Tuesday, May 1, 2012

MAY DAY

YAY... it's May! That means the great Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge is over! Wow: 30 blog posts in 30 days (with two "get out of writing" days thrown in as a life raft); that really was a challenge. Not that I didn't love participating; I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. But blogging every day is hard for a slow writer like me. In fact, that's the main reason I committed to doing it. Writing every day would have to speed me up, wouldn't it?

Old habits, old dogs and many hours later... well, you get my drift. Some things never change. But I digress.

Hats off to my three HAWMC co-challengers: Marie, Jan and Yvonne. Knowing they were also digging deep spurred me on when I might otherwise have thrown in the towel.

So what were some of my favorite prompts? Creating a cancer haiku on Day 6 was fun. (I liked it so much I wrote another on hot flashes the same day. So not like me.)

I really got a kick out of Day 21's Mad Lib; I typed random words in — and a Sylvia Plath poem came out. (There's no way I could have come up with "Captivating Cancer's Captivating Cancer" all on my own!)

On Day 19, I enjoyed imagining the five people I'd love to have over for dinner if I could go back in time. Speaking of time, writing about my first time getting a bloggy award (and being able to show some bloggy love to 22 of my favorite blogs) on Day 28 was a very satisfying challenge.

My third-person post, Our Lady With Cancer (Day 25) was a tough one to write. That confession was long overdue.

My 5 Challenges and 5 Victories on Day 27 allowed me to see that cancer really can give back more than it takes away.

But my favorite post of the challenge was your favorite too: It's Not My Fault I Got Cancer generated the most hits and seemed to strike a chord with readers as well: It garnered the most comments. Coming in a close second? 10 Tips for a Happy Life — the letter to my 16-year-old self.

For now, so long, farewell, HAWMC. I will embrace the respite from daily blogging that May brings. See y'all soon.

PS: The fact that I was able to work Don Draper into a blog on breast cancer? Brilliant, if I do say so myself. ;-)



8 comments:

  1. Renn, I so enjoyed reading the last couple of weeks, I will have to go back from the beginning of April and read those as well. Every post you write is so inspiring.... It's so awesome that you lived up to the challenge and wrote something for 30 days minus the 2 passes:) Wonderful:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done Renn! You rose to the challenge with style and grace :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Renn,

    Thank you for taking on this challenge. Well done. My favorite (though hard to choose) post was, "It's Not My Fault I Got Cancer." Strike a chord it did! Relax a bit now!

    ReplyDelete
  4. (the sound of applause!!!)
    xoxo
    m

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks everyone! I am enjoying my respite! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Renn, I admire how you reviewed the whole 30 days of HAWMC. I couldn't even bear to look at blogs on May 1st, I was so exhausted. Your April posts all stood out to me. We learned so much through the prompts, didn't we? I would do it again in a flash, but need a few months in between to catch my breath. Well done, I say! xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Jan: Thanks! I know what you mean. I haven't had the energy to blog since. I think a one- or two-week challenge would be less draining!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are encouraging — and encouraged!