How is your family handling your illness? What about your friends? This is a disease that affects everyone in your life … not just you. Sure, you get the brunt of it (lucky you), but they still have to watch someone they love endure the treatments, the uncertainty, the ups and the downs.

They want to help? Let ‘em. My biggest mistake during all this was being too damned independent. I was (and still am) of the attitude that I can handle this and I don’t want to impose on anyone. Bullshit! You are going through a horrible experience. You’re gonna be tired. You’re gonna feel like crap. Indulge yourself … let your family and friends help. Even if its only an offer to watch your children for an evening while you get some rest. Or to cook dinner (even if you don’t feel like eating). I was fortunate during my recovery from my mastectomy. My friend, Sally, stayed with us. She was between apartments and had just graduated from college. It was a win-win situation. She was able to job hunt and stay with me during the day while hubby was working. Having her with me was wonderful.

So, if someone wants to help … don’t hesitate. Believe me, you won’t be sorry.

Maybe someday I’ll take my own advice.

Repeat after me … “YOU ARE A CANCER WINNER”

Here’s what I tell a writer just starting out how to write …

… Read.

As easy and as hard as that. You have to read in order to understand and know what you want to write. There is no magic wand that an author waves around their heads and the words begin to flow. Writing is hard work. I’ve had authors tell me that their chapters bleed out onto the page one agonizing word at a time. There are days when you cannot keep up with the ideas swirling around in your head (love those days), and days when you couldn’t put two words together to save your life (hate those).

This is a profession of peaks and valleys. But make no mistake … it is a profession. A job. You might not get dressed in a dress and heels and head downtown to a high rise, but you are doing a job. You get dressed … whether its in jammies or jeans … and you head for what you might loosely call your home office. Once there, you spend literally eight hours a day writing.

Sounds like a job to me. If you’re lucky, you churn out two books a year. If you’re really lucky, you have an agent and/or publisher interested in those books you’ve bled out. That’s the really hard part and a subject for a future blog.

Sorry gang, I blew it. I wasn’t feelin’ all that well last night and went to bed early … completely forgetting about getting this blog ready. This is my Xeloda week and that tends to hit me every once in awhile. Mostly fatigue and a general ick feeling. So rather than fight it, I headed for bed.

I was going to talk about family this week, but that can wait until next week. Today … or should I say tonight, I get to talk about the fact that I got my tumor markers back from my oncologist yesterday afternoon. My numbers went up ever so slightly. From 28 to 30.2. Not very much, and certainly still well within my parameters of anything below 45. So I’m not about to complain. The combination of Tykerb and Xeloda seems to be doing to trick for me, so we’re not about to mess with success.

Besides, if my doctor is happy, I’m happy.

Repeat after me … “YOU ARE A CANCER WINNER”

I rather like the title “Writer on Writing”. I’m really big on anagrams. So we’re going to have WoW every Monday.

Basically this is my first post with regard to my writing career. At least on this blog. I’ve written about my journey over at MagicalMusings some time ago, but various things just bear repeating.

First and foremost is the fact that this is not an easy profession to break into. Not sure what the statistics are, but I’ve heard something like for every hundred people who sit down to write a book, 1% will actually succeed. Of that 1%, a fraction of that number will actually send it out to agents and editors. Of that now minuscule fraction, another 1% will receive a request to see the full manuscript. Of that remaining fraction, another 1% will be published.

The odds are daunting. You have to be either completely clueless (like I was when I first started this endeavor) or you have to be determined … which is what I became once I got over the clueless phase.

Writing isn’t for the faint of heart. You have to want this and you have to have the determination to see your dream come true.

Got a call last night from a telemarketer for the American Cancer Society. We get these calls every once in awhile asking for a donation. In the past I’ve always given money, even though personally speaking, participating in something like the Susan B. Koman Walk for the Cure seems so much more worthwhile. I KNOW where the money is going. With these phoned in requests, I always get the impression that a good portion of the money is going into too many different pockets and not enough is going towards cancer research. Just my impression …

Hubby asked who was on the phone and I said a woman looking for a donation for the Cancer Society. Hubby’s first comment was … “Did you tell her no thanks? We already have some.” Ha-Ha. Funny man.

Anyway, for me to donate it’s a hit or miss proposition. The last two times I was actively going through treatment and declined. Not sure why I wouldn’t want to donate to an organization who is seeking a cure to my affliction … maybe they caught me at a bad time. I was in a crappy mood and didn’t want to be reminded of what I was going through. Who knows. However, it is a worthy cause, so this time I agreed to send in a pledge.

Repeat after me … “YOU ARE A CANCER WINNER”