I don’t get shook. I didn’t when I was seventeen, stupidly came into possession of a .38 revolver and had someone with mental health issues reach into my car while I was parked at an A&W drive-in, grab the gun, point it at my temple and cock its hammer. I didn’t get shook when I was being lowered out of helicopters as a USAF Aerospace Medic and I didn’t get shook when I gave up a cushy job in parent’s clothing business and drove from Chicago to L.A., without knowing a single soul, intent on making a living as a writer.

It’s been my experience that if you stay calm and keep your wits about you, things will turn out a lot better than if you ‘get shook’. I was able to talk the disturbed individual who had a gun at my temple off whatever mental ledge he was standing on. (I turned the gun into our local cops that afternoon.) I chose to admire the view from the helicopters hoists rather than being afraid of it. And as for coming to L.A. without a plan, well, I’ve found taking action beats the hell out of sitting around waiting for something to happen.

Now that I’d taken the leap and bought my first computer, I wasn’t about to “get shook” about it. It’s been said that the last buggy whip manufacturer manufactured the best buggy whip ever made. The IBM Selectric II was surely that. But something told me computers were going to change everything. Something told me I was fortunate to be at this particular place, at this particular time. Something told me to figure out how to use my mysterious ‘little friend’ to write Care Bears story springboards.

So I did.