It’s not unusual to feel two very different emotions at the same time. I am relieved and happy to have finished writing my memoir. I am also feeling vulnerable, nervous and fearful, thinking about all the personal details of my life that will soon be exposed to the world.

I’m calling it finished, not because I couldn’t keep going and make it better, but because there is a point when DONE is better than PERFECT. I still don’t think of myself as a writer because much of what I read is written by writers who are better at the craft than I am. I wrote this book because I think people dealing with the fears of a cancer diagnosis, or the fear of a cancer recurrence, may benefit by hearing from someone who navigated the cancer world more than 30 years, both surviving and thriving.

We’ve set Saturday, May 20th as the official book launch date for Coloring Outside the Lines: Surviving and Thriving for 30+ Years with Cancer. I started writing stories in an in-person writing workshop in Terri Tate’s living room, and then the pandemic rearranged our lives. Seven of us continued meeting twice a month on Zoom in a memoir writing class facilitated by Terri. In the meantime, I was also influenced by my work with Sandra Marinella and her book, The Story You Need to Tell. My weekly writings gradually evolved into a memoir.

Since Terri Tate was an integral part of the beginning and the evolution of my book, she has written the Forward and will be talking with me about the process and the content in a free Healing Journeys Speaker Series Zoom Webinar on May 20th. I’ll be reading some excerpts from the book, and you will have an opportunity to ask me questions.

You will be able to pre-order the book soon, helping us determine how many to print the first time around. We expect them to be shipped sometime this summer.

Terri will also be facilitating a free four-week memoir writing class open to anyone touched by cancer, sponsored by CancerTalks. It will meet the first four Thursdays in May from 4:30pm to 6pm PDT. You don’t have to be interested in publishing anything to benefit from writing. There is much healing that can happen through the process of writing, even if you don’t consider yourself a writer. Click here for More Information or To Register.

As always, I welcome your comments; to reply please click here.