SPEEDING UP

What's my writing style? Do I plan my posts? Title first or last? Where do I write? These are today's questions on Day 15 — the midway point — of the WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge. 


As I have mentioned before, I am a very slow writer. A careful writer. There is a reason for this: In my former life as an editor, it was my job to find the errors. That means I can seldom just let something go. I am an eternal "word fixer." There is always a better turn of phrase, additional alliteration or a more succinct way of stringing together my thoughts. This writing challenge has turned out to be just what I needed.

I discovered the idea on Marie's blog, Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer, and made a comment on her Day 2 post that I wanted to join in but was afraid I wouldn't have time to post every day. I decided to make the time. I quickly wrote the first two posts to catch up with Marie. And Jan at Mourning Has Broken. Then Yvonne at Time to Consider the Lilies joined in. It's been a blast seeing different takes on the same writing prompts.

I figured this challenge simply had to make me a faster writer. It had to loosen up some brain cells and allow me to write more stream-of-consciously (which turned out to be my Day 12 prompt — unbeknownst to me). And it has!


Normally, I sit in my home office with my cup of coffee and make notes to myself about future blog posts in my drafts folder. Then I sit down and begin to craft one. I step away for a few hours (or a day), and come back to it. And repeat. That is partly why I only blog once or twice a week. It takes me a long time. I also am afraid to bore you, dear reader!

Sometimes a blog title will come to me first, but more often than not, it is the very last thing I write before I hit the "publish" button.

I'm still not sold on daily blogging (for me), but this exercise has taught me that I can punch out a post that is short, in a short period of time. And sometimes that's all you (or I) need.

IDEAL DAY

Day 14 of the WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge: "Describe your ideal day. How would you spend your time? Who would you spend it with? Have you had this day?"

My take on the ideal day:

(copyright 2012 TheBigCandMe)

Take coast road with Husband, sun out, blue sky, no traffic. Check into small hotel right on ocean, sit on balcony, break out glass of wine and watch surfers in waves. Head to botanical garden, take plenty of pictures (trading cameras with tourists so we both have "couple" shots). Stop for cannoli (best in town), and espresso, head back to beach and room and nap. (Cue sound of crashing waves.) Take walk on beach at sunset, take more photos, take ourselves into town (on foot) for antipasto and pasta and vino. Back to peaceful slumber. Morning walk on cold sand, back home to happy dogs.

Lucky me — just had this day two weeks ago!

MY 10 FAVORITE THINGS

What does Day 13 of the WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge ask? "Write a list of the 10 things you need (or love) the most." 

In keeping with Day 12's stream of consciousness challenge, I'll list the first 10 favorite things that come to mind: 

 1) Laughter
 2) Love
 3) Kindness
 4) Coffee
 5) Mountains
 6) Ocean
 7) Peace
 8) Pets
 9) Fresh veggies
10) Photography

PS: To read the favorite things of a few of my favorite BC bloggers, just click here for Jan's, here for Marie's and here for Yvonne's!

CH-CH-CHANGES

Day 11 of the WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge poses this challenge: "Imagine your blog having it's own theme song. What would it be?"

Thankfully the answer sprung immediately to mind: Bowie's CHANGES. (Listen to it here.) The lyrics, when viewed through the spectacle of breast cancer, take on a whole new meaning. See if you agree...

10 TIPS FOR A HAPPY LIFE

Day 10 dawns on the WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge, and I have been asked to write a note to my 16-year-old self. This one took some brain cells, I'm not gonna lie. But Day 10 deserves 10 tips.

Dear 16-Year-Old Me,
This Road Called Life has so many jaw-dropping turns and dead-ends that it's really, really good you can't see any of them from where you are right now. Ignorance in this case is absolutely, positively blissful. While The Path cannot be changed, you can alter the amount of baggage you bring on this journey. To help, here are my 10 Tips for a Happy Life:

TIP #1 Appreciate your physicality. You won't always look this good, feel this good, be this flexible, be this thin, or have such perfect skin.

