If you’ve been thinking I’ve been quieter of late, you’d be right. Well, quieter in this space anyway. I’ve been working hard behind the scenes trying to get ready for a couple big changes coming. Change can be hard. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t change. For the most part, change is a good thing. I’m excited about two big changes, and I hope you will be too! The first change I want to let you know about is that I have a brand new author website. Finally. It only took me nearly ten years to get one going. But who’s counting, right? Speedy I am not. But then, you know me. I’ve always been a ..read more

The other day, I was checking analytics on my social media accounts and elsewhere and thinking about how to best tell potential readers about my newest book, EMERGING: Stories from the Other Side of a Cancer Diagnosis, Loss, and a Pandemic, when it hit me. My memoir, Cancer Was Not a Gift & It Didn’t Make Me a Better Person has been out in the world and on bookshelves for eight years this week — yes, eight years! Writing my memoir and sharing it with you has been an incredible and humbling experience. It means so much that my words have resonated with others who are drawn to a more realist ..read more

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about numbers and why they matter. Or rather, I’ve been reminding myself to remember that they don’t. Or at least not as much as I sometimes think they do. Maybe you’ve thought about this too. Or maybe you’re reading this and asking, what in the world is she talking about now? Well, as a blogger who’s been at it for over a decade now, I’d be lying if I said numbers don’t matter. I mean, who doesn’t want readers for their words, right? On the other hand, I no longer fret (as much) about numbers, SEO (search engine optimization), choosing the most clickable blog p ..read more

There are many reasons and traumas that result in people suffering from survivor guilt. Some of these traumas include war, shootings, natural disasters, automobile or airplane crashes, terrorist attacks, and more. This post focuses specifically on cancer-related survivor guilt. If you’re a person who’s heard those words, you have cancer, you have likely experienced at least moments of survivor guilt from time to time and are not at all surprised to know many other Cancer Havers deal with it as well. If you have not heard those three thorny words, you might be surprised to realize that many can ..read more

I’ve read a fair number of articles about this topic over the last decade+ but haven’t written one myself. Perhaps it’s because the idea of wishing I’d known more about cancer upon diagnosis sounds strange to me. When you think about it, would you really have wanted to know any of this stuff before your diagnosis? Maybe. Maybe not. Besides, for me, after my mother’s diagnosis and death from metastatic breast cancer, what in the world else would I have wanted to know when diagnosed? I already knew way too much. Still, I got to thinking maybe some things would be nice to know, so perhaps there i ..read more

I was recently asked by Liz Flaherty, blogger at “Window Over the Sink.” to write a guest post sharing my thoughts about Breast Cancer Awareness Month, pink ribbons, and such. Of course, I said yes. To make sure you see and read it, I’ve reblogged it here — something I’ve never done before. Follow the link, read my piece, and share your thoughts with a comment on Liz’s blog or down below in the comments here. Oh, and be sure to share my article too — either this one or via Liz’s blog. Better yet, share both! After all, we can’t say it often enough: Pink is not a cure! Click to read my guest po ..read more

Since it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month again (yawn), it seems like a good time to talk about advocacy in general. Any type of serious illness or other trauma can make a person want to “do” something with the experience. This comes from a feeling of wanting to help others who are, or will be, facing a similar diagnosis or experience. It’s a giving back sort of thing. It gives purpose to what you’ve had to deal with. Some people start blogs, others set up or join support groups and other organizations, some create new online spaces, some write books, some run in races or organize other events ..read more

When you hear the word authenticity, what comes to mind? While contemplating what to write as I mark 13 years of blogging this month (I know, hard to believe, right?), this is the word that kept popping into my head. Perhaps because above all else, being authentic has been a primary goal of mine since day one. So, what does being authentic mean anyway? Is it just another one of those buzz words? When you look around, there are various definitions, but words like reliable, genuine, trustworthy, and real are usually in there someplace. Those work for me. I strive to be all those things. Blogging ..read more

Last conversations. Have you thought about them — ones you’ve had, ones you’d like to have, and perhaps ones you’d like to do over? This summer marks seven years since my dad died. It’s been awhile, and yet, seven years is hardly any time at all in the scheme of things, or even in the timeline of one family’s lives. I’ve reached the point where I rarely cry when I think about my dad and how much I still miss him. This does not mean I’m done grieving or that I’m over it — both of which are ridiculous notions. And yet, society still often sends out implied messages that perhaps there should be e ..read more

Note: An audio of this post is available in my free resource library to listen to now or download for later. We all go through hard things. Such is life. Sure, it seems like some always have it easy, or easier, than we do. Likewise, some have it harder, though maybe we don’t notice those folks as readily. No one really knows what someone else is going through, or has gone through. People are good at masking, and I’m not talking about the sort of masking most of us were doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The opening lines in my book, EMERGING. What hard things have you gone through? Are you g ..read more