Jake Graham’s Writing Journey
If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna’ make a dream come true.
Since the age of twelve, Jake Graham has been writing poetry. His first poem emerged during a disturbing time in his life and was on the stormy side. Then he fell in love with poetry.
As a student at Meadowbrook High School, he also wanted to play football. So poetry was set aside as his main passion for a while. However, he never stopped writing poems in his notebooks as it helped him to understand the world around him.
Jake is a veteran of the Marines where he served in the infantry in Iraq. His reason for serving was to protect our freedoms, which are very important to him. He appreciates all who have served.
He went to Muskingum University to follow his football passion but while there his professors gave him encouragement and guidance in his writing. Today Jake is a learning consultant at Muskingum University where he tutors students with learning disabilities in their PLUS program. His youthful spirit helps students feel they can accomplish their goals.
Most of his poetry is written about him and his life…and for him. It’s very therapeutic to write about feelings. Growing up, Jake was very close to his grandfather so some of his poetry such as the book “Plucking Chickens from the Pines with Grandpa” developed from experiences with him.
Jake felt that the lessons he learned from his grandpa were more important than anything he learned in school…if he had paid attention! Actually, Jake wanted to keep his grandfather’s Patchen name alive since he had no sons and uses Jacob Paul Patchen as his author name.
His novels are fiction and based on ideas that float through his mind. “When something hits you, you have to act on it,” Jake explained. When he writes, he pictures it in his head as playing out as a movie. His stories center around love, family, war, and learning things the hard way. These are the things that made him the man he is today so he feels it important to spread that message.
Due to his Marine service, his books that are related to the war are based on real experiences he has felt himself or witnessed. He seriously cares about the number of suicides that are committed each day by veterans who have problems living with the world they have seen. Of Love and War is based on his war experiences through poetry and prose.
Words That Matter – Family begins a children’s series of picture books that help them focus on what is important in life. His plans are for a ten-book series for children to help them with issues in many parts of their lives.
Telling it like it is has become his style. He doesn’t hold back on telling things that really do happen even if he is writing them in a fiction format. His style is easy to read and has already won six book awards. He writes stories for children, teens, young adults. and adults. Every book has a purpose with a touch of Jake’s great sense of humor.
Recently, author Jacob Paul Patchen has had the opportunity for speaking engagements as well as book signings. He enjoys talking to other writers and constantly looks for ways to improve his own writings.
It was a special privilege to come back to Meadowbrook High School and speak to students on Career Day, as well as to classes at Muskingum University. Perhaps along the way, he can help someone have a better understanding of a personal problem through his writings.
A couple of these books have become required reading for counselor training classes as they explain the turmoil that accompanies problems faced in today’s world. His words paint a clear picture of what victims endure. For those suffering past or present from abuse or severe trauma, these books touch the soul.
His most recent book, “No Pistol Tastes the Same” a PRSD Novel, gives a clear picture of what the war zone was like and the problems many military men and women have when returning to civilian life. Jake’s choice of words and comparisons make reading easy, yet you can feel their pain.
This author wants to impact others with his writing so much that they try to change for the better. Finding happiness in the form of love, freedom, and purpose would be his goal. Someday he’d like to own some land, a house, an RV…and maybe even an island!
Jacob Patchen encourages others by telling them,
“Go do more than just exist. Go be.
Go inspire and achieve.
Go do the things that make you breathe.
Find a way to make us better.”
That would be a great lesson for all of us to follow. Find the things in life that bring you enjoyment, then focus on those things.
For questions or scheduling a talk, contact the author at Jacobpaulpatchen@yahoo.com.
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