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. ;-)

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.