James W. Jorgensen

James W. Jorgensen, a 1979 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, has years of professional writing experience including technical and training documents, newsletters, user manuals and articles in industry magazines. He has also written fiction, including five unpublished novels and numerous short stories. He has done paid freelance writing, mostly financial and technical projects.

In 2008, Mr. Jorgensen fell victim to a mysterious illness that was eventually diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The disease not only threatened to destroy his entire life, he also began to endure the stigma associated with CFS, which medical professionals as well as family and friends often refuse to believe is real. An estimated one million Americans have been diagnosed with CFS, with many more cases undiagnosed: more than 80% of people identified in community studies of CFS have not been diagnosed and are not receiving appropriate medical care. Researchers at DePaul University estimate that every year CFS costs the U.S. economy $17-24 billion.

Mr. Jorgensen began Do Not Go Gentle as personal therapy. The idea came to him in early 2010 and he spent the next a year and a half developing the protagonist, who endures the same process of loss, grief and rebuilding a life as he did, then another year and a half writing and editing the novel. Do Not Go Gentle is the first in a series of novels featuring Jamie Griffin.