TIP #2 Stay true to you. The teenage you is the same you as the you you were in elementary school (stay with me here). The teenage you is also the same you that you become when you're older (and supposedly wiser). Never lose sight of her. The good news is, the young you is your beacon and your compass when the stormy seas arrive; she always knows what makes you happy. She also always knows the people and things you can trust. The bad news? She doesn't always know what's best for you. (That's why you need Tip #3.)

TIP #3 Develop a strong backbone. Define what is important to you and then follow your instincts. For example, if you're certain that marriage and family are what you want, don't waste your prime childbearing years in the wrong relationship. (I'm just sayin'.) If you don't want to give your life over to your work, don't give up all your hobbies and then blame your lack of them on the fact that you don't have the time or energy because you're always working.

TIP #4 Say NO more often. (This becomes easier after you have mastered Tip #3.) People-pleasing skills are highly over-rated.

TIP #5 Cultivate a rich network of supportive friends, particularly those with varied interests and ages. That way you're not left scrambling for new social groups when everyone does (or doesn't) get married, or has (or doesn't have) kids. Build yourself a nice support network on which to fall back on; you'll need them to catch you when you fall. And you will. Oh, and remember that in order to have a supportive friend, you have to be a supportive friend.

TIP #6 Exercise every day. But not obsessively. Find things you enjoy and do them daily. Working out will keep your weight (and your stress level) down, your hormones in check, your mood more balanced — and your jeans in single digits.

TIP #7 Be conscious about what you ingest. Again, no need to be obsessive; just be smart. Your food should be of good quality, not processed, nor laden with chemicals or pesticides. If you're going to drink alcohol, have a glass of water before every drink. And please don't drink on an empty stomach. Or smoke!

TIP #8 Don't worry so much about what other people think of you. Because guess what — they're not thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves. So ditch the worry and just be yourself.

TIP #9 Kindness is king. Embrace what you love about you and don't get down on yourself for what you don't. Always, always, always be kind to others — but be especially kind to yourself. Always, always, always choose a mate that is kind to others — and who is especially kind to you.

TIP #10 Keep your naturally positive attitude and sense of humor. You're gonna need it.

KEEP CALM WITH ARMOR ON

© 2012 Rennasus

As part of the WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge, I'm writing a post a day for the entire month of April. We're allowed two "free" days, and I took one of mine yesterday. (I had enough challenge in the kitchen preparing Easter dinner for nine without adding to my tasks!)

Today the prompt is to write a riff on the British wartime poster, "Keep Calm and Carry On." Here's what I came up with (American spelling intentional).

Because in order to jump through the many multiple hoops
of the ever-changing,
exhausting,
frustrating,
frightening
(and downright demoralizing)
experience
that is cancer,
you must first put on your emotional armor.
Always.

HOT FLASH HAIKU

Day 7 (per WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge), and it's my choice what to write about today. YAY! Since I had such fun yesterday with Haiku, I wrote another — one that women of a certain age will relate to, as will any cancer patient on hormone therapy. Have a great weekend!

Like a bad temper,

Heat rises inside out.

Discard clothing quickly.

CANCER HAIKU

WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge Day 6 is here. Today, my task is to write a haiku about my health focus.

I remember writing my first Haiku in the 2nd or 3rd grade. My teacher liked it enough to enter it into a children's poetry competition. I didn't win. 

© 2012 The Big C and Me

Not feeling terribly positive about this attempt either, but here are three Haikus for you:

Cancer clammers in
Burning like betrayal
Soul survives, barely.

***

Estrogen parade
Fuels the beast within

Tamoxifen blocks.

***

Call brings cold despair

Haphazard terror reigns

Cue the crying game.

Feel free to try your hand at one of your own and post it here! I'd love to read it, and I'm sure others would too.

