share Unwillable. Awareness of this illness is key. Psychiatrists need to know, counselors, psychologists, fireman, police officers, nurses, neurologists, and everyone! Eight out of ten people in the world haven’t heard of encephalitis. It can cause death and permanently impair lives. More awareness means (hopefully) quicker diagnoses and better treatment!