EKPHRASIS

The WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month continues today with a prompt to write an ekphrasis inspired by the image I see when I click on flickr.com/explore.


First things first. What the heck's an EKPHRASIS? According to Merriam-Webster: "A literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art." OK, so it's like an art review. I can do that. 

"Anshan steelwork slag tipping" by Frühtau (China)

But I also have to tie it into the purpose of this blog. (Fingers crossed that I get a good image.) I click on the Flickr link and this is the photo I see: 

I don't know about you, but this picture (and the metaphors that so easily spring from it) pretty much sums up my cancer experience. 

I'm minding my own business, traveling along the locomotive that is my life, when I suddenly find my caboose on the edge of a dark mountain that is no longer stable. When the word cancer is uttered, my world crumbles into shards of coal. A surgeon's knife cuts my flesh and hot molten tears spill from deep inside. 

Clearly I'm a train wreck with an engine that's run out of steam.

CANCER ZAPPER

It's Day 3 of the WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge and the question I must answer is:

If I had a superpower, what would it be and how would I use it?

That's easy. I would be a Cancer Zapper.

I'd sit on the shoulder of anyone who is waiting to hear whether or not they have The Big C. When the doctor utters the words no one should ever have to hear, I would swoop in with my super cancer-zapping powers and obliterate every cancer cell.

I would whisper in the patient's ear, "Tell that doc he/she is mistaken. You don't have cancer!"

Then I would fly off to the next patient, and the next, and the next.

Until no one, anywhere, ever had to hear those words again. Now that would be pretty super, wouldn't it?

MAKE A SHADOW

It's Day 2 of the WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge. (Thanks to Marie, I'm writing a blog a day about health for the entire month of April.)

(copyright: The BigCandMe)

DAY 2 CHALLENGE Select a quote that inspires me to write about it for 15 minutes. Hmmm. Since I am a very slooooow writer, this post won't be very long!

"Today it is enough to make a shadow." —Gretal Ehrlich

There have been many times during my cancer journey when I have felt that just making a shadow was arduous. Had I heard this quote during some of those times, I may have more easily let go of some of the guilt associated with not accomplishing what I set out to do that day.

Pre- and post-cancer, I always had a to-do list running in my head. Though my list is much shorter these days, it still exists. And sometimes I just don't feel like doing anything on it. I don't want to be responsible for anything or anyone other than me. And I have learned that that is absolutely, positively A-OK.

What's not OK is feeling bad about it. That's when the "shoulds" come into play. You know: "I should be doing this" and "I shouldn't have eaten that." As my friend Shannon says, "There I go 'shoulding' all over myself again." That always makes me laugh. And it makes me realize that honoring my feelings is as much a part of my recovery as doing my exercises or taking a nap or eating enough protein.

Because some days, it really is enough to make a shadow.

TIME CAPSULE

I've just committed to writing a blog a day for the next month as part of the Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge (HAWMC) at WEGO Health. Yikes.

Yesterday was Day 1. Since I just joined at the end of today, I'm already two challenges behind. I'd better get cracking!

MY DAY 1 CHALLENGE Imagine a health time capsule that will be opened in 2112. What do you put inside so people who open it in 100 years get a sense of who you are and what health issues you faced?

I would tell the future that in 2012 we were pretty clueless about cancer. That we devoted an entire month each year to the color pink in an attempt to find a cure for breast cancer. That we spent mind-numbing millions and billions buying pretty pink products in pretty pink packaging that made pretty much everyone associated with them plenty of money — but did little to stem the tide of patients diagnosed with (and dying from) the disease. That we were lured into believing that early-stage meant curable. That it took time to understand that cosmetic companies and group walks do not stop cancer's wrath. That it took a long time to figure out how much more productive we could be if we funneled our dollars directly into research and cut out the middle man (and woman). That it took us a really long time before we fully understood how to prevent the disease from forming in the first place. And that it took a really, really long time to find a cure. But we did it.

I really, really hope that last sentence is true.